BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO

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What a long strange trip it's been.

On Friday, 12 August 1988, a couple of months after the weekly Tribune went daily, this screed first hit the streets of Sparks.

Blame a nun and Gomorrah South.

In 1987, Las Vegas publisher Lyle Brennan was looking to expand his magazine empire northward.

He knew that hiring local media personalities would create buzz.

He quickly committed top jock D. Brewster Finley from KRNO 106.9-fm and longtime KOLO TV-8 news anchor Tad Dunbar.

Brennan also approached Reno Gazette-Journal columnists Guy Richardson and Cory Farley.

After looking at copies of LV and Sunworld Airlines magazines, the RGJ managing editor — who shall forever live in infamy as Ass-pinching Ed — said no.

"These magazines have local advertisers in them," insisted old bullet dome. "If they want to read you guys, they have to buy our paper."

Corporate case closed.

Brennan asked Richardson for a referral.

Guy said "I know somebody I think you'll like. He's a good writer, he's got an edge and a style."

I submitted my first installment, "Theme Casinos, Spuds MacKenzie and Brigitte Bardot."

Brennan said his editor actually fell off her chair laughing when she read it. (I was not sued.)

I went on to write several cover features as well as a monthly commentary.

Brennan still publishes Nevada Business Magazine.

In the summer of 1988, I heard that new owners were taking the Tribune daily.

I walked in with my magazine articles and publisher Randy Frisch asked me to write three sample columns.

The first gave the inside story of the financial meltdown of the inaugural Hot August Nights.

The second took a dark journey to Nevada's first AIDS hospice.

Next came a lampoon about using the new county jail to solve the problems of rapid urban growth.

Installment four detailed my human rights confrontation of Chilean Consul General Leopoldo Porras, a servant of the bloody Pinochet regime, at a local Republican Party luncheon.

The Barbwire became a radio show a month later and eventually morphed into TV, a return to which is in the offing. (See Barbwire.TV)

THE NUN'S STORY. I have been writing opinion pieces since I first published a hand-written newspaper at age 13 during my freshman year of high school, an exercise for which I was threatened with physical violence by more than one coach or Christian Brother.

I did my share of writing penances in detention in honor of the First Amendment, although the Bill of Rights was not exactly foremost on my teenage mind at the time.

Some scars never heal. I still recall that Culebra Cut was the original name for the Panama Canal. You remember stuff like that if forced to write it 1,000 times.

And never refer to Brother Roach by his student-originated nickname in print.

By senior year, I had worked my way up to become editor of the student paper but got skated by an underclassman destined for corporate greatness.

I was instead named "managing editor," which really meant ad salesman, something I had also proven good at.

I refused to take the job or the dis. I put on a blindingly hot yellow tie (a cross-examination technique I learned from debate team stories about famed lawyer Clarence Darrow) and confronted icy Sister Steven, the journalism advisor.

She informed me that I was not named editor because I was "too antagonistic."

Perceptive woman.

Next week: A quarter-century of highs and lows.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.

WEB EXTRAS...

HONOR YOUR DON. Keep sending comments supporting legendary Nevada photographer Don Dondero (1920-2003) for the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame.

His life's work appeared worldwide, including this newspaper.

Enlist in the campaign to install Big Don.

Please send me your memories and endorsements via e-mail or to P.O. Box 10034, Reno NV 89510.

The Barbwire got the late Reno Gazette-Journal columnist Guy Richardson elected last year.

Let's go for a repeat.

BARBWIRE.TV. Support the return of community TV to these parts.

If last year's elections didn't convince you of the need, the 2013 legislature certainly should have.

Join up. You may donate at ReSurge.TV or contact me.

This is important.

Thank you.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

____________

Andrew Barbano is a 44-year Nevadan, chair of the Nevada César Chávez Committee, producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. Check local listings for other Nevada cable systems. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Daily Sparks Tribune since 1988.

Smoking Guns... The Barbwire Files ...and more ammo... We Don't Need No Education The continuing Barbwire series The Post-Dated Recession: Pay me now or pay me later Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-6-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune The Post-dated Recession By Joshua H. Silavent / Daily Sparks Tribune / 5-3-2011 Union decline and rising inequality in two charts by Colin Gordon Economic Policy Institute / 6-5-2012 Used in journalist Mark Robison's extensive Hard Labor: Nevada unions tout role in helping workers, firms, economy (Sunday 2 Sept. 2012 Reno Gazette-Journal, page one, Reno Rebirth section of the print edition). Union men Jim Burrell, Paul McKenzie and Guy Louis Rocha did the movement proud. Not included in the RGJ online edition. WOMEN AND UNIONS — ORPHAN MAJORITIES The Barbwire Labor Day column Reno Gazette-Journal / 9-3-2012 Nevada Press Assn. Better Newspaper Contest HAT TRICK: Barbwire takes first place three years in a row. The winning entries Suing for Schools: The 20-year shuck Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune Click here to view the show on your desktop RED flags flying low over Sparks Expanded from the 1-10-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune The wrath of self-righteous racism Expanded from the 11-8-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune Government contacts Nev. congressional delegation Nevada Legislature State of Nevada Secretary of State Carson City Clark County City of Las Vegas Douglas County Reno City Council Sparks City Council Washoe County Commission Washoe Registrar of Voters The campaign against forcibly-paid newspaper obituaries And they wonder why the newspaper business is dying?   The Dean's List    The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites. RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006 The 2009 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners Tony the Tiger & the flaky NFL Barbwire / 11-30-2008 Deregulation is never having to say you're sorry Barbwire / 8-3-2008 Nevada: A good place to visit, but do you want to live here? Barbwire / 6-15-2008 The 2008 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners The price of a piece / 6-17-2007 Boxing Pandora /9-23-2007 The Lady in the Red Dress 10-28-2007 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries ...and more ammo yet The life and times of Travus T. Hipp The best who ever was

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Copyright © 1982-2013 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 44-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee, He is producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and serves as first vice-president, political action chair and webmaster of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

Barbwire by Barbano moved to Nevada's Daily Sparks Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in them parts ever since.
Whom to blame: How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

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