MARK WAITE / PVT From left, at the table, Jenny and Peter Liakopoulos are joined by Art Jones, past commander of the Pahrump Disabled American Veterans chapter. In the background is Dorothy Oriondo, a volunteer, Shelbi Bondurant of the Nye County Veterans Services Office, and Victoria Balint, center manager of Job Connect. Advertisement

The home atop the rocks on the north side of West Bell Vista Avenue and four adjoining buildings on 20 acres of land could be the site of a shelter for homeless veterans, if Nye County Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos and his wife Jenny fulfill their wish.

The land was donated by real estate agent Fely Quitevis, owner of Precious Properties, for the next five to 10 years. It was at one time the home of Dale Schutte, a retired engineer who dabbled in projects like bio-diesel fuel and home insulation with hay bales encased in concrete.

Liakopoulos figures it would be a good location. There aren't many neighbors nearby to complain about a homeless shelter.

It sits just down Bell Vista Avenue from the Windrock Ranch Country Store on the south side. The house on the cliff has a commanding view of the Pahrump Valley below.

Shelbi Bondurant, an administrative assistant for the Nye County Veterans Services Office and Victoria Balint, manager of the Job Connect Center in Pahrump were on hand to lend their endorsement of the project. Liakopoulos sits on the Workforce Investment Board which supervises Job Connect.

The project has a long way to go. The men's barracks will be in a building on the ground level that looks as if it had been built as a large shop area.

A building behind that will serve as a woman's residence already has a few bedrooms and a kitchen. A trailer will serve as the intake office.

The house on the cliff, a little unsafe for foot traffic, will have a kitchen, day room and an office for doctors and counselors. A small building at ground level will be available as a caretaker's cottage.

"This is an idea that my wife had. We want to continue working for the veterans. You don't have to be a veteran to work for veterans. So what we're looking to do now is to set up a veterans homeless shelter. We'll be opening up right after the first of the year," Liakpoulos said.

"What we're trying to do with the homeless shelter here is get people and have them put back in the work force. One of the problems that veterans have when they come into a situation like this is, if they're homeless, they can't collect any of their veterans benefits. They come in here and take this up as a residency, they'll now have an address," he said.

The Blue Star Mothers, a veterans support group, estimates there are 300 homeless veterans in Las Vegas, Liakopoulos said; they're unsure how many stay in Pahrump. The Liakopouloses also expect to work with groups like a Vietnam veterans motorcycle outfit that reported there were homeless veterans in the community.

Jenny Liakopoulos was recently rejected on a 2-2 vote by the Pahrump town board to be curator of the new veterans memorial. But Peter Liakopoulos said this project is even better.

"Sometimes you run in and you hit stumbling blocks and you end up having different doors open to you. Sometimes you get into a situation where the project you start with, it gets replaced with something bigger," he said.

Liakopoulos said he intends to ask the town for the money back that was contributed to Support Your Soldiers In Need (SSI) for projects like a veterans museum and redistribute it to the donors.

"Then those people, most of them have already agreed to contribute it to this project," Liakopoulos said.

The homeless veterans could be transported to the shelter by the Disabled American Veterans van, or initially by volunteers, Liakopoulos said.

"This is a situation where it's away from everything -- they can get their privacy and you could bring in the services that they need," he said. "This isn't going to be a permanent state. It's to get their feet on the ground."

Liakopoulos didn't disclose specifically the funding for matters like utilities and food, saying he would solicit grant money.

"Most of them are very proud servicemen and they hate to be dependent on anyone else," said Art Jones, former commander of the Pahrump DAV chapter. He said Las Vegas already has a homeless veterans shelter.

How will they get the word out to homeless veterans staying in the desert behind Albertson's Supermarket or at Petrack Park?

"We'll just have to go up to them and talk to them. Once you get one or two of them convinced, the rest of them will follow on through," Jones said.

"Obviously, for this specialized population we don't have a lot of services. By networking with other agencies and services within the one stop, we're very fortunate. We have had some very specific individuals that have taken this challenge on and are putting together some very viable solutions," Balint said.

Quitevis said she figures the 20 acres of land, at $70,000 per acre, is worth about $1.4 million alone. She had planned to save it for her family but figured in the meantime, its a donation "to the betterment of mankind."

Volunteer Dorothy Oriondo said her husband is in construction and could ask other construction company workers to help out.

Liakopoulos said they need donations of blankets, pillows and other things.

"The best way I can describe this, remember when you first got married and you went out and got your first apartment? That's exactly where we're at. You start out with a broken coffee pot. We need everything," he said.

Quickbooks training class

The Rural Nevada Development Corp. and the Nevada Small Business Development Center in partnership with Citibank will offer two classes for Quickbooks training at Great Basin Community College.

Beginners workshop is 8-noon, Thursday, Nov. 1. The intermediate workshop will be held 8-noon, Saturday, Nov. 3.

The cost for one session is $35 and the cost of both classes is $50.

For more information or to register, call Allan Parker at 751-1947 or go by the office at 1301 S. Hwy. 160. They are located on the second floor of the Nevada State Bank Building.