Oscar Goodman: Thumbs up! Dema Guinn: Dawn's place is in the kitchen?

Whew, 2006 already? That was quick. But before 2005 gets too far in the rear-view mirror, let's remember that the past 12 months featured more than their share of the nutty and wacky. Remember: We are not making this stuff up.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who made a career of keeping killers and thugs out of jail, suggested that those caught "tagging" local edifices have their thumbs cut off. ... The Sierra Club agreed to drop its junk lawsuit gumming up the expansion of U.S. Highway 95 in return for, among other things, the creation of a taxpayer funded $50,000-a-year consulting position to "help ensure that the redesign of Western High School [as part of the freeway renovation] minimizes students' exposure to possible air pollution." ... Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., voted against trimming the Public Broadcasting Corporation's budget because he didn't want to take "Big Bird off the air." ... Pro "choice" advocates argued vehemently against a proposal that would allow Nevada pharmacists to choose whether to fill certain prescriptions. ...

Rep. Gibbons, who professes to be a supporter of states' rights, voted against a measure that would have prohibited the federal government from spending tax money to prosecute medical marijuana patients in states where voters have approved the plant for such uses. ... The Legislature granted 20 percent raises to the state's constitutional officers. ... The California Supreme Court ruled a Nevada casino could be sued for deceptive business practices after it advertised rooms for $50 a night, plus tax, but then also tacked on a $3 "energy surcharge." ... Lawmakers left Carson City having increased the state budget by more than 20 percent over the next two years. ... Local public defenders complained because they claimed that illegal aliens who commit crimes that would likely draw probation for U.S. citizens were being sent to jail, instead. ...

University Regent Douglas Seastrand applied for and received a $105,000-a-year job at UNLV while he was still serving on the board that oversees the institution. ... Mayor Goodman blew a gasket when tickets to a free rock concert marking the Las Vegas centennial celebration showed up for sale on eBay. ... A local sand and gravel producer was forced out of business when federal bureaucrats refused to let the company expand because of an endangered weed in the area. ... A UNLV economics professor was sanctioned for telling his class that homosexuals may lack long-term financial goals because many do not have children for whom to plan." ...

Dema Guinn, wife of Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, criticized Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons for seeking a congressional seat because her husband, Rep. Jim Gibbons, is running for governor. If they both were to win, Ms. Guinn opined, the people of Nevada would be shortchanged because Ms. Gibbons wouldn't be able to properly fulfill her duties as first lady. ... Democrats were up in arms in several states about proposals to require that people who show up at the polls to vote show identification. ... The Boulder City attorney threatened to seize the home of a woman who pleaded no contest to possessing six marijuana plants. ... The state Ethics Commission levied fines of $15 against two northern Nevada teachers who used class preparation time and school equipment to campaign for a Democratic assemblywoman. ... Inspectors for the state Public Works Board charged taxpayers $1.4 million to "oversee" construction of new UNLV law school buildings. ... Even though state law prohibits Millennium Scholarship students from using their $10,000 stipend to pay for remedial classes, a state attorney general's opinion stated this year that students could still count the remedial classes toward the scholarship's per-semester credit mandates. ...

Jim Rogers, interim chancellor of the state university system, recommended that the Clark County School District pay its new school superintendent up to $600,000. ... In the meantime, the Clark County School District granted 50 percent raises to the two administrators selected to served as co-interim superintendents during the search for a new honcho. ... Carlos Garcia, who left as district superintendent in July after five years, will receive a pension from Nevada taxpayers of $30,000 a year for life as soon as he hits 65. ... An Anaheim, Calif., man sued the comedian Gallagher after he smacked him upside the head during a show in Laughlin. ...

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called the president a "liar," Fed chief Alan Greenspan a "political hack," and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an "embarrassment" to the high court. ... State Controller Kathy Augustine, was impeached for using office equipment to benefit her re-election campaign. ... The Board of Regents named a search committee to whittle the candidates seeking to replace the outgoing UNR president and included regent and UNR professor Howard Rosenberg on the panel. ... The airport and Royal Links land deals -- enough said. ... Critics said efforts to increase admission standards at UNR and UNLV were discriminatory and unfair. ... "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss announced she planned to open a brothel for women in the small town of Crystal, about 80 miles northwest of Las Vegas. ... The union representing Las Vegas police argued in court filings that elected officials charged with budgeting local tax revenues should have no say in officer salaries. ...

The city of Las Vegas took down two pastel partial nudes that were part of a City Hall art exhibit after officials received an "anonymous" complaint. The art was later put back up. ... The state Transportation board approved a $1 billion road construction and maintenance program for the current fiscal year, with only 47 percent of the money slated to be spent in Clark County. ... An audit found that the Department of Energy paid bonuses to a Yucca Mountain contractor for shoddy or late work. ... An Oregon woman was bounced off a Southwest jet in Reno for wearing a T-shirt that used an obscenity to describe the president. ...

Happy New Year.