SOME NEVADA DAY REFLECTIONS TO REMIND US WHY WE LIVE HERE

One of the things I like best about Nevada Day is that it always
reminds me that I don't live in California. As a great philosopher
once said, Thank the Lord for small blessings.

Nevada Day is sort of a hometown celebration of our state's unique
history and traditions, and I always enjoy the parade and other
related activities including the political chili feed at the Nugget,
where politicians of all known persuasions rub elbows with the voters.
It's a truly democratic (small "d") event where you can shake and
howdy with the U.S. Senate minority leader and city supervisors at the
same time in the same place. It's a Nevada thing.

The late Bob Laxalt, a highly respected Nevada author, described what
makes our state different in a U.S. bicentennial history published in
1977. "But now, older, I find myself reflecting whimsically on how
very much like the sagebrush the people are, at least in the
hinterland that makes up most of Nevada, setting down roots and
thriving in unlikely places, hardy and resilient, stubborn and
independent, restrained by environment and yet able to grow free." I
hope we never lose the Nevada spirit that Laxalt wrote about so eloquently.

Things have changed dramatically since those poetic words were
written. Today, there are fewer of those hardy souls living in the
hinterlands and more people living in cities, especially in Las Vegas
and elsewhere in Southern Nevada, and that fact has changed the
political landscape of our state. Some of these newcomers, many of
them from our large, populous and very liberal neighbor to the west,
forget that they're no longer in California, where a nanny government
guarantees that everyone is a victim.

Justice of the Peace Robey Willis had a sign on the wall of his old
downtown courtroom warning defendants that California law doesn't
apply in Nevada. I was sorry he took the sign down when the courts
moved to the new courthouse on East Musser Street. I thought of that
sign when native American activists from the Bay Area came to Carson a
few years ago and tried to stir up trouble at the trial of local
tribal members accused of murdering an Hispanic immigrant. We heard a
lot of nonsense about how the Indian defendants couldn't get a fair
trial in our city. Nevertheless, justice was served when most of the
defendants accepted guilty plea deals and the activists went away,
ending that particularly egregious attempt at imposing California
values on Nevada.

A current example of that disturbing trend is Question 7, the
marijuana legalization initiative on the November general election
ballot. This is yet another clumsy attempt by out-of-staters who don't
understand Nevada or Nevadans to impose their ultra-liberal values on
a moderately conservative state. I think they'll fail again unless
enough California leftists have moved here in the past two years to
change the outcome.

Some old-timers call it the Californication of Nevada. I'm not that
extreme about it, however, because some of my best friends, and a few
close relatives, are Californians and I don't want to write them out
of my life. But a former state civil defense director was on to
something when he proposed stationing the Nevada National Guard at
Donner Pass to head off the hordes of fleeing Californians who'd be
coming over the pass in case of emergency or natural disaster in the
Bay Area.

So, you might ask, what does all of this have to do with Nevada Day?
Well, it's just my feeble attempt to explain what makes Nevada
different and why we should remind ourselves from time to time why we
choose to live here rather than in some urban megalopolis elsewhere in
this great nation of ours. I just returned from a family visit to
Seattle, where rainy weather and horrendous traffic jams are a daily
reality. No thanks! After more than 40 years in Carson City, I can
honestly say that Seattle is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't
want to live there.

Back in the 1960s the Nevada Day Parade featured as many horses as
people. Although people probably outnumber horses by now, the parade
still retains its hometown roots with high school bands and amateur
gunslingers competing to see who can make the most noise. And the
politicians are always good for some comic relief as they vie to see
who can look most like an authentic Nevada cowboy. I haven't seen a
politician who could pull that off, however, since Lt. Gov. Rex Bell,
a former cowboy movie star, rode in the parade in the early 1960s -
although local boy Paul Laxalt did a pretty good Rex Bell imitation a
few years later.

When I worked for Gov. Grant Sawyer in the mid-1960s, nothing was left
to chance on Nevada Day. Bob Faiss, Chris Schaller and I would sprint
down the parade route in order to stay ahead of the governor and give
him a rousing welcome at every street corner along the way. That was
our athletic version of grassroots politics, and it seemed like a good
idea at the time.

One of the best Nevada Day parades was in the state centennial year of
1964 when the Cartwrights of TV's "Bonanza" served as grand marshals.
Everyone went nuts when Pa Cartwright (Lorne Greene) and his boys came
riding by on their Hollywood show horses. These days we get the likes
of Frank Sinatra, Jr. and the Moonlite Bunnyranch ladies. But no
matter. Long live Nevada Day, and thanks to those who continue the
tradition.