The dancers in pink cowboy hats and pink travel suits boarded the Holland America Cruise ship in Fort Lauderdale on March 3, bound for the Panama Canal with smiles on their faces, and in just a few days the entire ship including the Captain knew that Mesquite's Ambassadors were aboard.
Once again the Mesquite-Toes put the city on the international map.
The Vista Lounge with the seating capacity of 750 was standing room only the day of the 'Toes show.
The curtain opened and the crowd went wild.
The seas were calm and the 24 ladies danced their hearts out.
A standing ovation was a fitting tribute to a fantastic performance.
Several spectators on the cruise commented that the Mesquite-Toes were "the best show on the ship."
The dancers returned to port on March 13. [Read full story]

The Nevada State Bank branch located in the Smith's Food and Drug store has closed.
The company originally announced in the fourth quarter of 2009 that the branch would close on March 19.
The free-standing Nevada State Bank branch located on Pioneer Blvd. in front of the Wal Mart parking lot will remain open.
Friday's closure marks the second bank to close in the last three months.
The Southwest Federal Credit Union, located next to the Nevada State Bank branch on Pioneer Blvd., closed on Dec. 10.
According to bank manager Wendy Hollingsworth, who managed both Nevada State Bank branches in Mesquite, no jobs were lost with Friday's closure, as most the employees from the Smith's operation were transferred to the Pioneer Blvd. location.
She also confirmed that the Smith's location had been open for 14 years. [Read full story]

Mesquite’s Planning & Redevelopment Department recently received a $40,000 matching grant through the State's Commission for Cultural Affairs and State Office of Historic Preservation to augment funding for the rehabilitation of the Old High School Gymnasium.
“The City sought funding to clean, repair, and restore the exterior masonry and add steel bracing along the inside gym walls,” said Richard Secrist, principal planner.
“Work will include repainting the mortar, grouting and stitching cracks in the masonry, replacing missing masonry units, and cleaning the brick and pre-cast concrete. It will also fund placing steel bracing on the inside gym room walls to give them lateral support.”
According to Secrist, work may begin in late summer this year.  [Read full story]

A Mesquite man was charged and booked into the Clark County Detention Facility for an alleged scam using the popular website, eBay.
According to Mesquite Police Department Public Information Officer Robert W. Everett, detectives arrested 46-year-old Scott Allen McMaster in late February for obtaining money under false pretenses and resisting arrest.
Detectives received a call of a possible eBay scam involving McMaster and a buyer from Savannah, Missouri.
Detectives allege a transaction (sale) was made in the amount of $7,052.50 for a 2003 Ford F-250 pickup truck, which didn’t exist.
Detectives, working with the buyer and officials from Missouri, set up a sting and later arrested McMaster for the scam.
According to police, McMaster was previously arrested for a similar crime, which took place in November of 2009 and is awaiting a May 4, 2010 sentencing in Las Vegas for felony theft.  [Read full story]

Local Producer Reunites With Romley To Help With Star Studded Night At MGM

Back in the 1970's, dance was king.
Whether it was dance extravaganzas on the Las Vegas strip, lines of dancers behind performers on popular TV variety shows, or dance competitions at discotheques caught up in the "Saturday Night Fever" craze, everyone was dancing to the music.
And local entertainment producer Gino Venezia was right in the middle of it all.
Now, Venezia will be part of a musical retrospective at the MGM Grand which will reconnect him with some of the biggest stars of that era.
Venezia has been tapped to assist Martin Romley, the floor director for the 50th Anniversary Concert Michel Legrand and Friends scheduled for March 27 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The show, which will be taped for a future broadcast on PBS, is a celebration of the music created by French composer Michel Legrand, the genius behind such Academy Award-winning movie scores as "Yentl" (1983), "Summer of '42," (1971) and the Academy Award-winning song "The Windmills of Your Mind" from the 1968 movie "The Thomas Crown Affair." [Read full story]

The Virgin Valley Water District voted 5-0 during their regular semi-monthly meeting on March 16 to leave unchanged the process for leasing irrigation water owned by the district.
That includes the starting lease rate of $300 per water share per year.
The $300 level is the starting bid for any auction to lease water shares offered by the water district.
As in any auction, bids can go higher.
During the discussion, board member Karl Gustaveson floated the idea of increasing the minimum lease rate for an upcoming auction to $600 per share.
"Based on what we paid (for the water shares), even $600 is a tremendous opportunity to get water at a very, very low price," Gustaveson said. "In our current economic situation, we need to get what we can."
Bunkerville board member Kenyon Leavitt disagreed.
"The lease isn't to recover what we paid for the water shares," Leavitt said. [Read full story]