Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 4

rr. A colorful pastL Nevada By DORIS CERVERI Reno Evening Gazette A Speidsl Newspaper Ronald H. Einttou Publisher Warren I. Itrud Executive Editor John E. Bromley News Editor Herman F.

Cardoia Page Editor Williom M. Clemens Controller Oean C. Smith Advertising Director Oonn I. Wheeler Production Monoger John P. Oates Circulation Manager bydney J.

Harris Bad news rings bell with public 4- Saturday, Dec. 27, 1975 Fisk homestead a state institution In conflict? little prospecting on his mining claims, the Silver Bell and Mt. View, which adjoin each other. "Work is hard," Clyde said, "but it is a free life. Where else can you watch deer come down from the hills to munch apples off the trees? One year a beautiful deer had twin fawns and the doe and her young ones moved in with the weaner steers and made themselves at home.

This country is great for antelope, deer, sagehen and chukar." A beautiful vegetable garden supplies the family with a variety of food. "The land provides for us," Clyde boasted with pride. "Our wants are few. If we do need something, it's only 70 miles to Cedarville." Clyde Fisk has lived on a ranch most of his life, the only interval being the time he attended high school for four years. The Fisk ranch in northern Washoe County has been a Nevada institution ever since Clyde's mother homesteaded 160 acres near the Squaw Valley Mountains in May 1911.

Before that she operated a boarding house at Sulphur where she met Clyde's father who worked at the gravel pit for the Central Pacific Railroad. Being more mechanical-minded, he worked also for five years as a water service foreman as he did not care for ranching. Sulphur, at the time, was a station on the Western Pacific Railroad, two miles northwest of the sulphur district. Over 300 sulphur deposits distributed over approximately 1200 acres were worked after Indians led white men to them. At one time about 12 tons of sulphur were produced daily.

There were also indications of oil and sporadic prospecting for "black gold" was carried on SERIOUS questions have been raised about conflict of interest and Reno City Councilmen Nick Lauri and Bruno Menicucci. They have allowed their private business dealings to cross paths which also lead to work they are involved in through their public offices. In so doing, they inspire the electorate to ask whether they have gotten themselves in a position to profit privately because of public position. The circumstances have touched off an investigation by the Washoe County district attorney to determine if the two are in violation of criminal laws. Lauri has simultaneously asked for the soonest possible meeting of the new State Ethics Commission to determine if there is evidence against him, and he intimated he'd not want to serve if the commission finds against him.

Legal questions, of course, are involved. Nevada's new conflict of interest law. pretty well spells out for public officials that they are not to in any way use their office to profit personally. The legal questions should be answered properly in the legal arena. Thus, it is constructive that the district attorney is looking into the matter, just as it is proper that Lauri has asked for state commission review.

Both councilmen should be presumed innocent of legal wrong-doing unless proven otherwise. At the same time, the electorate has a responsibility to scrutinize general conflict potentialities, and it is this which we examine today. The councilmen have foolishly put themselves into positions where the public could reasonably conclude that they might have profited. That's conflict, if only of the EVANS OH CHESS "Fire! Fire!" JU LV Rati HiS Letters to the editor It's dull to write about good things, and exciting to write about bad ones. If you want a sentence that explains why so much writing in newspapers and elsewhere is what it is, this may be it.

This is a human flaw, not a literary or journalistic one. I thought of it when I sent down my column last Friday (on public broadcasting), and reflected that it was essen: tially a dull piece. But there was nothing I could do about it. Everybody is interested in a famous divorce nobody cares to learn that the same couple had been living together peacefully for 50 years. Moreover, the divorce story lends itself to brisk writing; the tale of a harmonious marriage contains nothing to titillate lis.

The most memorable characters in fiction as in history are the evil ones. A thorough-going villain is far more convincing than a simon-pure hero. Even so great a writer as Dostoyevsky failed in his one portrayal of a saint; his sinners are the ones who live in the mind. (Thus, on an infinitely lower scale, when I attack boondock radio, it makes an entertaining and controversial column when I praise public broadcasting, it sounds like an editorial in a church bulletin.) Someone, perhaps Voltaire, remarked that a peaceful and happy nation would have no place in the history books; there would be nothing to write about it, and whatever was written would be dull. And, in truth, what we call "history" is 90 per cent the record of battles, conquests, rebellions, tyrannies, treacheries, murdering and looting.

People often complain about the lack of "good news." But, to turn the old maxim around, good news is no news. Health makes no lV. b-AiS wm, wm Ml the time to let the Gazette readers know of this matter. STAN COOPER, Information Referral Specialist Nevada Division for Aging Services Department of Human Resources by private individuals. Their efforts yielded nothing.

Other prospectors found silver stringers of hornsilver in the Camel mine which reportedly produced about $120,000 in silver. CLOSE BRUSH Historically, pioneers following the Applegate Trail to Honey Lake passed within eight miles of the ranch area many years before it was White mates in 2 moves STRANGER THAN FICTION I never subscribed to the notion that truth is stranger than fiction. Yet it is hard to see how an endgame composer could improve on the purity and simplicity of these two positions from recent tournament games. mjm Once stopped, the driver of the car is observed if he gives probable cause (red, watery eyes, slurred speech andor the smell of intoxicating beverages). He is asked to participate in a field sobriety test.

Then the driver is only arrested if the police officer has enough probable cause. If there is not enough probable cause, the driver is often released without even a citation for the original violation. If the driver is arrested for D.U.I, he is given the chance to prove his innocence by taking a chemical test. The drinking driver is not only endangering his life, but the life of innocent people, including yours. If one can afford to sit and drink too much, then one can afford to take a taxi, or call a friend, but until people take it upon themselves to stay out from behind the wheel of a car while drinking I hope the members of our fine police department stay on the ball and keep our streets a little safer.

NAME WITHHELD Help found EDITOR, the Gazette: The Department of Human Resources, Division for Aging Services was very touched by a letter written by Mrs. J.W.B. and printed in the Reno Evening Gazette, Dec. 16. In following up to see what help, if any, had been obtained for this elderly woman, we learned that help had been received.

A son in another state was contacted and has provided the necessary assistance and care by bringing her to his home. It is gratifying to find parents being helped by their offspring, especially parents who are senior citizens. It is so important that these citizens be able to lead happy, healthy lives during their later years. We respect Mrs. J.W.B.

for showing concern and taking ft Saves lives EDITOR, the Gazette: This letter is to cougratulate the members of the Reno Police Department's D.U.I. Team, and to set straight the idea that a police officer stakes out a bar. While on duty, the officer makes a continual sweep of the streets. Trying to prevent accidents. If an officer observes unusual behavior of a driver he then follows the car.

The car is only stopped after giving the officer probable cause. (Reckless driving, failure to obey signs, signals, speeding etc.) Once probable cause is given, the officer then stops the car. top Whitt to play and draw Pape-Roth, West Germany 1974. White's plight looks hopless. He is a piece behind and 1 P-R5 BxP 2 P-R6 B-N1 seals his fate.

1 P-QB! PxP 2 K-Q3! Again not 2 P-R5? P-Q6! 3 P-R6 B-N8 and the Bishop interdicts the advance of the Pawn. 2.... BxP 3 P-R5 P-Q4 4 RO B-N1 5 P-R7! BxP Drawn by stalamatal headlines, only illness; Berry's World n- tf i homesteaded. Clyde's father encountered many a wagon train at the fork of Noble's trail and guided them over then-unknown territory. Pioneers also passed by Fort Granite only four miles from Gerlach.

There are three springs close by the ranch around which Paiutes camped. According to one old Indian who worked on the ranch, large arrowheads found near the springs were the type made by the Pit River Indians and used especially to shoot Paiutes. "Hurt 'urn like hell," he told Clyde. Clyde and his son, Bill, get up at 6 a.m. and work until dark.

During the haying season they're up before daylight. Such concerted effort pays off as evidenced by a yield of approximately 25,000 bales of hay a year. About 400 cattle graze on four fenced and cross-fenced pastures operated under the rotation grazing system which means three are used while one rests, starting with the first one in April. SPREAD GROWS Each pasture, which is under public domain, contains about 10,000 acres and each has a good well. Over the years more property has been acquired by the family until the original ranch has expanded to almost 1,600 acres.

Clyde takes his cattle to Fallon, Alturas and Cottonwood, Calif, to the auction yards where they are sold. Buyers used to come to the ranch but with the price of cattle at rock bottom, they can't afford to. Whenever Clyde finds a spare minute or two he does a ur mi Pfi si 18 tmwi Him i i i Black to play and win harmony is muted, conflict makes a noise; if I have five tractable children, the sixth who is delinquent gets the attention. What is true in life is true in literature, or any form of communication. Even Shakespeare put more of his genius into his bloody plays than into his pastoral ones, and they are performed far more frequently.

"Macbeth" grips us; "The Winter's Tale" merely lulls us. We thrill to evil because it is finite, we can identify with it; virtue is boring in contemplation, because it shares in the infinite, it is larger and remoter from life, it lacks the "thrill" that is the principle of evil. Until the human race finds some way to utilize the dynamics of evil in the service of good, the writer's pen and the reader's eye will inevitably continue to concentrate on the negative. Old Jotodo 90 years agor-1885 On Christmas Day W.O.H. Martin remembered every one of his employes in a substantial manner.

40 years ago-1935 Jacob Mischon, 80, for nearly 22 years the gardener and greenhouse tender at the University of Nevada, died. Least known and one of the most interesting personalities on the campus, the aged gardener had a host of friends who gained his friendship by an interest in horticulture. 25 years ago-1 950 Murphy's salvage bargain store announced the "beginning of the end." Inventory of salvaged variety store merchandise was being closed out and prices were slashed up to 85 per cent. potential variety. Lauri drew $300 a week for six weeks from the Prudential Life Insurance Co.

as a "training allowance" this year, though the councilman apparently did little if anything for the firm and had failed twice to pass the state examination that would have qualified him to become an insurance agent for Prudential. The conflict lies in the fact that Lauri, in getting employment with Prudential, was dealing with the firm's district manager, William Duffel of Sacramento, the brother of Julius "Joe" Duffel, who is a principal in a firm hoping to build a big shopping center in South Reno. The records show that Lauri was among councilmen who voted against the needed re-zoning of that property back in 1974, but this year changed his vote in favor, three weeks after he was on the Prudential payroll. Coming full circle, we find that the Duffel firm obtained some of its financing for the shopping center property from Prudential. Menicucci's case is also complicated, but clear.

He's put himself in a position where he could profit from an insurance arrangement with Reno developer John Cavanaugh through the tax increment district arrangement now being discussed for downtown Reno. The tax increment district would have the effect of increasing the valuation of downtown properties within it, and Cavanaugh's property is one being considered for improvement. It was Menicucci who helped steer the enabling statute through the Legislature last spring, and who has since been the council's liaison to the city Offstreet Parking Commission which is spearheading the increment district idea. The Cavanaugh property under consideration on Sierra Street is insured by premiums yielding up to $6,000 a year to the insurance agent who handles them. The premiums and commission would rise if the property value increases.

Last June, Cavanaugh transferred this account from another long-time insurer to Menicucci. Both Lauri and Menicucci deny that they did anything wrong. The former says he knew nothing of the Prudential-Duffel financial connection, and voted for re-zoning because the firm had finally met council planning objections. Menicucci points out that the Cavanaugh land is only one of several being considered for tax increment, and might not be selected. He claims that his landing the account was in the wind before the tax increment proposal took root.that it was in no way political.

He says he'd have declared himself before voting in a conflicting situation. But councilmen don't have to vote to be in conflict. Officials have power in many ways and they are capable of making things move in the city machinery without taking official action. Various mayors and councilmen down through the years have been expert at muscling the city bureaucracy around to conform to their own vision of how public affairs should be conducted. Any councilman has the power to exert influence in subtle ways that could benefit rjimself or, say, a developer.

Even if the two did nothing wrong, as they say, they should never have allowed themselves to be caught in a potential conflict. This is a high-stakes town, where huge rpal estate deals are on paper at any given moment, with financial figures running into the millions of dollars. And sometimes these projects move, but they never do without city council involvement in various ways. It's for this reason that any conflicting feituation has to be taken very seriously here. Lauri and Menicucci have allowed more than just a tinge of conflict to enter into their dealings.

There's some pretty heavy 6tuff in those revelations and questions. And they should now be prepared to answer and pay the appropriate consequences. 1.... P-N8(Q)! 2 BxQ K-N7 3 K-N4 B-B3 4 K-R4 B-B0 White is in a predicament known as zugzwang. He would like to pass, but this is forbidden.

5 P-R8(Q) BxQ K-N4 B-B3 7 K-R4 B-B8 Calvo-Hamann, Menorca 1974. If we did not know that this actually arose in a game, we would praise it as a pretty endgame study. In fact, Black missed the hidden point and offered a draw. It was accepted with great relief. SOLUTION: Q-B4! threatening Q-Q6.

If 2QxP. If (or K-Q4) 2 Q-K4. Pal Benko. 1975 oy MA. Inc "It really must bug 'em the fact that your ol' White House photographer is getting more publicity than some Democratic presidential candidates!" State party chairmen see 1976 as year of opportunity campaign chairman from somewhere in the ranks, and the full training services of the GOP.

But the job is not going to be easy. Finding candidates is more difficult, says Fahrenkopf, since the Watergate uproar and the reforms that followed. Norman Cardoza 7v they are getting into. The first is scheduled for Las Vegas on the 17th of next month, featuring U.S. Sen.

Paul Laxalt, Atty. Gen. Bob List, and state Controller Wilson McGowan. County chairman Dan Poggione is working out arrangements for Washoe. State Democrats are having fewer problems on the candidate and registration fronts.

The main concern now is with money, whereas the Republicans are sleek and fat after years of poverty and debt. There've been sporadic fund-raisers for the Democrats through the state in the last few months, but the results have been less than encouraging, says state chairman Paul Lam-boley of Reno. He's now thinking in terms of fund-raisers taking advantage of the party's great abundance of presidential candidates to provide good-drawing guests of honor. Lamboley says he thinks the party's fiscal troubles will be over sometime after January when it's affirmative action program finally goes into play. This is a battle plan on which the Democrats have been working for months in line with the national party's new mandates for balanced convention delegate selection and for stimulating political involvement at the grass roots.

The holiday political torpor is beginning to pass, and affirmative action will get the Democratic juices running at full speed as the political year warms up, Lamboley predicts. "And if you have this, everything else sort of fits into place," he concludes with a confident prediction that the war chest will soon start to fatten. The future's unlimited, state Republican chairman Frank Fahrenkopf is telling his people as a new political year is about to dawn. He is betting on the proposition that the Ford-Reagan race in Nevada's first-ever primary election next spring will bring an avalanche of voters into the GOP ranks. "It's going to help a lot," says Fahrenkopf.

To his way of thinking, the campaign itself will stir up some interest, but more importantly, it will bring a lot of Reagan partisans into the fold. He anticipates that dormant Republicans, independents and even some conservative Democrats will be heading for the county registrar's offices to qualify themselves to vote for the former California governor. And, if Alabama Gov. George Wallace drops out of the running before this state's presidential primary May 25, the GOP tide will grow stronger, he believes. Fahrenkopf doesn't want to lose out on the thrust, so his major project for 1975 is to recruit Republican candidates.

"We want strong Republicans in every race," he says. And he's establishing a statewide network with this end in mind. Each county chairman is being instructed to make up a list of Republicans who would make good candidates, whether experienced political figures or not. These will be persuaded, if possible, to run for an office, and once recruited, will be backed up by the state party machinery. "We're not going to recruit 'em, then leave them hanging out on a limb," says Fahrenkopf with a chuckle, harking back to some memories.

Every candidate will be offered the services of a seasoned "A lot of people are qualified, but they're taking a long look at things," he says. "When they show interest, they suddenly realize this throws their lives completely open to the public, and they don't want to submit themselves and their families to that." The new state conflict-ethics law is a stickler, he claims. It's had the effect of scaring off excellent people who've spent their adult lives in public service. "They're saying, 'Why should I go through this To help steer potential candidates into running, the party will hold seminars in various communities where the prospects can talk to leading Republican office holders, and find out what i 4.