pho036445-392

By Jerry Hickey

Welfare restraint

oraer

to listen to arguments by attor­ neys for both sides on whether the suit should be continued as a class action. According to attor­ ney Ron Pollack of the Center on

Social Welfare, Policy and Law in New York, who is representing the welfare recipients whose ben­ efits were terminated as a result

of the case audits, if the court does not consider the suit a class action, each of the recipients would have to file a suit indivi­ dually in federal court, and they do not have the financial re­ sources to do this.

Pollackclaimsthatheandthe

ended

•w ¥

a’

s

R J Staff Writer
The question of whether 3,000

welfare recipients removed from State welfare rolls are parties to a suit filed against Nevada welfare officials as a class action will be

argued in federal court Thurs­ day.

Attorneys for State Welfare Ad­ ministrator George E. Miller and the Nevada State Welfare Board, defendants in the suit, contend

that the civil action, which was filed on behalf of Mrs. Johnnie B. Woods, an indigent woman with

six children, and “all others simi­

rmi

NM

VOL. 62, NO. 317

larly situated,” is not a class action.

Dep. Atty, Gen. Richard D. Weisbart, who is in charge of the defense, maintains that a court order is required to make a civil

case a class action and none has been sought by Legal Services attorneys representing the 3,000 welfare recipients whose benefits were terminated as a result of

case audits conducted by the State Welfare Division during November and December of 1970.

Tuesday, U.S. Dist. Court Judge Roger D. Foley decided he had “put the cart before the

horse” in issuing a temporary restraining order on Oct. 1 of last

year requiring that all welfare recipients be given due pro­ cess—including a fair hear­ ing-before their payments can

be reduced or terminated. The Legal Services attorneys had ac­

cused Miller and the State Wel­ fare Board of violating the res­ training order because of the mass benefit terminations follow­ ing the case audits, and they had asked for a show cause hearing to determine why Miller and the board should not be held in con­

temptofcourt.

Foley dissolved the temporary restraining order Tuesday except as it applies to Mrs. Woods, who had been notified on Sept. 10,1970 that her Aid to Families With De­ pendent Children (AFC) benefits’ benefits

would be terminated on Oct. 1 of last year. The jurist said a show cause order he had issued requir­ ing Miller and the State Welfare Board to appear at a hearing on the contempt of court charge later this month was rendered

moot by his action.
At the same time, Foley sched­

uledahearingat9a.m.Thursday

Legal Services attorneys are rep­ resenting all of the more than 1,040 households whose benefits were terminated since Foley is­

sued the temporary restraining order. In the event that the jurist decides the suit is a class action,

he conceivably will issue another temporary restraining order re­ quiring due process for all the recipients before termination of

benefits.
According to Pollack, all of the

1,040 households had their rights violated when their benefits were

terminated either because they did not receive notice of the

terminations in time, the notices did not explain why the benefits were to be terminated, the

recipients were not informed they were entitled to hearings prior to termination or they were not told they could call witnesses in their

fiEVIEW-JW'kVAL

ployed.

Trailblazer

10 cents

behalf. He cited other cases in
which class actions have been
allowed to support his contention
Tuesday that the suit in question 111

is a class action.
However, Weisbart argued that

many recipients requested their

names be taken off the welfare rolls because they became em­

MBS mb

1

if

1

-' i

(C) Southwestern Punishing Co., Inc. 1971

NEVADA'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPLETE NEWSPAPER

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1971 PHONE 385*4241

44 Pages

WELFARE GROUP VOWS

■

I

i

About 200 welfare recipient

his s

coerc! neo

SI®

By Dale Mead R-J Staff Writer

Welfare rights advocates Tues­ day pledged to disrupt gambling and vice in Las Vegas after demonstrators got “insufficientn * answers to welfare demands.

the welfare office after Fallon, with a helmeted policeman stand­ ing on each side, answered per­ haps 120 mothers jammed into the lobby.

Using a bullhorn provided by that

UH SK3