Seven members were appointed to the new Pahrump Veteran's Memorial advisory board at Tuesday's Pahrump Town Board meeting, but the position of volunteer curator for the proposed, and as yet non-existent, museum remained vacant.

The proposed appointment of J. Sophia Liakopoulos for the position failed on a split vote (member Dan Sprouse absent) after a raucous audience voiced opposition.

The actual advisory board's membership, however, was selected amidst slightly less clamor.

Since the town board had to extend the application deadline to the Monday before the meeting, several of the board members didn't get a chance to review all the applications until Tuesday night.

So the audience got to witness the actual selection process.

After establishing that the board would consist of seven members and two alternates, a recess was called during which the town board reviewed the 23 applications that were submitted.

When the final tallies were in, an all-service veteran panel was made up of James C. Scott, Jose Telles, Art Jones, Alan Bigelow, Elliot Brainard, Ken Hoskins and Kenton Falerios.

Harold Scalzo, Jr. and Cathy Pennington were appointed as alternates.

Controversy arose when Chairman Laurayne Murray announced that there was only one applicant for the volunteer curator position.

She then motioned that Liakopoulos be appointed to the position.

The news was greeted with loud cries of "no" from the audience, and a long line quickly formed for public comment.

Murray reminded the audience that the curator, and any action taken by her, would be subject to the bylaws established by the advisory board, adding that Sophia Liakopoulos was "quite qualified."

The chairman's comments did little to appease the mostly disgruntled audience.

Meeting attendees, including members of the newly-formed advisory board, leveled a number of complaints at the board, ranging from personal issues with the Liakopouloses to being upset about having a non-veteran on the board.

Scalzo came to the podium and charged that the curator position was not advertised on the town's Web site or in the newspaper advertisement placed by the town.

Murray read the ad, pointing out it said "the board will be compromised of Pahrump residents, and will include a volunteer curator."

Later in the meeting, however, Vicky Parker asked the advertisement to be read again, afterwards saying, "I agree that it's all in the ad. However, it's confusing."

"You really have to think about it to understand that you're asking for applications for a curator," Parker said.

Vice Chairman John McDonald said that he was inclined to agree with Parker and the advertisement did give the impression the curator would be part of the advisory board.

But the advertisement wasn't the only issue that raised residents' hackle.

Brainer told the board bringing a non-veteran on to it was "like bringing in the Russians" because "a non-veteran does not know what this is all about."

Dave Stevens bluntly retorted, "I think civilians should be allowed on the board ... I don't see any problem with it."

Murray reminded the audience that many veteran support organizations, such as the VFW's Women's Auxiliary Unit and Homeland Heroes, were made up of non-veterans who worked tirelessly to support veterans.

Harley Kulkin reminded the board that the issue of even having a museum at the memorial had yet to be settled, pointing out he was told at the last meeting that issue would be decided by the advisory board once it was formed.

"At no meeting have you ever publicly discussed needing a curator," Kulkin angrily told the board. "You've turned around and in a very devious and sneaky way come up with this."

That didn't stop the issue from repeatedly being brought up by the mostly antagonistic and unruly audience, however, which alternately booed or applauded in response.

The question of a museum at the memorial had erupted in controversy several months ago after the Jenny Liakopolous's organization, the Support Your Soldiers in Need (SSI) foundation, had asked to lease the building at the veteran's memorial from the town.

County Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos, speaking for his wife in a phone interview after the meeting, said the organization had collected $9,500 from local businesses with the understanding the funds would be used for a museum.

Among the contributors, Peter Liakopoulos listed Focus Group, Pahrump Valley Disposal, the Pahrump Dairy, Precious Properties, C.R. Homes, and CivilWise Engineering.

In addition, the commissioner said AVCO Construction built the building essentially at cost.

"This has been going on for over a year, there were no secrets here," the commissioner said. "You don't sneak out in the dead of night and build a building."

He said SSI is a sole proprietorship but filed to be nonprofit corporation when attempting to lease the building.

When the lease was not granted and the board decided to form the advisory board instead, Peter Liakopoulos said the process of becoming a non-profit ceased, along with the work on the museum.

Several slanderous comments directed at the Liakopouloses were made nonetheless by members of the audience, almost all of which were thinly veiled accusations of mishandling of funds.

"I think it went a little overboard last night," Peter Liakopoulos said. "I'm on a board too, and we don't put up with that."

June Telles bluntly told the board, "We don't want a museum in our memorial."

Murray told the audience that Sophia Liakopoulos had actually received enough votes by the town board to be a member of the advisory board itself, and it was only because she had specifically applied for the curator position that the motion to appoint her for that was brought up.

Although both Liakopouloses were in the audience, neither of them spoke at the podium during the meeting.

Jones, however, spoke in Sophia Liakopolos's defense, pointing out that although she was not a veteran, she came from a family of servicemen, including a father who was a prisoner during the Korean War and all her uncles.

Ultimately, Don Rust and Murray voted for the appointment and Board Member Nicole Shipp and McDonald voted against it.

"We'll keep going," Liakopoulos said. "There'll be other projects, and we'll keep working for vets."