CITIZEN
GADFLY:
(Gadfly: "A Citizen who explains things to other citizens and attempts to arouse them from ignorance and complacency.") ** Sam Dehné
A. Would you allow illegal aliens from North Korea (or Iran or Communist China) to vote on issues that often wreak havoc on your rights as an American citizen? Well... it turns out that there have been two "illegal aliens" appointed by the CITY OF RENO COUNCIL on the Reno-Casino Airport Authority Board... for several years. These illegal "aliens" (who DO NOT LIVE IN RENO) have been voting on issues that involved $$millions of tax dollars... AND adversely infected the lives of dozens of 1,000s of Reno citizens. Shouldn't every one of their votes be declared null and void immediately? Aren't they in direct violation of law? There is only one logical answer... YES!
AA. On 9 Dec, 1996, Sam Dehne submitted an application for Reno's new ombudsman job. His application was lost and/never considered... Coincidence? Read about this latest fiasco by clicking here.
AAA. Big tobbaco companies make gargantuan profits off the misery of their addicts. But why is it never reported that another major cause of children becoming addicted to cigarettes... is their smoking parents? Parents who smoke around their kids... whether in the car or in the house, are forcing their very own addition onto their children. Every time they suck in that dangerous second hand nico-poison, they are being hooked. When is government going to expose this tragedy?
AAAa. How many times have you seen cars driving around with kids buckled in... and the adult(s) puffing away - trying to peer through the haze of smoke?
AAAaa. And then there is the current attempted re-brainwashing of America toward those despicable cigars... that doesn't even warrant comment.
B. Reno-Casino's Airport's "double pilfer-tration" system: First they pilfer USA taxes via a bogus "noise" study... then they pilfer land from innocent citizens with those pilfered taxes...
1. There it was... just as suspected; the notorious RSCVA [Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors "Authority(?)"] was caught mis-directing tax money that was, by Nevada Law (according to the Reno Gazette), supposed to be spent to pay off investors' Bonds. Instead they used the money to pay their salaries. Can citizens expect anything to be done about it? More likely the matter will be swept under the rug... down there with the rest of the city's cans of snakes.
1a. By the way, in case you didn't know it some city council members are on that RSCVA board that pulled off this latest caper...
1b. Quite frankly, citizens are very disturbed at this unilateral stance. Isn't it time for the Nevada Attorney General, Frankie Sue Del Papa, to create a citizens' committee to investigate the machinations of the increasingly notorious RSCVA? After the investigation is over, the RSCVA should be abolished and the guilty punished. If she can't do it, maybe the FBI should be called...
1c. Partial Kudos to the Reno Gazette... in continuing to report on RSCVA (mis) management. However, they forgot to include the fact that, by using Bond money to pay salaries to themselves, they violated Nevada law. Why no suggestions to investigate? That "financial ship" sank... long ago.
1d. The RSCVA venue tennis game is played like this: First you call the State Attorney General's office and report the violation... then they tell you to call the District Attorney... then the District Attorney tells you to call the Attorney General. Getting dizzy yet?
2. Also, as could be expected, the Chamber of Commerce bosses were at city council begging for electrical power to be pumped into Reno... so their businesses could generate more profits... on the backs of the dozens of 1,000s of citizens of Reno's North Valley who will have their land and lives blighted by the gigantic power-line towers. How many times have you heard this type of story before? Too many times... Nothing changes.
3. Speaking of the Chamber of Commerce... The Reno Citizen editor was invited by Rewana Farms resident, Michele Jackson, to join her at a C of C meeting to discuss the airport landgrab. Upon entering the room, Sam Dehne, (ostensibly an expert on the landgrab scheme) was told he wasn't invited and told to leave. You might be interested in reading a little about the aftermath and a letter to the Chamber critters by "clicking" here.
3a. Along those lines, it is apparent that certain individuals prefer to try to "shoot the messenger"... instead of obeying the message. "Click" here to see what former Nevada Governor, Mike O'Callaghan had to say about the issue, vis a vis Sam Dehne.
4. Lenita Powers and Cory Farley are two of the best writers on the Reno Gazette staff. Citizens are still amazed that Farley is allowed to write in defense of those bleeding heart liberals... Kudos!
4a. They are both experts with the pun... the quip, wordplay, the paragram... and that best of all wordsmithing - the double entendre. And oh yes, the conundrum! These are usually natural abilities you cannot be taught. What kind of coffee do they drink?
5. "Plunging property values, visual blight, possible health hazards, these can all be yours." Words printed in a fine letter to the Reno Gazette editor by Robert Mateas... objecting to the notorious Alturas Power Line. They could just have well been written about the ReNO-Casino Airport.
6. JR "The NightHawk" Reynolds (92.1 FM at 6 PM) continues to be the only Reno radio Talk-meister who reports on important local issues. The others continuously kiss-up to the local Bourgeoisie Fat Cat cliques...
6a. Maybe we can call him "The Reno Citizen" of the Air? And congratulations, Mr Nighthawk, on joining the internet set...
What do you think so far? Click to Comment...
8. More on the RGJ's resident liberal, Cory Farley. He made a very good argument against those pesky little boats that proliferate lake Tahoe... and everywhere else. However, he continues to deftly skirt around the problems at the Reno-Casino Airport. But then, readers can't expect him to be an expert on everything...
9. How much do all of those Reno city lobbyists get paid? Wouldn't YOU like one of those cushy jobs... down in Carson City hob-knobbing with legislators and bureaucrats?
10. The Reno-Casino Airport induced, USA taxpayer financed, GRW Corp Huff & Fluff "Air Guard Move Study" has it all backwards. Keep the Air Guard... move the Airport!
11. Speaking of Reno Gazette writers, John Klacking, puts out an excellent article on investing tips each Sunday. Usually very well written, insightful, and understandable.
12a. Headlines about the new freeway off ramp. Wow! Not a word (in paper or on TV) about the RSCVA confiscation of Bond money for themselves...
12b. Has anybody else noticed that when the paper says; "Leaders speak out on this or that...", it is almost always business owners they are referring to? Rarely is it just an ordinary tax-paying citizen. No "leaders"amongst the populace?
12c. The RSCVA has some of those "leaders" on its board. Would you trust them with your money?
12d. Don't you still find it hard to believe that businesses contributed significantly (60%) to the $4.3 million cost of that off ramp?
13. Why don't the cops park outside those dozens of St Patrick Day casino parties? Do you think there might be a few drunks driving around ReNO during those celebrations?
14. Is it really true that casinos can write off those sleazy "free" drinks at $1.50 a piece? They can't cost 15 cents each. Figures... Where is the IRS when you need it?
15. One of the basic requirements for working for the city of Reno (and logically so) is that the workers live in Reno. Why then, are workers allowed to live as far away as Lake Tahoe... and the city knows this? Shades of the Police Time-Card fiasco...
15a. Is it true that, in Reno, if you get away with doing something wrong long enough... that it becomes a "right"?
16. Is it true that McDonald's owns stock in Pepto Bismol and Alka Selzer? Or is it vice-versa?
17. We hear the Fallon Air Show is a "show". But spending all those USA taxes flying those jets around is not going to help balance the budget... or house the homeless... or feed hungry children at school. And who gets the money that local private businesses are charging for tickets? AND WHO PAYS FOR THOSE GIANT BILLBOARDS ADVERTISING A TAX-PAYER FINANCED EXTRAVAGANZA?
18. Did Japanese Kamikaze pilots wear helmets... or shoulder harnesses? Did they have brakes on their wheels?
19. Now your tax dollars are going to be spent inculcating you about what a great job your city government is doing... The Great Reno Brainwashing Scheme of 1997.
19a. "Billboarding Better Reno Blight" is alive and well in Reno, Nevada. There are lots of good city workers... and they are being paid a good salary. If the Reno-Casino City Council wants their pictures on billboards, let them pay for it. Not the taxpayers...
20. The notorious FAA promotes the very same airlines that they are supposed to watchdog! How can they be allowed to get away with this obvious Conflict of Interest? Aren't they creating the very safety problems they are supposed to correct? Isn't it time for a complete overhaul of that arrogant top-heavy bureaucracy?
21. When City Council meetings drag on, who should have priority to speak... city-government staff who are being paid... or citizens who have been waiting - sometimes up to 5 hours?
22. You know it's the 90's when the Pope's Internet Site lets you go to confession over the World Wide Web... can sin-fees be far away?
24. Shouldn't the Reno-Casino City Manager have to solve at least 25% of the problems addressed here (click on here) - before he deserves a salary increase and bonuses?
These Pit Bull puppies belong to Citizen Gadfly.
1. Is the Stead community of some 7,000 citizens starting to think about fleeing from Reno's dominance? New-Old name... Copperville.
2. Is a gigantic highway link between Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe really necessary? Who is going to pay for it? When are we going to fix the atrocious streets we already have?
2a. The "authorities" would have citizens believe that such a preposterous idea is a foregone conclusion. The only beneficiaries (typical for Reno anymore) are construction companies and developers. Let them pay for it... if it is so important. More government amok-nous.
3. Bad news department: The feds have approved the re-imposition of airline ticket taxes. That is where the pork-barrel money comes from to finance the Reno-Casino Airport's "unique", bordering-on extortionism, expansion programs. You can read a report on this corporate welfare financing scheme in March's Reno Citizen...
4. Support him or not, aren't the audacity and arrogance of this president awe-inspiring... and to be dreaded? His "talents" make him an excellent candidate for commissar White's Reno-Casino Airport staff.
5. Those folks who voted for the Grammies never heard Sam Dehne sing The Ballad of Rewana Farmlands... "Airport Aurthority, Leave Us Alone!" (Click on Ballad to read words. Then Click on the blue Clicker for a history.) Click
6. Isn't the on-going diseniolation of Reno's streets and sidewalks something to behold? Who pays when the streets are chopped up for sewer hook-ups? Why can't they ever repair them to the condition they were in to start with?
6a. If there is enough money for the $$multi-million dollar Hidden Valley freeway, shouldn't it be used to repair Reno's rapidly diseniolating transportation infrastructure, instead?
7. RGJ's, Cory Farley, is quite a words-smith. But he was a little off on a recent article: How about the "Renoslash Casinoslashdash Airport"?
8. New name for Stead... Steadnicks? Maybe Steadunkers, Steadsters, Steadonians, Steadigators, Steadlurchers?
9. In a Reno News & Review article, Dennis Myers, referred to Rewana Farms as "bucolic" - as he talked about Reno airport administrators' continuous fudging of the truth. Bucolic: pastoral, rustic, country life... (He was right on the mark.)
What do you think so far? Click to Comment...
10. Have you noticed that in Reno, when a woman and a man are driving around together in a car, they are rarely smiling... or even talking?
11. If 6th graders shouldn't be smoking, should they be buying coffee? Is the coffee industry to be blamed for this on-going inculcation of America's youth... hooking them on coffee.
12. Overheard: A lady bragging about being carded... at a Senior Citizen special.
13. When EVERY Stock Market advisor is saying that the sky-rocketing Stock Market CAN'T crash, is a crash very far away? If it can only go up, why would anybody sell their stock? Note: for every buyer, there is a seller.
14. 55 cent burgers at Mickee Dees? What they forget to tell you is that you have to buy orders of Fries and drinks... By the way, those are the two most profitable mark-up items there are.
15. Want to know the next thing that will make your new computer obsolete? Later this year, computers will have CD-ROMs that you can record/copy ONTO... like you now can with those floppy discs. But with about a zillion times more capacity! You're going to need one of those...
16. On 2 March, the Reno Gazette's long-time city council reporter, Susan Voyles, continued her editorializing of c.c. meetings. Specifically she wrote that (Reno Citizen favorite) councilperson, Judy Pruett, "took potshots" during the February retreat... such as, a. "wanting to know what deals the mayor is making", and, b. "belittling the police department".
16a. If a reporter is reporting the news, she/he should report it... or get a job on the editorial staff. ("Spinning" of Reno city council events should be left to Citizen Gadfly.)
16b. What "deals" are being made by the mayor? What was she "belittling" the police about? Surely she wasn't questioning how a dead man filled out a time card - AFTER HIS DEATH. Although that continues to remain an intriguing question...
16c. The truth - that was not reported: Since when is complaining that the mayor is meeting with developers and new companies (Michelin Tire/ Stead) and not mentioning it, a potshot? Since when, with all her colleagues on the c.c. knowing the truth about the insurance investigation of Officer Hashimoto, is it taking a pot shot to ask/demand that Reno have a police review and a Police commission? Pruett said everyone on the c.c knows that they must have a review of the police department. The rest of the c.c. sat there stone faced and not one single person came forward.
17. It is reported that congressman Jim Gibbons voted AGAINST the notorious 10% Airline Ticket Tax. DOUBLE KUDOS!! It is too bad that his fellow Republicans did not follow his direction on this extortion bill. The aviation tax is expected to raise $2.7 billion, "to be used for
aviation safety projects at airports." But instead, too many of these taxes are improperly dedicated to corporate welfare pork barrel projects... such as paying off the Reno-Casino Airport expansion bonds.
17a. Hopefully Gibbons will stay on top of this and make sure the money is used properly.
17b. The R-C Airport just voted to accept $5,500,000 more of these USA taxes... to pay off their runway improvement bonds. There are too many authentic SAFETY issues that must be addressed - before wasting more taxes on PRIVATE PROJECTS.
18. The city of Reno is paying a $1.2 million dollars (of your taxes) to the widow of a deceased city employee. However, it turns out that there are enough questions surrounding his death to require City Attorney and State Attorney General investigations. The city now says the taxpayer-funded report is not a public record. NOT A PUBLIC RECORD? Unless they forget, those are citizens' taxes being thrown around. CITIZENS HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHERE OVER $1,000,000 IS GOING... AND WHY.
18a. To read a partial expose off this "investigation?", click here. and then here. Where is Sherlock Holmes when Reno citizens need him?
19. Interesting item: County Commissioner asks to be taken off the mailing list of one of the only publications in town that constantly prints the truth. That figures. We must be doing something right. He's off the list...
19a. A recent email: I am not going to read your "dirty, commie, pinko rag" anymore...
20. When we suggested that coffee might be addictive to youngsters, and referred to cigarettes in the same sentence... there was absolutely no intention of inferring that the two are equally bad. Cigarettes lose - hands down as badder... much badder.
21. Reno councilperson, Judy Pruett, is the only member of that group who has portrayed any concern for the mess at the Reno-Casino Airport. The rest of the council critters have buried their heads in the casino chips...
21a. Reno citizens can only hope that she might try out for Reno mayor next go around...
22. A lady found thousands of dollars worth of jewelry in a can of Campbells Cream of Asparagus soup... Does anybody REALLY eat Cream of Asparagus soup?
23. Now Reno's city manager is talking about spending (wasting) $$millions more of citizens' taxes and placing the Police Station right in city hall. Will that make city hall more citizen-user friendly? Not!
23a. Reno's police station does not belong in our city hall because... most citizens think they are fine where they are. AND there are much better things to do with scarce citizens' taxes...
23b. The present police building is only 40 years old... a mere baby.
24. Shouldn't the Reno officials who permitted the police parachutist to conduct unauthorized stunt-jumps be the ones who pay the $500,000 to his survivors... and NOT the Reno taxpayers? This is a no-brainer. To read what an expert has to say, Click here.
25. At about 6:15 AM every morning the loudest civilian airplane in the inventory, a United 727, rudely awakens dozensof 1,000s of Reno and/or Sparks citizens. This terrible 727 noise pollution is then re-enacted 8 to 10 more time each day... up to about midnite.
26. Nothing against the Air Guard... BUT Airport boss, Bobby White, wrongly thanked the NAG for helping repair the airport. Instead, he should be thanking the citizens of America who funded the flights back east to pick up the repair equipment. Will he be refunding the $1,000s of USA taxes that were mis-spent repairing his PRIVATE airport? Not likely. Another example of corporate welfare... Reno-Casino Airport style.
27. FEMA doesn't pay it all... FEMA pays 75% of the damage cost of the flood. Nevada pays 12.5%. And the local governments (your taxes) pay the other 12.5%. More corporate welfare?
28. More on noise-polluting 727s: It is the noise decibels above about 70 dbs that become really damaging... to the senses and sensibility. Reno Air and Southwest planes are rated at about 70 - 80 dbs (depending on numerous factors). With 727's the dbs approach 100 dbs. The perceived noise irritation of one 727 is worse than the noise of multiple MD-80 or 737s.
29. The Reno Gazette complimented the city council on having its retreat (synonym: asylum) closer to town. It is the citizens who demanded a less-lavish close-in retreat who should be commended...
30. Why did the Reno mayor and city manager capitulate and dole out that $1,200,000 of your taxes... despite the fact they had Attorney General Director, Kevin Higgins's, extremely damning preliminary report in their hands? Do the police know something about their backgrounds that they were intimidating them with? Why give in when the A.G "investigation in progress" found eleven significant items of mischief and misbehavior?
30a. Despite all of this turmoil, citizens must not forget that the police, when they are protecting lives and property, are a very important part of the community...
31. While the police are pulling cars over for seatbelt violations, they should be fining adults who are smoking with children in the cars. Happens ALL the time...
31a. Second hand smoke kills more people than non-fastened seatbelts... and those children in the cars are being forcibly addicted to cigarettes.
32. Freedom Forum survey found that between 53% and 14% of viewers/readers/listeners trust the media. However, some 80% feel the media play a crucial role in a free society!
32a. Almost 97% of readers trust The Reno Citizen...
33. Is there going to be enough FEMA money to go around? Will there be any left to pay for the impending Reno Spring Flood damage?
34. With the rapid trend toward unmanned, remote-controlled, military fighter jets (yes, it IS the 21st century!), the Pentagon is close to canceling one of its 3 current fighter jet production programs.
35. Can you believe that Reno has a curfew for youngsters... but not for airliners?
36. When the recession hits, and it will, will those airlines be running for cover? Is that the only hope that innocent citizens have for reprieve from their constant noise bombardment?
