TRIBAL BAND OF MOONS
Listen to them play their original Earth Music for Earth People.
Or book them for your nightclub or party.
(702) 786-6721 or (702) 972-6369
Published by the Concerned Citizens League
PO Box 50093, Reno, NV 89513
June 1996, Vol.2, No.6 (702) 825-1398
Email renocit@accutek.com
Ignorant readers ask why The Reno Citizen continues to examine the Reno Airport (AAWC) and the Nevada Air Guard (NAG). After all, shouldn't this "rag" be satisfied that it played a major role in correcting the NAG RF-4 mission (remember those defunct, noisy "fighter" jets)?
Everything would have been okay; except it turns out that the NAG and the AAWC had been contriving a shrewd plan to build a military base in the backyards of thousands of Reno citizens.
That is wrong. Military bases are being closed.
Are opponents to this farce patriots? Yes. They are bold enough to take a stand against government waste. The AAWC is not. AAWC's greedy poor judgment is what is causing waste...
Good judgment demands that the NAG be moved to a military base. Why doesn't the AAWC support such logic? Who knows?
Certainly TRC has tried to bring AAWC to its senses. With AAWC's bizarre support of a $$multi, multi-million dollar move of the NAG into residential areas, one is left to only wonder about their agenda, their motive. Have they been working together so long that they have developed a bonding that precludes creative and effective thinking? Are they paralyzed with bureaucratic "paralysis of habit"?Folks - here is the OBVIOUS solution:
Move the NAG to Nellis Air Force Base.The Georgia Air Guard was just faced with this exact scenario. (Sure, the members squawked.) But they were moved out of Atlanta to an Air Force Base. The unit still exists. And is probably safer and better...
If it is good enough for Atlanta, Georgia, isn't it good enough for Reno, Nevada?
The solution is so beneficial that The Reno Citizen deserves a portion of the $$millions of taxes saved. Or it should be put on the Airport payroll...
What do you think?
In the last four months, two airline flights from Miami have ended in tragedy. Can you name the airlines? Hint: One was a major carrier and the other was a previously unknown "upstart". One ran into a mountain killing about 180 passengers and crew. The other had smoke in the airplane (from a still unproven source) and 110 people perished.
If citizens did not know better, they would think the Media was just waiting for one of these new low cost airlines to do something wrong. And of course meanwhile, the major carriers, whose own transgressions are often ignored, must love watching the Media pounce on one of these defenseless small airlines.
Has it become the job of Media to make citizens afraid of small carriers? Scare them back onto the large carriers' airplanes? Drive the new carriers out of business?
The Reno Citizen has no affiliation with, or affection for, Valujet or Kiwi Air or Air South or any of the other new carriers. But fair is fair. It is wrong when the Fat Cats make unjustified and biased attacks on the little guys. All airlines are inspected by the same safety regulators (the new carriers often more stringently). Can anybody explain the unrelenting feeding frenzy against Valujet? What about American Airlines in Columbia? Would you feel unsafe knowing that two experienced pilots did not know where they were? Were so lost that they ran into a mountain? Doesn't that blunder deserve exposure by the media? Where were they? Why did they ignore that tragedy? This Valujet thing, tragic as it is, has been blown out of all relative proportion by the Media.
Renoites, remember this: If the Valujet affair is any indication, citizens can expect a similar scavenging attack by the Media against Reno Air - if "Reno's Hometown (new, low-cost) Airline" should be involved in an accident...
This bizarre official position was part of the airport's "plan" as late as 1995. It was even part of the notorious and "infallible" mysterious Reno Airport Master Plan. A "plan" put together by the elitist business people who stand to profit most from its implementation. For all practical purposes, this "Master (?) Plan" has been kept secret from the public. Have you seen it? Where is it? What's in it?
Public input was non-existent. Whenever the public did object, they were ignored. Meetings were merely window-dressing.
Because of the advice of, and warning by, The Reno Citizen, three members of the appointed Airport Board recently decided to cover their 6 o'clock positions (butts) by finally addressing this wasteful atrocity. (Are they finally recognizing the sanity of moving the NAG to a military base?) They have asked 42 questions. Questions about problems TRC has already exposed in the last 8 months.
These bureaucrats are asking the wrong people! This problem is of such a magnitude that it mandates an independent investigation - headed by impartial citizen advocates like Sam Dehné...
Recent machinations by the Reno City Council has got some citizens questioning the viability of the current mostly-elected panel. Just a few questions that beg answers:
Why did they condone and attend the illegal defacto secret meeting (retreat?) in California?
What did they discuss when citizens weren't around?
Did they come to a consensus as to whom to appoint to the vacant City Council position at the secret meeting? How many other deals were struck?
When they were asking questions of Council candidates, why didn't they even mention the two most critical issues in southeast Reno? (The Airport's attempted landgrab, and the ill-advised attempt to build an Air National Guard military base in the subdivisions.)
Why did they add yet a fifth member to the Council - from affluent South West Reno (5 of 7)?
Why did they post a vague meeting agenda that said: 1. Planning, Goal-setting, and Team Building session, and 2. Determination of Performance Measures for City Manager.?
Why did they then address many non-agendized items? Such as:Citizens would have loved to observe and participate in this one, but the meeting was too far away, and no warning was posted that things like this would be addressed.
Does anybody in state government care that the Nevada Open Meeting Law appears to have been grossly breached? Thus far there has only been finger pointing...
1. Wouldn't you like to run for Congress? Have a shot at all those great perks? But can you afford all those bill boards and TV commercials? Not likely! Who pays for them? Certainly not the candidate. It's the same old "What have you done for me lately?" scheme. Vote for the smallest billboards.
2. Don't you love the gambling industry's use of word "gaming"? Tennis, golf, and bridge are examples of games - where skill is involved. But what skill is there to throwing some dice or guessing where a ball will end up as it goes around a table? Gaming - "You give the casino your $50, and they take it..."
3. City sponsored sports. Shouldn't the umpires be required to supervise the on-the-field language of the players? The games are supposed to provide good wholesome fun for players and families, but with the trash talking that sometimes can be heard, it makes this impossible. Shouldn't the softball rules forbid knee-high slides by base runners as being too injurious? Count the knee braces next time...
4. There is such a variety of good stuff on TV that it makes people wish they had 4 sets of eyes and ears. A & E Biographies, Charles Grodin Commentary, Kathy & Regis, and even the Reno City Council meetings on Tuesdays are something to watch. Not to mention the Internet and World Wide Web. Note: Be sure you save time to read (and share) The Reno Citizen.
[A Gadfly is one who "rouses others from complacency and indifference." The Reno Citizen looks at news events, and pose questions, from the viewpoint of the ordinary people on the street...]
5. "Pork" A fraudulent airport Study (Noise) was used to coax tax dollars from Washington. This ill-gotten money was then to be used to try to confiscate private land from innocent civilians so a military base could be built right in the middle of Reno. This is wrong. Will the idiocy end?
6. Government (national and local) says there are more jobs than ever before. What they don't say is that they pay about 1/2 as much; usually with little or no benefits. Down Sizing = Right Sizing = Fear by Workers. Greedy CEO's strain their backs on the way to the bank. Someday the glove will be on the other foot...
7. The Navy says it now needs more land at Fallon. Don't they already have about a gazillion acres? This time they say they need it for ground troop training... Continuing thanks is due to Grace Bukowski, an executive with The Rural Alliance for Military Accountability. Her patriotic efforts are perfectly described by the name of her group. They have helped block the Airport landgrab.
8. Isn't it ironic that Gibbons is using Cafferata's mother's war (the Gulf Storm Massacre) to hang his campaign hat on, in his attempt to beat her in the Republican primary? Bush also had a little to do with that onslaught...
9. Why do so many Fat Cats have this obsession with growth (usually at the expense of citizens)? Why not be like regular citizens who rarely get pay raises anymore and who have to live within their means?
10. Why isn't some attention being given to the sprawl, noise, and potential danger that will be thrust upon the people who will be blighted by the Airport - if they are successful with their landgrab scheme?
11. Did you know Nevada has a larger percentage of military veterans than any other stare? That the United States has sustained 650,563 battle deaths? And that there have been 39,258,292 veterans?
12. Where does the Reno News & Review's Bruce Van Dyke come up with those bizarre stories each week? They're great. Hollywood "bad manners" Fat Cats making anti-violence commercials...
13. Reno is still the only city with an airline named after it...
14. Feel sorry for Dole? $100,000+ per year retirement, lifetime medical, etc, etc. And Libby is probably doing alright too...
15. Citizen Gadfly was sitting in traffic recently. A little old lady had a stalled car. Big truck behind her honking its horn. Lady gets our and says: "Sir, if you will try to start my car, I will honk your truck's horn"
16. Is it true that Gibbons just painted over Governor on his old campaign signs and is using the same ones? What next?
17. Why do athletes, actors, and entertainers make astronomical salaries; while important members of society make a mere pittance? Oh yes, and those CEOs? Those guys should make a good living - about $150,000/year. Nobody's worth $2,000/hour...
17a. The World Wide Web of Internet activity, information, and entertainment just might correct this injustice this some day.
18. Watch much TV? If you watched anything, you should have been watching Pickett Fences. It was one of the top 5 shows of the last 3 years - bar none. It covered hundreds of subjects with tremendous insight and cleverness. Now it is gone, fini, canceled, terminado. What were they thinking?
19. Gibbons's campaign literature indicates that Bush once said: "A citizen legislator doing double duty as a citizen soldier. This is America at its best." How about Jessi Winchester - "A Citizen Advocate doing quadruple duty as a peace loving Christian. This is Nevada at its best."
20. Many years ago the city of Reno purchased the area north of town known as Stead. What happened to the money?
21. Some people say that Citizen Gadfly picks on big business and big government (Now there are two antitheses of each other.) too much. Not so. CG realizes that both of these entities are necessary. It is when they are sloppy, wasteful, and disrespect the people who make their existence possible, that issues need to be challenged. Look at the NAG RF-4s. A patriotic bunch of people who had the wrong mission in the wrong location. CG helped correct that.
22. Have you heard the voice tapes from the cockpit of that airliner that ran into a mountain in Columbia, killing about 180? Right after it happened CG suggested it was pilot error. Guess what? It was. Dis you know the pilot asked, "Where are we?" He soon found out... Quick question: What airline was that? Bet you don't know. But we bet you can name the airline that was bombed out of the sky (and existence) by terrorists over Lockerbie. And the airline that is in the swamps by Miami. Why has that crash in Columbia been hushed?
23. Why do people gamble at Casinos - when it is well documented that Casinos have a huge advantage?
24. Did you ever stop to think that 1/2 of a State's/D.A.'s case is built on YOUR NATURAL INBRED TRUST that they would obviously never prosecute a person they did not think was guilty. Doesn't that give them 50% of the upper hand before the trial even starts?
25. The fear of job loses by the NAG turned out to be much ado about very little. After the dust settles, there will be the loss of about one job. Or so it was reported recently...
26. When are advertisements going to start praising, honoring, and hailing people other than sports figures? How about inventors, teachers, auto mechanics, or housewives and househusbands? It's only a matter of re-directing propaganda. When are citizens going to demand this?
27. If the airport thinks it needs more land, there are 4 obvious solutions (not in order of priority): 1. Move Nevada Air Guard to Nellis AFB, 2. Move NAG to Fallon NAS, 3. Move NAG to Stead, 4. Move NAG to the Golf Course. Or how about moving them to the Minden airport, the Carson City airport, or Wendover airport?
28. Taking action on above will give the Airport the land where the NAG is now. And the innocent citizens living in Rewana Farmlands will be free from constant harassment.
29. "A Gathering of Gamblers": Sounds really romantic. $100 ($1,000 preferred seating) to listen to old-timer casino owners tell stories about how much money they have made from the gambling losses of... maybe some guys who are now homeless? Why weren't any questions asked about their responsibility to the city of Reno. Maybe they should have given a preferred seat to one of the gamblers off the street...
30. Did Gibbons go along with that tax "initiative" as a personal control device - after he tried to give himself a 300% pension increase?
31. Why does Reno's Airport "Authority" Board cater only to business interests? Could it be because each of those appointed members is a business person? They should go into their own pockets for projects. Not our taxes...
32. Patriotic Nevadans respect the men in blue (olive drab). The NAG's commander said their new job is to "transport military cargo and troops". There are none of these things in Reno. You WILL find military items like these at Nellis AFB...
33. Are you beginning to feel a mood shift in America's attitude about that Contract with on America? Maybe the end of the honeymoon?
34. Boxing... Here's how it should work: The first pugilist to land 10 (or maybe 15) significant blows to his opponent wins. Period. That would help prevent what has happened to Ali (and thousands of other boxers)...
35. The problem with so many comedians these days: They go after the underdog. They should go after the overdog...
36. Bosnia might make the election difficult for Bill Clinton. But not for the reason originally forecast. Without the managerial expertise of Ron Brown, a difficult election campaign will become even harder to direct.
37. Did you know the Airport Authority is being investigated by the Attorney General's office? Something about the Nevada Open Meeting Law (surprise!). Just maybe the investigators will discover and expose the real transgressions; such as improper snatching of USA taxes via an obsolete noise study. Nah...
38. Have you heard of Water Joe? It is bottled water laced with caffeine. For people who don't like the taste of coffee but still want a Joelt...
39. Corey Farley was headed in the right direction with this "token friendliness" thing. When workers are ordered by their bosses to be overly cordial, it can breed resentment in the employee. And it is usually obvious to the customer. Wouldn't it be better to just be reasonably helpful?
40. The latest buzzword at the City Council is inculcate. They learned it from their facilitator at their defacto secret meeting in California. "To impress on the mind by frequent repetition or persistent urging." Some of the members caught on to this one real fast...
40a. An example of inculcation is the appointed Airport Board that tries to say something over and over (but contrives it so average citizens don't know what the real agenda is) - hoping it will come true...
42. Congressional candidate, Jessi Winchester, has some great ideas. She has a good on-the-job background for understanding people. She has a better grasp of the REAL issues than her opponents. And isn't she one of the few hustlers running for Congress who ever got paid legitimately? Have you seen the movie - "Pretty Woman"? Who's the hero?
43. Is it true that Reno Airport Trustee, Dawn Gibbons, told Reno City Council member, Judy Pruett, to keep her nose out of the Airport's attempted landgrab scheme? Why? Those vigilant and brave, but sometimes overwhelmed landowners need any help they can get...
44. TRC received some criticism for the use of an off-color word in the May issue. It should be pointed out that real obscenities are the well documented attempts to waste USA taxes for an airport landgrab, and the building of a military base in the middle of a civilian city, and Casino expansion without community impact responsibility...
45. Did you have any doubt? Was there any question? Were you surprised when the South-West Reno City Council fortified itself by appointing anointing yet a 5th person from South-West Reno to its clan?
46. The government owns 90% of Nevada's land... So why do they have to put a military base in the middle of a city?
47. Should Reno have a law that forbids Council members from voting on matters that relate to their big campaign contributors? Activist Bill Hamma proposed such an initiative for this fall's ballot. Think the City Council will put it on there? Yeah, right...
48. It has been reported that the mantra of the new member of the South-West Reno City Council is: "Reno needs to grow"...
49. Enough OJ... Okay!
49b. Enough Valujet... Okay! How about some reports on the American crash in Columbia.
50. The Reno Redevelopment Agency has 21 positions. Las Vegas's Agency has 3 full and 2 part time positions. Which city is doing better? What is wrong with this picture?
51. If there was a Casino located at Rewana Farms, do you think the SWRCC would get involved?
52. The SWRCC is trying to take a page from the Airport Board's book of special bureaucratic perks. $7,000 to $10,000 each for themselves and their wives/dates for travel, dining, and entertainment. Did they decide on this at their secret meeting? They must think that if the UN-ELECTED Airport Board gets extravagant perks, the SWRCC should too...
53. It's Good for the Goose - but Not for the Gander. Some Nevada "gaming" casinos are spending $$millions to convince Californians gambling is bad - when it is in California. Friend and foe recognize this hypocrisy. Enough said...
54. What would Reno be like without gambling? Do you think it has enough going to still "get by"?
55. Reno mayor Griffin said he doesn't want dangerous trains (with nuclear waste) going through "casino areas"... What about the rest of Reno? Do you think it was a Freudian slip?
56. Already there are 64 gambling sites on the World Wide Web, for "gaming" on your computer...
57. Want to bet the SWRCC doesn't vote itself a pay raise soon? In addition to the travel/entertainment perks they are giving themselves. The SWRCC appoints the Charter committee. Then that appointed committee recommends a pay raise... Coming soon.
58. Some SWRCC "supporters" have recommended that all tickets purchased be one-way...
59. Is Reno a great city - or what!?!
59a. Is what deposed councilperson, Janice Dalski, did as bad as taking $$millions from USA taxpayers under the disguise of a defunct Noise Study?
60. Chicago Hope is a better TV show than ER...
61. The Georgia Air Guard (GAG) moved its entire military base from Atlanta to an Air Force base (where it belongs) that is about 125 miles away. Few full-timers quit. Some pilots quit. But they were replaced by already qualified and experienced airmen... Isn't it time to move the NAG to a real Air Force base?
62. Isn't throwing cigarette butts (especially burning ones) out the window littering? Shouldn't the police arrest or fine these litterers?
63. Why has The Reno Citizen become the watchdog for the NAG? It has nothing to do with the fact they falsified the editor's military records...
64. 3/8ths of the Airport Board is asking 42 potentially damning questions of airport staff. Isn't that like letting the foxes guard the chicken cage? If there are that many violations, bring in an independent investigator!
65. Marriage counseling: Shouldn't it take place before marriage?
66. If the SWRCC doesn't spend all of its $7,000 to $10,000 (EACH) in travel and entertainment money, do they get to keep what is left?
67. Did you know that Reno has a sister-city? Wanganui, New Zealand (Wan-ga-nu-i)...
68. Nevada has, by far, the highest percentage of smokers. You didn't already know that? Smokers wonder why non-smokers glare at them...
69. Isn't Gingrich the best thing that ever happened to the Democratic Party? He was the catalyst for unification...
70. Progress! Senators Reid and Bryan, and congresswoman Vucanovich no longer support building a $100,000,000 NAG base at Rewana Farms. They finally listened to The Reno Citizen and other patriotic Reno citizens who have been demanding accountability on this matter...
70a. Three of the eight Airport Board members walked out of the meeting that was scheduled to approve a NAG move to Rewana Farms. Were they brave? More like - just smart. They recognized the potential repercussions of using Federal tax funds to help pay for something the funds were not intended for. Reid, Bryan, and Vucanovich did too...
71. Do you think you will still be hearing about Valujet by the time you receive this issue? Why didn't the media expose the problems when American Airlines crashed into a mountain in Columbia? Lost pilots? Alcohol? A new and modernistic airplane. Think there's a story there somewhere?. What do you know about that crash? Why didn't the FAA put the microscope to American Airlines pilots - like they are with Valujet? Fair is fair...
72. USA taxes just keep pouring in... Fallon NAS is getting $14,800,000 for construction of 100 new enlisted residential rooms. $148,000 per room!
73. Sands of Iwo Jima has to be one of the all-time great movies... Who can forget sergeant Striker? But did America really need that well-defended island? There were hundreds of others that would have sufficed for those bomber raids on Japan...
74. Inflight Gaming: When airliners all have slot machines in the cabin, will those passengers get off to gamble in Reno?
75. The latest Airport budget wastes $400,000 of your taxes for a Study about how to build a military base in the middle of Reno. Is part of the "Noise Study" money being used for this stupid Study?
75a. CG attended the budget meeting just two months earlier. That fancy budget document did not have this $400,000 item on it. When is there going to be a demand for accountability?
76. How's this for a Whitewater fall-out scenario? Clinton steps down from the race. Powell steps in with Gore as his vice president. Al Gore finally gets his chance to run for president in, let's see, 2004... Wouldn't that be a coup over Senator Alfonse "the mouth" D'amato?
Have you heard that the Reno City Council:
1. Is taking steps to change the structure of the Airport Authority Board so that members will be directly elected by, and accountable to, the People of Washoe County. Not just to themselves and their sponsors.
2. Has agreed that in the future the City of Reno will not force any changes on neighborhoods.. Special use permits, zoning changes, land divisions, and sidewalk/street repairs will have to be approved by property owners in any affected neighborhood. Questions of quality of life, safety, and property values will be discussed and decided by property owners having vested interests, not by politicians having no vested interests.
(April Fool's Day came again in June!)
Do you want to hear some FUN MUSIC? Well, here's one answer. Citizen Gadfly recommends this hard working and very talented group of entertainers:
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TRIBAL BAND OF MOONS Listen to them play their original Earth Music for Earth People. Or book them for your nightclub or party. (702) 786-6721 or (702) 972-6369 |
Check out last months issue here!
May 1996, Vol.2, Number 5