Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 21–Senators Raggio, Amodei, Care, Carlton, Coffin, Jacobsen, James, Mathews, McGinness, Neal, O’Connell, O’Donnell, Porter, Rawson, Rhoads, Schneider, Shaffer, Titus, Townsend, Washington and Wiener

 

Joint Sponsors: Assemblymen Dini, Anderson, Angle, Arberry, Bache, Beers, Berman, Brower, Brown, Buckley, Carpenter, Cegavske, Chowning, Claborn, Collins, de Braga, Freeman, Gibbons, Giunchigliani, Goldwater, Gustavson, Hettrick, Humke, Koivisto, Lee, Leslie, Manendo, Marvel, McClain, Mortenson, Neighbors, Nolan, Oceguera, Ohrenschall, Parks, Parnell, Perkins, Price, Smith, Tiffany, Von Tobel and Williams

 

FILE NUMBER..........

 

Senate Concurrent RESOLUTION—Memorializing attorney and public servant, Peter Ignacio Echeverria, Esq.

 

   Whereas, The residents of the State of Nevada mourn the loss of
an influential advocate and defender of freedom with the passing of
Peter Ignacio Echeverria on July 5, 2000; and

   Whereas, Pete Echeverria, the son of John Echeverria, a Basque

 sheepherder, and his wife, Maria, was born in Shoshone, Idaho, on June

 29, 1918, and spent his early years in Hailey, Idaho, where, at 7 years of

 age, being told by a sheepherder that if he caught a certain lamb he could

 keep it, Pete showed the sense of challenge and accomplishment that

 would be the trademark of his life by doing just that; and

   Whereas, After his family settled in Ely, Pete attended the public

 schools there, working at various jobs and ultimately becoming a butcher’s

 apprentice, a trade that would help him earn his way through the

 University of Nevada in Reno; and

   Whereas, While attending the University of Nevada, Pete Echeverria

 teamed up with his good friend and roommate, Cliff Young, now Nevada

 Supreme Court Justice Young, to become the duo to win the Far West

 Debate Championship in 1943, and it was also during these years that he

 met Frances Arenaz, his future wife and the mother of their four children;

 and

   Whereas, After returning from service during World War II as a

 decorated Army infantry captain, Pete Echeverria entered and graduated

 from Stanford Law School and started his 34-year legal career during

 which he took on a number of high profile cases and was known as a great

 orator with a “trip-hammer” mind and an ability to charm jurors; and

   Whereas, Pete Echeverria was a Special Assistant Attorney General

 for the Nevada Legislature in 1951 and 1953, served in the Nevada State

 Senate from 1959 to 1963 and had been on the State Planning Board for

 10 years when Governor Mike O’Callaghan appointed him Chairman of

 the Nevada Gaming Commission in 1973; and

   Whereas, While on the Commission, his opposition to the licensing of

 Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal in Nevada’s casino industry led to a major court

 battle that resulted in the affirmation of Nevada’s strict gambling laws and

 landed Rosenthal in Nevada’s infamous “List of Excluded Persons,”

 known popularly as the “Black Book”; and

   Whereas, In an interview after leaving the Nevada Gaming

Commission in 1977, Pete Echeverria said that as Chairman he had to

 “stand up strong and hard” against those who would corrupt the state’s

 casinos; and

   Whereas, Pete Echeverria was national President of the American

 Board of Trial Advocates and the only man elected twice to that position,

 a member of the American College of Trial Attorneys, the International

 Academy of Trial Attorneys, the State Bar of Nevada and the Washoe

 County Bar Association, and was a founder of the Nevada Trial Lawyers

 Association which awarded him the first Lifetime Achievement Award,

 acknowledging him as one of the finest trial attorneys in America; and

   Whereas, After leaving trial law in 1983, Pete Echeverria operated a

 consulting firm specializing in gaming, real estate and legal matters, and

 was named Chairman of the Nevada Governor’s Wild Horse Committee;

 and

   Whereas, Peter Echeverria is survived by his sons, John and Mike, and

 his daughters, Teresa Maloney and Cris Welmerink; now, therefore, be it

   Resolved by the Senate of the State of Nevada, the Assembly

 Concurring, That the members of the 71st session of the Nevada

 Legislature express their deep sense of loss and extend their heartfelt

 condolences to the family and friends of Peter Echeverria; and be it further

   Resolved, That the residents of the State of Nevada are encouraged to

 take Pete Echeverria as a model to “stand up strong and hard” when

 confronted by any force that might compromise the greatness of this state;

 and be it further

   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate prepare and transmit a copy

 of this resolution to Pete Echeverria’s children, John, Teresa, Cris and

 Mike.

 

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