NLV Justice Court gets children's touch

When Judge Stephen Dahl is embroiled in the middle of a particularly messy case, he looks over at the dancing raisins.

"They are my inspiration," he said, referring to the picture drawn by Niesha Perry who is now a second-grader at Quannah McCall Elementary School. Perry was one of last year's winners in an art contest sponsored by the Clark County Justice Court for North Las Vegas Township.

"They had an art contest for the district courthouse," Dahl said. "So when I came out here (North Las Vegas Township), I started thinking a good way to decorate the courtroom would be to sponsor a student art contest."

The North Las Vegas Justice Court moves into its new home, 2428 Martin Luther King Blvd., on the northeast corner of Carey Avenue, on Wednesday and Thursday, and when the judge goes, so do the pictures.

"Our intention is to decorate the new courthouse with the students' art," he said.

But there will be a new supply of student art to add soon. The deadline for this year's contest -- with the theme "What's good about North Las Vegas" -- is Thursday. Participation in the four-year-old contest has grown from 50 entries from five schools in 1995 to 283 entries from 11 schools in 1997.

The court staff does the initial judging and then passes the artwork on to the North Las Vegas City Council, which determines the winners. The winners -- kindergartners through 12th-graders who attend school in the township are eligible -- are rewarded Nov. 18.

"The students are given the awards that night at the City Council meeting," he said. "It's been a lot of fun."

Dahl said an added benefit is that for many, award night is the first city council meeting they and their parents attend.

The court's new home, called the North Las Vegas Community Resource Center campus, will also house the West Las Vegas Senior Center and Family and Youth Services. The court offices also will have room for an extra judge for North Las Vegas Township.

Construction is complete and the occupancy permit for the new building, which is two months behind schedule should be issued Wednesday, said Earl Hawkes, director of general services for the county, whose department handles all of the county's property management.

"I still believe we can have justice court operating by Nov. 2," he said. "Final inspection is Monday."

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