DO SOMETHING!

The Nevada legislature's Assembly Committee on the Judiciary is set to meet tomorrow, Saturday June 1 at 8AM to discuss and possibly vote on Senate Bill 221. Please call and write to express your opposition to this bill.

The full text of the bill can be found on
https://nelis.leg.state.nv.us/77th2013/App#/77th2013/Bill/Overview/SB221

Assembly Judiciary Committee:
Jason.Frierson@asm.state.nv.us 775-684-8537
James.Ohrenschall@asm.state.nv.us
Richard.Carrillo@asm.state.nv.us
Lesley.Cohen@asm.state.nv.us
Olivia.Diaz@asm.state.nv.us
Marilyn.DonderoLoop@asm.state.nv.us

The plan for making downtown more pedestrian, bike, and business friendly was presented and voted on at the Board of Supervisors meeting on the evening of April 18. It was a special session that made it more for convenient for the public to attend. The Mayor chose not to hold speakers to a time limit, giving everyone a chance to speak their mind. And that they did.  The meeting began at 6:30 PM with an overview of the project from Public Works, followed by public commentary, and didn’t wrap up with the final vote until 10:30 PM.

A senior project for a Carson City high school student that involved "extreme couponing" for two months netted more than $1,100 worth of goods that he donated to area veterans.

Dallas Burnett, a Carson High School senior, managed to find, clip, cut, and ultimately save $818.56 in grocery and household items that he donated to the Veterans Guest House in Reno.

Normally when someone has not filed income tax returns for a few years, the IRS is willing to just get the returns filed and paid. It usually has no jail time involved. IRS will charge interest and some penalties.

However, a taxpayer named Laubly was sentenced to 96 months in jail for willful failure to file a tax return and for tax evasion. Perhaps it was the tax evasion charge that the court found as adequate reason for the jail time sentence.

by RILEY SNYDER

School police officers in Washoe and Clark Counties could play a more active role in public safety if a Nevada Assembly bill passes this session.

Assembly Bill 103, which was introduced today in the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs, would remove the jurisdiction restrictions placed on school police officers in Washoe and Clark counties, giving them classification as full-fledged police officers. Most of the questions regarding AB 103 came from a proposed repeal of the jurisdiction guidelines in the Nevada Revised Statues.

The Mayor of Carson City was the guest at this week's meeting of the Carson City Men's Club. Per prior agreement he did not give a prepared speech, and after a glowing introduction that gave a brief highlight of his impressive history of accomplishments, he fielded questions from his audience.

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office received an early Christmas present after being notified it has received national "Outstanding Citizen Participation” recognition for its 2012 National Night Out crime, drug and violence special prevention event held in August.

This is my annual pre-Christmas reminder that Topaz Lake, located along U.S. 395 at the Nevada-California state line, will open its 2013 fishing season, one half hour before sunrise, on Tuesday, January 1.
If the weather is decent, if you don't have a massive hang-over, 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.

Are you interested?

Rakes, shovels, wheel barrels, wood chips and wrenches were united with nearly 170 volunteers Saturday in Carson City, pitching in their time to put up new playground equipment at Bordewich Bray Elementary School.

Through the support of the Let Them be Kids organization that awarded the school equipment, along with faculty, staff, students and parents, the playground equipment is designed with all students, especially those with autism.

After 21 years serving as executive director of the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau, Executive Director Candy Duncan has announced her retirement.
She will officially retire on Jan. 1, she told the board in a letter. During her tenure, Duncan oversaw the transformation of Carson City as a travel destination, changing the tourism paradigm by highlighting the area's rich history and modern amenities as attractive attributes to luring visitors to the capital city.

As I noted earlier this year, one of California’s two Free Fishing Days will be on Sept. 8. The other Free Fishing Day was way back on July 7. You can fish, all day, without a fishing license on Saturday.
You will be able to fish wherever you like in California, without the need for a fishing license.

A year ago today, Carson City experienced an unspeakable event in the tragic shooting at our local IHOP restaurant. Whether you were at work, school, home or going about your day, you no doubt remember Sept. 6, 2011, and the senseless act of violence that touched our community. Fear and anxiety was followed by a sense of urgency and the desire to do something; and these emotions turned into sadness and grief. But through it all, as members of the Nevada family, we found each other.

This is a reminder that a special trout fishing season will open on the Friday before Labor Day.
August 31, 2012 is the Opening Day of the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout fishing season at Heenan Lake in nearby Alpine County, Calif.
Each year, that season opens the Friday before Labor Day and closes the last Sunday in October (October 28 this year). If you’re interested and if you would like to enjoy a totally different fishing experience, plan to spend August 31 at that easy-to-get-to location.

A reader yesterday submitted the following letter dealing with the Carson City Center Project, aka Nugget Project, and the citizen's petition to put the issue on the ballot:

Carson Supervisors Poised to Lose Credibility. . .Again

This Thursday Carson's supervisors are poised to undermine the community's clear desire for finite boundaries on the downtown library complex project.

CARSON CITY, NEV (June 29, 2012) – The Nevada Rural Housing Authority (NRHA) has launched a new home mortgage and down payment assistance program that is designed to help a group that has received very little help until now: working Nevadans who have been hurt by the downturn in the economy and the housing crisis.

CARSON CITY – Two Democrats seeking to succeed Steven Horsford in the 4th Senate district in Clark County disagreed today in a televised debate on a business margin tax sought by teachers to fund public education.

Western Nevada College pitcher Dylan Baker made history for his Wildcats team Tuesday while his own dream of becoming a professional baseball player came true. The Cleveland Indians selected Baker in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball draft, making him the highest-ever selection out of WNC.

The unbeaten hurler from Juneau, Alaska, was the 173rd pick of the 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

The soaring atrium of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center at the University of Nevada, Reno, which housed a 9.5-foot tree made entirely of old books during the holiday season, is now the site of another display using recycled goods. In celebration of Earth Day, Knowledge Center employees have erected a 7-feet-tall, 8-feet-wide “N,” constructed with 1,580 recycled water bottles collected in the center’s recycling receptacles.

At the urging of Congressman Tom McClintock, R-Calif., a committee has been formed to find an unnamed mountain peak seen from South Lake Tahoe that will be dedicated to fallen U.S. soldiers from the area.
Congressman McClintock's office approached the U.S. Forest Service about opportunities for a memorial. Forest Supervisor Nancy Gibson came up with the idea of naming an unnamed peak as one of the options for a memorial on National Forest System lands.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.

That's the basis of the argument being put forward by some of the more vocal supporters of the Carson City Center Project, aka Nugget Project, as they try to fight back the attempt to put the issue on the November ballot.

They would be wise to follow their own advice.

Elaine and I just returned home from a special way to celebrate a special occasion. March 30 was our 10th wedding anniversary and we had wanted to do something out of the ordinary for that event.

When we were married 10 years ago, we took a 19 day honeymoon in Southeast Asia, which included Hong Kong, China; Singapore, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; and the last eight days at Bali, Indonesia.

Most interesting, we took my new mother-in-law, Mary Bottoms, with us!
I bet that very few of you took your mother-in-law on your honeymoon!

CARSON CITY – The Legislative Commission voted today to let the residents of Laughlin decide in June on whether they will become Nevada’s next incorporated city.

Reading over the coverage of the Supreme Court's oral arguments over the fate of ObamaCare, you might get the impression that the conservative-leaning court will strike this law down.

While those people on each side of the political divide will have their opinions about this, I, as a person whose profession is all about writing and words, am struck by how the future of this law seems hinged on the wording in the legislation.

The major argument against ObamaCare has to do with the requirement that everyone must buy health insurance, otherwise known as the individual mandate.

Planned Parenthood evokes strong reactions in most people. The name has been in the media a lot lately; from the many attempts to rescind their funding at a federal level to the recent fiasco with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, nearly everyone has the name at the tip of their tongue these days. With that in mind, it's not too surprising that 100 to 150 people crowded into the new Carson City Planned Parenthood clinic to check out the new digs at their open house Monday night.

Twenty percent of adults in Nevada said they smoke, but of those, 40 percent say they have considered quitting or would like to take action to quit smoking. The New Year brings a chance to act on the desire to quit. Why not make your health a priority this year and resolve to quit smoking?

Every parent should recognize the childish antics of House Republicans on the payroll tax cut extension controversy.

When my nine-year-old doesn't want to do something, a familiar pattern emerges.

First comes the outright refusal. "No, I don't want to," she will say. It's almost always the most truthful part of the whole exchange.

When she sees that doesn't work, then she backpedals to find some other reason to support her position. "I can't do it now because I'm doing (something else)."

This is my annual pre-Christmas reminder that Topaz Lake, located along U.S. 395 at the Nevada-California state line, will open its 2012 fishing season, one half hour before sunrise, on January 1.
If the weather is decent, if you don't have a massive hang-over, 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.

RENO, Nev. – Half-mile long thermometers have been dropped through the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica that will give the world relevant data on sea and ice temperatures for tracking climate change and its effect on the glacial ice surrounding the continent. The study based at the University of Nevada, Reno is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs and other NSF grants.

The Carson Valley Inn is serving a Free Spaghetti Lunch for all Veterans and Active Military – plus one guest – on Veteran's Day, Friday, November 11. The event will be held in the Valley Ballroom from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This weekend saw two more tragedies for the motorsports world with Nevada connections.

Most people have already heard about or seen the video replays of the horrific IndyCar crash in Las Vegas on Sunday that claimed the life of two-time Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon.

The same day, off-road racer Rick Huseman was killed in a plane crash in California after taking off from North Las Vegas.