Burglars’ haul is more than Rogers’ pay

Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2006 | 7:56 a.m.

Thieves stole Chancellor Jim Rogers' personal television sets, two valuable prints and several other items sometime late Thursday from the Nevada System of Higher Education's Las Vegas office, system officials said.

The television sets, four Samsung flat screens -- a 35-inch, two 42-inch, and a 50-inch -- were worth $13,000, the chancellor said. Rogers, who owns several television stations, including KVBC Channel 3, said he paid for the sets so system officials could watch the news.

The two prints -- an original, autographed Roy Rogers, and another print with several celebrity autographs -- were part of a collection of Western art the chancellor brought to the system office, said Suzanne Ernst, special assistant to the chancellor. She estimated they were worth at least $1,500 each and were the only two prints in the office of any real value.

"That tells me they (the thieves) knew what the hell they were doing," Ernst said.

The thieves also stole a $5,000 video projector, a digital camera and two laptops, all Higher Education System equipment.

Thieves stole a hard drive and a Channel 3 Sony PlayStation from the office of Francisco Aguilar, Rogers' personal attorney. (Aguilar says he uses the PlayStation to watch DVDs of Rogers' news appearances -- he said he never played a video game on it. His one game, ironically "Grand Theft Auto" series, was taken by the intruders.)

The televisions and the replacements will cost Rogers more than he makes from the system as its chancellor. He receives $23,600 a year, the minimum allowed by state law, and he donates that to student scholarships.

"I won't be able to eat now," Rogers joked, though clearly miffed.

Flood kills sheep

About 360 UNR sheep drowned Saturday at the Main Station Farm in Reno after a levee broke, said Joe Crowley, interim president.

Farm hands had moved 1,500 sheep and 300 cattle to the field by the levee after water rose in the Truckee River, which borders one side of the farm. When the levee broke, most of the animals escaped to higher ground on a nearby hill, Crowley said in a statement.

System officials called it a "tragic loss" and said university employees did everything they could to save the sheep.

"Sheep are not the smartest animals in the world," said Regents Chairman Bret Whipple, who as a child raised sheep. "If they would have been human, they would have found higher ground."

UNR recently paid $11,400 to settle an Agriculture Department case alleging 46 violations at the farm and other animal facilities.

Hill gets no support

Regent Doug Hill could not muster any support from the Board of Regents to have fellow Regent Howard Rosenberg kicked off the UNR presidential search committee.

Hill has repeatedly insisted it is a conflict of interest for Rosenberg, a UNR art professor, to serve on the committee to pick his next boss. Hill had asked Whipple to seek an advisory opinion on the matter from the attorney general and the state Ethics Commission.

Whipple initially agreed to put the item on Friday's agenda, but he said there was no support from other regents to even discuss the issue.

"If there is no support to put it on agenda, then there is no support for voting for it, so there is no reason to waste our time," Whipple said.

Regents will consider on Friday whether to add an additional regent to the search committee and whether to have the committee select more than one candidate for the full board's consideration, Whipple said.

Medical center plans

The chancellor and University of Nevada School of Medicine Dean John McDonald have hired a Minneapolis-based consultant to develop plans for the long-discussed academic medical center.

Greg Hart will be responsible for developing a "game plan" to get the proposed medical training, research and treatment facility off the ground as well as a 10- to 20-year vision for how the medical school might expand, Rogers said. He said he expects an outline of the proposal as soon as Feb. 1.

Christina Littlefield can be reached at 259-8813 or at clittle@ lasvegassun.com.