Justice Court field cut to four hopefuls

Greg Tuttle

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2000 | 10:53 a.m.

Nine candidates vying for two new Justice Court seats in the Las Vegas Valley were trimmed to four Tuesday, and five incumbent justices of the peace sailed through the primary unopposed.

In Las Vegas Township Dept. 8, Ann Zimmerman and George Assad received the most votes, propelling the two candidates to the Nov. 7 general election. Zimmerman received 29,718 votes, for 40.85 percent of the ballots, while Assad garnered 21,370 votes, or 29.38 percent.

Because the judicial positions are nonpartisan, the top two vote-getters for each of the two contested seats move on to the general election.

Trailing in the field of six candidates for the newly-created Las Vegas judicial position were Dale E. Haley with 7,061 votes, Torris M. Brand with 6,010 votes, Ronald D. Dalrymple with 4,582 votes and Tony Liker, 4,001 votes.

Zimmerman, 36, is a deputy attorney general for Nevada in Las Vegas. Assad, 48, worked three years as a Clark County deputy district attorney before entering private practice in 1989 in Las Vegas.

Justices of the peace are elected for six-year terms and handle a wide range of cases, including misdemeanor crimes and felony preliminary hearings. They also preside over small claims actions up to $5,000 and civil claims up to $7,500.

The population growth in the Las Vegas Valley has caused a similar growth in the number of cases handled in Justice Court. Two years ago the average workload for a justice of the peace was about 8,000 cases a year. That number has grown to an estimated 15,000 cases a year.

Another newly created Justice Court position in North Las Vegas attracted three candidates in the primary race for Dept. 2. Natalie Tyrrell received 3,475 votes for 45.73 percent of the ballots, while Mike Schaefer came in second with 2,504 votes, or 32.95 percent, to move on to the general election. Randall Pike fell out of the race with 1,620 votes, or 21.32 percent.

Tyrrell, 36, is a staff attorney for the city of Las Vegas Senior Citizens Law Project. Schaefer, 62, is an attorney in Las Vegas.

Six incumbent justices of the peace were unopposed, erasing the need for voters to cast their ballots again in November.

In Las Vegas Township Dept. 1, Debbie Lippis ran unopposed to keep the seat she first won in 1992. Other unopposed Las Vegas Township judges included Doug Smith in Dept. 2 and William Jansen in Dept. 5.

In North Las Vegas, Stephen J. Dahl ran unopposed for the Dept. 1 judicial seat.

Rodney T. Burr kept his Justice Court position in Henderson, and Victor L. Miller retained his seat in Boulder City.