Former NLV council member Strahan dies

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2002 | 9:05 a.m.

Jack F. Strahan, a former North Las Vegas city councilman who was ousted by fellow council members over a conflict of interest but later was reinstated by a judge, died Monday at University Medical Center. He was 83.

Graveside services for the Southern Nevada resident of 60 years will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Woodlawn Cemetery. Palm Mortuary handled arrangements.

Strahan served on the council from 1954 to 1961 with a brief hiatus in 1959 when other council members voted him off the board after it was learned the then-flower shop owner directly benefited from a city contract for flower delivery.

A District Court judge weeks later reinstated Strahan, saying he did not receive due process. Strahan long maintained that his removal was punishment for refusing to be a puppet in the hands of fellow councilmen.

"Politics is a very funny thing," the former carpenter, court bailiff and construction superintendent said in a 1977 interview. "In the event you do not see eye to eye (with other council members) there can be animosity."

Strahan, who served in the 1970s as a deputy Clark County sheriff in the department's civil division, ran unsuccessfully for North Las Vegas Municipal Court judge in 1977 and North Las Vegas mayor in 1993.

As a municipal judge candidate, Strahan, a Democrat, called for Spanish translators for Hispanics in court and supported use of alternate judges.

Born June 19, 1918, in Hitchcock, Okla., Strahan was an Army veteran. He came to Las Vegas in 1940.

He was past president of the Nevada Constables Association, former vice president of Carpenter Local 1780 and a member of the International Footprinters Association and Moose.

Strahan is survived by a daughter, Ronatta Stewart of Cedar City, Utah; a son, Wally Wallace of Las Vegas; a brother, George Strahan of Brookings, Ore.; five grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.