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It’s our birthday Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review. Feb. 22 is a big day for this newspaper. From one angle, it’s the 20th anniversary of the first issue of the Reno News & Review. I was here for that day in 1995. My name was also on the masthead of the first Nevada Weekly, Nov. 17, 1993, which became the RN&R. People have been bugging me about what we were going to do for our anniversary for a year now. “Nothing,” I’d always say, “nobody cares about a 20th birthday party.” That’s true, right? People are excited to turn 18, so they’re a “legal adult.” But then they’re stuck in the doldrums of 19 and 20 (when you’re an adult with the rights of a child). And by that I mean, you have the responsibilities of being able to sign contracts, vote, or join the military without your parents’ permission. I think most states will allow you to get married without parental permission. But it’s really about 21. I mean, I never heard of anyone going out to rent a car just because they turned 25. And by their 30th birthday, I think most people begin to put quotation marks around “celebrate.” I was living in Houston when I turned 20. I’d been drinking legally there for a year. I’d been drinking 3.2 beer in Kansas legally since I turned 18. But I couldn’t drink in Nebraska until I was 21, and if I couldn’t drink with my friends in Nebraska, well, I’d drink with them in Kansas—and drive home. Nowadays, every state has the 21-and-over law. Do you feel me? The Reno News & Review has been nothing if not precocious. I remember those toddler years when everything was a challenge. We had people around here who wouldn’t know a deadline if it knocked them down and “made love” to them. We had people who showed up whenever they wanted. Lots of very committed people. A couple should have been committed. It’s actually amazing to me that we never have really changed from those crazy early days. You probably know the new science suggests that people don’t become real adults—as opposed to the legal fiction—until they turn 25. Well, I’m not waiting for us to get mature before I start celebrating. Get ready for something.
A horse of a different color Re “Buck wild” (Green, Feb. 5): Good for you! You showed some moral courage to stand up and do what you did. Too many people today are herded around like so many domesticated cows and then led to the slaughter just like the cows are in one way or another. The wild horses in the wild are everything that is good in this world today. They restore the life community. They are healing presences. Thank you so much for standing up for them! Craig Downer Minden
When they’re gone Re “Buck wild” (Green, Feb. 5): Seems to me the Bundys were more extreme than these little women were or would ever be. When is BLM ever going to come clean and admit they are working to exterminate the horses to make room for more privately owned cattle? Sue Carter Truth or Consequences, N.M.
Gunshy As a University of Nevada, Reno student, the proposed bill permitting of campus carry at universities and child-care facilities is not only terrifying, but a recipe for disaster. As of now, I consider the UNR campus as a very safe place, but, like any college campus, it is an environment where hundreds of potentially unstable people spend their day. If this bill were to pass, our campus will turn from a place of safety into a danger zone. Time has reported that a trained police officer hits his or her target only 18 percent of the time during a gunfight. Now, imagine how poor the accuracy of an untrained person might be. In addition to the extremely high likelihood for accidents or misfires, in a rare emergency situation the unpredictability of armed students would worsen the situation and lead to more
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casualties. Even with the intention to help and protect, allowing students and employees to be armed would further escalate a dangerous situation. If violence is fought with violence the campus will become a war zone. I urge my fellow students, community members, and concerned citizens to contact their legislators and fight for our right to succeed in a safe, gunfree environment. Lila Reeves-Hampton Reno
Call your legislator My name is Kayla, and to hear that campus carry is even an option is shocking. As a UNR student, I’ve come to realize lives can be put in even more danger when anyone can have a gun on campus. Legislators need to reject the bill; it does nothing, but has the ability to cause more incidents to happen. If everyone had the right to carry a gun on campus, the chance for more tragedy would increase, whether it’s a huge shooting or even a gun being dropped and shooting someone. People say, “It will be for protection,” but you have a higher chance of your gun being used against you than using it to protect yourself. Guns need to be nowhere near any type of school, daycare, high school or college. As a citizen with a voice, we need to reject campus carry! Kayla Larson Las Vegas
Not voting has consequences As a retired teacher, mother and grandmother, I am very opposed to the passage of AB2, which would allow carry-on weapons on school campuses. Allowing carryon weapons on school campuses increases, rather than decreases, the likelihood that deranged and unstable individuals will use weapons in destructive ways. It is also a fact that the availability of guns results in more violence rather than less. Also, placing weapons in the hands of
Editor/Publisher D. Brian Burghart News Editor Dennis Myers Arts Editor Brad Bynum Special Projects Editor Georgia Fisher Calendar Editor Kelley Lang Contributors Amy Alkon, Woody Barlettani, Bob Grimm, Ashley Hennefer, Sheila Leslie, Eric Marks, Dave Preston, Jessica Santina, Todd South, Brendan Trainor, Bruce Van Dyke, Allison Young
Creative Director Priscilla Garcia Art Director Hayley Doshay Junior Art Director Brian Breneman Production Coordinator Skyler Smith Design Melissa Bernard, Brad Coates, Kyle Shine Advertising Consultants Joseph “Joey” Davis, Gina Odegard, Bev Savage, Jessica Wilson Senior Classified Advertising Consultant Olla Ubay Operations Coordinator Nanette Harker
—D. Brian Burghart
brianb@ ne wsreview . com
OPINION
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NEWS
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GREEN
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FEATURE STORY
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ARTS&CULTURE
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ART OF THE STATE
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FOODFINDS
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FILM
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MUSICBEAT
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untrained individuals in emergency situations may result in the injuring or killing of other innocent students. I encourage you to join me in opposing AB2 because it endangers more students than it protects. Schools should be gun free zones, and children should feel safe on school campuses. I urge our legislators to vote against this bill, and I urge all your readers to contact your legislators and request that he/she also vote “NO” on AB2. Gale Audia Reno
security number. I save receipts, monitor personal accounts regularly and alert my credit card companies when I plan to be out of town. I’ve also become a bit paranoid. Since we are such a litigious society, filing lawsuits, as indicated in the article, may be the only way to get companies to take notice. Or, we can wait until someone hacks into a missile or nuclear weapons site and annihilates the earth. Now, that’s a comforting thought. CT Masters Reno
It’s all public
Cancel meetings?
Re “You will be hacked” (Feature story, Feb. 12): Welcome to the 21st century where personal data can be plucked like succulent low-hanging fruit, and it’s no longer a matter of if we will get hacked, but when. According to FBI Director James Comey, “There are two kinds of big companies in the United States. There are those who’ve been hacked … and those who don’t know they’ve been hacked.” What’s become so frustrating with all these data breeches is how slow and seemingly incompetent and cavalier companies appear when dealing with them. And, not only do we have to worry about our identity and credit/debit cards being compromised, there is the equally worrying concern of someone hacking into our medical files. What about that tax refund you never received? It probably wound up in someone else’s pocket when they falsely filed your return. There is no such thing as personal privacy anymore. Our entire lives are online, thanks in part to our own doing. However, if we try to remove what is deemed “public” information—name, previous addresses and cities, age, etc.—some sites require proof of identity. Ludicrous! I, for one, refuse to feed that trend more than I have to. I shop local whenever possible, use my credit card sparingly and question every time a business asks for my social
Re “No Fair” (Feature story, Feb. 11): Once again it’s clear: Dennis Myers is one of the few journalists working in Nevada who knows his stuff. Is anyone in Carson City paying attention? It’s been clear to me for years that Myers knows more about Nevada’s failed tax systems than any elected official in the State Legislature. His recent cover story proves the case again. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that no legislator in Carson City possesses the common sense or courage to fix a broken system. We must hit the “reset” button on our failed and failing tax structure. Democrats and Republicans alike share the blame for session after session of allowing lobbyists to govern. The bigger picture is that these folks whom we elect stand helpless in the face of a biennual 120 day session, yet again they seem to lack the courage or common sense to say so publicly. The only true “reform” of Nevada’s tax system that will create the changes we need must involve shredding the current system entirely and starting from a blank slate. Gov. Sandoval should at least respond publicly to the Tax Foundation report cited in Myers’ article. And legislators ought to cancel a few of their meetings with lobbyists in order to use the time to read the report. Brad Summerhill Reno
Distribution Director Greg Erwin Distribution Manager Anthony Clarke Distribution Drivers Sandra Chhina, Steve Finlayson, Debbi Frenzi, Vicky Jewell, Angela Littlefield, Joe Medeiros, Ron Neill, Christian Shearer, Marty Troye, Warren Tucker, Gary White, Joseph White, Margaret Underwood General Manager/Publisher John D. Murphy President/CEO Jeff vonKaenel Chief Operations Officer Deborah Redmond Human Resource Manager Tanja Poley Business Manager Grant Rosenquist
NIGHTCLUBS/CASINOS
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THIS WEEK
Business Nicole Jackson, Kortnee Angel
Sweetdeals Coordinator Courtney deShields Nuts & Bolts Ninja Christina Wukmir
Lead Technology Synthesist Jonathan Schultz Senior Support Tech Joe Kakacek Developer John Bisignano System Support Specialist Kalinn Jenkins 405 Marsh Ave., Third Floor Reno, NV 89509 Phone (775) 324-4440 Fax (775) 324-4572 Classified Fax (916) 498-7940 Mail Classifieds to classifieds@newsreview.com
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MISCELLANY
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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 Cover photo: Eric Marks
FEBRUARY 5, 2015
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