It’s fascinating looking back 50 years ago and seeing events unfold. A Safer Nevada seeks to reverse the 1978 ban. This is a news clipping from 11-8-1977 that foreshadowed the Lincoln County ban. It reads: PIOCHE, Nev.— Like nocturnal mirages glowing inexplicably in the desert’s night sky, three clusters of lights provide incongruous beacons for motorists driving along a lonely strip of State Highway 93 north of Las Vegas. Signs read: “Kitten Creek,” “Shari’s Ranch,” and “Judy’s Coyote Spring Ranch.” They are legal houses of prostitution. In a battle that seems like a remnant from the taming of the West, reform‐minded district attorney has moved into this old frontier mining camp, of 900 people and is trying to shut down the brothels. “We’ve had two murders, a couple of unsolved arsons, and all sorts of other police problems connected with the cathouses,” said John McGimsey, the District Attorney. “I simply don’t believe they belong in Lincoln County.” Last year, the county’s voters approved legalized prostitution by a thin margin, although it had been a, fact of life for years. Now, as a lawsuit threatens to allow even more prostitution in the county, Mr. McGimsey, allied with local leaders of the Mormon Church and other people, is challenging a frontier tradition and a local power structure that has tolerated and encouraged prostitution. Nevada, which permits each county to set its own rules, is the only state in the country with legal prostitution, a vestige of its frontier past. There is no indication that the world’s oldest profession is really in trouble here, but it has been having more and more problems of late in Nevada, possibly because what was once tolerated but inconspicuous has made few efforts recently to remain discreet. Read here for rest of article: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/08/archives/new-attack-made-in-nevada-on-an-old-profession.html #2024 #election #vote #lincolncounty #nevada #vegas #oldnewsclippings #sexwork #brothel