DO SOMETHING!

Senior student Taylor Weddell presents the following information about her senior project. “At Carson High, every senior participates in a Senior Project, I wanted to do something completely different and still help some kind of organization or group. I jumped at the opportunity to participate in an event that brings a community together, raises funds and breaks a world record. It was a little intimidating for sure, but I’m working closely with the Board of Directors of the Carson City Schools Foundation and learning so much in the process.

Doctors have told Leslie McGarry her cancer is terminal, predicting she has between two to five years left to live.
She disagrees.

“I don’t feel like,” she begins, but pauses to cover her 5-year-old daughter’s ears. “I don’t feel like I’m dying,” she continues. “Medically, I get it. But I refuse that diagnosis.”

One technician put it to her bluntly. “You have an expiration date,” he told her.

“I laughed. I do have an expiration date, we all do,” McGarry said. “But that’s up to God. He has the final answer.”

Heritage trains at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, a capital tradition, are all set for the holiday season.

Trains operate during the weekends of December 5-6, December 12-13, and December 19-20. To order your tickets now click the "Get Tickets" tab on the NSRM Facebook page here.

In spite of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees freedom of the press, there are some places where journalists don’t belong and are simply not allowed: At times inside a court room with closed proceedings, a jury deliberation room, a medical exam room, and in a legal consultation, among other places.

Dayton resident Connie Higgons Corley was preparing for a ghost walk Saturday morning along the west side of Carson City when she saw an adult male deer struggling with black ropes wrapped around his antlers.

Corley said she is concerned the deer is unable to break free from the tangled ropes or thick strings and witnessed it having trouble walking. She suspects the ropes are from Halloween decorations. The deer was spotted Saturday a street over from the Sears-Ferris House on West Third Street.

First-time author Jake Willers was inspired to write this children’s picture book after spending the past seven years filming urban bears. He recently produced a film entitled Urban Bears: Keeping Nevada’s Bears Wild! for Washoe County Health District and has presented wildlife programs as a wildlife expert filming around the globe for the National Geographic Channel International and for UK’s Channel 5. Jake currently resides in Reno.

National Do Something Nice Day sounds a lot better than Monday. Jump Around Carson, our city bus, is doing something nice to celebrate its tenth anniversary: free bus rides all day. Here’s a link to the schedule. New artwork has moved into most of the galleries in town. Industrial Art is now at the Library; Divergence just opened at the CCAI Courthouse Gallery; and you’ll find Liz Penniman’s exhibit at the Western Nevada College Gallery.

Carson City residents gathered Friday in Mills Park with law officers and firefighters to remember the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The service was held surrounding a I-beam memorial that was given to Carson City in 2010 by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Among the flowers placed on the beam was as an American flag presented to the Carson City Fire Department by Michael Manfredo. The flag was given to the Carson City man by a son of one of the 343 fighters killed at the World Trade Center that day.

This column dovetails my last one concerning mental health care in Nevada.

The recent zeal to bring attention to Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has rightfully brought the topic to the fore. But I feel that the media blitz has been at the expense of other equally severe mental disabilities, the awareness of which have waned and suffered. However good the intentions toward autism coverage may be, this attention has consequently overshadowed other developmental disabilities that are just as critical to treat, and equally heart-breaking.

If you're looking for plans this Labor Day weekend, why not take a leisurely sightseeing tour of our own western Nevada and Sierra backyard? It’s easy to do, you’ll be on paved highways all the way, and you’ll have plenty of chances for taking photographs, shopping, buying souvenirs, eating and perhaps even a little fishing.

The second Free Fishing Day in 2015 in California will be Sept. 5. The first was way back on Saturday, July 4. On Sept. 5, you will be able to fish wherever you like without the need to buy a fishing license. However remember that you will need to abide by the rules and regulations that govern whatever water(s) you will be fishing.

Volunteers participated in Carson City's first Trash Mob bright and early Saturday morning, setting their sights and trash bags on the south side of College Parkway near the I-580 overpass.

Volunteer Randy Gaa said he noticed the trash along the multi-use path and wanted to do something about it. As a member of Muscle Powered, a community group that advocates bicycling and pedestrian friendly development, he brought up his concerns to Donna Inversin, Muscle Powered's president.

A 43-year-old Carson City man was arrested Sunday in the 300 block of Arthur Street on a misdemeanor charge of battery, a Carson City sheriff’s deputy said. According to the arrest report, officers were called to a residence in reference to a battery. Upon arrival officers met with two women, one who said her adult son was intoxicated and barricaded himself in his bedroom.

The Downtown 2020 group initiated and promoted the Downtown Carson City Renovation plan. This took years of planning, relentless meetings with the Board of Supervisors and working with many different city agencies, City Planner, City Manager and engineers.

During this process there have been meetings with all the businesses and reaching out to the college and our high school to get them involved. We had public meetings where we listened and adapted your concerns to our plan for we understood that to be successful it takes a village.

What is freedom, and what does it mean?

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines freedom as “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action…the power or condition of acting without compulsion.”

What this means to the average American living in freedom every day is being able to choose what you say or do without government restraint or compulsion to say or do something else.

Today is National Nature Photography Day, so have at it. Find something beautiful and take a snapshot. It’s also National Smile Power Day, so you may as well take some pictures of smiling faces as well. Do something to make Monday a little brighter and the day will fly by. The Friends of the Carson City Library are having a half-off everything sale at Browsers Corner Book Store all week, so go in and find yourself a summer read. Don’t forget to head into Classy Seconds Thrift Shop this week and grab a ticket for Taste of Downtown: it hits the streets on Saturday.

MONDAY:

Tonya Champa reads a book to her son Kade Champa, 4, after the Carson City Chamber Leadership graduation ceremony and unveiling of their project, The Kennedy Children's Corner, at the Carson City Library Thursday, June 11, 2015. Each year the graduates do something to benefit the library.

This is a reminder to pick up a widely-distributed and widely-read, outdoor publication known as “Fishing The California Alps.”
That annual newspaper is your personal guide to the fishing, camping, sightseeing and vacationing world in this part of the West, and it has many pages of detailed, in-depth information provided by experts in their specific areas of knowledge and experience.

Yesterday, I found myself in Walmart doing last minute “Band-Aid shopping” for a party I was throwing. Band-Aid shopping is a special kind of shopping. No, I’m not talking about shopping for Band-Aids. I’m talking about shopping for items that will be a temporary fix to a problem.

As they say, the show must go on. And when faced with a gas grill with no propane, no punch bowl, and birthday cake without ice cream, I went into go fix-it mode. T-minus one hour until the DJ arrived to set up for the party and I hit the road for a solution.

A 44-year-old man, Robert Lawson White, was arrested Friday, 1:08 a.m. in the 1900 block of North Carson Street on suspicion of administering a controlled substance, methamphetamine, against the victim’s will and misdemeanor domestic battery.

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Entering into his 10th hour of nonstop speaking, Ian Hill said he was feeling fine. “It’s amazing that after nine-and-a-half hours, I still have all this energy,” he said.

The business leader and international motivational speaker began talking 6 a.m. Thursday at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City and will continue through Saturday morning in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for longest public speaking event.

UPDATE: Ian Hill's world record attempt is underway. Go here for live video from the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City.
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The Carson City youth CPAC girl’s soccer program has an opportunity to compete in an international tournament in Canada during the FIFA Women’s World Cup, June 6 through July 5 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

During a news conference to launch the Carson City School District’s fundraising organization, President Ian Hill announced the foundation had already been successful in securing donations.
“Before even announcing it to the world, we’ve already raised $27,500,” he said.

Hill, a business owner and motivational speaker, addressed the crowd gathered Wednesday morning in Carson High School’s Senator Square to explain the purpose of the foundation. He told the students in the audience to review their goals for their lives.

It's Random Act of Kindness Day. I think the inventor of the smiley said it best.

"The catch phrase for the day is 'Do an act of kindness. Help one person smile.'"
Harvey Ball

Have a great day, Carson City. Do something nice for no reason.

TUESDAY: Fat Tuesday – Mardi Gras:

• Catholic Charities Day at the Legislature

The weekend returns, and with it a new chance to do something fun. The Brewery Arts Center is hosting its annual ‘Winter, Wine, and All That Jazz’ fundraiser, and it promises to be better than ever with performances by Le Cirque Vagabond, Starr Nixdorf, a live Jazz Orchestra and more.

The readers of USA Today have chosen Carson City as the “best travel worthy state capital in the nation,” officials of the 10 Best contest announced this morning.

The win gives Carson City bragging rights, a nice shot in the arm for local tourism, a national and international spotlight and citywide pride that comes with living in the state capital.

Topaz Lake, which is located along U.S. 395 at the Nevada-California state line, will open its 2015 fishing season, one half hour before sunrise, on Thursday, Jan. 1.

If the weather is decent, if you don't have a massive hangover, if you like to fish and if you don't have anything else planned, this could be a fun way to start the New Year. Bundle up though because daytime temperatures in the area are not expected break 30 degrees.

With the holiday season here, Carson Tahoe Health in Carson City has collected hundreds of items from employees and is filling personal belonging bags for local area foster children.

“Many kids are taken from their homes and placed in Foster Care for their protection without the opportunity to take anything with them.” said James Reyes, Food and Nutrition Services Manager. “So Carson Tahoe decided to step in and do something to help make this transition easier.”

Remember when you were a kid and your parents played “peek-a-boo” with you? The reason why it was so much fun is quite interesting. You see, to a child, the face ceases to exist when it’s not seen. This concept is called object permanence.

Kids, developmentally, can’t grasp the concept that even though the face is out of view, it is still there. Unfortunately, we can’t play “peek-a-boo” with people, problems, and uncomfortable situations that enter our lives. Even if we walk away or cover it up, it’s still there until we face it.

Delicious, nourishing soup for the soul served steaming hot for the price of a handmade artisan bowl was the early warm-up Friday favorite at the second annual Empty Bowls Project held at Telegraph Square in downtown Carson City. The feast kicked off the annual Silver and Snowflake Festival of Lights at the Nevada State Capitol.