Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 5

Reno Gazette-Journal Tuesday, May 2, 2000 5A Opinion DAVID ROGERS Tonia Cunning Executive Editor (775)788-6357 Steve Falcon Opinion Co-Editor (775)788-6383 Bon Holdon Senior Editor Sue Clark-Johnson Publisher (775)788-6202 Bruce Bledsoe Opinion Editor (775)788-6312 Mark Lundahl Senior Editor News Multimedia (775) 788-6305 TAe American consumer will benefit enormously from this proposed remedy. Joel Kloin, the Justice Department's antitrust chief, as the government moved to break software giant Microsoft into two companies. Ireuse to be the lightning rod ofdivisiveness in this community. Miami Police Chief William O'Brien resigning as he lashed out at Mayor Joe Car-ollo who had criticized him for not letting him know that federal agents were going to conduct the Elian Gonzalez raid. Jim Sloan Senior Editor News Administration News Features (775)788-6338 (775)788-6335 mop mm vrf4BaK- -T ITT il urn 111 a Buying Kings Inn: More faith in Reno The downtown: Another derelict to be revitalized, and the list of changes grows continually brighter.

sjfp "we wy new 5J I 4 have the chance LT3 People don 't realize their phones are pre-programmed to call 911 if a certain button is pushed. They put their phones in their pockets or purses and they move around and the buttons get pushed. Miko Miller, a Michigan police radio dispatcher, noting cellular phones are becoming a headache for 9 1 1 dispatchers. According to Nielson ratings, the annual broadcast of "The Ten Commandments" drew its largest audience in four years. Apparently, Charlton Heston forced a lot of those viewers to watch at gunpoint.

Jay Lono on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." downtown is changing so rapidly, and the promise of more change is so imminent, that it takes the breath away. The Cal-Neva has bought and re-opened the Virginian and River boat hotel-casinos, and has bought and is filling with tenants the Wells Fargo building at First and Virginia Chaff study independent, accurate Several points need to be made in reference to the April 6 article on chaff assail federal study on health and military and editorial on the same subject that appeared on April 7 in the Reno Gazette-Journal. It is clear to me that the "critics' referred to in this article did your reporter a disservice, feeding him biased and incomplete information regarding this chaff study by claiming the study was biased toward the Department of Defense. Had either these critics or your reportereditorial staff bothered to actually read the entire report or contact the Navy for an explanation.they would have discovered some of the following facts: The 80-page study entitled "Environmental Effects of RF Chaff-A Select Panel Report to the Undersecretary of Defense for Environmental Security" was funded, but not conducted, by the Naval Research Laboratory at the request of the Sen. Harry Reid-initiated GAO report on chaff.

Those who read the select panel's entire report would have found the biographies of the eight independent Ph.D.s from academic institutions including Harvard, MIT, Cornell, Pennsylvania State University, Duke, University of Arizona and Nevada's own Desert Research Institute who conducted the study. Hardly institutions with histories of hotbed military activism. Furthermore, the study's disclosure on page vi of the introduction reads in part, "The opinions and assertions contained herein are those of the Select Panel on the Environmental Effects of RF Chaff and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of Defense or other agencies of the U.S. government." The fact that the report goes on to support the government's assertion that chaff is not harmful is obviously much to the dismay of our special-interest critics. To put the amount of chaff expended by aviators training at NAS Fallon into perspec streets.

Harrah's has bought the closed Letters to the Editor Nevada and Harolds clubs, torn them down and is planning a plaza with concerts, boxing, crafts and food. Developer Barney Ng has bought the Holiday Hotel and is The purchase at long last of the Kings Inn is wonderfully welcome. This long-closed derelict has darkened the city for far too long, its vacant windows and closed doors speaking of decay and degeneration, discouraging visitors and affronting them just a short walk from the casino core. But this news speaks to more than just the purchase of a long-closed business; it speaks to the renewed and growing interest in downtown Reno. Back again are Nationwide Capital Services LLC and its president Karl Diaz-Hoffman, fresh from a failure to buy the Mapes Hotel still wanting a site in Reno, believing in Reno, buying the Kings Inn.

Planning senior housing at the Mapes, they now plan something else precisely what is not certain; but they have a good record elsewhere, including the successful redevelopment of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco. Hopefully, as Sands CEO Ferenc Szony says, what they create will be more than a small casino feeding off the leftovers from the larger casinos; to be truly viable and an attraction in its own right, it needs more than that. But National Capital Services certainly seems capable of doing something first-rate. In the meantime, the face of the restoring it as the Siena; he also plans an eight-story condominium west of the Riverside Hotel, with two downstairs restaurants; and he has development rights on several Equal treatment? Officer failed to do his job Concerning our local police departments: I received a speeding violation on April 4. My court date was set to be on April 19.

1 showed up for the court date, coming to find out that the ticketing officer didn't turn in his paperworkmy citation to update the court. The court didn't have any history of my incident. So instead of being dismissed, I get an extension to come back three Besides traditional mailed letters, the Reno Gazette-Journal accepts letters by fax and e-mail. Limit letters to 180 words and include your name, address and daytime phone on all letters. Writers are limited to one letter every two months.

Mail: P.O. Box 22000, Reno, NV 89520-2000 E-mail: rgjmailrgj.com News e-mail: blocks east of Virginia Street and south of the Truckee River. The new movie theater graces the down are obscene when I think about how much good the contributions would do for the needy people. Yeah you guessed it I'm a Democrat. W.B.

"Bill" Wakefield, Reno Heritage Awards Shame on TV for its absence On April, 14, a wonderful event took place. Were there any news channels on hand to witness this event? Of course not! This event was a positive occurrence. The event was the National Heritage Week Awards at Bud Beasley School, an event where students were awarded $395 in cash fortheir participation in acontest sponsored by Reno Sertoma. For the third year, thanks to the involvement of the teachers and staff, the students in fifth and sixth grade competed for the first-place town across from the river from the county courthouse. And The weeks later for an error made by our Cordish Co.

of Baltimore is refin ing a master plan for redevelop ment north of the river, after spend local officers of the law. If I would've committed any error on my behalf of showing up to court there would have been a possible warrant out for my arrest. Now ing two days last week meeting with citizens and all sort of interested an officer should have a higher level groups. The carping continues from crit ics, but beyond their narrow vision the city is changing. When they look up at last, they might not recognize of integrity due to hisher position.

What happens to himher when they violate the rules? Most likely nothing. I shouldn't be complaining, because now the ball is in my court. Yes, this is only a minor violation, but what happens when it is involving a more serious situation? prize ot 100 cash and $50 second what it has become. DUI? The DUI person might just be able to get his trial thrown out due to negligence on the officer's behalf. RSCVA doing right thing in moving to termination CEO Phil Keene: Arrogant letter demanding more money is just too much, on top of credit-card issue.

J. Martinez, Sparks (via e-mail) Reno tourism Loss touches us all, even the youngest of children. Chronic illness, divorce, relocation and other traumatic events, as well as the death of a loved one, can all result in grief issues that have serious, lifelong consequences, if appropriate intervention is not provided. This broadcast examined the ways that we can help children and adolescents cope with these difficult situations. Grief, loss and bereavement are issues common to us all.

By understanding the ways children and adolescents are affected, we can work to empower people with effective coping skills. As society begins to discuss end-of-life issues more openly, it is important that educational teleconferences such as this are made possible by thoughtful organizations. They deserve our attention and support. Linda W. Peterson Associate professor of family medicine, University of Nevada, Reno (via e-mail) Too much money Campaign funds are obscene Got to think big in advertising In reply to Don Williams' letter of April 24 (saying Reno can't compete with Las Vegas because of its negative attitude toward sex): He is right.

Being in the military as well as a Reno native, I have traveled all over the world (several times). An place. They either wrote an essay or drew a poster representing our American heritage. There also was $95 in honorable mention awards of $5 each. Channels 2, 4, and 8 were all notified of the event.

Did any show up for this great event? No! I suppose they would have all shown up if we had reported a student with a gun or a knife! When will we learn to accentuate the positive and negate the negative? Shame on you, local television stations! Dan Bell, Sparks Help competition Slot cases cost state goodwill My wife and I have been visiting Reno-Sparks-Lake Tahoe-Carson City three or four times a year for 1 0 years and are slot players (also keno). They story headlined "State high court weighs slot dispute" resonates with us, because, up here in Washington, our Indian casinos are expanding, several with 1 ,000 slots, large pits, luxurious keno lounges, multiple restaurants, showrooms, etc. This particular court fight (by IGT and Bally) to prevent paying disputed jackpots (Quatermania at Silver Legacy and Betty Boop at the Sands Regency) is generating ill-will among many people up here toward Nevada gaming generally. tive, I oner these tacts: First, only about one-third of the 42,000 annual military flights based out of Fallon use chaff in the course of their training missions. Second, over the last five years, the amount of chaff annually dispensed of over the Fallon Military Operating Area averages about 'A ounce per acre.

As the report describes, the chemical composition of chaff is essentially the same as desert dust, and the amounts expended into the environment are several orders of magnitude less than EPA standards for dust, vehicle exhaust, power generation and industry. For special-interest groups and the Reno Gazette-Journal to cry foul and push for an "independent" study is ludicrous. This select panel study is independent, but the results don't happen to promote their (and perhaps your) agenda. Maybe such special-interest groups would've been happier to foot the bill for this study themselves so they could call it "independent," although the results would've been the same. Expenditures of chaff and subsequent three-dimensional aircraft maneuvering in re other part of the problem is that Reno does not advertise.

When you can see a billboard advertising Las Vegas just off of north-bound 395 coming into Reno from Carson City, you have to take a second and think about it. I have seen advertisements for Las Vegas, Nevada, treated poorly, and demanded two extra months' pay, or six months in all. County CommissionerRSCVA board member Pete Sferrazza underscored the reaction, indicating that he had been prepared to go along with the resignation and four months' pay, until the letter: "He's so greedy, he's coming back for more, it's absurd." So now the board will hold a termination hearing which, if it leads to the firing of Keene, will eliminate the severance package. And the Reno Police Department will conduct a criminal investigation. You feel sorry in a way, as well as amazed, that Keene does not see what is wrong with violating specific RSCVA policy, and not paying the charges for so long.

But the board is doing the principaled thing. You can't hear an entire community stand up and cheer, but if you could, you probably would have heard the great majority issue a resounding shout of approval after the RSCVA board decided to terminate CEO Phil Keene. The board had appeared ready to accept his resignation and give him four months' pay plus benefits after it learned that he had charged numerous personal expenses on his RSCVA credit card and didn't pay some of them for up to six months not paying, in fact, until after a Gazette-Journal reporter uncovered the bills. But Keene undercut himself with an outrageous letter to the board of the Reno-Sparks Convention Visitors Center in which he downplayed the credit-card issue, denounced the "carnivorous press," declared that he had been U.S.A. in the port of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

Spending money on downtown improvement is great, but if you do not ad Reading an article in the Gazette-Journal this morning, I was shocked regarding the announcement about John Ensign's treasure chest of campaign funds that so far have reached $2.5 million. vertise it and let people know, then only the locals are going to see it. If you want to boost tourism, you have to advertise in places farther than Sacramento. Ensign sponse to enemy radar systems on the Fallon range is ar Bradley Miller, Carson City SSgt, U.S. Marine Corps (via e-mail) Hospice Foundation Teleconference looks at loss Could someone please explain to me why it takes $2.5 million in campaign funds to win a job of U.S.

senator that has a base salary of only $141,300 per annum? It must be that many contributors believe that the money that they send in must certainly be contaminated by some malady that will destroy their brain cells if they don't pass it on to someone else. Even more shocking, I find that the candidates kick in about five times a senator's salary of their own money for campaign funds. I was very interested to hear of the Hospice Foundation of America Self-sufficiency the key United Way: It's fine that a third of money is going to programs that help people stand on their own. Surveys show that 20 percent of people who, like us, have been Reno-Northern Nevada-Tahoe regulars for years now do their gaming only at these local casinos, even though most of us slot players pre-ferNevada'scoin slots to these coin-less "slot machines' up here! With this in mind, we hope the Nevada Supreme Court rules in favor of Gene Sengel and Sylvia Gutierrez being given their jackpot winnings. The goodwill of Nevada is at stake here at a time when the state will also be losing gaming visitors to California Indian casinos, which will have coin-op slots! Frank D.

Sanborn Federal Way, Wash. guably the most critical piece of our aircrew training. I have personally witnessed close friends die in combat who were not adequately trained in this type of maneuver. The Israeli Air Force considers training so vital that it expends eight times the amount the U.S. Navy does.

Our combat success and the safety of our aircrew hang in the balance of this issue and for one, am not ready to sacrifice those. Captain David A. Rogers is commander of the Naval Air Station at Fallon. teleconference "Living With Grief: Children, Adolescents, and Loss" that was broadcast April 26 and hosted by KNPB Channel 5. This teleconference was sponsored by the Nevada Center for Ethics Health Policy at the University of It goes without saying that I can understand why a Republican politician would contribute cash for a fellow Republican to win an office to strengthen the party.

These campaign fund amounts Nevada, Reno, Washoe Medical Center, Circle of Life Hospice and Saint Mary's Hospice of Northern Nevada. Fever line: Temp says it's always great to see a local athlete get a shot at the big time. Temperature Gauge counseling for the unemployed, parenting classes and counseling for the disabled and low-income residents. Together, these and other programs are good for society by reducing the cost of welfare, health care and shattered lives. But more than that, they are good for individual human beings who are struggling with jobs, relationships, poverty and, often, despair.

These programs show them solid ground on which to stand, offer guides on how to step onto it, and skills that can keep them there. The programs offer self-respect, pride and a sense of accomplishment. That's far better than the simple handout. It's good to hear that almost one third of United Way allocations in our area is going to programs that promote self-sufficiency in the participants. This is the trend of the times, of course, especially in welfare, which is weaning people off the dole and into jobs.

But the philosophy is alive everywhere, including United Way. Of the $1 million that United Way allocated this year, $31 1,08 went to 15 self-sufficiency pro-i grams. These include programs to I strengthen families by reducing do- mestic violence, teen pregnancy, alcohol abuse and drug abuse, and helping provide caregiver assistance. There are health information and safety programs. There are Hot GameTech: The Ari jCool American Airlines: The buyer of Reno Air won back a few points in April when it reinstated a flight to Chicago that it had dropped.

Considering how hard Nevadans worked to get it O'Hare slots, that was the least it could do. zona company, which is building its headquarters in south Reno, is betting on electronic bingo devices (demonstrated by Gerald Warm Quincy Sanders: The former Reed High School star will get a chance to play football for Washington after being drafted in the fifth round. Sparks fans will be happier seeing him in 'Skins red than in Rebels red. Freisleben and John Foley) to build the market. It's not just for churches anymore.

1 I.