reporters’ notebook

RANDOM QUOTES OVERHEARD AT MONDAY'S MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY PARADE, held under dark skies and sporadic sprinkles in downtown Las Vegas:

• "Where's my hoodie?"

• "I know it's cold. I know it's raining. But you can still get your dance on!"

• "This is one rainy-ass parade."

LYNNETTE CURTIS

WITHIN THE PAST SIX YEARS, GLOCKENSPIELS have become standard equipment in the Clark County School District.

All new elementary schools open with at least three, but older schools don't always have as many.

In a discussion on how to treat all schools fairly, Chuck Kubat of the Bond Oversight Committee was perplexed.

"I'm not sure I know what a glockenspiel is," he said.

A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument similar to a xylophone, except that a glockenspiel has metal bars and makes a higher pitch sound.

As popular as they might be, a survey of 17 principals indicated that getting more glockenspiels ranks low on their priority list.

"What is evident is that these schools need LCD projectors," said Al Davis of the Bond Oversight Committee, "and what they have is glockenspiels."

JAMES HAUG

PAHRUMP LOST ITS SANTA CLAUS ON JAN. 4, when Gene Pickering died at the age of 85. For more than 25 years, Pickering and his wife, Janet, dressed up as Santa and Mrs. Claus and handed out toys to kids at the communitywide Christmas party they hosted each year.

Janet said some children would come in with "dirty diapers and runny noses," but Gene never seemed to get sick. "I was the one who always got the flu."

Santa didn't escape completely unscathed however. One time he got peed on by an over-excited little girl, Janet said. "I think she literally filled his boot."

HENRY BREAN