Judge orders Carr's name struck from regent ballot

CARSON CITY -- A district judge has ordered that Darryl Carr, a Las Vegas candidate for the regents of the University and Community College of Nevada, be removed from the ballot because he is a convicted felon.

District Judge Mike Fondi conducted a short hearing Thursday and granted the petition of the state attorney general's office to strike Carr's name. He was running in the district that includes portions of Clark and Nye counties.

Fondi said Carr is not a qualified elector -- a requirement to be eligible for the office. He said there was no proof that the civil rights of Carr have been reinstated.

Carr served nine years in prison for a drug offense and has been on parole for three years. Neither Carr nor his lawyer Craig Perry appeared at the hearing. Carr said he received notice of the lawsuit and the hearing on Tuesday and that was not enough time to answer by Thursday.

In addition, Carr said Perry's wife had a baby this week and Perry's office was flooded by the rainstorm in Las Vegas. "Everything is in turmoil," he said.

Carr, who said he will not appeal, contends he qualifies for the office since it is non-partisan.

On the absentee ballots that have been printed and are ready to mail out of state, a sticker will be placed over Carr's name, the judge said.

Meanwhile the judge set July 28 on the petition to remove the name of Arnold Stalk from the ballot in the same district for the same office. Stalk changed his party registration in June from Democrat to Republican.

The attorney general's office says the law holds that a person who runs for office is ineligible if they changed their party affiliation after Sept. 1, 1997.

Stalk maintains that applies to partisan offices and not the non-partisan job of university regent.

Others in the regents race in District 2, Subdistrict G, are Sherry Colquitt, Ed Gobel and Steve Sisolak.

WASHINGTON -- Buoyed by the success of a recent forum held in Reno to discuss solutions to end school violence, Rep. Jim Gibbons has scheduled a similar hearing next month in Las Vegas. The Nevada Republican said the idea behind having a town hall-style meeting is to discuss various solutions to the escalating wave of violence taking place in the nation's public school school systems. "If we are going to solve the problem of school violence at the local level, we're going to need input from all Nevadans," Gibbons said. Gibbons will be joined by Rep. Congressman John Ensign, R-Nev., at the Aug. 25 hearing to be held at the Spring Valley Library, 4280 S. Jones St.

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