Reporters’ Notebook

THE VALLEY'S 100 BIGGEST RESIDENTIAL WATER USERS got their names in the paper today, so it seems only fair to give the reporter who wrote the story the same treatment.

In 2008, Henry Brean and family used 129,000 gallons of water at his 6,970 square-foot lot in southeast Las Vegas, below the residential average of 160,000 gallons. That translates to roughly 19 gallons of water per square foot, below the local average but above what got used per square foot last year on property reportedly owned by Steve Wynn.

THERE IS ONE PROMINENT NAME YOU WILL NOT FIND among the 100 biggest water users: Pat Mulroy.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority chief used 664,000 gallons of water last year at her home on almost an acre near Sunset Park. That's more than four times the residential average, but still well outside the rankings. To make the list, she would need to almost triple her annual water use.

She had to fight with her husband over it, but Mulroy said she took out a lot of lawn. "If you look at an aerial view of my property you'll see little dots of grass, but they're just to prevent a divorce."

HENRY BREAN

OVERHEARD ON THE SCANNER: "Station 3, no emergency. Ice cream's on the way."

IT WAS TIME LAST WEEK TO REAPPOINT Las Vegas Councilman Steve Wolfson to the audit oversight committee, a routine item that he, being a lawyer, managed to complicate.

"Can I vote on this?" he asked, since he would be voting on his own appointment.

The question flummoxed a deputy city attorney and the entire contingent from the city manager's office, who said that question had simply never come up before.

"I always ask the stupidest questions, don't I?" Wolfson said.

"Well, then, let's vote against him," said Mayor Oscar Goodman.

They didn't. Instead, Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese said it was fine for Wolfson to vote, that they'd always done it that way. So he did.

ALAN CHOATE

LAS VEGAS COUNCILMAN STEVE ROSS rewarded young readers with a special treat: Watching him ride a donkey. Backwards.

The stunt was a promise to May Elementary School students, who met a goal of reading 35,000 books this year. Ross agreed to a donkey race with Principal Mindy Martinez, who had no riding experience to put up against Ross' riding background. So Ross steered his donkey while looking over his shoulder. The kids went nuts, and Martinez won the race.

It gave us at Week In Review something to think about, given that our business future depends on younger people making a habit of reading newspapers.

So, the school with the most families subscribing to the paper gets to watch Thomas Mitchell and Sherman Frederick joust with each other while riding emus.*

ALAN CHOATE

* This may not be a real offer.