Storey County considers outlawing brothels

Monday, Aug. 2, 1999 | 10:07 a.m.

It was the first county in Nevada and in the United States to legalize brothels in 1971.

Federal cases in the past year involving all three Storey County brothels may prompt it to rescind its law allowing "houses of ill fame," Storey County Commission Chairman Chuck Haynes told the Nevada Appeal.

The commission will discuss ramifications of the Mustang Ranch closure when it meets Tuesday in the county courthouse. No action regarding prostitution or the Mustang Ranch will be taken at that time.

"We have to talk about how we are going to compensate for the loss of revenue," Haynes said.

Mustang Ranch provides one-sixteenth of the county's revenue in brothel, liquor and boarding house licenses, or about $233,000 this year.

Haynes said that will mean a noticeable cut somewhere in the county's $4 million budget.

Haynes said the prospects of industrial development at the 101,000-acre Asamera Ranch are a for the future, but work there at the north end of the county is in its infancy.

"In the long term, industrial revenue will far outweigh the brothels but not now," Haynes said.

The court-ordered permanent closure of the Mustang Ranch I and Mustang Ranch II brothels next Monday brings more turmoil to the county than a loss of revenue.

A federal judge reversed the county's order to close Old Bridge Ranch because of owner David Burgess' alleged ties to the Hells Angels.

Haynes said the Storey County Commission has had troubled relations with Old Bridge Ranch but good relations with the Mustang, making closure of that brothel a distinct possibility.

"If we're looking at having Burgess, a thorn in our side, as the only operating brothel, we have to look at the potential," he said.

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