CITIZEN

GADFLY ASKS: As often as possible...
(Gadfly: A Citizen who reports on things for other citizens in order to arouse them from complacency.) By Sam Dehné, Flapdoodle Evaluator (Note: It is all-right to be redundant... about important things. And if you are confused by the numbering system, so are we.)

21. Why should the federal government be saving Lake Tahoe? The people, the businesses, all of the rich folks up there (who caused the problems) should be saving it themselves. America already has enough federal corporate welfare going on. Let the people of Tahoe save themselves and stop begging. You'd think the airport brass lived up there...

20. SIX giant new golf courses and 277 huge new housing and commercial and industrial developments... and the Water Company complains that too much water is being used up... THERE IS NOT ENOUGH WATER (OR AIR, OR PATIENCE) IN THIS LITTLE VALLEY FOR THE RAMPANT RUN-AWAY DEVELOPMENT THAT IS BEING SANCTIONED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT!

19. America's tanks and fighter-bombers used dozens of 1,000's of bullets made from toxic radioactive waste in the Desert Storm Massacre. THAT could explain the terrible health problems of 1,000's of veterans of that conflict. Just another of those well-kept secrets... by America's bureaucrats. Click here to read the full report from Nation magazine!

18. The Feds have caught Columbia Healthcare bilking the federal Medicare system of $billions... and fat cats' heads are rolling. How long will it be before the Feds catch onto the Reno-Casino Airport's bilking of the FAA for $millions... with their bogus "Noise Study" promulgated landgrab of homes from innocent citizens?

17. All of these new Business Parks in the Truckee Meadows... adding dozens of 1,000s of jobs... Where are they going to find enough water... and air? What about impact fees? 16,000 jobs, in one B.P alone will mean 40,000 more people! Schools? Roads? Crime? Air pollution? Airport blight? Who pays for this mess?

16. What and who are behind all of the recent Sparks-Bashing by the media? What do their mayor and city manager think about it?

15. Why not put that Pyramid-Tahoe link road right between the Reno Airport runways?
a. The FAA has already said that even drag-racing (such as occurred on the night of 11 May, 1997), right on the main runway, "is in full compliance with the authority's safety regulations."
b. And the airport director reports that "incidents like that (the drag racing on the runway) happen all the time..."
So doesn't a road right between the runways make sense for everybody?
It would be cheaper. And it would be far less blightful.
All it would take to work would be a few underpasses at the taxiways and some wall barriers... oh, and maybe a few other bits of fine-tuning. Or how about a tunnel under the whole thing?
A simple look at a photo-map of the airport, and it doesn't take a genius to see it could work...
And, for God's sake, there is already enough concrete in this valley...

14. We don't know how Reno Gazette columnist, Cory Farley, continues to get away with criticizing Conservative dolt-like actions... But we love it!

13. All of Reno's important issues should be put to a total public vote... OR let the Reno city council vote on them... and then do the opposite.

12. A young man was shot in his home by the police... and for some reason the fact that he was "legally drunk" in his own home... is what seems pertinent to the local media. Folks, on any given Friday night, 50% of the adults in Reno are legally drunk... in their own homes! It is perfectly legal to be drunk out of your gourd in your home. Not a good idea... but legal.

12a. Why doesn't the media look into why and how he was shot? Therein lies the story...

11. Is the city of Reno already dipping into that $680,000 Propaganda fund? Rumors have it that you will soon be brainwashed with a TV blitz... about how great it will be to get the 49ers football team to practice in Reno... What if citizens don't want their taxes wasted in this manner? How much is it going to cost Reno? What if citizens would rather have the Cowboys... or World Champ Packers?

10. Downtown Homeless problem: the simple solution is to take a couple $$million of that recent $6,000,000 corporate welfare "grant" money that was given to the Reno-Casino Airport and give it to the real needy.

10a. By the way the $6,000,000 is just the initial installment of some $30,000,000 in corporate welfare "grants" being begged for by, and "promised" to, the airport... One airport "trustee" calls begging for money from Washington... "jawboning".

9. Question: If you had just taken off from the Reno-Casino Airport and lost power on one of your airplane's engines, would you:

a. Continue climbing with the good engine... maybe running into the mountains?

b. Shut down the good engine.

c. Return and descend and land at the perfectly good airport you just left?

If you picked "c", congratulations, you are a genius... bordering on being a rocket scientist!

If, on the other hand, you picked "a", then you qualify for a job with the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA)... because that is what an airline spokesman says they are told to do... "continue climbing to safely clear the mountains..."

9a. So therefore, we have the threat of this possible bizarre scenario at Reno-Casino Airport (a conversation recorded some 2 minutes after takeoff... retrieved from the cockpit voice-recorder):

Capt: "Copilot, we just had an engine flameout. Push power up on the good engine and let's CLIMB."

Copilot: "Yes sir! Ummm... but, sir, I can see a perfectly good airport right there behind us. The one we just took off from. Why can't we just return and land THERE? It would be so simple. Why keep climbing with just one engine?"

Capt: "Son, the FAA says we are to climb out of this valley, and you know what happens to your pilot's license when you don't follow FAA orders. So climb we will... mountains or no mountains... push that power up." ........................

8. The Reno/Hilton Grand Prix race wants suggestion about how to add some pizzazz to the race. Why not invite local novice race driver, Michael Lee Smith, to compete on the Reno Airport runway? You may recall that Smith "raced" the police on Reno's main runway in his beat-up stock '97 Caddy and outran them for several minutes... while at the same time evading airliners attempting to land... in the dark. Would this be okay? Well, when queried the FAA, reported that the "airport was in full compliance with safety regulations at the time." And the airport director/czar said that "incidents like this happen all the time." Why not give it a try? ["Click" here to read more about Smith's May 11 Race.]

7. For Vitamin E users... no more than 100 IU/day Max... 50 IU Preferred... RDA is 10 IU. If some is good, more is not always better. Example: alcohol - 1 drink... maybe okay, 3 drinks... never, 5 drinks... go to jail.

7a. Want a long(er) and healthier life? It's simple: 1. exercise, 2. don't smoke, 3. drink lightly/moderately, 4. eat well, 5. and have a healthy family background...

6. Senator Harry Reid may not be right all the time, but he WAS RIGHT ON THE MARK when he reiterated his intelligent and brave stance... that federal funds WOULD NOT be used to move the Nevada Air Guard... and help the Reno-Casino Airport's cancerous expansion plans. He didn't say it, but strongly implied in his words, is the fact that the Reno-Casino Airport already receives far more corporate welfare than is appropriate for a supposedly self-sufficient quasi-governmental operation.

6a. While a staunch supporter of the NAG, Senator Reid worries that begging for more federal money for a move might subject the unit to "possible cutbacks or elimination". Could THAT be what all the airport scheming is about?

6b. What will the airport do if those federal welfare "grants" are eliminated? The airport is still liable for more than $50,000,000 in construction bonds... that Washington corporate welfare money (your taxes!) has been paying thus far...

5. University of Nevada Report: "In its long history, Reno has almost never dealt effectively with growth and development issues. The railroad tracks running through downtown represent one more manifestation of that larger inability to 'get it done.'"

5a. Could it be because city hall spends too much attention to catering to casinos, developers, special interest groups, the Reno-Casino Airport, and... all the rest of the fat cats... at the expense of citizens... and sanity?

5b. Uh Oh... More bad press. Should the city manager add another $100,000 or so to the city's "public relations" citizen-inculcating propaganda budget?

5c. Isn't that just like city hall though... they're always trying to get 10 pounds of cow pucks into a 5 pound bag...

4. The Reno-Casino council declined to approve a Resolution Declaring the Reno-Casino Airport a City "Priority". They claim that doing so would imply that it hasn't been a priority heretofore. The truth is that they HAVEN'T (and still won't) accepted responsibility for the terrible noise, danger, sprawl, and blight that have been created down there. Little wonder they keep the wool over their noses...

4a. It is not a matter of implication of previous ignorance of blunders... it is a matter of at least recognizing that the airport is important... and having the intelligence to correct the problems... sometime.

3. Speaking of "Priorities", the city manager doesn't like the way he is being treated in the railroad negotiations. (The "Railroad" IS one of Reno's 6 official Priorities.) He claims that "we"... the City of Reno, are parties to a "charade". Apparently, even his new gigantic... taxpayer-funded propaganda machine can't compete with Union Pacific. Folks, Union Pacific owns their land and their railroad tracks, and they have the right to use them as they please. AND COMPARED TO THE NOISE AND BLIGHT CREATED BY THE RENO-CASINO AIRPORT, THEY ARE DOING A GOOD JOB... on their own land!

3a. Isn't the real "charade" the way city bureaucrats cater to developers, casinos, airlines, fat cats and special interest groups? You can say they are getting a taste of their own medicine. Maybe with that sour taste, will come a sense of the misery that the ordinary citizens of Reno are experiencing...

3b. By the way, Union Pacific has offered some excellent "mitigation" suggestions... that the city manager's Propaganda Machine is conveniently neglecting to tell you about... the same way the city Propaganda Machine ignores Sam Dehne's airport noise mitigation ideas.

2. More Corporate Welfare at its best: The Reno-Casino Airport was given another $6,000,000 federal "Grant" [when rich folks get federal handouts (your taxes), the media calls them Grants... when poor folks get handouts, the media calls it Welfare.]. Another tragic aspect of this FEMA handout is that it is ostensibly to mitigate flood damage that the airport, itself, created with all the concrete it put on the floodplain. Citizens in Hidden Valley, who were the victims of the airport's attack get nothing from FEMA....

1. The RubberStamps were well oiled at the Reno-Casino city council yesterday (8 July). They re-appointed another businessman, and proved again that cronyism continues to be alive and well in this town, by selecting two others as Reno-Casino Airport "trustees"(?) who will more than likely have the best interests of Big Business in mind... and will continue the airport policy of utterly disregarding the safety and well-being of Reno citizens...

1a. How many votes did the only citizen spokesman get? None, zero, nada, zip. Shouldn't this re-validate Reno citizens' confidence that catering to Special Interest Groups continues in vogue down at City Hall?

1b. And if the airport bureaucrats ever do decide to become citizen-friendly, will they then plagiarize Sam Dehne's ideas and try to take credit? You bet... they're already doing it...

1. Will you soon see this on the Building a Better Reno Billboards? A picture of the parking meter czar looking up from his garden saying, "Hi, I am Building a Better Reno for you by increasing your parking taxes 400%."

2. The mayor continuously says that the Reno Casino city council "goes out of its way" to accommodate citizens at council meetings... acting as if they are doing their bosses a favor. Well, aren't the 85% of citizens who didn't vote for the mayor accommodating him... and the rest of the council?

3. The local and national News Media's priorities are again misplaced... with the big brouhaha over a bite; versus the total neglect of the terrible problems with security at the Reno-Casino Airport and the Nevada Air Guard... and the continuing cover-up of the Break-ins at those two agencies. Along with the cover-up has been false information... that is supposedly designed to placate, but actually makes fools of, various agencies... such as the Reno city council, the FBI, Reno law enforcement agencies, and the public.

4. One of Reno government's goals is to "maximize all revenues available". Are they checking you bank accounts to see how much "revenue" there is to "maximize"? Witness the enormous Parking Meter Fee increase fiasco...

4a. The Reno Redevelopment Agency asked them to increase the parking fees so that workers downtown will stop using the parking spots. But wait, aren't workers citizens too? Are tourists of a higher quality? They won't like it either...

5. The mayor continues to call citizens his "customers". Not!
"Customers" can tell you to drop dead and take their business elsewhere. The truth is that citizens are his "employers"... his "bosses."

6. The Reno-Casino Airport continues to embrace as one of its 1997 goals a refusal to "Ensure the Safety and Well Being of Reno Citizens". You read it right...

7. Poor Robert Mitchum... although very famous, could never quite get the credit and recognition he deserved as a great actor. Even when he dies, he has to do it the day before Jimmy Stewart... so he is lost in the shuffle again.

8. Do you wonder why Holyfield (an apparently very nice man) is not saying much about the biting incident? Well, it turns out they he bit a man named "Jakey" Winters in a fight several years ago... and that fight wasn't even stopped.

9. Why can't citizens get some judge to step in and "DQ" the Reno-Casino Airport for thousands of daily outrageous acts ofAssault and Battery against innocent citizens?

10. More and more, the citizens of Rewana Farms are becoming victims of... Drive by Viewings. What is the Reno-Casino Airport looking for?

11. Every day that City Hall keeps our Parking Meter Fee Structure "Roll-Back" Resolution from being presented... means the citizens are gouged another $6,000 per day...
11a. Is this another way for the city bureaucrats to "fulfill" one of its 6 Council Priorities... "To maximize the collection of revenues available..."? In other words, YOUR money!
11b. Will they give the money already collected back? How?

12. How many of those Nevada boxing commissioners have ever even fought in the boxing ring? How can they expect to really know what is going on in a boxer's mind in the heat of battle... with adrenaline running 1,000,000 miles an hour?

13. Union Pacific Railroad says that, if it is allowed to speed those slow trains driving through Reno by just 10 mph, they can reduce the "wait time" by 7%... and that includes the projected added trains (from 13 up to 24).

14. Reno Gazette biweekly columnist, Frank Partlow, has a good grasp of the English language... fine grammar and articulate phrasing. Shouldn't he be saying something?

15. How not to criticize: After flying on Colin Powell's private jet, a local bureaucrat said, "I'm completely spoiled, and may never again fly Southwest Airlines". He would if he had to pay the fare for that private jet...

16. Erstwhile Reno Gazette Spokesman for Special Interest Groups, Frank Partlow, refers to "citizens who appear before the city council regularly"... as "kooks".

16a. KOOKs - "Kritters Opposing Obnoxious Kouncils". They wear his characterization as a badge of honor.

17. Attending just one Reno-Casino Airport "trustee" meeting provides enough curious (mis)information to fill an entire page of Citizen Gadfly. Citizens with real information are allowed 3 minutes to set a straight record... the Airport calls THEM... "dissidents". See 16a above...

18. Dow hits 8,000... and the same day Montgomery Ward goes bankrupt...