Every once in a while we need to vent.
This is that once in a while.
We are publishing WWHS honor roll this week as we try to do every time they issue it,
Next week we will do Wells and hopefully Wendover, Utah.
As long as they are sent to us.
Ask any group of small town newspapermen what is the most annoying part of this job and nine times out of ten they will answer getting some information from a school.
While most teachers and almost all principals are eager to strut their stuff to the general public there are a few who make getting news, good news, about their students about as difficult as getting troop movements of the Red Army during the Cold War.
Usually we don’t mind the extra work but since we had open heart surgery our doctor has told us to calm down.
So here is the new deal we will publish everything we get about your schools just like we have done for over 30 years. But teachers, coaches, or team managers will get one phone call from us.
If they don’t respond they will get as our Spanish teacher taught us 40 years ago — Nada.
The differences between the BLM of Utah and that of Nevada on what is essentially the same trail of 150 year old wagon ruts is bizarre. Why would the very same federal agency with presumably the same mission render two decisions on two mines that are 180 degrees opposed to each other?
The Long Canyon Mine was approved by the BLM with a slap on the back and a how soon can you start?
The potash mine less than 30 miles to the east was nixed on the grounds those ruts were the equivalent of the archaeological finds of Machu Pichu, Masada or even Gettysburg,
Well they aren’t and only a moron would even mention those ruts with history real history in the same breadth.
Those who wish to preserve those ruts in all their lack of glory would be pathetic if they weren’t so dangerous.
The fact that the much ballyhooed forensic audit of the Ely Rail Road is probably going to come with nothing is something predicted to us a while back.
We very much doubt that the conclusions will have any effect on those who want to destroy or shut the rail road down.
Those guys have a vendetta to do and nothing like a little thing like facts are going to dissuade them from their holy mission.
Even their puppy Wyatt Cox is now shrilly calling for the Rail Roads divestment.
Why?
Because it is one of the few publicly owned concerns that is actually turning a profit?
Or is it something simpler.
Good old fashioned envy.
Our old friend envy known since ore-biblical times seems to have besotted the Ely City Council so completely that no one has asked what do you do after the Rail Road is destroyed?
What is the satisfaction in wrecking a going concern and replacing it with nothing?
Oh there might be some celebration for some horrible reason like just desserts for the good ol’ boys.
But what about the morning after?
No matter what you think or say Mr. Copeland, the audit was necessary to make sure the Railroad was financially sound and properly managed. The Trustees were elected to oversee the management board, and we tried that for months in their regular meetings. Because we could not get the information from them, we were left with no choice. When the results are reported, the trustees will implement a plan to make sure that NNRY gets on the right path for improvement. Had the trustees never got involved with the RR, and it ran into financial trouble, we would be blamed for not overseeing the board’s action. One immediate benefit, I think, is that the management board is now paying more attention to the Director’s decision on finances, television advertising, and operations. The trustees, and more importantly the citizens of Ely, would lose both way’s under your premise Mr. Copeland.