Two unrelated tragedies in Baker, Nevada a fatal accident of a local matriarch and the disappearance of a community leader forced the cancellation of a planned protest run to the Great Basin National Park Sunday.
“We felt the folks in Baker had enough excitement for one week,” said Twisted Jacks Social club president Mike Reynolds.
An ad hoc group of Nevada residents led by Ely’s Twisted Jacks Motorcycle club were planning a “run” last Sunday morning to Great Basin National Park to protest its closure as part as the federal government shut down.
“It is really painful for all of us to see this policy of closing our national parks and actually spending more money in shutting them down than it would be to keep the open,” said Twisted Jacks Ely Chapter President Mike Reynolds. “It really isn’t about being a Republican or a Democrat its about the policy of closing the parks and monuments when about 90 percent of the government is still operating. Our national parks belong to the people not to the government.”
But shortly after they were made the plans began to fall through. Thursday three days before the event was to take place, Celia Ayala the matriarch of Baker’s Latino community was killed in a rollover and the next day the community was shocked again when one of its most renowned residents Jo Anne Garrett, 83, was reported missing.
One of the leading voices of Nevada environmentalist Garrett is believed to be somewhere in the Great Basin National Park and a full scale grid search is currently under directed by the White Pine County Sheriff’s Department.