38 years ago this month

Nevada West and the Pahrump Valley Times -- that was how the name ran back then -- announced its second issue had jumped from 18,000 to 30,000 copies. At the time it was given away in an area ranging from Las Vegas to Death Valley.

A former underwater photographer (how did he end up here?) and Vegas casino employee, Jim Crawford, leased the grocery store and service station operated by Les Mankins for 10 years. Crawford named it "Crawford's of Pahrump."

Master Shooting Preserve offered no-license-required hunting for pheasant and turkey on its 300 acres.

Tom Williams noted that Death Valley is, technically, not a valley but a "graben." "Can you imagine," he asked in his Edge of Death Valley column, "those people who discovered the place in 1849 turning around after their ordeal in the hottest, driest spot in the hemisphere and saying, 'Good-bye, Death Graben"?

30 years ago

The Pahrump Valley Zoo, on Homestead Road at the Willinger Turf Farm, opened for business.

It included Sheba and Turquoise, both tigers, along with Maggie the lion and a number of other smaller cats. A $1 donation was requested from visitors.

The state Board of Equalization was set to stage a public hearing in Reno to consider appeals of the proposed new assessments in the Pahrump Valley.

Drawing major-league hostility from property owners and the chamber of commerce were assessments that had jumped by 240 percent, with the greatest hikes in the Preferred Equities Calvada Valley development.

The total valuation in Calvada and Calvada North took a jump from $28,900,000 to a whopping $69,750,300.

The new fire station off Homestead on Kellogg was going up. Price tag: $45,279.

Nye County school enrollments had increased by 10.8 percent, from 1,553 to 1,721 students.

Sounds like a deal to me: a one-and-a-quarter-acre lot on Basin was listed in a want ad for a cool $4,300.

20 years ago

A bill to split Nye County just this side of Beatty was in the process of being drafted by the Legislature's bill-drafting department.

Joe Richards was ordered to appear in district court after refusing to show up before a grand jury as a witness. He had been told to be there with his business records. DA Philip Dunleavy said Richards was a supporter of Sheriff Harold "Stick" Davis, and "is believed to have played a key role in the failed effort to recall" Dunleavy.

The sheriff, meanwhile, was to appear in court shortly on charges of fraud regarding travel expenses.

And Leslie "Bill" Mankins was charged with perjury for alleged false testimony regarding the collection of three signatures in the Dunleavy recall campaign petition.

Casey Lloyd was named first runner-up in the 1989 Miss Rodeo Nevada contest. Lloyd was the reigning Miss Helldorado Rodeo.

An underground nuclear test code-named "Kloster" was set off after two delays at the test site. It was thought to be between 20 and 150 kilotons. Managers of certain buildings were warned to keep employees out of "prerarious positions" at the time of the shot.

Theresa Heath, English teacher at PVHS, was chosen as the Nye County rep for the national Sallie May First-Year Teacher Award.

"I think making the work they do apply to their lives, that helps them and it helps me," she said.

10 years ago

Reporter Henry Brean contributed a profile of chiropractor Ignatius Piazza, who was creating Front Sight. His goal: Make it the finest firearms training facility in the world.

Piazza's plans have not reached their goal of being a residential community of 350 condos and 177 one-acre homes sites.

The RPC spent a raucous meeting featuring E.A. Collins representatives Greg Rivera and Bob Swaddell along with "roughly 100 mostly angry audience members."

Their target: the proposed 2,800-acre Mountain Falls subdivision.

A fire near Kellogg and Quarterhorse Road that destroyed a home and garage was declared arson. "It was too big, too hot and too fast to be anything but suspicious," said the state fire marshal investigating the scene.

Pahrump basketball players had a chance for the school's third straight appearance in Class 3-A playoffs but were booted by Virgin Valley and Boulder City.

Acme Bus Service advertised $6 one-way trips to Vegas, with round trips for $10.