Ward 1 candidate bios

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 11:42 a.m.

Lois Tarkanian

Party: Democrat

Age: 70

Occupation: Volunteer

Endorsements: Southern NevadaCentral Labor Council, Nevada Conference of Police and SheriffsPolice Managers and Supervisors, Las Vegas Firefighters Local 1285,Hispanics in Politics, and Nevada Concerned Citizens.

Lois Tarkanian was the oldest of six children growing up on a cotton and grape farm with no running water in Kerman, Calif. She was the first member of her family to go to college and wound up earning a doctorate in leadership and human behavior at Fresno State University.

She later earned a doctorate degree in leadership and human behavior from the United States International University in San Diego.

Tarkanian moved to Las Vegas in 1973 when her husband, Jerry, was hired to coach the UNLV basketball team. She worked as a speech pathologist teaching deaf children to speak and helping people with speech impediments. She now spends some time as a volunteer consultant in the field of speech pathology.

In 1989 Tarkanian was elected to the Clark County School Board, where she served until 2000 when she left the board in 2000 and ran unsuccessfully for the County Commission.

Tarkanian has four children who are in their 30s and 40s and eight grandchildren.

Janet Moncrief

Party: None

Age: 45

Occupation: Las Vegas City Council member, nurse and co-owner of Trinidad Surgery Center

Endorsements: None

Janet Moncrief grew up in Moline, Ill., a city along the Mississippi River in what is known as the Quad Cities area, and later went to nursing school, eventually receiving a nursing degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago.

After divorcing her husband, Moncrief and her daughter Kara, now 23, lived in Atlanta and then Florida before moving to Las Vegas about 14 years ago.

Moncrief said she always loved the desert and wanted to move west, so she came to Las Vegas and quickly found work.

"I knew I didn't have to worry about a job because I'm a nurse," Moncrief said, adding there appeared to be a significant shortage of nurses in the Las Vegas Valley when she moved here.

She lived for years just outside the city limits in an unincorporated part of Clark County but moved into Las Vegas so she could run for the City Council in 2003.

Since being elected to the council, Moncrief continues working as a nurse. She said she works at University Medical Center every other weekend, and at the Trinidad Surgery Center, which she co-owns, a few times a month. The center specializes in surgeries for people who do not have health insurance.

Vicki Quinn

Party: Republican

Age: 45

Occupation: Mother, homemaker

Endorsements: The Las Vegas City Employees Association

Born in Wisconsin, Vicki Quinn moved to Las Vegas when she was five years old and has been here since. Quinn graduated from Bishop Gorman High School and then spent three semesters at University of Nevada-Reno.

Her husband owns Precision Construction, and Quinn has dedicated her time to raising their children, ages 11, 16, and 18. She also has made somewhat of a name for herself as an activist.

Quinn's most public early efforts were to get handicapped seating on the floor seating area of UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. Quinn's middle child is a sports fan and a quadriplegic since birth.

She was also a strong supporter and force behind the successful effort to put new sidewalks along a stretch of Alta Drive near her home on Rancho Drive. Quinn's two oldest children were struck by a car on Oct. 30, 1999 while along the side of the road before the sidewalks were installed.

Quinn was also active in forming the group later named "Moms on a Mission" which fought against adult charges and sentencing for a teenager who was behind the wheel in a deadly November 2003 drunk driving accident that killed three teens.