Welcome, 2005, And To You May This Be A Great Year

2004 Was A Humdinger And A Downer For Many Nevadans

by Johnny Gunn

As I begin writing this little piece, snow outside my office window is piling up, I just saw pictures of cars submerged in Las Vegas intersections, Donner Pass is closed, and the word is, the New Year celebrations scheduled in the south and north are going to be severely impacted by rain, snow, wind, and cold.

All the while, thousands of Silver Staters are jumping for joy. Is this the drought buster? Will our lakes and reservoirs fill to the brim? Will rivers run high and cold all summer? Will we be skiing until June this year?

This just goes to say there are always two or more sides to a story, and as a citizen, sometimes it is difficult to find the side that will have the greatest impact. As an editor, the best bet is to write about all sides, and try not to highlight any one. Sometimes, that's the most difficult part of this job. Personally, I may want to cheer loudly for one particular side, but as one who is trying to offer news, not my own personal opinion, I know I have to report equally, all sides of an issue.

Our news pages are filled with this. Sometimes little comments sneak in, we try not to let them, but it does happen. This page, however, is specifically set aside for personal comment. Mine. Yours.

This year that has come and gone was filled with opportunity for commentary, and news pages were glutted with foibles and other misdeeds. A vicious and mean political campaign, not just at the national level, but locally as well may have polarized us even more than we were at the beginning.

Ethics violations were discussed in these pages in almost every issue, with fines being levied, and in one horrible action, an impeachment. For the first time in Nevada's history, an elected official was impeached, and found guilty. The circumstances of that will be debated for years to come.

Should Attorney General Brian Sandoval have filed criminal charges instead of bringing ethics violations charges against Controller Kathy Augustine? That will be the crux of the debate, and it may be one of the times that even history won't offer a clear answer. Maybe the editor of this journal will look at the issue again in say, 25-years or so.

The year will also go down as the year of the initiative petition. And of groups with agendas they wish the public to endorse, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to do that. It still isn't clear who was attempting to buy what on some of the ballot questions we faced in November, but generally, it seems, the public saw through some of the ruses.

All of that is behind us now. It's 2005, it's snowing and raining in Nevada's 17 counties, legislators will be gathering in just a few weeks, the governor is working on his budget and state-of-the-state message, farmers and ranchers are thinking of spring planting, animal doctoring, and those of us of a certain ilk are working on new fly patterns to offer the wily trout inhabiting Nevada's somewhat pristine waters.

What will that legislature do? The last session, nay sessions, didn't go quite as planned, and a few people lost their jobs over that. Did anyone learn anything? There will be jockeying for position, because in 2006 we will be looking for a new Governor, new Secretary of State, new Attorney General, new State Controller, and probably a new Treasurer. Oh, yes, and a new Lt. Governor. How could I forget that important post?

The leadership in the legislature continues to say there will be no new taxes, but they aren't quite as convincing as some would like. The state's coffers are filling fast because of the immense tax increase from the last legislature, coupled with a surging economy, and there has been some slight traffic in the possibility of a refund or decrease in some taxes.

Politicians are quick to increase taxes, but they don't like giving any back. Well, unless they're running for re-election.

All that said, what might be in store for you by way of the pages of The Nevada Observer? Continued pressure on politicians to be forthright and ethical. At the state level, city and county level, even school district level, we will ask the hard questions, and when we don't get the hard answers, you will know it.

We will continue to hammer on the questions of political financing. The legislature needs to take action on how financing is reported. Politicians may not like us to know and understand their personal and political finances, but it is our right, and they have an obligation to us.

We will continue to look into the Nevada education system. It obviously is not up to par. Nevada is ranked at or near the bottom of the list of state education systems in the country, and we will continue to try to make things better for students and teachers.

Drugs and the gangs and terrorists that distribute them will be high on our list. Nevada is home to organized crime syndicates that manufacture and distribute drugs, and we will do our best to continue to inform you of who these slime-balls are. Coupled of course with drugs are money laundering practices, and these too are on our to-do list.

All news isn't bad. News by definition is something that doesn't happen regularly, so we also plan to continue our series of articles on the distribution and manufacture of electrical power in Nevada. We have limited oil reserves underground, no operating coal mines, and limited hydroelectric potential, so we buy what we need to make power. But as we have also pointed out in several articles, Nevada is rich in alternative power sources: solar, geothermal, and wind.

Another source of good news is our economy. In the south, between construction and incredible tourism, the economy is on fire. In the north, gaming tourism isn't quite as rosy, but there is more to the north than just gaming. Manufacturing and warehousing are strong economically, as is transportation. An interstate highway, an international airport, and an intercontinental railway contribute greatly to northern Nevada's economy.

And in the eastern part of the state, mining and agriculture are very strong. You'll see articles on the economy in just about every issue as the year goes by.

What I've left out of this little dissertation is what it is you might want to see that we haven't been covering. Send me an e-mail: johnnyg@nevadaobserver.com. If you're worried about your name or thoughts being disclosed, just say you don't want that to happen, and it won't. We welcome your thoughts and ideas.

I'd love to write a lot more to welcome in this New Year, but that snow just continues to beckon. My cross-country skis are waxed and ready. See you in a couple of weeks.

Happy New Year.