36 years ago this month

Ric Coombs, an experienced horse trainer, has opened the Calvada Training Stables on the Pahrump Ranch. Riding lessons and horse training are already started, and a string of "dude horses" will be ready for rental to the general public by late August. Stud services will be added later.

"We have some fantastic horse trails out here," said Coombs. "You can travel over miles and miles of new trails and not see the same ground twice."

Nine model homes -- five in Calvada and four in the Shamrock subdivision -- are slated for construction in August and September. In the Frank Woner-Ron Floyd Shamrock development, on the east side of the highway across from the community center, the first model is virtually completed with three more scheduled to be finished in August.

30 years ago this week

District Attorney Peter Knight plans to advise the Nye County commission that there is not sufficient grounds for dismissal of volunteer Fire Chief Ron Perry. The town board requested the resignation last month and presented a list of complaints at the commission meeting earlier this month.

Knight said the material presented against Perry was too general and most of the complaints brought up had been corrected.

Bill and Lucille Withers will hold the grand opening of their Western Auto store in Pahrump Aug. 15-25. The store is now fully stocked and open for business daily, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., except Sundays. It's on West Street across from the LDS Church. A great number of specials will be featured during the grand opening, most of these being advertised in a direct mail paper that will be sent to local area residents.

20 years ago this week

A unanimous decision to sue the state over the creation of Bullfrog County was reached by the Nye County commissioners this week.

The possibility of hiring outside counsel is also being considered in order to speed up matters. District Attorney Phil Dunleavy was asked to present the research he has done so far at the commission's first meeting in September.

Planning consultant Steve Bradhurst provided two outside legal opinions saying that the creation of Bullfrog County is on shaky legal ground.

Fran's in Beatty and Sheri's brothel in the Pahrump Valley have not yet filed applications for licenses as required by the new brothel ordinance.

The county commission directed District Attorney Phil Dunleavy to notify the two houses to submit the applications so they can be processed.

Sheri's opened next to the Chicken Ranch a few years ago without ever filing a license application, staying open through legal challenges. Those challenges were instrumental in prompting the new ordinance.

Rosalind Nelson has been hired by the Nye County School District to be the school psychologist for the schools in the lower half of Nye County, including Pahrump Valley. The post is a new one created this year and is comparable to the job held by Jack Linderman in the north part of the county.

Nelson will also travel to Beatty and Amargosa Valley schools and will be responsible for testing and evaluation of students, especially those with learning disabilities.

10 years ago this week

Investigators are searching for clues to what caused a man-made fire Monday evening that charred about 15 acres of mesquite forest on federal land in southwestern Pahrump and continues to demand the attention of firefighters.

It took 50 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Pahrump Valley Volunteer Fire Department nearly five hours to control the blaze.

H and M Pipe and Supply is now stocked with the Pahrump women's softball league champions.

H and M came from behind to beat Starfire Realty 20-6 in the Pahrump women's softball league championship game at Petrack Park Monday night.

H and M trailed Starfire, the regular-season champs, 6-2 after three innings but exploded for 17 unanswered runs over the last four innings to take home the title.

He won't carry a gun and he won't be able to arrest you, but at least one town board member wants him to be Pahrump's chief of police.

If town board member Steve Rainbolt has his way, business license clerk Don Riffle will soon be given two new titles -- one as business license officer, the other as Pahrump police chief. Rainbolt said he will ask the board to approve the first title and discuss the second at Tuesday night's town board meeting.

An acrimonious 120-acre property dispute, which pits a trio of local businesses and half a dozen lawyers against one another, has destroyed long-standing friendships and threatens the financial ruin of at least one of the parties involved.

Add to the mix a judge who -- by his own account -- issued an unusual final ruling following a preliminary hearing, and the potential for a frightening legal precedent has been set for both buyers and sellers of commercial property.

Valley Rock and Sand, Calhoon's Sand and Gravel and American Concrete are embroiled in a three-way dispute over ownership of all or part of Calhoon's 80-acre gravel pit and 40-acre sand pit.