An inspiring event honored some special people

The Community Awards luncheon was inspiring. It showed us how many dedicated people there are in this and surrounding communities who give of themselves and make life better for the rest of us (just like the 300 people who turned out to see if their bone marrow matched Cameron Hardy's ... we hope some did). Thank you. And the Nugget, as usual, did a great job. The emcees, WNC Vice President Helaine Jesse and State Sen. Mark Amodei (aka "Frick and Frack" ... without skates), performed admirably, and probably have a second career, if their primary ones fall through. The best comment of the day came from Val Jensen, who was with the Korean Veterans (up for the "best organization" award"), who laughingly said after the award went to the Cupcake Brigade (they furnish cupcakes to disadvantaged kids who have birthdays), "Guess we'll have to learn to bake cupcakes." Not a bad idea, Val ... they could use you ... in addition to all the other good things the Korean Vets already do. Anyway, we all had a good time and it was nice to see such a great turnout. Start thinking about nominating someone for next year!

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The Fourth of July holiday is upon us ... fireworks, the RSVP carnival, Nevada State Railroad Museum train rides, barbecues ... you name it. Have a great time celebrating our country's independence. With all out warts, we're still the greatest country in the world.

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JoAnn Gardner sent this one to us that she found on the Internet: "An Indian walks into a cafe with a shotgun in one hand pulling a male buffalo with the other. He says to the waiter, 'Coffee.' The waiter gets him a tall cup of coffee, which he downs in one gulp, then blasts the buffalo with the gun, splattering buffalo parts all over the room, and walks out. The next day ... same thing. On the third day, the waiter says, 'Whoa ... we're still cleaning up the messes you've made. What's this all about?' The Indian smiles and proudly says, 'Training for position in United States Congress. Come in, drink coffee, shoot bull, leave mess for others to clean up, and disappear for rest of day.'" Sounds electable to us.

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If you haven't noticed the beautiful flowers in front of the Firkin & Fox and Comma Coffee, it's worth a trip down Carson Street to see them. What a picker-upper. Thanks to Nina and John Bailey, Pat Glick and Guy Rocha for nice notes; and to Chris Wyatt at Mallard's for being nice, too. Congratulations to Tom Rutherford, retiring from the National Guard this month after 25 years and two tours of duty ... thanks so much (he's still at NDOT, though). Happy Birthday's to Dianne Williams, Zina Lee, and Mike Ryan ... older, but wiser?

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The Supreme Court of the United States is out of its collective mind, voting 5-4 to NOT allow the death penalty at times for child rapists ... saying it was "too harsh" a penalty for the crime. Really? Wonder if they asked the families of the children?

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The Baileys sent us the following that they "found:" "Mom and Dad tried to console their young son about their dog who had died. 'It's not your fault, son. The dog is probably up in Heaven right now with God.' The son looked at his parents and said, 'What does God want with a dead dog?'"

"'Now, they look like a happily married couple,' the husband remarked. 'Don't be too sure, dear,' his wife replied. 'They're probably saying the same thing about us.'" "The ZIP code in Washington, D.C., is being changed to 00000. Nothing there adds up, anyway."

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Ahhhhh, the special session ended in 12 hours with some severe cuts, but kept the prison, and the employee pay raise. Too bad the regular sessions can't be as efficient. Thinking about how the casino losses have cut into the funding, maybe people here should take another look at the V&T Railway and get behind it. We must get businesses, other than gambling, to shore up our income. Just remember, the Durango-Silverton RR in Colorado is booked up months in advance with people coming there from all over the world. And with Californians gambling at Cache Creek and other Indian casinos, don't expect it to get any better with the gas crisis going on (especially with predictions of $7 a gallon soon). People are not coming here for gambling ... someone told us you could throw a bowling ball in some of the Reno casinos and never hit anyone.

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Carol Scott is still soldiering on with her chemo ... we send you our best thoughts and prayers, m'dear. And, if you watched "Wife Swap" last week, you were disappointed not to see Carol and Pat Josten and the Wild Horse Theater kids on the show (M sat through the whole thing and found out they were on the cutting room floor). Ratz.

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For all impending brides: BEWARE of ordering candy (or anything else) online. Many of the companies are frauds. Check them out before you send an order in or give them your credit card number. One of our summer brides found several companies who were advertising candy are fraudulent. Caveat emptor.

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Elinor Berger is one proud grandma ... her granddaughter, Mikayla DeBusk, followed in her dad's footsteps by riding with the Pony Express re-enactors this year. She rode "Angel" from the Smith River Valley to Railroad Pass ... quite an accomplishment for a 13 year old. Way to go, Mikayla.

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Carolyn knows Maizie has "lost it." M was sorting out some pills for the week ahead, and couldn't find two of them. So she looked in the car, cupboards, drawers, the refrigerator, and still, no pills. Thinking she had forgotten to order them, she called and got the message, "It's too early to refill these." Out of options, she called Mike's Pharmacy to see how to order more. Judy answered the phone, listened to the sad tale, and (M might add, "rudely") started to howl ... "Maizie, I'm looking at them ... you forgot to pick them up." After they both finished laughing ... M went down to get them, and the lady at the window handed them out with a sly smile on her face. "She told you, didn't she?" M said. "Yup." And with that she burst out laughing, too. Good grief ... what is this world coming to, when a girl forgets a "little" thing like that. Oh well, when you go into a room and can't remember why you're in there, don't blame M.

Have a happy and safe Fourth!

• Carolyn Tate and Maizie Harris Jesse can be reached by e-mail at editor at nevadaappeal.com