Five hopefuls eyeing commission district 1 seat

Nye County Commission District 1 is wide open this year, with current office holder Lorinda Wichman termed out and five new faces seeking the seat. The winner of the Republican primary for district 1 will then proceed to the general election where they will take on nonpartisan candidate Darryl Lackey.

Trevor Dolby

Dolby is a longtime resident of rural Nevada, having moved to the area in 1988. He is a U.S. Navy veteran and much of his career experience outside of the military involved one of the state’s biggest industries, mining, as well as radioactive waste.

“I’ve worked underground borate, silver, molebdynum, but mostly gold,” Dolby detailed. “In gold, I worked an open pit mine outside Austin and west of Eureka, Nevada, underground in Alaska and at placer mines in Alaska and Idaho.”

Dolby is nearly 67 years old now and is retired, dedicating his time to his mother, for whom he is a caregiver. “Many of you have met her because I bring her to meetings,” Dolby stated. “I’ve been attending most of the county commissioners’ meetings for the past 10 or 15 years so I know a lot of the history of all the issues that the BoCC (board of county commissioners) gets involved in and I know the process and flow of decision making that the BoCC engages in. If that is your goal, vote Trevor Dolby!”

Following his career, Dolby shifted his focus to community service, detailing, “I became a volunteer ambulance attendant in 1990 in Eureka and continued in Amargosa, where I live today. I got certified as a firefighter and joined the fire department in 2008.

“I do other volunteer stuff in the community as well, but mostly voters will want to know that I’ve been on the Amargosa Town Board since January of 2012,” Dolby continued. “That’s an elected town board and each board member has other specific assignments.”

Some of the other entities Dolby has supported or been involved in over the years include the Amargosa Conservancy, the Amargosa Senior Center, Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge and the Nevada Outreach Training Organization.

Dolby said he was not going to shy away from the past, either, which has at points included some controversy.

“I’m not going to try to hide from my history,” Dolby asserted. “I don’t want your vote because I was an ambulance attendant. I want your vote because six of my friends and I were fired as volunteer fire and ambulance in Nye County. I came out of the back of the ambulance and tried to help the emergency services with their problem with the county. I’ll get all those newspaper articles put on my website.”

On the issues, Dolby remarked, “Sure, the commissioners must work with all citizens on all issues, but the towns and the county must coordinate with and work with adjacent jurisdictions. The parks, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the BLM and those in charge of Yucca Mountain and the test site, NDOT, even the naval air station. All must work with the towns, the county, the citizens in a democracy.”

Dolby said his goals revolve around more than just cooperation with the county’s neighbors. He has a specific task in mind and believes his prior volunteer experience will be invaluable in tackling it.

“I want to be an advocate for the rural ambulance and fire, the volunteer emergency responders north of the cattle guard up by Johnnie. Gabbs, Smoky Valley, Round Mountain, Hadley, Tonopah, Beatty, Amargosa, Crystal, all have fires and car wrecks, medical emergencies with the sick and injured,” Dolby stated. “Buying fire trucks and building fire stations doesn’t seem to be the problem. I want to get behind the recruitment, retention and training of volunteer emergency responders. Tonopah, Beatty, Amargosa, all the ambulance services, have taken their turn with short crews.”

Summing up his bid for commission district 1, Dolby concluded with the very simple statement, “I want to help.”

Voters can learn more about Dolby by visiting www.trevordolbydistrictone.com

Liandra Dutton

A native of Nevada, Dutton was born and raised in Reno and moved to Round Mountain 12 years ago, where she started her family and continued her career as an entrepreneur.

“I’m a business owner, I own an RV park in Reno, I also own a bar and restaurant here in Round Mountain and I actually opened up a drive-thru bakery and coffee shop in the middle of this pandemic,” Dutton said. “It’s been trying, there have been a lot of obstacles but I kept pushing and got it done.”

Dutton also has some experience in governing, having been a member of the Round Mountain Town Board. But overall, Dutton said, it’s really community involvement that drives her actions and activities.

“I am really big on community and trying to make things better for our entire community, kids, adults, everyone,” Dutton explained.

Dutton said the idea of running for commissioner had always been at the back of her mind and when she realized the district 1 seat was up for election this year, she decided it was time to dive in. Her primary goal is to make certain the northern parts of the county are not forgotten.

“It’s really hard when so much of the population is down in Pahrump,” Dutton stated. “Up here we have the gold mine, the solar plant, the test site, there is a lot of income up here for our county and so many times the residents out here feel like they’re forgotten. I am pretty vocal and I want to be that voice for northern Nye County. And that doesn’t mean I would exclude Pahrump but there is a lot more to Nye County, it’s the third largest county in the U.S., there is so much more to our county than just the southern part. I want to make sure people don’t forget that.”

Dutton said the issues and lifestyles of the county’s many small communities are all different and unique, needing specific attention and problem solving geared toward those differences.

“To be able to listen to everybody and take their concerns, bring it together and meld it into a solution for everyone, that is what I am hoping for,” Dutton stated. She noted that she will have a lot of homework to do in learning about the varied towns and their needs but she is more than willing to do that. “I know there are so many issues our constituents are concerned about and I want to hear what their worries are,” she said.

The county’s budget and spending practices are one topic that Dutton said she is concerned with, remarking that she would like to see more follow-through in assuring that the county’s funds are spent as they should be in all communities in the county.

“Another thing is the roads. I know in Tonopah and here in Round Mountain, it’s a continuous battle between our towns and the county and we should be working together to make sure our tax dollars are being spent wisely and the repairs are being made in a timely fashion,” Dutton continued. “Here where I live in Hadley, the roads haven’t been repaired in years… Our roads are literally falling apart and sinking into holes and nothing is being done. It just keeps bouncing back and forth.”

Dutton then reiterated her belief in a community-based approach, concluding, “People tend to get lost in their own little bubble but our community is really the structure of our lives… We all should be working together and that’s what my goal is, to build our community and have strength in that unity.”

Voters can learn more about Dutton by calling 775-346-0796.

Tim Gamble

Gamble is currently a trustee with the Northern Nye County Hospital District and an aspiring businessman who now wants to turn his attention to what he can do for the county and its far-spread communities.

“I spent 20 years off and on in emergency services. The last five years I have been working at Round Mountain Gold as a miner. But I have maintained my emergency services background, volunteering with the emergency response team and the county EMS,” Gamble told the Pahrump Valley Times. “I came into the hospital district a little over a year ago and that was really one of my first introductions into Nye County politics.”

Gamble said his time with the hospital district has given him the opportunity to meet the residents of communities such as Gabbs, Ione and Duckwater, places that he said are almost like forgotten communities, and learn about the problems those areas are facing.

As a man with emergency services experience, Gamble said one of the issues that concerned him most was a lack of a fire engine in certain town such as Gabbs. “Now, I don’t fully know why that is and I know there are certain laws in the NRS that mandate that places have coverage for fire services,” Gamble said, noting that there may very well be a good reason for the lack, “…but if you’re not going to be able to provide a service, you should at least be able to vocalize to the people why.”

Gamble said many of the outlying towns have very small populations but he believes it is still imperative to provide those areas with equal services and to ensure they feel as if they are part of the rest of the county as well.

“The whole of northern Nye County, they all feel like Pahrump takes the precedent over everywhere else. But you look at the tax paying and a large amount of the county budget comes from the north,” Gamble stated. “In representing the people in the northern part of the county, you also cannot ignore the towns in the middle, Amargosa and Beatty and that’s something that also gets overlooked.”

Economic development opportunities are another item that his time on the hospital board has revealed to him, with Gamble remarking that the Tonopah area is very attractive to industries because of its central location in Nevada and he’d like to assist in bringing those industrial projects to light.

Roads are point of focus as well, with Gamble stating, “There are some county roads that, at some point, it’s going to be time to look at putting some asphalt down. We spend time grading them all the time and there is a point at which it’s time to start talking about another solution.”

A review of local ordinances is something else Gamble said he was interested in, to determine if those ordinances are still applicable in light of the fact that the towns are constantly changing.

Yucca Mountain was yet another subject Gamble touched on, stating that he knows many people are dead set against it but he feels that attitude to be counterproductive.

“You have to understand that you are dealing with a number of governmental organization, not the least of which is the federal government,” Gamble said, adding that he’d rather be at the table for the discussion than simply ignore it because some disagree with it.

“You can either be on the friendly side, get things to go the way they should and be safe, or you can be against it the entire way and not get any type of negotiation whatsoever,” Gamble stated.

Voters can learn more about Gamble by emailing gamble.tim@outlook.com

Richard “Dick” Gardner

Gardner is a proud husband of 40 years with five kids and lots of grandchildren. He and his wife reside in Beatty and after 10 years on the Beatty Town Board, Gardner has decided it’s time for him to take a step further into politics with a run for Nye County Commission District 1.

Gardner is veteran of the U.S. Navy who did three tours in Vietnam before returning to the civilian realm to pursue a career as a mechanic, followed by owning a farm equipment dealership. Eventually he and his wife made their way to Beatty, where Gardner said, “We fell in love with this place and don’t ever plan to leave.”

Outside of his career, Gardner is also a member of the Masonic Lodge, sits on the Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board and is a lifetime member of both the NRA and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the latter for which he is also the current elected state quartermaster.

Gardner was elected to the Beatty Town Board 10 years ago and has for the past nine years taken on the role of chairman. He also sits as chairman for the Nye County Board of Equalization, a position he has held for the past three years.

“The three issues I keep thinking about are water, the Air Force and Navy land withdrawals, and I-11,” Gardner said of topics that draw his interest and attention.

“On water, I plan on using the Nye County water board for information on water issues. Water is not my strong suit but I would use them as information, as a sounding board, until I get my feet wet, so to speak,” Gardner detailed.

When it comes to the land withdrawals being requested by the Navy and Air Force, Gardner said he is very worried about the impact those actions could have on two towns in particular, Beatty and Gabbs.

“Gabbs is where the Navy wants to take land right up to their back porch. Then the Air Force, they want to take some thousands of acres out (near Beatty) and that removes mining, ranching and recreation uses, not just for our residents but for our tourists,” Gardner stated. “And it would effect the VFW poker run we have and other activities that involve off-roading. They have the Best in the Desert race and the Vegas to Reno run, those would be affected by the withdrawal, because we’d be forced to change those routes, which means possible revenue lost to the communities in those areas.”

Gardner’s view was much the same when it comes to the proposed I-11 corridor, with his fears centering on a loss of tourism and therefore, dollars.

“When you put an interstate in, you’re talking about, how do you get people off to go to Beatty, or to Tonopah or Goldfield? It’s a real concern. It effects the towns,” Gardner explained. “We want the traffic to be routed through Beatty to go to Death Valley, for example, because if you put an off-ramp at Death Valley, the tourists will go to that off-ramp and never even see Beatty. And I could see where the other towns on Highway 95 would have the same problems.”

Most important for Gardner, however, is realizing how each community is different and figuring out the best way to serve each. “One fix doesn’t necessarily fit all,” Gardner said, noting that he is very aware of the vast distances between Nye County’s towns but he would take the time to travel the county in its entirety in his mission to understand the unique needs of each community.

Bruce Jabbour

From New England originally, Jabbour is a longtime resident of Nevada, having moved here in 1988 and raised his daughter on a 10-acre mini-ranch in Pahrump from 1994 until she graduated from high school. His career in hospitality gaming kept Jabbour traveling back and forth between the valley and Las Vegas, where he was instrumental in the grand opening of four infant hotel casinos.

Jabbour then transplanted to New Hampshire where in 2000 he owned a small resort motel of his own. Eventually, the lure of Nevada called once again and he moved back to the Silver State, resuming his work in the hotel-casino industry.

“I was looked upon as a crisis manager, being summoned to take over failing properties and bringing them from the red to the black, and I was successful at that,” Jabbour explained. “I came up to Tonopah and was hired… to reopen and oversee the renovation as the general manager of the historic Mizpah. I did that in 2011, was there for a few years, then left to take over a failing hotel-casino in Carson City before returning to Tonopah in 2014 to take over as the senior VP of operations of what everybody knows as the Lambertucci property, a 1,400-acre property that was developed into housing, RV park, mini-storage and a warehouse.”

All of his travel between the Tonopah area and Pahrump, where he still owns property, opened his eyes to one of the problems that prompted him to get into the commission race in the first place, a sense of discord between the northern and southern parts of the county.

“Finally, the bottom line was me questioning and asking why the people in the north and south parts of the county have so much animosity,” Jabbour stated. “My background in hospitality gaming is being very resourceful and finding a resolution very quickly, to have you come in and leave well pleased with your experience… So that’s my whole core, that’s my expertise and I have been very successful in bridging the gap between. I’m running for district 1, yes, but I am going to be representing everybody in Nye County, not just in my district. And everyone feels as if they are neglected, whether they are in the north or the south. The issues at hand, there are many and it’s not going to be easy.”

For Jabbour, water is a main issue, as are roads, with Jabbour remarking, “People cannot afford to buy or lease a car every few years because they are driving on these terrible roads.”

Health care is another area that Jabbour would like the chance to address. “Hospitals, paramedics, the ambulance services, emergency services. I know the county, the community, they are working together to do the right thing but the people who are in that profession are not robots and cannot be expected to work 18 hours a day with no days off because it’s life-threatening, what’s going on. It’s not fair to them or their families. So people are moving away from the north,” Jabbour stated.

“I live on the Judeo Christian values. I believe in people,” Jabbour said as his interview came to a close. “I know there are so many different opinions and my hope is that I am able to close the gap, that we work together as a county, from all of the communities, that we set other opinions aside and see what’s best for the county as a whole. And I think with my background, I can be successful in doing that. I don’t think I am dreaming. I think we can make it happen.”

Voters can learn more about Jabbour by emailing brucejabbour@gmail.com