Las Vegas Chinatown >> Las Vegas City Council Celebrates Chinese New Year

2/19/2007-- During the ceremonial portion of tomorrow’s Las Vegas City Council meeting at 9 a.m., in council chambers located at 400 Stewart Ave., the City Council will celebrate Chinese New Year. A proclamation will be presented to the Summerlin Lions Club to mark the holiday and recognize the group’s commitment to blindness prevention and services to the blind.

The City Council will also recognize Municipal Court Judge Cedric A. Kerns for recently being named Judge of the Year by the Nevada Judges Association. Kerns, who has served on the Las Vegas Municipal Court since June 1997, presides over the successful HOPE court, which works with habitual offenders in an effort to reform chronic criminals to enable them to become productive members of society. Kerns also serves as the Municipal Court liaison for domestic violence offenders.

More than 30 Youth Council officers will also be recognized at the meeting. The Youth Councils are part of the Batteries Included program. Sponsored by the city of Las Vegas, Nevada Partners and the Clark County School District, the program offers a series of programs to improve high school and college graduation rates and to cultivate professional young leaders in our community. The Youth Councils were established in various community centers throughout the city.

Councilman Steve Wolfson will recognize Brandon Abajelo, a player at the city’s Veterans Memorial Leisure Center, who has been selected to the National Jr. National Basketball Association (NBA) Team. Abajelo, who is a sixth grade student at Molasky Middle School, was one of five players chosen from a pool of 750,000 applicants.

Also, members of the Las Vegas Black Historical Society will be on hand to present Councilman Lawrence Weekly and Senator Steven Horsford with a special gift. President Alice Key and Treasurer Sarann Knight Preddy will thank the two elected officials for their assistance with organizing functions and acquiring local African-American historic items.

Finally, the City Council will recognize the February Employee of the Month David Bratcher. Bratcher, who is a redevelopment officer with the Office of Business Development, has worked with the city since April 2005.