In Carson: Tourism future pegged on rail and art

Tourists will be lured to Carson City by the future Virginia & Truckee Railway and the arts community, a tourism expert said Thursday.

This comes after a seven-month effort and $10,000 invested in a tourism assessment and public discussions. About 50 participants in a workshop at the Plaza Conference Center focused on the economic generator that will attract 200,000 riders a year.

"Railroads are sexy," said Roger Brooks, president of Destination Management, of Olympia, Wash. "I think the V&T Railroad can be a really great brand for you."

A steam locomotive will traverse reconstructed rail along the historic right-of-way between Virginia City and Carson City by 2010.

This brand will blend Carson City's Western ambiance and history, said Brooks, an expert who has helped create successful tourism brands for many communities.

"I think it could work," said Darla Bayer, a production coordinator at Channel 10, who attended the six-hour workshop. "We need something that will bring the whole town together and a goal that we all could work toward. This will make our town bigger in popularity."

Bayer is also linked to Carson's arts side through her association with the Brewery Arts Center. She foresees art contests and theater linked to the V&T.

A local artist and a nonprofit foundation have already started planning.

The Northern Nevada Railway Foundation is sponsoring the Railway Reflection International Art Expo at a gallery in the State Library and Archives building from July 17 to Aug. 17, 2008. Artist Steven Saylor said this could attract 30,000 people already in the area for Artown and Hot August Nights, both in Reno. Art sales at the event will raise money for the V&T construction.

"It's just tying in the element of the V&T, which is going to be operating in three years, with the local art community," said Stephen Lincoln, a foundation member.

The group also plans a train film festival in the same month.

In addition to diversions such as this, Carson City must also expand its dining and downtown entertainment to keep tourists here longer, Brooks said.

"You saved a ton of money because you narrowed it down to two key areas " art and rail," he said, while pointing to a list of ideas generated by the group.

Bringing in another consultant to pick the city's lure could've cost about $5,000.

"I think they have found the right hook for this community," said Peter Barton, director of the Nevada State Railroad Museum, which is in South Carson. He said the museum could organize a major annual, weeklong railroad festival that could attract 50,000 tourists after the V&T is completed.

Rule changes to ensure lawyers' ads are accurate and that clients aren't misled were approved Thursday by the Nevada Supreme Court. But justices say they can't demand that ads be in good taste.

"Citizens often choose lawyers based solely on their advertisements," said Justice James Hardesty, who helped get the new rules passed. "Because choosing a lawyer can be such an important decision, we want our citizens to have accurate and complete information."

"Lawyer advertising, because of its sheer volume, touches virtually everyone in Nevada and influences the public's perception about attorneys in general," said Chief Justice William Maupin.

One new rule prohibits lawyers from making claims that create an unjustified expectation about the outcome of a case. If a law firm advertises that it has obtained certain verdicts, for example, it must be able to provide proof.

Another reform requires that ads promoting a fee arrangement must advertise the entire arrangement. Justice Hardesty noted that one law firm advertised a low-percentage contingency fee, but didn't say the fee escalated if the case was not resolved in 30 days.

What will no longer be regulated is whether or not an ad is in bad taste.

"Taste is something we cannot govern without infringing on First Amendment rights," said Hardesty. "So restrictions on taste will be eliminated, but the new rules will make sure the content is not false or misleading."

Under the new rules, taking effect Sept. 1, lawyers must submit their ads to the State Bar for review within 15 days after publication or broadcast. If an ad is deemed to be inaccurate or misleading, it must be pulled. Attorneys can submit ads in advance for an advisory determination.

Because advertisements generally don't reveal a lawyer's background, attorneys also must provide their resumes to clients who request them.

Doug Klawsnik didn't realize when he swiped a banner back in 1959 during the centennial celebration of the founding of Virginia City, that he would be saving a piece of history.

That event lasted three days and featured, among many other events, a parade, a U.S. postage stamp in honor of the Comstock delivered by Pony Express and even a visit by then-Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat.

C Street was closed from Carson Street to the Fourth Ward School as more than 20,000 people attended the celebration, according to a report in the Territorial Enterprise.

Klawsnik, then 20 and living in Carson City, and a friend joined the crowds on June 12, 1959. As they were heading home, they spotted the banner.

"A friend of mine and I were up there to enjoy the festivities and it got pretty dark. As we started to walk back to my car, we saw a banner hanging by one strip from a telephone pole," he said. "Nobody was around, and I figured it would be a nice souvenir. So I took it off and stuck it in the trunk of the car and took it home."

He knew he couldn't hang it up or he might face prosecution for taking it, so he put it away in a box, where it stayed for the next 30 years.

Klawsnik retired in 1989, and, like many retirees, started going through the things he had accumulated. Eventually he found the banner and had an attack of conscience.

"I thought, 'this needs a better home than with me,'" he said.

So he took the banner up to Virginia City in November of 1990, to the Comstock History Store owned by local writer and historian Chic DiFrancia and his partner, Carol Clifford.

DiFrancia was excited about the banner, Klawsnik said, so he just gave it to him.

DiFrancia wrote a little story for the local newspaper and donated the banner to hang in the Storey County Senior Center, where Klawsnik saw it on a return trip.

But the senior center staff decided at some point to put the banner away, so it ended up in a box of rags in the center's attic.

There it stayed until last week, when DiFrancia, helping to plan Virginia City's sesquicentennial celebration in 2009, wanted to design a new banner in the same style as the old.

DiFrancia and Clifford dug through nearly every box in the senior center attic before locating the banner, in near pristine condition. He was not upset about how Klawsnik acquired the banner and was grateful for its return.

"Thank God he took it," DiFrancia said. "Had he not taken it, I can pretty much guarantee this wouldn't be around. That's an important piece of Comstock history."

After locating the banner, DiFrancia looked up the celebration stories on microfilm at the Nevada State Archives, as well as his own story. He then contacted Klawsnik, who was pleased the banner was still in good shape and joked about maybe getting it back.

"I told him in that case, I wanted it back to take to 'Antiques Roadshow,'" Klawsnik said.

Instead of a television spotlight, DiFrancia said, the banner will be donated to the Comstock Historic Center in Virginia City.

Bert Bedeau, administrator for the center, was equally excited about the banner, though he wants to get some advice from an expert in historic textiles before displaying it.

"We don't have a climate-controlled curation facility here," he said. "We don't have the humidity control to handle fragile artifacts like textiles. I don't want to endanger the artifact " it's an important artifact."

Bedeau said the banner looks as good as the day it was made, and had no problem with the fact that it was originally pilfered from the town.

"That's how history gets saved," he said. "People liberate things in the name of the revolution."

Bedeau's attitude was comforting to Klawsnik.

"This is all very fun for me to look back at this and see that it's gotten a home after all these years," he said. "It makes me feel like a rescuer, to redeem my act of stealing it in the first place."