Eight-year-old homebound student dies in parents' arms

     Less than a month after she was featured in a Review-Journal report on the school district's homebound teaching program, 8-year-old Ashley Mickey died in her parents' arms.
      Jason and Debra Mickey knew their daughter's time would be limited. Doctors had predicted last spring that Ashley wouldn't make it through the summer.
      But she lived to see another birthday and another Christmas. On Jan. 15 she was given two days to live, but Ashley stretched that into a nine-day farewell to her friends and family, dying on Jan. 24.
      Born with a blood disorder that led to leukemia by age 5, Ashley suffered from digestive and nervous system dysfunctions her entire life. Still, her father said, she showed grace and glee to those around her.
      "She couldn't eat, drink, walk, run or even color, but throughout this whole thing, Ashley always had a smile, a hug, words of encouragement," said Jason Mickey, a Lady Luck waiter who added that his daughter's life has inspired him to become a pediatric physical therapist.
      Ashley never attended public school, but homebound teacher Sheila Smith arranged for her to sit in with a McWilliams Elementary School second-grade class last spring.
      "She wanted so badly to go to regular school," Smith said. "She went into that classroom pushing a morphine button."
      Ashley is the third girl in Smith's caseload to die since September. Demand for homebound services is so high that Smith barely got a break before new cases landed on her desk.
      "How can you pass up those opportunities when you see how much they enrich your life," Smith said. "Children like Ashley just make you want to do a better job."
     --Steve Friess
     
     Theme park plans shaky
     
      A proposal to transform Meadows Village area into a Disneylike theme park remains shrouded in mystery.
      Project backers sent out a news release in mid-January saying they had secured $610 million to pay for the proposed amusement park. But the release did not list a telephone number, and city Real Estate Manager David Roark said he is not holding his breath waiting for the Emerald Isle Productions & Entertainment Inc. project to happen.
      Roark said he will think nothing of the proposal "until I sit down and hear what they have to say. I need to see proof of a line of credit." He said Emerald Isle has yet to identify its investors.
      In October, the group announced plans for a 100-acre theme park to be modeled after Disneyland and Magic Mountain in California. It would be north of the Stratosphere and include a 2,500-room nongaming hotel.
      The group had agreed to buy the city-owned Stupak Community Center and Stupak Park for $4.5 million, about four times the appraised value. But the sale was put on hold when representatives for Emerald Isle failed to appear at several City Council meetings.
      According to Roark, the group has received extensions on agreements to buy parcels in the Meadows Village area. The park would be bordered roughly by Philadelphia Avenue to the north, Industrial Avenue to the west, Sahara Avenue to the south, and Las Vegas Boulevard to the east.
      Referring to high crime rates in Meadows Village, one gaming analyst called Emerald Isle's proposal "kind of like putting a campsite next to an active volcano."
     --Mike Zapler
     
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