Gang-Plank Disease also impacts those with NIMBY

Good morning Sen. Coffin: I have a few thoughts to share. This morning I read the Nevada Appeal and saw you in a photo - holding up the "Not In My Back Yard" box. I just thought you should know that some who have NIMBY syndrome also have "Gang-Plank Disease."

Gang-Plank Disease people are usually those who moved to Nevada to get away from something (taxes, smog, crushing population, or many other reasons). Now that they are here " they "guard the ship from any encroachment." By pulling up the gang plank, so no one else may come aboard, they stop innovation and future benefits. "We don't want anything new," they say, "it might cost me a penny."

While some products of progress, i.e. jobs in industries that create air pollution, are considered by all to be undesirable, renewable clean energy is something Nevada residents must embrace.

I for one would welcome a solar or wind generator if not right here on my small organic farm " where we are trying to become even more sustainable " then surely somewhere within Lyon County. I will venture to say there are vast, uninhabited areas of Lyon County suitable to wind and solar and, yes, even geothermal installations " locations that would not hurt the view or cause the residents undue hardship.

In fact, if our energy bills all went down, wouldn't that offset a penny or two that we may have to pay now to help clean energy happen?

Seventy-four-year-old dreamer that I am, surely we, who have the privilege of living here, can find a way to help infuse our state piggy bank. Be it a penny more of tax increase for all residents, or the politicians standing up to the conventional gaming industry to finally create that elusive state lottery, we must be willing to do what it may take.

Since the lottery would be at a cost most gamblers seem willing pay, be they resident or visitor, it seems to be a winner. A Nevada State lottery should not offend even the NIMBYs or those people who suffer from Gang-Plank Disease. It seems appropriate to find the startup cost to create this income generator.

What's needed are clean energy plus a Nevada state lottery plus a new courage by Nevada lawmakers and residents to embrace the future by doing what is financially necessary today. I wish the Legislature takes an innovative approach to solving our budget crunch. Let's face the future, and do what is necessary, to keep Nevada solvent, and be the best we can possibly be in all categories, serving the public.

PS: For any person who may admonish "personal interest;" I say everyone alive has a personal interest.

Here is mine: I am certainly willing to pay more, as a Nevada-certified organic producer, #1001-P, to be sure my peer and larger certified organic producers, or certified handlers, in Nevada are not lost in the budget crunch. The reduction in funding and the apparent elimination of plant industry may translate to elimination of the Assemblyman Joe Dini sponsored bill passed in 1997 that created the Nevada Organic Program.

Organic farmers in Nevada may be faced with extinction if forced to go out of state and pay much higher fees for organic certification. Please help our producers and handlers of certified organic agricultural products stay alive. Again, I am willing to help insure the future of the Nevada Organic Program. I am sure Nevada's consumers and retailers of locally grown organic products will be grateful, too.

- Virginia Johnson of Custom Gardens Organic Farm is also a Silver Springs resident.