Beauty queens’ catfight

Dan Kulin

Saturday, May 27, 2006 | 7:38 a.m.

There she is, Miss North Las Vegas. And there she is, sort of, again.

In what is shaping up as a real tiara tizzy, one Miss North Las Vegas has been stripped of her crown - or maybe not, depending on whom you talk to - and replaced by her runner-up - but not really.

Confused? So is nearly everyone involved. And it's not going to get any clearer at this summer's Miss Nevada pageant, when there will be one Miss North Las Vegas and another contestant from North Las Vegas, the latter with a yet-to-be-determined title. Or maybe she'll just have an asterisk on her sash.

If Burt Parks were still alive, he might think he was suffering from double vision.

The fairy tale-gone-bad began April 9, when Tiffany Yanke won the crown, a first step toward qualifying for the Miss America pageant.

"It's always been my goal, my dream," the 19-year-old Yanke said.

Last Sunday, that dream became a nightmare when she received an e-mail telling her to return her tiara. She even got an apologetic call from runner-up Julianna Erdesz, who would take her place in the state pageant.

But on Friday, Yanke connected with the state pageant director, who said she would retain her title and could compete for the Miss Nevada crown.

Oh, and the runner-up - well, they would just invent a title for her so no one would have to sit out the state contest.

Is everybody happy and smiling for the judges? Not really.

The title tug of war - or is it musical crowns? - stems from a she-said-she-said battle between Yanke and the local director of the Miss North Las Vegas pageant.

Yanke has been competing in pageants since she could walk, and was named Miss Teen Nevada in 2004, winning $3,000 to help pay for her classes at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

So when she captured the Miss North Vegas title, "I was excited for about two weeks - no, I was in shock," Yanke said.

Over the next few weeks, Yanke said, she received encouraging e-mails from the local contest director, Natalie Lund - Miss Minnesota 1999 - who would work with her to prepare for the July 15 Miss Nevada pageant in Mesquite.

Then last Sunday, she got a decidedly different kind of e-mail from Lund, who informed Yanke that she was "pulling your title as Miss North Las Vegas."

In that e-mail, Lund said she could no longer trust or work with Yanke or Yanke's mother, and accused the two of cheating to win the Miss North Vegas competition.

"Between you and your mother, I have been disrespected, underappreciated and lied to repeatedly. It is just too much drama," Lund said in her e-mail.

"You are currently unmanageable, and this is clearly not something you are ready for, and it is clear that neither you nor your mother think I have the ability to help you. You need some more time to gain some maturity and settle some issues."

Yanke said when she saw the message, "I sat there and looked at it and I was just really confused."

Lund decided to take away her title, Yanke says, because she would not go along with all of Lund's demands, including one to move in with her.

Lund, though, insists she was nothing but helpful, offering free clothes and dance training to Yanke - but never demanding that Yanke move in with her.

She moved to lift Yanke's title, Lund explained, after finding out - from Yanke, she says - that Yanke's mother wrote her application essay, and that Yanke had been making appearances as Miss North Las Vegas without getting permission.

"To me it's as simple as someone got fired from a job they didn't do," Lund said. "She violated her contract when her mother did her paperwork for her, and her appearances should have been OK'd through me as the director."

Lund said after securing the state pageant director's approval to revoke Yanke's title, she told Erdesz that she would be wearing the crown.

Yanke, however, said she wrote her own essay, which was about her experiences as a victim of domestic violence, and contends that she did tell Lund about the events in which she appeared as Miss North Las Vegas.

On Friday, the evening gown brouhaha took another bizarre twist , when Yanke spoke with state pageant director Nancy Ames. Ames told her, Yanke said, that both she and Erdesz will be allowed into the state pageant.

"Nancy said they can't pull my title, and I still have my title and that they'll make up one for Julianna," Yanke said.

Ames did not return telephone messages Friday, but on Thursday, she said she was looking for a resolution that would please everyone involved.

Whether it eventually does that - or further twists everyone's swimsuit in a knot - remains to be seen.

"This is supposed to be a wonderful thing, and now I'm just upset and disgusted," Lund said. "All I wanted to do was help."