August Beatty board meeting honors Stephens

BEATTY — The Beatty Town Advisory Board paused its August business this month to honor Richard Stephens, a former teacher and longtime reporter for the Pahrump Valley Times, calling his community-focused journalism “a dying breed.”

Stephens, who moved to Beatty in 1977 to teach at the high school, spent decades chronicling the town’s ups and downs while photographing local wildlife. At the Aug. 25 meeting, trustees presented him with a commemorative mug and a certificate of appreciation signed by all five board members.

“I’m glad I stuck with Beatty,” Stephens told the audience, recalling that he and his wife Carol first passed through the town in 1972 during a wildflower bloom. “It’s been a great place to raise our kids.”

Former Times editor Arnold Knightly, now Nye County’s communications manager, praised Stephens for keeping small communities informed when larger outlets pulled back. “Your type of journalism is a dying breed,” Knightly said. “It was so important to have somebody like you in the town of Beatty, and you always delivered.”

Stephens also shared a personal highlight: winning a Nevada Press Association award for non-staff reporting.

At the Aug. 25 meeting, the board approved minutes and town vouchers from the earlier Aug. 11 meeting. During this meeting they voted to send a letter to the California Bureau of Land Management concerning a mining exploration project near Ash Meadows, citing risks to water and wildlife. The board also approved up to $24,000 from public safety sales tax funds to purchase turnout gear for new volunteer firefighters.

Trustees also debated advertising in USA Today’s travel publications, but members and residents questioned whether the money could be better used locally amid declining tourism. No decision was made.

At the Aug. 11 meeting, the board approved $1,500 for the upcoming Beatty Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Service recognition event, $8,000 for an emergency response radio for the newly acquired ladder truck, and $200 for the Nye County School District’s Second Annual Attendance Challenge.

Community announcements closed out the August meetings, including the high school football season opener on Sept. 5, a North vs. South matchup the following day, and a volleyball tournament that same weekend.