Pahrump will be the premier location in Nevada to show a photography exhibit by Nicholas Price that is part of the U.S. Air Force's 60^th anniversary celebration, now that the town board approved helping out with $7,500 from the tourism room tax fund.

In addition, the board approved a formal resolution expressing support for the exhibit.

The 100 photographs celebrating the Air Force will be displayed at the Bob Ruud Community Center July 1-7.

The exhibit, called "Cleared Hot," is touring the nation and will ultimately be put on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio for six months.

Grace Price, president of Nicholas Price Enterprises, addressed the board to explain why additional funding was needed for the one-man show.

Price told the board that the cost of displaying the photographs was actually $25,000, of which $10,000 had already been expended for transportation costs.

She then went on to explain that her corporation funded half of the $1,500 deficit, which put the company in the red.

Price told the board that she did in fact go around town to ask businesses and other community groups for sponsorship support but did receive any and did not know why.

The president gave the board a list of expenses that still needed to be paid in order for the show to go on, among which include $2,600 for insurance and liability, catering for a VIP evening with a 100 guests, 10,000 posters and logos, and an additional four pods that need to be built to display the photographs.

When Vice Chairman John McDonald questioned a listed expense of $3,494 for re-framing 45 of the photographs, Price explained that those pictures were originally framed by the state of New York when the show was being exhibited in New York City.

"We had to re-frame them in our own frames when they got back down here," Price explained.

Price also emphasized the fact that the show would be shown throughout the state, but Pahrump would be the first place it would be shown.

McDonald asked if other communities that would show or had shown the exhibit were asked for funding, to which Price replied they were.

"For each location that this exhibit has to go to, the town has to pay an exhibit fee," Price explained. "This is a museum quality exhibit. Normally the cost that the town or cities are charged for such an exhibit is $45,000 to $55,000. We've actually taken a lot of the cost away from Pahrump by paying it ourselves and keeping the costs to a minimum."

Chairman Laurayne Murray also informed the audience that the show was brought to Nevada at the specific request of the state's congressmen.

"Our congressional leaders participated in this exhibition from the get-go, and they required of them that they bring it back to Nevada and that they do a world tour," Murray explained.

The chairman also explained that the Pahrump exhibit has been heavily promoted by major media outlets in Las Vegas and surrounding areas.

Board member Dan Sprouse added that he had been contacted by a friend in Japan who had heard of the exhibit and, as he put it, "knows now where Pahrump is" as a result of the promotions for the show.

Art Jones, local resident, addressed the board and told them that he had seen a Nicholas Price photograph in 2002 at the Department of Nevada's department of disabled veterans.

"It would be a wonderful thing for Mr. Price to come down here," Jones said.

Jose Telles, a former Marine who served 25 years, added that he also thought it was wonderful idea.

"I think this exhibit will show the young men and women what the military does," Telles said.