Mr. Danger and fishing Buck Brush Wash for carp

Fifteen-year-old Cody Barber's middle name might be danger.

After all, last week the Carson High School student pulled an unconscious diver out of Lake Tahoe and on Valentine's Day he pulled a woman out of a wrecked car.

The Carson City native said he was attending a American Indian art festival and tried to warn the man not to jump off the pier, but he didn't speak English

"The pier is 15 feet higher than the water and it's real shallow, only about 4 feet deep," he said. The man dove in and didn't come up for some time.

"He must have hit his head on the bottom," Cody said. "He floated back up to the top, but he was under the water for four minutes before that."

Cody jumped off the pier feet first and brought the man back to shore.

The Valentine's Day wreck occurred after a basketball game at Carson High School.

"We just walked outside and saw these headlights, then the car hit another car and flipped over," he said. "The woman was stuck in the car upside down. She couldn't get her seatbelt off and I had to reach in and undo her seatbelt and pull her out safely."

Cody is the son of Robert and Colleen Barber and plans to try out for basketball when school starts again.

A benefit for Gardnerville's Justin Stegemann will be Friday at St. Gall Catholic Church.

Committee chairman Mindy Miller said the Stegemann family has gone to New York where Justin can find treatment for a rare form of neuroblastoma.

"He's got 560 days of treatment and he is on day 63," Mindy said. "He has got a ways to go."

The benefit is a spaghetti feed and silent auction. The first dinner is at 5:30 p.m. and the second dinner is at 7:30 p.m. For information, call Mindy, 782-4229.

Mary LeMieux called me to say there was no way she could have toured South America, hitting every country and going on a cruise down the Amazon for $7,000.

"That would have been pocket change for this trip," she said Thursday. I can't say exactly where the $7,000 figure came from. When I looked at my notes, it was nowhere to be found.

Mary is learning how to work on the computer with her photos from the trip, which she says includes some good shots of the Galapagos Islands.

If you've called the main Nevada Appeal number this summer, Rachel Premo's voice is the first one you hear.

The 18-year-old Douglas High School graduate will be attending Biola University this fall, where she plans to pursue a dual degree in broadcast journalism and political science.

Rachel is the daughter of Mike and Faith Premo.

At 20 years old, Bill Thorpe had his picture on a billboard.

Jim and Mae Thorpe said brother Bill, who died July 5, said when he was in Europe there were big billboards with his picture on it.

Bill was a sailor during World War II and was one of only three members of his unit who survived action in Italy.

"Somebody must have picked his picture up," Mae said. "Because he was there in his sailor suit."

Bill attended school in Carson and returned after the war. He was custodian at the old high school for a few years and then went to work for the National Guard full-time for the state maintenance officer.

Johnson Lane resident Mike Barron e-mailed us a couple of photos of resident James Harvey fishing the muddy waters in Buck Brush Wash.

Heavy rain on Thursday filled the gullies of eastern Carson Valley, sending the muddy water down the hill. James lives on Fuller Avenue.

"Passing road crews from Douglas County were seen snickering at his anticipation of hooking Pine Nut Mountain Carp from the high desert flash flood waters," Mike wrote as a caption. "Mr. Harvey is reported as having ceased his fishing efforts due to concern more over his lack of a fishing license than his likelihood of catching a fish."

Kurt Hildebrand is acting city editor at the Nevada Appeal and has dropped a line into some pretty questionable mud holes in his day. Reach him at 881-1215 or hildebrand@nevadaappeal.com