Veterans board studies acquiring F-4 jet fighter, howitzers

Local veterans are making plans to develop the empty multi-purpose building at the veterans’ section of Chief Tecopa Cemetery.

The news comes following a Pahrump Veterans Memorial Advisory Board (PVMAB) meeting earlier this month.

PVMAB Chairman Carl Jones said a subcommittee was formed to determine how the building could be used for local veteran activities.

He also noted that the building needs some sprucing up before anything is finalized at the site.

“The committee is still waiting to hear back on some donated air conditioning materials being donated by Town Board Chairman Harley Kulkin. Our advisory board member Bruce Cox has contacted other people who agreed to volunteer their time to fix it up. There’s some leaks that also need to be fixed. We are trying to get donations for most of the work that needs to take place,” he said.

Cox oversees the subcommittee.

He said the board is presently crunching numbers on how money is needed to make the necessary repairs to the structure minus donations of materials.

“Within the next week or two I’ll be sitting down with Ken Shockley to make a budget worksheet which will be submitted to Town Finance Director Mike Sullivan and once we submit that we should be able to start work on it. We will probably redo the floors and walls. We will also construct an awning over the front entrance of it,” he said.

Cox noted that the building was originally going to be a museum but those plans were dashed when local politics interfered — Peter Liakopolous, a former county commissioner, was convicted of bribery in 2009 after making an offer to former Pahrump Town Board Chairman Laurayne Murray to vote for a county half-cent sales tax increase back in 2007, if the Pahrump town board would appoint his wife, Jenny Liakopoulos, as curator of the planned veterans’ museum.

Liakopoulos’ wife wasn’t given the position in October 2007, and Liakopolous voted against the sales tax proposal two months later.

As a result, Fifth District Judge Robert Lane sentenced Liakopoulos to five years probation and 500 hours of community service.

Jones, meanwhile, said once the building is refurbished, it may be used for memorial services or other military related observations and events.

“We envision families having services inside the building because sometimes it’s too hot outside. We also have some suggestions and ideas of displaying plaques and other items inside there. It’s an on-going project right now and once we finalize it, we will let the community know. It will take some time for everything to come about because our board meets just once a month,” he said.

The advisory board is also considering displaying a Vietnam era fighter jet and an artillery piece.

Jones said the board is studying all of the costs associated with acquiring an F-4 Phantom and two howitzer field guns.

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent.

Jones noted that there are other hurdles to clear from the federal government in order to take possession of the equipment.

“Right now we are trying to determine how much the costs would run and they have to demilitarize the aircraft and take it apart so it can be shipped out here. Once it has been reassembled it must be displayed on a pedestal, so we also need to decide what kind of pedestal to display it on. All of those working parks need to come together before we can get any idea of whether or not it’s a viable project,” he said.

Town board member Dr. Tom Waters said the cost of such an endeavor is not very favorable at the present time.

Waters, a retired military veteran, is the advisory board’s liaison.

“We are trying to get the costs down. A few years back it looked like it was easier before all of the budget problems with the government. Back then, to a fighter jet here probably would have cost us next to nothing but right now it’s about $20,000. That is one of the reasons things are being delayed because the costs continued to go up. It may come back down but we are not going to use town money or columbarium money to do that if it’s just going to be wasting money,” he said.

Waters also said any time a military apparatus is used for non-military purposes, it must be stripped down to make it permanently inoperable.

“They have to make sure that it can’t be fired or flown again. The howitzers’ barrels must be blocked so it will never be able to fire a round and with the F-4, all of the components must be taken out,” he said.