Emotions running high as election approaches

By MARK WAITE

VIEW STAFF WRITER

A few more sparks were flying at a candidates forum sponsored by the Pahrump Valley Chamber of Commerce last week. With the primary election over, and the general election Nov. 7, the competition is getting more intense.

Incumbent County Clerk Sam Merlino said she was honest, hard-working and dedicated. Merlino said she doesn't have any discretionary authority over elections. She conceded there were small glitches in the Sept. 5 primary.

County Clerk candidate Lorena Myers said the primary election "was not just certain glitches." She referred to published reports some voters received incorrect precinct numbers on sample ballots, while others were turned away for not showing identification.

"We do everything we can to get people to vote and they're turned away from the polls," Myers charged. "Even if it was only one person, that was one person too many."

Town board candidate Denise Holmes brought her godson, Devon Pierce, 14 months, on stage to say she wanted him to have the same freedoms she had. Town board candidate Chuck Geshlider hauled out a sign, torn in half, which complained about the county clerk counting votes in her own race.

Holmes said voters should wonder why candidates are running for office -- whether it's for power, money or prestige. Holmes said she organized the anti-incorporation group Informed Citizens. She urged people to judge her by her deeds not her words, citing her appearance in Tonopah Monday in an attempt to get the Nye County tax rollback on the ballot.

"Unlike Mr. Geshlider, I have gotten' involved," she said.

Geshlider said his agenda is to ensure clean elections. Geshlider said if elected, he would hold a party in the community center parking lot: "A Business Owners Liberation Day where we can all burn those business licenses in effigy."

Town board candidate Jim Mutton said he has 30 years experience in management. A retired U.S. Navy captain, Mutton said he knows what it takes to get results.

Town board candidate Jane Wisdom, a Pahrump resident for 16 months and former Clark County state assemblywoman, said she didn't have a personal agenda.

"The brothels, for one, I think you've spoken very well on that," Wisdom said. "Return to sender, not in my back yard."

When asked how to attract business, Mutton said the town should promote Pahrump. Geshlider said Nye County should be the lowest-taxed county. Wisdom advocated tax breaks.

All four town board candidates said they opposed incorporation as it's presently proposed. Mutton said the town needs to have a strong representative on the Regional Planning Commission. Geshlider said he's seen what happens with a second layer of government. Wisdom said the town would be too large and not self-supporting.

County Commission District Five candidate David Cleveland responded to a published report last week about his record. Cleveland said he checked into a rehabilitation program for cocaine addiction in 1988 and he's been clean from addiction for 12 years. That same year, Cleveland said he founded a group "Surrender to Recovery" through Narcotics Anonymous and in 1989, founded Camp Recovery, which set aside a Lee Canyon Youth Camp for a three-day event for children seeking recovery from drug addiction.

Cleveland said he's served on four committees in his eight years in Pahrump, in contrast to his opponent Henry "Butch" Neth. He accused Neth, a long-time resident, of registering to vote in Nye County for the first time in 1998.

Neth said he graduated with honors from Pahrump Valley High School in 1976 and was a member of Operating Engineers No. 12 for 20 years, while working at the Nevada Test Site. Neth said he believed in giving people what they want in a fair, efficient and economically-sound manner.

Both candidates said they would support letting residents vote on a tax rollback question, which garnered over 2,000 signatures over the summer.

In a marked change from the other candidate attacks, Marquis "Mark" Atkinson, a candidate for Nye County public administrator, evoked what moderator Bob Davies called "a warm and fuzzy" feeling by telling voters of his opponent, "You can't lose on either one of us. I think Mrs. (Velma) Purdy is the best lady I have ever met."

Purdy said the public administrator is called upon when there's no next-of-kin to handle an estate. She described a recent case in which a father and son had been dead for a month and no one noticed.

Justice of the Peace candidate Tina Brisbell said her 18 years of experience in the justice court, most recently as court administrator, makes her the better candidate. When asked his qualifications for that job, Brisbell's opponent, County Commissioner Cameron McRae, didn't match that boast but said, "That's exactly what was intended; this is a people's court, to have a peer as your judge."

When McRae said the biggest challenge was to have a judicial system that doesn't fail due to overcrowding, Brisbell said, "We have one of the most efficiently-run offices in the county."

Democratic State Senate candidate Ed Beaman, from Pahrump, said "It's time we, the people of Nye County and Pahrump, have someone to represent us."

He cited education, senior citizens, Yucca Mountain, reapportionment and water rights as key issues.

Incumbent State Senator Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, said Pahrump will be home to the first High Tech Center in rural Nevada. McGinness said he also negotiated a bill forbidding the interbasin transfer of water, calling the Las Vegas Valley Water Authority, "the 300-pound gorilla."

"It's my idea as a rural senator to bring a rural perspective," McGinness said. "Redistricting is going to be very important. I think Pahrump is important to maintain a rural district rather than go into Clark County."

Candidates for state assembly and senator were asked their opinions about the ballot question to approve medical marijuana. Both state senate candidates said they had concerns over control of the drug, McGinness said it would send conflicting messages in the war on drugs. Both senate candidates said they opposed the 4 percent business tax to raise money for teacher's salaries.

McGinness said he'd support a bill to increase the number of state senators from 21 to 23, to ensure rural representation. He admitted it's difficult, as a member of a citizen legislature, to represent his eight-county district, measuring 55,000 square miles.

Republican District 36 State Assembly candidate Gary Hollis, a member of the Pahrump town board, said he has lived in Nye County 31 years. The important issues, he said, are reapportionment, education, unfunded mandates, public land, senior citizens and water. The federal government should be required to pay the cost of protesting water applications, he said.

Incumbent Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah, said he had 25 bills passed by the legislature, 15 of them had to do with Pahrump. He mentioned the High Tech Center bill last session and Assembly Bill 435, which would require the State Engineer to notify water right owners before their rights are forfeited, due to lack of use after four years. Neighbors said some freshmen legislators aren't able to get any bills passed.

Both assembly candidates had concerns over the medical marijuana bill and said marriage should be defined as being between a man and woman.

District Judge candidate Kirk Vitto, the county's chief felony prosecutor, was asked about his civil experience by Davies, who mentioned a vast majority of court cases are civil. Vitto said he worked for a summer for Judge Joe Williams in civil work. Vitto claimed his opponent, deputy district attorney Robert Lane, who touts his civil experience, received his Nevada law degree Jan. 27, 1993 and went to work for the district attorney's office Sept. 1, 1993.

"I'm not saying I was a clerk for a judge," Lane replied. "I'm saying I was a lawyer who has civil experience."