Reporters’ Notebook

SOME WEDDING CHAPEL OWNERS HAVE HAD IT with the city's ubiquitous "What Happens Here" campaign. They think the hedonistic message may discourage couples from getting married in Las Vegas.

To combat this, the wedding chapels want their own marketing campaign through the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Sounds like a good idea to us. In fact, here's a few free suggestions, courtesy of the staff at Week in Review:

• My mom went to Vegas and all I got was this lousy stepdad.

• What happens here becomes a ball and chain that crushes your spirit.

• Something borrowed. Something blue. Ten-times odds on craps.

• She blew on my dice and we both got lucky!

• Vegas: Where you can get divorced before the honeymoon ends.

• Drunken, drive-through marriage is between a man and a woman (slogan subject to change).

• Half of all marriages end in divorce? I like those odds!

LOCAL ELVIS IMPERSONATOR JESSE GARON wants to draft Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman into the feud with New York City over who gets to be called the world's wedding capital.

"We'd like to put on one heckuva renewal of vows for you and your wife," Garon said at Goodman's weekly news conference. "It's the romance of Las Vegas -- not the quickie weddings, but the romance -- that we want to sell."

He envisioned a large media event, with the Goodmans exchanging vows again and the mayor speaking out about Vegas' varied wedding offerings.

"You have my complete and utter acquiescence," Goodman said. "My wife may be a different story. I'm sure if you ask her, she'll definitely say yes."

The event is scheduled for the couple's wedding anniversary, June 6, most likely at Garon's new chapel, The Knot, at downtown's Plaza casino. The news has caused quite a stir among chapel owners; a production company has already been lined up to film it.

Let's just hope after 47 years of marriage, Carolyn Goodman still feels like playing along.

ALAN CHOATE

CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT WALT RULFFES has become a political ally of Chancellor Jim Rogers in their fight against state budget cuts, but it hasn't always been that way.

At a recent rally, Rulffes acknowledged friction in the past.

Rogers even recommended someone else for superintendent when the job was open a few years ago.

But that's all water under the bridge now. As Rulffes said he once told Rogers: "Jim, you weren't my first choice for chancellor either."

JAMES HAUG