Cell Phones

UPDATE THURSDAY 3:40PM: Go here for the latest on the King Fire. June Lake Road was to be opened at 2 p.m. Thursday. Here's a news brief from Mono County Sheriff's Office.

UPDATE: June Lake Fire Road Closures. The fire remains controlled with small hot spots. Fire crews continue to work on these hot spots.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) will begin letting people through Hwy 158 beginning at 1:00 PM with the advisement of fire activity and equipment on the roadway. Please be aware and respect all fire equipment, personnel and hazards in or on the roadway. Think safety first for our fire and law enforcement personnel and for yourselves. Please use caution when traveling through the area.

Hwy 158 is anticipated to be fully open at 2:00 PM. Again, please be mindful of fire personnel and equipment and all first responders and law enforcement in the area. Travel safe!

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UPDATE 330PM: According to a Tweet this afternoon from Caltrans, Highway 50 is back open but the westbound No. 2 lane will remain closed overnight because of ongoing King Fire issues. A portion of the highway and artery for traffic into and out of South Lake Tahoe and Stateline, had been closed since Tuesday, from Sly Park Road to Fresh Pond, due to burning trees falling on the road.

Meanwhile, the June Fire burning in Mono County is estimated to be 65 acres and 50 percent contained.

After three accidents involving pedestrians in July and calls from the public to crack down on both drivers who don't stop for them and pedestrians who illegally cross the street, the Carson City Sheriff's Office has announced it will hold a crosswalk operation Friday, Aug. 8.

Designed to educate the public, the operation will target pedestrians and drivers who break the law, said Carson City Sheriff's Office Sgt. Scott McDaniel.

For motorists, McDaniel advises all to pay attention to the crosswalks as they approach, slow down and be prepared to stop.

In the last three weeks we have had two pedestrians struck by vehicles while in crosswalks. For many this may not seem like a large number but even two is too many.

With the increase in traffic during the summer months and along with it a large amount of pedestrians out and about; we must all do our part to ensure the safety of those crossing the roadways.

Now that we are in the heart of summer, here are some "Q-Tips," that, hopefully, should make your visits more enjoyable to the Great Outdoors:

Abundant moisture and instability will lead to increasing chances for thunderstorms this week for the Carson City and Douglas County region, Western Nevada and the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Due to light winds aloft and high moisture content, the storms may produce heavy rain and bring the potential for flash flooding, according to the National Weather Service. A Flash Flood Watch has been issued Wednesday for Douglas County in Nevada and Mono and Alpine counties in California.

The DeGolyer Buckin’ Horse and Bull Bash allows onlookers to get up close and personal with hooves and horns at the Churchill County Fairgrounds June 27-28. This family friendly event offers five great rodeo events, nightly concerts, military appreciation, local vendors and a special tribute to fallen cowboys and cowgirls.

Two local programs, Nevada Indian Territory and Ventana Sierra, Inc., received grant money from the Nevada Commission on Tourism designed to increase travel to the Carson City area.

The money is part of $985,146 in grant funding for projects throughout rural Nevada designed to increase travel to those areas, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki announced Wednesday at the commission’s quarterly meeting.

Summer has arrived in Carson City and with it comes dry conditions which, if we are not careful, can lead to brush and forest fires. If you smoke while driving, tossing a lit cigarette out the car window could prove expensive in more ways than one.

The cost to fight a fire caused by carelessness can be in the thousands and even millions of dollars and the fine for throwing a lit cigarette from a vehicle is $1,000.

Fire restrictions will begin Friday on public land throughout western Nevada, eastern California and the Sierra, according to the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Below-average precipitation this winter and spring and a third consecutive year of drought have led to abnormally low soil-and-fuel moistures, increasing the potential for large and potentially devastating wildfires, the agencies announced.

On Friday, May 23 and Tuesday, May 27 the Carson City Sheriff’s Office will conduct saturation patrols in the Carson City area.

Deputies will be looking for individuals who are talking or texting on their cell phones while operating motor vehicles. These patrols are designed to help reduce crashes, said Carson City Sheriffs Office Sgt. Scott McDaniel.

A $6-plus million repaving project along a stretch of Highway 50 east of Carson City is planned for late spring through summer with some safety improvements built into the plans, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation.

Merge lane improvements, slope flattening, the installation of a t-intersection and turn lanes for easier access at Flint Drive and State Route 341 are scheduled as part of the safety upgrades on Highway 50 between Deer Run Road and east of SR341, said NDOT spokeswoman Meg Ragonese.

Deputies of the Douglas County and Lyon County Sheriff’s Offices have increased traffic enforcement patrols on various highways and roadways within the two counties. The added patrol began Monday and runs through Feb. 22.

The increased patrols will specifically target distracted drivers, motorists using their cell phones and those speeding, said Douglas County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Pat Brooks.

Deputies see it everyday, drivers talking on their cell phones or texting while driving. What’s the big deal? Well for one thing, it is illegal but, it also distracts you from concentrating on the roadway and traffic ahead of you.

Five seconds to send a quick text is equal to the length of a football field when driving 55 miles per hour. That’s how long your eyes are off the road. The average text conversation lasts about three minutes.

A Dayton man was arrested Thursday on a felony possession of stolen property warrant Thursday. Joshua Lee Irvine, 34, is being held in the Carson City Jail on $40,237 bail.

According to the arrest report, officers were dispatched to a grocery store in the 1800 block of North Carson Street at 3:06 p.m. on a larceny report and a man being uncooperatives. Store employees stated the man put a two-pack of Flex lights, valued at $2.99, into a bag and walked out of the store without paying.

CARSON CITY — On occasion it becomes necessary for law enforcement to restrict access to an area where an emergency is taking place. Most of the time traffic is allowed to continue with minimal direction from on scene personnel.

Unfortunately though, sometimes it becomes a matter of necessity to block an entire roadway to traffic for both the safety of you, the motoring public and those who are working in the area which is blocked off.

A Carson City man faces a felony charge of possessing stolen property, a laptop computer, and five misdemeanors after he was arrested Sept. 14 in the 2800 block of Carmine Street.

Eduardo Reyes, 43, was jailed with bail at $27,469. According to the arrest report, officers went to the residence of the man who had a confirmed warrant out of Carson City Justice Court for obstructing and driving without a valid license.

Driving a vehicle is very interesting and often an adventure in Carson City. I have found that when driving in our fair city, you must be on your toes at all times and be ready to react to whoever is approaching from any direction.

In my less-than-humble opinion, Carson City has more than its fair share of dumb, stupid, indifferent, inattentive, careless, reckless and rude drivers; and I seem to encounter many of them when driving around town.

Here are some examples of what I have experienced around Carson City – Do any of these sound familiar to you?

The National Weather Service in Reno has implemented a weather text alert system for smart phones. A number of Carson Now readers have said they've gotten text message alerts already, the first being a dust storm from Monday. Here's the skinny:

Tinder-dry vegetation, lingering drought conditions, increasing daytime temperatures and several human-caused fires have prompted the Bureau of Land Management Carson City District Office, the Carson and Bridgeport Ranger Districts of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Nevada Division of Forestry’s to announce the implementation of fire restrictions today, Friday, June 28.

The Carson City Sheriff's Office reports an uptick in vehicle burglaries around town and asks residents to take pro-active measures to avoid becoming victims.

According to Sgt. Darrin Sloan, the sheriff's office looks at each case to identify patterns to help thwart this type of crime, but lately, patterns are not showing themselves.

There are, however, numerous vehicle burglary cases that have aspects in common, including unlocked doors, open windows and valuables left in plain view, said Sloan in a news release.

Former students of the historic Stewart Indian School will be honored at a special recognition ceremony as part of the 2013 Stewart Father’s Day Powwow in Carson City June 14-16.

Hosted in partnership with the Nevada Indian Commission and the Stewart Alumni, the annual powwow includes quality Native American arts and crafts vendors and is also a time for alumni, former employees, families and friends to gather at the former campus.

April is National Distracted Driving Month and the Nevada Highway Patrol will be implementing a zero-tolerance enforcement period next week, April 22-26, as a strict traffic safety initiative to hopefully curtail the use of hand-held phones while motorists are driving. Troopers around the Silver State are still continuing to observe motorists texting, talking, and reading non-voice communications despite the fact this behavior became illegal over 15 months ago.

UPDATE 9:50AM: The Carson City Communications Dispatch Center reports the widespread phone outage that began Monday night hasn't affected 911 calls coming in. So far no one has complained to dispatchers that they had a difficult time reaching 911 through to dispatch, said Marlon Moncada, communications supervisor for Carson City.

AT&T has been sending updates to the dispatch center, the Sheriff's Office and the Carson City Fire Department about the problems and have worked to resolve immediate issues that involve 911 emergency service first, Moncada said.

"What we have been told is there is a group that is working with 911 centers so the community is able to call 911 and not experience problems," he said.

Meanwhile, messages to Carson Now have come from several readers stating their cell phone, internet and DSL services remain out of service with AT&T, Virgin, Sprint, Boost Mobile.

A woman was found injured in Alpine County after she and her boyfriend car got stuck in the snow for nearly a week. The body of her boyfriend was found nearby. The couple The couple, Roderick Paul Clifton and Paula Lane, was last seen leaving Citrus Heights for Gardnerville, Nev. on Thursday, Nov. 29. They were reported missing by relatives when they didn't answer their cell phones.

The Center for Research Design and Analysis was contracted by the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety to conduct a telephone survey about Nevadans' driving behavior and attitudes. The objectives of this survey included gathering behavioral self-reported and opinion data on key safety issues, such as impaired driving, safety belts, speeding, and distracted driving. The OTS also was interested in examining the effect that a "Click it or Ticket" (CIOT) campaign had on respondents' answers to safety belt questions. The CIOT campaign ran from May 21, 2012 through June 3, 2012.

The Perseids meteor shower is one of the more famous meteor showers and never fails to give a stellar performance. This natural event lasts an entire week in our region and seeing it in the darkest of skies promises not to disappoint viewers. Friends of Black Rock will set up camp on August 10-12 and invite their members and the surrounding community to come and be amazed at the wonders of the universe.

This is the first of a short series of weekly articles about a fabulous, first-time-ever, 11-day, sightseeing and fishing trip that Elaine and I took in late June to the Yukon in Canada.

Seasonal drying conditions, increasing daytime temperatures and a number of human-caused fires have prompted the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Carson City District Office and the Nevada Division of Forestry’s Sierra Forest Fire Protection District to announce the implementation of fire restrictions on Tuesday, May 29, 2012, at 12:01 a.m., and lasting until further notice.

Three of us (Don Hettrick, Bob “Slick” McCulloch and I) are back, safe and sound in Carson City after being contestants in the 16th annual Topaz Lake invitational fishing derby, which is sponsored by John Riordan.
That derby was held on Sunday-Monday-Tuesday, April 22-23-24, and it attracted some 70 fishermen from Nevada and California.
This year for the first time in history, the derby had a brand new fish category (bass) in addition to the regular trout category.
When the smoke and dust cleared after three days of fishing by all of the contestants, these were the 2012 winners:

Wild Horse Productions is proud to present FOREVER PLAID, one of the most popular and successful musicals to hit the stage! This hilarious flash-back to the 1950s and the memorable music of that era will be presented on Friday and Saturday, March 30, 31, April 6, 7, 13 & 14 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, April 8 at 2:00 pm at the Brewery Arts Center Performance Hall, 511 W. King Street in Carson City.