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June 10, 2001
GUEST
COLUMN
Andrew Barbano is a 32-year
Nevadan, media consultant and
muckraker. E-mail <Barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us> Barbwire by
Barbano
has originated in the Sunday Sparks (Nev.) Tribune since 1988.
BARBWIRE
BY ANDREW BARBANO, (775) 786-1455
FROM THE 6-10-2001 DAILY SPARKS, NEV.,TRIBUNE
Somehow,
kissing us afterward is no longer enough......
Retired reporter Thomas
Wilson recently observed that Nevada government is controlled by a
narrow group of rich men with one marginally redeeming trait:
"They may be democratic among themselves."
The great unwashed can
take cold comfort in government by consensus among con men.
This should come as no
surprise to old-timers as authors Sally Denton and Roger Morris
point out in their new book "The Money and the Power: The
Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America, 1947-2000."
They make a compelling
case that the ethics of organized crime, corporatized and
legitimized here in the High Desert Outback of the American Dream,
have not only infected every aspect of American life, but also
become more virulent. One billionaire descendant of old Nevada
noted that even the casino mobsters of yesteryear would be
appalled at the way their successors are not taking care of
business.
"When Las Vegas
needed a new park, a church or some other public need, the money
was raised. Most of the time it wasn't done through increased tax
levies. Rather, the hat was passed amongst the gambling
establishments and the money came rolling in," Las Vegas Sun
Publisher Brian Greenspun noted in a column last week.
"Those were
simpler times, to be sure, and cannot be recaptured in the more
modern ways of the 21st century. But they did evidence something
very important about what was then a young and growing community.
When it came time to buy the schoolbooks, build the libraries and
pay the teachers, the good people up and down the Strip knew the
value of building a good and solid community. They reached into
their pockets to make sure it would happen," Greenspun wrote.
"Today, the
opposite appears to be the case. While most people would agree on
the needs for significant quality-of-life expenditures, the answer
is to reach into someone else's pocket. A stark contrast to the
days when building a good life meant taking responsibility for it
in the most direct way," Greenspun stated.
Two bills which died in
Carson City last week present a cruel indictment of the depraved
indifference which now rules.
CANCER IS COOL WITH
CARSON CITY. Assemblywoman Marcia deBraga, D-Fallon, pushed for a
special grant of $1 million to expedite research and public
education regarding the leukemia cluster in the Lahontan Valley.
One of 14 small children has already died.
"So you're saying
the guys down south would rather have a road in their town than
care about sick kids in ours?" asked one Churchill County
resident in a Wednesday community meeting.
"It sends a really
bizarre message," deBraga said. "Some less important
projects were funded. Even with the governor's assurance funds
would be available, they didn't add anything extra for the
leukemia investigation," yesterday's Nevada Appeal reported.
In Fallon this evening
at 6:00 p.m., a memorial service will be held for Adam Jernee, 10,
the first of the Fallon cancer cluster kids to succumb. It will
take place at Oats Park at the corner of Richards Way and West
Street. For information, call Rebecca Easter at 775-867-3734.
ADDICTS ARE US. For the
first time in the history of the Sagebrush Plantation, a bill was
introduced to start a program for gambling addicts.
"I think it was
the first time the words 'problem gambling' were ever uttered in
Carson City," addiction consultant Bo Bernhard told the Las
Vegas Sun.
The industry did not
oppose the bill, but it was nonetheless ignored, cut, left to
bleed and die.
The senate judiciary
committee, chaired by bill supporter Mark James, R-Las Vegas,
passed SB 335 fully funded by means of a $100 assessment on every
gaming licensee.
The senate finance
committee, headed by Bill Raggio, R-Reno, reduced it to $75,000.
Even at that, the bill was ignored as heavyweight lobbyists
controlled the agenda on the shameful final night of the regular
session.
"This is just part
of our record of not giving a damn about a serious issue,"
said UNLV Prof. Bill Thompson.
"Other casino states spend far
more than $250,000 on problem gambling, even though Nevada's
casino business is more than twice as big as any other
state's," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Friday.
"For example, Michigan has
only three state-regulated casinos, but spent $3.4 million last
year on problem-gambling programs," reporter Jeff Simpson
wrote.
"Nevada should be
embarrassed," James said Thursday. "Other states spend a
lot, but we spend nothing."
DETENTION SESSION. Gov.
Dudley Do-Right has said he will not allow any such measures to be
revived at the legislature's remedial session which begins
Thursday. He will allow re-validation of some brutal bills which
passed after the midnight Tuesday deadline, which threw their
validity into doubt.
Utility deregulation
for casinos and mines is perhaps the worst of the lot. Yesterday,
Harrah's announced a major deal with Enron, the biggest of the
deregulatory bandidos, the company which wrote Nevada's first
deregulation law in 1997.
HARRAH'S HEELS. No
stranger to brutality, Harrah's has implemented the cruel and
unusual "Personal Best" employee appearance policy in
Atlantic City. Among other indignities, it mandates deforming high
heels for cocktail servers. Harrah's-Reno fired longtime bartender
Darlene Jespersen for refusing to wear makeup dictated by the
policy. She's taking legal action.
WAL-MART WHINES.
Tomorrow, the City of Reno is due to file a response to Wal-Mart's
lawsuit. The world's largest retailer wants Judge Steve Kosach to
overturn the Reno City Council's 5-2 denial of a superstore in
northwest Reno.
At 2:00 a.m. PDT this
Tuesday, KNPB TV-5 will air "Store Wars -- When Wal-Mart
Comes to Town," a real-life late night horror movie. Set your
VCR's and call (775) 784-4555 to lobby the station to re-air it at
a more opportune time.
The program will be
cablecast on Cox Cable 10 in Las Vegas at 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
PDT, also on this coming Tuesday, June 12. KLVX does not broadcast
over the air from midnight until 6:00 a.m. but the national PBS
network feed is picked up by Cox Cable in the wee hours.
Convincing KLVX to air it
earlier is a bit more complicated. You have to contact Patty
Thaxton at KUAT in Tucson, Ariz., who's in charge of KLVX
programming. You may call her at (520) 299-1866.
Read an expanded column
with website and e-mail links to more about all of the above at: http://www.nevadaLabor.com/
Be well. Raise hell.
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