No shortage of flu shots

In spite of reports there may be a shortage of influenza vaccine, state Health Officer Dr. Mary Guinan said Wednesday the supplies will be adequate to meet the demands for flu shots in Nevada.

"Nevada seniors and others in need of vaccination should not be worried," she said. "Suppliers of the vaccine have responded to the demand and will be able to meet the need during this vaccination season."

There were reports one manufacturer was unable to produce enough vaccine to meet public need. Guinan said, however, other manufacturers have increased production.

"People who need this vaccination should attend one of the many community clinics available or contact their health care provider."

Every year in the United States, more than 20,000 people die due to flu-related illnesses, according to Guinan.

District Judge Stephen Huffaker has ordered Christopher Grant and Roseann Dipasquale, both of Las Vegas, to each pay a $1,000 civil penalty for taking part in the Co-opportunities International pyramid scheme.

The judge also told the two to stop participating in the operation and to pay the fees and costs of the state attorney general's office which filed the civil suit. There were 15 lawsuits filed in 1996 against 57 individuals in Clark County and most have been resolved by settlement or default judgments.

The lawsuit charged promoters of Co-opportunities International, which was described as a social club, required new recruits to pay $2,000 to a person called the "resource chair" who was at the top of the pyramid. The new recruit, in order to move up the ladder to the top and receive $16,000, would have to solicit two new members.

Two remaining cases are set for trial in Las Vegas next year.

UNLV officials are warning the public to beware of scam artists purporting to sell magazine subscriptions on behalf of the Hank Greenspun School of Communications and its students.

UNLV has received complaints from citizens who have been asked by young men to buy magazine subscriptions that they implied were connected to a school of communications program.

UNLV spokesman Tom Flagg said that none of the university's academic programs are supported through magazine sales. If approached by someone selling magazines and claiming to be from the school, call 895-3101.

Supporters of the school bond issue will be walking Las Vegas neighborhoods on Saturday, hanging information packets on doorknobs about the Nov. 3 ballot measure.

If voters approve ballot Question 2, they would freeze property tax rates for 10 years to raise money to build 88 schools in the next decade. School officials say the schools are needed to accommodate booming growth in Clark County.

Bond supporters are looking for volunteers. They are meeting at Cimarron-Memorial, Rancho and VoTech high schools and Kenny Guinn Middle School at 9 a.m. Rancho is holding a free pancake breakfast at 8 a.m. for volunteers.

The "Doorknob" campaign is part of a privately funded $300,000 campaign to convince voters to support the bond issue. The School Growth Committee, a panel of business people and other citizens that is running the campaign, is also running television commercials and mailing brochures to homes this month.

For more information about the bond or the doorknob effort, call 799-CCSD and leave a message or visit web page www.schoolbond98.org.

Jouko Lankinen, owner of the Las Vegas Welcome Center, is due in a Las Vegas justice court today to answer five felony counts that he forged checks for more than $11,000, defrauding the Stratosphere hotel-casino, a tourist and an out-of-state business.

He also is charged with being an habitual offender.

Lankinen, 44, was arrested Tuesday on a complaint from the state attorney general's office that he altered and forged checks from businesses and individuals and then deposited the checks into the bank account of his business.

Lankinen earlier this year pleaded no contest to two gross misdemeanor counts that he bilked 22 visitors to Las Vegas out of $11,947 in a scheme in which the tourist would pay him in advance for shows and hotel rooms. He failed then to pay the hotel the full advance fee. His sentence was to repay the victims.

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