PHOTO/DENNIS MYERS
An indication of the endurance of the marijuana issue—this 1970s protest in front of the Nevada Legislature, which in 2013 will have to grapple with it again.
School violence in sharp dive Twenty children were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut on Dec. 14. On average, more than 20 children are killed off school grounds every week, all year long. But both those statistics—children killed in school and children killed overall—are showing sharp declines. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, “From 1994 to 2010, the rate of serious violent crime occurring on school grounds declined by 62 percent, and the rate of serious violent crime at nonschool locations declined by 83 percent.” In other words, incidents like Sandy Hook are freakish. In most years, the number of people of all ages killed by lightning strikes is about double the number of children killed on school. School is the safest of the places children frequent. Yet there are debates going on all over the nation about how to fix the problem. They are not debates about how to deal with the far more numerous killings of children in the home and other non-school locations. These debates are aimed at the exception, not the norm. As a result, they could interfere with progress that has been made in reducing violence against the young.
Jobless pay threatened Notices went out last week to almost 25,000 Nevadans that their unemployment compensation will be cut off unless Congress acts this week to keep the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program funded. “On Jan. 2, 2013, the EUC program will expire, unless Congress votes to extend the federal benefits as it has done in the past,” according to a prepared statement issued by the Nevada Employment Security Division. “As a result, about 25,000 Nevadans currently receiving EUC will be abruptly cut off and each week another 1,000 claimants who are receiving regular unemployment, (which allows for a maximum of 26 weeks), will exhaust their benefits and not be able to move to the EUC program. However, claimants should continue to file their weekly claims so that benefits can be paid as quickly as possible if Congress does vote in favor of extending the EUC program.” Nevada unemployment is at 10.8 percent, which reflects only those out of work who are receiving jobless pay.
Passings Two colorful Reno figures have died. • Ed Carlson, known as “the Waver,” died on Dec. 27 at age 75 in Iowa. Carlson became well known in Reno starting in the 1970s by walking along streets and waving at passing drivers. It continued for years, intermittently. He would disappear for months or even years at a time. He was doing the same thing in other communities. Though Renoites thought of him as a local icon, other areas described him the same way. David Jensen of Arizona, a Science magazine writer, called him “one of Sedona’s more unusual residents, a fellow we simply call ‘The Waver’.” Carlson was author of the book I Walked to the Moon and Almost Everybody Waved. He lived in Cedar Rapids. A “Final Wave for Ed,” organized by Willie Puchert, was held in downtown Reno this week. “He made people happy with something so simple,” said participant Carol Cizauskas. • Former Reno radio personality “Wild Bill” Cody died on Christmas in Colorado. He was 62 and had been experiencing heart problems. During a 35-year career, Cody had worked at KWNZ in Reno, WBBM in Chicago, KLCA in Tahoe city, KWNZ in Lovelock, KJMP in Fort Collins, Colo., KIGN in Burns, Wy., KSXY in Shelton, Wa., and WYGY in Cincinatti. Most recently, he worked at Cheyenne’s KING. That station’s website carries a tribute from his colleague Gailen Sprague: “Bill breathed, ate and lived for radio. It was his obsession. Many times people would simply shake their heads and proclaim that “He’s CRAZY”! Yup, that was our Bill! A very creative man behind a cartoonish voice. [He] was the essence of what radio was and quite possibly still should be.”
—Dennis Myers 8
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RN&R
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JANUARY 3, 2013
Decriminalization Can Nevada turn marijuana enforcement over to the feds? Assemblymember Tick Segerblom, a Clark County Democrat, will introduce by legislation at the 2013 Nevada Dennis Myers Legislature to decriminalize marijuana. Assembly Republican leader Pat Hickey is open to the idea. While a Colorado- or Washington-style legalization is not likely in the cards—at least through the Legislature—decriminalization could lead to some substantial policy changes and shifting of resources in law enforcement if police agencies abided by the policy shift.
“It would set up a condundrum for me.” Mike Haley Washoe County sheriff
Because the federal Drug Enforcement Agency does not have the resources to deal with both small users and big traffickers, a decision by the Legislature to end Nevada’s police enforcement of marijuana possession cases would effectively create de facto legal marijuana. Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley avoided expressing his own view of decriminalization, but did say, “I have to enforce the laws
enacted by the Legislature, irrespective of my personal beliefs.” But some agencies might not take that view. Nevadans in 2000 voted 381,947 to 202,211 in favor of medical marijuana, but some local police still cooperate with federal agents in enforcing U.S. law over state law. There are, in fact, two cases involving medical marijuana before the Nevada Supreme Court, though state voters supposedly settled the issue in 2000 by approving medical uses. Haley said knowing how he would handle decriminalization now is difficult because local and federal law enforcement is so intertwined. “It’s a little bit complicated because I have people from my organization who are deputized as federal marshals, federal DEA, federal FBI,” he said. “They actually carry federal credentials. … Obviously, if the [decriminalization] law were to pass in Nevada I’m bound to abide by that law, and I would, but it would set up a conundrum for me. I’m also chair of HIDTA [High Intensity Drug Trafficking Administration], and we have a marijuana initiative within HIDTA. So I would abide by Nevada law, and I would look to my federal partners because it would still be federally prohibited.” He pointed to the talks going on in Seattle between local police and federal officials to determine how
that state’s legalization of marijuana will be handled. “The chief of police there indicated that it was a very complicated discussion, one that would require restraint on the side of the public safety officer or sheriff to see how their federal counterparts were going to deal with the issue.” The actions of Colorado and Washington voters making marijuana legal under state law have in some cases cut across party and ideological lines, with some conservatives urging respect for state decisions. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, has introduced H.R. 6606 to give state laws on marijuana primacy over federal law. Rep. Mike Coffman, a Colorado Republican and opponent of legalization, is nevertheless a cosponsor of DeGette’s bill. “I voted against Amendment 64 [Colorado marijuana legalization], and I strongly oppose the legalization of marijuana, but I also have an obligation to respect the will of the voters given the passage of this initiative, and so I feel obligated to support this legislation,” Coffman said. Troy Eid, a George W. Bush appointee as U.S. attorney in Colorado, recently wrote in a Denver Post guest essay, “Letting states ‘opt out’ of the Controlled Substances Act’s prohibition against marijuana ought to be seriously considered.”
Last time
During federal alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, states were expected to join the federal government in “concurrent enforcement.” In Nevada in 1918, 59 percent of voters approved alcohol prohibition in a statewide election. That ballot measure also put enforcement under the authority of the Nevada State Police, an agency that no longer exists. But the allure of prohibition faded fast, and the Nevada Legislature later repealed the voterapproved law, replacing it with a different enforcement measure that seemed designed to be overturned by the courts, which it was. Nevada was out of the business of enforcing prohibition, leaving the task to federal officials. In 1923, President Coolidge called state governors—including Nevada’s James Scrugham—to the White House to jawbone them on helping out with enforcement.
