36 years ago this month

MGM announces plans to build a 25-story, $75 million dollar hotel complex on 16 acres of land across from the Dunes Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The Grand Hotel is expected to be completed in 1974 and will include 56,400 square feet of casino area, 51,300 square feet of convention facilities, 2000 rooms and other features likely to play heavily on the company's successful film adventures.

The Colorado River Commission of Nevada is moving to acquire the 105,000 acre Eldorado Valley just south of Boulder City from the federal government. The intention for the purchase is to re-sell it for development as an industrial or residential community. No more than 50,000-acre units and no less than 640-acre units could be sold to a single buyer and the land could not "be resold for speculative purposes."

30 years ago this week

Property valuation will rise an average of 19 percent in Nevada but only 4 percent in Nye County, according to a forecast by Taxation Department. Director Jack Sheehan.

The state assessed valuation will go from $3.9 to $4.7 billion. In preliminary estimates released this week, Nye is shown to have an $82.5 million valuation -- just 4 percent more than a year ago. In other counties, Clark is expected to go to $2.4 billion, up 24 percent, Washoe to $1.2 billion, up 15 percent and Carson City to $160 million, up 34 percent.

Widening of 14 miles of Highway 95 from the Pahrump cut-off to one and a half miles south of Lathrop Wells is under way.

The L.A. Young Company of Utah is expected to complete the $2.3 million project this summer. The project will provide two 12-foot-wide travel lanes and two six-foot shoulders, taking the 26-foot-wide road to 36 feet wide.

Also slated is 40 miles of fencing beginning near Indian Springs to one and a half miles south of Lathrop Wells, to be constructed on both sides of the road.

20 years ago this week

Pahrump Town Board Chairwoman Diana Stiles told the Nye County Commission during a telephone conference call Tuesday that if SB463 "goes down the tubes," the town would either incorporate or "split the county."

SB463, which increased the power of the town board, is to be tested for constitutionality in a suit filed in Fifth District Court. Stiles comments were made during a discussion about county owned property in Pahrump, which the town would like to see transferred.

Stiles said the town did not want to have to pay the county for the building, which currently serves as the county complex, should incorporation or a split of the county take place.

Valley Electric Association's board of directors approved a 1988 capital budget of $164,300, and also agreed to return to VEA members who used power in 1973 and 1974 rebates totaling $144,586.

Included in the capital budget were $100,000 to buy a power-line digger, $45,000 for a building in which to store a bucket truck and hot tick trailer, $36,300 for vehicles used for different purposes, $7,700 for a copy machine with a collator, and $7,700 for a telecopy machine that would be able to send work orders and other information to the association's branch offices in Beatty, Fish Lake Valley and Amargosa.

A private scientific group estimated that the United States government conducted 117 secret underground nuclear tests from July 16, 1945, through the end of last year.

Department of Energy spokesman Chris West immediately denounced the study done by the Natural Resources Defense Council as a "broken record."

"Virtually all of the information about unannounced nuclear tests is classified, so I cannot confirm or deny the number," West said.

The group believes four to six of the tests were made between 1980 and 1984, and were so small they had to be mathematically calculated. The rest were large enough to be detected on seismographs which picked up disturbances left by collapses of craters above the test area.

10 years ago this week

Nye County commissioners voted three times and then rejected a proposed $1,600 impact fee for school district construction, repairs and remodeling.

In all three votes Commissioner Cameron McRae favored the impact fee and wanted to keep it alive. Commissioner Bob Davis, who agreed with the fee as long as it was only assessed in Pahrump, said that his mind on the matter had been changed completely, and that imposing it now was too little, too late for the district.

The fee would negatively impact economic growth and it would hurt the chances to pass the school district bond issue in November.

The Nye County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Postal Inspection Division are investigating a weekend burglary at the post office substation on Kellogg Road.

It appears that the items stolen -- about $250 worth of Looney Tunes merchandise -- may provide a fair description of the thief.

Sometime between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, an unknown person used a gun to shoot open a locked door inside the substation and gain entry. The suspect then made off with between $200 and $300 worth of Looney Tunes hats and ties the post office is selling.

Sheriff Wade Lieseke became the first Nye County official to announce that he will seek re-election. Filing for the office begins May 1, Lieseke will be seeking his third four-year term.

Although it is an off-year on the national scene in terms of not having a presidential election, it will be busy in Nye County as all courthouse elected positions will be up for grabs. That includes the treasurer, clerk, auditor/recorder, assessor and district attorney as well as the sheriff. The terms of Commissioner Cameron McRae and Bobby Revert will also expire this year.

Neither side blinked, but both got a lot off their chests at a meeting between the Pahrump Town Board and the Nye County Board of Commissioners. The two groups met at the community center to iron out their differences and try to find some common ground on the reapportionment issue of the county's commission districts.

Since the meeting was for discussion purposes only, no action was taken. When it was over, both sides basically agreed to continue to disagree.

Nye County commissioners decided to put $2 million of Payments Equal to Taxes (PETT) money due in the fall in to the road department's coffers, but the money won't be used to pave roads. Commissioners told members of the Pahrump Town Board that the county has no plans to pave Pahrump's roads anytime soon. The money is just there to maintain the roads once they're built. When people ask Commissioner McRae when their road will be paved, he's forced to tell them what they don't want to hear: "Not in your lifetime."

Pump up Pahrump

Nye Communities Coalition introduced a new monthly event with a free fitness challenge (Pump-Up-Pahrump) in October. Our next event will be held 10 a.m.-noon, Saturday, Jan. 26, at Honeysuckle Park (Gazebo area) for Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Each school age participant will be evaluated according to the President's Fitness Challenge levels for their age group. The entire family can join any activities they choose.

There will be prizes, games (volleyball, Frisbee toss, kickball) and a good time for everyone. There is no charge, but each child must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

For additional information please call 727-9970.