36 years ago this month

Atha Connely, a 10-year resident of Pahrump Valley, has been appointed manager of the Calvada Riding Club and Stables. Ten riding horses have been purchased for the stable with seven more to be added in the near future, according to Connely.

The stables will be open to the public and a program of trail rides, local play days and jackpot gymkhanas will be presented.

Nevada Test Site Notes said a Supreme Court ruling upholds a lower court decision disallowing NTS workers to deduct travel expenses on 1970 income tax returns, saying the expense is personal because it was not incurred in carrying on a trade or business.

A 20-kiloton underground nuclear test was conducted at NTS Nov. 24 with a radioactive seepage reported about four hours after the test in amounts described as only slightly above normal background. No health hazard on or off the site was announced. It was the ninth detonation this year.

30 years ago this week

The Pahrump Valley Times begins its eighth year of publication Dec. 23. The first issue of the paper appeared two days before Christmas in 1970. The official population count for the Valley at the time was about 900. Three advertisers in that issue included Fred's Bar, which since has burned down, Newman's Clothing which closed, and Denny's Café, which moved from the post office building to Highway 160 and eventually became Saddle West.

Two men, apparently involved in a drug smuggling attempt involving 700 pounds of marijuana were being extradited from Nye County.

The two men, one from Upper Lake, Calif., and the other from Austin, Texas, had been admitted to Nye County General Hospital Dec. 8, having been brought to town by two employees of the San Antone Ranch. Circumstances of the men's arrival prompted the Nye County sheriff's office to conduct an investigation in cooperation with Pete Bertolino, special investigator for the Nye County DA's office.

Bertolino followed the trail of the two men to a severely damaged Piper Aztec airplane, about 40 miles from Tonopah. The plane contained 700 pounds of marijuana; its origin and destination were not known. The plane was forced to land because it ran out of fuel.

20 years ago this week

The multi-billion-dollar high level nuclear waste repository appears headed for Yucca Mountain, despite bitter opposition by Nevada leaders. Congress this week approved legislation to further study Yucca Mountain.

"The Screw Nevada Bill" was so named because it calls for the study of just one site first, Yucca Mountain. The original plan was to study three sites and select the best of the three. The latest legislation will save about $3 billion but is seen as practically naming Yucca Mountain as the repository site.

Valley Electric Association members will not receive an increase in their energy rates for 1988, the VEA board of directors decided.

The four-member board approved an operating budget that projects nearly $6 million in revenue for the association. After all of VEA's expenses are paid, the company will have a margin of $477,000 by the end of 1988, according to VEA analysts.

The battle over whether Bullfrog County is legitimate will start Feb. 9, following a ruling allowing the lawyers from the Legislative Counsel to defend the zero-population county. Nye County sought to have the Legislative Counsel sidelined, since it was not an interested party. Judge David Zenoff ruled the Legislative Counsel could participate on behalf of the official interest of the state legislature.

10 years ago this week

With the start-up date for the land division moratorium a month away, Planning Director Ron William's office has been besieged with parcel map applications from landowners hoping to get their maps in under the deadline. Most of the 21 maps submitted will likely be approved, subject to compliance with state and county regulations. However, a few figure to spark debate.

In the Hadley Subdivision at Round Mountain, the odds on matters of life and death are often pushed decidedly in favor of death thanks to an overlooked necessity: an ambulance located within Hadley, a community that represents about half of Round Mountain's population of nearly 2,000.

Hadley is a remote mining camp roughly an hour's drive north of Tonopah in the Smoky Valley. A town of hardy souls, most of whom eat, sleep and breathe Round Mountain Gold, the main employer and greatest corporate contributor in Nye County's tax base.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy are trying to determine why five metal boxes of low-level nuclear waste, bound for the Nevada Test Site from a clean-up site in Ohio, leaked liquid into the backs of the trucks that were transporting them. The leaks occurred during four separate shipments to the test site this week.

Three of the five leaks had detectable levels of radioactive contamination but the liquid remained within the trailer of the truck and was well below DOE and Department of Transportation safety standards. The other two leaks had no detectable contamination.

Valley Electric Association consumers will get another Christmas present from the non-profit cooperative this month. For the third straight year, VEA consumers will get a power bill credit on their December electric bills. Residential customers will receive an average of $27 in power credit, according to Louis Holveck, VEA general manager.

Several men and women graduated from the latest emergency medical technician class in a ceremony held at the Pahrump ambulance bay, bring the total number of volunteer EMTs serving the Pahrump Valley to roughly 40. The demanding course last for 10 weeks and consists of eight-hour days on Saturday and Sunday. The cost for the course is $100, compared to $400 charged in Las Vegas for a similar program.