http://www.RecordCourier.com Serving Minden-Gardnerville and Carson Valley, NV Sat, 25 May 2013 14:05:43 -0600 en 30 http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6602758-113/county-douglas-historical-jethro http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6625715-113/cow-eagle-cows-eagles With spring and a new building season having arrived, many are imagining their Tahoe dream home again, so questions about the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s method of annual development allocation deserve some attention. As you will see, with Lake Tahoe nearing what is called “full buildout,” this year’s residential allocation distribution is the beginning of a new way forward for the finite amount of vacant land remaining at Lake Tahoe. More than 40 years ago, TRPA was called on to put the brakes on the rampant over-development and residential subdivisions that were threatening Lake Tahoe’s pristine environment. One way TRPA … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6541069-113/tahoe-lake-allocation-environmental http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6506255-113/art-evening-armstrong-artists http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6541051-113/barwig-extreme-facts-government Editor: May brings the beginning of spring which includes beautiful hikes, back-country bike rides and a multitude of outdoor recreational events. It also brings about the stirrings of many creatures which include deer ticks. May is also recognized Nationally as Lyme Disease Awareness Month. Deer ticks infected with Lyme disease are prevalent in our area which includes all of Northern California, Lake Tahoe and the Carson Valley. In fact, the entire West Coast is affected by this disease not to mention the East Coast, which is terribly impacted. This is potentially a very debilitating disease and can be difficult to … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6505439-113/disease-lyme-tick-ticks http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6594555-113/volunteer-road-citizen-conditions Editor: After the mountains come the valleys. After April 27’s annual World Tai Chi and Qigong Day 2013 in Minden, I’m feeling a little let down, but relaxed, but cannot let the day go by without acknowledging the many people and organizations which helped make the day a success. The weather was great, and we had about 70 people participating and leading the program. The planning started almost a year ago, when the Douglas County Recreation Department made arrangements with the Town of Minden to use the town park, gazebo and sound system for the day. Thanks to both these … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6440804-113/event-thanks-2013-chi Tilly the Witch will be hanging up her broom on Tuesday when lead children’s library technician Carol Nageotte will retire after 23 years working for the Minden Branch of the Douglas County Public Library. Carol came to work as the children’s librarian May 21, 1990. During the last 23 years, she also portrayed Johnny Appleseed, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, a scarecrow, the Easter Bunny and what we hear is her favorite character Amelia Bedelia. The 65-year-old Minnesota native received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in parks and recreation. She moved to Idaho, where she got her first job … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6506543-113/douglas-library-com-moved Some legislators and pundits claim that state funding for education and other matters is inequitable, with Clark County paying more than its fair share, even though it controls 71 percent of the legislative seats. As a regent, I offer the following key higher education spending equity facts. University of Nevada Reno vs. University of Nevada Las Vegas: General plus intercollegiate athletics: In 1994-2013, UNLV’s per-student state general tax spending, including athletics, grew much faster (55 percent) than UNR’s (29 percent). UNLV’s funding was cut much less in the Great Recession, and has reached effective parity with UNR’s. Taxpayer spending per … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6517291-113/percent-unlv-unr-county http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6443700-113/arms-amendment-bear-constitution http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6349299-113/washo-chairman-job-tribe A grant that will help reduce fire danger in Haines Canyon, and Minden Air’s U.S. Forest Service contract to provide a jet tanker were welcome news for Nevada Wildfire Awareness Week. But even better news was a week of wet weather, which will help slow down the beginning of fire season. Even wildfires that were actually burning in California got doused pretty good by the recent rain. One fire official we talked to said you would have a hard time starting a fire if you wanted to. But the rain won’t last forever, and whatever grass comes up as a … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6441559-113/fire-awareness-danger-news April, this side of the valley, was a long, very cold drink of much needed irrigation water. The season’s first is always the longest with shoveling out clumps and bunches of sticks, weeds and what not that flow into the ditches. You have to adjust all the boxes, fix any that blow out. Fill in squirrel holes. Dig some new trenches. Shore up banks worn down over winter. Thankfully there was plenty of water the first run while repairs were made. Water is going to be tight. But for now May is coming on nice and green making cleaning the … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6418206-113/cemetery-family-buried-cleaning http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6354918-113/action-created-declaration-despotic The month of April represents a new beginning: daffodils blooming; trees exploding with new life. The Partnership of Community Resources’ team dedicated April to celebrating life by spreading awareness about how lives can change instantly due to illegal alcohol and drug use by underage youth. Thank you to all of the volunteers that instilled the message to reduce alcohol fatalities in our community. Fifty-one citizens heard Sheriff Ron Pierini, student Isabella Lundberg and Deputy Nadine Chrzanowski talk about serving and selling alcohol to minors during server training at the Carson Valley Inn. Carson Valley Little League and Carson Valley Girls … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6349147-113/alcohol-partnership-douglas-party Genoa is bringing the Old West to Nevada’s first settlement this weekend. The fourth edition of the town’s Cowboy festival starts in town today. While work continues on the improvements Genoans hope are in place by September, most of the action will take place away from the curb and dirt work. Visitors will be greeted by a new trail between town and Walley’s Hot Springs, and they may have an opportunity to enjoy the new carrillon bells that were installed at the town hall on Tuesday. These improvements and others currently in the pipline are an indication that Douglas County … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6314143-113/town-genoa-money-carson A quick search of my archive reveals more than 100 items either by or debating something written by Dr. Richard Alan Witzig over the past half dozen years. Dick Witzig first visited me when he moved down to Carson Valley from Incline Village. We had a mutual acquaintance in former Nevada Appeal Publisher Jeff Ackerman. He played basketball through high school and college and served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Dick was a regular writer whose last letter appeared Aug. 1, 2012. He came to see me a few months ago to thank me for running his work. I thanked … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6355435-113/scott-valley-carson-dick http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6242526-113/road-loop-casinos-park The Chorus of the Comstock, a men’s barbershop-style chorus, has been performing in the Carson City/Carson Valley area for over 35 years. It is a member chorus of the Barbershop Harmony Society based in Nashville. This service organization has been the host of many entertaining shows, provided skilled singers to numerous community events and has delivered several hundred singing valentines to love-struck individuals over the years. This nonprofit organization raises funds through their shows, singing telegrams and more in order to provide scholarships for many of our community’s students and teachers, enabling them to attend the society’s Harmony University and … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6147605-113/chorus-carson-director-love http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6219030-113/lawmakers-finish-amendment-constitutional http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6018010-113/thank-family-support-love http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6113961-113/playground-equipment-remove-swing http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6113168-113/board-administrators-district-class http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6111818-113/jeanne-guilty-reporting-crime We are humbled by the support we received before, during and after our “Gotta Dance” fundraiser. We sincerely thank all those 250 plus individuals who attended our very successful event. There would never be enough room on this page to express how our hearts are feeling with all the support from the community. All who worked behind the scenes and made it happen, from the beginning till the end were: the planning committee, consisting of Nicole Lewis, Teresa Lundberg, Vicky Lamb and Mary Brady; Jenny Stokes, Craig and Ann Peters from the Dance Workshop who worked many hours in the … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6071697-113/dance-brady-debbie-posnien http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5813425-113/tankers-fire-minden-available http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6011700-113/tahoe-property-agency-governments Bills in front of the Nevada Legislature would move public notices to the Internet, but they wouldn’t help the public get more access. In fact, the public would get less. We’re all in favor of placing notices on the web — that’s why Nevada newspapers already do so. Many are on the papers’ own sites and on a statewide, searchable site under publicnoticeads.com. Just plug ‘Nevada public notices’ into Google and you’ll see the Nevada Press Association’s statewide site right at the top. Nobody disputes that a lot of newspaper readership now occurs online, and that in some places there … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5805793-113/notices-nevada-public-government http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6048652-113/truancy-district-attendance-academic http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6011540-113/lake-tahoe-plan-planning There haven’t been too many budget sessions in the last five years that left the participants whistling a jaunty tune, but the first night of Douglas County budget hearings very nearly had that effect. With a balanced tentative general fund budget, and the prospect of another one next year, there wasn’t much to complain about. Commissioners offered their thanks to the employee associations, whose assistance was critical in stabilizing the budget, and the elected officials, whose departments were affected by budget cuts of the last years. While the county was meeting in Minden, Douglas County School Board trustees were working … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6045482-113/budget-county-district-douglas The impending tax day got you down? Well, starting Monday, Douglas Area Rural Transit will be offering a month of free bus rides to promote the addition of the new Walmart and the Ironwood Shopping Center. The bus stops at the Tillman Center in the Gardvnerville Ranchos, Carson Valley Medical Center, Walmart, Herbig Park, Smith’s, the Douglas County Senior Center, Carson Valley Inn, the Douglas County Public Library in Minden, the Carson Valley Swim Center and the Ironwood Center. For times or information call 783-6455. ■ ■ ■ A bigfoot walks into a bar and starts playing pool. The barkeep … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/6049369-113/bigfoot-center-bar-bus “A real man has cows.” So says Tipo our taxi driver, adding, “any man can marry, but a real man has cows.” Tipo was answering questions my husband and I were asking during our long taxi ride from our hotel in Nelson Mandela square, Johannesburg to the O. R. Tambo airport, South Africa, where we were spending part of our spring break. Tipo working and living in Johannesburg was from a providence far northeast of the city. We were leaning forward in our seats with rapt attention to his outlook on life. He complained that in the city you can … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5845666-113/cows-wife-tipo-wives http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5839264-113/gardnerville-highway-minden-downtown http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5818056-113/key-100-1200-46215324 http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5714762-113/johnson-street-lane-slow http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5717283-113/scarselli-elementary-fitness-healthy http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5650612-113/greg-county-curmudgeon-lynn http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5650405-113/bridgeport-fly-lake-resort http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5674508-113/dawg-douglas-county-shelter http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5714746-113/county-commissioners-infrastructure-tax A good education is an important component of any child’s upbringing. Combine good education with religious studies, and you gain life experiences and spiritual foundations that yield benefits for years to come. Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have long since believed in and encouraged its members to seek quality education in both secular and religious areas. More than 100 years ago, the church started a seminary program in religious studies for its youth. In 1912, adjacent to Granite High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, Thomas J. Yates assumed the task of organizing and … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5747807-113/seminary-students-church-youth We’re glad to see folks interested in raising money are willing to dance for those dollars. Maybe it’s because Carson Valley didn’t have very good television reception until the mid-1980s and Carson Valley residents had to make their own fun. But events like Mr. DHS and Gotta Dance are fun reminders that raising money doesn’t have to be a chore. Heck, dancing has long been part of the means folks have used to help come up with money for the public good. Genoa’s Candy Dance started out tripping the light fantastic 94 years ago. That’s when people found that if … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5745924-113/carson-dance-valley-dancing Carson Valley aviators are remembering weather forecaster Doug Armstrong next week. A long time Reno resident, Doug died on March 5 at the age of 75. He was instrumental in spotting the Sierra Wave that Minden resident Gordon Boettger rode on his record soaring flights. Doug also served as a ground contact for Boettger, providing updates on the Minden pilot’s flights and funneling valuable weather intel to him both before and while he was in the air. He was a meteorologist with the National Weather Service for 39 years serving in Florida, Alaska, The North Pole, and finally, in Reno. … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5748484-113/doug-town-weather-boettger Idle hands do the devil’s work, we’re told, and that’s why the issue of truancy is critical to the entire community, not just the schools and parents. We’ve devoted a lot of space to discussing the issue with officials, teachers, law enforcement officers, and in today’s edition, even with students. What we’ve learned over the past two weeks is that there are a lot of dedicated people working to prevent truancy. But the most important lesson is that all this work is useless unless parents and students take responsibility for making sure the child is getting to school. We can … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5644205-113/child-community-getting-isn A Nevada legislator says he’s witnessed the “systematic dismantling” of public K-12 education over recent budget cycles, with more than $700-million cut from K-12 during the Great Recession. (Associated Press, March 1, 2013.) While folks may recognize that “systematic dismantling” is just the next rhetorical step after “draconian cuts” and similar silly buzz phrases from previous years, they typically are less sure whether the numbers claims have any merit, let alone what we should do. What, then, are the real and central facts of actual state spending in recent years and long-term on K-12 and other general-fund categories, versus the … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5567243-113/state-spending-nevada-education After a week with free access to www.recordcourier.com, the website will once more be limited to paid subscribers, with a big difference. The definition of paid subscriber expands to include those folks who take the newspaper. When we started charging for the website, one of the biggest groups of people who had an issue with it were those who were already paying for the paper. Those folks stuck with us, and now they will reap access to the Internet for the price of their subscription. Those folks who haven’t subscribed to the paper or the website will get to see … ]]> http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5614587-113/website-com-folks-free http://www.RecordCourier.com/news/opinion/5619227-113/burning-backyard-burn-burners