Print edition for June 14, 2006

Letter: Same-sex marriage is an issue of ethics: However, I disagree. The reason being, America is made up of hardworking families that make moral decisions every day. When moral issues concerning the definition of the American family are involved, such issues are automatically urgent.

Developer seeks delay on shopping center decision: 1997: State and county officials investigated multiple accidents, including an explosion that injured two workers.

Charges for trash overages may reek: By Tony Cook; Property managers in Clark County are upset that the primary local garbage removal company pays its employees to take photos of overfilled trash containers in order to charge extra collection fees.

Jeff Haney on a New York MBA who gambled with a low hand and walked away with a full house and more than a million dollars: "When I heard that, I was about ready to pull the rest of my hair out," Basil Tehan, Joe's not quite bald father, said last week at Mandalay Bay.

Wranglers will continue to feed the Flames: By Rob Miech; The National Hockey League team began its affiliation with the Wranglers when the team formed three years ago. Las Vegas is part of the ECHL, considered the Double-A level of minor-league hockey.

Editorial: Preventing traffic deaths: According to a recent story by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is funded by the insurance industry, said electronic stability controls are as important to safety as seat belts and air bags. But the device currently is standard equipment on only 40 percent of the vehicles sold in the United States - most of them among the highest-priced models on the market.

Letter: Blogs should be taken with a grain of salt: Most of these bloggers have no political work experience or background whatsoever. Admittedly, they are expressing their personal political views, and some were even quoted at the convention as saying they had no interest in meeting the politicians who attended. Personal views are fine among friends, but these blogs now have millions of readers who are accepting these views as fact! I call it the lazy person's way of becoming politically informed.

Letter: Family values used as an excuse for bigotry: Should we not have a law that, say, annuls these marriages if a child is not produced within at least the first year of marriage? After all, if the sanctity of marriage is to protect the family, and these people are not meeting that standard, they should not be entitled to the same rights as those who are married and have children. Or are we just masking bigotry with inconsistency?

'Melvin and Howard,' Part II: Jonathan Karp; Melvin Dummar had long since given up on getting a share of the late billionaire Howard Hughes' fortune. And for good reason: In 1978, Dummar became a national joke when a Las Vegas jury ruled that the basis for his claim - a handwritten will that surfaced mysteriously - was fake.

Regent Doug Hill resigns his post: Christina Littlefield; "The distant drums of time's passing calls us all to new duties and obligations, and so the time has come for me to move on," he wrote in his resignation letter to Gov. Kenny Guinn. Hill declined to elaborate when reached Tuesday.

Giving Las Vegas a global view: By Ed Koch; In a town that increasingly fancies itself as sophisticated and cosmopolitan, Benjamin Duchek struggles to promote discussion on global issues.

Jon Ralston cuts through spin to prepare the public for election season: Don't misunderstand: Some of us in the media think so, too, although I prefer the word "ignorant" to describe too many voters who will go to the polls on Aug. 15 and Nov. 7. But as the ad and/or press release a day season has begun, I must attempt the seemingly futile endeavor of presenting some admonitions.

Editorial: Bulldog on a choke collar: Specter also once said he would subpoena the executives of major telecommunications companies to find out what data the National Security Agency had sought from them. But a week ago, Specter struck a bargain with Vice President Dick Cheney and agreed to hold off on seeking such testimony in exchange for Bush and Cheney considering the merits of his proposed legislation.

Letter: Let's help, not hinder, homeless advocate: We truly must be a city of sin if we can't recognize a saint in our midst. Gail Sacco should be commended for what she is doing out of her own heart and own pocket, not criminally charged. What shame it is that local politicians want to shoo away the homeless. Shooing them away isn't going to solve the problem.

World Cup more than a kick for Britons: By Timothy Pratt; Mark McGarry was waiting at the pub for his three children to show up in jerseys from England's national soccer team and court-jester hats striped with the colors of the Union Jack.

Lawyer, bodyguard skeptical of author's story: Twenty-eight years after a Las Vegas jury threw out the infamous Mormon will that would have given Melvin Dummar a 16th of the reclusive Hughes' estate - then valued at $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion - the Utah truck driver has filed a lawsuit saying he has new evidence.