36 years ago this month

Pollution of Lake Mead through the dumping of Las Vegas effluent into the Las Vegas Wash should finally be halted in the fall of 1975, according to Thorne Butler, vice president of the Las Vegas Valley Water District. That is nine months later than originally ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Expenditure of $46 million for a collection system, a pipeline, a disposal site and in valley irrigation will be required for the job. The cost would be $65 million plus operating costs if the system included the ability to reuse the effluent. Dry Lake north of Las Vegas is the probable discharge site.

May and June rains in southern Nevada probably came too late to help boost the quail population for this hunting season. Nature seems to have a way of notifying its wildlife by saying, "'This is going to be a year of poor environmental conditions and what you produce will not find the food necessary to survive.' Quail apparently pay heed to this warning. In bad years the desert birds pair off less and remain in groups of non-breeding adults. The first sign a lean year is ahead," according to Charlie Crunden.

30 years ago this week

More than 1,218 recipients are now getting postal service in Pahrump Valley compared to 898 one year ago. The increase of 320 new addresses represents a remarkable jump of 35.6 percent. That increase suggests an even greater growth than indicated by electrical hook ups which rose by 23 percent last year and phone hook ups which increased by 20 percent. Pahrump Postmaster Frances Chenoweth indicated this week that the local post office is operating at considerably more than 100 percent capacity.

A sudden wind storm with gusts up to 70 mph swept through the valley causing a mobile home one block off Thousandaire Boulevard to be overturned.

The home, owned by Werdna Greggerson, was unoccupied at the time of the accident. It was completely demolished, requiring the fire department to respond to the scene to disconnect electric and gas lines and to standby in case of fire.

An on-site inspection of the Nye County Complex in Pahrump was conducted by County Administrator Roy Neighbors, architect Alton Dean Jensen, administrator for rural health consortium, Amanda Cecceralli and county health nurse Marlyn Cooper.

A rough drawing of the proposed expansion to the complex was completed and will include a new garage for the ambulance, a meeting room for the ambulance crew, an addition to the nurse's office, and space for a dental clinic.

20 years ago this week

A counterattack was launched by Sheriff Harold "Stick" Davis when he filed charges of extortion against Nye County District Attorney Phil Dunleavy in Beatty Justice Court.

Dunleavy previously charged Davis with felony fraud in collecting $3478.42 for travel expense during a 23 month period ending in May 1987.

Davis charged that Dunleavy "offered a choice of resigning his office, in which event these charges would go away, or to get a lawyer. The clear meaning of this statement to Davis was that he had to resign or he would be charged with these crimes."

Dunleavy stated the conversation with Davis "was in fact a plea bargain ... a normal procedure."

Prospects appear good that a strike will be advertised at the Nevada Test Site as three more unions agreed to contracts, making it 12 of the 14 that have signed. Only the Teamsters and the asbestos workers were unsigned.

Both, however, are expected to agree to contract terms by the next meeting. Details of the contracts were not disclosed.

Sen. Chic Hecht, R-Nev., unveiled a new proposal that would designate 150,000 acres of Nevada land as wilderness. "This bill represents a good balance between urban and rural Nevada," Hecht said. The bill includes 33,000 acres of wilderness area in Mount Charleston.

10 years ago this week

During a July 20 broadcast, reporter George Knapp from Channel 8 news in Las Vegas took credit for having a local juvenile suspected of participating in several Pahrump burglaries released from the Tonopah jail.

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett now wonders if Knapp still wants that credit after the boy, a 15 year-old, failed to appear for a court hearing.

Fifth District Judge John Davis issued a warrant for the boy's arrest; the boy was picked up by the Nye County Sheriff's Office in Pahrump. The KLAS "I-team" investigative piece was advertised as a look at "Frontier Justice."

A sign installed near Highway 160 and Gamebird stating "Thank You Pahrump! For your prayers and love for Samantha Tomaro" was Cheryl Bresch's way to say thank you to Pahrump for the support shown for her daughter.

Samantha was diagnosed with cancer a year before at the age of 3. The girl and her family were the center of a groundswell of local support that included everything from get well cards to elaborate benefit concerts, much of it staged by strangers.

With Samantha's cancer in remission, Cheryl decided to say thank you in a big way, with the billboard she ordered from High Impact Sign and Design. High Impact decided to donate its time and materials instead of taking payment from Cheryl.