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Pahrump Valley Gazette, Thursday, March 13, 1997 11
Bankruptcy and Sparklett's BOttles
During a meeting on March 5, 1997 th Nye County Com-
mission, sitting in emergency session as the trustees of the
Nye Regional Medical Center (NRMC). was advised by
deputy district attorney, Gary Pulliam, that "NRMC does
not meet the criteria for bankruptcy under chapter 9 of the
bankruptcy code."
Pulliam's comment is of pregnant importance to Nye
County as a whole.
The story behind the story is that the financial viability
of NRMC is closely intertwined and interwoven with the
fiscal viability of Nye County Nevada. The full faith and
credit of Nye County, for better or worse, backs NRMC.
Perhaps the best way for a layperson to grasp this fact is
to understand that all the money is in one pot. An analogy
and byno means an oversimplification would be to imag-
ine that all county funds were deposited in a giant Sparklett's
bottle. On the outside of the bottle you have writing and
graphs showing what amount of the money in the bottle
belongs to each fund.
This is fine as far as it goes and is all legal by Nevada
statute. The problem arises when funds are borrowed or
transferred from one to the other without the financial ca-
pability to pay them back.
For clarity sake and to see how this works let's pretend
that we are looking at a 5 member family and the family
members have made a collective decision to pool all thir
money and all their earnings and put in a 5 gallon Sparkletts
bottle instead of separate bank account.
At the time this decision is made the family agrees on a
yearly budget based upon its projected collective earnings.
The budget is broken down into 6 categories. The catego-
ries are food, clothing, rent, medical expenses, maintenance,
and entertainment. All the money goes into the bottle and
the budget is written out on a piece of paper and taped to
the outside of the bottle.
On another piece of paper that is taped to the bottle is
information designating how much of the money in the
bottle has been allocated to each category, or fund if you
prefer.
The family autorizes one of its members to reach into the
bottle and take money out to pay the expenses of the indi-
vidual funds as the expenses occur. The autorization that is
given to this member is not a blanket autorization. The fam-
ily draws up a set of rules pertaining to this matter and the
authorized person agrees to abide by them. The rules are
written on a piece of paper and this too is taped to the out-
side of the Sparkletts bottle.
The family has given some thought to these rules and
everyone agrees they are pretty good rules. Not too com-
plicated and pretty straight forward. The first rule is that
the authorized person, the fund manager if you prefer, is
given a certain leeway in expending money from individual
fund accounts. Say for instance that there is $500 in the
food fund and the food has a budgeted expence of $300 per
This Man's Opinion
by Brent Mathewson
month. Thanksgiving is coming up
and the fund manager wants to spend
$400 for food this month which will
leave him short next month but he
thinks he can get by and it's for a good cause. Rule number
1 says that he cah make this decision independently as long
as he explains to the family at its next monthly meeting
what he did and his reasoning behind it. Another part of
rule number 1 says that he can make this decision indepen-
dently as long as he explains to the family at its next monthly
meeting what he did and his reasoning behind it. Another
part of rule number 1 is that under no circumstances what-
soever can the fund manager spend $600 out of the food
fund if there is only $500 in it. This is strictly against the
rules and is plainly stated right on the outside of the bottle.
Rule number 2 says that the fund manager can spend $600
on food when the food fund only has $500 in it if he first
goes to a family meeting and convinces the family that the
expenditure should be made. Part of rule nember 2 also
says that if the family agrees to this over expenditure of the
food\\;fund balance that the shortfall must be made up by
transferring the necessary amount from another fund that
has money in it to make up the difference. Another part of
rule number 2 says that this interfund transfer cannot be
Letters to the Editor
authorized unless a majority of the family agrees that the
transferred money can be paid back to the fund it was
transferred from within a 12 month period of time.
Rule number 2 might sound a little complicated at first
but it's really not if you read it over twice.
There is really only one rule and that is rule number 3.
Rule number 3 is printed in bold type with red letters and
states that if one of the family members breaks a leg and
can't work or if the car engine blows up and money may
have to be transferred between funds that the family does
not feel could reasonably be paid back in a 12 month pe-
riod of time, then in those conditions and under those cir-
cumstances, the family might consider and interfund loan.
There is a safety mechanism built into rule number 3
that protects the family against making an unwise or fis-
cally irresponsible decision. Rule number 3 states that the
family agrees that before an interfund loan or transfer of
funds takes place that cannot reasonably be expected to
be paid back within 12 months then the family must seek
the advise and approval from the clan that the family is a
part of. Without the approval of the clan rule number 3
specifically states that such a loan cannot take place un-
der any circumstances.
They are also the rules, in plain english, that Nye County
is required to abide by in handling the taxpayers money.
Unfortunately all 3 of these rules have been savagely bro-
ken, ignored and trampled on by the Nye County Admin-
istration, and, with the encouragement of the Bye County
Administration, the Nye County Commission.
For those who don't know, the fund manager in Nye
County is Les Bradshaw.
By trashing these rules to the extent that it did Nye
County expenditures were 6 million dollars over revenue
in FY 95-96. 2 1/2 million dollars at NRMC and 3 1/2
million dollars in other county fund account. The pace of
this activity has not slowed to this date. The money is, or
was, all in the same bottle.
Someone is responsible.
The rules are there.
It's the money that's missing.
That is this man's opinion.
Jill" II
Kindergarten should be re-
quired
Regarding Charles A. Muth's letter (2/27) concerning chil-
dren being required to start kindergarden early:
From H.R. ! 617 the "Consolidated and Reformed Educa-
tion, Employment, and Rehabilitation Systems Act"; or"CA-
REERS Act"....
Sec,3(b) PURPOSE- The purpose of this Act is to trans-
form the vast array of Federal workforce development and
literacy programs from a collection of fragmented and dupli-
cative categorical programs into a streamlined, comprehen-
sive, coherent, high-quality, cost-effective, market-based, and
acountable Federal workforce development and literacy sys-
tem that is designed to meet the education, employment and
training needs of the workforce and the competitiveness needs
of employers of the United States, both today and in the fu-
ture.
Sec.3(a)(6) Early exposure to career opportunities can en-
rich the education experience and provide incentives for stu-
dents to stay in school and achieve higher levels of learning.
There were hundreds of pages to this bill including a two
page table of contents!
SO, you see, Mr. Muth, the sooner they get their hands on
the children the better workers they will be.
Is/Margaret Lawson
Pahrump, NV
Has the Fourth Amendment
really been abolished?
Regarding Ray Mallows letter in the February 27 edition
concerning the Fourth Amendment and the roadblock ques-
tion: Every citizen should be as incensed as Mr. Mallows and
if they're not, they should be after reading the following ex-
cerpt from H.R. 666, called the "Exclusionary Rule Reform
Act of 1995" which amends Chapter 223 of title 18, United
States Code by adding at the end the following:
Sec.2(a) Evidence which is obtained as a result of a search
or seizure shall not be excluded in a proceeding in a court of
the United States on the ground that the search or seizure was
carried out in circumstances justifying an objectively reason-
able belief that it was in conformity with the fourth amend-
ment. The fact that evidence of the existence of such circum-
stances.
Sec.2(b)(l) Evidence shall not be excluded in a proceeding
in a court of the United States on the ground that it was ob-
tained in violation of a statute, an administrative rule or regu-
lation, or a rule of procedure unless exclusion is expressly
authorized by statute or by a rule prescribed by the Supreme
Court pursuant to statutory authority.
Sec.2(b)(2) Evidence which is otherwise excludable under
paragraph (1) shall not he excluded if the search or seizure
was carried out in circumstances justifying an objectively rea-
sonable belief that the search or seizure was in conformity
with the stature, administrative rule or regulation, or rule of
procedure, the violation of which occasioned its being ex-
cludable.
Reread Mr. Mallows' quote of the Fourth Amendment and
then reread the above paragraphs and see if you can come up
with an objectively reasonable belief that the fourth Amend-
ment has literally been abolished.
Is/Margared Lawson
Pahrump, NV
Opposition to the proposed ex.
pansion of Ft. Irwin
Following is a copy of a letter sent to the Secretary of
Defense regarding my opposition to the proposed expansion
of Ft. Irwin. Thought your readers would be interested since
it impacts your area.
Dear Mr. Secretary,
I strongly oppose the ill-advised plan by the U.S. Army to
spend scarce federal funds to acquire a massive amount of
land in the ecologically-sensitive California Desert.
The U.S. Army is seeking authority to spent $40 million to
acquire 331,000 acres of public and private lands located be-
tween Death Valley National Park and the Mojave National
Preserve. The land would be added to the Fort Irwin Military
Reservation to expand tank maneuvers and overflights by
Army units and would be in addition to the millions of acres
of land that the military already controls in Southern Califor-
nia.
The draft Environmental Impact Statement that has been
prepared on the Army's plan notes that the proposed expan-
sion of Fort Irwin would significantly harm,
if not destroy, pristine desert lands, including native Mojave
Desert vegetation, Joshua Tree woodlands and habitat for the
threatened desert tortoise. Public access to much of the area
would be eliminated and potential conflicts abound with the
state highway and 70 miles of utility lines that cross the pro-
posed expansion area.
At a time when other Federal agencies are spending mil-
lions of dollars to protect ecologically-sensitive desert lands,
we should not spent $40 million which could contribute to
the significant degradation of a vast amount of pristine desert
land. The Army's plan is very controversial and threatens to,
undercut historic decisions made less than three years ago in
the California Desert Protection Act.
I am asking you to review personally this proposal and to
withdraw the Army's proposed actions that could jeopardize
these important national assets.
/s/George Miller
Senior Democratic Member
Pahrump a Las Vegas suburb?
We visited your town having heard about it from Art Bell,
the Talk Show man.
Watched your fire department in action and the helicopter
rescue in the mountains. Quite an exciting place to visit. How
soon will it be before you are a suburb of Las Vegas?
/s/William & Shirley Browning
lndianola, Washington, across the water from Seattle
My sincere apologies
This letter is in response to the letter from Rosemarie Ratcliff
(March 6, 1997). Let me begin by saying that as M.C. of the
Lincoln Day Dinner in Beatty. I had no intention of offending
anybody. I was not told the names of the singers and certainly
would have thanked you by name had the names been told to
me. I had never seen the talented performers of the Silver
Tappers before and made a wrong assumption that the sing-
ers were a part of the group.
As for telling the audience to continue to socialize, I plead
guilty. I was requested to say that and assumed, wrongly again,
that the performers knew that this was going to be said. I
should have checked that out first. You have my deepest apol-
ogy and request for your forgiveness.
I found the audience to be appreciative to your performances
and they certainly did not ignore the show. Having never seen
the Silver Tappers, I did not know the custom of asking for
donations. I trust that the Editor will forward to the Silver
Tappers the personalcheck I have enclosed.
I hope to see another performance of the Silver Tappers in
the future and wish Ms. Ratcliff and all the other gifted per-
formers the best success on and off the stage.
Is/Steve E. Evenson
Esmeralda County D.A. (continued on page 27)
