Hart Decision

Juana Hart just doesn't wanna anymore.

Two weeks ago, the 10-year veteran anchor of KLAS Channel 8 announced to a newsroom full of choked-up co-workers that she would leave her "Eyewitness News" noon anchor seat at the end of the month to work with her new husband at his software production company.

"It was hard -- some people cried and that was surprising," Hart confides, sitting at her newsroom cubical after finishing a broadcast. "But I'm doing it because it's time. Anyone close to me knows there's always been issues balancing family and career, and there's not a lot of time left. I've been thinking about this for years."

Hart, who says she had a hand in raising eight children, including her two daughters and various stepchildren, is getting ready to send her eldest daughter, Kelli, 18, off to college, while her younger daughter, Mechele, 15, is approaching the end of high school. With her new 10-year-old stepson, Brandon, in town for short visits, Hart wants to spend as much time as possible with all of them.

"I've satisfied whatever needs and goals I had," she says. "I've realized I want holidays with my family and those days on the weekends. I've had a wonderful career, but when you see you'll only have a certain time left to be a mom, there is that need."

Hart, 43, who earned a degree in marketing in 1978 at the University of Texas, El Paso, moved to Las Vegas in 1988, after gaining experience as a a reporter at Dallas and El Paso television stations and as a public information officer for the Texas Department of Human Services.

She was hired by Channel 8 in 1989 to host what she says was the valley's first morning news show, at 6:30 a.m. She and co-host Tom Warden traded producing duties, once coming in around midnight to prepare the show. "We'd crank out the show," she recalls. "It wasn't done by computer, it was all on paper."

In her decade at Channel 8, she hosted the morning, noon, and evening news. Most recently, she was hosting the 6:30 p.m. news before she and her co-anchor of two years, Rhori Johnston, were put back on noon this fall.

Hart is best known for her "Straight From the Hart" series, which ran for three years while she was anchoring the afternoon news.

Hart's departure is the latest in a string of defections by longtime Las Vegas TV personalities: Dave Courvosier, a 13-year veteran of KVBC Channel 3, returned to Missouri this spring to spend more time with his family; Gwen Castaldi, an 18-year veteran, also left KVBC around the same time to work off-camera as news director of KVVU Channel 5's new 10 p.m. newscast.

But Hart says the station will survive without her.

"I don't think it's going to have a huge impact," Hart says.

But her co-host, Johnston, notes: "We're going to miss her. She's a true pro."

"She was so professional," Channel 8 news director Emily Neilson says. "She was one of the most professional, ethical people. She was open and honest with her feelings. She would appropriately challenge things when she thought we had to look from a different perspective. She never did that in a mean-spirited way, but said, 'Our coverage would be better if she thought about this.'

"We were disappointed, she's been an important part of our news operation for 10 years," Neilson says. "It's one of those situations where you can't help but be happy for her."

As for filling the spot, Neilson notes: "We have some terrific people already on board we will look at. But no one will be able to fill her shoes. It'll just be a different face."

Hart is clear on what she will and won't miss. "The people," she says. "News is such a tough, unfriendly business, but even in those chaotic times, the people are what make it a great job."

On the other hand:, "I don't think I'll miss the grind," she says, frowning. "I talked to other friends who left the business, and everyone says, 'I don't miss that.' "

In addition to more time on the home front, Hart will help her husband, Tom Akers, whom she married last August, with marketing and administration of his company, Business Innovations Plus, Inc. The company produces Biztrak software, which is used by government entities across the West, and is is now expanding into the East Coast.

"There are my professional and family needs that match well with the needs of his company," she says.

In a 1994 Sun profile, Hart spoke of what she'd like to do if she ever give up her broadcast career, mentioning teaching English literature at college or writing as possibilities.

When reminded of these, she says that's still a possibility, and confesses that she'd really like to write a book, probably a novel, which would include her perspective on the news industry.

She'd like her legacy to be a reminder to local journalists to "fight the urge to resort to sensationalism in order to keep up ratings," and to "think hard about developing inappropriate relationships with sources."

As for herself, what does she hope people will remember about her? "That I tried to be fair and do the right thing when handling a story," she says without hesitation.

"I hope I did stories that helped people."

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