State senator says other businesses share zoo’s OSHA problem

State Sen. John Lee read this week's column on the Las Vegas Zoo's battle with OSHA officials and experienced a sense of deja vu.

He had heard before the story of inspectors from Nevada's Occupational Safety and Health Administration office placing burdensome fines on small businesses. Proposing a $13,200 penalty on the diminutive zoo, a nonprofit run on a slender budget, was another example of bureaucrats gone wild.

Zoo Director Pat Dingle says the fines could shut down the facility after 31 years.

"Nevada OSHA seems to be pushing (businesses) out of the state as fast as we can bring them in," Lee says.

"No one wants employees or animals to get hurt," he adds, but overzealous inspectors can easily apply undue pressure.

And that makes him question whether state OSHA has the right mission. It should work to increase safety, but increasingly it appears focused on applying fines that can put small operators out of business.

OSHA doesn't exist to "fine you for everything it can," Lee says. "It's amazing to me that this seems to have happened in the last two years. They've become code enforcers, a quasi-Building Department.

"It's an issue. It's not just a now-and-then problem."

Lee has received complaints from a variety of businesses about OSHA abuses and overreaching.

As for the zoo's predicament, Lee observes that the best result likely is a reduction in the amount of money it is fined for its inferior wall sockets and the official's opinion that the trained zoo employees need to wear better protective gear when feeding the animals. This despite the fact OSHA's duties don't include the proper care and feeding of zoo creatures.

Lee tells a story of a small-business owner who was fined $1,500 for failing to have three pieces of paperwork properly displayed. That's $500 per piece of paper, and that fine placed a burden on the business owner.

"We want people safe, but these tactics are abusive," the senator says.

Meanwhile, Gov. Brian Sandoval's office has been made aware of the OSHA problems at the Las Vegas Zoo. A spokesman for the Department of Business and Industry said Wednesday the issue is being reviewed.

GIVING BACK: Here's a Las Vegas college spring break story you won't often read. It's one that doesn't include public drunkenness or even one ill-advised tattoo.

A group of fresh-faced Pepperdine University students volunteered this week at the Three Square food bank as part of their school's Project Serve program.

It's a great spring break tradition, and local Pepperdine grads Monterey and Jeffrey Brookman hosted the students.

UNION BACKING: Ward 2 City Council candidate Bob Beers received the endorsement of Las Vegas Firefighters Local 1285 this week.

Does this mean conservative Republican Beers has secretly been wearing union buttons all these years?

Not exactly.

Beers' strengths as a candidate aside, I think it means union officials believe he's going to win.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Former pit boss Bill Peccole, who died Feb. 23, could have written an extremely interesting book about the mob's influence in Nevada casinos. ... Interesting to read some of the far-right political tributes to the late state Sen. and GOP stalwart Bill Raggio. Many couldn't find a fair word to say about him when he was alive.

BOULEVARD II: There's still time to donate to Saturday's annual St. Baldrick's Foundation childhood cancer research fundraiser at stbaldricks.org. ... The famous Four Kegs stromboli is now a part of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford's training table after a visit this week.

BOULEVARD III: Readers interested in the sentencing of tax return scammer Vernon "Money Man" Newson will have to wait longer. Thursday's sentencing in U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben's courtroom was rescheduled for April 30. Safely after Tax Day, as it turns out.

Have an item for the Bard of the Boulevard? Email comments and contributions to Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.