FAMILY COURT

Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004 | 1:13 a.m.

The battle between incumbent Judge Robert W. Lueck and attorney Sandra L. Pomrenze for the Department E seat could be the closest of the three Family Court races.

In the primary Lueck captured almost 36 percent of the vote, while Pomrenze garnered 25 percent.

Lueck, 56, who earned his law degree at the University of Notre Dame Law School, has served five years as a Family Court judge and was in private practice for 22 years before that.

Pomrenze, 55, who earned her law degree at John Marshall Law School, has been an attorney in Las Vegas for 18 years and is an experienced arbitrator and mediator. She has served as a settlement judge for the Nevada Supreme Court.

Lueck wrote the chapter on legal ethics for the Nevada Family Law Manual and created the parenting coordinator program for Family Court. He wants create an alternative dispute resolution commissioner for the court.

Pomrenze's platform includes moving cases efficiently and fairly through the system to help alleviate the stresses on spouses and their children from long, drawn-out family disputes.

Department D

Incumbent Judge Gerald W. Hardcastle faces a challenge in Department D from Elizabeth Halverson, a local attorney making her first run for a public office.

Hardcastle, 58, has served as a Juvenile and Family Court judge for 12 years and has practiced law locally for 19 years.

Hardcastle, who has a law degree from the University of Utah, started the Children Cope with Divorce parent education program and the Truancy Court Diversion Project to address students skipping middle school classes.

He wants to continue to develop programs to better assist families and children and move cases efficiently through the busy court's calendar.

Halverson, 47, who earned her law degree at the University of Southern California Law Center, wants to ensure that visitation rights are enforced. She is also proposing a job court to coordinate existing programs that help parents having problems finding employment to pay child support.

Department F

Incumbent Judge Bob Gaston believes his 16 years' experience in the field of education coupled with his 12 years' experience as a judge are strong points in his re-election bid in Department F.

His opponent, trial lawyer Stefany Ann Miley, has championed children's causes inside and outside the courtroom.

Gaston, 65, who has a doctorate degree in education from UNLV and a law degree from Cal Western University, has lived in Las Vegas for 36 years.

A former assemblyman who co-chaired the Assembly education committee, Gaston said his background and experience in education have assisted him in implementing an around-the-clock emergency protective order for domestic violence, authoring a state bill giving grandparents the right to ask the court for visitation rights and instituting a tattoo-removal program for youths who want to leave gang life and get jobs.

Miley, 33, who earned her law degree at Cal Western, has experience in corporate law, personal injury, criminal law, real estate and domestic law.

She helped draft the safe haven for babies law that allows a parent to drop off an infant at a police or fire station without facing charges. Miley said that, if elected, she would provide fairness to all individuals.

Other races

Family Court Judges Bill Voy in Department A, Gloria Sanchez in Department B and Steve Jones in Department C ran unopposed in the primary and will retain their seats.