Churchill County year in review — part II

The Lahontan Valley News continues its look at 2023 with a review of May-August from the pages of your community newspaper.

MAY 

• Carlene Pacheco, a paraprofessional, Title VI liaison and family service specialist at Churchill County High School, was the recipient of the 2023 Recognizing Inspiring School Employees (RISE) award.

• Churchill County School District trustees begin to interview candidates for the superintendent’s position. Eventually, trustees selected Derild Parsons of Fallon.

• Incident commander Caleb Cage discusses the flooding differences between 2017 and the spring of 2023 at a Fallon Rotary Club luncheon.

• The Fallon Churchill Volunteer Fire Department along with other agencies sponsors a street dance and dinner.

• Both the Churchill County High School and Oasis Academy Honor Societies induct new members.

• Library Director Carol Lloyd retires.

• Armed Forces Day kicks off with its annual show at the Rafter 3C Complex.

• Fallon woman killed in vehicle crash on the corner of Williams Avenue and South Taylor Street.

• Construction begins on the V-line canal’s second weir to release more water into the desert to prevent flooding.

• Reno police arrested Jordan Clairmont who faces charges in the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribal Court on charges of criminal homicide, domestic battery, child abuse/neglect and assault with a deadly weapon.

• The annual Portuguese Festival is held.

• Nevada’s secretary of state, Francisco “Cisco” Aguilar, speaks at the annual Sawyer-Bryan Democrat Dinner.

• Four graduations are held at the end of May extending into early June: Churchill County High School, Oasis Academy, Western Nevada College and Churchill County Adult Education.

• Memorial Day ceremonies conducted in Churchill County and at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley.

JUNE

• The Moving Forward Together Social Powwow was held during the first weekend at the Rafter 3C Arena.

• The Fallon Cantaloupe Festival king and queen, Gordon and Ashley Robertson, are announced.

• Artwork is removed from the Churchill Arts Center by the former director.

• New Churchill County librarian CL Quillen is named.

• Fallon City Council recognizes state-winning high-school archery team.

• Farm Bureau conducts AG Days.

• The Churchill Animal Protection Society reports another successful Bark in the Park.

• Churchill County trailer fire kills three people including two children.

• DeGoyer Bucking Horse and Bull Bash draws hundreds of people at the end of the month

JULY

• Fourth of July parade kicks off annual festivities.

• Former High-school track coach Paul Orong, who died in 2022, leads inductees into the next class of the Greenwave Hall of Fame.

• School board hears teacher’s grievance.

• Regional all-star baseball tournament returns to Fallon.

• Sen. Jacky Rosen visits Fallon, discusses health care and housing.

• Kristy Lynn Felkins, 38, of Fallon, was sentenced to five years in prison for a murder for hire plot.

• Final preparations are in the homestretch for the annual all-community reunion is a month .

• Fallon City Council approves new mobile food truck for 5-Star Indian Cuisine.

• Churchill County Sheriff’s Office wins annual blood draw.

• City, county end state of emergency that was enacted because of potential spring flooding.

• Fallon-Churchill Volunteer Fire Department named best in the state.

• Fallon resident Kristie Jo Harmon die July 21 in three-vehicle crash. Her husband, Bill, who was taken to Renown Medical Center in Reno in critical condition, died Aug. 2

AUGUST

• Hundreds attend Fallon Community Days at the Rafter 3C.

• Back-to-School kickoff for Churchill County High School students and their families was held on Aug. 10 at the Rafter 3C.

• Former Churchill County School District Superintendent Dr. Summer Stephens settles into new job in Nebraska.

• Local high-school athletic teams begin practice for the fall season.

• Community attends annual Books, Bites and Beverages, a fundraiser for the Churchill County Library.

• Troy Driver, a Fallon man charged with kidnapping and murdering Naomi Irion in 2022, was found dead in his jail cell in an apparent suicide, said the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.

• All Community Reunion and concert-in-the-park attracts hundreds of graduates, friends.

• County Commission approves funding for various organizations and clubs.

• Churchill County High School football season kicks off at Reed.

• Fallon Cantaloupe Festival opens at the Rafter 3C Complex.

• Churchill County purchases former J.C. Penney building for Central Nevada Health District.

• Fallon prepares for Labor Day weekend with a junior rodeo and Lions Cub parade.

• Former Fallon-Paiute Tribal policeman Anthony Francone killed near Pyramid Lake. Francone was an officer with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Police Department.

• School district announces the hiring of a new assistant superintendent, Stacey Cooper.

• For the third time in as many years, John O’Connor, a Fallon man charged in the murder of a fellow church member Charles “Bert” Miller in 2018, was ruled incompetent to stand trial and ordered to remain confined at Lakes Crossing, a maximum security psychiatric facility in Sparks.