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Who shot Darcie Latham?

Readers may recall this quote from our Feb. 27 story, “Who watches the watchers?”

“I heard a gunshot, and I saw my sister [Darcie Latham] fall, and I thought, ‘Oh my god, she just killed her,’” [Brittnie Andrews] said. “And then the cops started to walk forward, and I heard shots. They were shooting my mom. Then I heard, ‘Keep your guns on her,’ and I realized there was a second set of cops on the other side of my mom. … After they had shot my mom, I heard them saying, ‘Keep the guns on her, her hand’s moving.’” The story continued on to talk about how the media handled the story. “It was a crime scene of the sort that makes news producers and editors drool—police and perps with guns blazing, a family in distress, blood in the street and sudden death in quiet suburbia. The only problem was that the local news media was asleep at the press, and apparently nobody—not the newspapers, not the television news stations, not the radio stations, not the all-seeing internet—got this story right.”

Well, guess what? Neither did we. But it wasn’t for lack of trying. A message was left on Sparks Police Chief Brian Allen’s voicemail on Feb. 21, six days before the story was published, but it was not returned. The Sparks Police Department also released a report on the matter that did not include any mention of the possibility that somebody besides Monica Ritchey shot the 25-year-old Latham. That doesn’t prove an intent to deceive, as other investigative agencies take over investigations of officerinvolved shootings, and documents were still being added to the file four days after the Oct. 13 shooting, but it certainly speaks to the reliability of witnesses. There were further public documents (press releases) requested of the Sparks PD on Feb. 26 that may contain explanatory information, but they have not been produced.

In a stunning revelation, Darcie Latham’s attorney, Richard A. Salvatore of the Hardy Law Group, says that his client was shot by an officer with the Sparks Police Department—not by her mother.

“All I can tell you at this juncture is that our investigation leads us to believe that one of the officers shot Darcie Latham,” Salvatore said. “And the notion that her mom shot her is incorrect. I’m not at liberty to discuss what facts I know. I mean, it’s ongoing litigation.”

He said that it’s generally the practice of both sides in a litigation to not give out too much information, as that information may come back in unexpected ways.

“You can’t just go out because information that’s out there is information that will be used in some way, mostly against us,” he said. “So I can’t comment on information I’ve collected, but I can tell you that that is where our investigation leads us. Let me also say we have to do a ton more, and we will know a lot more because the information that has not been disclosed is the entire Monica Ritchey case and Darcie Latham case.

“At some point, Dick Gammick, district attorney for Washoe County, will have to review this and determine whether the officers’ actions were appropriate or not. Once that happens, we will be able to collect that information that law enforcement has put together. I mean, ballistics—you name it—blood spatter, photos, officer statements. They will look at the firearms to see when and how many times they were discharged, and we should have pretty much the whole boat of information once the district attorney looks at this case and renders his opinion.”

For her part, Brittnie Andrews, the young woman who witnessed both shootings and commented in our story, said she didn’t want to say anything that might negatively impact her sister’s case.

Sparks Police Chief Brian Allen said this is an active and open investigation by the Reno Police Department and until the investigation is completed he will not have further comment. —D. Brian Burghart brianb@newsreview.com

Marketing

Sparks officials pass out money to boost tourism and other functions

“No, actually, it’s kind of like a big tailgate party, and everybody’s welcome,” by said Lisa Jansen, describing something Dennis Myers called the Redneck Rodeo Truck Show to the Sparks Tourism and Marketing Committee. The sponsors of the Truck Show were appearing before the committee seeking from $1,500 to $10,000 to stage the event. The committee recommended that they receive $5,000.

The committee preferred regional to local events.

The Tourism and Marketing Committee is one of those peculiar end results of Nevada’s casino power. Back in the late 1990s, downtown Reno casinos wanted an events center and didn’t want to pay for it. A room tax was imposed in a special downtown Reno tax district to fund construction of the center. As time passed, it became apparent that the room tax was too small, so the casinos decided to make the tax apply county-wide (they did it through elected officials, of course) instead of increasing the tax within their personal tax district. This meant that people in Washoe City, Sparks, Vya and Wadsworth would be paying for a downtown Reno events center.

Sparks in particular was terminally thrilled with this arrangement, so a deal was struck. Sparks city government would get $200,000 a year from the take. The city then set up the Tourism and Marketing Committee to dole the money out, some of it for special events.

On this day last week, the committee was deciding what to recommend on six applications—the Truck Show, the Sparks farmers’ market, Hot August Nights, a Western Heritage Festival, and two Sparks Nugget events. (Earlier this month it heard presentations on several other applications.) Representatives from each group made presentations at the meeting and the committee then voted amounts. The final decision is made by the city council, but the committee’s recommendations carry great weight.

The committee seemed to prefer to fund events that draw regionally instead of relying on locals. As a result, an event like Hot August Nights had an easy time of it, while the most locally-based of the applications—a Western Heritage Festival sponsored by the Sparks Museum and Cultural Center—was handled pretty roughly, though its presentation included the information, “Over 50 percent of our visitors are from out of area.” Of the six applications heard at last week’s meeting, five were presented by professional marketers. The sixth, the museum, was a non-profit represented by a retiree and a part time worker. That was the one that got the harshest scrutiny during debate over how much to grant the applicants. After the museum presenters departed, committee member David Zamarin said they were nice people, “but it’s really hard to justify that kind of money,” and committee chair Ron Schmitt said he found the presentation unfocused and that they “clearly haven’t outlined what they’re going to do.”

The committee also has a multiyear plan underway of reducing funding for long-time events that have had time to establish themselves and of shifting funding to newer events. The Redneck Rodeo Truck Show benefited from that policy—that, plus what Schmitt called the “phenomenally successful” television shows that reflect “southern styles.”

“They [the truck show] have the opportunity to do something with that event” on television, he said. Jansen said, “There’s a big strategic picture here that we’re looking at, you know, three to five years down the road, we think that we’re going to be really big, and it will partner with Nugget County Crossroads,” a three-day country music event.”

As for the older events, Schmitt said after the meeting, “We don’t want to lose Hot August Nights, but after 27 years, they should be supporting themselves.”

The committee recommended $75,000 for the Brand Leadership Team (a city-organized marketing group), $10,000 for Pumpkin Palooza, $20,000 for the U.S. Open of Watercross, $20,000 for a Water Ski Stunt Show (tentative), $5,000 for the Redneck Rodeo Truck Show, $13,000 for the Sparks farmers’ market plus $2,000 for a market coupon plan, $50,000 for two Nugget events (fireworks and a rib cookoff), $30,000 for Hot August Nights, and $5,000 for the Western Heritage Festival with a possibility of another $5,000 if the event is designated by a state agency as a 150th anniversary of statehood event.

Reno Rodeo officials Steve Schroeder (left) and  Steve Duque and rodeo volunteer Lisa Jansen  address the Sparks tourism and marketing  grants committee. Mayor Geno Martini is in the  background.

Nugget issues

The meeting was a neat illustration of the coziness between Sparks city officials and the largest downtown business, the Nugget Hotel Casino. In fact, it was sometimes difficult to keep the lines straight. According to the agenda, the Nugget had three items—grants for its own July 4 fireworks and the rib cookoff at the end of August, plus it was partnering with the Reno Rodeo Association on the Redneck Rodeo Truck Show. However, that turned out to be an error, though it was easy to

understand how the agenda mistake was made.

The issue came up because some city officials, notably City Councilmember Ron Schmitt, have been troubled about the informal way some applications are submitted for the city grants. Schmitt has wanted each application to have a clear applicant to which all the lines on an organizational chart lead— insurance, payroll, whatever—so that there is accountability. When he saw two sponsors listed for the truck show on the agenda, he raised the issue and Jansen said the Nugget was not involved.

It turned out that Jansen was there as a Nugget representative on fireworks and the rib cookoff, and she was there as a rodeo volunteer on the truck show. “Just because I’m involved, you shouldn’t assume it’s the Nugget.” she said. But it wasn’t that simple. For one thing, as Jansen described it, it was as a rodeo volunteer that she slid the truck show out from under the Grand Sierra Resort and delivered it to her employer, the Nugget: “So I’m on this committee that decided a few years ago we needed to have some kind of promotional event to kick off Reno Rodeo. So we planned this truck show. ... So we had this event at GSR. And it was funny because I actually got the job at the Nugget the week before the event, so I started at the Nugget and then had to go Friday night over to GSR, which was very awkward. So I told them, you know, ‘If you want me to plan this event, we really need to move it to the Nugget.’ … So last year was our first year at the Nugget.”

In addition, Schmitt pointed out, the Nugget was involved. “If you look on your application, you know, ‘John Ascuaga’s Nugget business license’ is applying on this application. … I think we’d have one entity apply.” Jansen said that was a holdover from the previous year and the Nugget’s previous ownership and would be fixed.

Then there is the make-up of the city committee itself. It is chaired by Schmitt and Councilmember Ron Smith is also a member. The third member is David Zamarin—a Nugget executive. (Mayor Geno Martini was present as an observer.)

Zamarin has a lot of marketing experience, including at the Tachi Palace Casino in Kings County, California, and at Reno’s Peppermill. But his questions suggested he was unfamiliar with Sparks and confused by some of the local events. Several times things were explained to him. Moreover, the Nugget connection blurred lines. Zamarin at one point said, “I’m obviously trying to separate my own business interests from pure logic,” and Schmitt at another point noted that Zamarin would not vote on issues that directly affected the Nugget.

But Zamarin’s comments also made it plain that issues indirectly affecting the Nugget were fair game, as when he disparaged the farmers’ market because “I don’t see this as benefiting the Nugget that much.” It was uncertain whether he was then speaking as a Nugget representative or a committee member scrutinizing applications. During discussion of the Nugget items both Jansen and Zamarin made the case, though Zamarin stayed in his seat as a committee member. When the Nugget items were approved, Zamarin said, “That’s very fair, and I appreciate it.” When Jansen stood to shake hands with the committee members after her presentation, the two Nugget workplace colleagues shook, too.

The city councilmembers on the committee were solicitous of the Nugget’s needs and problems. They spoke of how the new Nugget ownership—which took over in December—needs time to “figure out what’s going on.”

It is solicitude the club probably needs. Virtually the first action taken by the new owners was one that seemed almost designed to alienate locals. It closed Trader Dick’s restaurant, a fixture of the community that is named for Nugget founder Dick Graves, and will replace it with a chain, Gilley’s (unrelated to the Urban Cowboy club, closed in 1989 and later demolished). It’s hard to imagine a single other change at the property more likely to grate on local sensibilities. The councilmembers at the grants meeting, more attuned to locals, spoke of giving the new ownership time while it gets its feet on the ground.

Jansen told the committee that the two Nugget special events—the fireworks and rib cookoff—will look much like they have in past years in order not to distress the public. “Because of the new ownership this year, we don’t want to make any big changes,” she said. “The community is very nervous about change.” Ω

ZAMARIN (L) AND SCHMITT

It was difficult to sort out roles.

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