Reno
Citizen October, 1997The Reno Citizen takes no responsibility for views expressed by its writers. (But we would if we could.)Comments happily accepted. Click on the Mailbox,
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WHY DID THE RENO AIRPORT AUDITORS IGNORE THE TRUTH?
By Sam Dehné
Sorry... it's not like the movies, folks. This time Harrison Ford and Clint Eastwood did not show up at the last minute to haul the bad guys off. No... instead, a $174,000 taxpayer-funded Huff & Fluff audit (with an anorexic scope) decided that the truth made no sense... and "mis"-reported that all is hunky-dory at the Casino Airport.
Reno's citizens had hoped that a 4 month long "outside" investigation of the airport would not be unduly influenced by the top brass... and that an honorable document would be submitted to the authorities. (But since the"authorities" had selected their own judge and jury, a bona-fide diagnosis of the culprits was unlikely.) Not only did the audit not scratch the surface... not only did it totally ignore the very questionable small-potatoes stuff... but it got trampled by the elephants... while side-stepping the piss ants.
Why? How high does the stink go? It isn't as if the "auditors'" shouldn't have been aware. Because after prompting, prodding, and outright insults from rank and file citizens, the auditors were forced to sit down with a few regular folks. They were bombarded with proof of skullduggery at almost every level of airport activity. What did they do then? They promptly ignored the evidence... or shredded it out of their minds.
Patriotic citizens continue to demand answers to real questions about bureaucratic corruption and incompetence. Besides ignoring the 18 allegations of wrongdoing that prompted the audit in the first place, this latest group of airport Huff & Fluffers failed to ask hard questions about, and find honest answers to, these really dreadful problems:
Security Breaches that Allowed Amateur Terrorists to Attack the Airport's Main Runway.
So, now, after all the scheming and conniving, after the bogus studies and investigations, after the kickbacks and cover-ups... and after the deaths, what are Reno citizens left to look forward to? Will this smelly mess ever stop stinking? Unfortunately, probably not... not until a calamitous event... or maybe a miracle... removes the rot. Maybe:
an economic recession, or
But until then, chalk another one up for Reno Airport Huff and Fluff...
Whereas certain members of the Reno City Council deserve higher city compensation than they are currently receiving ... and others deserve less, and
Whereas certain members of the Reno City Council are more responsive to the will of the people when considering and deciding public issues, and
Whereas certain members of the Reno City Council can be fairly perceived as lackeys of powerful special interests ... inviting the suspicion that they are compensated by such special interests, and
Whereas the voters of Reno denied a general pay raise for members of the council within recent memory,
Be it therefore resolved that a question be placed on the next ballot permitting citizens to grant pay raises to trusted council members and to deny pay raises to other council members.
AIRPLANE CRASHES INTO RENO SCHOOL YARD. WARNINGS TO AIRPORT FALL ON DEAF EARS.
by Sam Dehné
After years of warnings about the potential of a disaster, a twin engine airplane crashed into a school yard in Reno, Nevada.
The Reno Airport Authority and its staff have been advised over and over and over that planes fly at dangerously low altitudes (sometimes as low as 300 feet) over schools (this one in particular) and homes in the vicinity of the airport.
The warnings have fallen on deaf uncaring ears; even while other near-disasters have been covered up by Airport honchos. Airplanes are often prompted to divert away from the normal flight path in order to accommodate airliners anxious to take off and not miss schedule.
This accident occurred when a plane plummeted into the normally crowded Pine Middle School playground at 1:52 PM on 12 Sept. God was obviously performing one of Her miracles... nobody was killed on the ground and the passengers were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Ironically, just the day before, the Airport "trustees" voted unanimously to initiate a huge ill-conceived airport expansion and double the size of the Air Guard base. This ill-advised cancerous airport expansion would mean hundreds of additional dangerous flights at the already over-crowded airport.
If built, the Air Guard base would be located less than 1/2 mile from this school... and would be a magnet attracting hundreds of noisy and dangerous military flights to Reno's Un-American Airport.
The landgrab and expansion were challenged and opposed by sane citizens. But their pleadings fell on those deaf ears... again.
And where have Reno's "leaders" been? They have been too busy nest-feathering and worrying about the railroad horns to bother themselves with airport disasters. Not one of their political subordinates on the Airport Board has any airline experience. In fact there is not even one pilot among those appointed Board members... members who "serve at the Reno city council's pleasure."
Thank God for the quick-thinking teachers.
The next time the school kids and citizens might not be so lucky...
It is time to think seriously about the folly of having such a dangerous airport in the middle of downtown Reno.
By Rebecca Devonshire
Pandering is alive and well in Nevada...
Perennial governmental appointee, Sue Camp, has received yet another plush appointment from one of those "power club" special interest groups... this time Nevada's governor (does he really know her?).
Let's take a quick look at the sordid history:
a. 1995 - Reno's newly elected mayor, Jeff Griffin, (elected with a measly 15% of the registered vote) appoints Camp to honcho Ward 3 District Council... with no election.
b. After Ward 3 Councilperson, Jan Dalske, is removed under very questionable circumstances (with heavy handed citizen-inculcating brainwashing by the news media and the "power club"), Camp is appointed to the Reno-Casino city council. It is noteworthy that within weeks of her appointment, the mayor tried to award her private company with a plush city contract... but was thwarted by citizens' cries of "Foul".
c. After regular elections she is removed from city council and re-appointed to honcho the Ward 3 District Council. In the meantime, her private company is rumored to be the recipient of another plush city-funded contract or sub-contract.
d. July, 1997 - Camp is appointed to plush Reno-Casino Airport Board position... while continuing to honcho Ward 3 District Council. It is noteworthy that Camp, now an obvious true friend of mayor Griffin, has NO background in aviation matters. It is noteworthy that within weeks, she is an intricate part of a clandestine plot to funnel public funds into a far-reaching contract for the mayor's private company... an action that is totally against all fundamentals of governmental ethics and laws of Nevada. Camp also prepares to rubber-stamp a diabolically concocted airport scheme to demolish Rewana Farms; so that an illegally funded landgrab can take place... just before:
e. September 10, 1997, Camp is appointed to a plush County Commission position... with a salary of $40,000... plus perks... for a part-time job.
What's the next appointment?
Will Reno government ever sound and honor the will of the people? Not likely...
A MEMORIALIZATION
Rewana Farms Planning Coalition
All concerned persons are invited to a Ceremony to honor those who have died since the onslaught of the Reno Airport's initiation of its Rewana Farms landgrab. Back on the evening of 15 October, 1995, some 150 innocent citizens were huddled into a school building and told by appointed (not elected) airport officials they would soon lose their homes because the Reno/Tahoe Airport needed their land for "growth". Battle lines were immediately drawn by these aggrieved citizens. And even though some have fallen, surviving Rewanians vow that their deaths will not have been in vain. Governmental abuse of power must never be accepted by persons in any country ... especially not in the United States. Please attend this informal salute to offer your personal words of grief and sadness on behalf of these unfortunate victims.
IN MEMORY OF:
Mary Jane Brown, Bob Ferrara,
Ron Galleron, Norm Hilderbrand,
Roy Tucker, Dora Bath
PROBLEMS THAT TRAINS THE AIRPORT BRING TO OUR COMMUNITY.
(A simple paraphrasing of the Un-American Reno City Council's Taxpayer-Funded Brainwashing Propaganda Blitzkrieg against Reno citizens)
Staff re-report on the full page Reno Gazette political ad of 29 Sept, 1997 ( pg 6C )
Problem #1: A bigger and bigger Airport, refusing to mitigate noise, will destroy the ability of citizens to live a safe and peaceful life. Noisy takeoffs all day, and all night, irritate dozens of thousands of innocent people for more than 5 hours each day. The potential for disaster of airliners crashing into crowded neighborhoods far exceeds the potential for any train disaster.
Problem #2: The Mayor's Sweetheart Deal between his Private Company and his Airport Subordinates (see exposé) will increase the likelihood of a catastrophe due to Airplanes carrying tons of hazardous waste... directly over the heads of dozens of thousands of innocent civilians.
Problem #3: Increased airport traffic will jeopardize out community's quality of life... hell, it already has... tainting the Truckee Meadows' blue skies... destroying our often unbreathable clean air. And destroying property values.
Problem #4: A Gargantuan Airport creates more public nuisances; adding noise, danger, and blight to the already cancerous growth of the Truckee Meadows. Increased airplanes = increased noise pollution from roaring jet engines. More private airplanes = more irritating buzzing and rumbling from their obnoxious propeller engines. A Bigger Airport = more illegal landgrabs and deaths.
This single-minded city council would have you believe that the railroad is Reno's big problem. If they really gave a hoot about the welfare of the community, they would have long ago taken citizens' advice and cleaned up the incompetence and corruption perpetrated by their political subordinates at the Un-American Reno Airport. But then, they can't because most of them are also deeply entrenched in that morass.
What You Can Do To Protect Your Family Against This Nefarious Airport Onslaught:
For more in-depth coverage of corruption, incompetence, cover-ups, and kickbacks contact: The Reno Citizen at 825-1398 or access the internet magazine at www.renocitizen.comETHICS COMMITTEE WHITEWASHES MAYOR's SLEAZY DEAL... AIRPORT ESCAPES SCRUTINY TOO By Sam Dehné
Reno's Un-American Airport slipped Reno's mayor a clandestinely concocted $27,500 taxpayer financed contract... under the sleaziest of circumstances... and in direct violation of Section 2.020.2 of the Reno City Charter... arguably the most important statement in the Charter.
Why didn't the mayor ask the City Attorney if there was a "conflict of interest"... prior to accepting this kickback contract? Wouldn't a "reasonable public officer" be concerned? Was he hoping (along with his new "bosses" down at the airport) to sneak another one past the citizens?
And while he has been busily feathering his own personal nest with plush contracts with his political subordinates at the Un-American Reno Airport, most of the council and Reno news media top brass have been busily alibiing for him.
Problems with this conniving? Nevada's Ethics Commission says no-sir-ee-bob... nada, nothing, zero, zippo...
Folks, laws of honorable government have been created to expose, nab, and punish public people who try to bilk the citizenry. Review just a few of the many pertinent laws of the Nevada Revised Statutes... and see if you qualify as a rocket scientist: ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT, General Provisions, Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS)
Section 281.411
"Public officer" defined. For purposes of Nevada Ethics in Government Law, the term "public officer" includes (1) elective officers and (2) persons appointed to positions created by law whose duties are specifically set forth in law and who are made responsible by law, for the direction, supervision, and control of their agencies, including part-time officers and those who serve without compensation.
Section 281.421:
1 (b) A public officer or employee must commit himself to avoid conflicts between his private business interests and those of the general public whom he serves.
CODE OF ETHICAL STANDARDS
Sec 281.481:
1. A public officer or employee shall not seek or accept any gift, service, favor, employment, engagement, emolument or economic opportunity which would tend to improperly influence a reasonable person in his position to depart from faithful and impartial discharge of his public duties.
2. A public officer or employee shall not use his position in government to secure or grant unwarranted privileges, preferences, exemptions or advantages for himself, any member of his household, and business entity in which he has a significant pecuniary interest, or any other person.
3. A public officer or employee shall not participate as an agent of government in the negotiation or execution of a contract between the government and any private business in which he has a significant pecuniary interest.
CHAPTER 281.551:
5. If the commission finds that a violation of a provision of this chapter has been committed by a public officer removable from office by impeachment only, it shall file a report with the appropriate person responsible for commencing impeachment proceedings as to its finding. The report must contain a statement of facts alleged to constitute the violation.
ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT? An oxymoron?
Folks, the Nevada Ethics Commission had a plethora of laws to choose from... any one of which would demand an investigation. For its unfathomable breech of faith and refusal to investigate this illegal scheme between Reno's mayor and his political subordinates at the airport, the current Ethics Commission deserves nothing less than disbandonment.. and immediate replacement by 6 honorable citizens... who recognize wrong when it smacks them in the stomach. This one should pack its bags and get out of town on the next wagon... before the tar and feathers arrive.
This is just another reason why dozens of 1,000s of "sniveling, malcontented" citizens are disgusted with greasy despotic government...
Read more about this mess... click here.
Have a Nice Day... the Staff