When the reporter covering an event and the town secretary constitute the total local attendance at an event in Beatty it is safe to say that the town was poorly represented.
It did draw a couple of county officials and one from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, but other than that, the presenters were left talking to themselves.
The event in question, a July 24 workshop for the Nellis Complex Joint Land Use Study, failed to draw a crowd, perhaps because it did not deal with the hot-button topic of expansion of the Nevada Test and Training Range.
The Joint Land Use Study was contracted by Clark County with financing from the Office of Economic Adjustment, Department of Defense.
The purpose of the local workshops are to gather information on how military activities and the needs and activities of nearby communities and residents impact each other.
The study deals with 25 issues affecting compatibility between public and military activities and land use. These include such things as air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, energy development, communication, use of broadcast frequencies, housing availability, light and glare, public services, roadway capacity, noise, vibration, water quality, and more.
According to the study fact sheet, the area covered by the study includes “parts of Clark, Nye, and Lincoln counties where civilian activities may impact current or future military operations or be impacted by those operations.”
The stated purpose of the study is to “ultimately serve as the planning area in which strategies for mitigating and avoiding compatibility issues are identified and implemented.”
Residents of Beatty and of the other communities in which the workshops are held, but who did not attend, are encouraged to provide input by filling out a survey which can be found on www.nelliscomplexjlus.com
Richard Stephens is a freelance reporter living in Beatty.