Reporters’ Notebook

SOMETHING UPBEAT CAME OUT OF THE MEMORIAL SERVICE MONDAY FOR GEORGE W. DUNAWAY, who retired in Las Vegas 22 years ago and held the title of the nation's second-ever Sergeant Major of the Army:

His daughter, Suzie said, "Dad was always prepared and one step ahead of everybody else." Before passing away, he'd written a note for his son, George. It said: "Put my money back in my pocket. I'm coming back."

KEITH ROGERS

VALENTINE'S DAY IS A TIME FOR CHOCOLATES, FLOWERS AND GRAND ROMANTIC GESTURES. It is also the time when newspaper reporters receive lame press releases and crass promotions from public relations firms looking to capitalize on the holiday.

FOR EXAMPLE:

•A group called Food & Water Watch announced that on Valentine's Day, "students from across the country will declare their love for tap water" with an "I Heart Tap Water" video contest. The entries had better be good, though. One of the celebrity judges is actor and harsh critic Alec Baldwin, who can be heard calling his 12-year-old daughter a "rude, thoughtless little pig" in a voice mail leaked last year.

•Cable network Animal Planet spammed environmental reporters nationwide with a Valentine from Cozi and Jao, "two of the most lovable chimps" featured on its show "Escape to Chimp Eden."

•And from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery came this heart-warming Valentine's Day gift idea: "Noone (sic) needs another pair of shoes or another handbag ... getting something different like Botox or Juvederm makes your (sic) feel better from the inside out."

OVERHEARD ON THE SCANNER: "I'm having a senior moment. I'm trying to remember (where) Sahara and Nellis (is)."

IN THE AFTERMATH OF LAS VEGAS MAKING A TOP 10 LIST OF FATTEST AMERICAN CITIES, PETA has come up with an idea that just might get the carnivores to look up from their surf-and-turf buffets and prime rib specials.

(That's People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, by the way, which is a shame, because "people eating tasty animals" is so much easier to remember.)

The animal rights group has offered to host a vegetarian barbecue, but flesh is still the draw. It'll be hosted by the Lettuce Ladies, a group of attractive activists who parade around in bikinis made of lettuce.

"I'm taking them up on their offer," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who received a letter from PETA last week. "I got on the phone right away to respond.

"I told them that I'm sort of like an old desert tortoise: Throw him a piece of lettuce, he starts nibbling. So watch out."

A date hasn't been set, but city staff are trying to schedule the cookout, tentatively called "Vegans in Vegas," sometime in March.

The ranks of the Lettuce Ladies include stars like Alyssa Milano, Pamela Anderson and Elizabeth Berkley, but no promises on whether they'll be there.

There's also no word on whether PETA's other sexed-up vegetarian offerings -- including bikini tofu wrestling -- will be on the agenda.

ALAN CHOATE

A REPORT ON LOCATIONS FOR A NEW LAS VEGAS CITY HALL (actually, a "civic center plaza") notes the city has an aggressive time frame for completion: 2011, which would mean the construction process needs to start almost immediately.

The official reason for that deadline is that construction costs go up quickly, so for estimates to be any good work must start soon.

But could it be connected to the fact that the terms of Mayor Oscar Goodman and Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese end in 2011, and term limits prevent them from running again?

City spokesman David Riggleman wouldn't comment directly on that idea, or on whether the new building could be named the "Oscar B. Goodman Civic Center Plaza."

"I don't know if that would be the case or not," Riggleman said. "That would be up to the council. They could name it whatever they wanted."

And if both men were to be honored, would it be Goodman-Reese, or Reese-Goodman?

Stay tuned.

ALAN CHOATE

IRISH INDEPENDENT

European investors see dollars in desert

Europeans can make a killing picking over the bones of Las Vegas' real estate market, a Dublin investment firm told the Irish Independent.

"Las Vegas can produce millionaires overnight, but these days the smart money isn't to be found on the blackjack tables -- it's in the pockets of property investors, eager to cash in on the turmoil in the American real estate market," the Independent reported. "As the U.S. flounders in a housing slump, a Dublin firm, Harcourt Developments, believes it has found an oasis of potential in the desert state of Nevada."

In particular, the Dublin investors like the Sullivan Square development in the southwest valley. The firm is bankrolling the $800 million project, according to the article.

Real estate investing in the United States is a risk because of the housing downturn, the worst since World War II, Harcourt executives tell the Independent. But "the fundamentals in the Las Vegas economy are strong enough to give the city a bounce factor that won't be seen anywhere else in the U.S."

Las Vegas is so bouncy because of $19 billion in investment in new casinos, hotels and malls that will draw 400,000 new residents over the next five years, according to the Dublin money dudes.