Sheri Samson - From left, Nevada candidates Assemblyman Ira Hansen and Carol Del Carlo spoke with local residents at a meet and greet at Lions Park. They are shown with Mineral County Republican Chairpersons Mark and Cindy Nixon.

Sheri Samson – From left, Nevada candidates Assemblyman Ira Hansen and Carol Del Carlo spoke with local residents at a meet and greet at Lions Park. They are shown with Mineral County Republican Chairpersons Mark and Cindy Nixon.

Lions Park in Hawthorne was the location for a local meet and greet as Mineral County Republican Chairpersons, Mark and Cindy Nixon, welcomed candidates Assemblyman Ira Hansen and Carol Del Carlo who is running for the Board of Regents in District Nine. A picnic dinner was the setting for an informal atmosphere that provided conversations with the candidates.

Hansen spoke of being a plumber by trade. Raised in a close knit family, he relied working in the family business which provided the value of knowing a trade. Coming from the Sparks area, he expressed how much growth he had seen in the surrounding regions where he has enjoyed time as an outdoorsman.

Hansen became a member of the Nevada State Assembly in 2011, representing Northern Nevada. Following the 2016 controversial episode between Cliven Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management, Hansen called for the Nevada Attorney General to conduct an investigation into the BLM’s actions regarding the standoff, saying the BLM showed “the overreaction” and he co-sponsored a bill to create a task force to conduct a study that would address the proper transfer of public lands from the Federal Government to the State of Nevada.

Del Carlo greeted everyone in her red, white and blue outfit, displaying flag pins and her enthusiasm toward filling the sixth current seat, which is open on the Board of Regents.

Following a 21-year career with General Motors in Sparks, she found her emphasis lies in the technical career fields, where graduates can achieve jobs that grow their abilities as well as their opportunities. With two degrees completed, Del Carlo was quick to express the need of properly funding community colleges and sponsoring the cooperative extensions so local, rural education can expand.

The Board of Regents in Nevada is part of the overall Association of Governing Boards which has 4,000 College and Universities across America. A Board Regent, also known as a member, is entrusted and commissioned to oversee the institutions and their futures by coordinating the public higher education, as well as the multi-campus systems within their regions. Del Carlo is running for one opening to complete an open tenure, but shared her determination to run again at the next election to fulfill the entire four years in which this position normally maintains.