Having owned and operated the Moonlite BunnyRanch in Carson City for the past 10 years, I feel more than just a little qualified in voicing an opinion on the current fiasco surrounding the proposed Wild Horse Brothel in Storey County, Lance Gilman and DP Properties. Ironically, Mr. Gilman met his current business associate, Susan Austin Sciascia, right here at the BunnyRanch � but that�s another story.

During my tenure as a brothel owner, I have endeavored to change the image of our industry by operating my business like any other legal entity � shamelessly promoting, educating the public, paying my taxes and hiding nothing. And, the media has taken note. Everyone from the New Yorker magazine to Marie Claire magazine, from Howard Stern to 48 Hours, with hundreds of television, magazine, radio stations and even the BBC offering coverage. In doing so, we�ve raised the public�s perception and consciousness concerning the �the world�s oldest profession� while demystifying and sanitizing it at the same time. So, it is with a hardened heart that I must share, with all Nevadans, the sordid spectacle of Mr. Gilman�s newest endeavor. Talk about three steps backwards; it�s as though Mr. Gilman has taken a page from the Joe Conforte playbook and the nation is watching.

First, it was the insensitive slight to Native Americans with the proposed name and now it�s the back and forth legal mudslinging between Gilman and DP Properties. As Chuck Alvey, the chief operating officer of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, noted in a Feb. 12 Reno Gazette-Journal article, �The national press from the debate alone could be destructive to the economic development efforts of the entire region.�

Talk about irony. In an earlier Reno Gazette-Journal piece, Ms. Sciascia, in a not so subtle dig at the BunnyRanch, was quoted as saying, �You�ll never, ever find me or any of the young ladies on TV giving interviews or appearing on talk shows.� We should be so lucky! Tragically, Gilman and company are currently all over the media and benefiting no one at all.

The further tragedy is that Storey County, which is one of the smallest and poorest counties in this neck of the woods, was finally rising from it�s bad rap, Conforte-corruption image, and moving toward becoming an industrial powerhouse when it found itself bushwhacked with this pathetic press.

Make no mistake; I am a strong and outspoken advocate of the legal brothel industry who frequently finds himself frustrated with social misconceptions surrounding our business � on that level I empathize with Mr. Gilman�s plight. However, it seems had he simply taken the high road and been upfront about his intentions from the beginning � though he would still have encountered some resistance � he would at least be fighting the good fight. A fight that all the brothels could have joined in support, including Storey County�s own Old Bridge Ranch. Instead, Gilman�s tact has landed him, and all of us for that matter, in a dirty, muckraking battle with other businesses whose shared interests are the financial well-being of the community at large. I suspect �Uncle Joe� himself would be scratching his head over this debacle.

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Dennis Hof is owner of the Moonlite BunnyRanch in Mound House.