The Las Vegas City Council passed an ordinance last week, banning the feeding of homeless in city parks. The new law prompted the Week In Review staff to wonder who or what else the city might one day prohibit the public from feeding. We're certain feeding Mayor Oscar Goodman's ego and voracious appetite for publicity always will be allowed, wherever and whenever. But feeding the following might not be: thumbless graffiti artists; ACLU of Nevada director Gary Peck; wild animals; longtime Goodman critics Steve Miller and Jon Ralston; the Review-Journal's editorial board; pro sports franchises that use the city as a bargaining chip when they have no intention of actually relocating here; anyone who points out the Strip isn't within Las Vegas city limits; cannibals; and rumors that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have a sham marriage. They are very much in love. Illustration by David Stroud.
A palm tree near Spencer Street and Reno Avenue burns after being ignited by lightning from a monsoon storm that rolled through Southern Nevada Monday night. The storm knocked out power to some valley homes, set at least 60 trees on fire, dropped hail and sent wind gusting at up to 60 mph. Photo by John Gurzinski.
The Las Vegas City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday that bans providing food to the homeless in city parks.
The measure -- an attempt to stop so-called "mobile soup kitchens" from operating in parks, where residents say they attract the homeless and render the parks unusable by families -- was immediately criticized by civil libertarians and homeless advocates.
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The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada called it blatantly unconstitutional, unenforceable and the latest attempt by the city to harass the homeless instead of constructively address their plight.
"So the only people who get to eat are those who have enough money? Those who get (government) assistance can't eat at your picnic?" asked ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein. "It's mind-boggling."
The ordinance defines an indigent as a "person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive assistance" from the government under state law.
Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has been a vocal advocate of cracking down on the homeless in city parks, dismissed questions about how marshals, who patrol city parks, will identify the homeless in order to enforce the ordinance, the violation of which would be a misdemeanor.
"Certain truths are self-evident," Goodman said. "You know who's homeless."
City officials said they instituted the law in part because of recommendations from some who work with the homeless who say offering food separately from other services, such as counseling and drug treatment, is counterproductive.
"This is not a punishment; this is to help people," Goodman said. "The people who provide sandwiches have good intentions, but they're enabling people not to get the help that is needed."
MONDAY
Augustine children awaiting autopsy
If an autopsy determines state Controller Kathy Augustine did not die of natural causes, her stepchildren said they would press police to exhume the body of their father and investigate the cause of his death.
Greg Augustine told the Review-Journal that both the 2003 death of his father, Charles, and the July 11 death of his stepmother appeared suspicious. Kathy Augustine had been married to Charles Augustine for 17 years at the time of his death.
Chaz Higgs, Kathy Augustine's husband at the time of her death, said last week that his wife had experienced a massive heart attack and that he'd been unable to revive her.
Higgs, who had been Charles Augustine's nurse at the time of his death, married Kathy Augustine about three weeks after the death of Charles, who had been hospitalized in Reno for a stroke, family said.
TUESDAY
DOE sets schedule for Yucca dump
The Energy Department set a new schedule for the Yucca Mountain repository, projecting a March 2017 date to begin accepting nuclear waste.
"What we based our schedule on is what we at DOE have control over, and that is significant," spokesman Craig Stevens said. "There are some things that will be out of our control."
The schedule was the government's first timeline for Yucca Mountain since the Energy Department two years ago abandoned a 2010 repository opening. Early on in the project, a Yucca repository was supposed to begin operations in January 1998.
WEDNESDAY
Monorail suffers ridership decline
Monorail ridership in the first half of 2006 plunged nearly 30 percent from passenger counts last year.
The sustained turnstile slowdown followed a fare hike at the start of this year.
"The fare increase has certainly dampened ridership. We'll see how it plays out through the remainder of the year," said Scott Trommer, an analyst with Fitch Ratings, a New York City-based credit rating firm that's been tracking the monorail.
Monorail officials said they hope that marketing and partnership initiatives now being rolled out will result in more crowded trains next year.
THURSDAY
Court allows hike in electricity bills
Electric bills will be headed up thanks to a Nevada Supreme Court ruling in favor of Nevada Power Co.
Southern Nevada electric customers can expect to pay about 9 percent more if the $180 million award is collected over one year.
The state's high court ruled Nevada Power is entitled to recover the money as past expenses for fuel used in power generation and wholesale power expenses. The Public Utilities Commission had rejected a 2002 rate case for the funds based on Nevada Power's failure to buy power from suppliers at low rates before the Western energy crisis sent prices soaring.
FRIDAY
TASC qualifies for November ballot
Secretary of State Dean Heller announced the Tax and Spending Control Initiative has qualified for the November ballot.
There were concerns about an error in the wording of TASC petitions, and allegations by opponents that as much as 40 percent of the signatures gathered were fraudulent.
The initiative, sponsored by state Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, would limit government spending increases to the combined rate of population growth and inflation.
