THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF LAS VEGAS VALLEY

LWVLVV OFFICERS

2015-2016 President: Sondra Cosgrove 1st. VP: Beverly Abderrahman 2nd VP: Kathleen Bienenstein Treasurer: Ann Marie Smith Secretary: Sandra Metcalf Directors:

Jan Biggerstaff Denise Gerdes

Camile Naaktgeboren Betty Pardo

LEAGUE WEBSITE www.lwvlasvegasvalley.org

SATURDAY, MARCH 18

GUARDIANSHIP in NEVADA

Rana Goodman, Political Editor at The Vegas Voice

9:00 a.m. - 9:30 SOCIAL 9:30-10:00 a.m. BREAKFAST

10:00 a.m. PROGRAM Breakfast & Program $15

Program no charge Beverages available with donation

Reservations requested by Wednesday, March 15

(702) 464-7887

lwv@lwvlasvegasvalley.org

THE VOTER MARCH 2017

UNIVERSITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

4412 S. Maryland Parkway Across from UNLV

Between Flamingo and Tropicana

MEMBERS!! League’s exciting

2017 changes will be voted on

at this meeting. Be There!

MENTAL HEALTH RALLY

WHAT: The Governors budget is slashing $20 million from our State mental health. We must convince the Legislators to restore this budget! WHEN: Saturday, March 11 at 1 pm WHERE: Montevista Hospital 6000 W. Rochelle (near Jones, just south of Flamingo)

Show up, bring your friends. We need to let the State Legislature know we want the mental health budget restored!!

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By: Sondra Cosgrove By the time we meet this month we’ll be approaching many important deadlines in the legislative session, so be sure to sub-scribe to our blog to get important updates as they happen. Just go to www.lwvlvvblog.org and subscribe. As we heard from the dedicated panel-ists at our mental healthcare meeting, we are facing a dire future if this important budget is cut. So, please help us turn out as many

people as we can for our March 11th

Rally to Restore the Mental Healthcare Budget. We simply cannot go back to the same old ten steps forward, nine steps back approach to mental healthcare. Al-most everything we do in Nevada has a mental healthcare compo-nent, so if we do not get serious about addressing the funding issue now, this one variable will continue to negatively impact so many other parts of our daily lives. For our March meeting we are tackling another important topic that is vastly overdue for real solutions: Guardianship. Even if you have never heard this term, it is guaranteed that you or someone you know will be impacted by the associated laws and regulations. We have too many seniors and their families who are being abused and are suffering because of how poorly our state manages guardianship, so you won’t want to miss our speaker. Finally, we have some big changes planned for our League at the March annual planning meeting, which will take place right after our regular meeting wraps up. Please be sure to come ready to vote on these exciting plans! Sondra

Page 2 THE VOTER

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF LAS VEGAS VALLEY

Behavioral Health Committee Chair: Ann Smith The BH Committee meets the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 pm. If you are interested in attending meetings or being includ-ed on our email distribution list, contact lwv@lwvlasvegasvalley.org. Our main focus right now is getting people out to the March 11th Mental Health Rally that is being held at Montevista Hospital, 6000 West Rochelle near Jones (south of Flamingo) at 1 pm. Please encourage your friends, family and col-leagues to join us to let the legislators know we need to restore the budget for mental health.

MARCH IS OUR ANNUAL MEETING MONTH

Our annual meeting is especially important this year. Changes to our basic structure along with elections of officers will

be voted on by paid-up members. Members should have received the notice of the changes to The League of Women Voters of Las Vegas Valley. Please attend and be prepared to vote at this very important meeting.

LWVSN PROPOSED 2017-2018 GENERAL FUND BUDGET

April 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018

INCOME

DONATIONS-OTHER $ 2,000 MEETINGS IN 2,200 MEMBERSHIPS 5,445 MISC. INCOME 400 TOTAL INCOME $10,045

EXPENSES

TELEPHONE ANSWERING SVCE $ 180 WEB HOSTING 170 MEETINGS OUT 1,500 HOLIDAY PARTY 275 MEMBERSHIP/DONATION - OTHER ORG 500 MISC. EXPENSE 400 PMP NATIONAL DUES 3,120 PMP STATE DUES* 0 POSTAGE 300 PRINTING PUBLICATIONS 300 LIABILITY INSURANCE 800 CONVENTION/COUNCIL EXPENSE 2,500 (travel, lodging, registration) TOTAL EXPENSES $10,045

GREAT FEBRUARY MEETING

with guest panel: Judge Heidi Almase, Dr. Julio

Landero, Mr. Trey Delap and Dr. Sara Hunt.

Straight from the Streets representative Thomas Randle El

SLATE OF CANDIDATES

PRESIDENT: Sondra Cosgrove

VICE-PRESIDENT: Beverly Abderrahman

SECRETARY: Denise Gerdes

TREASURER: Ann Smith

BOARD Kathleen Bienenstein, Jan Biggerstaff,

Carolyn McClure, Betty Pardo, Kay Thompson

NOMINATING COMMITTEE Teresa Bell, Kathleen Dickinson

Nominations will be taken from the floor upon agreement of candidate.. All candidates must have been active members of

LWVLVV for at least 1 year.

Page 3 THE VOTER

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF LAS VEGAS VALLEY

PROPOSED SLATE OF OFFICERS PRESIDENT: Sondra Cosgrove: I’ve been a Nevada resident since 1986 and raised my two children here in Las Ve-gas. I worked for the Clark County School District while attend-ing the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. My B.A. is in American History, with a Minor in Anthropology and I received a Ph.D. in American History with an emphasis in the U.S. West, Native American, and Latin American History in 2004. As a Professor of History at the College of Southern Nevada since 2003 I teach in all my fields. One class I particularly enjoy is Nevada History and I have been actively involved in Nevada politics for many years. My League membership dates to 2008. As a historian, I have always been a fan of the League of Women Voters and strongly believe League is one institution that can help us over-come the grave issues we face as a nation. Collective grassroots advocacy has always been a part of the American political system and is still the best remedy for many of the dysfunctions causing gridlock both nationally and in the several states. When I’m not working, I enjoy hiking and camping and am a big fan of all the great outdoor activities we in Nevada can enjoy. VICE-PRESIDENT: Beverly Abderrahman: I was married for 54 years, have 3 children and 5 grandchildren. I am a member of stagehands union local 720, I was an elected officer and executive board member. I am on the board of directors of the stage employees federal credit union and one of their trustees. I belong to University United Methodist Church. I taught Sunday school and am on the children’s council. It has been an honor to serve on the League's Board of Directors. I look forward to being the vice president and continuing to serve the members of The League of Women Voters. SECRETARY: Denise Gerdes: Denise Gerdes is a retired public librarian who worked in the Scott County Minnesota Li-brary System for 7 years and the Las Vegas Clark County Library District for 16 years. She and her husband enjoy (and babysit!) for their 12 grandchildren and 4 children, all of whom live in Las Ve-gas. They are avid card game players and are members in several clubs. TREASURER: Ann Smith: I have been a member of the LWVLVV for over ten years and am currently Treasurer. I also serve as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Nevada, our State organization. I have been an advocate for mental health since moving to Nevada in 1987 and am chair of the League’s Behavior-al Health Committee. I am co-owner of Communications Consult-ing Service LLC, a foreign language translation service, and have handled the administrative/financial duties for my company since it was founded.

BOARD MEMBERS: Kathleen Bienenstein: Kathleen is currently employed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) as the program coordi-nator for Southern Nevada. Prior to moving to Nevada from Mich-igan, she spent 30 years as an automotive design engineer. She is a past president of the League of Women Voters Las Vegas Valley and a volunteer with the USO at McCarran Airport. She is also past chair of the Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board, formerly the Nevada Test Site. Jan Biggerstaff: I am very interested in serving the League of Women Voters in whatever capacity that enables my past experi-ences to further the League's goals. I am a retired small business owner, I served 4 years as a Clark County School Board Trustee, 8years an active CASA, serving on the CASA Board for 6 years. I also served 2 years on the CC Animal Advisory Committee, 6 years on the CC Advisory Committee for Child and Family ser-vices. I served 12 years and was termed out on the State Board of Education. Retired and loving it!

Betty Pardo: Betty is a retired art teacher and school adminis-trator. She has been involved with the League of Women Voters for twenty years and was actively involved with the defeat of the voucher system in California and helped formulate the Nevada State League's position on vouchers and charter schools. She has served on the board of the Las Vegas Valley League in the posi-tions of vice-president, president and director. As president her goal was to improve both the age and diversity of the member-ship.. Since then the Las Vegas Valley League has improved somewhat its variety of ethnic members and the age of its mem-bers. Most recently Betty participated with the formulation of consensus on an Immigration Position for the National League. She has been actively involved with the production of the Voter Guide since its inception as well as voter registration. For the future, she would like to see greater participation of its mem-bers in the many and varied pursuits of the Las Vegas Valley League. Kay Thompson: I have lived in Las Vegas since 1980. Dur-ing that time, I taught Spanish for 15 years at Gorman High School and several high schools in the Clark County School District. In 1997, I transitioned to high school counseling. I retired in 2006 from Foothill High School. I studied Spanish education at Michi-gan State University and received a master's degree in School Counseling from the University of Missouri. Since retiring, I have traveled extensively. One of my three chil-dren lives in Brisbane, Australia, another son teaches at an interna-tional school in Vietnam, and my daughter is a counselor in Den-

ver. I also substitute occasionally for counsellors in the district. Carolyn McClure: (Resume not provided at publication time). However, Carolyn has been a long time and active member of League. She is secretary/treasurer of Jld Corporation, and an artist. Many remember Carolyn’s mother, long time League mem-ber and political activist Florence McClure.

NOMINATION COMMITTEE: Teresa Bell: I served as Voter Services Chair for 15 years. I have also chaired or was involved with the Environment Commit-tee, Membership Committee, National Women’s Suffrage Com-mittee, and Juvenile Justice Committee. I have served on the LWVLVV Board as 2nd VP and have served on the State Board Nominating Committee and Finance Committee. Through my committee work and voter registration drives I have come to know most of our members and will try to meet new members to deter-mine who would serve in leadership roles in the future. I work part-time as a database research assistant for a GIS company. I was employed by the U.S. Postal Service for 20 years as a Consumer Advocate, Sales Manager, Commercial Accounts Manager, and a Mail Carrier. I have a B.A. in Liberal Studies

Kathleen Dickinson: : I came to Nevada from the Washing-ton, D.C. area in October, 1986 and immediately became involved with numerous civic and progressive organizations, as well as serving as President of the Las Vegas chapter of the League of Women Voters. I have been the sole proprietor of Dynamic Im-pressions, a handwriting analysis and life coaching business since 1988. Currently, I am the Law Related Education Coordinator for the State Bar of Nevada. I have a bachelors degree in Psychology from George Mason University, and completed the American Uni-versity Campaign Management Institute program, as well as the Washington Representative Program at George Washington Uni-versity. I am Vice-Chair of the Nevada Coalition for Suicide Pre-vention. I have served on the League of Women Voters Educa-tion Fund board since 2009.”

Magnetic $12.00 Pin $10.00

All profits go to the 501 (c)(3) Education Project Fund

Purchase at the Registration Desk

at the meeting or lwv@lwvlasvegasvalley.org

NAME

BADGES

P.O. Box 12291, Las Vegas, NV 89112 Phone: (702) 464-7887

Email: lwv@lwvlasvegasvalley.org Website: www.lwvlasvegasvalley.org THE VOTER is published as a service for members of the League of Women Voters of Las Vegas Valley. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited

2017 PROGRAM CALENDAR

MARCH 11 Mental Health Rally

MARCH 18 Guardianship/ Annual Meeting

MARCH 19 & 20 Grassroots Lobby Days, Carson City

APRIL Education

MAY Civility in Politics Award

(programs tentative—subject to change)

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. The LWVLVV meets September through May, the third Saturday of the month. A 9:30 a.m. breakfast/social is followed by the program at 10:00 a.m.

Hot Breakfast $15 with reservation

THE PUBLIC IS ALWAYS WELCOME!

THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF LAS VEGAS

JOIN NOW * STILL ONLY $55

THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS of SOUTHERN NEVADA

Name(s)__________________________________________________________________________Date_________________

Address_______________________________________________City/St_____________________________Zip_____________

Phone_________________________________Email______________________________________________________________

YEARLY DUES: ( ) $55 New/Renew Member ( ) $75 Household ( ) $25 Student Donation to Education Fund 501c3 $ ________(tax deductible)

Now accepting payment through PayPal - check our website

Mail to: LWVLVV, PO Box 12291, Las Vegas, NV 89112

Please note: Pictures are occasionally taken for our publications. Please check if not ok to use ____

THE VOTER Page 4

YOU ARE ALWAYS INVITED! All members are invited and encouraged to attend any

LWVLVV Board meeting. Contact the League for time and place.

(702) 464-7887 lwv@lwvlasvegasvalley.org

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF LAS VEGAS VALLEY Items available at meeting Note Cards & Envelopes $2.00 ea -3 for $5.00 CLOSE-OUTS Official LWVLVV Mugs

Donate $5 to Education Fund and receive one free.

Historical Souvenir Book

$20 for a record of LWVLVV History All proceeds go to our non-profit Education Fund