The Daily Spectrum from Saint George, Utah • 1

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More than $95 in ron savings inside today WEATHER The Color Country Mostly sunny Tk K' Sunday January 7 2001 I 9 I 4 Gannett Newspaper oXnwd3 yj KU 1V1 thespectrumcom Today Local Death cause still unknown ST GEORGE It could be nearly two months before family friends and co workers know exactly what happened to James Caseman Dec 29A2 Graff top volunteer firefighter ST GEORGE When Travis Graff was a child he wanted to be a volun teer firefighter like his father Last month Graff was selected as the 2000 volunteer firefighter of the year in St George A4 Gore presides as Congress certifies Bush victory House Democrats raise 20 objections during session By ALAN RAM Associated Press WASHINGTON With the van quished Vice President Al Gore presiding Congress formally anointed George Bush on Saturday as the victor in last achingly close and bitterly contest ed presidential election In a hoary constitutional ritual that made up with political irony and shouted objections what it lacked in suspense four members of Congress read aloud docu ments certifying the electoral votes of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia all in alphabetical order When they finished an alternately rau cous and humorous 92 minutes later the Republican Bush had won by 27 1 266 just as when the electoral votes were counted in every state capital on Dec 18 To prevail the winner needed 270 of the 538 electoral votes nationwide Reading from a sheaf of papers and showing no apparent emotion Gore intoneo: Bush of the state of Texas has received for president of the United States 27 1 votes Al Gore of the state of Tennessee has received 266 votes This announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the per sons elected president and vice president of the United States each for the term beginning on the 20th day of January 2001 and shall be entered together with a list the votes on the journals of the Senate and the House of After announcing the results Gore a Democrat said God bless our new president and our new vice president and may God bless the United States of Amer At that he shook the outstretched hand of House Speaker Dennis Hastert and a number of others and it was over Gore was presiding because it is one of the duties of the vice president The last vice president defeated in a presidential race to oversee counting of the electoral votes was Richard Nixon in 1961 Vice President Hubert Humphrey did not do so in 1969 following his defeat by Nixon The joint session of Congress drew extraordinary attention because it was the final vote tally in a disputed presidential race that did not end until five weeks after the Nov 7 election Gore did not concede until Dec 13 a day after the US Supreme Court forced a halt to vote counting in lorida See TALLY on A3 Dinosaur mysteries explained ST GEORGE John (Jack) Horner Scientific advisor for the Jurassic Park movies shared some of his vast knowl edge of the history of paleontology with a large crowd riday night on the Dixie State College campus A4 Celebration moved PAROWAN Because of the large number of requests for seating for Parowan's Sesquicentennial Birthday pro gram featuring James aust the Jan 13 program will be in the Parowan High School gymnasiumA4 State Beyond Man sentenced in drowning BULLROG A Kamas man convicted of manslaughter in connection with his girlfriend's 1999 drowning in Lake Pow ell's Bullfrog Marina has been sentenced to 15 years in prison A7 Lawmaker wants new districts SALT LAKE CITY A Lehi lawmaker and teacher plans to introduce a bill he believes will reduce overcrowding in Utah's schools by allowing the creation of new school districts A7 Experts: BP spoiled gas prices PORTLAND Ore BP Amoco jacked up West Coast oil prices by exporting Alaskan crude to Asia for less than it could have sold it to US refiners accord ing to experts' reports and court records The Oregonian sued to obtainA9 Weather allows fire mop up ALPINE Calif Cooler temperatures and rising humidity on Saturday helped firefighters surrounding lingering hot spots of a blaze that destroyed six homes earlier this week A9 Gates unveils Xbox game LAS VEGAS After years of develop ment Microsoft unveiled its highly antici pated Xbox gaming console Saturday promising three times the per formance of its rivals and enough power to create real time shadows facial emo tions and images previously only seen in movies like "Toy 1971 Nixon tape surfaces AUSTIN Texas President elect Bush's team said Saturday that Defense Secretary nominee Donald Rumsfeld never agreed with pejorative comments Richard Nixon made 29 years ago about blacks in a conversation preserved on tape at the National Archives57 Three killed over $500 HAVANA la A gunman lined up five people in a crack house and shot four of them in the head because one victim owed him a $500 drug debt Gadsden County sheriff's investigators saidB7 Security tight for USS Cole trial ADEN Yemen Yemeni authorities are cracking down on Muslim extremists tightening security citywide and reassign ing top police and court officials in prepa ration for trying at least six suspects in the USS Cole bombing Yemeni police officials said SaturdayB9 Palestinians want closures lifted JERUSALEM Palestinian security officials insisted Saturday they can do nothing to quell unrest until Israel lifts its blockade of the West Bank and Gaza Strip complicating a US push to stem three months of bloodshedB9 2001 The Spectrum Mesquite Star purchased casino may shine again By PATRICE ST GERMAIN patricesthespectrumcom MESQUITE Owners of the Vir gin River Hotel Casino recently pur chased the Mesquite Star but it may not be any time soon before the Star reopens Randy Black Sr a principal owner of the Virgin River Hotel Casino and the Casablanca in Mesquite as well as three casinos in Las Vegas confirmed riday that the Virgin River purchased the closed hotelcasino own he said bought the first mortgage two to three weeks ago and that was foreclosed Black said there were no immediate plans for reopening the debt plagued casino are a whole bunch of prob he said ate just getting into everything now researching the possibilities and still trying to find out what NevStar Gaming opened the Mesquite Star on July 1 1998 Seven teen months later the company filed Chapter 1 1 Bankruptcy At that time president and CEO of NevStar Michael Signorelli said that the casino operations at the Mesquite Star would continue as usual with no effect on employees and customers The 210 room hotelcasino closed its doors in March 2000 putting approximately 265 employees out of work When the Mesquite Star closed in March Black said he and his partners were interested in purchasing the beleaguered property Black said at that time that despite growth the town was not ready for a fifth large casino but given time the Mesquite Star could become See STAR on A3 Alligator roams Arizona Strip ponds The alligator rode in from Georgia in 1985 on the back seat of a Bronco By LOREN WEBB lwebbthespectrumcom RIVERSIDE Nev When people ask Chuck Simmons how an alligator got into his ponds at Pakoon Springs on the Ari zona Strip he tells this story know that rocky ledge to the east of the ranch? And they always say they And I said first time I ever seen him he came sliding down that hill carrying a lizard not really a true Sim mons of Mesquite says savoring the moment So Simmons tries again was in 1985 One day 1 was in some offipe and they asked me where he came frorti AHd I said imagine he came from a mommy and daddy On a more serious note Simmons acknowledges the alligator probably be there but there Simmons has the pictures to prove it The alligator came from Georgia in 1 985 in the back seat of a ord Bronco At that time the gator was 18 inches long The last name is after the last name of the person Orvin Hicks who brought the animal to South ern Nevada Simmons explains while we are driving through Mesquite en route to the Pakoon Basin in late December Nick Adams The Spectrum Chuck Simmons tries a key in the lock on the gate at his seven where an 8 12 foot alligator lives Currently the Pakoon Springs Ranch Near the gate is a pond one of alligator is in hibernation Its first name is if the gator is a male or if it is a female he said According to Simmons the gator now between 8 12 feet and 10 feet long rotates between seven ponds at Pakoon Springs owned by Simmons and Char and Hughes own which is now the sub lene Hughes some 49 miles south of ject of a proposed land sale with The Con Mesquite just inside the Arizona state servation und line RogerTaylorBureauofLandManage The gator constitutes a small part of the 240 acre Pakoon Springs parcel Simmons See ALLIGATOR on A3 Leavitt led 2000 election campaign spending Leavitt spent more than $2 million challenger Orton only $174840 Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY Gov Mike Leavitt led the 2000 election campaign spending'spree which appears to have set a record for both state and local cam paigns in Utah While several financial dis closure reports have yet to be received by 1 the State Elections Office those available show it was a costly election Leavitt led the way shelling out more than $2 million in a bid to win a third term as governor the reports show Thousands of dollars from Governors Special Projects fund factor into the total He paid for salaries and campaign polls out of the account He also made contributions to the Utah Republican Party as well as county GOP parties which would also help his own re election efforts The PAC account still has $250704 on hand while about $38000 remains in his campaign fund Leavitt campaign handlers said during the election that spending $1 per resident in the state exorbitant The Democratic challenger Bill Or(on spent less than 10 cents per resident for a total of 1 74840 The former congressman refused dona tions from corporations and political action committees He also accept individual contributions exceeding $1000 Leavitt won the Nov 7 election with 56 percent of the vote to 42 percent The out of state backers of Initiative followed Leavitt in the spending parade setting a record for initiatives in the process inancial reports show businessmen George Soros Peter Lewis and John Sper See LEAVITT on A3 50 to 75X AU CHRISTMAS MERCMAWISEI 'WILKINSON'S1 245 Tuhernutle 673 964 Ife Hl Index Subscriber Service Answerline A4 Movies C6 Stocks B6 Around Town 'A4 Nation A10 Travel D1 Classifieds D3 Obituaries 'A5 Valley News All Crossword Cl Opinion A6 Weather B10 ocus C1 Sports B1 West A9 Local A2 State A7 World I If you haven't received your news paper by 7 am call Subscriber Service before 10 am and a copy will be sent The Spectrum: 674 6212 The Daily News: 586 6999.