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March 10, 2006
Probe could go much deeper than Richards
My emotions were an odd mixture of shock and curiosity and, strangest of all, a little bit of sadness. I worked for Joe for about a year when Mary Ann McNeill was nice enough to hire me at the now defunct Death Valley Gateway Gazette, a newspaper Richards owned until it folded, temporarily at least. Joe and I parted ways on very bad terms but I was only out of work for three days. Former Pahrump Valley Times publisher and co-owner Rich Thurlow, you might say, picked me up off the trade wire. I owe a debt to Joe and Mary Ann - and most definitely to Rich - because I had become absolutely convinced I would die on Highway 160 commuting to work in Las Vegas. Back in those days the highway was a narrow two-lanes, the speed limit was 55 mph, and believe it or not The Widowmaker was much more deadly than it is now - at least on this side of the mountain. I dreamed of head-on collisions; woke up in the middle of the night pouring sweat, heart racing, head pounding. More than 10 years have gone by and Joe seems to be in pretty serious trouble, though the federal complaint I read outlining the charges against him is thinner than the paper it was printed on. But we're talking about the FBI here. I suspect we've only been given a peek at what all is out there. The proverbial tip of the iceberg is all we see. Having been a reporter for years and reasonably respected for my investigative skills, I have a few comments I'd like to share with readers. The most important insight I can offer is this: The FBI is not interested in prosecuting a 72-year-old man who may or may not have bribed a county commissioner. The FBI is all about uncovering public corruption, the kind that undermines our faith in government. Every flippin' day. The arrows are pointed at some of those we voted into office the past two or three elections - and that quiver is packed with a lot of arrows. I imagine a few current and past elected officials and private citizens are having a hard time sleeping these days because the FBI has ripped away the blanket that some of them have cloaked themselves in year after year. It doesn't matter what the temperature is outside, it's 22-below in some homes in Nye County. For the rest of us, however, let us rejoice now that the sun is about to shine after about 40 years of darkness. This corruption probe the FBI has engaged in for more than three years has more tentacles than Congress, and it has to go way beyond one brothel owner allegedly bribing one very brave county commissioner. Residents who have been here for a while - since 1998 and don't live under a rock - have to question how a certain ex-public official lost badly at the polling places on Election Day but won after clerk's deputies counted early and absentee votes. And then there's the guy who moved to Texas after selling his mail-forwarding business that had as its customer base many of those mysterious absentee voters. But that's pure conjecture on my part. Unmitigated speculation. My other concern is what a very good friend described earlier this week as the splatter effect. "If a guy is jumping up and down in a pile of (expletive deleted) and you're standing too close, you're going to get splattered." The military refers to this syndrome as collateral damage. Acceptable losses. There is also the concern I have, in light of a similar scandal still unfolding in Las Vegas dubbed Operation G-Sting or something like that; Uncle Sam is using Southern Nevada as the litmus test for the Patriot Act. One of the Silver State's mottoes is All For Our Country. The feds are apparently taking us up on the offer. Back to Joe Richards. He is, without a doubt, the most polarizing figure in southern Nye County. After speaking to everyone I could on the subject, after receiving a fair number of phone calls and e-mails, I have come to the conclusion the community is split 50-50. The most common refrain from Richards' supporters: "He was set up. He was framed. I don't think he did anything wrong. I don't think Joe would be that stupid. This seems like entrapment." The most common refrain from Richards' critics: "It's about time they got that son of a bitch. He's been bribing his way through the system since the 1970s. I'm so proud of Candice." Each camp is correct - in certain respects - and they're both wrong. Richards is a street fighter and like all good street fighters he often resorts to dirty tactics, especially when engaged in mutual combat with a formidable foe. He lives for the battle. The question that must be answered, however, is this: Is Joe Richards a rat? Street fighters, in order to retain the most vital element required to survive in the lurid underbelly of society - credibility, the same as for the rest of us - are by nature tight-lipped when in a pinch. Richards is old school. So old school he's in his 70s and so old school he's smart enough to know the feds are squeezing him. The FBI might have something on Richards, but it's a good bet federal prosecutors would be more than happy to offer an attractive deal if Richards would give up the bigger fish, the people we entrusted with our future on Election Day. Sources say he has a list of names the FBI provided. Is Joe checking it twice? Technically, Richards is as much a victim of "The Nye County Way" as we are. I've written this before in past years and I'm writing it again: When a county commission and town board conspired nearly 20 years ago to deprive Joe Richards the opportunity to build a brothel across the street from the Chicken Ranch at the far end of Homestead Road, they violated his rights. What they did, in a nutshell, was akin to telling Burger King it couldn't build on Highway 160 across from McDonalds back in the 1990s. That's another tip the FBI might want to investigate before it loads up the black SUVs and heads out of Nye County. In the meantime, know in your heart that several past and current elected officials - and private citizens - are as nervous as a condemned man preparing to go to the gallows. It's about time. Write to Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@pvtimes.com. |
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