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July 30, 2004
Beatty discusses floods, mosquitoes
By RICHARD STEPHENS
Beatty Justice of the Peace William Sullivan joked that town secretary Mary Ball had stolen his thunder when she announced that Commissioner Joni Eastley had been working on the flooding problem and that the commissioners had scheduled Thursday a teleconference to address the mosquito problem in Nye County. As Sullivan pointed out, the congestion of trees and debris in the bed of the Amargosa River where it passes through Beatty poses a danger by constricting the flow of water in flash floods and causing water to back up. Sullivan brought photos to the meeting showing some of the destruction done by a major flood in 1969. There had been another big flood in 1967, and many remember another significant one in 1978. Ball said that Eastley had the riverbed cleanup on the agenda for the commissioners' Aug. 3 meeting and had already spoken with the Army Corps of Engineers, who had agreed to assist. With this understanding, the town board approved paying half of the cost from the town budget. Sullivan advised that this should not be a one-time cleanup. "We need to maintain it, and not be back here in 10 years," he said. Ball said that she had been working on the mosquito issue, dealing with a variety of government agencies. Someone from the Clark County Health Department is supposed to come to Beatty next week to trap and identify the types of mosquitoes present. Ball was clearly frustrated by the bureaucratic maze involved in trying to get permission to spray. "I've been working on this all week," she said, "and feeling as though I took one step up the ladder and two steps back." The major concern with the mosquitoes is the possibility of their carrying the West Nile virus. News reports of a recent case in Las Vegas said that the victim had contracted the disease after camping out in Nye County. Stagecoach Hotel and Casino manager Keith Kearns said that cleaning up the riverbed would not be enough to take care of the mosquito problem because of the standing water in an area across the highway east of his business. "It's all marsh and bog over there, and the cattle stir it up. This also creates a bad odor," he claimed. Ball was going to look into the possibility of Beatty residents being able to participate in, or at least listen in on, the commissioners' teleconference on the mosquito issue. Meanwhile, Beatty volunteer firemen came away happy from the meeting as the board granted them $500 to purchase a used ladder truck from the Clark County Fire Department. Fireman Mike Lasorsa said the 1981 model truck was in excellent condition, and this was a fantastic bargain. The board also approved $2,000 out of the Beatty Habitat Committee budget to pay for the printing of brochures that can be used in future grant applications. J. R. Schultz said that the federal brown fields program will pay $3,000 of the cost of the brochures. A date and time of August 25 at 7 p.m. was set for a Nevada Test Site Citizens Advisory Board workshop on ground water studies in the Beatty area. This has to do with monitoring ground water for radiation from past underground testing. |
