The Nevada Office of Veterans Services has set up a collection center for used cellular phones as part of a nationwide program to help purchase pre-paid calling cards for U.S. troops overseas.
The Cell Phones for Soldiers program is a nonprofit effort started by two teenagers in Norwell, Mass.
The program has raised nearly $1 million and has sent more than 75,000 pre-paid calling cards to U.S. military personnel, according to the Nevada Office of Veterans Services.
The program recycles phones for cash to buy calling cards or video phone calls.
Phones can be dropped off at 950 W. Owens Ave., Room 111, Las Vegas.
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION
Group dedicated to finding missing adults
A new nonprofit organization dedicated to finding missing people opened Monday.
The Nevada Center for Missing Loved Ones, founded by retired police officer and former Nevada Child Seekers staffer Frank Mahoney, will use volunteers to search for people who have gone missing.
Mahoney said the organization differs from Nevada Child Seekers in that it will focus mainly on missing adults, such as elderly dementia or Alzheimer's sufferers who may wander away.
"There is a need for a service to look for adults," Mahoney said. "They are just as important as children."
Mahoney said about 10,000 people, including children, are reported missing each year in Nevada.
For more information, call the Nevada Center for Missing Loved ones at 564-1446.
HIGH WINDS BLAMED
Dust advisory issued for Clark County
Clark County air quality officials have issued a dust advisory through this afternoon in anticipation of high winds.
"As part of the county's dust-control program, officials are sending notices to construction sites in the Las Vegas Valley asking them to take precautions to prevent blowing dust," the advisory reads.
The advisory, posted Monday, warns that children, the elderly and people with respiratory diseases are urged to stay indoors during dust storms.
The advisory urges residents to call the dust-complaint hot line at 385-DUST to report excessive amounts of blowing dust.
CRASH OCCURRED THURSDAY
18-year-old dies from motorcycle injuries
An 18-year-old Henderson man who was in a motorcycle accident died from his injuries last week, Henderson police said Monday.
Mario Pernett died Friday at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, police said.
Pernett was traveling east on Equestrian Drive near Roan Road, east of Boulder Highway, on a 2004 Kawasaki ZX6-RR at about 5:30 p.m. Thursday when he crashed into the front of a 2002 Toyota Corolla driven by 23-year-old Melissa Chernoff of Henderson. Chernoff had stopped at the stop sign on Roan Road and was proceeding into the intersection when Pernett hit the front left of the car, police said.
Police were still investigating the crash on Monday but believe speed may have played a part.
Pernett was not wearing a helmet and did not have a motorcycle license, police said.
