The CALNEV Pipeline, carrying petroleum products from Colton, California to Las Vegas, has been sold by the GATX Corporation to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, a Houston-based company.

Jack Greco, a former Las Vegas gasoline retailer and current vice chairman of the Air Pollution Hearing Board charges that the Clark County Health District has not been using clean fuels. Instead, he says, they are purchasing and using vehicles that burn reformulated gasoline rather than clean-burning natural gas or propane.

In view of the fact that environmentalists say the reformulated gasoline and diesel fuels don’t improve air quality, he points out that both the Health District and the Clark County School District are using reformulated gasoline and diesel fuel for most of their fleets. He says that the government agencies are evading the intent of state law requiring clean-burning fuels for all local agencies.

Recently, Greco introduced a resolution calling on local agencies to begin testing their tailpipe emissions if they use the reformulated gasoline. He also called on the state to remove diesel fuel from the alternative fuel designation and to replace diesel-burning vehicles with ones using natural gas or propane.

The Las Vegas Herbst brothers Troy, Tim, and Ed, the sons of Terrible Herbst Oil Company Chairman Jerry Herbst, all came out winners in the SCORE Baja 2000 races held in November in Baja, California. Troy was the Class 1 winner and finished second overall. Tim, driving with his brother, Ed, finished fourth in Trophy Truck and 12th overall and clinched the season-long Trophy Truck championship.

The opening season SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge was held on January 20th and Ed Herbst in his Terrible Herbst Motorsports four-wheel-drive Ford F-150 led the pack on the Trophy Truck field.

That’s not all the Herbst brothers have been doing. Recently, accompanied by fireworks, the brothers opened Terrible’s Hotel and Casino on the site of the 20-year-old Continental Hotel near the Las Vegas Strip. This is the third hotel/casino property owned by the trio. The Herbsts opened their first two casinos in the small town of Pahrump and are especially excited about ’making the big time’ by opening in Las Vegas. The new casino hopes to attract a large number of local customers and has 750 slot machines, six blackjack tables, one dice table for craps, and one roulette table in the pit.

The Herbst family business began two generations ago when the original Ed Herbst opened his first gasoline station in the 1930s. It was his innovative tactics that drew business to his station. He gave kids free pony rides while their parents bought gasoline and he gave ladies free orchids. The biggest draw of all was the roller skating girls who pumped gasoline and worked under the hood.

The Herbst family is at it again, being the first to make Krispy Kreme doughnuts available at all 16 of their convenience stores.

If you didn’t buy your Christmas stocking stuffers at your local 7-Eleven, you missed out on the latest in one-stop shopping. The mean age of people who shop heavily at c-stores in Las Vegas is 40 years old and 59% are men. All this is being changed. Nowadays, c-stores are looking to attract teenagers, younger children, and women who can drop in and buy makeup, pantyhose, and any number of trendy gifts, including the popular scooter.

Fabulous Freddy’s Shell Station, on the corner of Charleston and Fort Apache, has been voted the best full-service gasoline station in Las Vegas. What a great feeling it is to pull in the station and suddenly be greeted by a smiling attendant asking, ’Fill ’er up?’ Next, your car is washed inside and out while you lounge, snack or shop in the attractive waiting area.

Originally published in the February 2001 issue of the O&A News.
Copyright 2001 by KAL Publications Inc.