Stick to the slots and leave the spray paint at home.

The mayor of Las Vegas said yesterday those who deface freeway areas with graffiti should have their thumbs cut off on television.

Mayor Oscar Goodman made the comments on the TV program "Nevada Newsmakers" in Reno, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

"In the old days in France, they had beheading of people who commit heinous crimes," Goodman explained.

"You know, we have a beautiful highway landscaping redevelopment in our downtown. We have desert tortoises and beautiful paintings of flora and fauna. These punks come along and deface it."

Added the mayor: "I'm saying maybe you put them on TV and cut off a thumb. That may be the right thing to do."
Goodman also suggested that whippings or canings should be brought back for children who get into trouble, the local paper reported.

"I also believe in a little bit of corporal punishment going back to the days of yore, where examples have to be shown," Goodman said. "I'm dead serious."

"Some of these (children) don't learn," he said. "You have got to teach them a lesson, and this is coming from a criminal defense lawyer," adding, "They would get a trial first."
Another panelist on the show, Howard Rosenberg, a member of the university Board of Regents, disagreed with Goodman's suggestion, saying the mayor should "use his head for something other than a hat rack."