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Mongols arrive in Boulder City for convention
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John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal
Members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club ride into Boulder City Friday afternoon. The Mongols are having a three-day national meeting over the weekend in the small city south of Las Vegas. » Buy this photo
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Stephen Stubbs, right, legal counsel in Nevada for the Mongols Motorcycle Club, was issued a jaywalking ticket in Boulder City on Friday. John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal » Buy this photo
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Mongols attorney Stephen Stubbs is issued a jaywalking ticket by police in Boulder City on Friday. Stubbs crossed the street when he saw police had stopped a biker to issue a traffic citation. Other than that, it was quiet Friday afternoon, Police Chief Thomas Finn said. John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal » Buy this photo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
The attendant at the Boulder City Shell station on Nevada Way looked through the big glass window toward the street.
She wasn't sure when they would come.
"Sometime today," she said Friday.
It was 11:30 a.m.
A man at one of the gas pumps cleaned his windshield. His passenger wondered aloud about the reason for all the police cars.
Boulder City police cruised Nevada Way in white-and-blue SUVs. An unmarked, white Dodge Charger with black tinted windows and a spotlight was parked at a nearby intersection. Even the Shell parking lot had a police presence - two Las Vegas officers sat in a black-and-white cruiser. A shotgun was propped between them, pointed toward the roof.
The man answered his passenger's question as he worked on the windshield.
Not all the explanation could be heard. He said something about "Laughlin" and something about "shooting" as he detailed the reason Boulder City, Henderson, Las Vegas and federal law enforcement vehicles were so visible. He was talking about the Mongols Motorcycle Club, the controversial group arriving in town for a three-day national convention.
But when?
Engine noises drew eyes toward the street. A truck with a loud exhaust. An accelerating hot rod. Both made the people on the Starbucks patio stop drinking their coffee to peer down the road.
The first bikers arrived at 12:15 p.m. The group was small, 10 motorcycles that didn't make much noise. A similar group followed within the hour.
But then, at 1:30 p.m. a pack of headlights materialized on the roadway horizon. About 180 motorcycles were cruising in a close, tight bunch. Some Mongols sought attention, rolling back on the gas to make some extra noise for the people on the sidewalk taking pictures. Others chose to remain anonymous, wearing black bandanas over their faces and dark sunglasses over their eyes.
About 300 Mongols are expected for the convention in the town of 15,000, raising concerns among residents and law enforcement. Today , the Las Vegas chapter of the Hells Angels is meeting in Las Vegas. The Mongols and the Hells Angels have a history of conflict in Southern Nevada.
A 2002 brawl at Harrah's casino in Laughlin left two Hells Angels and one Mongol dead. Another fight between the groups occurred at a Las Vegas wedding chapel in 2008.
Boulder City Chief of Police Thomas Finn said he has assurance from the Mongols that there will be no violence between the two groups.
On Friday, the pack switched to a single-file line as it drove down Nevada Way. One by one, the Mongols rolled past the flashing sign that asks everyone who visits to "Be Nice Be Boulder!"
The bikes began to turn left and right as their owners eased them into hotel parking lots.
One Mongol who had a California patch on his leather vest didn't use his turn signal. A Las Vegas police officer switched on his lights. Three more police cars pulled in as backup. The bearded man got off his motorcycle. He was asked to place his hands on the trunk of a police car while the officer filled out the pink ticket.
Stephen Stubbs, the legal counsel for the Mongols in Nevada, saw the commotion.
He crossed the street to check it out. He ended up with a ticket, too.
"I got a ticket from a detective in criminal intelligence for jaywalking," the attorney in the leather vest said with a smile.
That was about as wild as things got Friday afternoon.
"So far it's been fairly quiet other than Stubbs jaywalking," Finn said by phone just before 3 p.m.
The chief heard about the incident from the scanner in his home. He had been trying to catch up on some rest after working an 18-hour shift.
His next shift would start in three hours. He expected to be on duty until 4 a.m.
He hoped things would remain quiet after the sun set.
"The weekend is young," he said before hanging up.
Contact Ben Frederickson at bfrederickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.
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@BEN FREDERICKSON! Your statement "Others chose to remain anonymous, wearing black bandanas over their faces and dark sunglasses over their eyes", proves exactly how much you knew about your topic before writing. The bandanas serve a function, not the least being to keep dust out of the nostrils, along with bugs and other debri. As for the sunglasses, its state law you must wear eye protection. Some chose to not wear full face helmets or face shields for personal reasons. From what I read it appears the police were doing their share to provoke some incident. Putting a biker in a brace on the trunk of your car for failing to signal is a bit extreme wouldn't you say. Considering the large number of bikers who attended the meeting I would say the Monguls handled themselves rather well.
@ERIC SCOTT..FIRST OF ALL NOBODY CARRIES GUNS ON THERE BIKE IF THEY DO ITS BECAUSE THEY HAVE A PERMIT,I CANT HELP BUT LAUGH WHEN I SEE HOW BRAINWASHED THE GOVERNMENT HAS PEOPLE. EVERY CRIME YOU HAVE MENTIONED ABOUT 1PERCENTERS, LAW ENFORCEMENT HAS BEEN CONVICTED OF THE SAME CRIMES AND EVEN WORSE.SO IF YOUR GOING TO CALL 1PERCENTER CLUBS GANGS BECAUSE OF A FEW BAD APPLES THEN YOU HAVE TO CALL L.E. A GANG,ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT..LET ME GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE ON THE LAST RAID OF A MAJOR CLUB THE COPS SHOWED A TABLE FULL OF FIREARMS AND ABOUT 80 BIKES AND SAID THIS IS WHAT WE CONFISCATED,SO PEOPLE LIKE YOU WILL SAY WOW THERE REALLY BAD GUYS,WHAT YOU DONT HEAR IS EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THER BIKES WAS RETURNED AND THOS WEAPONS WERE ALL LEGAL WITH PERMITS AND THEY WERE ALL RETURNED OVER THE NEXT COUPLE YEARS AND BELIEVE ME THATS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG...MS CLAWSON SAID IT BEST TRUST YOURSELF AND ALWAYS QUESTION AUTHORITY..
@Ben Frederickson - By the way, if you'd do a little better research *before* reporting on something you obviously know little about (riding a motorcycle), you'd know that things worn over the face is to keep debris like sand and bugs from hurting as much when riding at speed. It also helps keep that same debris out of the beards and mustaches of those who wear them. Sand and gnats *hurt* at 60 mph and a handkerchif wrapped over the face makes a *huge* difference. Works with rain too, rain stings like crazy.
@Eric Scott - Maybe you should lock yourself away in a vault somewhere so the boogeyman can't get you. I've heard the term 'scared of ones shadow' but never thought the day would come I'd actually see someone who proved it true. Otherwise, does the law there pull Suzy Homemaker out of her SUV and make her stand with her hands against the police car when she is getting ticketed for not using a turn signal? Does she get the ticket at the same time for talking on the cellphone too? Since it's legal to bet in NV, I'd probably win a mountain of cash if I'd bet on the answer to those two questions as being 'No'. The abuse of too many LEO's there is to get the sheeple to be afraid and thus teach them to let the law be even more in charge of their lives, since we all know the law knows better than any of us how we should live...just ask Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano and that moron mayor of New York.
are you people nuts... MONGULS and HELLS angels are just as bad as bloods and cripts... criminal gangs that have BEEN DOCUMENTED arrested and CONVICTED of crimes from trafficking meth to murder and charged under the RICO act... they have been caught carrying weapons all over their bikes from guns in their air filters to shotguns mounted on their handlebars. Knives welded on their gas caps.... what is wrong with you people hating on the cops but not the GANG?????? responses???? help me understand that
What an overly-dramatic article. I'd rather call the Mongols or the HA instead of Metro any day. Metro are such cowards they shoot first, lie about it, cover it up, take TAX DOLLAR paid time off to "recover" from their "emotional distress," and then get exonerated. http://youtu.be/mSJTGTP6028
let them have their convention in our quiet little town and enjoy the money they spend here welcom mongols
the athorities are always over reacting and thats how trouble usually starts if we would just all respect each other and let the bikers have their convention and enjoy our town we dont always have to let the government push us around do we citizens its our country not the eliete that demand we obey all their rules trust yourself question autority
@Jefferson Long...WHATS YOUR OBSESSION WITH BOY SCOUTS(A LIL CREEPY)..SINCE YOUR LOGIC IS A FEW BIKERS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED (NOT CONVICTED)FOR POSESSION OF METH SO THAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO PUT ALL OF THEM IN THE SAME CATAGORY...GOING OFF YOUR LOGIC THEN I CAN SAFELY ASSUME YOUR A PEDOPHILE SINCE YOU FIT THE PROFILE TO THE TEE,AND YOU SEEM TO HAVE THIS OVERLY OBSESSION WITH THE BOY SCOUTS..REMEMBER YOUR LOGIC NOT MINE.
Has any member of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts been convicted of selling meth? Has a busload of Scouts been pulled over and arrested for transporting drugs to Sturgis? (I live on I-90 west of the Mississippi. Each biker arrest on our stretch of interstate gets reported each year. Never a Scout. Always a biker.)