By GINA B. GOOD
PVT
Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo on Wednesday confirmed his suspicion that Town Manager Bill Kohbarger and town board member Vicky Parker, along with Rick Campbell, the town’s attorney, arranged a meeting with state Sen. Mike McGinness to discuss expediting the process of incorporating Pahrump by drafting a bill for a state Senate vote.
At the beginning of Tuesday’s town board meeting, DeMeo stood at the public podium to make his announcement.
“There is a rumor that people from the town are going to meet with a senator to push through the incorporation study,” he said, directing his comments toward the board and town staff. “I just thought I would let you know about it. I hope the town puts an end to that, because as an elected official, I believe the people have the right to say what goes on in town.”
In a phone interview the following day, DeMeo pointed out that none of the three board members at the meeting made any effort to dispel or confirm the rumor, nor did Kohbarger or Campbell.
McGinness Wednesday confirmed that Campbell called him last week to arrange for just such a meeting. It is scheduled for today, Aug. 27.
“In my opinion, they are shopping around for legislators who will help them because they want to get a bill drafted to incorporate the town,” said DeMeo. “But believe me, Mike McGinness is not a person who believes in bypassing the people. I have known him for a long time. Whether you are for incorporation or not, it has to be done with transparency.”
DeMeo called the effort “sneaky politics. As an elected official, you are hired by the people. You don’t then circumvent the will of those very same people.”
The sheriff also lamented that such behind-the-scenes maneuvering gives credence to people in the community who think badly of all public officials.
“Those three had a chance at the board meeting to say a meeting with the senator was arranged and to explain why,” said DeMeo. “I could tell by the expressions on their faces, they were surprised anyone knew. It just irks me they think they can sidestep the very process of voting because of some misguided notion that they know what’s best for other people.”
DeMeo insisted that, “no matter what side of the issue you embrace, you don’t take the voters out of the picture.”
Incorporation has been on the ballot three times in Pahrump and never gained approval from the voters.
McGinness told the PVT he was well aware of those results. “I was there every time,” he said.
Kohbarger, Parker and Campbell don’t care what the voters of Nye County want, they only are politician$ for their own per$onal agenda$ and gain$.
Couldn’t have said it any better, wellsaid!!
WE DO NOT VOTE IN TRUSTED SERVANTS TO PROMOTE THEIR AGENDA> ask for resignations and lets all get serious. NO INCORPORATION.NO DISCUSSION..STEP DOWN IF THIS APPLIES TO YOU>OR GET REPLACED>>>
I believe we should demand the immediate firing of the attorney, and the resignations of the other two. This is just another example of government out of control.If I’m not mistaken, there are still four town board members that can affect these changes. I call on them to take control of this situation. As far as I’m concerned, it’s their duty.
By the way, who gave the authority to pay the other half of the recent incorporation study? Whoever spent the taxpayers money without proper authority is either guilty of fraud or out and out theft.
If you are as outraged as I am, contact the remaining town board members and demand action. It’s time for them to put up or shut up. They are supposed to be looking out for our best interests.FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE
Those 3 people are a clear and present danger to the freedoms and liberty of the residents of Pahrump.
They need to be fired, resign or recalled immediately. At the next town board meeting there should be huge attendence of residents calling for thier dismissal.
They have told us by their actions they don’t give as damn what the people want.
Bingo! You hit the nail on the head.
I dont care if someone even thinks incorporation IS a good idea.. this is NOT the way to go about it.
Wow talk about the Sheriff over stepping his bounds, what is he afraid that his meal ticket is going away and he will actually be held accountable for his habits. What does he have to worry about the Town would have to contract with his department for services kinda like Metro with City of Las Vegas. Oh thats right if the Town or now City dosnt like it the can just drop the SO and then start there own Police Department. And for all you rocket scientists that want people fired or removed from office you need to remember that you dont speak for the MAJORITY of the Town, just go back and hang out with your CCSC buddies. We need to be incorporated so we can have a say in the way our Town is run. Everyone seems to forget that the county dosnt have our best interest at heart, why would there upper leadership be so against it unless it means they would loose there ability to manipulate our tax money and keep spending when we dont need to. Just remember the Town wanted the detention center outside of the Town but the county had to have it next to there property so they didnt have pull utilities themselves. Just look at our roads in this town and the fact that the county hasnt done anything to help our schools, it really shows how much the county cares. If anyone should resign its the Sheriff.
This isn’t an issue of township vs incorporation, it is an issue of how the process should be accomplished. The three people involved are attempting to circumvent the voting process and disregard to will of the voters. The town manager should be fired, the attorney fired and the town board member resign. A special meeting of the town board should be held as soon as possible, and all involved should be held accountable on the spot. You may feel that incorporation is in the town best interest and it very well may be, but voters must make that determination, not back room dealing.
EVERYONE knows that the majority of people voted down incorporation 4 TIMES NOW!
You are treading on VERY dangerous legal ground going around what the PEOPLE want in this town.
I agree with everything you said except that the Sheriff should resign. What’s important (as you point out) is that everyone has an agenda, and that people need to THINK about what motivates people. In general, I think our sheriff uses good judgment — but I think he has a vested interest in our not incorporating.
Pahrump MUST incorporate, or we’ll remain exactly what we are. Declining property values, appalling trash, insufficient zoning, terrible schools, horrible roads. Taxes pay for improving these things. Keep it up, Pahrump, and we won’t incorporate, and we won’t be taxed. We’ll just die behind fences in our sad, selfish squalor.
Sorry, Green Tambourine, but most people don’t agree with you that Pahrump MUST incorporate. You may not like the way things are around here and that’s fine, that’s your opinion. Might I suggest that you move to somewhere nice and over taxed, like Vegas. No urban blight there, crime, bad schools or roads, right? Those of us who have lived here for many, many years like it just the way it is. AS far as I’m concerned, it’s changed too much here already. Property values dropped because of the land sale crash, not the town. The appaling trash? True, there are some places around here that need to be cleaned up and slowly are. bad roads? Road crews are working all the time to fix them. Bad schools? That’s everywhere, not just here. We are being taxed to death as it is! Five years ago, our family business was thriving. Now, we can barely make it from month to month and are in such debt, we’ll never get out. Yeah, we need more taxes! Pahrump has been here for a long time and will continue to be here without turning into another incorporated city with all the problems that go along with it. The board members that tried to slide this under the noses of the people who live here and have voted it down many times have their own agendas and don’t give a crap what the people want. I’m getting mighty tired of politicians thinking that they know what’s best for the idiot masses who apparently can’t think for themselves anymore. I pray the next elections take a big turn and get people back into offices that can fix this ever deepening mess our country is in. For now, let’s leave Pahrump the way it is! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
“Jimmy Johnson” parrots pretty much what Komrade Kohbarger has been saying. I wonder if they could be one and the same? Regardless, the three individuals that are in cahoots on this caper should be fired, or resign, because you don’t go and try something like this without the people’s voice being heard – by way of voting – did they forget that we live in a Republic with democratic principles?
Or do these three think they have been appointed to run a new three headed monarchy?
Only in Nye County…
“Komrade Kohbarger?” Are you trying to be funny, or are you simply immature? The instant you resort to smart, sarcastic comments like this you puncture a hole in any reasonable debate. This is called “name calling,” and what it says about the person who writes it is “I don’t have a valid, logical argument, so I’m just going to sling some invective out there as a smoke screen.” Come on. “Komrade Kohbarger?” How old are you?
‘Yo Green Tambourine- Listen you ninny, the first thing Komrade Kohbarger tried to pass when he got here was the disarmament of the the fine citizens of Nye. If that that wasn’t indicative of what he had in mind from the start I don’t know what is. Call me immature all you want but YOU need ME to point out just how egregious this clown can be. First, he will strip you of your constitutional rights, then he will circumvent the legislative process as a means to his ends. WAKE UP! What you want to do is get ME out of your cross-hairs and focus on the real villain – Komrade Kohbarger! – HE is the real culprit here. The towns’s Attorney, Rick Campbell, should be next, for he is acting in direct opposition to what has been voted for – FOR THE PAST FRICKIN’ TWELVE YEARS!!!! HOW DARE HE!!! And Vicky Parker, our esteemed mental midget of the Town Board?, I just feel sorry for her – as I do for all fools – (and the ‘children’ of the valley that have to put up with her senseless decisions). If there is a time to stand up and be heard, it is NOW! If I have to teeter on the fringe of common decency to wake you people up and tell you that you are being striped of YOUR voting voice by misaligned and secretive back room dealings; then so be it.
Kohbarger,Kohbarger,Kohbarger WHY is this name ALWAYS around when someone is sneaking around PUSHING agendas
NOW I wonder if people see why I had such a problem with these “Lets make Pahrump more modern, and change it” types.. they are all backed by Kohbarger and they are ALL pushing for incorporation.
Does Kohbarger think he is one of Obama’s Tzars? HOW DARE HE sneak around and try something like this.. and thanks to Tony for getting the word out.
Folks, its time to PROTEST like you have never before if they push this or you even hear another hint of it.
HOW many times has this town said NO to incorporation? ENOUGH already!
Kohbarger is a rat. Just fire him already!
Kohbarger is stealing money from the town…this problem is easy to solve. Fire him! Geeze.
I agree! Good call.
As a long time voter in this valley, I feel that these three elected or hired officials should be immediately terminated for “MALFEASANCE And MISFEASANCE OF OFFICE” for circumventing due process and the will of the people. Maybe they don’t realize that they can be SUED individually and collectively for “Malfeasance And Misfeasance Of Office”.
For the proponents of incorporation, since the majority of the people have voted three times AGAINST incorporation, why not put a question on the ballots to incorporate just the “Downtown Area” of Pahrump – say a two mile radius from the intersection of Hwy.160 and Hwy. 372 – and leave the rest of the valley UNINCORPORATED as the majority of the voters want. This seems more logical and would appease most everyone. Then again, maybe not – when was the last time you saw a politician or elected official with “Common Sense”.
I like that idea!
SOMEONE CALL ME TELL ME WHO THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!1 I VOTE!!! 509-551-7177 I LIVE IN PAHRUMP TOO!!!! THANKS, LEAVE MESSAGE IF NO ANSWER WITH NAMES!!
Question Mr. Kohbarger, if this was on the up and up why did you not fess up to your plan when the sheriff brought it up at the last meeting. This is – in my opinion – the last straw master Bill, approving the payment for the full amount of the incorporation study on your own violates your employment contract ($5000 expenditure without going to the town board), allowing termination with cause, that should have been on the agenda and the board should have voted on how to proceed for payment. The two town board members that are your buddys, up for re-election that tried to extend your contract plus give you three months notice if they are going to terminate you and 18 months severance pay should step down now and save what little dignity they have left as no one will be voting for them. The town attorney should be immediately dismissed, and Ms. Parker resign at the next meeting. Mr. Johnson not everyone making comments are involved with CCSC, The town manager needs to realize the same road that brought him here can take him back to Carlin.
The residents of Pahrump have voted against incorporation over the last 12 years. It appears the only way to bury this issue once and for all is to have a BINDING ballot question on incorporation that if incorporation is defeated it cannot be brought up for 25 years. Too much time, money and effect has been spent on something people do not want.
If passed at the town level and circumvented by the State legislature, then civil disobedience should be the next step. Once the wishes of The People are over-ridden, the rule of law is no longer in effect.
In any event, the three involved should no longer be representing the Town of Pahrump.
I don’t think Tony Demeo has to worry about his job; transparency is the issue here and if he brought it to light, kudo’s to him! I would hate to see a Contracted Police Department and Officials that could tighten gun control, make it nearly impossible to obtain a CCW Permit (Welcome to California); I have worked all over the Country and experienced many Police Departments that don’t respond to non violent calls, won’t even take a report on a multi thousand dollar embezzlement, kiss off a Grand Theft Auto, I moved here because I felt safer knowing this Department not only cares, but responds to nearly every Citizen’s call, they have mine, and were exceptionally professional in every way. True, smaller towns have their own distinctive problems but they can be dealt with on a local level. I have experienced the worst, trust me, Pahrump is far from it. Let the People of Pahrump Decide, not a few, and do it all in the open.
Hey DeMeo, what about our suspicion about your doings in the Sheriff’s dept? We should investigate your office too….
Let the fine people of Nye vote with their ballots, that is the American way. Right now we have have a far more serious problem at hand, Kohbarger, Campbell & Parker.
We should actually be thanking Sheriff Tony for bringing this current undermining of the democratic process to light.
The main good thing this backwater place has going for it- is Demeo!
Perhaps Bad Boy Bob Beckett should check out Kohbarger.
I agree, someone should look into Kohbarger’s background now.
Unbelievable, FIRE ALL OF THEM!!!!!
I can say that in four words.
Does this cr*p never end?
HOW MANY TIMES do we have to say NO?
Anyone connected with this should be fired, recalled, or voted out.
Thank you Sheriff DeMeo!