Twelve years ago, Patricia "Pat"Leahan arrived in Las Vegas to continue the work she had been doing in Minnesota in social work and teaching. As a university professor, Leahan believed she was making a difference in people’s lives, and making a pretty good living at the same time. But, she felt her heart and mind being called on to take a different path.

"About five and a half years ago, I had this odd sort of calling. This voice spoke and said I should be opening a peace and justice center. It was amazing, and I still don’t know where it came from. I didn’t know how I would be able to pull that off, but there was already a Peace and Justice Committee in place, and a lot of folks who encouraged me and supported me," Leahan said.

The center doesn’t charge anything for its services or take any corporate or government money. It runs solely on donations from community members and the occasional grant.

"It’s harder to operate this way, and we always just barely get by financially, but it keeps our work honest," Leahan said. "We are beholden only to the citizens, not corporate interests or political or governmental agendas."

Leahan said people really do want to help each other. She said the Northern New Mexico Hispano Coalition, the cold weather shelter volunteers, the Las Vegas Committee for Peace and Justice, Casa de Cultura, Habitat for Humanity, the land grants and acequia associations, and many others also have the community’s interests at heart.

"This is an awesome community," Leahan said. "We are pretty well networked, so we never know what’s going to come in the door. Sometimes it’s someone looking for housing or a job, or someone who just needs a shoulder to lean on. We have been able to network people with others who are able to provide the assistance that we can’t."

The center also serves as an internship site for United World College students, Highlands Social Work students, and people who need to complete community service, and others. "The wonderful intern we had, Arielle Hawney, who is a graduate of United World College, fell in love with our community and decided to give another year beyond graduation -- she actually put off her scholarship to university for a year to work for free for this community.

She was the one who came up with the name for our Saturday radio program, "Community Peace Radio," Leahan said.

The Peace and Justice Center’s focus is wide ranging; it’s involved in a lot of causes people would not suspect would be in its purview.

"We’re part of the Citizen Advisory Committee at the San Miguel Detention Center. We pushed for a proposal two years ago at the Legislature to increase salaries and benefits for out police officers and firefighters. We’ve recently been asked to help form a citizen-led police oversight commission, and the San Miguel County Commission expressed an interest in learning more about Tasers, so we put together an educational forum to present the various sides of the Taser issue," Leahan said.

Leahan said the Peace and Justice Center is watching what the oil and gas industry is up to in Mora County, an industry that is exempt from many laws, including the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Safe Water Drinking Act.

When a federal agency attempted to lift the ban on herbicide use in the Las Vegas watershed, Leahan said people brought newspaper clippings to the center and asked for help.

"We looked at the pros and cons, learned about how herbicides devastated aquifers and watersheds elsewhere, and folks in large numbers pulled together to file an appeal. Even the city of Las Vegas went on the record in support of keeping the pesticide ban in place. That ban remains intact; we feel really good about that," Leahan said.

Leahan said she comes from a close-knit Catholic family that is social justice-oriented. She has two living brothers, Michael and John, and is named after her mom, Patricia.

"I’m a junior," Pat said with a grin.

Posted on 08 28 2009
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Photos Don Pace