Quick and Dirty: a notebook of news and politics

Safe and free

When ACLU chief legislative counsel Gregory Nojeim came to town last week, he still had Las Vegas' New Year's Eve on his mind. Not because he was one of nearly 300,000 revelers who whooped it up on the Strip, but because he and other civil rights activists are still sore over what they characterize as unnecessary civil rights abuses to make the Strip safe, such as mass background checks on visitors. Nojeim and national field organizer Matthew Bowles were here to drum up support for the Security and Freedom Enhanced (SAFE) Act, a sort of supplemental law that takes the civil liberties sting out of the PATRIOT Act.

"The PATRIOT act is fixable," Nojeim says. "There are civil liberties problems in the act that we can fix without repealing the whole thing." The SAFE Act amends the PATRIOT Act so that searches of library records, bookstore purchase histories and other records require "articulable suspicion" that the records belong to a terrorist or spy. SAFE also would curb the PATRIOT's "sneak and peek" provision--allowing the government to search private property without a warrant in advance--and would require the government to prove it would preserve physical safety, prevent flight from prosecution or destruction of evidence.

As of now, the bill is locked up in Senate committees, but Nojeim says he's particularly confident that Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley, both D-Nev., will support the bill (meanwhile, the Attorney General John Ashcroft has already recommended a veto). Nojeim's point: We can have a safe New Year's Eve celebration without needlessly poking into people's private lives. "If law enforcement is looking for a needle in a haystack," he says, "you don't add more hay to the stack."--AK

Wedding bells

Those wedding bells you hear ain't coming from the Strip--they're coming from San Francisco. Longtime local gay rights advocate Lee Plotkin was to have gotten married to his partner of 15 years, Robert Smith, Wednesday in San Francisco. The hitching of the high-profile gay community figure puts a Vegas spin on the unfolding national tale of the gay marriage movement.

"What's making me do it? George Bush," says Plotkin. "With the combination of San Francisco issuing licenses and George Bush determining the nation's future based on biblical belief, we decided it's time to get a marriage license." Like many, Plotkin sees this outbreak of gay marriages across the country as part of what history will deem another wave of the civil rights movement.

"I feel like I'm a part of a very positive moment in history, not unlike when the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 said prohibitions against interracial marriage were unconstitutional." As for the fact that Nevada's constitution was amended in 2002 to only recognize marriage between a man a woman, Plotkin says it means little in the wake of the de facto same-sex marriage movement. "The majority of people in our state could vote to change our constitution to re-enact slavery," says Plotkin, "but that wouldn't make it constitutional."--AK

Bus stopped

At 8 a.m. Sunday at the south end of the Strip, spirits were high as passengers boarded a special CAT bus bound for the Nextel Cup race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For a moment, there was talk of an early arrival, a chance to walk around, perhaps even an opportunity to saunter down to the garages and get a peek at the race cars.

But all of those hopes were dashed as the bus crested the hill approaching Nellis Air Force Base and was suddenly stopped in a line of buses, both public and chartered, at least 100 deep. The hour-long trip was instantly transformed into a three-hour odyssey, finally ending at 10:57 a.m.

"They were doing full security checks at the base this year," says Ingrid Reisman, communications director for the Clark County Regional Transportation Commission, which oversees CAT. "There was nothing we could do about the delay."

Nor was there anything that could be done about the enormous lines that waited for return buses after the race. Even though CAT allocated 90 buses for the service, lines snaked back beyond the set boundaries, and the last riders were not boarded until 6:25 p.m. (almost three hours after the end of the race). Still, Reisman characterizes the endeavor as a success.

"Last year, we didn't have everyone on buses and out of the speedway until 7 p.m. Even though we carried twice as many people, we beat our time by about a half an hour."

According to Reisman, initial estimates are that CAT carried 50,000 NASCAR riders on Sunday.--NB

Mysterious lit

In its short, two-year history, the Vegas Valley Book Festival has scored some heavy literary hitters, including novelists John Irving, Tom Robbins and the "father of modern Chicano literature," Bless Me Ultima author Rudolfo Anaya.

With 2004's bookfest still seven months away, organizers have already signed their star player--popular mystery writer Walter Mosley. Mosley is the author of 12 books and is best known for his series featuring Easy Rawlins, a character who first appeared in 1990's Devil in a Blue Dress, and who was portrayed by a buff, wife-beater-wearing Denzel Washington in a 1995 movie of the same name. Mosley's latest book is The Man in My Basement, a literary novel. Mosley will serve as team captain for a yet-to-be-announced lineup of writers.

"Mystery writing will be one of our main program areas this year," says Kris Darnall, program coordinator for Nevada Humanities Committee, which organizes the event. "I think [Mosley] will be ideal. He's not just a writer, he's a big supporter of public libraries and literary outreach." Mosley will give the keynote address at the festival, which is set for Oct. 21-23.--LC

Regents,

round nine

Here's the latest round in the battle between the Board of Regents and Chancellor Jane Nichols vs. former CCSN President Ron Remington. The University and Community College System of Nevada code requires Remington to submit a "transition package" for his return to the classroom. Remington sent an e-mail to CCSN faculty and staff, explaining, "I accepted this notice with the understanding that the regents agree that I am doing so while reserving all of my rights to contest the necessity of this transition. I agreed to accept this notice on the condition that the regents and representatives of the system refrain from claiming or suggesting (directly or indirectly) that I have given up my battle to be restored...I have been informed that the transition plan/proposal has been touted as proof that I do not want to return to the presidency of CCSN. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. My position and resolve remain unchanged. I believe I was removed from the CCSN presidency wrongfully and illegally."

Remington wants the regents to include in their next agenda the statement that Remington submitted the transition plan by request. Remington didn't say who's spreading the rumors. But considering how committed the regents and chancellor have been to finding the truth, don't expect answers anytime soon.--MG

Good Samaritan

The good news: The Samaritan House, a live-in drug and alcohol rehab facility, recently held a fundraiser at Boulder Station and raised about $15,000. The bad news: The 40-bed facility will need about that much per month just to keep its doors open. As Samaritan House operators tell it, utilities, other overhead costs and a recent round of city and county permits have hit the rehab clinic particularly hard. The low-profile halfway house for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics has been around since 1965, but only recently started hurting financially.

"If all the beds are full, it's easy, but not all the beds are full," says volunteer Jim Sebastian. "Not everyone stays sober." The Samaritan House helps addicts through detox and finds them work; after they're placed in jobs, they pay Samaritan House $100 a week to offset operating costs. A golf tourney fundraiser is set for late April, but Sebastian says they're looking for a permanent source of funds. "This is the beginning of the advertising blitz," says Sebastian. If you haven't heard of Samaritan House before, you will now.--AK

Wilkerson widow

Las Vegas history buffs will note that Tichi Wilkerson Kassel died Monday at age 77. She accomplished several things, but the most interesting for Las Vegans is her middle name and her many years as editor and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter. She was the widow of Billy Wilkerson, who founded the paper. When he died in 1962, 32 years after starting it, she took over. They met through her mother, who was his maid, and she married him in 1947 when he was in his 60s and she was 19. Now, 1947 was a big year for Wilkerson in more ways than one. A few years before, he conceived of a casino resort where he could gamble and his Hollywood friends could hang out. He came up with the name for it: the Flamingo. He started building it on the Strip, but ran out of money. So, he ended up with other investors, led by one Benjamin Siegel. The rest, to use the cliche, really is history.--MG

Home run

Las Vegas actually may be in the running for a major league baseball team. "Las Vegas is making a pitch to become the new home for the Montreal Expos, and is among the candidates being considered by Major League Baseball's relocation committee," according to Bob DuPuy, the top deputy to commissioner Bud Selig, in a story on mlb.com, the official major league website. Caesars Entertainment has been discussing building a $400 million ballpark with a retractable roof (as in Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, which has a retractable roof to deal with the hot weather). The company would build the park "on land behind one of its prime hotels located on a portion of the famed Strip. The facility would be built in Clark County mostly using private funds, but the project is in its formative stages." The site adds, "Legal wagering is not inhibiting MLB from exploring Las Vegas as a possibility," and quotes Selig as saying, "The Major League Baseball relocation committee has been exploring Las Vegas as a possibility." Caesars Entertainment owns Caesars Palace, Bally's, Paris, Hilton and the Flamingo Hilton; spokesman Robert Stewart called the talks "preliminary." In this case, it would be competing with Monterrey in Mexico and the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area of Virginia, and MLB officials say a solid plan for building a stadium is a prime consideration.--MG