Name of Northern Nevada lawmaker removed from computer center

Controversy, in the case of Northern Nevada lawmaker Bill Raggio and the Community College of Southern Nevada.

College officials say they will remove Raggio's name from a computer center being established at Western High School after he requested the removal.

The move comes after some Southern Nevada lawmakers objected to naming the $5 million high-tech center after Raggio.

There is no plan to use Raggio's name elsewhere in Southern Nevada, as had been suggested last month.

The center will remain nameless until university regents agree to rename the building.

College President Richard Moore issued a memo Thursday to the Board of Regents apologizing for the embarrassment he caused Raggio, the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and GOP majority leader.

Moore said the decision to remove Raggio's name was made after the college received a letter this week from Raggio requesting his name, and that of his late wife, Dorothy, be taken off the center.

In the letter, Raggio said, "I think it is important to note that I did not propose nor did I seek this honor. I did, however, agree to allow the process to move forward provided that the community as a whole supported this decision."

Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, said the problem was that the community was never consulted before the Board of Regents approved naming the center in honor of Raggio.

Williams has suggested that the building should bear the name of Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, who, like Raggio, has served in the state Senate since 1973.

Late last month, Moore announced a compromise in which Raggio's name would come off the Western High center but would reappear on the Palo Verde high-tech center in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas. Under the compromise, the names of former Gov. Bob Miller and his wife, Sandy, would have been moved to the Western High center.

Now, the Palo Verde center will continue to bear the names of the Millers.

Under the compromise, Moore had suggested that Neal's name be used on a computer lab at the Charleston Boulevard campus of the college. But Moore said that is no longer planned.

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