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The Voice of the Wild, Wild West
1-21-2000
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Vote on Expanding Commission Board Likely |
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Bob Service, who ran against Bum Hess for Commissioner and who lives in Mark Twain said that people in that area needed "someone they can go to" if they have problems, and that he was in favor of expanding the Board.
Ed Diederich, who ran against Chuck Haynes for Commissioner and who lives in the Highlands, said that an expansion of the Board was "long overdue" and should be put on the ballot. He also said that the Commissioners should be elected by district and not at large as is currently the case.
Virginia Carrington, a Highlands resident, said that the districts should be drawn up on a "geological" basis so that each separate distinct area in the county would have its own Commissioner. She pointed out that different areas had very different issues to deal with. She added that as far as representation was concerned the Highlands "might as well be 1,000 miles away" from Virginia City. She said Highlands residents believed they had "taxation without representation."
Two other Mark Twain residents spoke in favor of expanding the Board, one saying that Mark Twain felt "alienated" from the rest of the county and unrepresented. The other speaker described his area as the "stepchild" of the county.
Angelo Petrini, owner of the Delta, and resident of the Divide, said that the Commissioners should proceed slowly on the issue. He pointed out that recent trends in the country were "toward smaller, not bigger government." He said that the Commissioners should study the issue and quantify the true costs of expanding the Board.
Pat Shannon of Rainbow Bend said that the question should be on the ballot. "Let the people decide."
Commission Chairman Chuck Haynes pointed out that in terms of how Commissioners are elected, there is only an "either/or" choice either all the Commissioners are elected at large (that is to say all of the county votes for all of the Commissioners) or all the Commissioners are voted for only in the district they represent. He also said that the drawing up of the districts had to be done strictly on a population basis, and that it would be unlikely that a small area like Mark Twain would have a Commissioner to itself.
Haynes added that the annual cost of two more Commissioners would be about $106,000 including salary, benefits and expenses. In addition, the initial, one-time cost of setting up districts, reapportioning etc would be between $75,000 and $100,000.
Bum Hess, who had been pretty negative about the whole idea at the last meeting, now said that he was in favor of putting the issue to a vote, but it was necessary to do some more research into the full cost of expanding the board, and of resolving the issue of having the question on this years ballot when new census data, due out in March, 2001 would mean that the county would have to reapportion in any case. He didnt want to have to got through the reapportionment exercise twice.
At the end of a lengthy discussion the matter was continued until the next meeting. It appears that the only thing to be decided is whether to put the question on this years general election ballot ( a decision that will have to be made by July) or to wait until after the new census which will mean putting the question on the 2002 ballot, which means new Commissioners would be elected in 2004. [ Of course, with two Commissioners up for election, the Board may have a different opinion about the merits of putting the question of the ballot in 2001. ]
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County in Good Fiscal Shape
Don Pringle of Pringle & Pollard, the countys auditors, reported that, as of the end of the last fiscal year (July, 1999) the financial conditions in the county are "very favorable. The county had a surplus of revenues over expenditures of $775,000. In addition, the water/sewer system which had caused the auditors concern in the past had a surplus of $86,000 (entirely due to rate increases).
Below, from the countys annual report , is a list of the principal county taxpayers. The last one on the list is unlikely to be there next year:
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Storey County Principal Taxpayers
- Taxpayer Assessed Valuation
- Sierra Pacific $69,300,000
- Kaiser $10,700,000
- KalKan $5,300,000
- Asamera $4,700,000
- Refuse Inc $2,400,000
- TRW $2,300,000
- Rainbow Bend Invest $1,500,000
- AGE Corp $1,300,000
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Mike Nevin Looks Back on 30 Years of Service |
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With roots firmly planted in the Comstock and more than 30 years of service to its residents, Mike Nevin is going to branch out. At the end of January, he will relinquish his position as Storey County Fire Chief and Gary Hames will assume the title. Chief Nevin is optimistic about the change for both himself and for the fire department of which hes been such an integral part.
"I think its time for a change. Time for somebody who has new thoughts, new ideas, a little younger. Gary has been here for about 12 years. He understands the system and hes a good person to work with and work for." And while the firehouse accustoms itself to Gary Hames at its helm, Mike Nevin will be hitting the road on a new job, but still one within the parameters of the profession he loves.
"Im taking a position as a sales representative for a fire and emergency equipment distributor, LN Curtis and Sons. This is something Ive thought about doing and I think Im going to like doing it. I know a lot of the folks Ill be dealing with and the company has a well-established reputation. Theyre real well-known to the Nevada Fire Service and weve done business with them over the years; their company dates back to 1929."
Whether it be services rendered by companies, dedication to a career or lives lived as part of close-knit communities, traditions of time and continuity are things Chief Nevin takes seriously. And they are an undeniable fact of his life here on the Comstock.
Tracing his familys presence in Virginia City back to 1882, Mike himself attended all 12 grades of school at what is now the Virginia City Middle School. He married a girl whose school years matched his own and whose family also has a long-time claim of years on the Comstock, Virginia Rosso. And when Mike Nevin resolutely directed his steps toward firefighting, he was continuing a tradition of firefighting on the Comstock that his great grandfather, Michael Nevin, had begun.
"I had it in my blood, I guess. My son has too. In fact, I can remember when Jeff was a little boy and we lived right across the street: when he was old enough to walk across the street by himself, he spent a lot of time over here." Jeff Nevin, who is now 25 years old and works as a firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician for the Nevada Division of Forestry, is indeed another link in his familys firefighting service. He was preceded not only by his father and great, great grandfather, but his maternal grandfather, Martin Rosso, as well. All were fire chiefs and all devoted decades of their lives to the Storey County Fire Department.
Mike Nevin has spent more than three decades there. Beginning in 1970 as a student member of the volunteer fire department, he was hired in July 1974 as a seasonal firefighter and, just three months later, came on to the staff full-time. In 1980 he was appointed County Fire Chief, a position that evolved into a full-time one in July 1998. In those 30 years, Mike and Virginias family grew to include Jeffs two sisters, Keri, 22, and Cherie, 19. And both the fire department and the town went through many changes, of which Chief Nevin was an enduring part.
"Ive seen the department go from three full-time shift firefighters and a less-than-part-time paid chief to eight full-time paid positions, including the chief. [It] changed from a department that had, when I started in the 70s, equipment that dated into the 30s and 40s that was still utilized (a lot of it up through the 80s), [to the current vehicles and gear]." Now with state-of-the-art equipment, the Storey County Fire Department is characterized by its chief as "a small department that seized the opportunity to look toward the future". He describes those who staff it as "a real good, cohesive group of individuals."
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No Joy After Trip to McDermitt
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There was no joy in Virginia City last Friday. All four VCHS teams traveled the considerable distance to McDermitt, only to lose all four games there. The junior varsity boys coach Tyler Clark said they were all close games at the outset.
"The remarkable thing about these games was that each team was ahead at the beginning and then [ultimately] lost." Coach Clark went on to say that the varsity games were largely decided by three-pointersthose made by McDermitt. "They got a good run on us because they were good on the three-pointer line. The McDermitt boys made a total of 13 three-pointers, to our two, while the McDermitt girls totaled up six and we didnt make any."
The final scores for the varsity boys and girls were 54-77 and 45-62, respectively. Zac Black and Oliver Swafford virtually shared the high scorer title with 15 and 14, including a three-pointer each, while the girls distributed the baskets more evenly. Amanda Seaton, Sarah Burnet, Heather Parsons and Jackie Simons made 13, 10, 9 and 8 points toward the final of 45.
The JV boys game ended at 39-53, with Andy Turman chipping in almost half of that final score, 18 pointsthree of which were three-pointers. The JV girls final score was 27-52. Dana and Erika Jorgensen made ten and nine points of that, in order.
The following nights games scheduled here against North Tahoe were cancelled due to snow but the Muckers will travel to North Tahoe today for another match-up. Tomorrow nights games planned in Gabbs will probably come down to a varsity boys game only, at the scheduled time of 5:30 PM. Coach Clark believes Gabbs could not field JV or girls varsity teams this year.
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I Want To Tell The Story |
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by
Jay Regas
As I sit in front of my typewriter this last day of the century. Im reflecting on the seventeen months that my articles appeared in the CHRONICLE. I have authored seventy-three columns under my byline! My "View from the Inside" columns have been a source of motivation. To stay positive within the parameters of my incarceration is a trying experience. Motivation opportunities are limited in a United States penitentiary. Ronald Reagan said: "When men fail to drive toward a goal or purpose, but only drift, the drift is toward barbarism." Sadly our prisons are schools for barbarism and I see those drifting in that direction daily. "View from the Inside" helps keep me from succumbing to that fate. I find a great a deal of accomplishment and satisfaction from that.
My column began when I wrote "Letters to the Editor" in outrage over allegations about my son-in-law David Burgess in the "Around the Bend" column written by Bill Hollis. I then wrote a second letter in outrage to Mr. Hollis response. With that letter I included a letter to CHRONICLES editor, Martin Lane a man I had never met or heard of before I saw his name on the Editorial page, asking if he would be interested in my submitting an occasional article. I provided Mr. Lane with a rambling rundown of why I thought myself qualified. We know the results. It is an obligation I take seriously and strive to improve upon.
Today I reread my letters and published articles. I found outrage, opinions, laughter, joy and sadness. I had never written anything before, not even a letter. It was only my parental protectiveness when seeing one of my children being falsely attacked that incited me to write Letters to the Editor" in the first place. I did not realize how a writer and writing bear the soul. Now that my soul has slowly revealed itself, it is my thought to pick up the pace and write about some of those things that when searching aimlessly for a subject (which from my confinement is not a simple chore) I had shied away from, thinking, "I cant put that on paper."
My life has been a unique trip down a road few people choose to travel. I am a strong believer of the "Winds of Fate." For some reason I realized early on it was going to be a wild, windy ride that would blow by in the blink of an eye and I reached for every brass ring fate offered along the way. It has afforded me a broad view that not everyone has had that kind of an opportunity to experience.
The statute of limitations have long passed on any criminal acts, but I still would not want to write about anything that may cause anyone embarrassment or grief. My own embarrassment seems to wane with age. Yet, I have to think about how vindictive minions of the government can be and how they no longer allow sleeping dragons to lay. It is my belief, and the belief of many people from within Renos legal community, that Im not in prison for crimes I was convicted of, but poetically ("poetic justice" its called) for those crimes I had gotten away with. That is a situation brought about by the outcry of citizens who were maddened by criminals going free because of what prosecutors claimed to be "loopholes in the law." They were not "loopholes." They were protections to keep the minions of government from abusing power or advancing their careers at the expense of the innocent. Which today is the sorry state of our judicial system.
Im in a precarious situation in that subjects I may wish to write about could fly in my face "if" there was a chance for my release one day. I have all ready experienced how the government turned an innocent act of providing compassionate care to a loving, sick family pet, into some type of extravagant elective surgery to exaggerate my lavish expenses before my jury. There are times I refrain from writing on a subject because of concern that the reader would think me to be boastful or arrogant. While at the time my actions may have been due to my youthful arrogance, to write about them today would be without the intent of arrogance. Only to tell the story.
I have often been judged mostly by those who never met me by my foolish youthful deeds and not my character. John McPhee in his book of Nevada "Basin and Range" wrote: "The entire history of Nevada is one of plant life, animal life and human life adapting to very difficult conditions. People here are the most individualistic you can find. . . They want to live free from government interference. They dont fit into a structured way of life. This area was settled by people who shun progress. Their way of life would be totally unattractive to most, but they chose it. They have chosen conditions that would be considered intolerable elsewhere." His statement describes the Nevadan I think myself to be.
Throughout Nevadas history we question the motives and deeds of many of those men who pioneered our state and gambling industry. Although many of them cannot be questioned for their honor, integrity, loyalty, family values and their hopes for the future. I was greatly influenced by some of those men as I ambled the streets of Reno in my youth. I wish for a better future for my children, and all of Nevadas children. I hope for their future without compromising those rights and freedoms that were in place that made Nevadans "individualistic."
It is my hope that writing of my experiences may cast some insight into the characters I have met, the personality I have been through a 50-year period of the state of Nevadas 136-year history.
I sit here in a quandary of why I shouldnt and the feelings for why I should write of certain experiences of my trip through time. I certainly would not want to go to my grave without telling the whole story!
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