EDITORIAL: Deja-vu All Over Again…

Here we go again!

Last week at the Moapa Town Advisory Board Meeting, County Commissioner Tom Collins unveiled his plan for redrawing the town boundaries in Northeast Clark County. As we have come to expect from the Commissioner, the plan has no justification, ignores the wishes of the communities, and makes little sense. The Collins plan disregards, and even denies, the clear feedback which has been given by the three Town Advisory Boards involved: Moapa, Moapa Valley and Bunkerville. It alienates a majority of unincorporated Northeast County residents and seems calculated to cause outrage and strife. Details of the plan can be read in a report printed in this issue.

For the better part of a century, the small rural communities in the northeast part of the County have been able to work together. Yes, there are stark differences among the communities. Yes, divergence of opinion and some community rivalry exists among them. But when pressing issues have come up, when problems have needed solving, the communities have been able to come together, consider and discuss the issues, and find enough common ground to solve them.

This was clearly evidenced in the recent negotiations over town boundary adjustments. Community leaders recognized a need for a change. There were differences expressed. They worked together to resolve those differences and finally came forward with an arrangement that is equitable and that solved the problem.

It couldn’t be simpler. All the work had been done for Mr. Collins by the communities most affected. An agreement had been reached. There was a clear and simple path forward; an easy way for everyone to get exactly what they asked for. The way was clear and unambiguous.

But then, enter: Mr. Collins.

Using his knack for needlessly stirring the pot, Mr. Collins now presents his own plan that goes charging off in completely different direction. In his plan, Mr. Collins again shows his gift for creating chaos and confusion out of an otherwise clear and simple matter. The Commissioner, once again, shows his special talent for taking an orderly field which has been diligently planted with good will and compromise, and without any real purpose, sows it with seeds of contention and strife.

Collins has taken the many long hours of time that community leaders have spent building agreement and accord and developing concensus, and ripped them to pieces in a way that seems especially calculated to cause divisiveness and outrage among the three communities.

Of course, this is nothing new. The residents of the northeast rurals have seen this type of thing before; time and time again; from the Commissioner. And we will, undoubtedly, see it in the future. This is just one more instance in a long line of outrageous examples.

So here we are again—without real representation. We have been here before. In the words of the legendary Yogi Berra, “It’s deja-vu all over again!”