Tony Moton

Thursday, November 06, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Quick and Dirty: A notebook of news and politics

PETA snags Mirage

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the animal activist group, is leaving no stone unturned in its effort to dish out grief to MGM Mirage. The gaming giant has been targeted by many animal rights organizations since the infamous tiger attack on illusionist Roy Horn a few weeks ago. Animal rights diehards, hoping to pressure the Mirage into getting out of the performing-animal business, are looking for any sort of weapon with which to bludgeon the Las Vegas resort company, and it appears they've found one.

Researchers for PETA have uncovered what they say are serious OSHA violations at the Mirage. A search of Department of Labor Records uncovered 41 violations of OSHA standards at the Mirage since February, including 17 violations considered by the agency to be "serious." Those violations resulted in fines of $16,710.

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman characterized PETA's findings as part of a smear campaign led by an opportunistic, sham activist group. "PETA is nothing but a commercial fundraising organization," Feldman says. "They've done nothing productive for animals anywhere in the world except to stage ridiculous publicity stunts. Here they see another opportunity to generate some coverage for themselves. People will donate money, and no one has any idea how that money is spent." Feldman says he knows nothing about the nature of the OSHA violations.

The nature of the violations isn't made clear in the public records, and PETA sources admit it has no idea whether any of the problems are related to the welfare of the lions, tigers and dolphins that live at the resort. PETA plans to file a Freedom of Information Act request to learn more about the infractions.

Yucca yack

Local Sierra Clubbers have been known to bitch about how Sierra Club National, based in San Francisco, doesn't make Southern Nevada issues a priority. But the local chapter's new outreach campaign, focused on re-invigorating the fight against the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, appears to have resonated with the national office at last. Perhaps that's because the dump would launch a string of trucks and railcars full of radioactive waste through the nation's neighborhoods.

This Saturday, Nov. 8, Sierra Club National President Larry Fahn will give the keynote speech at a community forum held by the club to talk about Yucca Mountain. Fahn's actually been fired up about the Yucca dump for years, even campaigning against it with Sen. Harry Reid a few years ago.

"I'm going to talk about the fact that it's not a done deal," Fahn says. "I'm going to talk about how, obviously, the project is placing the entire Las Vegas region at risk. I'm going to talk about how it also is a danger to tens of thousands of people" along the rail and truck routes in the United States. "I'm going to talk about the 200 unanswered questions about the science" that went into siting the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Fahn says he'll also talk about how the Bush administration continues to promote a destructive, dirty energy policy instead of "investing in a clean energy future, one that focuses not only on energy conservation, but also on clean, renewable energy sources such as solar and wind."

The forum is at the Flamingo Hilton, 3555 Las Vegas Blvd. South, in the Virginia 3 Room. There's a reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m., and the program runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m.--HW

The next Coppola?

Someday soon, you just might see the name Tony Moton scrolling among the credits at a theater near you--and not as a gaffer, either. Last Monday, the former Mercury columnist took second in the prestigious Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards for his screenplay, All Bets Are On. The screenplay, about the relationship between a 12-year-old and his philandering grandfather, won Moton $5,000--and, more importantly, an avalanche of phone calls from agents, producers and other Hollywood hotshots.

"I've always had a passion for storytelling," says Moton, who attends UCLA's graduate screenwriting program. "Hopefully with this award, someone will recognize my talent for more than just this script. It's one of seven I have." Moton wrote the Mercury dance club column "Beat Manifesto."--AK

History revived

In 1980, a cool piece of history was royally screwed up at what was then Las Vegas High School. Principal Mike Edwards hired a crew to sandblast the span of concrete in front of Main Hall, which hosted nearly 40 years of history in the form of "senior squares" painted on the sidewalk by each graduating class since 1941.

Whoops. Students and community leaders alike were outraged; the squares were replaced by pebble mosaic designs. But Friday's ribbon-cutting will hail the return of the original senior squares--colorful logos celebrating each graduating class until 1989, based on old photographs--thanks to an effort spearheaded by LVHS alumni. They raised $5,000 and landed a $17,000 grant to lay new concrete and repaint the squares.

"It's about a love of that school and the history of that school," says Sarah Butler Walker, who graduated in 1970. "I think of it like the stars of Hollywood. That's what the squares mean to us. It's like walking through history." The ribbon-cutting ceremony takes place at 9:30 a.m. Friday.--AK

Hell no, we won't ho

No doubt Oscar Goodman is still getting earfuls from all sides after floating the idea of legalizing prostitution downtown. Add this source of grumbling to the list: the vice cops who work the streets fighting prostitution. Word in the police department is that many feel their hard work has been slighted by what they consider Goodman's flippant idea.

"This wouldn't get rid of illegal prostitution," says Sgt. Gil Shannon of Metro's vice division. "They'll just lower their prices and their dignity to supply their addictions. The thing that bothers me is I've worked downtown the majority of my career, and a lot of the residents there have economic factors keeping them there. They'd have to live with that. You want your kids playing in the front yard with that going on?"--AK

REI stakes out H-town

Brace yourselves, outdoor gear geeks: REI is coming to town. Gasp! Rush of joy and relief. No more online ordering. No more driving to Southern California for that new Muir Woods jacket or the Petzel headlamp with the skull-piercing beams that's weightless as a dust fairy. Come April, the scheduled open date of REI's new Nevada store, you'll be able to hike on down to the corner of Green Valley Parkway and I-215 for the goodies. The store will be in the new Shops at Green Valley Ranch, says Mike Foley, spokesman for REI.

Recreational Equipment Inc. is a retail co-op founded in Seattle in 1938 by mountaineers. It sells and rents outdoor summer and winter gear to all the dirt-wallowing, food-bar chomping, brisk-air gulping humans, bless our souls. Members pay a one-time $15 fee, and share in the company's profits through an annual refund based on their purchases. But nonmembers can shop there, too. REI has 68 stores and 2 million members in 24 states, including 2,500 active (meaning they buy stuff) members in the Las Vegas area, says Foley. This will be Nevada's second REI store (Reno got the first, in 1999). The Henderson store "will have a camp stove demonstration area, a water filter testing station and a hiking boot testing rock, plus space to climb into tents and heft backpacks" and a gear rental department. Breathe, people, breathe.

Foley says REI's mission goes beyond selling goods to the outdoors crowd. It's aim is to create more outdoor enthusiasts--good for business, yes, but also good for the environment, he says.

"Generally what REI is known for is helping to grow participation in outdoor sports," Foley says. "And we look for outdoor groups to sponsor and we work with conservation groups. We want to give back to the community. We like to provide a hub for people to gather."

Look out, Galyans and Sports Chalet.--HW

For shame

John Leo writes regularly for the New York Daily News and U.S. News and World Report, among other conservative publications. Each year, he awards the "Sheldon" to "the university president who does the most to look the other way when free speech is under assault on campus." The winners this year: At Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, a student was accused of "disrupting a campus event" for posting a flier advertising a campus event, while at Southern Methodist, a student bake sale was shut down for satirizing racial and gender preferences. But Leo also notes that "a furor erupted at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas when the student newspaper ran an abrasive Columbus Day article celebrating Christopher Columbus and rejecting the multicultural notion that all cultures are somehow equal. Nearly all copies of the paper were stolen, and the author, Alexander Marriott, was fired on a charge of plagiarism, since discredited. No word yet from UNLV President Carol Harter, who is believed to be busy looking the other way."

Leo, in typical right-wing apologist fashion, doesn't bother to mention that Marriott's writing was a disgrace to anyone who believes in the facts, which never have gotten in Leo's way. Nor does he explain why, as a supposed believer in open discussion, he thinks the university president should interfere with the campus newspaper--a notion contrary to the First Amendment.--MG

Blue Diamond art

They've got more than donkeys out there in Blue Diamond. There are horses. Miners. And artists. This weekend, Nov. 8 and 9, you can see the works of some of the local artists and invited others at the seventh annual Canyon Art Invitational in the Blue Diamond Community Center in Blue Diamond. The free show runs Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m to 6 p.m. To get there, take Charleston Boulevard west, which turns into State Route 159, and follow it through Red Rock Canyon until you hit the village, or take Blue Diamond Road (State Route 160) and turn right on State Route 159 at the gas station. Info: Barrie C. Folsom at 875-2696 or Ed Opsitos at 252-7804.--HW