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By Cara McCoy 
Friday, Jan. 8, 2010 | 4:25 p.m.
Stanley Cooper
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The Monday funeral procession for slain court security officer Stanley Cooper will start in downtown Las Vegas and continue along the Las Vegas Strip before arriving at Central Christian Church in Henderson, Metro Police announced today.
Cooper died this past Monday in a shooting at the federal courthouse in Las Vegas.
The procession will depart Palm Funeral Home, 1325 N. Main St., between 11:30 a.m. and noon, Metro said. It will travel north along Main Street to Owens Avenue, then go eastbound on Owens to Las Vegas Boulevard.
The procession will then proceed southbound on Las Vegas Boulevard, down the Strip, to Las Vegas Boulevard's junction with Interstate 215. It will continue along the interstate to U.S. 95, which it will follow northbound to Russell Road.
It will end at Central Christian Church, 1101 New Beginnings Drive, in Henderson. The funeral is set to begin at 1 p.m.
Authorities have identified 66-year-old Johnny Lee Wicks as the man responsible for the shooting that left Cooper, 72, dead and Deputy U.S. Marshal Richard J. Gardner, 48, wounded.
Wicks was said to be upset over changes to his Social Security benefits, prompting him to open fire with a shotgun at the Lloyd D. George Federal Courthouse in downtown Las Vegas shortly after 8 a.m. Monday.
Before becoming a court security officer, Cooper had been with Metro Police for 26 years. He retired as a sergeant. He became a federal court security officer in 1994.
No graveside services are scheduled, Metro said.
And they'll all get paid for riding around in their taxpayer provided cruisers. This is really getting a little old. God bless the victim, but why do we have to pay for them to parade about? Bury him, and let's move on...
This is a wonderful tribute to a person who served the public.
bdover - would you be saying that same thing 'Bury him, and let's move on...' if it were your brother, son, uncle, or father? I would venture a guess you'd be offended. Wake up...no, better yet, why don't you move on.
Tell me what is wrong with the following picture: we recently had a Veterans Day Parade in downtown LV on 4th street; in any other community 4th street would be as unsuitable for such a parade as any alleyway. It was to honor our war hero veterans from WWI through the current conflicts in the near east. It could not be held on Fremont because of its permanent closure. The parade could not be held on Main Street or LV Blvd or the famous LV Strip because these are highways and would close traffic with great inconvenience and loss of business to the resorts located there.
Now, it seems we can circumvent certain rules or policies and have the Las Vegas Strip closed down and blocked off for dead police officers and firefighter funerals, of which there have been numerous ones in the past but not for our war veteran heroes. Is there something wrong with this logic? A side street like 4th St is ok for a once a year parade to honor our war heroes, but Main Street, Las Vegas Blvd and the famous LV strip are not.
Emphasis on the word "Hero" has different meaning for different folks; I am yet to hear of one veteran returning from war and bragging about being a 'hero' whether they were wounded or not. I certainly don't know of any local veteran group that demands 'hereo' parades for veterans, dead, wounded or not from war.
In this community power goes where the "juice" is; it seems police and fire fighters have more "juice" than war 'heroes' when they can dictate to the strip moguls that it will be closed for such an event.
Very good point, Virgil. It seems the unions have a throat hold on our city. Think of it, a bunch of barely high school graduates, maybe GED's, seem to dictate what goes on in our failing city. But with the lame economy, and a rotten future, they'll all be begging Steve Ross and the corrupt Union BA's for work.
And let's not start talking about the fireloafers. Shh, they're sleeping right now....
While it may seem insensitive, cruel, demeaning or dishonoring to mention the expense of such funeral processions down the strip honoring police officers is not so intended. It is perfectly legitimate and reasonable to question these things and their cost in light of the current county economic crisis; it is not anti-police but raises legitimate economic priorities in these hard times.
Where are the parades, salutes and memorials honoring the numbers of workers killed on the site of various strip hotel construction projects in the very recent past? When men work 40-60 stories above street level and fall to their deaths due to construction safety failures, inadequacies, deficiencies or neglect of the construction companies there is no outcry for these skilled construction heroes is there? The only thing that really happens is the job site is closed until OSHA and other safety agencies complete their investigations. The media, the unions, the resorts do little to offer public recognition for their efforts and sacrifices; little publicity regarding the daily dangers of their work is given much attention in the mdeia. There are seldom any plaques or signs to indicate the names of construction worker heroes who may have died building the site.
Strip construction workers who have died building these magnificent and fancy edifices do not get dead hero parades for their sacrifice. Families of the deceased are lucky to receive adequate financial and/or insurance payments for the death of their loved ones. No great eulogies and flowery speeches are seldom rendered for these valuable workers who risk their lives daily and are very much true heroes as police and firefighters. Mayors, hotel executives and other politicians seldom bother to attend their funerals to honor their daily work and sacrifices.
Many families of dead strip construction workers are left to fend for themselves financially as the death benefits seldom adequately cover funeral costs of their loved ones.