Columnists
Some forms of government in this country seem designed for no purpose other than testing a citizen's patience. I have spent enough years filling out paperwork to conclude that a man can lose his faith, his dignity, and his afternoon while trying to satisfy a clerk armed with
Columnists
Some establishments in Nevada have endured so long that they resemble stubborn geological formations rather than typical establishments. The Gold Hill Hotel is one of them. Built in 1859 and opened in 1861, it has endured mining booms, several busts, economic panics, modern fashion, and several generations of people who
Columnists
The valley revealed itself a little at a time. Just beyond the eastern entrance to Yellowstone, the North Fork of the Shoshone River wandered beneath cottonwoods leaning over its banks. Meadows opened into forests of pine and fir while mountains rose until they seemed to surround the valley itself. Morning
Columnists
For 40 years I honored an imperative that every other book I picked up to read would be a non-Twain book. This little rule of mine kept me from going down the rabbit hole and not coming up. But now that I’m retired and contended in welcoming small
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There are few things in this world more confident than a man driving down a highway at night. He believes the road will remain where it was yesterday, that the other fellow will stay in his lane, and that fate has taken the evening off. History, however, suggests fate rarely
Columnists
One of the hardest things about life is that we rarely recognize an important season while we're living it. We assume the turning points are the dramatic moments—the bus ticket, the big move, the new opportunity. Looking back, I suspect God often works differently. He prepares us
Columnists
The people of Storey County have undertaken the solemn and patriotic duty of fixing the doors at Piper’s Opera House, which proves two things beyond dispute: first, that the old building is still standing; and second, that no task on the Comstock is too simple to escape the affectionate
Columnists
There are powerful places here on Mother Earth that can attract and even create formidable interfaces. California produced gold, Nevada produced silver. California attracted Steinbeck, Nevada attracted Twain. And for Twain, his most powerful interface became the river, the raft and Jim. This powerful trio gave us Adventures of Huckleberry
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I have always admired people's ability to learn from experience. It is one of our finest qualities, right after stubbornness, impatience, and the conviction that the speed limit applies only to other people. On Wednesday, June 3, several vehicle crashes happened in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. The
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Some men seem destined for greatness, some for obscurity, and a rare few who appear determined to become cautionary tales. Mr. Blaze Thomas belongs to that last category. Indeed, when a fellow is named Blaze, one suspects that destiny has already placed a wager on how spectacularly events may unfold.
Columnists
There was a time when a town worried about ordinary things. Folks lost sleep over cattle rustlers, highwaymen, and whether Cousin Elmo should be left alone near a poker table. Those were simpler days. Now we have progressed. We worry about giant warehouses full of blinking lights that spend their
Columnists
One of the hardest parts of faith is that God rarely shows us the whole road. Instead, He asks us to trust Him with the next step and discover the rest along the way. Just two days after his 13th birthday, Robert Mark King stepped off a Greyhound bus in