Another nice attempt at economic development doomed by lack of government transparency.
At least that’s what I saw the other day when the Pahrump Town Board unanimously approved inviting organizers of a regional Burning Man to our lovely, and as yet unutilized, fairgrounds space.
I like the concept. Never mind all the naysayers on our website — complaints of drugs and homosexuality run amok are preposterous.
I don’t have any problem with the event. What I have a problem with is that it was sprung on the citizenry in the manner with which it was, by Harley World insider Harley Kulkin and I suspect Town Manager Bill Kohbarger, whose penchant for state secrets is well known to this newspaper.
Once again, these town leaders have shot themselves in the foot by devising a project behind the scenes, with no input from the public or even the town’s own advisory boards. Advisory boards are designed to act like a filter, studying the merits of various projects, deciding how and when and with what resources they should be developed and then providing recommendations to the town board. Advisory boards answer obvious questions and tie up loose ends so that the town isn’t embarrassed by rushing full speed, headlong into a disaster a la Growponics, Harley World and the myriad other failures and near-failures that have plagued poor Pahrump for millennia.
Did anybody bother to get more than two opinions about this event? Nope, at least as far as I can tell.
That’s shoddy governance and that is exactly why the end is “Nye” for the independent Pahrump Town Board. And that’s sad. Secrecy has its costs — this town board has created every enemy it has encountered the last few years by its own attempts to move its agenda forward without bothering to flesh said agenda out with anyone but themselves and a few behind-the-scenes business interests.
I tire of it, and the majority of voters in November certainly expressed their exasperation with it, too. Burning Man should be an adult conversation, not another PR nightmare for our town.
That said, I like the willingness to experiment with new events. If Burning Man comes here on Memorial Day weekend, I am all for it. Finally, something new.
Let’s not stop there. A few weeks ago I advocated attempting to lure a Tough Mudder event here. That fell through. But there are others to go after. Boulder City is hosting a Devil Dash 5k obstacle course event March 22-23. Why can’t we get something similar? How about a Warrior Dash? How about an extreme sports event, BMX competition, skateboarding contest? How about a huge, annual concert, like a Lollapalooza or a Coachella? We have the space, promoters do the bulk of the work. How about biker rallies and roller derbies and cross-country car races and monster truck competitions and big time rodeos and air shows? Where are all these events?
Is there not a tourism board and a taste for developing more activities like these? Of course, there is.
So, what’s the deal? Well, it appears town officials are their own worst enemy. And more stunts like this Burning Man event, success or not, just anger residents even more.
PAHRUMP GRAND JURIES
Trending on the local wackadoodle front these days is the notion that a grand jury needs to be empaneled in Nye County, ostensibly to ferret out government corruption.
Unfortunately, the folks asking for this don’t seem to understand what a grand jury does or how one is even constituted in the first place.
My favorite perennial candidate for public office, former Chicago bar owner Louis J. DeCanio the J is for Justice! recently went before the county commission seeking support for appointing such a grand jury. He believes that such a group should be formed to investigate public officials.
Of course, grand juries are generally only formed by judges at the behest of prosecutors — and sometimes the governor or legislators — who want to get indictments in cases where certain evidentiary limitations exist. Voters can petition to empanel a grand jury but ONLY after evidence corroborating claims of misuse of public resources is offered and only after 25 percent of registered voters who cast ballots in the last election give up their John Hancocks to such an idea.
I don’t think any of that is likely, particularly the part about providing evidence. The town’s wackadoodle contingent talks a good game, but when it comes to delivering the goods, they are more hot air and bravado than substance.
Besides, I think we already have two groups who perform this investigative function quite nicely — the sheriff’s department and the district attorney’s office.
A grand jury, particularly one whose members dare included members of this wacky contingent would be a farce from the get-go. I don’t know why these people feel the need to keep embarrassing this community with talk of corruption and what not when in fact if you ask any of them to produce one scintilla of evidence to support their claims of government corruption they can’t seem to produce a shred of proof. And in fact, their embrace of far-right conspiracies like Agenda 21 and their willingness to allow people like P.J. Helfrich, a mentally-challenged murder suspect, into their tinfoil clique, is proof positive that no one from this group is to be trusted with anything — and yet a few are holding public office right at this moment, to the ultimate detriment of the community in my opinion.
One only has to listen to KPAH radio, that local Internet bastion of conspiratorial drivel or see failed arsonist Anthony Greco driving around in his “Casino Dealer/Trigger Man Corruption Mobile” to know exactly who the fringe element is and what they stand for. I just wish instead of corruption this group focused on something really worthwhile, like beautification, instead of their guns and their Constitutional rights nobody wants to take either away from any of them , these folks concentrate on improving education, or curing poverty, or feeding the elderly, or caring for homeless animals. Instead they want us all to believe that they are the frontline defense against threats from public officials to our freedoms, when in fact they look more like the goose steppers who if given the chance would use something like a grand jury to TAKE AWAY our freedom.
That’s just my opinion.
Lest anyone misunderstand, I love our wackadoodles. Without them, this newspaper wouldn’t have so many great stories to report — no citizen’s arrests of town board members, no gun rallies in the heart of town, no admitted racists in public office, no Agenda 21 on the county’s agenda, etc.
Mesquite, Boulder City, Elko editors … eat your hearts out.
Matt, I still have my copy of “A Manual for Writers” from my college days. If you’re willing to improve your craft, I’m willing to lend it to you. Your sentence structure is woefully wanting.
A former editor of this publication, who I had the great pleasure of knowing at one time, told me that, for a newspaperman, Pahrump is the greatest place in the world. Where else can you get a cast of characters to act the way they do without having to pay them? You just gotta love it.
I suspect that the extreme secertcy that the town official operate under is fully the thoughts of corruption. Like: What else are they hiding? Are they getting paid off to do this? Where in the H*&^ did this idea come from?
BURNING MAN, BURNING MAN, BURNING MAN will become the war cry of the recall movement.
So, all the people that get busted yearly for drugs, all the “advice” on the burningman website about how to deal with police if they search for drugs, all that is just “preposterous?”
Really?
I guess you dont know anyone that has gone nor have ever gone yourself. Its an open air drug market. Those are just the facts.
Even on their website they warn about ‘medical’ marijuana and how the feds don’t recognize medical pot cards. Come on now, lets at least be factual.
Very good editorial, depite what Ricktrr says. I too like the idea of the mini burning man, and also agree that the way they went about it was all wrong. However, considering the fact that they probably knew that the same CAVERS in this town would get their panties all in a bunch no matter what they did, I can see why they just sprung it on everyone.
Mrribbert, you seem to misunderstand my comment. My criticism is of the structure of the editorial, specifically sentence structure. While I may not agree with the position taken by the author, my evaluation of content was withheld.
It is unfortunate but true, there are some in Pahrump who want to everything fail. They rail against a new vacuum cleaner business, restaurant, frozen yogurt or just about anything else. It’s really sad that we have people who are gleeful when anything fails and wish the worst on anyone who takes the risk and starts a business. The same is true with this. Instead of giving it a chance, all we get in negativity with comments like “naked hippies taking drugs”.
Have you ever been to a Burning man? I suspect you have not, as it really is “naked hippies taking drugs”
Ok you get some ravers, some artsy types, lots of music, lots of fun, but there is a very dark side to the Playa, and as Roger said, even on the website for Burning man, advice is given on how to deal with drugs, and cops.
Cant we ever have something more than a joke of an event? Do we always have to shoot for the lowest common denominator when it comes to events like this. Must we always be the joke?
You think we are lying about the drug issue? Give the Sheriffs Dept a call and ask them. Call the BLM and ask them about Burning Man and its related events.
If I were the town board, I would not want to be at the next meeting once the rest of the town finds out that “The Kulkinator” just decided to hold a hippie drug fest in the center of town.
So what CAN we do? Everything comes with some risk, it’s how those risks are handled that should set us apart. It appears the event will happen, regardless. We as a community need to do whatever we can to bring dollars to town.
Also, an event like Sturgis would bring these same elements with them. Sturgis is a much smaller town and they manage to get through it relatively unscathed. We are at least as competent as they are, aren’t we?
A Grand Jury is to make sure that innocent people are not dragged through the legal system and forced into bankruptcy to prove their innocence.It also insures that people in authority or people with “CONNECTIONS” are held accountable for their actions.If Nye County had a Grand Jury,then maybe we wouldn’t have lawsuits against the county for frivolous prosecutions. A Grand Jury is fair and impartial and is not a luxury but rather a necessity to see that the laws are applied equally and fairly to all people. The editor stated that he feels the Nye County Sheriff’s Dept. and District Attorney’s Office are doing such a fine job that a Grand Jury is not necessary. There are numerous instances where a Grand Jury was necessary in Nye County but due to a lack of space I will only cite 1 blatant miscarrage of justice. The “SPECIAL TREATMENT” and “SWEETHEART DEAL” given to the previous Nye County District Attorney,Robert S. Beckett….I REST MY CASE….
NRS 6.120 – 6.150 will explain how & why Grand Juries are formed.The Grand Jury makes sure that innocent people are NOT prosecuted and that evidence must be presented before a person can be indicted for a crime,and that nobody is above the law.
I do think the discussions of Burning Man should of been more public then simply “after the fact.” Of all the attractions this town has the opportunity to attract, I thought this would be on the bottom of the list.
It’s something new and different, let’s give it a try. It will be good for the local economy and might put the fairgrounds on the map for other events.
I have overheard way too many people that seem happy when a business closes, or people have to move out of Pahrump due to a job loss of the local economy. They seem to want our town to turn back the clock 20 years. Less population results in less tax base. Less tax base means less protection, less schools, worse roads, etc. Come on folks, is this what you really want?
I read an editorial in which someone complained about a long response time from the Sheriff’s department when they called 911….if the story is actually true, just think how long that wait time would be if the town and county has to make even more cuts in the budget due to less population and the lack of community growth?
We all know Harley is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but our town board did vote for this. Let’s deal with it and see that change is very good for a community.
I notice a lot of grandparents raising grandkids in this town. Just think if this town grows, your grandkids’ parents could get jobs and take the burden off of you.
What is you guess of time response to a 911 call on Memorial Day when this “dark event” takes place????
They provide their own security at their events. You don’t have to worry about this event now. The town has wasted time on this issue and forgot about the dust. So much for our fairgrounds that still need two inches of gravel before the land can be used for any events. Burning man went up in smoke.
Ive got a great idea….we call it “burnout…….man….” we offer a buffet of meth; pot; and cough syrup…we pitch to them how California; Washington; and Colorado allow you to smoke weed legally…provide a few samples; give them some info on government assistance programs in these States; ……..”burnout man” would be the shizo……
Been trying to get some shopping done today. Went by WalMart to get a new down pillow but they were all sold out. Went to Home Depot to get some tar to fix the driveway but they were all sold out too.
Anybody seen Harley lately ?
“Anybody seen Harley lately ?”
…..LOL…..comment of the year.
I agree! That was funny!