James Petell, former chairman of the Public Lands Advisory Board, was found guilty of harassment in Pahrump Justice Court last Tuesday.

He was fined a total of $632, including court and administrative fees.

Petell was removed from his post as chairman of the advisory board by the Pahrump Town Board several months ago.

This was the second time Petell appeared in court to face the charge leveled against him by local resident Len Fern.

Petell initially attempted to represent himself during a previous hearing on the charge last March but ultimately decided to retain counsel.

Fern testified at both hearings that Petell had threatened to kill him for his involvement in the closure of Bureau of Land Management property to shooters.

Fern, who said his property wall and lamps on the wall had been shot out by stray bullets, had actively sought and helped to achieve the closure of over 4,000 acres of BLM property adjacent to his property.

According to Fern's testimony, Petell and long-time resident Sam Jones drove up to his gate and got out of their vehicle last March.

Wearing matching T-shirts that said "Bureau of Land-grabbing Maggots," ostensibly a take-off on the name of the BLM, Petell and Jones approached Fern, who was standing inside of his gate.

Fern said Petell told him they were looking for the person responsible for the closure.

When Fern asked what Petell would do when he found that person, Fern said he received the response, "I'm going to kill him."

When asked about Petell's tone when he said this, Fern described it as "very matter-of-fact, annoyed, and angry."

Fern also testified that Jones, who was carrying a copy of another local publication that contained an article about the closure in which Fern's wife was interviewed, shoved the paper up to his gate and asked, "'Have you seen this?'"

Fern then said he told Jones and Petell he had to speak to his wife as an excuse to get away from there, and then went into his house to call the sheriff's office.

While waiting for the deputies to arrive, Fern said he was very scared "because I felt he could have come over the fence to carry out the threat at any point in time."

Petell took the stand to defend himself, testifying to a very different version of the incident.

According to Petell, he and Jones spent the day driving along the periphery of the BLM land that had been closed, videotaping and photographing houses abutting the land to look for bullet holes and evidence that the properties were in fact being harmed by shooters.

"(We were) trying to find anybody that could explain it to us and give us examples," Petell explained.

Petell said the two started at Pahrump Valley Boulevard and Gamebird Street and worked their way down Homestead Road.

"Every house that was seen, every street, it was taken picture of by my camera ... We didn't see any people outside, proceeded to Thorn, all corners were marked and tagged," Petell explained. "As chairman of the public lands, I have a right to do that, in the public interest."

Petell said that he and Jones initially approached Fern's property because of the eight-foot walls surrounding it, and that the walls seemed like the most likely target for a stray bullet to hit.

"That's why we were there," Petell said, "to check this area out to see if anyone had gotten shot at by irresponsible shooters."

He further added that his demeanor was not threatening, but that he was simply "very dead tired" at the time because he and Jones had made over 20 stops that day and had been out for three to four hours.

As far as Fern's allegation went, Petell responded simply, "That's a lie. A balderdash lie."

"I don't know who he is," Petell said. "Never met him, never heard of him, until I got the citation."

Petell further testified that he had never threatened anyone, least of all Fern.

Jones also testified and said that no such threat was made by Petell.

According to Jones, what Petell actually said was that the BLM would want to kill them if they knew what he and Petell were doing.

Jones also testified that he did not know who Fern was or about his involvement in the closure at the time of the confrontation.

Justice of the Peace Tina Brisebill, however, noticed that this did not match up with Jones' earlier testimony at the first hearing in June.

"The Ferns' testimony, which is memorialized in the transcript, was consistent today with what they said before," Brisebill said. "Mr. Jones' testimony, on the other hand, was not consistent."

Brisebell then quoted prior testimony by Jones in which he stated he knew who lived in the Fern residence.

"So they knew exactly whose house they were going to," Brisebill said. "I don't believe from the demeanor of the (Ferns) that they came in here and made up a story."