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I am the lizard king
Missed a couple
Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review. I want to thank everyone for the kind wishes regarding my Bell’s Palsy. I’d also like to thank the people who told me it doesn’t matter if it gets better because I look kind of bad-ass. I’m good with getting better, and it’s improving slowly but slowly. I’d also like to thank the people who expressed their schadenfreude that I deserve it because my lifestyle encourages physical inflammation. It’s not that they’re clueless. They’re not. But I already eat whole foods and avoid processed foods. I already take Omega 3s, 6s and 9s, and supplement fiber. I’m as regular as Big Ben, I swear. I personally think it’s more fun to think that it was a cosmic joke. I mean, 52 years old, and nobody ever wanted me on CNN before, and there I was with half a face. I looked truly bizarre. Did you see me with Jake Tapper? http://youtu. be/1wH5WGlsPNk Hilarious. I did wear the RN&R shirt. Represent! And you know something? I actually consider myself lucky. If I’d been on there with my regular face, I might have been worried about how I was coming off. As it was, I went in knowing I was going to look like an idiot, and despite the fact that I had makeup rubbed in my paralyzed eye, and I was in an unfamiliar environment, I wasn’t nervous, not in the way you’d expect me to be anyway. My luck is ludicrous and peculiar. I came home for lunch on Monday to the biggest lizard I ever saw sunning itself on my front porch. I’m basically a boy at heart—I mean, truly immature in hard-to-imagine ways—so I had to catch the thing. Turned out not to be an actual dinosaur, but a bearded dragon, not a lizard that exists in the wild around here. I named him Stay the fuck Away from Me, which Hunter thoughtfully turned into the acronym Sam. Kelly calls him Sinclair, after the gas stations that had the dinosaur on the logo. I don’t really want to keep him around, but I can’t give him away until I’m sure his owner isn’t one of my neighbors near Cashill Boulevard. Drop me a note if you need Sam in your life.
Re “Note for note” (Arts & Culture, Aug. 21): This was a great article! Thank you for all the mentions, but you missed a couple great luthiers who also live in the area who have wonderful shops and instruments. Firstly, Craig Dill is a well-trained and artistic luthier who has been open at least 10 years. He has hand made instruments as well as commercial instruments and bows. He can be reached at 673-3111. Secondly, I am also a luthier, Bruce McBeth; I just opened a classy, new violin shop in the Sparks area featuring hand made instruments of professional quality. Most importantly, I have conservatory level rental instruments of the violin family, accessories, sales and repairs. I also offer lessons for violin and viola and an extensive list of local, qualified teachers. You can reach me at McBeth Violins, 610 South 18th St., Sparks. Facebook/ McBeth violins 657-1874 A followup story on our local, luthier artists would be great.
brief presence in your lives will allow you to remember him through the rest of your lives. Never having known your son Ramsey, through your words, I too will remember him and so will the thousands of readers that have read your words. Fred Speckmann Reno
Land of the lost Why the feds own up to 85 percent of Nevada’s land has long been a head scratcher. They own more land in Nevada than in any other state in the Union. And not just a little more. The fed-owned 57 million acres in Nevada is nearly 10 percent of all federal land. And it’s nearly six times more than the feds own in all of the original 13 states combined. In 2013 our Legislature established a Land Management Task Force to examine the land ownership issue. The Task Force concluded that Nevada would benefit from a transfer of land from the feds to the state. However Assemblyman Paul Aizley (AD 41), who chairs the Legislative Committee on Public Lands, arbitrarily decided that the idea would not be discussed at a meeting of lawmakers. (Las Vegas Review Journal, Aug 28). The objections to his decision were immediate and bi-partisan. Call me skeptical, but this sounds like a page right out of the Harry Reid playbook. Are we looking at a high speed rail system? If you, like me, think Assemblyman Aizley’s actions don’t pass the sniff test, maybe a phone call to the Assemblyman is in order. Robert R. Kessler Las Vegas
Bruce McBeth Sparks
Rest in peace Re “Goodbye, Ramsey” (Guest comment, Aug. 21): Dear Mr. Farley, thank you for sharing such a touching, personal story about your son’s short life on this Earth. I’m sure that what you shared will help a parent who has or will go through a similar parting with a loved child. My belief in God convinces me that his return to be with God will be a blessing, and that despite the pain that your family feels at his loss, the memory of his brief time on Earth and the blessings that you have experienced from his
Take gov money, you might be a socialist
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in the Boston marathon case. This man initially a police officer in California was dismissed? He has not been held accountable as far as I know, but they lied over and over about the manner of death. Keep up the good work! Nancy Epstein Arlington, Massachusetts
Another story I just heard you on CNN regarding the rate of homicides by police. The Michael Brown shooting has deja vu for me as the parent of Brandon Ray Brown, shot and killed in his mother’s home in Bothell, Washington, on July 10, 2011, by a Snohomish County Sheriff’s deputy. Brandon was physically disabled and suffered from mental illness. The District Attorney, Mark Roe, found the killing to be justified. There was nothing done, and the officer was not prosecuted or reprimanded for his action. The Herald Republic in Everett published the story of my son’s death with another local shooting of a young man making it sound as if there was an outstanding warrant for Brandon. I personally called the newspaper, and they refused to retract their story. Brandon was in the home not committing a crime and was unarmed yet was killed by a macho, overzealous officer. The officers were on site for less than 20 minutes. They did not ask for assistance from a mental health team, SWAT team for show of force, nor a canine unit. Their attempted extraction of Brandon from the home was incompetent and negligent. I would be happy to assist you in any way to slow down this epidemic of unjustified shootings by local law enforcement. I am retired and live in Tucson, Arizona, where police policy seems to be shoot first and ask questions later. Welcome to the Wild West. Dane Brown Tucson, Arizona
You’re welcome Re “Fatal Encounters” (Feature stories, 2014): Thank you for the work you are doing on the number of people killed by police. By exposing these numbers, the justification for these actions will have to be addressed. The underlying issues of power, control and racism are key. All police officers should be subject to a psychological exam. Why is someone killed when they could have been tazed, or shot in the leg? The overreach of police, and police brutality is not adequately addressed. None of these folks go to prison! Like the Boston FBI agent who killed the young man in Florida
If you use the coercive force of the IRS to reach into my paycheck and take money for your retirement and health care, even if you have
—D. Brian Burghart
OPINION
a half-million in the bank, even if you gave yourself that expensive lung cancer through heavy smoking, even if you devoted your life to railing against taxation and social programs, even if you personally invented the word “statist” ... you might be a statist! You also might be Ayn Rand, who accepted Medicare and Social Security benefits from 1976 to 1982. She pilfered a little bit each week from my MGM Grand paycheck, from that little box marked FICA. You see, Medicare and Social Security are direct transfer entitlements, meaning current contributors give to current beneficiaries. So “We the Working” all suffered while Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum aka Ayn Rand lined her New York City apartment with welfare loot. What a taker. Actually I’m glad those Medicare benefits gave her a firewall against medical bankruptcy. That’s just one of many decent things we can do for each other via government, a.k.a. the “state.” C.G. Green Reno
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Web site www.newsreview.com Printed by Paradise Post The RN&R is printed using recycled newsprint whenever available. Editorial Policies Opinions expressed in the RN&R are those of the authors and not of Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact the editor for permission to reprint articles, cartoons or other portions of the paper. The RN&R is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. All letters received become the property of the publisher. We reserve the right to print letters in condensed form.
Cover and feature story design: Brian Breneman
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