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2016: The News In Review…

The past year has been a busy one for news events in the Moapa Valley communities. What follows is a brief recap of some of the major news highlights for the year 2016.

JANUARY

MVCEAB Assembly Bill 394 Task Force member Lindsey Dalley of Logandale provides public comment at a large public meeting held by State Legislators in Logandale last year to discuss a draft plan to reorganize the Clark County School District..

MV Engages In CCSD Reorganization Process
The Moapa Valley Community Education Advisory Board (MVCEAB) AB 394 Task Force hit the ground running last January. They were given the task of working with State Legislators on the reorganization of the Clark County School District. Their specific goal was to ensure greater autonomy for local schools in the process, and thereby improve education for Moapa Valley kids.

The group began by holding a Town Hall Meeting on January 12 to hear from local parents and other stakeholders on the community’s idea of “Educational Equity.” The feedback from that meeting was then incorporated into a report later given before a Technical Advisory Committee which was assisting the legislators in the process.

The group followed the AB394 process throughout the spring, keeping the interests of the Moapa Valley community to the forefront of discussions.

When a draft plan was finally approved a special public hearing was held in Logandale on August 4 which brought together state legislators and other elected officials to hear public comments on the plan. More than 220 people were in attendance at the meeting.
The final draft of the reorganization plan was approved later that month and is scheduled to be implemented by the 2017-2018 school year.

FEBRUARY

Party Presidential Caucuses
Nevada was again the first in the west to hold its Presidential caucuses. Moapa Valley voters from both parties showed a solid turnout at the local caucus events.
The Democratic caucus was held on February 20. Hillary Clinton won a majority of local delegates by a narrow margin. Of the 17 delegates awarded in Moapa Valley, Clinton took 10 of them. Rival candidate Bernie Sanders took 7.

The Republican caucus was held the following week on February 23. Moapa Valley precincts met at the Moapa Valley High School. But due to a mixup regarding recently redistricted precincts, Moapa voters were assigned to the Hughes Middle School in Mesquite. Despite this, Moapa’s turnout to the caucus was similar to what it had been in prior caucus events.

Local precincts results differed with the statewide GOP in the caucus. Candidate Sen. Ted Cruz came out as a solid frontrunner with 3 percent of the local vote. The eventual state-wide winner, Donald Trump ended up in third place with local precincts with only 23 percent of the vote.

MARCH

Community In Darkness
A major power outage affected all Overton Power District customers for more than 16 hours on March 6-7. The outage was thought to be caused by a lightning strike to a three-pole wooden structure feeding power directly into the OPD Tortoise substation near Moapa. The damaged structure was right at the connection point where all of the power supply to the Moapa and Virgin Valleys enters the OPD system.
The outage affected all 14,900 customers in the OPD territory as well as all 3,200 households in the Lincoln County service territory including the communities of Alamo, Caliente, Panaca, Pioche and surrounding areas.
The power went out at around 3:05 pm on that Sunday. OPD crews worked through the night to replace the damaged structure. Power was restored to most customers by 6:50 the next morning.

A Legend Returned Home
The remains of former Gold Butte resident Art Coleman were returned to their gravesite on March 26 in a quiet ceremony conducted by around 50 northeast Clark County residents at the site. The grave had been robbed of most of its contents by unknown vandals two years earlier.
In an effort to set things right, members of Partners in Conservation had requested that Coleman’s remains be returned to them following the full investigation. They then returned to the site and deposited them back into the grave.
To prevent future vandalism, the group placed large concrete vault lids over both the grave of Coleman and his deceased partner Bill Garrett, also buried at the site. Both graves were then covered over with dirt and the surrounding area was smoothed and left clean.

APRIL

Weather a Mixed Bag For Fair
The weather brought a little bit of everything during the week of the Fair. It ranged from sunny with highs of 100 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday, to rainy and chilly over the weekend.
But the show went on and attendance numbers were still fairly strong despite the rough weekend.

Burglaries Raise Local Crime Prevention Efforts
Residents of Moapa Valley became targets in a series of burglary incidents which had begun early in the year and continued into the spring. Arrests were made in April in connection with these events. But the series of crimes spurred an interest in the organization of a network of Neighborhood Watch efforts in the communities. Led by Overton resident Penny Vallone, a number of informational meetings were held and groups were organized to try and prevent such burglaries from happening in the future.

MAY

Proposed Solar Riles Moapa-ites
A solar power developer made a presentation to Moapa residents which was not received at all well. The proposal was for an array of photovoltaic panels to be built on 115 acres of land in the middle of Moapa town. The idea and its presentation left many Moapa residents quite angry following a neighborhood meeting to propose the project. Within a few days, the developer had withdrawn his request for the project to the County.

 

Opposition To Logandale Residential Development
In a neighborhood meeting held in Overton, preliminary plans were presented for a 100-unit residential development on 33 acres just north of the high school in Logandale.
The project would have extended the sewer line up Yamashita from its current terminus at the high school and it would have completed full paving of major roads surrounding the development.
Most of the neighbors in attendance expressed opposition to the project expressing worries that the higher density housing would threaten the lifestyle that they expected to enjoy by living in the area.
After the meeting, the developer decided to back away from the project and it never came before the County Commission.

JUNE

Rooster Returns
After being absent for six months, the legendary rooster returned to its perch atop the Red Rooster bar in downtown Overton. The nine-foot tall iconic fiberglass statue had been taken down at the end of the previous year to undergo some much needed repairs. It was returned to its high perch in June, after being fully renovated, reinforced and after receiving a shiny new coat of red paint.

MV Voters Make A Difference In Primary Elections
Only about 25 percent of Moapa Valley registered voters cast ballots in the primary election held on June 14. But local voters had a major impact in the results of two crucial races.
The first was in the race for Assembly District 36 where incumbent James Oscarson was locked in a tough primary battle with two Republican opponents. Oscarson actually fell slightly short in his hometown of Pahrump receiving just 42 percent there. But Moapa Valley voters helped offset that deficit providing 77 percent of the GOP vote in Logandale and Moapa. This, along with positive results in Lincoln County were enough to send Oscarson on to the General Election in November where he also won.

The other race was for the Overton Power District at-large seat. Incumbent and Overton resident Judy Metz received 80 percent of Moapa Valley votes. That along with a relatively strong showing in Mesquite gave Metz the most votes of any of the three candidates in the primary. She advanced to the General Election with runner-up opponent David Bennett of Mesquite and ended up being re-elected to the seat.

JULY

Grand Opening of Exit 118
A new interchange of Interstate 15 had an enthusiastic and ceremonious grand opening. A large audience packed with city officials, elected leaders, business owners and area residents gathered on an above-100-degree summer morning to see the $20 million construction project completed.
The project featured a diamond interchange and a 300-foot long four-lane bridge spanning the interstate.
Economic development opportunities were already underway with the REV Group planning to break ground on a major travel plaza as well as additional projects planned by Eagles Landing Group and Solstice Motorcoach Resort.

Skydive Dropzone Begins Operations
Skydive Fyrosity began operating a skydiving tour business out of the Perkins Field Airport in Overton. Business owners Sammy and Iva Vassilev began their enterprise small, but have high hopes to make Overton a world-class skydiving destination.
Later in the year, the Vassilevs held a ribbon-cutting event at the airport, officially celebrating the operation’s grand opening.

 

 

AUGUST

Mud Bog Races Cancelled
The Dirty Nasty Mud Race, which would have been in its fourth year held in Logandale, was cancelled due to confusion about jurisdiction at its Logandale Sports Complex venue.
In August, when event organizer, Larry Skaggs of Overton, went to the Clark County Parks and Rec office to schedule use of the site for the event, he was told that the Sports Complex is actually on BLM land under lease to the county through the Recreation and Public Purposes Act.
Because the event was considered competitive and Skaggs was charging admission, he was told that he needed to seek a Special Recreation Permit through the BLM.
This was news to him as it had never come up in the previous three years of the event. With the BLM permitting process being an extensive one, and with the event planned for only weeks away, Skaggs decided to cancel the races for this year.
The pro-class mud bog race event has brought drivers and vehicles from all over the western U.S. to compete in Logandale; as well as hundreds of spectators to see the races.

Early Shutdown For Reid Gardner Requested
Regional utility NV Energy filed a request with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada asking to move the previously established December 31, 2017 retirement date for the Reid Gardner Power Station in Moapa up to February 28, 2017.
Rather than continuing to run the plant through the year, the filing proposed to impose a must-run period upon Reid Gardner in its final months of operation. The plant would be dispatched on January 1, 2017 and would continue to run until the then-existing coal inventory is exhausted. That point would be reached no later than February 28, the filing stated.
Early retirement would also expedite the demolition and removal of existing plant facilities and the ultimate environmental remediation of the site.

SEPTEMBER

Paiutes Host Interior Secretary Visit
The Moapa Band of Paiutes and First Solar hosted U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on a tour of the newly constructed Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project, a 250-megawatt solar plant on 2,000 acres of tribal land across I-15 from the Moapa Travel Plaza.

During her visit, Jewell announced federal approval on yet another solar plant being proposed at the Moapa Reservation. The Aiya Plant project would generate 100 megawatts. It is planned to be built on 900 acres of tribal land directly east of the tribal village, an area which straddles either side of State Highway 168 just northwest of Moapa.

OCTOBER

Overton Motel Demolished
The U-shaped buildings of the Overton Motel were knocked over by heavy equipment and the rubble was hauled away from downtown Overton. The motel which had stood in the main street area since its construction in 1946 had been closed for about eighteen months before being demolished.
Property owner Kent Slight had spent several years since purchasing the property trying to obtain permits to renovate the old structure. But the work required by the County Building Department would have been too extensive. Finally, the building was tagged by county staff as condemned and Slight had no choice but to demolish the building.

Logandale Fall Festival
The Logandale Fall Festival returned to the Fairgrounds for its third year running. More than 3500 people attended the event from all over the west.

The festival featured thirteen bluegrass bands which performed on stage non-stop to large audiences.

In addition, the festival was host to an IBCA-sanctioned Nevada State Championship BBQ Cookoff contest.

NOVEMBER

Big Weekend At Fairgrounds
The first weekend of November brought huge crowds to the Logandale Fairgrounds.
The 21st annual Pomegranate Arts Festival had one of its most successful years ever with more than 100 vendors of handmade arts and crafts and hours of small-town entertainment for attendees.
At the same time, the Vegas Valley 4-Wheelers club was holding its annual Hump N Bump trail riding event. Bringing about 600 off-road enthusiasts from throughout the region to camp at the south end of the Fairgrounds, the event guided hundreds of vehicles through the Logandale Trails area.

MVHS Fall Sports State Contenders
The MVHS Girls Volleyball team earned first seed in its division after an undefeated season and after beating Boulder City in a nail-biter regional championship match. The team went on to the state championship match in Reno but fell short of the state title when they lost to #1 seeded Truckee in the final round.
The MVHS Boys’ Cross Country team made it into the State Finals meet by narrowly beating out a tough Boulder City team to gain a 4th place spot in the Regional Championships. The team ended up placing 7th in the State meet.
Earlier in the season, the MVHS Tennis doubles team of Lindsey Leavitt and Kinzie Robinson became the first girls team ever to qualify for the state championship in MVHS history. The duo travelled to northern Nevada for the state meet and advanced to the semi-finals before being beaten and eventually eliminated from the tournament.

Restoration Begins At LDS Warm Springs Ranch
After nearly seven years of being closed, work began on restore operations at the LDS Ranch property at Warm Springs.

Once a favorite place for group activities, the facility was completely destroyed in a wildfire in 2010.
The project will restore both spring-fed pools and add new visitor infrastructure. Work is expected to be completed by early next summer.

DECEMBER

Roos N More Calls It Quits
After an eight-year long battle with Clark County codes and requirements, the Roos N More zoo in Moapa closed its gates for good.
The small zoo facility which prided itself on guest interaction with its collection of 150 animals had become a favorite destination to many in the region. It had been closed once by county inspectors for being out of compliance with code.
Hundreds of zoo supporters throughout the Las Vegas community had banded together to raise money to keep the zoo in operation.
But seeing that they lacked support from the County Commissioners, zoo officials withdrew a request for an extension of time on the zoo’s Use Permits. The zoo was given until December 31 to end all operations with the public, and until January 31, 2017 to relocate all of the animals.

Tiffany’s Closes
A business icon in Logandale closed its doors in December after 15 years of serving sandwiches, pies and shave ice to the community.

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