REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK

TIMES OF LONDON

Depressing talk about CityCenter

Times of London writer Chris Ayres recently traveled to Las Vegas and during his short stay saw enough to know our outpost in the Mojave has one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel by the name of CityCenter.

Upon arrival, Ayres glimpsed the $8 billion project, billed as the largest private real estate project in history, and it got him thinking. (Being British, Ayres reacted with a "Bloody hell" and a misspelling of the name as "CityCentre.")

Describing it as an "excesstropolis of almost comic proportions," Ayres says CityCenter could only happen in "the heat and booze-frazzled lunacy" of Las Vegas.

"All this probably sounded like a great idea two years ago, before Wall Street froze over and pundits started talking about the Great Depression II," Ayres writes. "These days it's hard to avoid the feeling that Sin City put its future on black just before the spinning ball of the economy landed on red. In total, the city's developers are $35 billion in the hole on projects such as CityCentre. If they're completed, Las Vegas will be a new city. If not, the entire house of cards could collapse."

He then gives this parting shot: "There's an upside to the imminent death of Las Vegas: the place is a lot more fun than it used to be. There's less traffic, the restaurants are less crowded and you can actually get some elbow room at the blackjack tables. My advice to anyone planning a trip: do it sooner rather than later, while you still can."

JAZZY SANTA HAD BEEN THE MASCOT OF THE REVIEW-JOURNAL'S CITY DESK going on three years before his demise last week.

The foot-high Santa, a Christmas token from Buffalo Jim Barrier to a staffer of his acquaintance, played with the push of a button a saxophone rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." He danced, too.

Jazzy stood at the converging corners of four editors' desks. Barrier's business card was tucked into the base.

When an editor pushed the button last week, in the wake of news that Barrier had been found dead at a Motel 6, Jazzy's only sound was a low moan, a moan that wouldn't cease until the batteries were hastily pried out with a letter opener.

Godspeed, Buffalo Jim. Godspeed, Jazzy Santa.

MARY HYNES

THE CHICKEN RANCH BROTHEL IN PAHRUMP OPENED ITS DOORS on Thursday to a group of female students from a private liberal arts college in Virginia. Longtime brothel spokesman Bob Fisher invited the media along to observe the field trip.

Before the students arrived, Fisher told reporters, "I think you'll be able to tell the difference between the working girls and the students. Hopefully."

HENRY BREAN

DURING THE FIELD TRIP, BROTHEL MANAGER DEBBIE RIVENBURGH and a prostitute who goes by the name Alicia were asked about the long hours the working girls have to keep.

Nodding toward Alicia, Rivenburgh laughed and said, "She falls asleep every night at 11 or 12."

Alicia conceded the point.

"I'm the boringest hooker you're ever going to meet."

HENRY BREAN

OVERHEARD ON THE SCANNER: "His car broke down on the way to pick his car up."

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE OFFICIALS PICKED THE RIGHT GUY when they hired a helicopter pilot to snatch wrecked cars from the bottom of a cliff near the Colorado River on Monday.

Clint Burke, who flies for Utah-based Mountain West Helicopters, has spent about 27,000 hours in the air, including more than 13,000 hours at the controls of the K-MAX, a single-seat, twin-prop helicopter specially designed for picking up heavy loads.

"I think I hold the record for it," Burke said of the time he has logged in the K-MAX. "It jockeys back and forth between me and another guy, and he just quit."

HENRY BREAN

DONALD MOYER, UNLV'S FIRST PRESIDENT, DIED this month. The "Original Rebel" was credited with, among other things, changing the name of the school from Nevada Southern University to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The university's student union was named in his honor.

One sentence in Moyer's obituary caught the attention of former Review-Journal Associate Sports Editor Pete Peters, who was at the newspaper in 1964 when Moyer took over as president of the university then-known as Nevada Southern.

Peters wrote that he was sad to learn of Moyer's passing, but a bit aggravated that Moyer got credit for the university's name. Peters, in the Nov. 22, 1964, Review-Journal, penned a column calling on officials to "rename NSU the 'University of Nevada at Las Vegas.' "

"So, five years after my column appeared the change was made," Peters noted. "Everyone gets buildings or events named after them. I don't even have a toilet named after me."