Bill reintroduced to name Nevada peak for President Reagan

The stage has been set for a new debate over the Gipper and whether there should be a natural monument to him in Nevada.

Rep. Cresent Hardy, R-Nev., on May 13 reintroduced a bill that would name one of the peaks of Frenchman Mountain to the east of Las Vegas for President Ronald Reagan. The peak would become known as Mount Reagan.

“Congressman Hardy appreciates much of what Reagan stood for and thought it appropriate to recognize the former president’s ideals in this way,” his spokesman said.

Last year a similar bill passed the Republican-controlled House Natural Resources Committee but stalled after it became a partisan issue that divided Nevada’s delegation. Its chief advocate, Las Vegas conservative activist Chuck Muth, is hoping for a different result now that both sides of Congress have GOP majorities.

Muth is looking to fulfill Nevada’s part of the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, which seeks to name at least one public landmark in each state and all 3,067 counties after Reagan. Perhaps the best-known renamed landmark is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the nation’s capital. There is also the Ronald Reagan Turnpike in Florida.

At various times there have been proposals to put Reagan on the $10 bill, the $20 bill, even to rename the Pentagon the Ronald Reagan National Defense Building.

An archive at the University of Texas counts at least 134 places or things in 30 states named in honor of Reagan, none in Nevada. More than 600 places or things have been named after President John F. Kennedy and more than 800 after civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., according to a CBS/Associated Press story from a decade ago.

The Ronald Reagan Legacy Project was formed by Americans for Tax Reform and its anti-tax leader Grover Norquist. The 40th president is regarded as a conservative icon, but those who disagreed with his politics and policies hold equally strong views.

Muth originally sought to name the highest peak on Frenchman Mountain for Reagan. His application for the 4,000-foot crest was OK’d in a 5-2 vote by the Nevada Board of Geographic Names in September 2013 and was headed to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names for a final decision.

But in a bit of political intrigue, Democratic Rep. Dina Titus of Las Vegas headed him off. She introduced legislation naming the same peak after Maude Frazier, a Democrat and the first woman to serve as Nevada lieutenant governor.

The U.S. geography board protocol is to steer clear of naming bills pending before Congress, so Muth was blocked. He got Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., to submit a bill putting Reagan’s name on an adjoining peak to the north that is 100 feet shorter.

Titus reclaimed the highest peak in a “Maude Frazier Mountain” bill she reintroduced in March. Hardy’s bill is identical to the Heck effort from last year. There has been no action set yet on either bill.

Muth said he proposed naming the Boulder City Bypass after Ronald Reagan, but Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., nixed the idea.

“So we’ll just stick with the mountain,” Muth said. “We’re just following (Hardy’s) lead on this. Hopefully we’ll be able to make this happen.”

— Steve Tetreault

MASTO WORTH

Boosted by property she owns in Las Vegas, Catherine Cortez Masto and her spouse are worth more than $1 million as she sets out to campaign for the U.S. Senate, according to a disclosure.

She and her husband, Paul, hold investments worth at least $1.24 million and possibly as much as $2.87 million, according to a personal finance report she filed with the Senate on May 15, about a month after she declared her candidacy to succeed retiring Sen. Harry Reid.

Attorney general from 2007 through 2014 and more recently executive vice chancellor of the Nevada university system, Masto holds a state pension worth at least $250,000.

Masto reported owning a rental property in Las Vegas valued at between $250,000 and $500,000 on which she collected between $15,000 and $50,000 in rent in 2014 and this year up to May 15. Forms Masto filed while attorney general indicated she has an investment home in Spring Valley.

She also reported owning undeveloped land in Las Vegas worth between $250,000 and $500,000. A previous disclosure indicated it is a half-acre lot in a neighborhood off West Sahara Avenue.

Masto also reported investments in mutual funds as well as several checking and savings accounts. About a quarter of the couple’s holdings are in the name of Paul Masto, a former Secret Service agent who is president of Universal Security Specialists, a Las Vegas security consulting firm.

Much like the requirements for sitting senators, candidates must report the value of their investments, any revenue they derive from them, as well as any debts and positions they hold in community organizations.

Also like senators, they are allowed to report their holdings in ranges that draw a broad picture of their financial health. They are not required to report the value of their personal home.

— Steve Tetreault

NORTH LAS VEGAS BIRTHDAY ENIGMA

A look at the Las Vegas Review-Journal archive for reporting on North Las Vegas’ incorporation only adds to the air of mystery surrounding the city’s birthday.

The city held a party celebrating its incorporation in May, sparking confusion for anyone who tried to nail down the precise date of its founding.

Cass Palmer, director of Neighborhood and Leisure Services, told the newspaper the city had looked at May 1, 2 and 16 before digging up the incorporation papers and internally deciding to go with May 1, 1946. The mystery ended up being a fun way to look at the city’s history, he said.

The Review-Journal enlisted Clark County Museum Administrator Mark Hall-Patton’s help, and he couldn’t settle on a date either, saying everything he found mostly said May 16, 1946 — aside from statute, which said 1971. The seemingly simple question sent him on what he called a “merry chase.”

The May 16 date is what is on North Las Vegas’ website.

Even the date-devoted Twitter account “History: Nevada” didn’t have a clear answer. The account, which tweets events from Nevada history, tweeted that the city was incorporated on May 1 and on May 16. Wikipedia has both dates, too.

A dive into the Review-Journal’s microfilm archive created more confusion, not less.

The headline in the May 1, 1946, edition of the paper is frustrating: “Incorporation Papers For North Vegas Filed: Technical Difficulty Only Bar to Formation Of New Governing System; Judge Marshall Will Sign Document in Near Future”

When, one wonders, is the near future? The article does not say.

Additionally confounding, the article says the error-laden incorporation papers were filed April 30, 1946, not May 1.

— Bethany Barnes

COFFIN CRASHES

Las Vegas Councilman Bob Coffin was briefly hospitalized Wednesday after a car crash on northbound U.S. Highway 95.

Coffin, 72, said he was on his way to play a round of golf at the Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort when his Chevrolet Volt was rear-ended by a Chrysler 300.

The two-term councilman and former state legislator was taken to Centennial Hills Hospital for tests and observation. He said the other driver involved in the crash was detained by Metro on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Coffin was at home resting and recovering Thursday afternoon, having apparently suffered only bruises and scrapes.

“I was on my way to Paiute. I looked down to check my speedometer and bam! All I could see was dust and smoke,” he said. “Luckily, I didn’t roll over. I coasted to a stop.

“He had to be doing 90 or 100 miles an hour to do that much damage.”

Coffin still suffers from back pain stemming from spinal damage he suffered in a much more serious car wreck more than three decades ago. He plans to take the results of CT scans and X-rays shot at the hospital to the same orthopedic surgeons who helped him recover from his 1981 crash.

Coffin figured it would cost around $10,000 to replace the battery in his crumpled Volt. He regretted that he would also miss Friday night’s showing of “Annie” at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

All in all, he said, things could have been a lot worse.

“I had excellent care from first responders,” Coffin added. “It really makes me proud of them.”

— James DeHaven

Contact Review-Journal Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@reviewjournal.com or 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @STetreaultDC. Contact James DeHaven at jdehaven@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3839. Find him on Twitter: @JamesDeHaven. Contact Bethany Barnes at bbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Find her on Twitter: @betsbarnes.