by Dennis Myers
Name tag
Mayor Hillary Schieve and City Manager Andrew Clinger read city sexual harassment policy language posted on screens around the city council hall.
The Columbia Journalism Review says the mystery of how Dan Cooper’s name evolved into “D.B. Cooper” in the famous hijacking case has been solved. On Thanksgiving eve 1971, a passenger who flew under the name Dan Cooper hijacked a Portland-to-Seattle flight, had it set down in Seattle long enough to refuel, pick up $200,000 in extorted funds and a parachute, release other passengers, and then took off again, supposedly for Mexico City. En route, he bailed out and was never seen again. The plane landed in Reno (“The night D.B. Cooper didn’t come to Reno,” RN&R, Dec. 4, 1996). Somehow, his name has come down to us as D.B. Cooper. In The Dictionary of Misinformation (1975), Tom Burnam wrote that D.B. Cooper was a person whose whereabouts were checked during the investigation and who was in jail at the time of the hijacking. According to Burnam, D.B.’s name somehow was substituted for Dan’s. CJR reports that now-decesased United Press International reporter Clyde Jabin used the “D.B.” in a story the day of the hijacking and that Oregon Journal reporter James Long blames himself for putting the term in Jabin’s ear during a phone conversation with poor audio during a Portland storm (“One mystery solved in ‘D.B. Cooper’ skyjacking fiasco,” CJR, July 22). That doesn’t entirely explain it, though. Many journalists, such as Walter Cronkite on CBS, continued to use Dan well into the story.
PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS
Pot tale of the week After we reported that federal and Colorado state figures conflict with a claim that Colorado teen use of marijuana has “gone up since legalization” (“Pot tale of the week,” RN&R, July 28), prohibitionist Genoa lawyer Jim Hartman sent us a link to a report issued by the “Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area” (RMHIDTA). We were aware of the report. It does indeed indicate that teen marijuana use in Colorado is higher than the national average. What it neglects to include in that statistic is the fact that its numbers nevertheless still show a level of teen use in the state that is lower than it was before legalization. In other words, teen use has gone down since marijuana became legal. That’s the business RMHIDTA is in—spin. It does not generate its own research. Rather, it uses—and often misuses—research by other organizations such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the Quinnipiac University survey, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. RMHIDTA is not a research entity. It is a propaganda entity—a federally funded prohibitionist organization. Forbes Magazine writer Jacob Sullum described it this way after a distortion of a Quinnipiac survey that showed increased public support in Colorado for legal marijuana: “Honest drug warriors would acknowledge the Quinnipiac numbers and perhaps try to balance them with other poll results. Dishonest drug warriors would do what the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) does in its new report on marijuana legalization: change the numbers.” In fact, it is illegal under federal law for RMHIDTA to provide even-handed information on marijuana. Title VII of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998 prohibits RMHIDTA funding from being used for “any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use)” of marijuana. Little wonder prohibitionists use it.
—Dennis Myers
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08.11.16
Clinger probe launched Former state official cites previous history members of the Reno City Council voted Aug. 4 to approve $50,000 for an investigation of City Manager Andrew Clinger to be overseen by Mayor Hillary Schieve. Clinger faces sexual harassment complaints by three women. The charges became public after the attorney for the three women filed an open meeting complaint dealing with an investigation of Clinger that the public had never been told was underway. The lawyer, William Peterson, said in the complaint that the Reno City Council had recessed a meeting to gather privately to discuss the harassment investigation. Once the charges became known, a special meeting was called for Aug 4. Before the meeting got to its only agenda item, there was stunning testimony during the public comment period that was largely ignored in news reports that evening and the next day except on the
This is Reno website. Certified public accountant Kim Wallin, elected to two terms as Nevada state controller, stepped forward to say Clinger had a harassment and retaliation history during her years in state service. Even before she was sworn in as state controller, Wallin told the council, Clinger, as state budget director, had asked her to support a $1.2 million state program he favored for a disaster recovery backup system in Las Vegas. She preferred an alternative program that would cost $700,000 less and come online sooner. “He told me that if I did not go ... along with that program, that he would go and take away all of my enhancements in my budget,” she said. After she crossed him on that issue, Wallin said, Clinger chopped up her budget, something that continued in subsequent budgets. Among Clinger’s
cuts was elimination of funding for a position in the controller’s office held by Mary Keating, who had previously sued Clinger for sexual harassment. If true, it was a double retaliation—against Wallin on the backup system and against Keating for her lawsuit, which had resulted in a $75,000 settlement to Keating. One source said that as part of a second settlement, Keating was supplied with five years of retirement. Keating, who had worked for Clinger in the budget office when she sued him, was “probably one of the best employees I ever, ever worked with at the state,” Wallin said. Wallin added that Clinger would “yell and scream and berate me.” When, following the special council meeting, Clinger was asked for his reaction to Wallin’s comments, he called them “completely ridiculous. I have no idea what she’s talking about or why she would even be here today.” After the meeting, Wallin said she thought it was important that she step forward so that the members of the council would know of the previous history. “Certainly Mary Keating can not be expected to go public after what she went through,” Wallin said. “Besides, I think it’s important to protect the taxpayers’ dollars so that they are not paying money out for these cases.” Following Wallin’s remarks, the councilmembers turned to the agenda item that called for expenditure of up to $100,000 for an investigation of the charges against the city manager. That amount was reduced to $50,000 before being voted on. A presentation by City Attorney Karl Hall revealed that on July 21, after an initial investigation, outside counsel informed the city that it had cleared Clinger of the harassment charges. There is contention over the nature of that outside investigation. Clinger later said, “The independent investigation was completed. It was done.” But Peterson said that only one of the three complaints was investigated. At any rate, the council decided to proceed with a new probe. There was plainly tension in the room. Some councilmembers—Jenny Brekhus, Naomi Duerr and Paul McKenzie—were more inclined to scrutinize the details of what is known about the matter before voting. Among the councilmembers—as among
