Plans for a U.S. Air Force plane to be displayed in Pahrump were grounded at the Pahrump Town Board's Jan. 8 meeting.

Nye County Commissioner Gary Hollis, who began his local career as a town board member, had proposed Pahrump should apply to the Air Force Static Display program as a way to commemorate the town's veterans.

"The display aircraft is a way to acknowledge the people that fly every day for our freedom," Hollis said. "I think this display aircraft is a way to show our veterans that we do think of them."

Board member Nicole Shupp questioned the cost of transporting and setting up the aircraft.

"I'm sure that there are veterans, and myself, and companies and people that will donate money to get that aircraft up," Hollis said. "And I'll stick my neck out and say I'll go out myself and try to raise the money ... I'll find the money somehow."

The plan seemed ready to take off with the support of the board until Town Counsel Carl Joerger broke in with a emphatic warning about the contract with the Air Force the town would need to sign.

"This is the most one-sided contract I have ever seen ever written by anybody." Joerger said. "We are responsible for everything."

For one thing, the attorney pointed out, the Air Force would not even begin dismantling the plane to transport it until after the town agreed to the contract -- without telling the town how much that would cost.

In addition, Joerger added, should there be litigation issues with the plane in the future, they would have to be settled in Dayton, Ohio.

The contract also included a very long list of ways the town could be deemed negligent, including allowing too much sunlight to hit the plane and not having a 24-hour security guard in place.

"They've given you seven pages of instructions that you have to follow," Joerger said. "You're going to have an ongoing responsibility for this ... You sign this thing, you'd better have read every single requirement and obligation you have in here."

Chairman Laurayne Murray added that the application required stating a specific location for the plane to be placed (as of yet the town does not have one) not to mention the cost of ongoing maintenance.

Hollis pointed out the requirements may not be as stringent as the contract looked.

"Every community that has a display aircraft has to do the same thing," Hollis said. "I don't think that the federal government is going to come out here and say we have to have security guard standing outside that airplane every day, and I don't think they're going to make you polish that aircraft every day. But they do want it, as long as it has that Air Force star there, kept in a reasonable manner."

Vice Chairman John McDonald stated simply, "I can't support this without knowing how much this will cost."

The idea was tabled so the board could get more information.