Just when you thought matters were bad enough, with Beatty not able to hold onto a physician, comes Brent Jones, director of Nye County Emergency Services.

"I'm here to paint a little gloom and doom," Jones told the Beatty Town Advisory board at its May 14 meeting.

Beatty, already without a physician for its clinic, is in danger of losing its ambulance service.

The law requires that an ambulance service be available 24-hours a day, seven days a week. If that requirement cannot be met, the service has to be closed down.

What Beatty is lacking is volunteers to man the service.

It has good equipment, some of it new, but it is short people. Currently there are 17 on the service's roster, but only eight are Beatty residents. The others come from other places, such as Pahrump and Death Valley.

Of the eight Beatty volunteers, only four make almost all the runs, and one of those is leaving to go to school, and another is planning to move away.

Another volunteer, who has been living full time in the former jail, which now is the Beatty General Improvement building, has had to move out and needs to find affordable housing or a job to be able to continue.

Out-of-town volunteers will still be able to stay in the building overnight.

Patty Winters, who coordinates volunteer ambulance services for Nye County said an ambulance service cannot be considered stable when it relies on out-of-town volunteers. She said the service is on her remediation list.

Winters said Beatty's service, which operates on an intermediate level at present, may have to step down to the basic level for a time until more volunteers can be found and trained.

The county provides free training for volunteers and pays a small stipend for making runs.

Two levels of training are being offered:

A 40-hour first responder class can qualify a person as an ambulance attendant to drive the ambulance. This class will be offered in June.

The next level, EMT Basic, requires 130 to 150 hours of training, and that class is scheduled to begin in July.

Jones said service had been pulled from Gabbs at one point for lack of volunteers, but that suddenly people were taking the classes and service was restored.

"This is a crucial part of the county. It would be a travesty if we lost the ambulance service here," he said.

Resident Larene Younghans said she feels the ambulance service is a more critical need even than having a physician at the clinic.

Board Chairman Bert Bertram, recounting his personal experience as a patient, said everybody in town needs to get involved in solving the problem.

Enhancing the town's ability to attract a physician was also a major issue on the board's agenda. The board had previously approved going 50-50 with the county on funding an incentive package to offer prospective candidates.

At this meeting they also voted, pending county approval, to spend up to $170,000 to purchase a new manufactured home as a physician's residence.

Board members Joannie Jarvis and Teresa Sullivan, who have been working on the issue, said the present residence is too old and run-down to be attractive.

"As God is my witness," said Jarvis, "we're not going to get a doctor in that house down there."

If approved by the county, the plan is to set up the new residence on the property behind the Community Center that was once the site of a dentist's office. The town would lease the house to Beatty Health and Welfare for $1 a year with provision that it would take care of maintenance.

Bertram was concerned that the town board would be functioning as "landlords," but other board members said that would be Beatty Health and Welfare's role.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," said Jarvis. "We're in danger of losing our ambulance service, and we do not have a doctor. I'm willing to beg, borrow, or steal."

The motion to purchase the housing passed unanimously.

The board also approved the purchase of a "presentation station" for the Community Center's electronic projection equipment.

Connie Lee, from the Nevada Department of Wildlife, gave a presentation on programs available for private land owners to conserve habitat for the Amargosa Toad. There are several grant programs available with different requirements.

Kay Tarr reported on the second Amargosa River clean-up.

She said it was "pretty good," though they had fewer volunteers than the first time. She said clean-ups will continue, basically on every other Saturday, until the riverbed is "pristine."

She said there would be cash prizes at the May 17 clean-up for the biggest pile of trash and for the most unique find.

Bertram reported that a bid proposal is being prepared for installation of the town's antique street lights. This will take some time, but he said he hopes the lights can be installed this year.

Town secretary Janet Rogers said the street abandonment for the piece of Valley Street that bisects the new town square park had been approved.

She also told those present they need to be aware that encroachment permits are required for any project impinging on county road easements.