Ely may be next on brothel ban bandwagon

RENO, Nev. - The Mustang Ranch may have been just the first Nevada brothel to go dark.

The fate of prostitution goes on trial Thursday on the other side of the state where working girls followed the railroad into Ely at the turn of the century.

Brothels have operated more or less legally there since the Ely City Council passed an ordinance in 1959 restricting the activity to a red-light district near the tracks on the edge of town.

On Thursday, City Councilman Stuart Tracy intends to introduce an ordinance that would outlaw all prostitution in town.

"I've never been in favor of it," said Tracy, an Ely accountant recently appointed to fill a vacancy on the council.

"The state says that depending on the safety or financial strain or the morals of the community, you can get rid of it. You can argue the safety and you can argue the financial strain. I'm taking the moral issue," he said.

Tracy said he expects Mayor Bob Miller to block the measure. Miller did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Councilman Randy Conner said he'd rather hold a public vote on whether to allow brothels.

"You cannot legislate morality," Conner said.

"The brothels have been in this community for at least 80 years, legally for 40 years. Most the folks who have lived here a long time say, 'Just leave the darn things alone.' They think the government needs to get out of our moral lives," he said.

While the Mustang Ranch got most of the attention nationally, 32 brothels still operate in Nevada.

About a half-dozen prostitutes work at the Stardust Ranch, the only brothel still open in Ely where three once shared the same corner near the tracks.

David Henley, publisher of the Lahontan Valley News & Fallon Eagle Standard, recalls the impression they left on members of the Nevada Press Association who took a ride on the Northern Railway's tourist train during a gathering there several years ago.

As the train slowly passed the brothels, it tooted its whistle - a prearranged signal for the working girls to run outside in their skimpy attire and wave and blow kisses to the startled newspaper executives, he said.

George Flint, executive director of the Nevada Brothel Owners Association the past 16 years, said the Ely Council should keep out unsavory brothel operators and allow the good ones to keep doing what they do best.

"What Ely needs to do is not outlaw the activity there, but be more cautious in who they let into the business," he said.

Flint said he'd rather the city council address the matter than see a ballot issue go to the voters of the town of about 5,000.

"If you take any human activity and put it on the block for a local vote, who the heck knows how it can go?

"I get concerned any time you allow the voter to get involved in whether some particular business is going to continue or not because, where does it end?" Flint asked.

"If you just board these places up, people are still going to come through Ely and say, 'Where do I find a woman?"'

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