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Why thank you. I'm 52 next Jan. Will be moving there full time in the next few years but have a lot to do to the property first. I need to build a big garage and workshop for my cars and motorbikes, swimming pool for the wife and patio area.
Looking forward to it. Love your posts
Oh and the waitress was Shelly with a Shelby. A bright yellow one. Very distinctive
if you are looking to further your knowledge of nevada itself, subscribe to Nevada Magazine $20 for a years subscription, one every other month. they do an EXCELLENT job of covering everything nevada - not just vegas or reno stuff. they've got amazing photos, history, things to do/see in just about every city/town in the state. genoa, ely, pahrump, beatty, mesquite....from the lonely ghost towns to vegas & everything in between.
there are many campgrounds in pahrump. the other day i wandered thru one i've seen many times from the outside, Preferred RV Resort - located off of 372, across the street from the nugget & behind gold town, the site was much larger than i had imagined & was very well kept. there is pretty much nothing else on this street so i would imagine the nights are pretty dang quiet.
amenitities include:
270+ sites
free wi-fi
heated pool
horseshoe pits
pool tables
jacuzzi
shuffleboard court
crafts & sewing machines
fully stocked woodworkers shop
stained glass workshops
koi pond
game room
3 laundry facilities
24 hr manned security gate
the whole property is fenced
if you don't have a camper, you could always spend the night in one of their 10 fully equiped cabins: IMG_0337 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
it wasn't until i visited their webpage Preferred RV Resort-Pahrump, Nevada that i realized they were not your average campground. they have "memberships", described on their "members" tab of their webpage says for the low low price of $1200/yr you can have a deeded interest in the complex & use it 35 days each year. it looks like they partner with a few different camping clubs (coast to coast; camp club usa; passport america & more). it is one of the nicer facilities i've found here in town.
happy new year! and now that the holidays are over, let's get back on track....
we fabulous sunset the other night, the iphone just doesn't do it justice. i've tried off & on to get pix of the mountains during sunsets but it just doesn't turn out quite as majestic....our mountains change color when we have vivid sunsets like this one. the whole mtn range between pahrump & vegas just lights up. golds, ambers, purples, oranges....it's just freaking amazing. hard to decide which is prettier - the sunset in the west, or the color changing mountains in the east.
some updates on our new/upcoming business' coming to town:
pizza hut = OPEN! it opened xmas eve, it's not a very big place but it is open for business. located on the corner of hwy 372 & pahrump valley blvd. i've had 2 friends try them out already, with not so good reviews. one ordered a half cheese, half pepperoni pizza & received an all pepperoni pizza. the other ordered a pizza for pick up, the employee told them it would be an hour (?!) my friend said fine. the pizza was ready when they got there, but cold by the time the got home. i think i'll wait a bit for pizza hut to work out all the bugs before i eat there
boost mobile = opening very very shortly! just noticed them this morning while i was out & about. located on the main drag (160), near heath's laff factory. they are still moving in, but the signs are up on the outside of the building & the location is listed on the boost mobile webpage. Boost Mobile Locations - Boost Mobile Store Locator | Boost Mobile
big 5 sporting goods store = opening this summer! all the paperwork is in & are expected to break ground this month. they are hoping to have the store open june/july this year. they will be located just off the main drag on carlton, across the street from saddle west. there is a business in this location now, called "team sports". supposedly that building will be torn down & big 5 will build a new building there. i would assume team sports has been bought out??? they supply all of the goodies for our school sports - cheerleading/football/baseball uniforms, etc. all of this big 5 could easily supply.
holiday inn express = not open yet! location will be next door to gold town casino, in fact, they will share the parking lot with the casino. this property will be discussed at the upcoming rpc meeting (regional planning commission), which are held the 2nd wednesday of each month. holiday inn express will be discussed at the january 15th meeting. so far everything looks like this project will proceed. once the rpc has approved it, i believe it will then go before the bocc for approval & then the project can break ground. if everything goes right, they are hoping to be open in time for xmas 2014. they are hoping to build 100 room facility, with a few conference rooms. we are in desperate need of hotel rooms so this is a welcome sight!!
i knew when i posted the upcoming business' that i was forgetting something, this morning i remembered what it was it's a new propane company! not sure what their name is yet. as you can see from the pix, the building is built but no signage is up yet. they are located a few doors down from the dmv & are rumored to be opening for biz this month. this company has put a lot of time, energy & money into this location. they've taken an empty plot of desert & built a very nice spot for their business. here's hoping they do well here
It's story time!! I have something to share, but need to give you backup info so you'll fully understand the players. I feel like Elle Woods in Legally Blonde during her 1st trial..."I have a point, I promise"
Some people will tell you Pahrump is run by a bunch of idiots (I agree SOME of them are, not all). Some will say there's a "good ol' boys" network in charge. Is there? There might be elements left over from long ago, but I wouldn't say they were in charge. They are slowly being replaced by fresh blood, but here's a few examples of things that have happened out here to fuel the conspiracy fires.
I will break this up into 2 parts. In today's story, we'll meet Bob Beckett & learn about his adventures while in office:
1995
Robert “Bob” Beckett elected as Nye County District Attorney. This position has multiple roles, one of them is to basically be the County’s attorney. Anytime a legal issue is presented to the Board of County Commissioners, they will follow the advice given to them by the DA.
I can't find anything newsworthy about Bob from 1995 - 2008. I guess he kept his nose clean during this time???
June 2008
Beckett had 2 accidents in 1 day. 1:30pm in Shoshone, California. Beckett was driving his assigned County vehicle, with re-election signs in the trunk. Says he was headed to some kind of conference in southern California. He allegedly ran off the road, over corrected & rolled the County vehicle. County vehicles are not to leave the state & you can’t carry re-election stuff in County vehicles (that kinda thing needs to be done on your own personal time, in your own personal car). A towing company gave him a ride home. Where he got into his personal vehicle, drove the same exact road, got into a 2 vehicle accident 8:30pm in Barstow California. This time the cop gave him a breathalyzer test, Beckett had a .1 % blood alcohol level. Claims he only drank 1 beer. Because this took place in California, he had to appear in a California court. He eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge & agreed to undergo counseling on the dangers of alcohol & driving. Probation prohibits him from breaking any more laws or driving with any measurable amount of alcohol in his system.
May 2010
Beckett was arrested on 20 counts of fraudulent appropriation of property, 20 counts of misconduct of a public officer, 1 count of embezzlement & 1 count or malfeasance of office. All related to his bad check program. Fees recovered from bad checks written in the County are deposited into a bank account. The funds are dispersed from this account at the sole discretion of Beckett. The $ in the bank may not be spent in ways other than what is defined by statute. It appears that not only did Beckett not use a County approved bank, he also made numerous donations to organizations thru out the community from this bank account, including donations to school & community programs in which members of Beckett’s family participated ($6000 the cheerleading squad which his wife coached & his daughter participated in). Payments were also found to individuals to assist them during financial struggles, possibly paying off a car loan for a friend. I do believe these charges were eventually dropped.
Sept 2010
Beckett was arrested for dui, again. This time right here in Pahrump.. A resident called the cops to report a suspicious vehicle parked in front of her house. Cops came, discovered it was a County vehicle & with a passed out bob Beckett in the driver’s seat. He failed both a field sobriety test & a preliminary breath test. A 2nd breath test was administered at the s/o, which he failed with a .12% blood alcohol level. His driver’s license was suspended, country stripped him of permission to drive ANY of it’s vehicles. Who called the cops? Heidi Fleiss. Why was Beckett parked in front of Heidi’s house? She lives on the edge of town & only has 3 houses on her street. It’s not like he “accidentally” parked in front of her house while wandering the streets. Beckett was later sentenced to 75 days community service, 45 day suspended jail sentence, victim impact panel & 6 months of staying out of trouble.
Nov 2010
Beckett resigns his post. Not sure if the County asked him to step down or if he did this on his own.
A side note: by this point, Beckett had lost the election & would be out of office Jan 2011. With his early absense, the County had to fill the position temporarily until the winner of the election could take office.
July 2013
Beckett joins the LV Tribune family as a columnist & talk show host on radiotribune.com hosting his own 1 hr show.
Oct 2013
Early morning shooting at Bally’s leaves 1 dead, 2 others injured. This is Beckett’s nephew & surprise surprise! Uncle Bob is defending him. There is no way I would let this man defend me, family or no family. The video clearly shows the man doing the crime. There's no way that Beckett can help free the killer.
Pahrump was quite thrilled to learn that Beckett had left our little town. Let him raise heck over there in Vegas, we had MORE than enough of his antics. Unfortunately the County’s hands are tied when elected officials do stupid things. They can’t be fired. They can be reprimanded by the Board of County Commissioners, but not much else can be done. The voters can recall them from office, which are rarely successful.
I do not know Beckett personally. All of the information above can be found on the internet. I do know the few times I saw him wandering the halls in the courthouse….he didn’t look sober. Weaving as he walked down the hallways. I have no proof he came to work drunk, but he clearly has some issues.
Joe owned the brothels out in Crystal & Amargosa (both of these were sold in 2010 to Dennis Hof). Joe also owns The Mirror, a weekly newspaper which is published on Thursdays. He has a 1 page column in it, where he can spout whatever he pleases & no one can stop him. Sometimes it’s good, most of the time….it’s rambling jibberish imho.
Joe has had a presence in Pahrump for years. He has always wanted to build a brothel in Pahrump, right across the street from the other brothels at the end of Homestead, on land that he owns. This is where it gets sticky In the late 1980’s the Town Board passed an ordinance prohibiting brothels within the township boundaries. The 2 existing brothels at the end of Homestead were already established, so the BOCC created an island (approx 340 acres) around these companies in the 1990s. The east side of Homestead is where the brothels are, they were grandfathered in. The west side of Homestead, where Joe’s land is located….is not part of that island & therefore he couldn’t build his brothel there. There was some bickering about WHEN Joe purchased these lands, was it before the Town Board passed the township boundaries ordinance? Some say he purchased his properties in ~2001, which was well after the township boundaries was instituted.
Joe was pissed. He used his weekly paper (which was called the Pahrump Valley Gazette at the time) to voice his displeasure.
Joe began to put up billboards for his brothels in Crystal & Amargosa. He already owned the corner lot on Hwy 160 & Homestead, back then it was simply an empty lot. He decided to place a trailer on that empty lot, with a sign out front advertising it was a “massage palor”. People would stop, come inside for their happy ending & were directed to the brothels in Crystal INSTEAD of using the brothels at the end of Homestead.
He challenged the legality of the island the County created for the brothels, filed a class action lawsuit against the County. In March 2004, one judge discovered the annexation was not done in conformance with NRS - it appears the local leaders didn’t want to pay for a survey so they just skipped that part. Ooopsie.
It didn’t matter what Joe did, the Counties decision stood – he was not allowed to build a brothel at the end of Homestead. Joe was quoted as saying he WOULD build a brothel at the end of Homestead, he didn’t care if the County gives him a brothel license or not “I’ve got them ‘em by the balls, they can’t win & they know it so **** them”.
Joe eventually decided to stick it to the town. On the corner lot where his trailer was advertising massages, which is pretty much the 1st thing you see when coming into town, he built The Kingdom. It is an all nude gentleman’s club. Many people have an issue with this type of establishment being one of the first things you see when coming into our town. The Kingdom opened June 2004. Residents were told it would be a “family restaurant”, which is always welcomed here so no one protested. They were NOT PLEASED when it was revealed what the real business was.
Still not satisfied he couldn’t build a brothel on his property, he decided it was time to play dirty. I don’t think he fully thought this thru OR he didn’t think he would get caught. Joe was arrested March 2006 on 2 felony counts for bribing an official. He was 72 yrs old at the time. It went something like this….Joe still wanted to build his brothel at the end of Homestead. It had been over 15 yrs that he had been denied & he was still seething. In 2005 he had tried to sweet talk one of the Board of County Commissioners. He would give her $5000 as a “scholarship” to attend UNLV law school, in return all she had to do was help to change the zoning laws for him so that he COULD build his brothel on Homestead. What Joe didn’t know was that she had contacted the FBI, who had video & audio taped their meetings/discussions. She received a $1000 cash payment in June 2005, along with a check for $4000 in Aug 2005. The FBI was right there the whole time, watching & waiting.
Joe eventually pleaded guilty in March 2009 to 1 count of wire fraud/honest services fraud for trying to bribe a commissioner. Under a deal with federal prosecutors, which spared him prison time, he was sentenced to 1 yr in a Vegas halfway house, fined $250k, with 5 yrs of probation. He was required to pay $1905 per month in fees for the halfway house (wow!), was allowed to leave the halfway house 10 hrs each day to operate his businesses – the brothels, the Kingdom & the Mirror newspaper. There were no requirements to give up his existing brothel licenses.
Keep in mind a brothel license is THE hardest thing to get & keep. You need to have a squeaky clean background & keep your nose clean to have a license. It’s a privilege to have this license, one that Joe bragged about for years in the Mirror (he had the 1st brothel license in Nye County & was QUITE proud of the fact). There is a $5k non refundable application fee, they will investigate your finances, your friends, your family (spouse, children & their spouses); your employment history, plus a background check, etc. No stone goes unturned when applying for a brothel license. In theory, if you are convicted of a felony your brothel license can & should (imho) be revoked.
So that brings us to 2010. Joe has been convicted of a felony. You would expect the Nye County Licensing & Liquor board to revoke his license – the board is basically the BOCC plus the Sheriff. The Sheriff had excused himself from this particular vote because he was so familiar with the federal case against Joe. Do they revoke his license? Noooooooo. Remember the BOCC follows the direction of the DA, which at the time had Bob Beckett in office. And we all know what kind of mess Beckett was in by this time. What did the board do? They let him keep all of his brothel licenses & his liquor license for the Kingdom. In return all he’d have to do is pay a measly $50k fine & stay out of trouble for 4 yrs. Really? There was a few comments about if we took away his license there would be X amount of people out of work, he poses no threat to the community & that he has stayed out of trouble for 30 yrs so…did we really need to take his licenses away? What kind of example does this set for future brothel owners? What kind of friendship, if any, did Joe have with Beckett? The commissioners plainly stated they made this decision based on the advice they had received from the DA’s office. The now ex-commissioner who Joe had tried to bribe was quoted as saying “I continue to be amazed by the fact the Nye County Commission provides such blatant favors to someone who has admitted to attempting to bribe a public official.” Flat out amazing.
Ok, so now that we know the history, here’s the news I promised…..
A while back Joe had hinted that his precious Kingdom was up for sale & “big changes” were coming. The corner of Hwy 160 & Homestead wouldn’t look the same. Possibly a strip mall was coming to town. Last week he finally revealed what those “big changes”…count me underwhelmed. I had thought he was leaving town. Especially now that he has no brothels left to his name, only the Mirror & the Kingdom. The man is over 80 yrs old. One would think he'd be ready to retire soon?
The Kingdom will change from a 21 & older, liquor served, nudie bar to, what Joe describes as a “juice bar concept & 18 yr old dancers”. There will be no liquor served in the Kingdom, some suggest it’s because he won’t get his liquor license renewed without Beckett in office. Since there will be no liquor, there’s no need for the 21 & up rule. There will be topless & totally nude dancers, no younger than 18. A gift shop, massage parlor & juice bar. And the best part? "adhere to a strict 'no touching' policy, except for the happy client anxious to tip his favorite entertainer" If you read between the lines, does that mean no touching except if the customer has really deep pockets? How big of a tip will get you past the no touching rule? Joe seems to think this will “help” our unemployment rate. This will create possibly 200 jobs for those young women who will finally be able to realize their dreams of become a NY Rockett, by starting off as a nude dancer in the podunky town of Pahrump. REALLY?!?
again, all of the information here can be found on the internet & trust me, when you google joe's name...a billion things come up
Last edited by cre8lite; 01-18-2014 at 08:17 PM..
Reason: oops! forgot pictures
woah! coincidence that this appeared just shortly after introducing you to joe richards??? either way, i'm not about to let this one go by unnoticed
the article basically states that gary hollis (ex-bocc member) has been talking to joe richards about closing down the kingdom. (btw, IF there was a "good ol boys" network out here, my gut says gary hollis would've been part of the team)
joe richards has agreed that IF both the town & the county let him build his brothel at the end of homestead, he will close the doors on the kingdom. the town board discussed the option at their jan 28th meeting. the towns atty said he wasn't sure if the town had the authority to de-annex/annex the property that the kingdom is on (the kingdom is part of the town's boundaries, whereas the piece of property joe wants to build his brothel on, is not). so their atty will do some more research & come back before the town board to discuss what they can/can't do. the town would like to re-zone the property where the kingdom sits to something else, like a casino or hotel or something that'll make the town $$$$.
in order for the brothel to be built at the end of homestead, the county would have to change the zoning for that piece of property. "spot zoning" if you will, which no one likes. but if this spot zoning actually did happen, the approval process could take a while. then there's the planning paperwork, the brothel application process, etc etc etc. how many years does joe have left in his life? i mean, the guy is almost 80....
my take on all of this:
1) i don't believe for one second that IF both the town & county agree to his terms that he will indeed close the kingdom. joe has done sneaky things in the past, i wouldn't put it past him to do it again.
2) in order to build a brothel, he would have to apply for a brothel license. he is a convicted felon...felons CAN'T own/operate brothels, so why are we even wasting time/energy/$$$ on this ????
i try to keep this thread a politically free zone, everyone has the right to vote however they please & sometimes i wonder "what were they thinking????" so while i'm not going to tell you who to vote for, i will let you know this year is gonna be interesting! we have all kinds of positions up for fresh blood. below are the positions becoming available & who currently holds the office:
assessor = shirley matson
treasurer = richard billman
recorder = deborah beatty
clerk = sandra "sam" merlino
district attorney = brian kunzi
public administrator = falkon finlinson
commissioner, district 4 = andrew "butch" borasky
commissioner, district 5 = dan schinhofen
sheriff = anthony "tony" demeo
district court, dept 1 = kim wanker
district court, dept 2 = robert lane
justice court, dept b = kent jasperson
anyone who wanted to put their name in the hat for judge (district & justice) had to do so by january 17. every other position needs to have their paperwork in by march 14. there are other positions available, but what i have listed are the BIG ones. it's gonna be an interesting summer!
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I'm 52 next Jan. Will be moving there full time in the next few years but have a lot to do to the property first. I need to build a big garage and workshop for my cars and motorbikes, swimming pool for the wife and patio area. 
In the late 1980’s the Town Board passed an ordinance prohibiting brothels within the township boundaries. The 2 existing brothels at the end of Homestead were already established, so the BOCC created an island (approx 340 acres) around these companies in the 1990s. The east side of Homestead is where the brothels are, they were grandfathered in. The west side of Homestead, where Joe’s land is located….is not part of that island & therefore he couldn’t build his brothel there. There was some bickering about WHEN Joe purchased these lands, was it before the Town Board passed the township boundaries ordinance? Some say he purchased his properties in ~2001, which was well after the township boundaries was instituted.
