The new
issue of The Nevada Observer is now up and ready for
your reading pleasure (check the middle column for our
current articles, features and columns).
The weather cooperated, the candidates did their
best to make you feel comfortable voting for them, but it seems that
apathy may have been the watchword for the 2008 Nevada Primary
Election. Early voting was sporadic and slow, absentee voting numbers
were low, and turnout was down from the expected 25 percent to somewhere
around 15 percent to 17 percent. There has been talk that this may have
been the lowest primary election turnout in, if not history, then for
many years.
Some big names in Clark County politics went down
in flames, and in Washoe County, one big name survived while another
didn’t. From a voter’s stand point, the results of the Primary would
make the General a fun fest immediately. Senate Majority Leader Bill
Raggio survived the Republican Primary and a strong campaign fought by
former Assemblywoman Sharron Angle.
Long time Assemblyman John Marvel will not find his
name on the ballot come November, but former Republican Assemblyman Don
Gustavson will. That district, #32 (Rural) covers a broad areas from
Battle Mountain in the east to Sparks in the west. There were
allegations that Marvel, a land and tax attorney was behind the effort
to get Governor Jim Gibbons’ property tax on a 40 acre plot in Elko
County reduced to about $15. Ethics charges are pending, and some feel
this led to Marvel’s defeat.
Republican Assemblywoman Francis Allen in District
4 suffered the consequences of a bad temper and stabbing her new husband
with a steak knife. Voters didn’t much care for that behavior and
tossed her out in favor of Richard McArthur. Assemblyman Bob Beers made
ranking members of his own party angry enough that they did not support
his bid for reelection, and he was soundly defeated. The legislature
will have several new faces come February, and some will be there for
the last time because of term limits, including Raggio. Read full story
____________________
Top News Story:
Analysis
Nevada Energy Summit Scheduled For Las
Vegas
UNLV Campus Hosts
Renewable Energy Leaders / Politicians
Issues Becoming More Political Than
Practical
by Johnny Gunn
Called a National Clean Energy Summit, originally
planned along the lines of the Nevada Clean Energy Summit held in Reno
in 2007, the gathering scheduled for the University of Nevada at Las
Vegas campus on August 18 and 19 is rapidly becoming a political affair
dominated by the democratic Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, and
former democratic President Bill Clinton. While leaders of various
forms of clean energy will be attending, it is those not attending that
are drawing attention, such as Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons.
Along with Reid and UNLV, the sponsors include the
Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal organization whose
web site can be found at
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/.
Among the other politicians invited to attend and speak are Arizona
Governor Janet Napolitano, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, former
Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
According to press releases dealing with the
summit, the objective is to define consensus ideas and principles that
participants can carry to the parties' political conventions this
summer. Besides Gibbons, among the missing is California’s Arnold
Schwarzenegger, and between the two states, Nevada and California, there
is more renewable energy production than any other two states in the
nation.Read full story
____________________
Intra-State Transmission Lines
Approved By BLM
Deal May Hinge On
Acceptance Of Coal Fired Plants In Ely
Sierra Pacific
Resources (SPR) is the home company for Nevada Power Company in southern
Nevada and Sierra Pacific Power Company in northern Nevada, but a lack
of transmission lines has prevented the company from full utilization of
its resources between the two ends of the state. Power developed in the
south cannot be used in the north and vice versa. When SPR proposed
building a 1500 megawatt coal fired power plant in Ely, in White Pine
County, the company planned to connect the Ely project with Nevada Power
in the south by way of a 300 mile transmission line, thus connecting the
two major power suppliers in the state for the first time.
The concept of a
connecting transmission line was hailed on the one hand while the idea
of a large coal fired plant in White Pine County was panned by most.
Sierra Pacific Resources has delayed the company’s plans for the coal
fired plant, and the intra state power line was delayed at the same
time. Now, another energy company, L.S. Power, also planning a 1500
megawatt coal fired plant in Ely has come forward with plans to build
the cross state transmission line. L.S. Power has said the line will be
built even if their plans for a major coal fired plant in White Pine
County are not finalized. The Bureau of Land Management gave their
blessing to the plan recently.
Sierra Pacific
Resources in the meantime has not fully dropped their plans for a
transmission line. If the line is built it will mean that power
developed in northern Nevada, whether natural gas, oil, coal, or
renewable energy would be available to southern Nevada, and Nevada
Power, which does have solar power on its grid would be able to make
southern Nevada energy available to the north for the first time since
the two resources came under the SPR umbrella. Read
full story
____________________
Nevada Casinos Rake It In, Just Not
Quite As Much
Sixth Month Below
The Year Before
The nation’s economic
slump is continuing to have its affect on Nevada’s largest industry, as
the casinos report a “take” in June about 1.11 percent below one year
ago. Called the “win’, it is the money taken in from gamblers across
the tables and through the machines before any expenses are accounted
for and does not include anything except gambling. The take in June was
$949,316,713. Of that, the state collected $52,096,054 in gaming
taxes, which turns out to be 8.43 percent higher than one year ago.
June’s taxes are collected in July, thus becoming the first tax
collected in the fiscal year 2008-09 which began on July 1.
Clark County’s gaming
establishments were up slightly more than two percent while the Washoe
County gamblers were off by a whopping 19.18 percent in June compared to
one year ago. Little Wendover, on the border with Utah, usually a
winner, came in with a loss of 11.6 percent.Read
full story
____________________
Election 2008, Part Two In Full Swing
National
Conventions Take Center Stage
The Nevada Primary Election is over (See
feature article), and the full brunt of Election 2008 is hitting
home with the national conventions right around the corner, and a blitz
of local, regional, and national advertising already underway. There
have been a few little things from the primary that are a bit
interesting, like small turn out, which isn’t unknown in Nevada
elections, and always the claims of election fraud.
Early voting turn out was good, which is something
that has been becoming a very real part of elections in the last few
years. Many don’t want to wait for election day, and jump in right
away. Early voting also is a boon to those that travel, have busy
business schedules, and for some, enjoy the socializing that seems to be
a large part of the process.
One
Initiative Already Out
The initiative petition that was going to be
offered by the union representing the dealers at Wynn Resorts of Las
Vegas has been withdrawn, giving the Nevada Resort Association their
first big win of the election cycle. Wynn Resorts has been forcing the
dealers to share their tips with their supervisors, and the initiative
would have stopped the process.
The casinos of southern Nevada are opposed to the
petition and threatened court action with a secondary threat that if the
union lost in court it would be responsible for all legal costs. The
union said that threat effectively forced them to withdraw the petition
since the union did not have the financial resources to pay all legal
costs if they had lost.Read full story
____________________
Nevada’s Education System Still In The
Basement
It’s Time For
Re-Evaluation Of Entire Department
by Johnny Gunn
When comparing Nevada’s educational standards
against the rest of the nation, the Silver State children are at a
serious disadvantage, and it cannot be simply blamed on money or a lack
thereof. There must be problems within the education system itself in
order to produce children whose education is below any national
average. For there to be an average, there must be some states that are
doing very well by their children. Nevada is not doing well by its
children, and in the long run, more than just the children will be
suffering. The economic stability of the state is at risk as well since
today’s world demands a highly educated work force. Technologically
advanced companies will not open for business in an area that cannot
provide an educated work force. That is the reality of what the state’s
education system is working toward.
In the school year 2007-08, there were 412,395
students enrolled in Nevada’s schools according to the U.S. Department
of Education. Of these, more than 41 percent came from what the agency
considers low income homes. Nevada is a minimum wage state at best if
you believe these statistics. According to the latest figures
available, there are 559 schools in the state of which almost 33 percent
are considered less than adequate by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).
The national average for school districts is 30 percent, but the figures
are a bit misleading.Read full story
____________________
Utah Counties File Federal Suit Over
SNWA Water
Snake Valley
Aquifer At Risk They Say
A suit has been filed in a Nevada District Court
demanding that State Engineer Tracy Taylor allow Salt Lake County and
Utah County to participate in Snake Valley water hearings as interested
party(s). Taylor said since the counties didn’t protest the water plan
when it first was devised in 1989, they should have no say in the
matter.
Snake Valley covers a considerable amount of land
in eastern White Pine County, Nevada, and in western Utah, and is home
to large agricultural holdings. At the heart of the plan is the 300
mile pipeline envisioned by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA)
to deliver about 300,000 acre feet of water annually to the Las Vegas
Valley. So far, SNWA has been given the right to pump water from
valleys and aquifers in White Pine County and Lincoln County, including
Spring Valley, Cave Springs, Dry Lake Valley, and Delamar Valley.
There is a tremendous amount of opposition to the
water importation plan outside Las Vegas, and that now includes the two
Utah counties. The counties are saying that pumping the Snake Valley
aquifer would create another Owens Valley and add to a high air
pollution problem along the Wasatch Front. They fear dust clouds
similar to those seen in the eastern California area of Owens Valley.
When Los Angeles drained the Owens Lake and claimed all the water
pouring into the Owens River, they turned an agricultural paradise into
a dust bowl. The Owens Valley is reportedly one of the nation’s worst
polluted places, from swirling dust storms.Read
full story
____________________
Ricin Case Closed? It Appears So
A Guilty Plea
Closes A Strange Incident
At about the same time the FBI said it was closing
in on the alleged perpetrator of the Anthrax Terrorist, the Ricin Case
came to a close in Las Vegas. The alleged purveyor of Anthrax committed
suicide before the FBI could arrest him and bring to trial for killing
several and creating panic and terror following the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon. The man who allegedly had enough deadly
ricin with him in a Las Vegas motel room to kill hundreds of people was
allowed a plea bargain that could result in a three year jail sentence.
Roger Bergendorff, a man who doesn’t appear to have
a permanent home, was found ill in his motel room that later was found
to have vials of ricin, a deadly biological agent that’s only non
criminal purpose is in cancer research but that is known as a biological
weapon that could be used in terrorism plots. The question of why
Bergendorff had the agent has not been answered to this point. In court
testimony, federal agents said they did not believe he had criminal
intentions, that “he had no intention of hurting anyone.”
This is the sticking point in many people’s minds,
and a point that has not been addressed by the authorities. Bergendorff
has been described as having enemies, has been considered as suffering
from a level of paranoia, and in court, has been having fantasies about
committing crimes. He is found with a so called terrorists handbook
giving the recipes for making ricin, had a crude form of ricin that he
had made, and was armed with weapons that had silencers attached. It’s
hard to understand, in today’s world with terrorist plots being
uncovered daily, that this man “had no intentions of harming anyone.”Read full story
The first half of Election 2008 is now in the
books, a recorded history of our time, if you will. We survived party
caucuses with charges of unfairness on both sides, and a surprising
turnout on both sides. And now, the Primary Election has taken place.
It may not sound large, but the ten percent of registered democrats and
republicans that turned out for January’s caucuses was considered large
by those familiar with the process. Those not registered within one of
the major parties were left out in the cold.
As it turned out Nevada voters did not go with the
flow. Democrats chose Hillary Clinton as their presidential favorite
while republicans picked Mitt Romney. As we near the General Election,
it will be Republican John McCain facing Democrat Barack Obama, and an
all out knock down fight is sure to be waged through television
advertising, which will leave the voter in the dark.
More emphasis should be placed on face to face
debates, on discussion in public on what the issues are and how they are
being addressed by the candidates. When the fate of the country hinges
on who can spend the most money and say the least about the issues, we
as a freedom loving democracy lose. One of these two men will lead the
United States, and by proxy, the free world, and we will make our choice
and decision based on a spending spree, not a reasoned debate.Read full
column
____________________
A brush with an old sage:
Waco's Big Debate
by Hal Swift
There's a
pretty good-sized middle-of-the-week crowd at Shorty's Place, and the
temperature inside is almost as hot as it is outside. Shorty pounds on
the bar with his wooden bung-starter and hollers, "Okay, folks! That's
enough arguin' about politics! I want y'all to calm down now, and find
somethin' else to talk about!"
A 6-foot-8, 310
pound cowboy named Moose allows as how he can talk about anything he
wants to. Shorty says, "Go ahead. But if y'keep on arguin' politics,
I'll have ol' Waco here, run your caboose right out into the parkin'
lot."
Moose looks a
little skeptical at this, but at least a dozen of the regulars at
Shorty's chime in with stories about how they've seen ol' Waco conduct
impressive behavioral modification classes on men that'd make Moose look
like that famous 98-pound weaklin' that ever'body kicks sand in 'is face
down at the beach.
Waco stands up
and walks over to the bar to get a refill of his mug of sasparilla, and
in doing so, has to walk past Moose. Moose looks up at Waco's scarred
face, broad shoulders, and gnarly, rawhide hands, and nods 'is head.
"Okay," he says, "I reckon I get kinda carried away sometimes when it
comes to politics."
Sioux says, "No
problem, Moose. Uncle Waco got carried away one time when it came to
politics. Hey, everybody! Did Uncle Waco ever tell you about the time
he ran for president?"
Shorty says,
"Now, Sioux, this better not start another argument." He turns to Waco
and says, "How come you never told us about this? Heck, you'd of got a
lotta votes from the folks who hang out in here."
Waco says, "Awwww,
Sioux. Now you've gone and done it. I'm embarrassed about that whole
messy wreck."
"You don't need
to be," says Sioux. "There's a lot of people who'd have done exactly
what you did."
John, the
newspaper man says, "Now, both of you... you've got everybody interested
in this. Why don't you just do the right thing, and go ahead and tell
us what happened." Read
full column
____________________
Nevada History:
Nevada's Oldest
Family-Owned, Working Ranches and Farms
by Guy Rocha, Nevada State Archivist
If you can’t claim a first then claim the
oldest -- in this case the oldest continuously-operating family-owned
ranch in Nevada. The Nevada Centennial Ranch & Farm Program honors
working, long-time family-owned ranches or farms more than 100 years
old. The ranch has to be at least 160 acres in size, or if less than
160 acres must have a gross yield of at least $1,000. The program,
sponsored by the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office, Nevada Farm
Bureau, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Nevada Cattleman’s
Association, and the Nevada Department of Agriculture, is now in its
third year.
There were many family-owned ranches and
farms at the base of the Carson Range in the 1850s when the area was
still known as western Utah Territory. A number continued to operate
for more than 100 years. These pioneer properties, however, including
the John Quincy and Rufus Adams Ranch (1853) and the Henry Fred Dangberg
Ranch (1856) in Carson Valley, are gone now, the price of development in
a booming urban corridor. Fortunately, the Dangberg Home Ranch in
Minden is now Nevada’s 26th state park.
The oldest continuously-operating,
family-owned ranch honored by the Nevada Centennial Ranch & Farm Program
is the Cushman-Corkill Ranch in Churchill County. Josiah Cushman
purchased the 1,700 acre ranch on the Carson Sink in 1861 where Fallon
is today. “Cushman was known for his high-quality cattle and a
‘fine-bearing orchard’,” according to the 2004 award narrative, “and
eventually served as County Clerk, 1872-1874.” Following the completion
of the Newlands Reclamation Project in the first decade of the
twentieth-century, the family raised alfalfa, corn, potatoes, Sudan
grass, and small grains.Read full column
______________________________
Some kind of blog:
The Irascible One
How’d your people do?
--- The Irascible One’s record remains solid. “I haven’t picked a winner
in decades,” I exclaimed wildly to an empty newsroom. I wonder just how
many signs will actually be taken down now that the field has been
narrowed. Just because it’s the law doesn’t mean a wanna be politician
is going care, you silly person.
•••
Pitiful
--- The turnout for the Primary is a pretty sad commentary of our way of
life. Pretty arrogant to say, we demand democracy in other countries
when we don’t really give a damn about it. Less than 20 percent of the
registered voters bothered to voice an opinion.
It’s this kind of apathy
that gave us George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. We really can do better,
Mr. Jefferson, sir.Read full
column
_____________________________
The Nevada
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TNO's Circulation Statistics For May, 2008
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2008 DATES TO REMEMBER
AUGUST
11-12 August - Perseid Meteor Shower peaks
16 August - Full Moon
For details on Nevada festivals and events see the Nevada Commission
on Tourism's
Events
website.
____________________
A Reminder To Our
Readers: Have You Looked At Our
Links Page
Recently?
____________________
The Old Corner Bar
Lyman Frisbie has just received
an invoice of the best potables that ever were concocted for
the stimulation and preservation of the human economy. The
whisky is of the most humanizing and exalting character; the
brandy is of the choicest flavor and most amiable
propensities; the gin possesses those truly alternative
principles which gin of the correct kind of motives is known
to contain; the rum is of the quality which none but the
most reckless of families are willing to be without; and as
to the wines and ales, they are simply vinous and malted
nectar, fit for the gods, the goddesses and the general
public. All this at Frisbie's famous and classic Old Corner.
[From the Carson City
Appeal, July 21, 1875]
____________________
Our American Heritage:
Preamble To The Constitution Of The United States
We the People
of the United States, in Order to form a
more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,
provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure
the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Bill Of
Rights Of The American Republic
AMENDMENT I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.
AMENDMENT II.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.
AMENDMENT III.
No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered
in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but
in a manner to be prescribed by law.
AMENDMENT IV.
The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon
probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be
seized.
AMENDMENT V.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital,
or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a
Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in
the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor
shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in
jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to
be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be
taken for public use, without just compensation.
AMENDMENT VI.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of
the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,
which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted
with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his
defence.
AMENDMENT VII.
In Suits at common law, where the value in
controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury
shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise
re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the
rules of the common law.
AMENDMENT VIII.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
AMENDMENT IX.
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by
the people.
AMENDMENT X.
The powers not delegated to the United States by
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively, or to the people.