Nevada news briefs from Elko and Pahrump

Monday, March 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Elko District Judge Thomas Stringfield, sitting as juvenile judge, on Friday refused to certify Ozalla Deputee, 17, of Carlin as an adult to face charges in district court.

Deputee was charged with felony drunken driving causing death following the Oct. 22 accident that claimed the life of John Muncrief.

Muncrief, 53, was a counselor and shop teacher at the Nevada Youth Training Center.

Police reports said Deputee was southbound on the Lamoille Highway when her car crossed the center line and hit Muncrief's 1971 Volkswagen head-on.

During the open juvenile hearing, Deputee admitted to being drunk.

"Miss Deputee will do almost as much time in juvenile detention as she would if she were convicted as an adult," Stringfield said. "She is not a hardened criminal. ... This has been a terrible thing, a terrible thing for everyone."

The victim's family did not oppose Stringfield's action.

"My dad worked with kids like this," said Muncrief's daughter, Kristy Maupin. "Ten years in prison isn't going to help the hurt inside.

"She's just a good kid who made a bad mistake. My dad would want her to get better."

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The new regulations are necessary because the county-owned landfill in Pahrump began receiving more than 20 tons of waste a day about a year ago. As such, the facility falls under the category of being a Class I landfill, which carries with it a whole new set of federal and state requirements.

Les Gould of the state Division of Environmental Protection said the county's permit application to operate a Class I site is under review, but the county needed to take steps to be in compliance.

Among other things, the designation requires an employee to monitor waste coming into the landfill. The existing dump is unstaffed and is basically open 24-hours a day.

The mandates drew a terse response from Commissioner Dick Carver, an outspoken critic of federal and state government intervention.

"If you come up with the funding, we'll be glad to do anything you want us to do," Carver told Gould. "But I'm not going to sit here and take bureaucratic rules that are completely out of line. Let us manage our own affairs."

Carver, however, joined other commissioners in a 5-0 vote to pursue solutions.

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Juan Diez Abarca, 19, was arrested Friday by the Elko Combined Narcotics Unit for alleged trafficking in methamphetamine.

Authorities said they began investigating Abarca after receiving information of his alleged drug dealings.

Officers arranged undercover drug purchases from Abarca and some of his associates, which led to his arrest warrant.

Additional arrests are expected and an investigation continues, authorities said.