Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 27

evada the West METROWATCH 2B LOTTERY 28 OBITUARIES 38 MARK LUNDAHL, CITY EDITOR PHONE, 788-6305; FAX, 788-6458 TUESDAY, JUNE 20,1995 RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL ALSO COVERING RENO, SPARKS AND NORTHERN NEVADA won Ibreak eike-test tan Nevada site: Testing ended in 1 992 when voluntary moratorium started. tary Mike McCurry said there were "no recommendations pending before the president that would lead to a resumption of testing." Once the test ban treaty is completed, perhaps by the end of 1 996, some limited nuclear explosions may be permitted. The question is what the precise limit should be. Perry said the administration is considering a wide range of possibilities, including putting the limit at zero, meaning no nuclear yield. A second possibility, he said, is setting the blast limit at the equivalent of a few pounds of TNT, and at the upper range of options being considered is a limit of "several hundred tons." Most nuclear tests before the start of the voluntary moratorium in 1992 were much more powerful than that.

The bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a force equivalent to about nuclear tests in the future would be to give the Defense Department added confidence in the safety of its existing nuclear weapons. Critics say any level of testing would undermine the declared nuclear powers' formal commitment to eventually eliminate nuclear weapons. Christopher Paine, a nuclear weapons expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the U.S. government for the past two years had indicated it would be satisfied with a yield limit, or threshold, of about 4 pounds of TNT equivalent. He said there were sound scientific reasons for doing nuclear tests of anywhere from 4 pounds to 100 pounds but not in the range of hundreds of tons.

At 100 pounds and below, there is no actual nuclear explosion. 12.000 tons of TNT. Perry said it was still an open question "whether there needs to be some form of experiments" using nuclear blasts to check the reliability of nuclear weapons. It is widely expected that the United States and' the four other declared nuclear powers Russia, Britain, France and China will press for the test ban treaty to include a provision allowing limited tests. Perry, however, specifically said the United States has not yet decided whether it will take that stance.

Jonathan Medalia, a nuclear expert at the Congressional Research Service, said non-nuclear nations would almost certainly oppose tests of more than a few pounds yield. "There would be a lot of nations that would be very, very upset at a 500-ton ceiling," he said. The stated purpose of doing small would be permitted by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which is still being negotiated. The administration has no intention of resuming underground nuclear tests outside the treaty, Perry said. "The U.S.

is observing a moratorium now," he said in response to reporters' questions at a Pentagon photo session. "We do not plan to break that moratorium." The moratorium, which is not being observed by China and which France announced last week it would no longer abide by, is due to expire in September 1 996. At the White House, press secre WASHINGTON (AP) The United States might carry out some nuclear "experiments" allowed by a future test ban treaty but won't follow France's lead and break a voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing, Clinton administration officials said Monday. Testing at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was halted in 1992 when the moratorium was put in effect. Defense Secretary William Perry said the administration was considering its stance on what limits to set on the power of small nuclear blasts that Doggone high-tech device great for pet owners Casino liability bill heads for key vote In Assembly: Measure could stop dispute between Harrah's Tahoe and couple.

I -J V-V1( STATE BRIEFING ELY Council restores brothers license It's back to business as usual at the Green Lantern after the Lly City Council voted unanimously to reinstate the brothel's business license. The permit was pulled June 8 after the bordello's owners, Eva Dudley, 54, and Michael Wedler, 43, were arrested on 42 counts of allegedly providing prescription drugs to women working at the Green Lantern. Council reversed its action after City Attorney David Ol-sen reminded members that the two are presumed innocent and that under city ordinance, it would require a felony conviction to pull their license. Wexler, reading from a statement prepared by his attorney, told council members the charges were based on an ongoing investigation of a former employee who had been banned from the Green Lantern for sometime. FALLON New hospital changes skyline Fallon's skyline is changing as its new 1 2 million, two-story hospital takes shape.

Jeffrey Feike, Churchill Community Hospital administrator, said the outside of the structure will undergo little change as construction crews prepare the rest of it for the opening a year from now. The 40-bed hospital is on a 40-acre tract across from E.C. Best Elementary School. The finished structure will cover about 1 4 acres. Feike said the building can be expanded upward to a third story and outward to accommodate up to 1 00 beds.

PAHRUMP Firefighters in town for training If there's going to be a fire in Pahrump, this would be a good week for it. Some 250 to 300 paid and volunteer firefighters will be in town starting Wednesday for the Nevada Firefighters annual training seminar, which runs through Saturday. It's the 60th seminar hosted by the state association and the first held in Pahrump. Nye County Commission Chairman Cameron McRae hopes to change that. "I hope the people coming here see the best side of Pahrump." HAWTHORNE Living wills are on session agenda An informational session on living wills, advanced directives, and ethical medical decisions will be held Thursday at Mineral County public Library.

Dr. Thomas Scully, professor of pediatrics at University of Nevada, Reno, will present the program from 7 to 9 p.m. This is the first of five planned sessions for the coming months. The class fee is registration may be made in advance at Mount Grant General Hospital or at the door. Mount Grant General Hospital; Mineral County Care and Share; Walker River Tribal Health Clinic; and the University of Nevada, Reno's Graham and Jean Sanford Center for Aging are sponsoring the program.

Those attending all five classes will receive a Mineral County Healthy Citizen Award. At. LEGISLATURE More Legislature, 5A "95 couldn't have been predicted or prevented. The bill is intended to protect casinos against suits stemming from unforeseeable events over which they have no control. "This act had never occurred before," Harrah's attorney James Butler said of the Tahoe incident.

A Douglas County sheriff report said Joelene Price was hit with an object, probably the lug nut from a truck wheel. The suspect, described as a white male in his 50s, hasn't been found. Joelene Price, who was hit while playing a slot machine, suffered what authorities described as severe cuts and other injuries. Lee Price said his wife was forced to quit her job as a bookkeeper and is undergoing therapy for hip and other injuries suffered when she fell after being hit. Harrah's spokesman John Packer said with or without the legislation, what happened to Joelene Price was an "unforeseeable act" that "nobody could stop." The casino liability bill was proposed by Nevada casinos in the wake of a much more widely publicized event the $5.2 million judgment against the Las Vegas Hilton in a case brought by former Navy pilot Paula Cough-lin.

She was the sexual abuse victim at the hotel's 1991 Tailhook convention for Navy and Marine aviators and the subject of a recent television movie. The ruling against the Hilton was made on grounds the hotel's security was inadequate when Coughlin was groped by other aviators in a public hallway. The Hilton is appealing the i Lisa J. ToldaGazette-Journal KEEPING TRACK OF FIDO: Veterinarian Gary Ailes inserts a microchip under the skin of Moe. Microchip helps get back lost animals By Don Cox GAZETTE-JOURNAL State lawmakers are preparing to vote on a controversial casino-liability bill that may stop the kind of squabble Harrah's Lake Tahoe is having with two angry customers.

Legislation making it more difficult for guests to win lawsuits against casinos is expected to come before the Assembly this week or next. The Tailhook bill, limiting hotel and casino liability, was approved by the Senate after heated debate on June 2. If it's passed by the Assembly, Senate Bill 474 may impact future incidents of the sort Harrah's is experiencing with Lee and Joclene Price of Auburn, a husband and wife who gambled frequently at the Lake Tahoe casino. The Prices claim actions by Harrah's Lake Tahoe were inadequate during an incident on Dec. 4, 1994, in which Joelene was injured when hit in the side of the head by a metal object thrown by a man in the casino.

"Nobody seems to give a damn," Lee Price, who is threatening to sue Harrah's, said Monday. In an eight-page letter sent to Harrah's and state gaming officials in May, the Prices said Harrah's security was lax. Harrah's executives, who paid for Joelene Price's emergency treatment, said the incident HOME AGAIN RETRIEVAL SYSTEM Where: Sierra Veterinary, Silver Hill Veterinary, and Silver Sage Veterinary hospitals. Cost: $37.50 plus tax for device and $12.50 to register dog with American Kennel Club. By Monica Mendoza GAZETTE-JOURNAL Moe didn't even flinch as Dr.

Gary Ailes inserted a tiny microchip into the shoulder blade of the golden retriever. Using a hand-held scanner, Ailes was able to get an electronic reading of an identification number from the chip that will cling to Moes' shoulder blade for life. That number will be registered with the American Kennel Club, which has an 800 number 24 hours a day. The tiny device, the size of pencil tip, will allow any Carson City veteri nary hospital, Animal Control or the Humane Society to find the owner of any lost animal immediately. "(Moe) has got two prosthetic hips and I don't want to lose track of him," Ailes said.

The device is for any pet. Known as "Home Again," Ailes said the company, Schering-Plough Animal Health, has provided veterinary hospitals with scanners to read the microchips. At one time, scanners cost upwards of $1,000, often precluding local veterinarians from using similar systems. "Animal shelters everyone gets a scanner at no charge," Ailes said. "Owners have a better ctiance 10 get the animal back." Washoe County plans to step up war on mosquitoes Bumper crop expected: Health department wants to spend $26,000 for battle supplies.

combating the insects, he said. "Even if you can 'do it's still not enough," he said. "That's the way it goes. Mother Nature is playing on us now." Most mosquito bites in the area are no more harmful than the itching irritation they cause. But tests on chicken flocks in the county have turned up a few blood samples showing some birds have been bitten and carry the antibody to certain mosquito-borne diseases, Ariaz said.

Areas historically prone to mosquitoes are largely on the east side of the valleys, from Spanish Springs through Washoe Valley, said Jack Sheen, assistant director of the county's environmental health services. Dan Ariaz, the county's chief mosquito-fighter, predicts the worst year for infestations of the pesky insects since 1986. "The egg batches are just big-time," Ariaz said. "We're going to have lots and lots of hatching if this weather settles down and we stay up in the 70-, 80-, 90-degree range." Ariaz recently dipped a jar into puddles in Spanish Springs and came up with several hundred larvae. His office is already fielding complaints about mosquito infestations in Lemmon Valley, Verdi, Spanish Springs, Hidden Valley, Donner Springs and Washoe Valley.

That shows the difficulty of Residents should take care to drain standing water from tires, buckets and puddles on their property to preclude breeding grounds for larvae, Sheen said. Four staffers have been spraying problem areas since mid-April and will be joined by a fifth in July to carry on work through mid-October, Sheen said. "It's probably well within our technology to go through and eradicate mosquitoes, but that's certainly not what we want to do," Sheen said. While mosquitoes aren't predators only the females suck blood, and do so for protein they serve as food for flying bats. They also keep fellow species from encroaching.

By MikeSion GAZETTE-JOURNAL Prepare your fly swatters. One of the wettest winters on record followed by an inordinately soggy spring will likely mean more mosquito bites this summer for Washoe County residents. The Washoe County District Health Department is to ask county commissioners today to approve spending $26,000 for mos quito-killing products ranging from fogging concentrate to liquid larvacide. Commissioner Joanne Bond, who recently accompanied health department employees on a tour of mosquito breeding grounds, hopes the board will approve the pesticide funding. "They are expecting a bumper crop of mosquitoes," Bond said.

"We're really in for it." June temperatures Average temperatures at selected Max VW weather stations in Nevada 6 100.3, GARDNERVILLE 14-year-old boy dies after being hit by truck while crossing road A 14-year-old Gardnerville boy died Monday afternoon after he was struck by a pickup while he was crossing U.S. 395 in a crosswalk. The youngster's identity was not immediately released. Driver of the pickup was Jerry Siemann, 54, of Gardnerville, the Nevada Highway Patrol said. The boy, who was on foot, was crossing U.S.

395 at Mission Street in Gardnerville when the accident occurred about 1 2:30 p.m. He was taken by ambulance to Carson Tahoe Hospital in Carson City, then taken by helicopter to Washoe Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1 32 p.m. No charges have been filed against Siemann, the NHP said, and the accident is still under investigation. City, HUD officials to meet to discuss Neil Road services U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department officials will tour the Neil Road Community Park today as part of ongoing discussions to get the department involved in building a community services center.

Reno police and city community development officials will meet with HUD officials to discuss the need for social services, a health clinic and recreational programs in the highly congested area. Reno has spent nearly $400,000 on blueprints for the center with hopes that a consortium of publ ic services and others could help raise 7.5 million to build the center, which would include offices, a gym, police substation and day care and Headstart programs. But the money hasn't been found. The City Council has put off using a federal community block grant to build it in phases in favor of rebuilding neighborhood streets. Please turn to page 3B for a complete obituary listing and other news of record.

Louis Ashurst, 89, Gardnerville Anthony Campanella, 88, Gardnerville Jesse James Carlson, 20, Reno Olis I. Land Cole, 92, Reno Leila Gray Fisk, 94, Hawthorne Mary Bennett Gurbacki, 58, Sun Valley Rowena R. Gulling Miller, 95, Fallon Brian L. Reay, 38, Oceanside, Calif. James H.

Scheihing, 82, San Francisco Ruth Ella Tuggy Shults, 5 1 Reno Philip Alton Tornbom, 57, Hawthorne Jerrel Roy Wise, 59, Reno Eft rl CD Elko Las Vegas Reno Virginia City Carson City Gazette-Journal Source: Desert Research Institute.