Thursday, Feb. 6, 2003 | 9:10 a.m.
Once and for all, it has been proven that reporters are smarter than politicians.
Well, at least they are better spellers.
A television reporter edged out the mayor in the finals at a celebrity spelling bee Tuesday night at Fado in the Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.
KVBC Channel 3 reporter Dana Wagner beat Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman in the finals, and topped a field that included KSTJ 102.7-FM's Beth Lano and Mike O'Brian, KVBC Channel 3's Ben Correa and Kim Capozzo, KLAS Channel 8's Cindy Cesare and Casey Roebuck and KTNV Channel 13's Dennis Evans and Shawn Boyd.
The winning word for Wagner was "conscience," which somehow escaped Goodman.
But Hizzoner managed to get "subpoena" correct in the previous round.
"Goodman threatened to whack me if I beat him, but I was fearless," Wagner joked afterward.
Fado's General Manager Dan Carroll organized the contest. The evening's beneficiary, the Legacy Society, raised about $1,000 for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Las Vegas.
Cashing in
Now that Marcus Allen is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it'll cost a little more to book him at your next corporate function.
Allen's appearance fee just jumped five grand to $30,000 -- plus first-class airfare and lodging.
He of course won the Heisman Trophy as college football's best player when he played at USC under John Robinson -- now the head coach at UNLV.
Allen is one of the hundreds of celebs booked annually by Bruce Merrin's Las Vegas-based Celebrity Speakers & Entertainment Bureau.
Glad Knight
Being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 was pretty cool.
But being honored as the Queen of Hearts by the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday was equally special, according to Gladys Knight.
"That's because it shows I have touched your hearts as much as your ears," Knight said after Councilman Lawrence Weekly made the presentation during Wednesday's council meeting.
The ceremony also marked Black History Month.
The multiple Grammy Award-winner marks her one-year anniversary Wednesday at Flamingo Las Vegas, where she performs five nights per week. She is also well-known for her volunteer and charity work with groups ranging from the B'nai B'rith to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Off Strip
The new management hasn't shaken up the Stirling Club as much as a couple of guests did Friday night.
Seems one of the members, Joey Battig, a producer who used to work with Frank Sinatra and Shirley Bassey, among others, brought two visiting young lovelies into the lounge.
One of the women, according to another guest who was there, started to dance perhaps a bit too enthusiastically.
"She wound up removing half her clothes and dancing topless," our witness said. "Everyone was horrified.
"Needless to say, the staff threw our little guest out with admonishments never to return."
Rate Kate
Remember this, radio dudes: I called Kate Maddox a hottie in public before you did.
John Hanson and Mitch Moss of ESPN 920-AM list Maddox, my gossip predecessor at the Sun, as their choice for best-looking local television personality in their Bio sections on the station's website.
Afternoon host Dave Cokin also likes Maddox, but can't spell her name; he calls her Kate Madden.
Maddox is now the UPN Channel 14 news anchor and the KLAS Channel 8 entertainment reporter.
When told of her new fan club, Maddox offered: "That is nice of them to say. You can write that I think they're the best-looking guys on the radio."
Strip show
It is one Strip to another for "Thunder From Down Under."
The cast and crew from the male revue at Excalibur take a road trip today to Los Angeles. They'll tape a segment of "The Wayne Brady Show." The audience will be mainly wives, mothers and sisters of soldiers deployed out of Camp Pendleton.
Tonight they are scheduled to perform at the famous Key Club on Sunset Strip.
Fire lit
Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger have a gig scheduled for Los Angeles Friday night with drummer Stewart Copeland and singer Ian Astbury, but it is anybody's guess what the name of the band will be.
That's because John Densmore has sued his former mates in the Doors over the use of the band's name.
According to wire service reports, Densmore is angry that the band played a Las Vegas gig at the Palms last month with a different drummer, Copeland, formerly of the Police.
Densmore's suit claims that the three surviving Doors decided after Jim Morrison died in 1971 that the Doors' name would be trotted out only if all three were onstage.
Among other things, Densmore is seeking a restraining order from Manzarek, Krieger, et al. performing as the Doors on Friday night (and ever again) and unspecified monetary damages.
VegasBits
The next area appearance for 2003 Australian Open champ and Las Vegas resident Andre Agassi comes Feb. 20. He'll be at the groundbreaking for Phase II of the Andre Agassi College Prepatory Academy. The West Lake Mead Boulevard charter school now accommodates kids in grades three through six. The new phase will add grades seven through nine ...
Ethel M Vice President Mercedes Warrick says Valentine's Day usually generates more sales than any other holiday. She reports that early sales of the 2003 chocolates, including a box shaped like boxer shorts adorned with a little heart, is pointing them toward a record year ...
Designer Kenneth Cole will be given a tour of the HELP housing project on McKnight Street by Goodman on Saturday morning. Cole's wife, Maria Cuomo-Cole, and brother-in-law Andrew Cuomo created the low-income housing program ...
Yes, that was a bat making shoppers run for cover inside The Mirage the other day. Sun real estate reporter Jennifer Shubinski reports that it apparently flew in the door near the entrance to Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden. It took workers there nearly an hour Tuesday afternoon to corral it and release it outside ...
Craftsteak's Tom Colicchio is opening a new place in New York City this month, called Wichcraft. The upscale sandwich shop will be in the fashionbale Gramercy Park neighborhood.
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