writing

UPDATE 10AM: Today, the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign, a national coalition, joined forces with a Nevada State Senator and local community leaders in and around Carson City to harshly criticize the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for refusing to work with local residents to keep a small group of wild horses free. The mustang herd at issue travels between federal land in the Pine Nut Herd Management Area (HMA) and a rural area outside Carson City.

by S. LANEY OLSON

I knew little about broadcast up until Feb. 14 of last week. However, when the opportunity for me to shadow Brent Boynton from KNPB arose, I jumped at it without hesitation. I had always been interested in broadcast but had focused my attention on print. This was opportunity to expand my horizons.

The 2012 education PISA* rankings indicate that the USA came in at 25th for math, 14th for reading and 17th for science out of 30 countries with only three of those countries spending slightly more money per pupil than America. Yet the mantra for more money, benefits and taxes for education continue just as it has for the last sixty years. If more money will solve the education problem then why hasn't it ever worked in the last sixty years?

by STEPHANIE GLANTZ

Well, the first couple weeks are all done! And, oh my gosh, have I learned a lot. For some reason I thought the assemblymen and senators would a lot easier to access than they are. I think the reporters we talked to before this started made it sound really easy. Some are pretty friendly about talking, but others are a little harder.

Carson City's nonprofit agency that helps feed and provide shelter to those in need — FISH — will host its annual “Have A Heart” Banquet on Thursday, March 14. The Banquet will be at the Carson Nugget with cocktails and silent auction beginning at 5:30 p.m. and dinner served at 6:15 p.m. Ninety-five percent of FISH’s funding comes from local donations and the Have A Heart Banquet is an important part of our fundraising effort.

by ALEX POMPLIANO

It’s become somewhat of a cliché, saying in a retrospective astonishment that something began as an idea. In theory, everything begins as an idea. But I’ve never been a part of something from the very beginning that would eventually lead to a fully realized organization like the Nevada Media Alliance, so you’ll have to forgive the cliché.

The board of the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau will meet today to discuss, among other things, hiring an interim executive director. The board began its search for the interim director after Candace Duncan retired in December.

Today, Feb. 9, marks a special day in the life of yours truly. It is my two-year anniversary writing about the Great Outdoors at Internet websites Carson Now and South Tahoe Now.

Time certainly flies when you are having fun, and it has been both a totally enjoyable and a totally memorable two years of writing about all kinds of activities in the Great Outdoors, both near and far away.

Alfred Doten had one of the longest tenures of any Sagebrusher in the history of the Comstock. His Nevada career began at Como in 1863, and ended 40 years later with his death in Carson City in 1903.  Today Doten is remembered for the journals he wrote spanning 54 years documenting his career and personal experiences. Seventy years after his death, the University of Nevada Press published a massive three volume set, weighing a hefty 14 1/2 pounds, titled: “The Journals of Alfred Doten 1849-1903.”

Synopsis

1. Secure the borders.
2. Quit politicizing immigration and illegal immigration.
3. Turn off the magnet to illegal immigration.
4. Put an end to “anchor babies.”

Introduction

As an immigrant and a naturalized U.S. citizen myself, with several generations of U.S. citizens in my extended family tree and none left in Europe, I am writing to express my most vehement protest against the proposed “reforms” in our immigration laws that are being announced at the present time, whether they come from the president or Congress.

UPDATE 10:30PM: The apartment fire Monday afternoon at a complex off of Airport Road in Carson City was caused by a child playing with a lighter, Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi confirmed. Flame from the lighter touched off blankets and the fire spread, he said.

UPDATE 2:29PM: Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi reports no injuries and several animals rescued at a fire inside an apartment/townhome complex in the 3400 block of Airport Road.

Sam Davis was a Sagebrusher from the old school who backed up what he wrote. It was a tradition he learned on the Comstock. You could write what you wanted, but you had to back up what you wrote.

Sagebrush journalism was a style of literature born in the American West that had some very deep roots in Virginia City. It came to life around 1860 and had run its course by the turn of the 20th century. In that ensuing 40 year time period some Sagebrushers became world renown.

This is a letter I sent out to Gov. Sandoval, and multiple other State Representatives. I felt that the general public should know what our prison system is doing to multiple small business owners in Carson City and Nevada. I would be very pleased if someone would bring this to light and show what our tax dollars are doing in this economy. There was a big story about this in Vegas with another company ... but this is also happening in our own backyard.

Dear Governor Sandoval,

The Western Nevada College exhibit "Always Lost: A Meditation on War" continues to travel the country, now with a stop at Wisconsin's Mount Mary College.
Marilee Swirczek, Emeritus Professor of English at Western Nevada College notes the exhibit at the college and an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Sierra Nevada College professors and editors evaluated over 500 submissions to choose the top winners for the 2012 High School Writing Contest, a national competition that produced exceptional stories, poems and creative nonfiction from high school juniors and seniors.
“The level of talent was extraordinary, making it tough for the judges,” said June Saraceno, English Department chair at Sierra Nevada College, a four-year private college in Incline Village, Nev.

First, let me say Happy New Year. This is the first part of January and this is also a good time for all of us (including me) to make some personal resolutions for the year 2013.
Most importantly, remember that if you do make any resolutions, be sure to follow through with what you resolve to do in this new year.
Resolutions are easy to make, but sometimes hard to accomplish.
I have a number of things I would like to accomplish this year, so without any further ado, here are my 2013 resolutions:

I RESOLVE TO:
Finally catch a fish larger than Elaine's:

Carson City Support Services Specialist and children's book author Elizabeth "Liz" Ann Patterson has been busy since the last time Carson Now spoke with her.

In early 2011 she had penned her first children's fantasy and adventure book "Bonners Fairy," an all-ages story about teenage twins who discover a secret world of dark and light forces hidden in a portal on their father's estate.

I wanted nothing to do with Western Nevada College’s Always Lost: A Meditation on War project when English professor Marilee Swirczek presented the idea in 2009 of personalizing the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars through literary work, combat photos, and a wall displaying the faces of U.S. military war dead since Sept. 11, 2001.

I told you so, again and again for four years. OK, so Obama did not cancel the elections; he did one better, he put the veneer of the "will of the people" on it. Voting is the best revenge...? He never had to say, against whom.

General admission tickets are still available for Jorma Kaukonen’s performance this Thursday, Oct. 18 at The High Sierra Brewing Company in Carson City. Kaukonen, a founding member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, is one of the most highly respected interpreters of Americana, Blues and American roots music. This is a unique opportunity to enjoy his music in an intimate, up close setting. The show begins at 8:00pm, doors open at 7 pm.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Outskirts Press and local author Steve Browne are proud to announce a book launch party for a new inspirational novel depicting the incredible journey of a NASA scientist born with cerebral palsy titled, “How To Raise A Rocket Scientist For Fun and Profit.” The event occurs October 15 at the Carson Cigar Company (318 N Carson St Ste 101).

About The Book.

Bill Felcyn's yarn about a practical joke among buddies on an Arizona golf course that involved a harmless snake, a six-foot rattler and a karmic turn of events won him entry to play in an epic Wild West golf tournament on Oct. 2 in Northern Nevada.

A Carson City man faces a felony charge of eluding police and endangering the lives of motorists following a motorcycle chase through the city.

Two commercial burglaries early Monday morning in Douglas County have authorities asking the public for help in identifying the suspects with photos provided by surveillance cameras.
The first burglary occurred at the Verizon Wireless Outlet Store on Waterloo Ln sometime around 5 am, said Douglas County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Halsey. Entry was made by the suspect smashing the glass of the exterior window of the store. Two cellular telephones, phone chargers and miscellaneous currency were stolen from inside. Click on images to enlarge.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Division of Insurance (NVDOI) is seeking public input on what should be included in Nevada’s essential health benefits plan under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

At the age of 14, years after requisite piano lessons - and discovering he didn't like the discipline required - Jorma Kaukonen discovered guitar and found it was his instrument.
The now Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, founding member of iconic rock band The Jefferson Airplane and of long-touring band Hot Tuna and legendary guitarist in his own right, plays High Sierra Brewing Company, Thursday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. in a show produced by Chili Bop Entertainment.

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Division of Insurance is seeking public input on the selection of Nevada’s essential health benefits plan.
The essential health benefits plan for Nevada will be the benchmark set of health care services that will be required in all individual and small group health insurance plans starting in 2014.

Carson Nugget Casino and Kat Simmons presents an evening of laughter when the nationally touring comedy show “3 Blonde Moms … See How They Run,” takes the stage in the newly-remodeled Carson City showroom, Friday, Sept. 21.

The next Music Club Monday at Brewery Arts Center in Carson City is Sept. 10 and will feature Richard Elloyan, cowboy singer and poet.
Elloyan has recently released his fourth CD “Back In Heaven.” Joining once again with his talented producer, Steven Swinford, they have created yet another compilation of lyrical and visually graphic stories of the modern West. Richard’s love for Nevada, songs of the land, and unrequited love are beautifully arranged and sung in the rich voice we have all come to love.