BRAIN DAMAGE DEPT. I spoke to a shamefaced coach, aware of the hazardous waste upon which his kids were practicing.
Add the football fields of McQueen, Damonte Ranch, Manogue, Carson and Douglas high schools to the list of benzene- and lead-laced artificial turf your kids should avoid. Previous columns exposed Sparks’ Golden Eagle Regional Park, the Jan Evans Juvenile Detention Center and UNR’s Mackay Stadium, Wolf Pack and Peccole parks.
All are infested with “crumb rubber” made from toxic used tires and can’t legally be dumped in a landfill.
UNINTENTIONAL RACISM DEPT. The Reno paper’s hatchet job on Washoe School Superintendent Traci Davis must not pass unchallenged. On the Nov. 24 front page, the Gazette-Journal printed a huge, unflattering above-the-fold photo of Ms. Davis, who is black.
“WASHOE SUPERINTENDENT SEEKS $428K IN FIRST-YEAR PAY” blared the headline.
They were merely $117,000 high. Facts may be accessed at school district and RGJ websites, but public perception has been poisoned.
On Dec. 5, executive editor Kelly Ann Scott published a self-serving page-six apology headlined “RGJ quickly worked to correct Davis contract calculation.”
Actually, the error was never corrected. Only a big new front page photo, with a mea culpa headline above the fold, can come close.
On Nov. 25, they published a jaded page-two magnifying-glass “correction” WITHOUT apologizing therein or in a follow-up.
Nevada remains besotted with freedom loving racists lusting for such demagogic opportunity. I’ve heard from outraged people who saw no more than the news stand front page.
Grade-school nuns taught me that damaging a reputation is like ripping open a feather pillow on a windy day. You’ll never recover all the feathers.
HELP WANTED. On Dec. 14, the Sparks City Council votes on removing licensing qualifications for plumbers and electricians, a fly-by-night developers’ dream. You or I or your drunken uncle could soon get jobs wiring and plumbing. Try to get FHA or VA to loan money on a house so stigmatized.
Like the corporate welfare Marina project, if complaints are ever investigated, the contractor has usually left. City Hall’s taxpayers will always be around to sue.
The Orwellian reason for repeal is that Sparks has failed to enforce standards for 23 years. Trying to do so now by hiring additional inspectors may go beyond city capacity with so much financial stress resulting from tax giveaways such as building the Marina.
Makes Carson City look attractive, even if their high school field may give your kid brain damage. Call your councilcritter at (775) 353-2311 or go to http://cityofsparks.us/city-services/mayorcouncil-and-manager/
Meanwhile, Golden Eagle’s turf is nearing expensive replacement.
TV THIS WEEK. I’m doing Sam Shad’s show Tuesday and Thursday, 12 noon on TV-4/Reno and TV-10/Elko, re-running for Charter cable victims on Channel 190, 9:30 p.m.
FLUNKING ENGLISH. Got an unintentionally lascivious invitation: “Bring what and whom you like to share.”
I’ve never attended one of those parties and am not going to start now.
Follytix provides all the amorality I can stand.
Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 47-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com. E-mail <barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us>Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.
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