Tavern a dead issue

Monday, Sept. 3, 2007 | 10 p.m.

Last week the Spring Valley Town Advisory Board considered a developer's proposal to build a mausoleum that would include slot machines in a tavern, where relatives of the deceased could raise a glass to the memories of their loved one.

Honestly, only in Las Vegas.

According to a story by the Las Vegas Sun on Friday, a representative for the project told the Advisory Board that the 45,000-square-foot complex would be equipped with “holographic recording” services that would allow families to view videos made of a relative before his or her death. Embalmed corpses and cremated remains would be entombed on the complex's first floor. And the tavern, complete with 15 slot machines, would be on the second floor. Retail shops for gifts and flowers and private viewing areas also would be available, the Sun's Abigail Goldman reports.

Advisory Board Vice Chairman Dee Gatliff said that the proposal “was kind of making a mockery of grief.” Board member George Kuck said the idea “goes beyond strange into bizarre,” adding that “we don't need another bizarre item in Vegas.”

Probably not, but that doesn't stop some folks from trying. This is the city, after all, where people can marry at drive-through windows.

Spring Valley's Advisory Board approved the odd proposal 3-1, as long as the tavern is not included. Seems a pretty rational decision -- especially in a place where a pirate ship sinks four times a night.