Reporters’ Notebook

AN UNARMED SECURITY GUARD IN A VETERAN'S SECURITY UNIFORM was more than a little upset Tuesday when he found out the person he was replacing at Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping in North Las Vegas had been shot hours earlier.

"They just told me he got hurt on the job," the man said. "I thought he hurt his back or something. This is a problem. I got to call them about this," he said.

BETH WALTON

SO WHAT DO PAMELA ANDERSON, THE PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS AND A DOWNTOWN CHARITY FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES HAVE IN COMMON?

On paper it sounds like the setup for a joke, but on Wednesday afternoon, Anderson and PETA teamed up to serve a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal to several needy families at the offices of local charity Family Promise.

And it wasn't the first time PETA has helped the homeless, either. According to spokesman Michael McGraw, the organization has occasional "fur soup kitchens" and hands out donated fur coats to people living on the streets. PETA figures the animals are already dead so the coat they were killed to make might as well be put to good use, McGraw said.

"PETA believes homeless people are the only people with an excuse to wear fur."

HENRY BREAN

NEWS OF PAMELA ANDERSON SERVING VEGGIE TURKEY SUBSTITUTE TO NEEDY FAMILIES drew a concerned phone call from one Review-Journal reader. The woman, who did not leave her name, questioned the wisdom of letting someone with Anderson's medical condition handle plates of food without wearing gloves.

In 2002, the former Playboy Playmate and "Baywatch" star revealed she was infected with the Hepatitis C virus, which she reportedly contracted after she shared a tattoo needle, among other things, with ex-husband rocker Tommy Lee.

Not to worry, said Las Vegas Dr. John Martin. "The chances of transmitting Hepatitis C (that way) are minimal," said Martin, an obstetrician and gynecologist who qualified his remarks by noting that he is no expert in infectious diseases. "I would say, though, that everybody should wear gloves when they're passing out food they aren't eating themselves."

HENRY BREAN

SANDY MURPHY, WHO WAS CONVICTED AND LATER ACQUITTED of helping murder Las Vegas casino owner Ted Binion, attended a hearing last week at the Regional Justice Center and balked when a reporter asked for her age. After Murphy reluctantly gave the answer, 35, her boyfriend reminded her that she spent five years in prison. Murphy then corrected herself. "I'm only 30," she said with a laugh. "I get five years off my sentence."

CARRI GEER THEVENOT

LAS VEGAS LAWYER GABRIEL GRASSO, THE MORE SUBDUED HALF OF O.J. SIMPSON'S DEFENSE TEAM, was overshadowed by fellow lawyer Yale Galanter's booming voice and biting cross-examination during a four-day preliminary hearing. So when he got his turn at the microphone at a post-hearing news conference, Grasso did his best to produce a memorable sound bite for the media.

"There was more taping going on at this preliminary hearing than the Nixon White House," he said.

BRIAN HAYNES

THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES' DEBATE SET THE VALLEY ABUZZ THURSDAY, but Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman was ho-hum about the candidates.

That's what he said he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer during an interview earlier in the week.

"I told him that I'm hoping that Las Vegas will be the place where there'll be a breakthrough, and the candidates won't be cookie-cutter images of one another," Goodman said at a news conference Thursday morning.

"That's the impression that I'm getting. There's really nothing dramatic, which is differentiating one from the other."

Goodman's been approached by several candidates for an endorsement -- unsuccessfully, so far.

"I don't know whether I will endorse somebody," he said. "But whoever I'm going to endorse will have to be distinctive."

A few minutes later, he sort of endorsed a reporter for the commander-in-chief's job, or maybe he was just dodging a dog of a question.

"Do you think a woman can be president?" the reporter asked.

Said Goodman: "I think even you can be president in this country."

ALAN CHOATE