Shotgun prize in raffle raises questions

Dan Kulin

Thursday, May 27, 2004 | 9:41 a.m.

At an employee-only party Wednesday celebrating the creation of the Clark County Parks and Community Services Department, staff bought $1 raffle tickets for a chance to win a variety of items including fishing gear, a free buffet at the Bellagio -- and a shotgun.

No county money was used to pay for the event. The $1,200 raised Wednesday goes into a private account used by employees to pay for future parties or items such as flowers for a fellow employee who has a baby or has a death in the family, county officials said. But top county management will review the raffle because of the shotgun prize.

"In some ways you might laud them for finding a way to fund their program," Virginia Valentine, an assistant county manager, said. "But you have to balance that and how far you go in telling employees what to do against what a public policy should be for county employees."

Valentine, who said she did not know a shotgun was to be raffled, said she and other top county managers will soon discuss whether a shotgun should be raffled during an employee event. Valentine said she was not aware of an existing county policy addressing the issue.

Luis Tolley, who oversees state-level legislation across the country for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, called the shotgun raffle a "very unfortunate idea."

"One concern is that if someone is injured by that gun the cost of that will dwarf what they got from the raffle," Tolley said.

But Pat Marchese, the department director, said she was surprised anyone would oppose the raffling of a gun.

"There is no taxpayer money in this," Marchese said. "I think we've covered all the bases in keeping it separate from the county and having anybody look askance at this."

Marchese said the shotgun was just one of many items raffled.

"The raffle had 28 baskets full of leisure things. There was a fishing basket, a spa basket. ... We know that people have different interests for their spare time and some people like to fish and some people like to hunt," she said. The shotgun, a picture of which was at the park for the raffle, was alone in its basket, she said.

The shotgun was the most sought after item in the December raffle, and at least one of the most popular items again Wednesday, said Dave March, an animal control sergeant, whose department contributed the Mossberg Model 500 12-gauge pump action as a prize. The prizes are raffled off separately.

"Why would you raffle something you know people don't want?" he asked. "It's not illegal, and if someone objects to it, they just don't put in for it."

March said he would never want to raffle off a handgun because it would probably upset many people.

The Parks and Community Services Department, which was created two years ago, has 324 full-time and about 2,000 part-time employees in six divisions, officials said. About 150 to 200 employees attended the Wednesday party, county spokeswoman Gina Olivares said.

Marchese said the annual parties help bring together the many divisions within the county's largest department for a chance to "celebrate our successes" and "get back in touch with each other."

March said the shotgun cost $199, and was never brought to the park, which would be against the law. The weapon stayed at his house, and he will soon personally hand it over to the raffle winner, Jim Woolsey, a department assistant director, March said.

March and Marchese said the shotgun would not go to a person with a criminal record because the county does background checks on all employees.

Marchese and others also pointed out that the county is planning to build a shooting park on 2,800 acres on the northern end of the Las Vegas Valley.

But Valentine said she doesn't think the coming shooting range and raffle of a weapon are related.

"The shooting range is for gun safety and education and to try to meet a need in the community," she said. "The reasons are environmental, so we don't have people shooting in the desert."