In brief

     Green light in sky
     mystifies residents
     
      Three North Las Vegas residents saw a bright green light dropping from the sky Monday night, but they are loath to call it a UFO because of the ribbing they would get.
      "My name? It's Humperdinck," joked Scott Finley, 40, who was standing outside a North Las Vegas home about 8:30 p.m. when he and two others saw a green ball of light fall from the sky.
      "I had just walked up and was listening to their conversation. A few of us were looking out across the street, and we saw it," he said. "It came in at about a 60-degree angle. It was moving, but it was big. It had to be big because it looked like it was beyond Sunrise Mountain."
      From where they were watching on Monte Alban Drive, in the area of Lone Mountain Road and Camino Al Norte, the light looked, Finley said, about the size of a basketball above the two-story house across the street. The ball appeared for a split second, Finley added, then dropped out of sight.
      The North Las Vegas Police Department had no reports of a green ball. Nellis Air Force Base officials could not be reached for comment.
      Finley, who works in maintenance at the North Las Vegas Airport, said the object looked like an upside-down mushroom.
      "I'm not saying I saw a flying saucer or that I saw a UFO. But I saw something just big and green."
     
     Official says man hit
     by car was jaywalking
     
      A pedestrian was killed Tuesday morning when he was struck by a car at the intersection of Lamb and Las Vegas boulevards, authorities said.
      Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Steve Harney said the man was walking west at 3 a.m. across Las Vegas Boulevard North and was struck by a car driven by Lee Roberts, 69, of Las Vegas. The victim died at the scene. Roberts, who was driving north on Las Vegas Boulevard at the time of the accident, was uninjured.
      Harney said the victim was not carrying identification. Harney said that the victim was jaywalking and that Roberts will not be ticketed.
     
     -- -- --
      Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith is on vacation.