Girls' facility open at China Spring

China Spring Youth Camp will dedicate its women's facility, the Aurora Pines Girls Facility, on Thursday.

The dedication ceremony will be from 3-4 p.m. with an open house following at 5 p.m. Thursday at the facility located off Highway 395 in south Douglas County.

Steve Thaler is the director of the facility that houses 41 male and 20 female teen offenders aged 12-18.

Planning for the facility, that serves 16 Nevada counties, started in 1979. The boys facility opened in 1983 with just a couple of trailers. The $2.2 million complex now sits on more than 160 acres with just under 20 being used.

It was funded by the state and through collaboration with member county governments.

Typically, offenders spend just over five months at the facility, attending school and receiving drug and alcohol counseling.

Until last year, there were few places designed for female offenders. Aurora Pines solves that problem and will be dedicated to Douglas District Court Judge David Gamble, a crusader for teens.

Thaler said the facility just started tracking statistics for females, but said it has an 85 percent success rate for males.

"These kids are kids and they can change," Thaler said. "We provide an environment that is totally supported by the state and the counties.

"We have a six-month waiting list."