We must speak to be heard

If all the newsprint and ink devoted to the debate over growth at the Minden-Tahoe Airport were collected in a single pile and weighed, we bet it would exceed the airport's current or proposed weight limit.

That's why we're stunned at the lack of interest in the workshops on the proposal to increase the weight limit from essentially 50,000 pounds for dual wheel aircraft to 75,000 pounds.

The total turnout for Tuesday night's workshop was two people, one of whom, Len Frueh, was a longtime airport employee, and the other, John Leveck, one of those folks who've been watching the airport issue carefully.

We assume that the airport workshops to be held in the north Valley on Sept. 29 and at the airport on Sept. 30 will see far greater attendance.

We hope so, because otherwise we may be forced to conclude that the airport is an issue that generates a lot of heat among a few people, and isn't that important to the majority of Valley residents.

We're betting that at some point folks will realize that there's something important to the county's future going on and hope for a commensurate response.

More importantly, we want to make sure that when the airport issue comes before the public at the November 2010 election, no one can legitimately claim they didn't get their say before it came to a vote.