Tuesday's Mesquite City Council meeting drew a sizeable and vocal crowd, as people on both sides of the Gold Butte controversy took turns expressing their positions on the issue.
The debate centered around a previous decision by the council to approve a resolution supporting the federal proposal to declare the 350,000 acre parcel of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land as a National Conservation Area (NCA).
According to the proponents of the designation, including the local Friends of Gold Butte organization, the NCA would protect the area, including cultural and historic sites, as well as the endangered desert tortoise.
Those opposing the proposal claim the designation would result in more closed trails, and denial of access to the area by ATV's and other motorized vehicles.
According to Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck, the city originally supported the NCA as a means of ensuring the city would have a say with the feds once the NCA legislation was introduced in Congress. [Read full story]

The Veterans of Foreign Wars is pleased to announce that Abigail Barnard, an eighth grade student at Charles Hughes Middle School in Mesquite, Nevada, is the first place winner and recipient of a $10,000 savings bond for writing the winning essay in the 2009-2010 Patriot's Pen essay contest.
Barnard, who was sponsored by VFW Post 7385 and its Ladies Auxiliary in Mesquite, Nev., wrote her winning essay based on this year’s theme, “When is the Right Time to Honor Our Military Heroes?”
As the first place winner, Abigail received a savings bond and trophy at a special luncheon on March 7 during the VFW National Legislative/Voice of Democracy/Senior Vice Commander Meeting held in Washington, DC.
The youth essay writing contest is a nationwide competition that gives students in grades six, seven and eight the opportunity to write a 300-400 word theme-based essay expressing their views on democracy.
A total of 109,465 students participated in the competition this year.  [Read full story]

Jayson Brooks went into the Elks Regional Hoop Shoot competition on Feb. 20 with high hopes and great expectations.
He had been at the Recreation Center as often as he could get there, and practiced at Hafen Park when the gym was closed.
He had put up thousands of shots, and was consistently making 23, 24, and even 25 out of 25 shots.
He was as ready as he would ever be when he and his family headed down to Las Vegas on Friday evening to attend the "Meet and Greet" dinner prior to the next morning's shoot-out.
The competition was set for 10 a.m., and the stands were packed as each competitor took up his state flag and was introduced to the cheering crowd.
Brooks was slated to shoot first thanks to his last name, and ran out to meet the spectators with a huge smile on his face.  [Read full story]

A warm and pleasant afternoon greeted senior softball players at Pioneer Park on Wednesday afternoon, as the Mesquite Geezers Senior Softball League opened its second season.
The nine-week season comes on the heels of a successful six-week inaugural season which began in January.
On Wednesday the White Geezers, the newest team in the three-team league, took on the defending champions from the first season, the Red Geezers.
As is common with new teams, the White Geezers were a little short-handed. Fortunately, a few players from the Blue Geezers team stepped in to fill out the roster for the day.
The Red Geezers quickly showed why they were the champions of the previous season, cobbling together a string of five singles, a sacrifice fly, and a walk to jump out to a 5-2 lead in the first inning after the White Geezers opened with two runs.
The margin could have been bigger, but the league uses a five-run limit until the final inning. [Read full story]

Hundreds of thousands of American and Canadian seniors head to the Southwest every winter to beat the cold of the Northern states and Canadian provinces.
Thousands arrive in Mesquite every fall from their summer homes.
A side benefit for these snowbirds and locals alike are medical, dental, eye care and prescription drug savings to be had south of the border in Mexico.
A trip to Mexican border towns such as Tijuana, San Luis and Los Algodones may provide significant savings on medicines or medical procedures for cash-strapped seniors.
A lot of seniors who live farther from the border take mini-vacations paid for by the savings they derive from the trips.
Some seniors band together to reduce travel or housing costs, or just have their friends or neighbors pick up prescription drugs for them, as residents travel south every three to four months for dental care, eye glasses, prescription drugs and other medical procedures.  [Read full story]