Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nye brothels to stay in business

County plans to rewrite ordinance to restrict billboard advertising

The Resort expansion at Sheri's Ranch brothel outside of Pahrump is shown June 10. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

PAHRUMP -- The world's oldest profession could soon face some new fees and restrictions in Nye County, but legal prostitution will not be voted out of existence anytime soon.

Citing the willingness of brothel owners to clean up their act, the Nye County Commission narrowly rejected a push Tuesday to let voters decide the future of the multimillion-dollar industry.

Instead, the commission directed the district attorney's office to spend the next 90 days rewriting the county's brothel ordinance, which has failed to stop brothel owners from advertising on billboards and testing other controversial marketing ploys.

The commission's decision came after several hours of discussion and sometimes-heated public input both for and against the brothels and their signs.

The issue was raised after Nye County brothel owner Joe Richards opened the all-nude Kingdom Gentleman's Club at one of Pahrump's busiest intersections and decorated the outside of the building with pictures of scantily clad women in suggestive poses.

As the brothel ordinance is revised, Commission Chairman Henry Neth said county officials will continue talks with brothel industry representatives in an effort to get Richards to tone down his signs and the brothel billboards he put several years ago along Pahrump's main roads.

So far, Neth said brothel owners have agreed to entertain higher licensing fees and tighter, more specific restrictions on signs and other advertising.

"We want to do anything we can to meet your needs, short of being put out of business," George Flint, lobbyist for the brothel industry in Nevada, told commissioners.

"Over the next several weeks we'll see a marked improvement," Neth said.

But not everyone shared Neth's optimism.

"Hopefully, brothel owners are men of their words, but in the past it hasn't always been so," said Commissioner Candice Trummell.

The example cited by several audience members was Richards' repeated assurances over the past year that his strip club was actually a family restaurant and bar.

It was Trummell who made the unsuccessful motion to put two advisory questions on the November ballot. One would have asked voters whether legal prostitution should continue in Nye County. The other would have asked Pahrump-area voters to weigh in on whether restrictions should be adopted to keep additional brothels from opening.

As recently as last week, Neth said the time had come to get rid of brothels in Nye County. He backed away from those comments Tuesday, explaining that he raised the idea because "I was tired of telling my constituents that there was nothing I could do."

"The issue in the Pahrump Valley as I understand it is the signs. Almost to a person, the people I have talked to have said leave the brothels alone," Neth said.

"The brothel industry has raised its own head above the radar," said Keith Markley, pastor of Pahrump's New Hope Christian Fellowship. "That's what has brought about the outcry."

Markley was one of about 25 Pahrump residents, most of them brothel opponents, who made the trip to Tonopah to attend Tuesday's meeting in person. The meeting was the first ever conducted using the county's new video conference equipment. About 50 people watched the proceedings on two flat-screen televisions at the community center in Pahrump, 165 miles away.

In Pahrump, each comment made for or against the brothels drew a mix of jeers and applause.

Pahrump is turning into "the littlest Sin City," said brothel opponent Carole Fucillo-Ollivier. "They're talking about us in Las Vegas. It's disgusting."

Flint, meanwhile, described the industry he staunchly defends as a necessary evil. "I have to be perfectly candid with this board. I am absolutely against prostitution, but being against prostitution doesn't make it go away," he said.

Commissioner Midge Carver made a similar case.

"Do I like these signs? No. I never have and I never will," Carver said.

"But I have no problem with the business. It is legal, and it is regulated."

But Pahrump resident Sally Devlin doesn't even mind the billboards. They are good for business and traffic control in Pahrump, she said. "I lived in Italy, and they (had) the sexiest signs I ever saw. No one got a ticket for speeding."

Flint also rebutted claims that the brothels only provide the county with about $182,000 a year in fees. The total economic impact is more like $6 million per year, when taking into account property taxes and all the money spent in the county by brothel staff members and their customers, Flint said.

As for his recent talks with county officials, Flint noted that at least one racy sign at Richards' strip club already has been changed. J.P. Martin, owner of Sheri's Ranch brothel at the south end of Pahrump, said he also recently changed a billboard he put in the middle of town because he was told some residents were upset by it.

Ron Kent, chief civil district attorney for Nye County, said revision of the brothel ordinance would start with gathering input on loopholes and other shortcomings in the current document and reviewing the brothel ordinances being used in other Nevada counties.

To allow time for that work, the commission voted unanimously to renew the licenses of five of the county's seven legal brothels for the next three months. The two brothel licenses not considered Tuesday will be up for renewal at the commission's next meeting.

Some of the additional brothel revenue collected under the revised ordinance would most likely go to the sheriff's department, which Sheriff Tony DeMeo said needs to hire a special investigator to make sure the brothels are not being used as a front for money laundering, drug use and other illegal activity.

As it is now, the county is merely collecting a fee from brothels without really regulating them, DeMeo said.

The next move for opponents of legalized prostitution is to launch a petition drive for a ballot measure that could close the brothels in Nye County.

It is too late to get such a referendum on the November ballot, but several people who spoke out against the brothels Tuesday said it is a cause they are willing to take up.

Fucillo-Ollivier is one of them, though she doesn't hold out much hope for its success. She conducted just such a petition drive two years ago, and the effort fell well short.

"The best thing you can do now is pray," she told some fellow churchgoers outside the community center after the commission's decision.