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January 2, 2004
YEAR IN REVIEW One last look at 2003
By MARK WAITE
Nevada Department of Health officials inform Rural Health Management Corporation it failed to meet a Nov. 30 deadline to close financing for a 25-bed Pahrump hospital. Ronald Garren, 38, is arrested for the murder of George Webber, 34, at a residence in northern Pahrump. He later escapes from the Clark County Detention Center but is soon captured. The Pahrump Town Board fences off the skateboard park in a dispute with contractor Monument Construction, but the company later completes the long-awaited project. Nye County sheriff's deputies raid a cockfight at the Mexican rodeo arena, local flu vaccines run low and the Chicken Ranch brothel is denied a chance to sell public stock, all news that provides just a glimpse into what occurred during the final months of 2003. The following is the fourth and final part in the PVT's look back on the year that was. September A heavy downpour, the second major rainstorm of the monsoon season, results in the worst damage to area roads in 20 years. The storm hampers Nye County school bus routes on a delayed opening day. Commissioners vote to spent $80,000 on a study of storm water management in the Winery Road area, which was heavily flooded. School officials received some good news later in the month - increased enrollment of 5,471 students, up from 5,312 last year, will help bring in $780,000 in additional revenue. Nye County officials begin planning a strategy with state environmental officials over ways to combat the dust problem in Pahrump; experts estimate 2.5 tons of dust are generated in the Pahrump Valley air each year. County Commissioners decide to appoint interim County Manager Mike Maher as the permanent county manager. A prisoner transport officer for Tri-Net, Jason Duane Parker, 25, is arrested in Tonopah after allegations are made he sexually assaulted a female inmate en route to the Esmeralda County Detention Center. Pahrump resident Robert Dermoby, 49, dies after a rollover accident in Death Valley Junction, Calif. Commissioners voted 3-2 against hiring Reynaldo Martinez, of Strategic Dimensions, for $10,000 per month to lobby for funds to reopen Pahrump Medical Center. The move stuns many since Martinez is well respected in Nevada, and well connected in Washington, D.C., where he spent years as Sen. Harry Reid's chief of staff. Officials disclose compaction problems at the new Rosemary Clarke Middle School, which opened in September 2001. Mediation efforts are underway between school district attorney and Tibesar Construction. Attorney Pete Flangas, representing Crystal brothel owner Joe Richards, fails to convince Pahrump Town Board members to amend the town brothel ordinance. Crews drilling core samples for the master plan receive a $62,000 bill for damaging a water line in front of Mountain Falls Golf Course. Nye County Commissioners Patricia Cox and Candice Trummell travel to Washington, D.C., to lobby for mitigation funds regarding Yucca Mountain. Judge John Davis sentences Michael Van Winkle to less than a year in county jail for witnessing or instigating dogfights. Rudy Barraza, 24, is sentenced to six years in prison for a Christmas Day burglary at Smith's Food and Drug that netted $40,000. Rural Health Management Corporation sets a date of Oct. 15 to decide whether to seek alternate financing for a 25-bed hospital, in light of delays from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Scott Cobel narrowly escapes injury or death when a driver plows into his patrol car while the trooper writes a ticket. Rod Fox said he reached an agreement with Bill Ensign, managing partner for the Pahrump Nugget, on a movie theater. Foxfire Services has 120 days to secure $4 million in financing and is shooting for an opening by Memorial Day 2004. Clark County District Judge Michael Cherry approves $890,000 in settlements with contractors involved in building the Nye County Government Complex in Pahrump. The decision was just the first in what figures to be many more headed the county's way. The Nye County district attorney's office decides Mountain View Casino owner John McCaw doesn't have to obtain a conditional use permit to rebuild the casino he owned since the mid 1980s. The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board holds two days of meetings at the Longstreet Inn and Casino in Amargosa Valley. Nye County officials are later criticized for meeting privately with Margaret Chu, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. The FBI serves subpoenas on local brothels for employment records, including 1099 tax forms. Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce President Bill Byrns closes Round Table Pizza. Two Prescott, Ariz., men escape serious injury when their aircraft crashes in the Spring Mountains east of Highway 160 near Johnnie. A jury in Tonopah finds Oscar Perez-Marquez guilty of first degree murder, first degree kidnapping, first degree arson and battery with intent to commit a crime. Perez-Marquez was on trial for the murder of Alfredo Enrico Reina, 55, outside Pahrump on June 18, 2002. The same jury that convicted the killer sentences him to life in prison without the possibility of parole one week later. Judge Amargosa Valley Town Board members vote to protest an application by the Funeral Mountain Ranch to apply more sewage sludge from Orange County, California on the ranch's alfalfa fields. Town board members request a public hearing with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection after a howl of protest by local residents over the plans. Over 100 riders compete in the third annual Pony Express Reenactment, double the number from the previous year. They ride in reverse direction this time, from the Longstreet Inn and Casino in Amargosa Valley, to the Saddle West Hotel and Casino, in abnormally hot, triple-digit heat. October The Pahrump Fall Festival kicks off with a new name, but still lives up to its billing as the town's biggest weekend of the year. The event generates over $51,000 for the town of Pahrump, the new sponsors. A gas leak almost causes a catastrophe at the Pahrump Valley Junction shopping center on Fall Festival weekend, while a pilot is treated after his ultra-light airplane crashes. Jon Zellhoefer from Tecopa finishes poorly in the California governor's recall with 303 votes unofficially, but leaves the door open on another run for state office. Superintendent Rob Roberts outlines plans for a Nye County Technical Institute, a collaborative effort with the Department of Energy. School board members change their minds on imposing a $150 pay to participate fee for athletics. Linda "Dani" Prescott, 14, draws heartfelt feelings from Pahrump residents, over her battle with a brain tumor. Nye County Commissioners vote against joining a tri-county working group on Yucca Mountain with Lincoln and Esmeralda counties and the City of Caliente. They are later persuaded to join the working group by Les Bradshaw, director of the Department of Natural Resources and Federal Facilities. Ronald Garren is being sought as a suspect in the murder of George Webber, 34, at a residence in northern Pahrump. He's arrested in the trunk of a car in Missouri a week later. An alleged accomplice, Janet Nitting, 21, is arrested getting off of a bus in Las Vegas. Former Pahrump Family Resource Center Managing Director Mary Long is sentenced to 19 to 48 months in prison and ordered to pay $102,000 in restitution by Fifth District Judge John Davis. Nye County sheriff's detectives investigate an armed robbery at Terrible's Lakeside Casino in which a man brandishing a handgun fled with $3,600 in cash. Nye County discloses plans to negotiate with the Bureau of Land Management for a landfill site just west of Johnnie, in a bowl north of Shadow Mountain. Lakeview Executive Golf Course remains closed after the targeted reopening date as owners decide to seek bids to sell the property. Nye County Budget Director Charlie Rodewald tells commissioners the county will experience a $1.1 million shortfall this year because increased landfill parcel fees were mistakenly credited to the general fund. Local promoters rush to meet a December deadline to prepare a package on a Pahrump college campus. Nye County Commissioners set aside $1.5 million out of Payment Equal to Taxes for the project. Jim Scott, a 2000 graduate of Pahrump Valley High School, returns from a tour of duty with the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq to a banquet in his honor at Pahrump Community Church. Assemblyman Rod Sherer, R-Pahrump, goes on a weeklong junket to Taiwan. The Pahrump Town Board fences off the skateboard park and terminates a contract with Monument Construction. Three Nye county schools are placed on a watch list for failing to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act: Rosemary Clarke Middle School, Hafen Elementary School and J.G. Johnson Elementary School are listed, but Beatty Elementary is lifted after student performance improved. A group of local horse lovers complain about cruelty at a local Mexican rodeo arena. Nye County Commissioners enact an ordinance banning horse tripping. School board trustees award a $257,000 contract to Trade West Construction for improvements at Manse Elementary School, including a paved parking lot. The Pahrump Regional Planning Commission wrangles over a conditional use permit granted to Crystal brothel owner Joe Richards, requiring him to tear down a billboard advertising adult entertainment and restricting adult businesses at the site of a new restaurant-bar on Highway 160 and Homestead Road. The first for-profit haunted house frightened Pahrump residents willing to pay the $10 admission charge in the parking lot at the Pahrump Nugget Casino during the entire month of October. Rural Health Management Corporation decides to pursue Plan B, alternative financing, after delays in getting Department of Housing and Urban Development funds to build a 25-bed hospital. The Salvation Army announces plans to purchase the Manor, a former social club on Buol Lane. Nye County Commissioners approve a timetable for a series of measures to improve the air in Pahrump Valley. Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo persuades commissioners to seek proposals for a new county detention facility. Local officials cut a ribbon dedicating the new Palm Terrace Apartments, which offers subsidized housing for senior citizens. A spokesperson for Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman refutes published remarks that the mayor favors legalized prostitution in Las Vegas. Adrienne Price, 54, commits suicide after allegations she fed tainted candy to her students at J.G. Johnson Elementary School. Trail riders depart in the annual mule train to Death Valley for the 49ers encampment. A 15-year-old Rosemary Clarke Middle School girl fends off a sexual attack from a 38-year-old man while waiting for a bus. Dale Powers of Brainerd, Minn., is reported to be the choice for Pahrump town manager but later turns down the job after reviewing Internet website postings. A crowd of parents opposes a suggested four-day school week during a Nye County School Board meeting. Nye County Health Officer Maureen Budahl issues a health advisory over smoke from raging California wildfires. Pahrump Town Board members approve a $375,000 master plan study of a Pahrump airport. Pahrump building activity is booming, according to the Pahrump Building and Safety Department, which reports 190 building permits were issued from July 1 through Sept. 30, an increase of 68 permits over the same period in 2002. November Mountain View Casino owner John McCaw says insurance issues are now delaying the rebuilding of the casino, which burned April 29. Nye County Commissioners approve a $10,000 per month contract with the lobbyist firm of Katz, Kutter, Alderman and Bryant. Accused killer Ronald Garren escapes from the Clark County Detention Center but is captured soon after at Terrible's Hotel in Las Vegas. U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., announce Pahrump will receive $750,000 in federal funding to expand medical services. Elaine Goins and Jewell Burton-Avery are honored as co-recipients of the Golden Heart Community Service Award at the annual United Way Cheers for Volunteers dinner at the Saddle West Hotel and Casino. Bill Kerr and Salli Cline's home goes up in flames on the northwest side of Pahrump Valley in a fire Deputy State Fire Marshal Tony Capucci believes was caused by sunlight refracting through crystal mugs sitting on the windowsill. Amargosa Valley residents tell the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection during a public hearing that owners of the Funeral Mountain Ranch violated conditions of their permit when they dumped sludge, or bio-solids, on alfalfa fields. Private First Class Jessica Nicholson, from Beatty, is honored for subduing an Iraqi at a checkpoint. The man had concealed a grenade in his vehicle. The FBI seizes records of septic tank inspections at the Pahrump Building and Safety Department. Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo demands representatives of the Chicken Ranch brothel appear before the Nye County Liquor and Licensing Board to show cause why their brothel license shouldn't be revoked for advertising in two Las Vegas alternative publications. The Pahrump Regional Planning Commission unanimously votes to recommend the county commission adopt the master plan after a three and a half hour public hearing. County Commissioner Candice Trummell fails to get fellow board members to go on record opposing a Yucca Mountain rail route through Pahrump Valley. Pahrump resident Dave Greber fails to persuade county commissioners to go on record opposing the entire project. The Death Valley Chamber of Commerce holds a lifetime tribute for Marta Becket, the former Broadway ballerina who reopened a former Pacific Borax Company social hall as the Amargosa Valley Opera House 35 years ago. An attempt to recall Gov. Kenny Guinn fails to gather anywhere near the required 128,109 signatures by the end of the 90-day deadline. Only three signatures are turned in. Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett files papers alleging defense attorney Bob Glennen filtered money to fugitive Genie Dyer, the former deputy public administrator wanted on more than 40 criminal counts. Monument Construction agrees to complete the Justin Leavitt Memorial Skate Park, under an arrangement in which the Pahrump Town Board will pay the company $40,000 and pick up as much as $82,000 in mechanic's liens. Neighbors living around Lake View Executive Golf Course form an investment consortium to purchase the closed and parched course. The second nine holes at Mountain Falls Golf Course opens to the public on weekends. |
