Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 23

Today's tip Section 2C OBITUARIES 4-1 3C CLASSIFIED Tuesday JULY 16, 198 RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL Nevada Tired of being embarrassed at the swimming pool? Get in shape. The Reno Recreation Department is holding new aerobics fitness classes for all levels. Details, 785-2262. Arrest expected in Reno torchings Avenue and Vassar Street is believed to be unrelated. Most of the 20 other fires occurred in the area south of Kietzke Lane and in the four-block neighborhood of Parkview Street, Carlos Lane and Kindred and Maz-zone avenues just east of Highway 395 behind the Gemco on Moana Lane.

Fourteen were dumpster fires. Five fires that were confirmed cases of arson involved two cars, one motor home and two structures. A third structure fire is suspected arson. The apartments that burned Sunday were being built by a partnership of Reno attorneys. They apparently had been the target of an arson attempt last Saturday By Lenita PowersGazette-Journal Fire officials say they're close to figuring out who started a string of fires in southeast Reno, including Sunday's fire at the Parkview Apartments that endangered 38 residents.

The Secret Witness Program is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the arson. The Secret Witness telephone number is 322-4900 and callers may remain anonymous. "It was obviously arson. Somebody went in and torched the building," arson investigator Ron Jones said Monday of the fire that began in a two-story apart ment building under construction at 3463 Carlos Lane. Flames from the fire in the unoccupied complex spread south to the Parkview Apartments, causing $3,000 damage to vehicles, $260,000 to the 11 apartments and leaving 38 residents from 11 families homeless.

The Red Cross has relocated 14 residents in apartments in the same Parkview Street area and is offering assistance to the other 24 who apparently sought refuge with families or friends. Jones said 21 fires have plagued the city since June 1, but a July 7 arson fire that destroyed the Tan Phat Market on Wells Bonus pay checks sent to school districts CARSON CITY The first checks in a $24.5 million bonus pay plan authorized by the 1985 Legislature were sent out Monday by state Treasurer Patty Cafferata to teachers and some state workers. Mrs. Cafferata said $12 million in checks went to school districts around the state for bonuses to be paid to teachers and other district employees whose contracts are renewed for the upcoming school year. Another $1.9 million was sent to the state Transportation Department.

Mrs. Cafferata said she plans to pay another $8.6 million in bonuses Friday to other state government employees who qualify for the checks. The balance of just under $2 million is scheduled to go to the University of Nevada for its qualifying employees on Friday or Monday. New United Way officer Bill Hull, executive vice president and branch administrator for Valley Bank, has been named "loaned executive chairman" for the 1985 United Way of Northern Nevada fund drive. Hull, as a member of the volunteer campaign cabinet, will be responsible for recruiting and overseeing participation by executives from northern Nevada companies who will help administer the community fund-raising campaign.

Funds support unduplicated non-profit health and human care programs. More than 300,000 individuals and families are expected to be helped by United Way next year. 4 0" i -if! Mr Craig SailorGazette-Journal BEST FRIENDS: Aaron Price, 7, of Reno, chases canine berry Park. Aaron and seven other boys were on a cooling-friend Toby through the Truckee River Monday at May- off field trip from a Reno day care center. when a mattress and other materials were piled against the building and set afire.

Firefighters were able to extinguish that blaze with minimum damage to the complex. "It's either the same person or same group of people," Jones said. "Without question we're close to finding them. We do have some individuals in mind and we're getting a lot of information from people in the community." Fifty firefighters responded to the three-alarm fire Sunday. It was controlled within 50 minutes after it was reported at 1:34 a.m.

See ARSON, page 2C Elko County fires burn 40,000 acres By Courtney BrennGazette-Journai Ending a brief respite, firefighters in Elko County are back on the lines battling fires that had burned more than 40,000 acres as of Monday night. A smaller fire, 40 to 50 acres, broke out in the Rancho Haven area near Reno Monday night. The Bureau of Land Management sought help from the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District and the Nevada Division of Forestry to fight the blaze north of Red Rock Road. Late Monday they had no estimate of when it would be contained or controlled. No structures were threatened.

A fire is contained when it is surrounded and not expected to spread. It is controlled when all flames are extinguished. Officials also could not estimate a time of containment for the Winecup fire, 25 miles north of Wells, which was burning more than 20,000 acres. The Silver Cloud fire, which has burned 15,000 acres south of Midas near the Silver Cloud Mine, was also burning east out of control. Another fire, 10 miles north of Winecup, had burned some 2,000 acres.

"We've also got three smaller fires and I'm not calling anything contained," said Fred Parry, fire management officer for the Bureau of Land Management. Although there were no thunderstorms in Elko County on Monday, Parry said, "most of (the fires) came from a lightning storm we had yesterday, because the fields are so dry." In spite of six engine crews, two bulldozers and two helicopters on the scene after the Silver Cloud fire started Sunday afternoon, the blaze doubled in size in a few hours due to high winds. Some of the controlled fires still being monitored Monday were the Hungry Valley and Long Valley fires north of Reno. The largest fire, the Sentinel-Montana fire in north-central Nevada, was contained over the weekend. In the past week, reinforcements had been sent in from as far away as the East Coast to help battle the blazes, but most left after the major fires had been contained.

More thunderstorms are predicted for late afternoon and evening. Minneapolis Galaxy suits refiled in Reno By Wayne MeltonGazette-Journal Twelve lawsuits originally filed in Minneapolis, were refiled Monday in Reno against Galaxy Airlines for the Jan. 21 crash that killed 70 people. Another nine suits will soon be filed in Washoe District Court on behalf of surviving relatives, according to court records. Others besides Galaxy named as defendants are: Desert Palace operator of Caesars Tahoe at Stateline; Lockheed builder of the Lockheed L-188 that crashed; and I.P.M.

Technology, operator of Reno Flying Service, which serviced the aircraft at Reno Cannon International Airport. Galaxy Flight 203, bound for the Twin Cities, crashed shortly after takeoff. Only one person aboard survived, 17-year-old George Lamson whose father was killed in the crash. One of Monday's suits was filed on behalf of Lamson relatives. Reno attorney William O.

"Bud" Bradley of Bradley and Drendel representing victims' families, said Reno is the proper place for the suits since the crash occurred here. Reno attorney Bruce Laxalt, representing Galaxy and Caesars Tahoe, which organized the gambling junket, has said Bradley "will attempt, I suppose, to take advantage of some differences in Nevada law having to do with damages, and it's unclear whether they'll be able to do so." Hollywood comes to struggling Ely Bilyeu recall effort dying CARSON CITY A drive to recall Assembly Speaker Bill Bilyeu, R-Elko, is "running out of steam" and will probably fail, its chief backer said Monday. Robert Woodley, an Elko carpenter organizing the recall effort, said he has only about half the 1,905 signatures needed to force a recall election and has only until Aug. 3 to get the rest. Woodley said his main problem is that working people he expected to sign the petition often aren't registered to vote.

He also noted Bilyeu's district is spread out over a large area. The petition complains that Bilyeu doesn't represent the working people of his district. Woodley cited his support for a bill repealing the state's prevailing wage law and some other measures opposed by labor. Credit card calls audited CARSON CITY The state labor commissioner's office has allowed staffers to make personal phone calls on a state credit card and doesn't want to completely stop the practice, according to an audit released Monday. The audit, presented to the Legislative Commission, said telephone billing reports showed the credit card calls, including many made after normal work hours.

Legislative Auditor John Crossley said the labor commissioner's policy for years has been to let employees away from home overnight on official business use the credit card to call home. But the audit said personal calls shouldn't be charged to the state. Labor Commissioner Frank MacDonald said he has instructed his office staff not to make such calls at state expense. But he added he still wants his investigators to have the credit card privilege. The movie and commercial industry is helping to restore some of the income Ely lost when Kennecott Copper Corp.

closed down the largest open pit copper mine in the world four years ago, leaving 3,200 people jobless. A small group of concerned citizens formed the Bristlecone Film Committee two years ago and began running ads in film trade publications, proclaiming Ely as a prime location for movie-making. "There is $1.3 billion spent on location filming outside of California, and we intend to get a piece of the pie," said Barbara Forman, chairwoman and original organizer of the film committee. "When you're a remote, small town, you have to make up for it with imagination. We have imagination and motivation.

Just wait until we secede from the Union." That kind of spirit attracted producer-director-writer Eric Louzil, president of Mesa Productions of Los Angeles, who heard about Ely's campaign to "Rent A Town" on an evening magazine television show. Louzil, responsible for such movies as "Malibu Hot Summer" and "Shadows Run Black," began negotiations with Forman more than a year ago and began See ELY, page 2C By Trinda PasquetGazette-Journai The mining town of Ely has been contending with the kind of problems usually reserved for the movie screen. Just in the past week, police have turned corrupt and are crashing around in patrol cars a la Burt Reynolds' movies. Innocent women are being abused and thrown into work farms. A city councilman has transformed into a swaggering wino.

It's all part of "Georgia County Lockup," a movie being filmed in this struggling town of 5,000. County wants water rights for water service By Lila FujimOtOGazette-Joumal Outsiders who want service from Washoe County's new water company in the south Truckee Meadows may have to dedicate water rights to the county before tapping into the system. Three of five county commissioners said Monday they support such a requirement to prevent a water shortage as the South Truckee Meadows General Improvement District grows. "I don't think it's unreasonable," said Commissioner Belie Williams. "If they don't find certificated water rights, they don't build they don't get a hookup." Commissioners will decide next week on the details of a water rights dedication policy for service from the district.

Meanwhile, the county Utility Division is studying how much water it can draw from district wells in the Thomas and Whites creek areas without straining the groundwater basin. The county has 2,187 acre-feet of certified water rights for the district, which includes the Virginia Foothills, Shadow Hills subdivision, Via Bianca Mobile Home Park and the Toll Road area. Residents in those areas two years ago approved a $3 million bond issue for a new water system, which the county began operating in May. The previous private water system delivered arsenic-tainted water. The county's water holdings are enough to serve the current 720 district customers as well as another 276 potential customers within the district.

In addition, there are enough water rights left over to serve a potential 500 customers outside the district in the area south of the Mount Rose Highway. But as the South Truckee Meadows grows and new developments seek water service from the district, there won't be enough water rights to serve all new customers. That may mean having to limit growth. See WATER, page 2C i Blast blamed on bad weld LAUGHLIN A preliminary report on a June 9 explosion that killed six workers and injured nearly a dozen other employees here at Southern California Edison's Mohave Generating Station places the blame on a faulty weld, an Edison spokesman said Monday. "It appears to be a steam pipe rupture in a faulty weld," said Edison spokesman Bob Krauch, who said the finding was contained in a memo issued by the California Public Utilities Commission.

He said tests on the large pipe are not expected to be completed until August and the PUC will not have a definitive answer on the mishap until later this year. The pipe was manufactured by Taylor Forge of Cicero, 111. The accident occurred when a large pipe carrying steam burst near the plant's control room and cafeteria, severely burning plant employees. ,1, James FlennerGazene-Journal WRECK: Police talk with Aids Ambulance employees after a collision at South Sierra and West Liberty streets Monday. Officers said the ambulance, responding to a call, ran a red light.

Five suffered minor injuries; there was no patient in the ambulance at the time. Child molester gets 20-year term Clarification In a Thursday story on 18-month-old Sarah Doan, it was stated the family's medical coverage through Harrah's and the MGM Grand-Reno has paid only part of the $560,000 medical bill for the girl's treatmer t. Medical insurance has covered all but $1,000 of the bill. Nevada law has "potential differences" that might make it easier for plaintiffs to recover damages, Laxalt has said. But Bradley said Nevada law would prevail even in Minneapolis because the crash occurred here.

He said another key reason for moving the trial is because Reno Flying Service doesn't operate in Minnesota. Bradley also said he will seek to have the cases tried separately because "each case gives rise to a different damage formula." CARSON CITY (AP) Gary Joe Cook was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for lewdness with two young girls his wife had been baby-sitting in the couple's apartment. "I wish I could sentence you to more. You deserve it," District Court Judge Mike Griffin said in imposing the maximum term on Cook, 31, a laborer with a prior California conviction for molesting a young girl. The sentencing followed testimony from the tearful mothers of the two local girls.

I ages 3 and 4. The mothers said their daughters are undergoing counseling but are still having nightmares and problems sleeping. One mother said Cook had threatened her daughter with a butcher knife, saying that if she said anything about what he had done she would have to go to jail with him for the rest of her life. The woman said she didn't understand how a plea bargain could be made in the See CHILD, page 2C I Wire service and staff reports.