Fed judge, attorneys help build Habitat home for single mom

Friday, July 25, 1997 | 8:53 a.m.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro looked as professional at hammering a nail into a wall as he is at pounding a gavel on the bench.

Several women attorneys, including Clark County Bar Association President Marty Ashcraft, admitted that they are not so handy with tools. Nevertheless, they were more than willing to pick up shovels and move a huge mound of gravel.

Such were the trials and tribulations of the lawyers who built a home for Habitat for Humanity, which will be inhabited by a woman who currently lives in public housing and could not afford to hire the barristers at their chosen profession.

The Clark County Bar Association project, which was the 13th Habitat Home to be built in Southern Nevada, will be dedicated at 9 a.m. Saturday at 1916 Moser Drive in Henderson.

An hour earlier, the 12th home built for Habitat will be dedicated at 1912 Evelyn Drive, also in Henderson. The sponsors are Bank of America, Household Bank and the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

The bar association's Habitat home, which broke ground May 3, was expected to be finished later that month. But the ambitious attorneys soon learned that the construction business, like the court system, can move at a slow pace.

"We had tremendous good fortune in that the trade workers donated much of their time to help, but we had to depend on their availability," said Ashcraft, whose organization has 1,600 members.

"Many of them were able to volunteer only on a Saturday or Sunday, so things did not move as quickly as we had hoped."

Still, building a three-bedroom, two-bath house with a garage in less than three months with $25,000 collected from the bar association members is quite an accomplishment.

By contrast, construction of the Evelyn Avenue Habitat home began last November.

"In the last few years, the Clark County Bar Association has been looking for projects that will make us more visible in the community," Ashcraft said.

"By doing this for Habitat we got the immediate gratification that comes from being a part of building something."

Perhaps the person most grateful for the project is Liz Epperson, a single mother of three, who will buy the corner-lot Habitat home.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, held two days after Law Day, she said the home would provide a sense of freedom for her family -- freedom from drive-by shootings, drugs and gangs that are ever-present in her current neighborhood.

It would provide her children, she said, with a yard in which to play and safe streets on which they can ride their bikes.

Also at that ceremony, Habitat executive director Jim Evans praised the bar association and hoped their generosity would inspire others.

"More than building a house, they are really setting the pace for other groups and associations to sponsor a home," he said.

Throughout Habitat's local history, which dates to December 1990, the organization has had little trouble finding potential home buyers. However, sponsors have always been in big demand and have not always been plentiful.

Ashcraft said a core group of five attorneys made great strides in bringing the project to fruition: John Curtas, Kathy England, Diana Sullivan, Doug Malan and Stacie Brown.

Ashcraft noted she was somewhat surprised at how handy Pro was, and was impressed with the professional tool belt he wore on the construction site.

The general contractor for the project was Randall "Duke" Phelps of Morningside Homes. Nearly 40 companies donated materials used to build the home.

Habitat, a nationwide organization that was founded in 1977, builds, sells and finances homes for the working poor who otherwise would not qualify for purchase of a single family dwelling by conventional means.

The local Habitat chapter offers no-interest loans and the new homeowner volunteers 450 hours to build the house or work on other Habitat homes.

Homeowners also are required to put 1 percent down. Using the homeowner's gross income, Habitat then structures affordable monthly mortgage payments.