Dave Price
These last 22 months with the LVN have certainly been a good run.
All good things must come to an end, however, and here I am saying goodbye and moving on to another chapter in my career to become sports editor for The Record-Courier in Gardnerville.
I remember being nervous my first day on the job here. I was excited about the opportunity to meet new people, on one hand, yet knew the transition was going to be challenging. You see, I’ve been a journalist in Northern Nevada for the better part of 40 years; however, this was a challenge not only of becoming acquainted with a new community but switching from sports writer to, as we say in this business, hard news.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long to settle in and I soon knew this was going to be an enjoyable experience after editor and general manager Steve Ranson showed me around town and introduced me to some of the county and school district officials I would be working with.
Then came the Tuesday night City Council meeting. That was where I first walked into the City Hall building that dates to 1930 and saw the City Council chambers with all the original seats and the old photographs. Right then and there, I saw a story to be written … and realized I was in the right place.
Along the way, I had an opportunity to meet a presidential candidate when Rick Santorum passed through Fallon during the 2012 campaign and had a chance to chat this week with Congressman Mark Amodei.
The meeting with Amodei was especially interesting, and not necessarily because of politics. In 1975, I had an opportunity to watch Amodei when he was a junior guard on Carson High School’s Nevada large schools state championship team that beat Clark High by one point before nearly 7,000 fans at what was then the Centennial Coliseum. It was fun to reminisce.
One memorable interview came in 2012 when I met Adam Fortunate Eagle, who among other things, is remembered as one of the leaders of the Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969.
Meeting celebrities is a nice perk to this profession, but to me, it’s always been about meeting people. And I have certainly enjoyed the many folks I’ve met in Fallon and to see their passion for community and the work they do.
I could see that during a recent interview with Dr. Tedd McDonald, who grew up in Fallon and is now Churchill County’s health officer. I also saw that passion while interviewing the old baseball players who are still so proud of the North Maine Street ballpark — and the covered grandstands that reminds you of a scene from “A League of Their Own.”
Then there was the Getto family. One of my first assignments was to write about the Nevada Centennial Ranch and Farm Awards Program recognition for a family — headed by Robert and Virgil Getto — that has now been ranching in Churchill County for more than 100 years.
These are just a couple of folks from the many great ones I’ve met these past 22 months. Unfortunately, the carnival is over, but I do hope to pass this way again.
Dave Price covered city and county government and the school district for the LVN. See related column on page 16.