Former county commissioner Petitti dies at 81

Jace Radke

Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000 | 10:28 a.m.

Former Clark County Commissioner Jack Petitti's name will always be linked to the FBI investigation that forced him and a number of other Nevada politicians to resign in the early 1980s.

But Petitti also will be remembered for 32 years of public service, and his dedication to an open-door policy, building parks and Boy Scouting. Those are among the memories that Clark County Commissioner Mary Kincaid has of Petitti, who died at the age of 81 on Monday.

"When people think of Jack they think of a person who was always open and always helping," Kincaid said. "He would always go out of his way to listen to people whom others didn't pay attention to. His helping could be anything from going to someone's house to listen to their problem or helping someone with their groceries."

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 66 years are scheduled for noon Saturday at the Bunkers Mortuary Chapel, 925 Las Vegas Blvd. North.

Petitti's political career began in 1950, when he was elected to the Clark County School Board. In 1959 he began the first of three four-year terms as a North Las Vegas councilman, and in 1972 he won a seat on the County Commission, where he served 12 years.

Petitti resigned in 1984 in the wake of an FBI probe code-named "Operation Yobo." Petitti and four others were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of taking money in exchange for zoning promises and other corruption allegations.

Petitti was convicted of taking a $5,000 bribe from an FBI undercover agent posing as a developer of a fat farm on Mount Charleston.

He was sentenced to six months in prison, given three years probation, fined $15,000 and was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. Petitti long maintained he was entrapped and that the money was a campaign contribution.

In his letter of resignation, Petitti said, "having been a county commissioner has been the greatest honor of my life."

Petitti had kept a low profile in politics until his resignation, pouring his efforts into developing parks and recreation areas in Southern Nevada and advocating airport expansion. Petitti organized a drive that resulted in 700 trees being planted in North Las Vegas and helped organize a charter and board of directors for the Nevada Zoo Association.

A 12-acre park in North Las Vegas is named after Petitti, and he was the first Nevadan named to the National Recreation and Parks Association.

Petitti, who was born in Oberlin, Kan., on Jan. 6, 1919, moved with his family to Las Vegas in 1934. Petitti's father, Andrew, opened a tavern on South First Street and sunk his profits into land holdings that helped to sustain the family.

In 1937 Petitti graduated from Las Vegas High School, where he was a football standout. He went to Dixie College in St. George, Utah, where he was an all-conference guard. He finished his schooling at the University Nevada in Renoand served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

After the war, Petitti went to work as an electrician with Reitz Electrical Co., and was later made a partner in the company that employed him for 22 years.

Growing up, Petitti found one of the main interests in his life in the Boy Scouts. He became an Eagle Scout and would spend 45 years supporting scouting. He was later made a Distinguished Eagle Scout in 1984 on what Petitti called the greatest day of his life.

"I knew Jack Petitti as a Boy Scout leader, who did a great deal for scouting and also the high school-age children in Southern Nevada," Sun Executive Editor Mike O'Callaghan, a former two-term Nevada governor, said.

Among Petitti's former scouts are Nevada Supreme Court Justice Myron Leavitt, former District Attorney Ted Marshall and senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd George.

Petitti also served a stint as the head of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, where he persuaded the organization to share room tax money with the cities.

He also served on the board of directors for the National Association of Counties and was chairman of the Clark County Liquor and Gaming Board in the 1970s.

In 1990 the state Pardons Board voted unanimously to restore Petitti's civil rights, allowing him to vote again.

Petitti is survived by his wife, Georganna of Las Vegas; two sons, Gary Petitti, of Las Vegas and Ron Petitti of Eugene, Ore.; two daughters Colleen Kullberg of Las Vegas and Joanne Petitti of Eugene, Ore.; a stepson, Gary Lee Guthery of Las Vegas; a stepdaughter, Jill Maxine Guthery of Boulder City; a sister, Anne Dorland of Exeter, Calif.; a brother, Glen Petitti of Las Vegas; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.