Reporters and Habitat for Humanity • Sharing Reference

silver
statements
A Q UA RTERLY PUBLIC ATION OF THE NE VADA COURT R E P O RT E R S A S S O C I AT I O N
SUMMER 2009
Reporters and Habitat for Humanity • Sharing Reference Resources
Las Vegas Reporting Program Winding Down • Dressing for Success
New Laws Take Effect
2
B OARD O F D IR E C TO R S
President
Lori Urmston
(775) 826-2744/fax (775) 825-5335
[email protected]
President-Elect
Peggy Isom
(702) 396-6970/fax (702) 396-0465
[email protected]
VP-North
Lisa Young
(775) 287-2811
[email protected]
VP-South
Mary Cox Daniel
(702) 263-6487/fax (702) 263-7921
[email protected]
Treasurer
Susan Culp
(775) 787-6154
[email protected]
Secretary
Marcia Ferrell
(775) 835-8945
[email protected]
Director - North
Cecilia Vohl
(775) 827-0672/fax (702) 827-5850
[email protected]
Director - South
Kristy Clark
(702) 306-3278
[email protected]
Director At Large
Barbara Johnson
[email protected]
Past President
Gayle Pichierri
(702) 260-9992/fax (702) 260-9973
[email protected]
w w w. nvcra. org
SILVER STATEMENTS
Silver Statements is a quarterly publication of the Nevada Court
Reporters Association, issued spring, summer, fall and winter.
Statements of fact or opinion are made on the responsibility of the
author or advertiser alone and do not imply an opinion on the part of
NVCRA. Silver Statements reserves the right to edit or reset materials
submitted for space or aesthetic considerations. Silver Statements
does not verify the content of any ad and is not responsible for the
representations made therein.
Please send articles, comments, letters or personal anecdotes to:
Kevin Daniel
Email: [email protected]
MISSION STATEMENT
Dedicated to advancing professionalism among Court Reporters by
promoting high ethical standards, providing continuing educational
opportunities and advocating technological advancements while
nurturing goodwill and unity among its members.
ADVERTISING RATES
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Please submit all advertisement material as digital files to the Editor
via e-mail; [email protected]. All advertisement material must be
confirmed as received prior to submission deadline. No late submissions
will be accepted. Digital files are to be in *.tiff, *.jpg, or *.pdf formats.
For questions or for a copy of NVCRA’s Advertising Policy, contact the
Editor via e-mail. Design and/or layout consultation is available at an
additional charge - Please contact the Editor for further details.
Deadline for submitting articles, advertisements, et cetera,
for the Spring Issue of Silver Statements will be
Friday, September 18, 2009.
on the cover
NVCRA members working for Habitat for
Humanity. Photo by Barbara Johnson.
3
S U M M E R
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president’s
message
The last few months for me personally
have been busy ones. One of my sons
was married in June and one of my sons
was here for two weeks of leave from Afghanistan. During those busy times, having just come off the preparations for the
state convention, I really wanted to limit
my involvement with anything having to
do with court reporting. However, during
that time the e-mails were flying across
my computer from all over the country
from people who were at least as busy
as I was, if not busier, some who
were fighting battles and winning, some who were fighting battles and losing, and
some who are still out
there fighting.
Having had licensure for court reporters
in Nevada since 1973,
it’s hard to imagine how
many states are still fighting to obtain legislative licensure for court reporters in
their state. On June 8, by unanimous
vote, Tennessee was successful in passing
legislation for licensure for the court reporting profession.
On June 10 the Budget Committee of
California rejected a proposal to replace
official court reporters with digital recording. And this was the third attempt since
the first of the year to replace court reporters and the third time the court reporters
of California banded together and fought
a valiant battle and won!
On June 16 California court reporters
scored another win when the Senate Business and Professions Committee rejected
the Governor’s proposal to eliminate the
Court Reporters Board of California.
On May 12 a Delaware Justice vacated contracting rules and disbanded the
CSR board. In Iowa, due to the state’s
budget crunch, the state’s chief justice has
appointed a committee to recommend a
plan for the state’s reporting system by the
end of the year.
In each of these cases, there are busy
court reporters out there volunteering their
time, writing letters, making telephone
calls and their efforts are paying off. From
all of us in Nevada, I want to extend our
thanks to each of them for their support of
our profession.
On the home front, we lost our battle
at the Legislature regarding SB34 which
now allows preliminary hearings
to be reported by a court reporter or recorded by the
use of “sound recording.”
We couldn’t overcome
the reality that “sound
recording” is allowed
in District Court and
the argument from the
Justices of the Peace
that they just wanted
parity with District Court,
although every Justice of the
Peace reiterated over and over again
their satisfaction and respect for the court
reporters working in their courts.
During the legislative session there
was an agreement from all parties involved, confirmed by Chief Justice Hardesty, that a commission will be appointed
to study all aspects of court transcripts,
including quality, timing and cost. The
Association has written a letter accepting
Judge Hardesty’s invitation to have court
reporters appointed to this commission
and we are awaiting his reply.
As we look forward to the next legislative session, especially with what is expected to be a lot of new faces due to term
limits, we all will need to work diligently
to educate anyone and everyone we can on
what it means to be a court reporter and
why there’s no question that if you want
the biggest bang for your buck a live court
“We all will
need to work
diligently to educate
anyone and everyone
we can on what it
means to be a court
reporter.”
reporter is the only way to go. As we deal
with these issues, we will be calling on
each of you to help us reach our goals of
what is best for our profession and for the
general public.
In August two of the Association’s
Board members will be delegates at the
National Committee of State Associations
meeting. NCSA is the liaison between
NCRA and the state associations. We welcome your thoughts or comments regarding issues that you would like to be addressed at the National level. If you would
like to post a comment at www.nvcra.org,
we will take your concerns and comments
with us to Washington, D.C.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge
two people who left the Association board
in March. Gayle Pichierri served for the
preceding two years as the President of
the board, having spent approximately
ten years actively involved, from chairing
the convention committee, to attending
intense leadership training, to ultimate responsibility for our entire organization. On
behalf of all of us, I want to thank her for
her devotion to our profession, not only in
terms of service, but her effectiveness in
helping make us a stronger association.
Carol Hummel left the board as Director at Large, although she continues to
act as the Special Events Chairperson for
the northern Nevada area. Carol also has
spent many, many years following through
on her commitment to the court reporting
profession, and as long as she wasn’t off
traveling to some faraway land, all you
had to do was ask Carol to do something
and it was done.
I hope everyone has a safe and funfilled summer!
—Lori Urmston
4
w w w. nvcra. org
Reporter Profile
Name:
Susan Culp
Also known as Susan Kiger.
And way back when, I was also
known as little Susie Stubbs!
City: Reno, Nevada. Born and raised!
Type of reporter: Freelance reporter who has
dabbled a bit in the CART world.
Certificates/Licenses: Licensed in the state of
Nevada. Am working on Karen Yates’ 10 X 10
campaign to earn many more certifications.
Years reporting: 21 years reporting. (Holy,
Cow! I must have been 10 when I started!!)
How did you get into reporting?
Well, I was 18 years old and my mom apparently felt I was at
risk of having way too much fun in life, so she informed me she
found a great college for me to attend, and, “Oh, by the way,
school starts in a month!” So I thought it sounded like something that may just work for me. The real clincher was I was
an 18-year-old kid who was going to have my own apartment
and move 250 miles away from parental supervision! My mom
sent my sister to school with me hoping she would “watch over
me!” Little did Mom know, Lynn and I would become the best
of friends! The rest is history! Moms are the smartest!
Anything memorable about your first job?
My first job was a workers comp case against the Sacramento
Bee, and I was going to throw up!
Hobbies:
My children are my greatest hobbies! And because of this wonderful profession, I’ve had the opportunity to watch them grow
On the Record
Submitted by Carre Lewis
and be an active part of their world! I have been to so many
Little League Baseball games, I have a permanent imprint of
the bleachers on my hind end! My oldest son, Erik, started
baseball in 1994. My youngest, twins Justin and Jesse, will
start little league in the Spring of 2010. Darn good thing I love
the game!!
A book you recommend:
Go Dog, Go! It was just as good 40 years ago as it is today!
Like I’ve said, my life is all about my kids!
Three famous people you’d like to share dinner and conversation,
and which restaurant:
Miss Piggy, because like myself, she is a Princess in her own
mind! She could give me wonderful tips! Tim Lincecum, I’m
certain he’d have words of wisdom I could give to my son
Chris. And John Holland, famous psychic, to give me words of
encouragement from loved ones I miss! And this would all take
place at any Mexican restaurant!
Q. So you were retired, sitting at home, and decided, hey, maybe I’ll get out of the house for a
little bit and take on a part-time job? Is that fair or not?
A. No, that’s not fair at all. I wasn’t sitting at home. I was enjoying my life. I was going dancing
every night and having a good time.
Q. So then what made you decide to go back to work?
A. I just decided I was tired of laying around doing nothing.
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Tips for the New Professional:
A Legacy of Sharing
by Kevin Daniel, CCR 710
“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we
know where we can find information upon it.”
—Samuel Johnson
“There is no knowledge, no light, no wisdom that you are in possession of, but what you have received it from some source.”
—Brigham Young
I’ve been reporting for over 38 years now. I was barely old
enough to hold a notary commission when I was hired as an official reporter in Okemah, Oklahoma. I owned the state-of-the art
in stenotype machines, a Stenograph Reporter Model, $200 new.
The Deluxe Carrying Case was an additional $50. I used to laugh
out loud when someone asked me if I needed to
plug in my machine. Used Stenorette dictation recorders could be picked up for anywhere from $50
to $150, and I dictated my notes and sent them by
U.S. Postal Service to a transcriber who provided
multiple copies of transcripts by using carbon paper and a typewriter.
But this stroll down foggy memory lane
wouldn’t be complete without a description of
a working reporter’s reference library in 1971 when I began reporting. I remember visiting a busy freelance office in Wichita,
Kansas, a veritable metropolis with a population of 250,000. Okemah, by comparison, boasted just over 2,000 inhabitants. Behind
the desk of the firm’s owner and star reporter were shelves and
shelves lining the walls of his office, and every shelf was jammed
full of reference materials. I recognized many of the books, such as
Dorland’s Medical Dictionary and Black’s Law Dictionary. I can
remember phone books occupying vast quantities of shelf space,
and on closer examination I noticed that not only were there phone
books from virtually every city, town and burg in Kansas, but there
were phone books for many of the major cities going back 10 years
and more. When I asked why they kept the old phone books, I
learned that names of deceased doctors, lawyers and witnesses
could often be found in old phone books, as well as defunct businesses and addresses of businesses, witnesses and parties. It was
a library accumulated over years, and its value as a reference tool
was inestimable. For the first time, I saw the Register of American Businesses, a huge multi-volume set of books containing a
seemingly inexhaustible list of names of companies throughout the
United States. I was in awe at the wealth of resources at the fingertips of reporters working at this firm and I quickly saw one of the
advantages of working for a large firm.
Around this same time, I attended a seminar by a seasoned
reporter who had been reporting in the same geographic area for
many years (though I’m sure less than my current 38 years), and he
displayed a recipe card box of 4x6-inch cards containing handwritten resume summaries of every doctor he had ever taken testimony
from. Here was another reporter resource that American Express
would describe as “priceless,” and indeed it was.
My eyes had been opened to potential tools every good reporter should have, and I set off in earnest building my own reference library, purloining phonebooks from motel rooms wherever I
traveled.
Fast forward to 2009, and as I sit at my desk writing this article, on the shelf to my left I still have a number of reference works
in print: A dog-eared, hardbound Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate
Dictionary; Morson’s English Guide for Court Reporters; my
CAT software manual; and style manuals from freelance firms for
whom I work. In my extended library “annex” in
another room, I still have Dorland’s and Black’s,
along with The Merck Manual and Means Illustrated Construction Dictionary (indispensable in
construction-defect-ridden Las Vegas). Several
shelves are still lined with other works, such as
Dictionary Schmictionary, Dictionary of Slang,
and the like, but for the most part, the books in the
annex are gathering dust these days. Which brings
me to the point of this article, which is reference resources for court
reporters. I’m sorry it took me so long to reach this point, but it
seems all the articles I write these days have to begin with a history
lesson about how rough we had it “in my day.”
I want to concentrate on two excellent online resources that
many of you are aware of and I want to point out how they can make
the life of the working reporter so much easier. The two resources
are SearchMaster, and Mr. Modem’s Newsletter and website.
I’ll begin with SearchMaster. It’s a program that is the brainchild of a former transcriber named Jim Barker. Here’s a description of the program from the SearchMaster.tv website:
SearchMaster is a Windows program designed specifically for
court reporters, scopists, proofreaders, and text editors.
SearchMaster is installed to your hard drive, from a CD, so
that you can conduct the overwhelming majority of your research
without going to the Internet or opening a book.
• SearchMaster provides tools for conducting research in over
200 glossaries containing over 9.25 million references.
• Allows users to view, search, and index single and multiple
ASCII files/transcripts. Create a wildcard-searchable database
of your transcripts in SearchMaster and you can locate any
word, any number, any name in those files in seconds, even if
you don’t remember the correct spelling.
• Contains powerful Internet search engines.
• Contains links to over 100 Internet research sites.
• Allows users to find (and open) any files anywhere on their
“My eyes had been
opened to potential
tools every good
reporter should
have.”
6
computer in seconds.
• Allows users to highlight text directly from Web sites and copy
that text directly into SearchMaster files for later viewing,
searching, and/or indexing.
• Provides tools for creating, searching, displaying, and indexing custom-made indexes and data files.
If you’re not familiar with SearchMaster and its glossaries, you
should visit the website at: www.searchmaster.tv and discover the
depth of this mind-blowing resource.
I use several of the glossaries almost on a weekly basis. There’s
the Medical/Drug glossary where I can search medical terms and
drug names using only letters I’m confident appear in the words. For
instance, If I wanted to find out how to spell “sciatica,” I might start
with “s*i*t*a,” (using the asterisk as a wildcard
character). “Sciatica” would appear, with a great
many other words that fit those parameters. I
could either scroll through the alphabetical list
or refine my search with more guesses as to the
spelling until I find the word I’m looking for.
If I’m not sure if this is the correct word, I can
look it up in the digital Webster’s Unabridged
Dictionary that SearchMaster sent me with my last subscription.
The dictionary can be integrated to work from within SearchMaster
or as a stand-alone program on your computer. Or you can right
click on the word and send it to Google or one of several other reference resources for further research.
The second glossary I use regularly is Colleges and Universities, which lists virtually every college and university in the world,
along with the city and state where they’re located. There’s also one
that lists high schools in the U.S.
Thirdly, there’s Cities. You can search cities around the world
by spelling or by state. Not sure if a city in South Dakota is spelled
as one or two words? Look it up in SearchMaster.
Oh, and remember the volumes of the Register of American Businesses I first saw back in the ‘70s? There’s a glossary in
w w w. nvcra. org
SearchMaster called Top Companies.
I’ve saved the best glossaries for last: Doctors and Dentists,
and Attorneys. There are over 1.2 MILLION doctors and dentists
listed by city, state and specialty. There are over 1.3 MILLION listings of attorneys by city and state. Hmm, why would a court reporter ever need that kind of information? I’m sure you’ll think of
some reason.
But the glossaries are just one facet of SearchMaster. Let me
tell you about my personal favorite feature in SearchMaster. I use
Eclipse CAT software, and it is configured so that every time I create an ASCII in my software, a copy goes into a directory that is tied
to SearchMaster. In that directory is an ASCII of every job I’ve done
since I started using Eclipse. Using SearchMaster, I can select any
or all of those jobs and do a search for words,
names or numbers -- with or without wildcard
characters — across the span of several years.
If I run into an attorney I haven’t seen in some
time and we’re chatting about how long it’s
been since we last worked together, I can plug
his name into the search field and it will show
me – in context – each and every job where he
appeared on my appearance page. I can then open the file(s) and
see the entire deposition, including the caption. That usually sparks
a conversation about my software and the power I have at my fingertips to search every one of the several hundred depositions I’ve
taken in the last 6 years. I usually casually mention that I’ve never
heard of ER or voicewriters being able to do that. And remember
that recipe file box of doctors’ resumes the seasoned reporter kept
back in the ‘70s? That’s replaced, too. I can search for every time I
deposed any doctor and see the full context of his testimony.
I’ve only scratched the surface of SearchMaster, but if you’re
intimidated and think you could never learn to use these powerful
features, think again. SearchMaster comes with an extensive video
tutorial, narrated in the famous mellifluous voice of Jim Barker
himself. You can even get NCRA CEUs for completing his tutorial.
“There are over 1.2
million doctors and
dentists listed by city,
state and specialty.”
calendar
of upcoming events
NCRA Annual Convention & Exposition
August 6-9, 2009
Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center
National Harbor, MD
For more information:
http://ncraonline.org/Events/Annual/?referrer=%2fdefault.htm
Nevada CCR Exam
Saturday, September 19, 2009
University of Reno
Joe Crowley Student Union Bldg.
1665 N. Virginia Street
Reno, NV
NVCRA South Christmas Party
Saturday, December 5, 2009, 6:00 p.m.
Bootlegger Restaurant
7700 Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV
NVCRA Annual Convention
March 19-21, 2010, M Resort and Casino,
Las Vegas, NV, featuring Mark Kislingbury’s
Realtime Workshop
NCRA 2011 Annual Convention
Bally’s Las Vegas
Las Vegas, NV
7
I’m confident in saying that if you’re not already using SearchMaster as your primary reference resource, you’re wasting valuable time and money.
But wait! You say your budget is strained this quarter and
you’ll have to delay your purchase of SearchMaster? There’s a reference webpage created by Jim Barker that is the home page on
all of my computers. The address is: http://www.gosearchmaster.
com/. Contained on this FREE web page are links to One-Look
Dictionaries; Phonetic, Wildcard Dictionary & Thesaurus; Acronym Finder; and much, much more.
My second pick as a court reporter resource is Mr. Modem,
aka Richard Sherman. Richard was a court reporter in Phoenix, Arizona with the firm of Lea,
Sherman & Habeski for 33 years. He was given
NCRA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2000
for his contributions to the field of court reporting and holds the RDR certification. His interest in technology became a passion, speaking
in seminars and keynote addresses – more than
500, in all – before he “retired” from the speaking circuit – and court reporting -- to become
an advice guru on almost all subjects relating to
computers and the internet. (Sorry – Macs not
included, though a smattering of Linux is.) If you missed attending
one of Richard’s seminars in the ‘80s and ‘90s, you missed hearing
one of the most entertaining speakers on the circuit. At national
reporter conventions, his seminars were standing room only.
Richard assumed a super-hero identity (sans flowing cape) as
Mr. Modem some years ago. Since then, he’s appeared on more
than 400 radio and TV talk shows. He writes a nationally syndicated column that appears in more than 300 publications in the
U.S. and Canada, and his “Mr. Modem’s Desktop” column appears each month in Smart Computing magazine. He is host of the
“Mr. Modem Minute” on FOX-TV, and for the past eight years,
he has co-hosted the weekly “Gutsy Geeks” radio show (www.
gutsygeeks.com) on KFNX-AM in Phoenix. If you’re a member
of NCRA, you’ve no doubt read some of his columns in the JCR.
Beginning with this issue of Silver Statements, excerpts of Mr.
Modem’s column will appear in these pages, thanks to his largess.
For this article, though, I want to mention Mr. Modem’s
Newsletter. Since early 2003 I have been a subscriber to his weekly newsletter. I know that date with specificity because I still have
copies of every issue I’ve received since I subscribed. The cost is
$4.95 per month, and I’ve been assured he has no intention of raising his rates now or in the future. The newsletter covers entirely
different ground than SearchMaster. If SearchMaster became a replacement for the shelves of reference materials I used to have,
Mr. Modem has replaced the computer expert that used to live next
S U M M E R
door, the go-to guy on all things computer. Mr. Modem covers Windows, the Internet and the World Wide Web, all in an entertaining,
humor-laced format.
I can’t begin to list the array of topics he covers in both question-and-answer format from subscribers, as well as detailed reports based on his personal testing of the latest web browser, the
latest version(s) of Windows, or the best anti-virus programs on
the market. His always entertaining newsletter arrives in my e-mail
every Friday morning and it usually goes unread for a day or two
until I can fully digest and often implement his latest advice.
As I said, I have every issue of his newsletter archived since I
began subscribing in 2003, but Mr. Modem
has every issue archived since he began writing his column. That archive – fully searchable – is on his website and available anytime
to current subscribers. That archive alone is
an incredible resource to anyone who owns a
computer.
But that’s not the best part. This may be
the best-kept secret on the World Wide Web:
Mr. Modem responds to individual e-mail inquiries on any subject regarding computers,
and he usually responds the same day. You
should really read that last sentence again and digest what I’m saying. Let me phrase it another way: For less than $5 a month, you
have a world-renown computer/software expert on retainer to answer YOUR specific computer questions. In the last year alone I’ve
asked for advice on the best current anti-virus software, advice on
the best current backup software, and advice on the best current
encryption software. The word “current” is key here because the
answers to all three questions change from year to year, sometimes
month to month, and Mr. Modem is usually on top of any subject,
having tested multiple versions in each category. I keep a manila
file folder in my desk containing pages ripped from computer magazines I read monthly, on topics I think I might need information on
in the future. I’ve discovered from years of doing that, by the time
I need a certain piece of information, what I’ve culled from magazines is usually outdated. Mr. Modem is nothing if not current.
To subscribe to Mr. Modem’s newsletter, go to: http://www.
mrmodem.com/site/newsletter.html.
So now you know about two of the best tools in my court reporting toolbox. The benefits I’ve received from these two sources
are incalculable, and I share them with you because others have
shared their secrets with me, from the well-heeled Kansan with the
reference library to die for, to the veteran reporter who dispensed
his best tip on personal reference cards. I pay tribute to them by following their examples.
“For less than $5
a month, you have
a world-renown
computer/software
expert on retainer to
answer YOUR specific
computer questions.”
On the Record
Submitted by Kevin Daniel
2 0 0 9
Q. Do you agree that some patients can intentionally exaggerate their complaints of pain?
A. Absolutely. I have a family member that does that, so I can definitely tell you that.
Maybe it’s time
For a second opinion…
We won’t tell you that parts such as disk drives, motors or
LCD screens are not available for your older machines!
888/ 367-7836
www.stenodoctor.com
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2324 N. Batavia Street, Suite 116, Orange, CA 92865
9
S U M M E R
2 0 0 9
Hammering for Habitat For Humanity
by Lori Judd, CCR, RMR and Barbara J. Johnson, CCR, RPR, FAPR
When we heard about NCRA’s partnering with Habitat For Humanity as part of the 2009 Midyear conference, we got so very excited. We wondered, though, if there would be enough volunteers to
even fill a bus.
In spite of the fact that some of us had arrived late the night
before, at 7:15 a.m. April 16th, a busload — standing room only —
full of court reporters pulled away. WAY TO GO COURT REPORTERS!!
The volunteers came from all over the USA and Canada. Nevada was well represented: Peggy and Robb Isom, Lori Judd, Karen
Yates, and Barbara Johnson.
We left our 4-star Sheraton Downtown Hotel, some with Starbucks Gucci drinks in hand, sunblock and bug spray close by. Driving through the Ninth Ward, we could still see the devastation from
hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We also passed by many beautiful, newly rebuilt homes, as well as vacant lots where homes once stood, and
homes in various stages of repair and restoration.
Our initial staging area was a section of the Ninth Ward known
as Musicians Row. This is the brain-child of New Orleans-born pianist/singer Harry Connick, Jr. and saxophonist Branford Marsalis,
who were dedicated to bringing back and giving the New Orleans
musicians a home. Their dream was to provide a jambalaya of colorful homes for the jambalaya of singers, drummers, keyboardists,
and all flavors of musicians the area is known to house. Because of
the nature of making a livin’ by giggin’, it’s difficult for musicians to
have the kinds of paper records normally needed to purchase a home.
Musicians Row is an attempt to work with those challenges, as well
as to provide a neighborhood where these musicians can get together
with their neighbors for front-porch jam sessions. New Orleans is
a place where there is always a band playing somewhere. Many of
those bands started out as random, chance meetings between musicians. Many future New Orleans
bands will likely claim their first
“rehearsal” took place on Musicians Row. This new neighborhood depends heavily on volunteer labor.
Here is where the project
leaders gave us our first safety
training sessions. We took a few pictures, and then they sent us to
work a few blocks away with “Catfish” and “Tuna” who we later
learned were not fish, but were nicknames of our site project foremen.
At our project site were two homes. We split into two groups,
one group to do the siding on the house to the left and the other group
to ascend to the rooftop for the roofing project on the house to the
right. Again, more safety instruction, and directions to pick up our
continued on page 15
“Looking around,
you could witness
teamwork in action.”
NEVADA CERTIFIED COURT REPORTERS
BOARD
500 N ort h R ain bo w Bo u le var d, S uite 3 00 L as Ve ga s, Ne va da 89 10 7
Tel: 70 2-44 8-8 14 0 Em ail: NV C CR @a o l. c om W eb site: ww w. crp tr.s ta te. nv. u s
July 2009
SENATE BILL 34
Effective May 22, 2009
Sponsored by the Association of Judges of Limited Jurisdiction
NRS 171.198 is hereby amended to read as follows:
1.
Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, a magistrate shall employ a certified court reporter
to take down all the testimony and the proceedings on the hearing or examination and, within such
time as the court may designate, have such testimony and proceedings transcribed into typewritten
transcript.
2.
A magistrate who presides over a preliminary hearing in a justice court, in any case other than in a
case in which the death penalty is sought, may employ a certified court reporter to take down all the
testimony and the proceedings on the hearing or appoint a person to use sound recording equipment
to record all the testimony and the proceedings on the hearing. If the magistrate appoints a person
to use sound recording equipment to record the testimony and proceedings on the hearing, the
testimony and proceedings must be recorded and transcribed in the same manner as set forth in NRS
4.390 to 4.420, inclusive. Any transcript of the testimony and proceedings produced from a
recording conducted pursuant to this subsection is subject to the provisions of this section in the same
manner as a transcript produced by a certified court reporter.

ASSEMBLY BILL 509
Effective October 1, 2009
Sponsored by the Nevada Certified Court Reporters Board
NRS Chapter 656 is hereby amended as follows:
• Revises the definitions applicable to the provisions governing court reporters.
• Reporting procedures to fulfill the educational requirements to take an examination for a court reporter’s
certificate.
• Provide similar treatment to disciplinary action for certificate and license holders.
• Grounds for disciplinary action for untimely delivery of a transcript.
Log on to our website at www.crptr.state.nv.us to view the NRS language in its entirety.
Click on “Nevada Statutes and Regulations” to view Senate Bill 34 and Assembly Bill 509.
11
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Rule 3E. Fast Track Child Custody Appeals — Page 1
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12
w w w. nvcra. org
Rule 3E. Fast Track Child Custody Appeals — Page 2
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Rule 3E. Fast Track Child Custody Appeals — Page 3
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w w w. nvcra. org
Rule 3E. Fast Track Child Custody Appeals — Page 4
Printed from the Official Nevada Law Library from the SourceTM
Copyright 2009
15
Habitat for Humanity
continued from page 7
gloves, tool belts and our hammers! Now that conjures up a picture
that shakes the soul of every court reporter: HAMMERS, NAILS and
FINGERS!
We were all pretty clumsy at first, but with the patient guidance
and precise instructions of the Habitat supervisors, we started feeling
more at ease with the task at hand. The supervisors inspected our
work, always demanding quality. Do-overs decreased as the morning
drew to a close. By afternoon, we were on a roll, and looking around
you could witness teamwork in action. Egos were left at the hotel.
The roofing crew finished their house; the siding crew almost finished. We were particularly proud to work on the siding for the front
porch of “our” home. Who knows, maybe that porch will someday be
the launchpad for a new band!
We shared our project site with a group of four retiree volunteers
from California, who were there at their own expense for the week.
They seemed a little skeptical of our group at first, but as the day
wore on, and they noticed our attention to quality and detail (some
would call it obsession), they accepted us as one of the group and we
became fast friends. We happened to see them a few evenings later
while walking along Bourbon Street and it was like a family meeting
after a long absence. They told us they were able to complete the siding on “our” house.
I think we speak for our entire group when we say that this was
a most rewarding experience. By investing our time, and risking
our livelihoods by placing our beloved hands and fingers directly in
harm’s way, we all invested a little of ourselves in the Ninth Ward of
New Orleans. As court reporters, sometimes we feel our talents are
unappreciated. After working on this project, we have a greater respect not just for those that work for Habitat for Humanity, but for the
various craftsmen that design and build these homes, day after day.
We’re also extraordinarily grateful that we get to make a living in a
climate-controlled environment, free from the risks of flying nails
and kamikaze hammers.
On the Record
Submitted by Kevin Daniel
Q. Oh, okay. But that was the phone number you had at the time
of the incident?
A. Um-hum. I think so, yeah. Pretty sure. I think. I don’t know.
S U M M E R
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Court Reporting
Takes Another Hit
by Kristy L. Clark, CCR
Everyone remembers court reporting school. Some of us have
fond memories and for those others, not so fond. But whether you
look back with nostalgia or disdain, one truth remains: Our lives
were changed forever after finishing our schooling.
My journey to becoming a court reporter started off with a
simple commercial advertisement by the court reporting school I
attended. In 1997, at the naïve age of 23, I had never even heard of
a court reporter before. The idea interested me enough to make the
phone call, head to the school, and eventually begin my journey
into a career that I still love.
At the time I began school, there were two schools in Nevada:
Las Vegas College and Truckee Meadows Community College.
Online programs were not even a possible alternative at that point.
So every night I would make the half-hour drive to court reporting
school and the half-hour drive back home. Not too many years ago,
Las Vegas College again moved its campus, this time to Henderson, Nevada. This left many reporting students facing long commuting times to finish their education, but yet they still had the
opportunity to finish them.
It seems our profession is preparing to take another hit with
the news that our ONLY reporting school in Nevada, Las Vegas
College, will be discontinuing their court reporting program, as it
does not fall in line with the other 9- to 18-month programs that
they are offering. Students currently enrolled in the program will
be allowed to finish out their coursework, but no new students will
begin. And although we will still be left with online court reporting
programs, this is often not a viable alternative to the student that
needs the discipline of the classroom setting.
What this means to our profession is that we will have no one
to turn the torch over to in years to come if we do not have the
students coming out of a school that has prepared them adequately
for the demands of our profession. We will be unable to fight electronic recording when we cannot offer the manpower to work our
courtrooms. Years ago we lost the fight to ER in the district court
courtrooms, and now we are on the verge of being pushed out of the
justice court courtrooms. If Nevada stops producing new reporters
from its schools, we have no chance to keep up with the demand
of producing transcripts for trials, arbitrations, mediations, depositions, and the like. Attorneys and judges will be forced to turn
to other methods for making the written record. Although at times
work is slow in our field and we’re competitive for jobs, we cannot forget that smaller numbers of court reporters do not equal “job
security.” Smaller numbers equal replacement of court reporters.
I believe finding a way to keep court reporting schools in Nevada is a subject that every reporter in Nevada should hold close
to their heart. After all, this is the profession you chose and spent
those countless hours practicing behind your machine in order to
get that elusive CCR number.
16
Dear Fellow Reporters:
Twenty-plus years of reporting experience and I had
my eyes opened today! I was waiting in the deposition
office as it was yet to be determined which of the two
deposition suites I was going into (there were two depos scheduled for the same time), when in walked the
other court reporter. Now, here I was in black Ann Taylor
kitten-heel slides, a longish black print skirt, silk blend
shell and black casual blazer, not overtly tailored, but a
jacket nonetheless, an outfit that I consider to be pulledtogether business appropriate.
I opted not to wear pantyhose as it was 110-degrees
out (my Las Vegas summer guilty pleasure) and I had
my hair up in a tidy bun, nice barrette, refined jewelry,
makeup.
Now, I may not have a “happening” figure (admittedly some days I might body-wise resemble Danny DeVito in drag), but one thing I’ve learned from lo those
many years of watching “Perry Mason” is that dressing
sharp can cover a multitude of proportional sins. The
other reporter -- a woman in her 30’s, I’m guessing —
arrived wearing tall stiletto platform red-vinyl peep-toe
pumps, tight black pants, a shiny belt, a low-cut striped,
nearly sleeveless tight t-shirt, mussed hair, smacking
gum underneath a blinding load of lip gloss. My first
thought was “What disco is open at this hour?” And
then my thoughts got a little sadder.
Now, maybe my age is catching up with me or maybe my fashion sense is stuck in perpetual conservative
mode and I’m not hep to the latest fashion trends, but in
the first three seconds it takes to make an impression, I
wasn’t discovering a whole lot of professionalism in my
co-careerist. I am not sure what kind of image she was
trying to project. It certainly wasn’t youthful sagaciousness. This appearance was not something I would expect
sitting in a board room of high-powered attorneys on a
high-profile case. Indeed, I’m not even sure this is an appearance I would want to take home to introduce to my
family. And I certainly wouldn’t advocate this look as the
dress code for a reporting firm.
I’m sure she’s a perfectly nice lady and an able performer of her duties, but it does the profession a disservice when one does not dress for the seriousness and
solemnity of the part. We are active and (hopefully) respected members of the legal community and should resemble such, not resemble a party girl moonlighting in
stenography.
Am I a frump? I don’t think so, but nothing puts a
kink in my tail quicker than something that diminishes
the pride I take in my chosen career.
Wake up, Reporters! You’re representing a whole lot
more than just your own identity when you head out on a
job. Look the part, act the part, be the part.
—Reporter-at-large Andrea Angwin, RPR, CSR, CCR
w w w. nvcra. org
letter to the
Fellow Court Reporters,
editor
Something very special happened to me, and I would like to share it
with all of you. On April 5, 2009 my dad passed away. My family and I
all thought we had been preparing ourselves for this. Well, I suppose the
preparing helped us all a wee bit. However, my brain was in a fog, and I
wondered how I would ever be able to do this job.
You are probably wondering how that could be considered a special
thing. Well, here’s the thing: I have been a court reporter now for 18 years. I
have always thought the men and women who do this extraordinary job are
just that, extraordinary.
After Dad’s passing, I spoke with a friend, Lynn Stubbs, and was telling
her what had happened. This is where the amazing part comes into play.
Lynn, knowing me as she does, called me back a while later informing me
that she had just found coverage for the court. I work over at the Reno Justice
Court. Lynn said, “Lisa, I have your court covered for this next week so you
can be home with your family. I called a few other reporters for help, too, and
they have agreed to do this work for you pro bono. I will not take no for an
answer. I just wanted to let you know it’s covered. Take care and be with your
family. Bye.” I was able to get in an, “Okay, Lynn,” and, “Thank you.”
When I hung up, I just stood there in awe. Then when my mom saw me
standing there stunned she asked what had happened. I told her, “Mom,
Lynn just called and has covered my court. They are going to work there
pro bono to help me out.” Well, we both just hugged each other and lost it.
There were tears and laughter. We looked at each other and said, “You see,
amazing things do come from these types of events!”
I wanted to share that story with all of you and give a special heartwarming thank you to Barbara Johnson, Susan Kiger-Culp, Carol Hummel,
Liza Chapin, and Lynn Stubbs for their truly selfless act of kindness. Each of
these women covered a day for me so I could be home. So thank you.
I had planned to take the week of spring break off to be with my daughter. I was able to take two weeks off and be with my family and recover a
little bit from the loss of my dad. I have often thought, how do I repay them
for what they did? I really don’t know how, except to thank them all for doing what they did and sharing it with others so you too can be a part of a
special event created by a few very special court reporters. They may not
have thought it was that big of a deal; however, it was enormous to me. And
my heart goes out to each and every one of them. I thank you all for being
you and for doing that random act of kindness for me.
You have all inspired me to do the same for others. When I see there
is an opportunity to help someone just like you did with me, I jump at it
because I know the impact it had on me. Perhaps it will have that kind of
impact on them, too, and they will go forward and do the same thing and our
world will become an even better place to live because of the little random
acts of kindness we all can deliver.
I thank you, ladies!
—Lisa A. Young
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S U M M E R
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Congratulations
to the following people who passed the Nevada
certification exam held on May 9, 2009:
Ewa Barnes
Kristin Jackson
San Clemente, CA
Reno, NV
Robert Cangemi
Shirley Koch-Smith
Mentor, OH
Traci Dokich
Newport Beach, CA
Irene Nakamura-Yamatoku
Corona Del Mar, CA
Jennifer Gibson
Henderson, NV
Torrance, CA
The CCR exam this year was given by video
Andrea Picard
Las Vegas, NV
CCR Examinees at the May 9 exam
On the Record
Q. Above the total cost of repairs, it says “Violation.” Do you see that?
A. Um-hum.
Q. Violation reads, “Red light/reduce speed at intersection.” Is that
correct?
A. Um-hum.
Q. Where did you learn that there was a violation described in that
manner?
A. Well, according to my report, I wrote it, so I must have gotten it
from the police officer.
Q. Do you know what you meant when you wrote “red light”?
A. The violation was a red light.
Q. Meaning what?
A. The violation was a red light; that the driver of this vehicle violated
a red light.
Q. Does that mean he ran the red?
A. It means he violated it. The violation that he received, I haven’t
got a copy of his ticket. I don’t know exactly how it reads.
Q. I’m trying to glean from your report what you meant when you
put “red light.”
A. I meant the violation related to a red light.
Q. And would violate a red light mean he had a red light facing his
direction, controlling his progress through the intersection and
he failed to yield to that red light?
A. If that’s what a violation of the red light is, yes.
Q. I have to ask you, because it’s your choice of words, so I want to
know what you meant?
A. I meant that the violation was the red light.
—Submitted by Kevin Daniel
18
Eavesdropping on Internet Activity
Q. I have reason to believe that some inappropriate things are occurring with a member of my family on the Internet. Is there any
way I can monitor what is happening online
when I’m not around? Thank you so much
for being there, Mr. Modem. I don’t know
where else I’d turn.
A. There is a software program called Spector that will do exactly what you want.
When you install it, Spector runs invisibly,
so no one is aware of its presence. Even if it
is discovered -- which is highly unlikely -- it
cannot be easily removed or disabled.
Spector
(http://tinyurl.com/3rrv6b)
works like a surveillance camera, taking a
snapshot of whatever appears on the computer screen and saving it in a hidden location on your computer’s hard drive. A few
seconds later, Spector takes another picture. In fact, Spector can automatically take
a picture of the screen as frequently as once
every second.
Spector ($69) will record all chat conversations, instant messages, emails typed
and opened, all Web sites visited, all programs launched, all keystrokes entered,
anything and everything that occurs on
the computer and on the Internet. You can
return to the computer a few hours, a few
w w w. nvcra. org
days or even weeks later, enter your password, and review exactly what transpired
on that system in the interim.
Q. Would I be wise to switch all my email to
Yahoo! from my present ISP?
A. I see many, many people doing that these
days, switching either to Yahoo! Mail (http://
mail.yahoo.com) or Gmail (www.gmail.
com). There is a definite trend in that direction, primarily because Web-based mail is
so reliable, plus it eliminates the need for
an email program such as Outlook Express,
Eudora, Thunderbird, etc. There is also the
added convenience of being able to access
continued on page 19
19
S U M M E R
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Mom Captions Graduation
by Denise Phipps, CCR, RDR, CRR, CBC, CCP
Captions Unlimited provides CART services for several high
school students in the Washoe County School District. I have approached the district over and over again about providing captioning for their graduations. The school district hasn’t had the funding. But this year, the National Court Reporters Foundation was
gracious and provided part of the funding to caption ONE high
school graduation. It just happened to be McQueen High School
where my son was graduating, too. One of Matt’s friends is also a
student at McQueen who uses our services. He received a full ride
scholarship to Gallaudet (the prestigious university for students
who are deaf). The district really wanted to provide services at this
particular graduation.
As you can imagine, I was so honored to use my skills to caption this particular graduation. Of course, many of our friends and
acquaintances from elementary school on up to high school were
there. They know that
Matt’s mom is a court
reporter/captioner, but
don’t really “know”
what I do.
At the beginning of
the graduation, there
was an announcement
that captioning would
be provided by Captions Unlimited, and I began to write. I was so
nervous. I’ve done well over 100 graduations now, but this was
particularly important to me that I not make any mistakes.
As the graduates’ names are being called, I don’t write. There
really is no way to get the names correct because there is no order
and they are calling them out very quickly. So we write [PRESENTATION OF DIPLOMAS] and then sit and wait for the turning of
the tassels.
As I was sitting there, I would listen as the drum majors would
bang on their drums when a band member would come out and
“I’ve done well over 100
graduations now, but this
was particularly important
to me that I not make any
mistakes.”
Ask Mr. Modem
continued from page 18
mail from any computer with Internet access. In addition, when it’s time to purchase
a new computer, because your mail resides
on Yahoo’s or Gmail’s servers, there is no
need to transfer mail folders, settings, or
configure a new email program on the new
system. Using your browser, you simply log
into your mail account and you’re off and
running.
You can also create a free, “disposable”
address at Yahoo! Mail or Gmail and use it
for online shopping or for Web site or prod-
Denise Phipps on special assignment
receive their diploma. I began to have an internal war go on: “I
really want to write something when my son comes out. Should
I or shouldn’t I?” So I spoke with the audio visual school district
employees and one other district administrator sitting nearby. And
they said, “Go for it!” It just so happened that many of the football
players decided to go last to receive their diplomas. My son volunteered to be the very last one and would end the ceremony by taking a bow. In the picture, you can see my caption that I threw up on
the screen behind him. You can also see the school officials looking up at the screen. I’m sure everyone in attendance thought we
had it choreographed, but in reality my son had no idea what I did
until after the big day was over and we showed him the pictures. I
received many high fives from the people sitting around me. And
now I’m hoping that the school district will find funding every year
for captioning services. One of Matt’s friends made this comment:
“It was so cool. It was like a sing-along when all the songs were
sung. We could see all the words on the screen!”
uct registration purposes, in order to prevent spam and other annoying follow-up
messages from cluttering up the inbox of
your primary email account.
While it ultimately is a matter of personal preference, Web-based mail does make a
lot of sense and has many advantages. I prefer Gmail over Yahoo! Mail, but you can’t go
wrong with either one.
Q. My new computer shows time in the 1:30
PM format. I prefer the military version of
time, that being 13:30. How can I change
that? I’m using Windows XP.
A. To display military time, go to your Control Panel > Regional and Language Options
> Customize button > Time tab and choose
HH:mm:ss from the drop-down menu. Click
Apply > OK to save and exit.
For plain-English answers to your questions by email, plus great computing tips,
subscribe to Mr. Modem’s award-winning
newsletter. Subscribe using Promo Code
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your 12-month subscription (60 issues!)
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