Court Announcements

The Second Judicial District Court is pleased to announce its Twitter account, @SJDC_Nevada. The District Court will use this platform as a tool to communicate court events, updates, and community outreach initiatives.  Engaging the community through education, partnerships and ongoing communication will support access to justice for all.

On June 14, the Second Judicial District Court celebrated Flag Day on the Courthouse patio at 1 South Sierra St.  Members of the community celebrated the 240th birthday of the USA Flag with a patriotic playlist from the Maytan Band, live singing of the national anthem, guest speakers, including elected officials, and a display of patriotic poems submitted by Washoe County elementary students.  The program was led by the Master of Ceremonies, Honorable David Humke. 

 Left to Right:  Honorable David Humke, Honorable Jerome Polaha, Washoe County Commissioner – Chair Bob Lucey, Bryan Scott, Nevada Supreme Court Justice Lidia S. Stiglich.  Singing the National Anthem, Olivia Process.

Bryan Scott, President of the State Bar of Nevada, provided inspirational remarks about the history of the USA Flag and the freedoms afforded to all.  He concluded by gifting a new USA Flag to the Second Judicial District Court.  The Honorable Jerome Polaha accepted this gift on behalf of the District Court.  This flag proudly flies above the dome of the historic courthouse. 

Elected officials played a significant role in this event as they offered symbolism, moments of reflection, and demonstrated pride and continued commitment to their country and public service.

                                                                                                                                                                     Call to Colors presented by the Nevada Veterans Coalition

This event also marked the District Court’s First Annual Flag Day Poem Contest.  Over 70 poems were submitted and each illustrated how future generations reflect on and celebrate the Flag.  Justice Lidia Stiglich, Nevada Supreme Court, recognized the top ranked poems and invited those students to read their poem out loud.  The winning poem, written by 8th grader Jude Lopez, will be featured in the August edition of the WRIT magazine.

This celebration was a great display of patriotism, pride and hometown fun.  It was an event that made everyone salute!

NADCP, 2017 | by Honorable Dorothy Nash Holmes

            The National Association of Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) held its annual training conference in July, attended by more than 5,000 people from all over the USA and some other nations.  Billing itself as “the largest conference on addiction, mental health and justice system reform” it now also includes the Vet Court Con, the only national conference devoted to justice-involved veterans. Morning yoga and 12-Step Meetings were included, and several states held meetings of their state drug court associations.  (Nevada does not yet have one, even though we have more than 50 specialty courts now.)

            There were more than 300 individual classes, and five General Sessions attended by all 5,000+ in the huge Potomac Ballroom at Marriot’s Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor, Md.  The individual classes were set in 23 different tracks (nine for Vet Con), with all classes relevant to a particular topic or targeting specific types of professionals including judges, prosecutors, defenders, case managers, treatment professionals, and law enforcement.  The opioid epidemic was widely discussed as was Medically-Assisted Treatment (MAT).  Many speakers mentioned mindfulness in their presentations.  Gender orientation, diversity, family inclusion and latest research were common themes.

             A sad commentary on the times was that one of the featured speakers was from “Sesame Street.”  She reported that there are 24 million children under 6 years old in America and half of them live in poverty.  Trauma permeates their lives and many of the parents use drugs.  NADCP is partnering with Sesame Street (in its 50^th year now) to work with those little children to make them smarter, stronger and kinder in order to address the terrible effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES).  SesameStreetinCommunities.org can be found online to obtain resources to promote resilience, nurturing relationships and other protective factors that can, hopefully, offset the trauma that can re-wire a child’s brain and presage a lifetime of physical illness, mental pain, and generational addiction.

             In 2018, the conference is in Houston, TX from May 30 to June 2.  Be aware, this year all five convention hotels were sold out in hours and many of us had extended stays in neighboring communities.

NACM Annual Conference 2017 | by Melissa Haffner

Left to Right:  Bobbie Williams, Dexter Thomas, Jennifer Cure, Joe Tommasino, Steve Tuttle, Melissa Haffner, Pete Whitehead, Randall Soderquist

            The 2017 NACM annual conference, which was held in Arlington, Virginia, was a joint effort with IACA (International Association for Court Administration).  The conference was attended by NACM members from across the United States and from over 52 other countries around the world.  Nevada was well represented with members from Reno, Sparks, Las Vegas, Elko, and the Minden/Gardnerville area.  The theme of the conference was Excellence on a Global Scale and offered educational sessions focused on this theme along with a wide range of other topics, including managing fines and fees, bail practices, and being more efficient while providing quality of justice.  The plenary sessions offered great insight from experienced leaders on how to deal with challenges many of us face, such as: engaging our communities, collaborative leadership, the perspective of judicial power, and how to properly drive culture change. 

            As always, the exhibit show was full of many vendors offering products and services to assist courts in their daily operations.  The exhibit show gave attendees an opportunity to explore various tools and resources that may be new and upcoming, or current ones we use that may have new features and abilities.  Along with the exhibit show, the conference provided a great opportunity to network with colleagues and catch up or share best practices.    

            Although conference attendees were there on business, the activities in the area were plentiful and of course, there wasn't enough time to see everything.  NACM and IACA offered an evening bus tour of the surrounding areas that visited many main attractions.  Most people also had the opportunity to do some walking sightseeing to some of our country's most famous historical monuments and memorials.  The main social event was held at the Library of Congress, which was absolutely amazing.  The history and architecture within the building was astounding, along with some delicious food and drinks.    

            Overall, the conference was successful in providing a wealth of knowledge to assist court managers in leading successful teams within each of the courts.  NACM and IACA are both valuable associations to be a part of and the effort that the board members and committees put into producing an educational conference is very much appreciated.