IN BRIEF

NOT WEARING SEAT BELTS

Victims of fatal crash in NLV identified

Two people killed in an early morning crash Sunday in North Las Vegas were identified as Vaughn N. Retchless and Misty Rose Vasquez.

The two died when the truck they were riding in crashed about 3 a.m. on Tropical Parkway near Decatur Boulevard, police said.

Neither Retchless, 23, nor Vasquez, 25, were wearing seat belts when the 1996 Chevrolet pickup ran off the road and into a brick wall, police said. The impact threw both of them from the truck.

A third passenger, Barry Cooper, 26, survived the crash with minor injuries despite not wearing a seat belt. He told investigators that the driver swerved to avoid something running across the road and lost control of the truck, police said.

Police had not determined who was driving.

DRUNKEN DRIVING ALLEGATIONS

Two arrested after accident near Reno

Two people were facing drunken driving charges after a head-on crash early Monday on U.S. 395 north of Reno, authorities said.

Kathleen May Ray, 44, was heading south in the northbound lanes when her car slammed into a pickup driven by Saul Villareal near the Golden Valley interchange, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol

Ray was taken to the hospital with moderate injuries and would be charged with first-offense DUI and driving the wrong way on a highway, the patrol said.

Villareal, 21, escaped serious injury and was arrested for second-offense DUI and driving on a revoked license, officers said.

The 2:30 a.m. accident closed the highway for about two hours

PATRON SAINT OF LOST ARTICLES

Items intended for new church stolen

The St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church doesn’t even have a permanent home, yet already it has been the victim of vandalism and theft.

Parishioners were saddened late last week when a pair of hand painted depictions of St. Anthony, a patron saint of lost articles, were stolen from a sign marking the future spot of the church near the intersection of Centennial Parkway and Fort Apache Road in northwest Las Vegas, Sue Sartor said.

The paintings were done by Joanne Gore and hung from each side of the sign. They were hit with rocks about a week before they were stolen, Sartor said.

Parishioners hoped the thefts were only a prank and that the paintings will be returned, she said.