Nevada lost two awesome heroines

October took from us two Nevada heroines.

Assemblywoman Peggy Pierce, “P Squared” to her legislative friends, succumbed to a third bout of breast cancer in the early morning hours of Oct. 10 in Las Vegas.

Jo Anne Garrett died the same week near her home just outside the main entrance to Great Basin National Park in Baker. Her body was discovered four days after she left for an afternoon walk in the shadow of Nevada’s second highest peak.

Despite the nearly 30-year difference in age, these two Nevada women shared many personality traits. They were courageous, tenacious and laser-focused. Unlike far too many of their colleagues, both in and out of elected office, they didn’t engage in self-serving patter about their wondrous selves on Twitter. Instead, they chose to take action against injustice in the state they deeply loved.

Peggy moved to Nevada to become a lounge singer. When the need for constant self-promotion ended that career, she became a shop steward for Nevada’s most ferocious union, the Culinary.

Despite being dismissed as a union lackey by the Chamber and other business lobbyists, Peggy didn’t let union leaders dictate her politics. When she refused to go along with the multi-billion dollar water grab from northeastern Nevada to fund construction jobs in Las Vegas, one labor leader supported another candidate in her district. Peggy’s constituents chose her instead.

Peggy didn’t suffer fools gladly. She confronted whining business lobbyists at legislative hearings or in grocery stores, with or without an audience. She was steadfast about the need to impose a corporate tax in Nevada as 47 other states have done.

Her partner, Jon Sasser, told the crowd at her memorial: “Peggy did not want to raise [taxes] because she disliked business. She wanted to because of the seniors, people with disabilities and children the money would help. … She felt that longtime Nevadans really didn’t understand how far out of the mainstream Nevada’s experiment with tiny government was. She always had the statistics to back it up.”

Jo Anne, a 40-year resident of Baker, was just as steely, although her style was more understated. After her partner, Joe Griggs, died, Jo Anne lived alone in the house they built together, although she was rarely alone. She hosted people she loved and people she barely knew who needed respite while traveling between San Francisco and parts east. Her rustic retreat was always full of Nevada’s best scenery and conversation.

Jo Anne moved to the forefront of Nevada’s environmental community when the federal government wanted to plant MX missiles throughout eastern Nevada. She joined Citizen Alert and played a key role in defeating the ill-conceived plan. She fought against Yucca Mountain and led the Great Basin Water Network in protest against the water grab pipeline.

Jo Anne became the voice of the ranchers and people of Eastern Nevada who demanded to know why they should sacrifice their peaceful rural lifestyle so Las Vegas could build another soulless subdivision. In one public hearing, she famously and politely addressed Pat Mulroy, the water authority’s czarina, declaring: “Mrs. Mulroy, please tear up your plan!”

Several years ago, I hiked with Jo Anne up to The Table on Mt. Moriah, her Teva sandals suggesting an afternoon stroll down a dirt road instead of the steep trail that left the rest of us gasping. Pausing to take in the spectacular views amid the bristlecone and limber pine, she told me she expected others would join her in opposition to the water grab when they fully understood what was at stake. In the meantime, she intended to take the advice of another Nevada heroine, Maya Miller, to stand her ground.

Rest in peace ladies. On this Nevada Day, we honor your example that guides us toward a better Nevada.