PHILLIP GOMEZ / PVT Nye County Commissioner Patricia Cox tries out the new pool table in the main clubhouse of The Boys & Girls Club. Workmen were putting the finishing touches on the building Thursday for the grand opening on Monday. Advertisement

The long-awaited center for Pahrump teens and pre-teens is scheduled to open Monday with a ribbon-cutting, the release of 100 balloons and an all-day barbecue.

The Boys & Girls Club of Pahrump will celebrate its grand opening at 10 a.m. at its new facilities just south of the 9th Grade Academy on the corner of Mt. Charleston Boulevard and Rodeo Avenue.

The club's launching is sponsored by the Henderson Boys & Girls Club and an advisory committee comprising Pahrump volunteers.

Three modular structures were purchased at discount in Las Vegas (one was donated) and remodeled to serve as the Pahrump facility: a 3,600-square-foot youth clubhouse made of five modular sections and a smaller 2,400-square-foot building for Pahrump's teens. A one-car modular garage is included in the mix for storage.

The buildings will be equipped with leather couches, computers, board games, shuffleboard, foozball, bumper and pool tables.

The smaller building is "a little hangout center for the teens," said Nye County Commissioner Patricia Cox, who has been involved with the project from the start. The smaller clubhouse is furnished much the same as the main one, but lacks an area for artwork, located in a corner of the larger building.

Over the past decade community leaders have talked about how to establish a place for youth activities in Pahrump. Until the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson offered to help over a year ago, there was no feasible plan to move forward, Cox said.

The Boys & Girls Club is intended to provide an after-school facility for youth ages 6 to 18. The idea is to provide activities so parents will not have to worry about the kids being unsupervised or experimenting with drugs. The club also offers kids the opportunity to attend a summer camp at a cost of only $5 to $25.

"The Boys & Girls Club has a proven track record on how to educate and keep a safe place for our children," said Cox.

Mike Meyer, Southern Nevada's director of the nation-wide organization, built the first club in the Las Vegas Valley in 1968. The valley now has 15 Boys & Girls Clubs.

Meyer said some time ago he started receiving a lot of phone calls from Pahrump parents about starting a club in the Pahrump Valley. With no after-school programs or recreation department in the town, there was a recognized need for a Boys & Girls program, he said.

The present facility will have three paid staffers and a number of volunteers, Cox said. The cost for membership in the club is $15 a year; however, due to the club's opening in August, the fee has been reduced to $5 per child for the first year.

Hours of operation are to be 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. with plans to be open next summer 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Meyer said.

Cox and Juvenile Probation Officer Tom Metcher are the two people most supportive of the Pahrump effort, Meyer said.

The new Pahrump facility is just the beginning of the Boys & Girls Club presence in the Pahrump Valley, said Meyer. The club owns land near Hafen Elementary School on which it plans to one day build a larger, more permanent clubhouse.