REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK

A HELICOPTER BUZZED ABOVE, POLICE PATROL UNITS CORDONED OFF TWO BLOCKS OF 6TH STREET, law offices were evacuated and federal employees were stuck at work on Tuesday. All for a suspicious package reported at Bridger Avenue and Sixth Street.

After two hours, the package was detonated.

According to federal court sources, the package contained women's lingerie.

"They found half a bra about a half-block away," one source said.

It is unknown whether Pamela Anderson, who makes frequent visits to Las Vegas, has reported any of her personal items missing.

ADRIENNE PACKER

HERE IS SOMETHING YOU MIGHT NOT BE SEEING ON LAS VEGAS TV ANYTIME SOON. At a news conference last Wednesday where he encouraged Nevadans to continue getting colonoscopies, Sen. John Ensign noted he turns 50 on March 25, the magic age where the procedure is recommended for men.

"Katie Couric did her whole thing ... had the whole thing on television," Ensign recalled with a part-chuckle and a part-shudder. "That took a lot of courage in my book."

STEVE TETREAULT

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT A MAN OF THE CLOTH would be tougher than our Las Vegas constable?

During his days as chairman of the Las Vegas Housing Authority, Las Vegas Constable Robert "Bobby G" Gronauer was the victim of many a well-aimed barb from the mouth of renowned gadfly, community activist and sometime-potty mouth Beatrice Turner, who once publicly wished the constable dead.

Turner's frequent and colorful outbursts have for years punctuated housing authority meetings, entertaining and sometimes intimidating other audience members. Gronauer repeatedly threatened to remove Turner from the meetings, but never quite had the heart.

Father Dave Casaleggio isn't so long-suffering. The new housing authority chairman on Thursday barked at security officers to remove Turner from the regular board meeting after she began shouting at board Commissioner Steve Ross, who is also a Las Vegas councilman. Casaleggio also immediately called the meeting to a halt and ordered the 50 or so other audience members out. Turner's shouts, including several expletives unsuitable for a family newspaper, could be heard down the hallway as she was escorted to the exit. Casaleggio then reconvened the meeting.

Carl Rowe, the authority's executive director, said it was the second time in Casaleggio's short tenure that he had removed Turner.

"He's pretty feisty," Rowe said of Casaleggio. "He doesn't take any crap."

LYNNETTE CURTIS

GOV. JIM GIBBONS HOPES PEOPLE DON'T TAKE IT THE WRONG WAY, but he admitted he is a true gun aficionado.

After a state Board of Examiners' meeting on Tuesday, Gibbons pulled his concealed weapons permit out of his wallet. It shows he is proficient in the use of eight varieties of 9 mm and Glock handguns and even derringers out of the old West.

The governor renewed his permit in December.

Gibbons said he likes to target practice with guns and seldom carries a weapon.

Over the years, many top Nevada officials have had concealed weapons permits and carried weapons. Former Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, who is now chief of Henderson police, and Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, both carried weapons in the Legislature. So did Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., when he served in the state Senate.

ED VOGEL

AS CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE, Sen. John Ensign has a tough job recruiting candidates and raising money in what is shaping up as a rough year for the party.

How tough? In an interview last week, The Hill newspaper asked Ensign how the job as a chief GOP election strategist has affected his personal life.

"I have played 18 holes of golf this year: two nine-hole matches with my son," said Ensign, a noted linkster. "So the golf game is definitely suffering."

"We sat down as a family before I took the job and made that decision, and they knew that this year would be a tough year."

STEVE TETREAULT