BEATTY -- It is hard to decide whether to refer to the April 8 Beatty Town Advisory Board meeting as "the battle of the sexes" or "the great divide.

Vote after vote found the two women on the board -- Teresa Sullivan and LaRene Younghans -- voting one way on a motion and the three men -- Bert Bertram, Mike Lasorsa and Joe White -- voting the other.

The first involved a proposal by Younghans to protest 11 Department of Energy water right applications in Oasis Valley. These are connected to DOE's proposal to build a railroad to Yucca Mountain. Younghans offered to write a check for $275 to cover cost of the protests, which had to be filed by April 10, saying she could be reimbursed later.

David Spicer gave a brief presentation in support of the town joining with other groups and individuals in protesting the applications. He said that, if granted, the applications would over-allocate the water in the basin and threaten economic development and the viability of Amargosa Toad habitat.

It would be, he said, a "threat in perpetuity."

Spicer also said that joining in the protest would demonstrate to the Center for Biological Diversity (the group pursuing legal action to have the Amargosa Toad listed as an endangered species) that the town is acting to preserve the toad's habitat. He said that, even though others, including the county, were filing protests, "We need all the voices possible."

Bertram said the Obama administration had "declared Yucca Mountain dead," and it seems certain the applications would be withdrawn. He said the state has never approved any water application related to Yucca Mountain, and he had had conversations with state water officials who indicated they would be denied.

He also said the town board functions in an advisory capacity to the Nye County Board of County Commissioners, and that, since the county is filing its own protest, it would be redundant and superfluous for the town to file its own.

Resident Bobby Marchand countered: "I don't see there is any harm in registering our protest."

A poll of the audience showed overwhelming support for filing the protests. When former board member Joannie Jarvis pointed out the support, White said, "Does this audience represent more than half of the people of the town? I was elected to represent the people of the town, and now you're trying to tell me what to do."

When the vote was called, the motion to file the protests was defeated -- Sullivan and Younghans, "aye"; Bertram, Lasorsa and White, "no." This elicited cries of "shame on you" from Jarvis, and "unbelievable" from Marchand.

Another proposal by Younghans was to appoint board members to attend meetings of other boards as liaisons and report back each month. Sullivan supported the proposal, saying, "We'd be a better-informed board ... and make more informed decisions."

Lasorsa said this had been tried in the past and had not worked. He said board members were welcome to attend other meetings but should not be committed to go.

Resident Jerry Hammes proposed an alternative -- that the board invite the other panels to send representatives to its meetings and be given a time slot on the agenda to report.

The board agreed that this sounded like a good idea.

A request from the Beatty Economic Development Corp. for $8,245.13 to pay back taxes on the Barrick Bullfrog property prompted quite a bit of discussion of the value of the property to the town.

Albert Verrilli gave a recap of the BEDC's work so far. He also spoke of the likelihood of Beatty Water and Sanitation District using the 2-million-gallon water tank on the property to enhance the town's supply of water and provide service to the airport and to Rhyolite.

Bertram made a motion that the board pay the back taxes and also commit to paying future taxes until the property can be disposed of.

Sullivan said she does not like the idea of committing to pay the taxes "forever" and would like to see it considered on a year-by-year basis. "We can't keep spending indefinitely if it is not being maintained and nothing is happening," she said.

Verrilli said the maintenance issues at the site are not as bad as they look. He said they mainly involve doors that have suffered from weather. There had been some theft of copper wire, but he said this was not serious because it was outside wiring, and the conduit and power boxes are still in place.

He also pointed out that the major obstacle to interesting clients in the property has been the lack of water, and that once the tank is tied into the Beatty water system, that obstacle will be gone.

Lasorsa said the property is "a potential gold mine."

The women on the board objected to the portion of Bertram's motion that called for paying future taxes until disposal, but it passed -- men for, women against.

The board had received a $3,980.01 bill from Beatty Water and Sanitation for the cost of damages to a sewer line caused by a contractor working for the town.

Lasorsa said "technically" the bill should have been sent to the county, because the county, not the town, let the contract on the project. He also said the contractor had agreed to pay for the damages himself.

Sullivan and Younghans said they felt the board should still respond in writing, telling Beatty Water and Sanitation it does not feel it owes the bill and it should be sent to the county.

Sullivan said, "We need to act professionally." However, the proposal to send the letter was defeated -- women for, men against.

Suzy McCoy showed the board a mock-up of a comprehensive town Web site she has designed. It was a 65-page proposal, including, among other things, information about the town, its organizations, businesses, a town calendar and agendas of board meetings.

McCoy, who said she has 15 years experience in developing and maintaining Web sites, said she would launch and maintain the site for $3,000, including everything, and would charge $1,000 a year afterward to maintain it, including posting items from the town and various organizations.

The board reacted favorably to McCoy's proposal but tabled the matter to give it more time to become informed.

The board did manage to agree on a couple of things. On the recommendation of Fire Chief Jim Benshoof, it approved a bid by Snowden for an extension of fencing around the fireworks area (with the $2,552 coming out of the fire department's budget).

It also agreed, with the approval of the district attorney's office, to pay outstanding vouchers for renovation work at the Beatty Library. The work had been stopped when it was discovered they could not use someone who was not a licensed contractor.