George Wehrly outlines bid for Nye County sheriff
George Wehrly, a former Nye County Sheriff’s Office law enforcement officer and military veteran, is running for Nye County sheriff this year.
“I grew up in Nye County, in Pahrump and the surrounding area,” Wehrly told the Pahrump Valley Times. “I’ve been here my whole life, so I know all kinds of people. They’ve come up and told me that they were very happy that I decided to run for sheriff.”
While the son of late former Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly, George Wehrly emphasized he’s his own person in his bid for top lawman.
A career in public service
Wehrly has a 27-year career with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office, retiring as an acting lieutenant, and worked in various roles throughout his time with the agency, including as a deputy, bailiff, sergeant and in detention. Wehrly worked across Nye County in Pahrump, Beatty, Amargosa Valley and Tonopah during his time at the sheriff’s office.
“I got a lot of skills and et cetera from working more rural opposed to more urban,” Wehrly added.
Wehrly also has 27 years of military experience, beginning in the Nevada National Guard and later transferring into the Army Reserve.
“I’ve had a lot of experience taking care of troops, taking care of units and ensuring that the mission is taken care of,” he said about his military service.
During his time in the military, Wehrly deployed twice to Iraq and served one deployment to Afghanistan. He earned achievements including the Meritorious Service Medal, the Combat Action Badge and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal twice.
“I think it gives me a big-time advantage over somebody that really hasn’t had that understanding how troops operate, being able to talk to people, writing out mission plans, understanding how things are supposed to look, what ‘right’ looks like when it comes to an overall picture, because I did those overall pictures,” Wehrly said about bringing his military experience to the sheriff position.
Wehrly shared that throughout the years while at the sheriff’s office, the thought of running for the head position had crossed his mind, yet he never seriously considered it, but added that people started asking him to run this year.
“I got asked so many times that they wanted leadership and et cetera. I didn’t see the leadership, I decided that I have a lot of leadership training and experience and I figured I could bring that to the sheriff’s office. That’s why I decided to do it,” Wehrly explained.
Campaign goals
When speaking about his top priority if elected as sheriff, Wehrly said he wants to work on bringing back a long-term holding jail to Tonopah instead of the temporary holding facility it is now, hoping it will minimize prisoner transports from the county seat to Pahrump.
“When you do a relay [in transporting someone from Tonopah to Pahrump], you pull people out of different areas … That’s communities that get taken the only coverage they’ve got … So you’re pulling coverage that they could use or should have,” Wehrly elaborated.
Wehrly also noted transparency and staffing improvements in Northern Nye County communities as other areas he hopes to address if elected as sheriff.
“I’ve worked in Pahrump, where there’s multiple backup to working where I worked most of the time, which was Amargosa and Beatty, and on up to Tonopah, [where] there’s not that much backup,” Wehrly added.
For more information about George Wehrly’s bid for Nye County sheriff, visit George Wehrly for Nye County Sheriff on Facebook.
Contact reporter Elijah Dulay at edulay@pvtimes.com
