Her voice was sweet as sugar candy
Her touch was as soft as a bed of goose down.
Her eyes shone bright like the pretty lights
That shine in the night out of Yerington town…
Her pony did stumble and she did fall.
Her dying touched the hearts of us one and all.*
— John Denver’s “Darcy Farrow”
Welcome to my nightmare. Again. Not many years ago, this town was in shock after suffering a real-life Darcy Farrow harrow, a death still haunting us today.
On January 20, 2008, Reno High grad Brianna Denison, 19, home on winter break from Santa Barbara City College, was kidnapped near the University of Nevada-Reno. DNA was found which matched two recent assaults reported near the school but it matched no one in police databases.
At the time, Washoe County had a backlog of some 3,000 DNA samples awaiting testing. The Nevada Legislature had recently mandated DNA processing but allocated no money for it. (Looks good on a re-election brochure as long as the funding part goes unmentioned.)
Unlike the corporate welfare dispensaries of Sparks and Reno, Washoe County government is usually flush with cash. But because of a toothless and cosmetic law, county officials didn’t move to whittle down the testing backlog.
Until Brianna Denison paid for the work with her life.
Public outrage sparked a fundraising campaign. In short order, $150,000 was generated. Alas, no DNA match was found. On February 15, a passerby found the pretty co-ed’s body in a southeast Reno ditch. The killer was eventually busted by a family friend’s tip to Secret Witness. He was arrested on Nov. 25. Found guilty, he was sentenced to death plus four life terms and rots in prison today.
In January 2008, Catherine Cortez-Masto had been Nevada attorney general for one year. Nevada newbie Adam Laxalt effusively praised her conduct in office when he succeeded her in 2015.
My, how ambition doth jaundice one’s perspective on the recent past.
Laxalt, a transplant from Virginia, now accuses U.S. Senator Cortez-Masto of being singlehandedly responsible for years of Nevada DNA backlogs. Smart if skulduggerous politics. But hey, U.S. Senator is a good job and he demonstrably will do just about anything to get it.
The Democratic Party’s bedrock is women, the party of MAGAmerica is muy macho.
To win, Laxalt must cut into señora senadora’s substantial female base.
To do so, he is using the time-tested technique of fuzzing out negatives via the “so’s your old man” shuck: “She’s as bad as I am on women’s issues, so it’s a push, so vote Republican.”
Such is Laxalt’s cynical strategy to blunt the hardcore fact that he’s in favor of banning and criminalizing abortion, the quintessential womens’ rights issue.
So pretty Brianna continues to draw attention to lack of responsible government funding today, but not in a good way. Nevada’s a cheap, undertaxed state unless you’re a low-wage lout. Thanks to Virginia carpetbagger Laxalt, we are now reliving an old nightmare just in time for Hallowe’en and the election a week later.
Laxalt should pay for his effrontery. Ms. Denison has paid enough.
They sing of Darcy Farrow where the Truckee runs through
They sing of her beauty in Virginia City too.
At dusky sundowns to her name they drink a round…*
Brianna Denison’s memory still suffers for you.
BEADLES INFESTATION. Hie thee to the TheNevadaIndependent.com for more than a decent person should want to know about one Robert Beadles, a moderately wealthy moneyman who failed to become a big fish in California follytix. So he moved to the smaller pond of Nevada.
Beadles is funding a slate of MAGA moonhowlers for the Washoe school board, all promising to save the children from anything and everything that has ever scared anybody at any time, including commies, blacks and Jews. (Get a flashlight and check under your bed, dammit!)
He’s also active further up the food chain, perpetuating the new religion that any election lost by somebody he likes must have been stolen by the Devil hisself.
Beadles from California. Laxalt from Virginia. Together sandwiching Nevada unto their own moldy image and likeness.
As proven by their godhead, the Count of Mar-A-Crisco, fooling some of the people some of the time is usually good enough.
MIKE GUERRA, 1956-2022. The longtime union activist and RTCRide transit operator died at 65 on August 31 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. That didn’t stop him from frontline picket duty, helping win last year’s Hat Trick Strikes.
Thanks to all who have responded to help his family. Please go to gofund.me/c1fed539/ or send checks or money orders payable to Mike’s mother, Olivia Baker, addressed to her attention at Teamsters Local 533, 1190 Selmi Drive No. 100, Reno 89512. Formal obituary at NevadaLabor.com/
Stay safe and pray for Ukraine and 53 other currently war-torn lands.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
- Lyrics from “Darcy Farrow” by Tom Campbell and Steve Gillette, a Nevadian Romeo & Juliet tragedy made famous by John Denver.
Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 54-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us
