NEVADA GAMING COMMISSION CHAIRMAN PETER BERNHARD made a brief disclosure last week before the five-member panel granted a license to the $925 million Red Rock Resort.
The Bingo Palace, the tiny predecessor to the Station Casinos corporation, sponsored Bernhard's "beer league" softball team back in the late 1970s.
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"We helped spread the name of the Bingo Palace with the logo on our shirts," Bernhard said. But he reasoned he was able to cast his affirmative vote on the matter without a conflict.
"They made us pick up the tab for our own beers after the games," Bernhard said.
HOWARD STUTZ
DURING A DISCUSSION ABOUT REDISTRICTING, County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald explained just how confusing the current district boundaries are to constituents.
She noted several residents she spoke with while shopping at a neighborhood grocery store believed Boggs McDonald was their representative when in fact they each lived in different districts.
Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said she too goes to grocery stores, "and people always say, 'Commissioner McDonald how are you today?' They get us confused all the time."
Commissioner Rory Reid then chimed in: "The other day someone called me Myrna," he said, referring to Commissioner Myrna Williams.
K.C. HOWARD
It's always the media's fault.
In a discussion Thursday about whether to allow media into the juvenile court hearing in a sexual assault case involving 17-year-old Daman Starring, Hearing Master Stephen Compan asked the defense why it didn't want to allow the media in despite a judge signing an approval for the media to attend.
"Well I think there's a certain amount of media frenzy around this case, which I really don't think is warranted," said Starring's attorney, Frank Cremen. "Allowing them in is like chumming for sharks."
Compan agreed to bar the media from the proceedings, though a spokesman relayed the goings-on to reporters.
Later, Juvenile Court Judge William Voy said Compan erred in barring journalists from the custody hearing.
DAVID MCGRATH SCHWARTZ
A QUORUM OF FORMER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS involved in a corruption trial, a velvet bag containing a $30,000 loan, allegations of oral sex to buy a former county commissioner's vote. How could the ongoing county corruption trial get any more entertaining?
How about throwing Oscar Goodman into the mix.
The former mob lawyer-turned Las Vegas mayor floated the idea recently after hearing a professor of law eloquently argue against the Patriot Act in front of the City Council.
Lennox Hinds apologized for going over the time he was allotted but explained he was a former trial lawyer.
"Not at all," Goodman said. "You got my juices going. After this, I might go over to the federal courthouse and defend some public officials."
DAVID MCGRATH SCHWARTZ
CLARK COUNTY COMMISSIONER BRUCE WOODBURY cited federal assistance with Southern Nevada's booming growth in his introduction of John Ensign at the senator's campaign kick-off event on Wednesday.
"You see it on the Beltway, which I'm familiar with," Woodbury said. "I was on it today, stuck in traffic, and I was cursing that guy Woodbury, whose name is on the sign."
ERIN NEFF
IN AN INTERVIEW WITH TIME MAGAZINE published last week, songstress Bette Midler mentioned she has been "talking to people in Las Vegas because I think it would be nice to get off the road and not waste so much gas."
She was then asked if she liked Las Vegas.
"I'm of two minds about Vegas. I think Vegas is strange, and I don't know where their water comes from. But as a town and a place for an entertainer, there's no comparison. There's no other place you can go to where you can just sit and do six weeks at a time and have your band and your staff be so happy. On the other hand, as an environmentalist, I'm a little shaken up by it."
NEVADA DRIVERS WHO RENEW THEIR LICENSES through the mail receive an obvious bit of wisdom from the Department of Motor Vehicles: "About 90 percent of driver decisions are based on what you see. If you suspect a vision problem, we recommend you see an eye doctor."
