Tuesday, May 06, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

In Brief

POLICE INVESTIGATION

Man's body found near trash bin

Homicide investigators are probing the death of a man found Monday morning near a trash bin behind a shopping center on Rancho Drive, Las Vegas police said.

The discovery was first made in the 1000 block of North Rancho, near Washington Avenue, about 8 a.m. by an employee who works at one of the nearby businesses, said Lt. Tom Monahan.

The body showed evidence of head trauma, Monahan said. The Clark County coroner's office was conducting an autopsy Monday to determine an exact cause of death. The findings of that examination, as well as the victim's identity, were unavailable late Monday afternoon.

Anyone with information in the case can call CrimeStoppers at 385-5555 or homicide detectives at 229-3521.

SCIENCE BOWL

Clark High School's team eliminated

Clark High School's Science Bowl team had advanced to the national finals of the Department of Energy's science and math competition but was eliminated during the weekend, according to an agency spokesman.

Science Bowl spokesman Steve Zollinger said Clark's team, coached by Beth Isaacs, was among the last 18 teams in the competition in Washington, D.C., but lost to North Hollywood High School from California and Newton North High School from Massachusetts.

Clark High's team consisted of Zachary Devlin, Tom Wang, Donald Bridges, Jing Chen and Alex CerJanick.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, from Alexandria, Va., won the competition.

FLAMINGO-RAINBOW CRASH

Woman who died in accident identified

A motorist who died Saturday in an accident on Flamingo Road near Rainbow Boulevard has been identified as Christinna Hymer of Las Vegas.

Witnesses told investigators they saw the 24-year-old woman speeding and weaving in and out of traffic shortly before her car struck another car, Las Vegas police said.

Five other people, traveling in two other vehicles, were involved in the collision, but suffered only minor injuries, police said. Hymer was pronounced dead at the scene.

Preliminary evidence indicates high speed and reckless driving on Hymer's part caused the accident, police said.

STATE STATISTICS

Juvenile crime rate shows improvement

Nevada juvenile crime statistics improved in eight of nine categories, including fewer violent deaths and fewer arrests for violent crimes, according to the latest report on children's well being.

The 14th annual Nevada Kids Count Data Book examined poverty, dropouts, teen births and infant mortality among factors involving children.

Nevada improved in all but one of the statistical categories between 1998-2000 and 1999-2001, according to the report prepared at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"This would be kind of a first," R. Keith Schwer, director of UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "I cannot recall a year in which we made all those improvements."

But some of the improvements were less than 1 percent or 2 percent, meaning they could be affected adversely by the struggling economy, he said.

"Part of the reason for improvements is economic well being," Schwer said. "That improved through the 1990s and these statistics are a few years old."

Most noticeable progress was in the teen violent death rate, which dipped from 64.5 to 51.3 for every 100,000 teens age 15-19, and juvenile violent crime arrests, which went from 273.8 to 258.9 for every 100,000 youths age 10-17.

Schwer said teen birth rates remain high at 33.2 births for every 1,000 girls ages 15-17, down 2.5 percent, compared to the national average of 29.

Low birth weight babies are most common among blacks, women age 45 or older or teens, the report said.

KINGMAN DEATH

Man who died after laying in road ID'd

A Kingman man who was killed when struck by a vehicle on Route 66 late Saturday night has been identified as Rex Wayman.

Wayman, 32, was dead at the scene of the accident, about 10 miles west of Peach Springs.

Officials said Wayman was under the influence of alcohol when he laid down in the northbound lane and was struck by a pickup. Occupants of the truck were not injured.