We are going to start Thanksgiving a little early by thanking those two wonderful art teachers Mrs. Ward from West Wendover Elementary and Mrs. Bishop from West Wendover High School for spurring their students to draw Veteran’s posters.
While it may be a thrill for a child to see his or her art published in a newspaper, it was more than matched by our joy in receiving so many, many wonderful entries. No one is born loving one’s country, patriotism just like any behavior is learned.
It was not our goal to turn our school children into jingoistic my country right or wrong knee jerk reactionaries, but rather to give them the opportunity to add their thread to the multi-hued, multi ethnic tapestry that is America.
This country belongs to them even more than it belongs to us because they are hostages to its future.
So thank you again Mrs. Ward and Mrs. Bishop for doing a truly good thing.
To borrow a phrase from Dennis Miller, we don’t want to go off on a rant but the actions of West Wendover Police Chief Ron Supp in advising to deny a liquor license to Mr. Gamboa were just plain silly and stupid.
It is a bar for heaven’s sake and equating it with a casino and demanding that its “key” personnel undergo background checks is onerous.
Mr. Gamboa “key” personnel will not be handling millions of dollars in cash, they won’t be approving credit lines in the tens of thousands of dollars or cashing five or six figure checks. They will be serving drinks.
If they serve drinks well the bar will flourish if they don’t it will go out of business.
No background check is going to alter that simple math.
While a casino can well afford the legal expenses in checking and rechecking just who is in charge for a small bar tucked away in the corner of a mall those cost could be just too high.
Already Mr. Gamboa is out around $1,000 in attorney’s fees just to get a temporary license from the city council.
We wonder how much more he will have to shell out before he can even open his doors?
With the empty Rusty Palms and near empty industrial park standing as mute witnesses to the ‘welcoming’ West Wendover community we wonder if one day it just may dawn on our city council that something has got to give before this city can grow again.
We could of course be cynical about the problems Mr. Gamboa and his landlord Mr. Bangerter face. While we understand that every person in their respective establishments are not gambling at the so well protected Wendover casinos but variety is the spice of life isn’t it?
While most of us would like to see a flourishing business community we acknowledge that for many potential entrepreneurs the restrictions West Wendover imposes such as getting finger printed or getting council approval for the color of one’s building may simply be too much of a hassle to work here.
It is our loss.