THREE YEAR OLD RECEIVES FOUR YEAR COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP TUITION FOR CHILD SAFETY SEAT CHECKPOINT PARTICIPATION

HARRAH’S, STATE TREASURER AND REMSA TO PRESENT

September 20, 2002 – Today, State Treasurer Brian Krolicki and Harrah’s will present three year old Melanie Reyes-Rosensteel a full ride prepaid college tuition certificate totaling $7,770 for a total of 120 semester credits to any university in the nation. The presentation will take place on the front steps of Morrill Hall at the University of Nevada, Reno located on Ninth and Center Street at 11 a.m. Melanie’s mother participated in REMSA’s (Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority) Point of Impact child safety seat checkpoint in October 2001 where she registered Melanie for the scholarship drawing. Harrah’s set-up the donation opportunity for all families who participated in either Douglas County Sheriff’s Office or REMSA Point of Impact child safety seat checkpoints from January 2001- February 2002.

“I am grateful to Harrah’s for their wonderful support and dedication to our community,” said Brian Krolicki, State Treasurer. “As a father of three young daughters, I know the importance of having the children safely buckled into their car seats. I am pleased that my office could work with REMSA and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office to help reach out to the community and publicize the importance of a child safety seat check.”

Krolicki established the Nevada Prepaid Tuition program to give Nevada’s families the opportunity to pay future college tuition costs by locking in payments based on today’s prices. There are four plans and four payment options available and payments never change regardless of future tuition increases. As of January 1, 2002, contribution earns interest federal tax-free and earnings are exempt from federal income taxes when used for qualified educational purposes.

“We are excited at the opportunity to participate in the Nevada Prepaid Tuition program,” said Joe Hasson, General Manager of Harrah’s Tahoe and Harvey’s. “Working together with the State Treasurer’s Office, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and REMSA our incentive with the Pre-paid Tuition is to encourage parents to participate in the child safety seat checkpoints to help keep our children safe while they’re traveling on the road to college.”

“We are extremely appreciative of the support we have received from Harrah’s and Treasurer Krolicki for the child safety seat inspection program,” said Eric Guevin, Director of Community Education for REMSA and Director of SAFE KIDS Washoe County. “Their partnership in providing a full ride scholarship registration opportunity at all checkpoints, has been the driving force for parents to attend, get their seat inspected and register for the scholarship opportunity for their child. We hope to gather more businesses’ support so we can increase our education with parents in our communities and continue to lower the incorrect child seat installations to keep our children safe while traveling on the road to college.”

Both REMSA and Washoe County Sheriff’s Office are working to educate families in the Washoe County and Douglas County areas about the importance of properly installing child safety seats. Over the past four years, REMSA’s Point of Impact program has inspected 4,230 child safety seats and found only 143 to be correctly installed. The program has replaced or distributed 1,163 seats found to be defective or on manufacturers’ recall lists. Douglas County Sheriff’s Office has inspected 631 child safety seats. Only eight of these seats were properly installed and 171 were destroyed. In addition, Douglas County Sheriff’s Department provided 259 seats and 96 of these seats were given away and 93 car seats were given to families who should have had their children in car seats but failed to do so.

REMSA’s Point of Impact program regularly hosts checkpoints where safety seats are inspected for correct installation and usage. The Point of Impact program is funded in part by a grant from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety.

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