Local News

By Raven Romero

Las Vegas Optic

One hundred years ago a man had an idea. He valued books and he believed that everybody should have access to them, so he established a trust, to build libraries in small communities throughout the United States.

His name was Andrew Carnegie, and one of these libraries was constructed in Las Vegas. With it, a long line of librarians have kept the books flowing. Leo McCormick joins these people as the new librarian for Carnegie Library.

Four months after a fire that took the life of Laurencio Via, the state fire marshal has yet to release a report, but his grandson and some of his neighbors believe they know what caused it.

Via, 82, died from smoke inhalation in a blaze that started around 9 p.m. on Feb. 8 in his mobile home in Watrous. Power had been out the better part of that day, and when it came back on at roughly 8:45 p.m., it did so with a power surge that neighbors say destroyed some electrical appliances and caused others to catch fire and even explode.

The Luna Community College Leadership Camp is a weeklong endurance test for high school juniors and seniors filled with physical fitness, instruction and lectures. In the end students see rewards in increased self-confidence, new friendships — and a brand new laptop computer.

“We have a full week of instruction on leadership,” said Art Abreu, camp director. “We have talks, classes and actually live and breathe leadership, with a special emphasis on respect.”

They call themselves “deadbeats” and their convention theme is “from here to eternity.” It could only be the International Association of Obituarists, meeting in Las Vegas, N.M. for their 10th annual Great Obituary Writers’ International Conference.

You might be tempted to stereotype obituary writers. It is easy, given their chosen careers, to imagine them as a somber, even funereal bunch, but nothing could be further from the truth.