News briefs for May 26, 2005

Thursday, May 26, 2005 | 9:44 a.m.

Man to subpoena Goodman

A Las Vegas man arrested after burning an American flag at a Sept. 11, 2004, ceremony will represent himself at his August trial on a charge of disturbing a meeting, and plans to subpoena Mayor Oscar Goodman to be a witness.

Stephen Drew Hampton, 52, told Las Vegas Municipal Judge George Assad of his decision to be his own lawyer during a court appearance Wednesday.

After Assad and Hampton remembered the saying about how a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client, the judge agreed to let Hampton represent himself.

Hampton, who said he is law school graduate and has passed the Nevada bar exam, describes himself as a "revolutionary Trotskyist," and said the United States government is imperialist and oppressive.

Hampton said he believes his arrest was politically motivated, and added that the disturbing a meeting law he was charged under is an obscure law that doesn't apply to his case.

Hampton said he plans to have the mayor testify in his case because Goodman was a witness at the ceremony where Hampton was arrested.

Hampton said city prosecutors offered him a deal that included a 45-day suspended sentence, but he turned it down.

$4.5 million in grants awarded

The Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board, a public organization, awarded about $4.5 million in federal funds to nonprofit organizations and some public agencies around the Las Vegas Valley in its quarterly meeting Wednesday.

The board, and its funds, are intended to help train youth and adults for the workplace and match new employees with jobs.

Organizations that received the grants Wednesday included Nevada Business Services, Inc., Clark County Juvenile Justice and the GNJ Family Life Center.

Two survive hard landing

Two pilots walked away from a helicopter that made a hard landing near the Jean Airport Sport Aviation Center, about 30 miles south of Las Vegas, about 10 a.m. Wednesday, Clark County Department of Aviation spokeswoman Debbie Millett said.

The helicopter landed about 100 yards from the runway.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident, Millett said.

No further information about the helicopter or the pilots was available, Millett said.

Bank robbery suspects arrested

Metro Police arrested two men Wednesday in connection with a bank robbery and a hostage-taking in a motel at Tropicana Avenue and Koval Lane.

The robbery occurred about 11 a.m. at a Wells Fargo bank at 4016 S. Rainbow Blvd. Two suspects, who didn't appear to be armed, jumped over the counters and stole about $250,000 from the bank, police said.

Detectives found the suspects' car parked at a nearby restaurant on Tropicana Avenue, and when detectives approached them, they fled in different directions, Officer Jose Montoya, police spokesman, said.

One was captured immediately and the other ran to a Motel 6 at 197 E. Tropicana Ave., where he went into a room that was being cleaned by a housekeeper, Montoya said.

The suspect locked the door, closed the blinds and wouldn't let the housekeeper out, he said.

Robbery detectives and patrol officers forced their way into the room after about 15 minutes and arrested the man. They didn't call the SWAT team because they believed the man was unarmed, Montoya said.

Police said a third suspect may still be at large. The pillowcase of money was recovered.

FBI agent arraigned

The drunken driving case against FBI Agent Robert Clymer is headed for a pre-trial conference scheduled for 2 p.m. July 18.

According to police, on Jan. 29 Clymer was found passed out with an empty bottle of rum and a loaded gun inside his pickup truck, which was beginning to catch fire, in northwest Las Vegas.

Clymer's attorney Gary Booker appeared before Las Vegas Municipal Judge George Assad Wednesday for the arraignment. Clymer was not present.