Pahrump Valley Gazette,Thursday, August 28, 199"7"9
Commission to Nye Seniorsf Up yours, Matey!
THis MAN'S OPINION
by Brent Mathewson
To say that Pahrump Senior Citizens left the Nye County
Commission meeting, held in Pahrump on August 19, 1997,
livid with rage would be an understatement. Their anger
became focused as the commission proved once again that they
are quite adept at driving a square peg through a round hole as
they slammed the door for the third time on the seniors' request
to rescind action taken by the commission on May 6, 1997.
The action taken on that date was approval of an operational
plan and by-laws, specific to the Pahrump Senior Center, that
deprives the Pahrump seniors of the right to participate and vote
on the selection of
members to serve on
the center's project ad-
visory council. Project
advisory councils are
the bodies by which se-
nior center activities are:
run and organized
throughout the state of Nevada. They are put in place in order
to comply with federal law as laid out in the "Older Americans
11 ' Act" passed by the United States Senate andCongress. Nevada's
version of the law is called Title 11I C and was put in place in
January 1985.
Both the Federal Act and Title 1/I C are replete with
guidelines meant to insure that senior citizens participate in the
manner in which the various organizations are run and gov-
erned. Title HI C, Chapter 7, Subchapter HI-A- l-b, specifically
states that the members of the project advisory council shall be
elected by the peers of the senior citizens involved.
All of this quite obviously means nothing to the members of
the Nye County Commission. The omnipotent attitude of the
present commission clearly indicates a governing body that
feels itself above and superior to all law but its own.
A favorite tactic that is utilized by the Nye County Commis-
sion and administrative staff when enacting ordinances or
taking actions in violation of state or federal laws - not
infrequently blatantly unconstitutional action - is to state from
the start that the action being taken is being done for the sole
purpose of "complying with state or federal law and regula-
tions." A Nye County citizen would be well advised to be on
"full alert" when he or she hears that phrase expressed vocally
or in print by a member of the Nye County Commission or the
Nye County Manager, Les Bradshaw, or his assistant, Rachel
Nicholson. It's like watching black turn to white right in front
of your eyes.
Sometimes they don't even bother with this charade. I have
been in attendance at Nye County Commission meetings when
the commission's most powerful member, Cameron McRae,
has stated that, "This will do until someone takes us to court and
sues us for it." Such comments are usually accompanied by a
hearty chuckle by fellow commission members.
The problem is that such humor is always at the expense of
an individual or minority group of individuals. The laws that
are being violated are frequently those that were put in place to
restrict and limit the authority of a governing body. Each and
every time that one of these laws are trashed or ignored an
individual or group of individuals' rights are stripped from
them,and each and every citizen of Nye County becomes less
free to, a measurable degree.
Some interesting things happened prior to and during the
May 6 Nye'County Commission meeting when the commis-
sion impeded the Pahrump seniors of their right of suffrage.
The meeting, which was held in Tonopah, was heavily attended
by Pahrump senior citizens. The agendized item of their
concern was the implementation of the operations plan and
bylaws for the Pahrump Senior Center that had been written by
the Nye County Manager, Les Bradshaw, and his special
assistant, Rachel Nicholson.
One hundred percent of the large contingent of the Pahrump
seniors nresent was in opposition of the implementation of this
plan. The item came up in the morning and the Pahrump
seniors, led by spokesperson Ruth Weidenheimer, spoke elo-
quently and with passion as they expressed the depth of their
displeasure of being denied the right to vote. Any unknowing
observer would have felt that the commissioners showed
interest and concern as they listened to the Pahrump seniors'
pleas. As the discussion wound down the commission decided
to delay a decision on the matter.
The Pahrump seniors packed up and began their long
journey home, relieved that they had at least won a temporary
reprieve. The once splintered group,
which had previously consisted of sev-
eral factions with viewpoints at times
opposed to one another, had united and
bonded together against the common
threat of the proposed commission ac-
tion that presented such a serious chal-
lenge to the sanctity of their organiza-
tion.
Hours later, late in the afternoon,
with the Pahrump seniors safely out of
their hair, the commission brought the
agendized item back on the table and
voted unanimously to approve the implementation of the
operational plan and by-laws for the Pahrump Senior Center.
What the Pahrump seniors did not realize as they left Tonopah
that day, and may not realize until this day, is that they were
going up against a rigged vote from the start.
This is because several weeks prior to the May 6, 1997
meeting, during an unagendized discussion that took place
during an earlier commission meeting in Tonopah, Commis-
sioner Cameron McRae alerted his fellow commissioners that
when the "operational plan and by-laws" that was then being
put together by Nye County Administrative Staff, was brought
before the commission for its
approval, he expected to re-
ceive intense opposition from
the Pahrump seniors.
Anticipating this opposi-
tion, McRae said he did not
want to see the plan agendized
without first receivingpledged
support from his fellow com-
missioners in support of the
plan. Commissioner Red
Copass agreed that there would
be a lot of opposition, that the
Pdarump seniors couldn't agree
on anything, and that he backed
McRae's stance on the issue.
After listening to McRae and
Copass, Commissioners Re-
vert, Carver and Davis said
that if that was the way the
Pahrump Commissioners
wanted it handled, then they
would back them up.
Although the operational
plan and by-laws are in effect
only in Pahrump, there is
known to be widespread and
heavy opposition to it across
Nye County. Everyone is won-
dering, "Who's next?" Irene
Osterhoudt, the site director
at the Amargosa Senior Cen-
ter, flatly states, "If I were
forced to work under the con-
ditions of the operational plan
and by-laws that are in place
OALLL=Y ROCK &
7200-1490
NORTH END PIT
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in Pahrump, I would resign immediately." Osterhoudt felt that
there was no way she could see that the plan could be legal in
that it did not comply with major provisions of the Older
Americans Act.
How any sitting commis-
sion could expect to be re-
elected to a seat on the Nye
County Commission after be-
ing party to an action that has
caused this much furor, let
alone the furor it will cause to
be released in the future, es-
capes me.
I do wish to commend the
commission for accomplish-
ing one thing. They have man-
aged to unite Pahrump seniors.
It was a foolish act they may
live to regret.
That is this man's opinion.
copyright 1997 by Brent
Mathewson
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