February 11, 2022 • 30 mins
The Truckee Meadows Public Lands Management Act is reportedly being drafted by U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen, and Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson says he’s pushing for the bill to get entered into Congress as early as this year.
The bill was discussed in early 2020 with a public meeting. Reception, however, was widely negative. In this episode, I interview Lawson about what has been happening with the bill.
Trustee reflects on school board service
A former school board trustee has a new book out, which has already received a best-seller status on Amazon. Kurt Thigpen’s book, “How to Win an Election: An Essential Guide to Campaigning During Adversity,” covers his electoral success in 2020.
Thigpen reflects on his time serving as a trustee for the Washoe County School District in a climate of political belligerence and hostility.
Cares Campus crime
The Nevada Cares Campus opened under the city of Reno’s lead last year and has since been plagued with allegations of rampant crime and drug use. It is now overseen by Washoe County and operated by the Volunteers of America.
Ben West, the head of security for Washoe County, said a number of challenges persist at the campus. A lack of adequate staffing is among the biggest problems.
This episode also features a new song by Bryan McPherson. McPherson’s new release, “How to Draw Everything” comes out on Valentine's Day.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Now is the appropriate time for me to announce that
Nevada will rescind our maskmandate effective immediately.
masks will no longer be requiredin public places. But there are
still locations where you may beasked to wear a mask.
(00:27):
And with that Nevada's massivemandate has been lifted. That's
Governor Steve sisolakannouncing the end to a nearly
two year government restriction.
Welcome to the this is Renoradio show and podcast. We are
streaming on most all podcastplatforms, and Reno's own kW NK
community radio on 97.7 FM. I'myour host, Bob Conrad, but this
(00:51):
is reno.com.
I'd like to equate it to slowtorture, being sitting having to
sit through that, you know,listening to such hatred and
vitriol. A former school boardtrustee has a new book out and
he reflects on his time servingin office. He described his time
(01:11):
on the Washoe County SchoolBoard at slow torture. Also on
today's show, Reno's massivehomeless shelter is under fire
again, for being understaffedand unsafe. Now I understand if
somebody has a past, they wereconvicted, it's in the past. But
if they're doing that crap inthe building, they should not be
allowed in there and they shouldbe arrested. I've witnessed
people shooting up heroin. Ispoke with Washoe County's Head
(01:34):
of Security about thedifficulties and crime at the
Nevada cares campus. But first,the Truckee Meadows Public Lands
Management Act is being pushedagain. And I think we're looking
for language here and the nexthoping month to two months at
the most. And then we'll do ourpublic meetings. And hopefully
(01:55):
we'll have a bill submittedbefore January or December
rather, during this Congress.
Sparks may or Ed Lawson sayshe's been pushing for the public
lands bill for Washoe County.
The bill was discussed widely inearly 2020. With a public
meeting, reception, however, waswidely negative. Here's the
(02:16):
scene from that lands Billmeeting, as well as a comment
from Kyle whirring from theGreat Basin Water Network.
Again, if it's included whenyour disposal boundary,
nominated for disposalby the by the three entities, it
would then be reviewed by thefederal government and the
agencies that manage that land.
And they would kind of give youan upper down on whether or not
(02:39):
they think that land is alsoappropriate for disposal. If
they say no, we don't think it'sappropriate for disposal. The
process stops. You know, it'skind of a shame. I mean, there's
not even bill language that ispublic right now. But I spoke
with the mayor recently aboutwhat's been happening with the
bill. Here's what he had to say,we have very close contact with
(03:03):
Senator Rosen's office. And theywe are working through right now
the partial numbers of what willbe in the landfill. And I think
we're looking for language hereand the next, I'm hoping month
to two months at the most. Andthen we'll do our public
meetings. And hopefully, we'llhave a bill submitted before
(03:27):
January or December rather,during this Congress. So I know
that has been discussed for sometime, but it was put on it
seemed like it was put on holdfor a couple years. So what
what's transpired since then,well, it's it's being treated
differently than it was in thepast, in that in Las Vegas, you
(03:48):
know, they did it by parcelnumbers. We're doing it by
parcel numbers also. So whichmakes it easier for all the
interested party parties to say,I want this one included, and I
don't want that parcel included.
So it's I think going to be muchclearer it's going to be cleaner
for senator's office to get thelanguage done.
(04:09):
Okay, so what what specificallyhas been happening since the
start of the pandemic in thatlast community meeting?
Well, the kind of diedobviously, because of the
pandemic in the diet because thechange of the Congress, but last
March, I took up the reinsbasically and I've been giving a
(04:29):
Mayor's vision speech for cityof sparks in that region. I give
that speech about phone time,three, four times a month to
anybody will sit still andlisten to me. And we talk about
the land consumption. We talkabout the predicament we're in.
We talk about you know, the factthat we are in Sparks basically
(04:50):
built out with you know, nowit's all infill and when you do
infill, it's more expensive, andyou go vertical. So it
In essence, if we don't get alance bill, we're not able to
expand.
Then we become San Francisco andall this BLM land around us will
be ocean. What can people expectto see in the proposed
(05:13):
lantzville?
As far as with this the land, Imean, we're gonna have parcel
numbers, we'll have places thatwe want it. There's some
strategic places, the US ForestService wants to keep. BLM wants
to keep a couple strategicplaces. There's an area of
environmental concern to theeast of sparks, it's roughly
(05:34):
10,000 acres. We were not goingto touch that, you know, we're
very much trying to make it awin win for everybody. And from
from the tribe, to theenvironmentalists to the
business community.
Kurt Thigpen was a trustee forthe Washoe County School
(05:56):
District last year, he resigned,but then recently wrote a book
about running for office, here'swhat he had to say, when I left
I, you know, I had this feelingor a half had this feeling sense
that I still wanted tocontribute and kind of our win
in the election. And, you know,being who I was on the board, I
(06:17):
kind of didn't want to let thatgo to waste. So my thought was
to try and help other people,you know, a lot more people just
beyond Reno, who were interestedin running, but may feel
discouraged because of thepandemic or any other
adversities they may face. Sothat's why I decided to write
(06:38):
the book to share what workedfor me and hopefully help other
people.
But good work for you.
I think for me, it wasa bit of a crowd recall, during
the the early days of thepandemic, when this was
happening, you know, everyonewas so worried about even going
to the grocery stores, or theywere wiping their stuff down
when they came home. So it wasso taboo to go door knocking or
(06:59):
things like that. So I reallyhighly dependent on my knowledge
of digital marketing, sincethat's my profession.
But the things that I didaren't, they're not necessarily
things that other peoplecouldn't do themselves very
easily. Okay. So in some ways,would you say this is a, a book
(07:24):
that's a guidebook and arecommendation for folks as well
as maybe abook that that sort of outlines
your personal experience aswell? Yes, it accomplishes both.
It acts as a guide book of, youknow, how, how to navigate the
waters we're in right now, witha pandemic. It can be applied to
any other adversities as well.
(07:49):
As well, as, you know, myexperience preparing for office
because I had a good six monthsafter the primary, when I went
out right, to prepare. And thenalso, I talked about my
experience once I was in theseat, you know, good and bad.
Just so that people can be awareof things, you know, to do and
not do things to look for andall of that when you're when
(08:13):
you're finally in the seat. Howlong were you on the board
before you decided that you hadhad to resign? I believe it was
in I think it was towards theend of May, that I had decided I
needed to do it for my own formy own mental health. And, you
know, my physical health aswell, because it was taking the
(08:33):
stress was taking such an impacton me
that I just had to so it wasfive months in and then I stayed
until I think middle of July tomake sure that the other seat
that was emptied by trusteecoddles of resignation when he
moved away, just to make surethat the board wasn't left short
(08:53):
handed, so I stuck it out alittle bit longer as much as I
could. Well, let's let's also beclear to that.
School boards, especially invery large districts, well, not
even large districts. ElkoCounty has seen this.
School boards have becomeextremely politicized by
(09:14):
basically far right contingentsto the point where, you know,
threats are being made peopleare yelling and screaming at
school board meetings. I imagineit would have been very intense.
It was it waslike to equate it to slow
torture, being sitting having tosit through that, you know,
listening to such hatred andvitriol for hours on end.
(09:41):
And there's nothing you canreally do. So it does take a
toll on you no matter how youmay have thick skin you may you
may think you havebecause I know going in I
thought I've been called everyname of the book. But this was
just unreal. And we've seen itacross the country. So I
remember around that timeI kept thinking like God, I
just, you know, wasn't strongenough. But then someone told me
(10:03):
like, this really isn't normal.
And it may be kind of helped putthese things into perspective
for me believe the entire ifit's not the entire most of the
Elko County School Board alsoresigned about the same time.
Yeah, there were foot five, Ithink. Yeah. So this is this has
(10:24):
sort of been a a tricky issue. Imean, after Trump lost the
election, and we researched thisquite a bit that sort of, like I
said, the far right, folks onthat, you know, end of the
political spectrum, were reallytrying to politicize things at
the ground level. And you reallysaw this at school board
(10:45):
meetings across the country.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I witnessedit up close. And it was so it
was just really bizarre andunreal, I remember, you know,
when they start talking aboutCRT, critical race theory, and
all of that, I when we werediscussing, you know, diversity
initiatives, I just was like, Idon't even know what that means.
I had to go look it up, becauseI've never heard of it. And then
it started becoming more andmore clear across the country
(11:07):
that this is some sort of, youknow, playbook that. That's
happening and unfolding.
Right. Okay. Well, let's, let'sstep back to your book a little
bit. You self published thisyesterday, I self published it.
It's actually kind of been outsince January. But it was in
kind of revision modes. I wantedto make sure everything was
(11:29):
good. And I had proof sent tome, but I announced it on
February 1, so it's been out fora few days. And now it's the
Amazon bestseller how to howdoes that happen? I am just as
surprised.
I've been watching it over thelast few days. And I've only
been promoting it within my ownnetworks, online through social
(11:50):
media, and all my emailnewsletter, which isn't that
large. But I think people wereexcited about it, people that
supported me,maybe you know, with everything
that happened, and they they'vejust been the it's just been
tremendous. So I was kind oflooking at the dashboard and
seeing like, oh, like today,it's now in the top 100 per
(12:13):
election and all that. So it'sreally ranking high for the
niche categories that it's in.
That's incredible. And I'm very,I guess, impressed and
fascinated by in local politicsis that you do have these
moneyed interests, but you alsohave people who just like say,
(12:33):
You know what, I think I can dobetter than what's happening
now. Yeah. And that's how Iapproached it was like, with my
school board, right. And I waslike, I have a unique experience
from like the studentperspective of, you know, some
adversities I faced in school.
And basically, I just ran on, Iwant to prevent these things
from happening on my watch. Andit works. I was worried too,
(12:57):
because I don't have kids yet.
You know, things like that. ButI thought we're going to be
major disqualifiers ended up notmattering at the end of the day.
Right. Okay. million dollarquestion. Last question. I
promise. Are you going to runagain? And if so, for what? I
have no plans to run foranything. It is funny, though, I
(13:19):
get asked that a lot. And thensomeone started a rumor, I guess
that was gonna run for mayor andI was like, No, too soon.
I haven't rolled it out. But Ihaven't made any decisions or I
don't have a desire to anytimesoon. So you won't see me in the
22 election cycle, that's forsure.
(13:41):
The Nevada cares Campus openedunder the city of Reno's lead
last year and has since beenplagued with allegations of
rampant crime and drug use. BenWest is the head of security for
Washoe County. He said a numberof challenges persist at the
campus. A lack of adequatestaffing is among the biggest
concerns. Yes, we are familiarwith the,
(14:03):
you know, reports, both formaland informal, from participants
on on site. Regarding drug use.
We're obviously familiar withincidents that have occurred on
site with participants who haveassaulted one another.
You know, we have issues withfor sure we know we have
(14:28):
knives on campus, and I've hadincidents involving that. So,
you know, we get incidentreports from Allied universal
security, which is our securitycontractor.
So, you know, we do take all ofthe allegations and report
information seriously andinvestigate all of them to the
(14:51):
extent that we can. There arechallenges sometimes with people
not wanting to beforthcoming with information.
You know, a lot of people havehad some
negative interactions in thepast with government entities.
And so it's understandable thatsometimes while they want to
(15:12):
have their issue address,there's sometimes like said,
hesitant to make formal reportsto us. But we do look into
everything as fully as we can.
And what are you finding whenyou look into these complaints
or reports. Now, some of theissues are criminal in nature.
And we do have a policy for thecares campus, that, you know, in
(15:33):
the event that a crime isreported to a staff member,
whether it's security staff, orVA staff, or county staff who
happened to be on campus, thatdepending on the severity of
what is reported to them, either911 will be called or non
emergency dispatch at thesheriff's office. So, you know,
when we find those allegationsthat rise to the level of a
(15:55):
crime, we have said inappropriate circumstances, we
call 911. For the sheriff'soffice to respond and conduct an
investigationin lower level incidents that
are reported to us, our policyis to facilitate getting the
person in contact with lawenforcement, whatever the
(16:17):
appropriate law enforcementagency is, whether that's
through making a phone call ontheir behalf, you know, calling
the sheriff's office to havethem respond to the campus and
meet with the individual. And sothose are how we respond to
criminal allegations, as far asitems that would might be found
on campus that aren't supposedto be there, whether it be
(16:38):
drugs, which are prohibited oncampus, or weapons.
Security will make contact withthe person or VOA staff
depending on the interaction andthe person's having remind them
of the policies and have themremove the prohibited item from
campus, whether it's you know,you have to take your drugs off
(16:59):
campus, they can't bring themback on. Or,
in the case of weapons, eithertake them off campus, or we do
allow forweapons to be checked in at
security. And then those itemsare logged and then they're
returned to the owner when theyleave campus. Yes, I'm aware of
(17:22):
one sexual assault that wasreported as being associated
with the campus that wasalleged, I mean, apparently a
valid complaint. But the actualsexual assault took place off
campus, there was a little bitof confusion. And we do have a
little bit of a rumor millconcern with, you know, like any
(17:46):
other kind of community,something happens and a neighbor
tell somebody that they heardsomething happened and they pass
on someone else. But thatparticular incident occurred off
campus, it did allegedlyinvolves some people who were on
campus. So we cooperated withReno Police Department on that
investigation. I don't know whatthe outcome of it was. But the
specific incident did not happenon campus. We've had a couple of
(18:09):
other incidents that have beenreported to sexual assaults, the
sheriff's office has followed upon those is based on the records
that I have from the sheriff'soffice, none of them were
confirmed to be sexual assaults.
But I know they were allinvestigated by the sheriff's
office, or the person who wasinvolved was given the
(18:33):
information to contact thesheriff's office. You know,
obviously, I can't speak onbehalf of the sheriff's office
on policy and things like that.
But they do need the actualvictim or someone to make a
formal report for them toconduct the investigation.
Yeah, so if it's the case wherethese folks might be not
(18:56):
trusting of law enforcement, orpeople employed by the
government, or whatever the caseis, then it's possible some of
these things could be happeningand just not being dealt with.
Yeah, it's challenging. Youknow,
I had a prior career in lawenforcement for about 15 years.
And you know, it definitelycould be frustrating to, you
(19:18):
know, know something happened orhave someone reports something
to you. Sometimes people will,even when I was in law
enforcement, someone make kindof an informal comment, you
know, oh, this happened. And I'dbe like, Oh, well, we should
definitely make a report aboutthat. And they're like, Ooh, I
don't know if I want to getinvolved, you know, whether it's
concerns for their personalsafety or they may have concerns
about how the investigation isgoing to be conducted. It
(19:42):
definitely is challenging foranybody doing an investigation
if it's difficult to getcooperation or witnesses.
How many calls for service areyou getting approximately each
day there now?
Hang on just a second. We have Abi weekly call with the
(20:02):
sheriff's office just for kindof some background information.
Andthat call involves Dana Sirsi.
Myselfstaff member from human services
because it's not just aboutcares campus, it's for cares
campus, our place and the safecamp. So I'm going to look at
(20:25):
our most recently because we getan actual report from the
sheriff's office on a weeklybasis with calls for service
to the campuses.
The most recent report I have,which is for the week of January
27.
(20:46):
through February 2,calls for service at Keres
campus that wereon when we get to the one that's
the law enforcement because theyalso send us their EMS calls.
Non EMS calls for service forcares campus.
(21:09):
And that's for a week and it'spretty consistent. I'm gonna
give you an average here realquick because this is per day.
(21:30):
Non EMS calls so that would beSheriff's Office. Could be our
PD are averaging about fourcalls a day.
And what are the general natureof those calls?
Pull up cares.
There's EMS non EMSkind of calls that we I'm just
(22:00):
looking at this list from thatweek, we have
reports of people who aresuicidal
general disturbances, welfarecheck.
Follow up for other cases,there's a burglary to a vehicle.
(22:21):
I don't know if that occurred oncampus or off.
Mental health issues. There wasa sexual assault reported during
that week. But the dispositionof it according to this record
is unfounded. So I don't knowthe details on the what the
deputies discovered. Butyou know, that's a pretty good
(22:42):
example of it.
You know, we do have calls forgeneral disturbances and for
unwanted subjects on campus. Butlike this week, we don't have
any unwanted subject calls. ButI know that that is a call that
we get. They come across asunwanted subject calls to the
sheriff's office.
(23:04):
Generally, that is someone whohas been expelled from the
campus for rule violations. And,you know, either refuses to
leave campus or may try toreturn to the campus before
they're set out time period isexpired. Well, I know, you know,
at least from watching city andcounty meetings, a lot of the
(23:25):
concern at the previous shelterwas the number of calls for
service. And it seems to me likemaybe that's that's just been
moved to a different location isthat?
I mean, sounds like you're stillgetting a Yeah,
I would say that's prettyaccurate. It's looking pretty
consistent, that we're runningaround that for lawn toward us
(23:46):
per days, who cares campus. Sosome of those incidents that are
being reported in lawenforcement responding to that
address, may have occurred offcampus just so happens that the
person making the report is oncampus. And
you know, and it also could befollow up from somewhere else,
you know, some of the things dooccur on campus. But, you know,
(24:06):
just anecdotally, I mean, I'mnot getting contacted every
single day by ally, and theyreport the serious incident that
occurs on campus, to me by phonefor my account manager, and I
don't get daily calls. I knowthere was a stabbing I believe
last fall. Have you had anythingat that level? Since then? Not
(24:27):
it's been reported now. Yeah.
I would say as far as injuriesthat have occurred to staff or
participants,and I know, kind of backup
because I know you asked aboutthat we have had security staff,
you know, get punched byparticipants that got upset
about incidents. So, but I canonly think of two incidents
(24:51):
where there was actually anassault on security staff. And
in both of those circumstancesthe person well once one of
those circlesstances the person stayed on
campus security was able to deescalate it to law enforcement
that arrived, and the otherperson was actually restrained
until law enforcement couldarrive.
Okay,offenders being led back on
(25:12):
campus,I can refer you to the homeless
services webpage with thecounty, it does have all of the
county written policies inthere. So it does explain that
people are allowed back oncampus after a certain period of
time, depending on the nature ofthe infraction.
If someone gets back on campus,who is supposed to be sat out
(25:36):
for a certain period of time,you know, on every any given
day, my manager reports that,you know, there's 50 People in
the book that are at one stageor another have not being
allowed back on campus. Andright now, it's relying on
officers, you know, kind ofmemory as well as the honesty of
(25:57):
the person coming on campus toprovide their name so that they
can check them against the book.
So we know occasionally peopleget back on campus, but when
that's reported, we make contactwith them and you know, they're
escorted back off campus untilthe end of their kickout period.
Drug use on campus, you know,it's the population there are,
(26:20):
you know, substance abusechallenges for those folks. And
so, it's not shocking to me thatsomeone may you know, see
someone using drugs on campusagain the staff is made aware of
it and can substantiate itthough you know, make contact
with people have removed thedrugs from the campus and you
know, it's certainly notcondoned.
(26:46):
Taking us out this week is a newsong by Brian McPherson. Brian
is no stranger to Reno and thissong is from his latest release
(27:13):
we are fine in the windgo around.
Come back again.
The Sundaythe sky makes me great
to be alive we go in Russiago around makes me crazy.
(28:01):
Be alive.
In the darkest corners ina phone with drag
I've been rained on a tornadogoing down a tree we have to
(28:30):
go around come back again.
Because it's a bomb.
Makes me great via right now byover river EO F ever stop trying
(29:21):
to sit to go around.
Comeback again thismakes the great beat alive.
(29:44):
He makes me cravefor this is Reno I am Bob
Conrad, please visit us onlineat this is Reno dot Calm
Now is the appropriate time for me to announce that
Nevada will rescind our maskmandate effective immediately.
masks will no longer be requiredin public places. But there are
still locations where you may beasked to wear a mask.
(00:27):
And with that Nevada's massivemandate has been lifted. That's
Governor Steve sisolakannouncing the end to a nearly
two year government restriction.
Welcome to the this is Renoradio show and podcast. We are
streaming on most all podcastplatforms, and Reno's own kW NK
community radio on 97.7 FM. I'myour host, Bob Conrad, but this
(00:51):
is reno.com.
I'd like to equate it to slowtorture, being sitting having to
sit through that, you know,listening to such hatred and
vitriol. A former school boardtrustee has a new book out and
he reflects on his time servingin office. He described his time
(01:11):
on the Washoe County SchoolBoard at slow torture. Also on
today's show, Reno's massivehomeless shelter is under fire
again, for being understaffedand unsafe. Now I understand if
somebody has a past, they wereconvicted, it's in the past. But
if they're doing that crap inthe building, they should not be
allowed in there and they shouldbe arrested. I've witnessed
people shooting up heroin. Ispoke with Washoe County's Head
(01:34):
of Security about thedifficulties and crime at the
Nevada cares campus. But first,the Truckee Meadows Public Lands
Management Act is being pushedagain. And I think we're looking
for language here and the nexthoping month to two months at
the most. And then we'll do ourpublic meetings. And hopefully
(01:55):
we'll have a bill submittedbefore January or December
rather, during this Congress.
Sparks may or Ed Lawson sayshe's been pushing for the public
lands bill for Washoe County.
The bill was discussed widely inearly 2020. With a public
meeting, reception, however, waswidely negative. Here's the
(02:16):
scene from that lands Billmeeting, as well as a comment
from Kyle whirring from theGreat Basin Water Network.
Again, if it's included whenyour disposal boundary,
nominated for disposalby the by the three entities, it
would then be reviewed by thefederal government and the
agencies that manage that land.
And they would kind of give youan upper down on whether or not
(02:39):
they think that land is alsoappropriate for disposal. If
they say no, we don't think it'sappropriate for disposal. The
process stops. You know, it'skind of a shame. I mean, there's
not even bill language that ispublic right now. But I spoke
with the mayor recently aboutwhat's been happening with the
bill. Here's what he had to say,we have very close contact with
(03:03):
Senator Rosen's office. And theywe are working through right now
the partial numbers of what willbe in the landfill. And I think
we're looking for language hereand the next, I'm hoping month
to two months at the most. Andthen we'll do our public
meetings. And hopefully, we'llhave a bill submitted before
(03:27):
January or December rather,during this Congress. So I know
that has been discussed for sometime, but it was put on it
seemed like it was put on holdfor a couple years. So what
what's transpired since then,well, it's it's being treated
differently than it was in thepast, in that in Las Vegas, you
(03:48):
know, they did it by parcelnumbers. We're doing it by
parcel numbers also. So whichmakes it easier for all the
interested party parties to say,I want this one included, and I
don't want that parcel included.
So it's I think going to be muchclearer it's going to be cleaner
for senator's office to get thelanguage done.
(04:09):
Okay, so what what specificallyhas been happening since the
start of the pandemic in thatlast community meeting?
Well, the kind of diedobviously, because of the
pandemic in the diet because thechange of the Congress, but last
March, I took up the reinsbasically and I've been giving a
(04:29):
Mayor's vision speech for cityof sparks in that region. I give
that speech about phone time,three, four times a month to
anybody will sit still andlisten to me. And we talk about
the land consumption. We talkabout the predicament we're in.
We talk about you know, the factthat we are in Sparks basically
(04:50):
built out with you know, nowit's all infill and when you do
infill, it's more expensive, andyou go vertical. So it
In essence, if we don't get alance bill, we're not able to
expand.
Then we become San Francisco andall this BLM land around us will
be ocean. What can people expectto see in the proposed
(05:13):
lantzville?
As far as with this the land, Imean, we're gonna have parcel
numbers, we'll have places thatwe want it. There's some
strategic places, the US ForestService wants to keep. BLM wants
to keep a couple strategicplaces. There's an area of
environmental concern to theeast of sparks, it's roughly
(05:34):
10,000 acres. We were not goingto touch that, you know, we're
very much trying to make it awin win for everybody. And from
from the tribe, to theenvironmentalists to the
business community.
Kurt Thigpen was a trustee forthe Washoe County School
(05:56):
District last year, he resigned,but then recently wrote a book
about running for office, here'swhat he had to say, when I left
I, you know, I had this feelingor a half had this feeling sense
that I still wanted tocontribute and kind of our win
in the election. And, you know,being who I was on the board, I
(06:17):
kind of didn't want to let thatgo to waste. So my thought was
to try and help other people,you know, a lot more people just
beyond Reno, who were interestedin running, but may feel
discouraged because of thepandemic or any other
adversities they may face. Sothat's why I decided to write
(06:38):
the book to share what workedfor me and hopefully help other
people.
But good work for you.
I think for me, it wasa bit of a crowd recall, during
the the early days of thepandemic, when this was
happening, you know, everyonewas so worried about even going
to the grocery stores, or theywere wiping their stuff down
when they came home. So it wasso taboo to go door knocking or
(06:59):
things like that. So I reallyhighly dependent on my knowledge
of digital marketing, sincethat's my profession.
But the things that I didaren't, they're not necessarily
things that other peoplecouldn't do themselves very
easily. Okay. So in some ways,would you say this is a, a book
(07:24):
that's a guidebook and arecommendation for folks as well
as maybe abook that that sort of outlines
your personal experience aswell? Yes, it accomplishes both.
It acts as a guide book of, youknow, how, how to navigate the
waters we're in right now, witha pandemic. It can be applied to
any other adversities as well.
(07:49):
As well, as, you know, myexperience preparing for office
because I had a good six monthsafter the primary, when I went
out right, to prepare. And thenalso, I talked about my
experience once I was in theseat, you know, good and bad.
Just so that people can be awareof things, you know, to do and
not do things to look for andall of that when you're when
(08:13):
you're finally in the seat. Howlong were you on the board
before you decided that you hadhad to resign? I believe it was
in I think it was towards theend of May, that I had decided I
needed to do it for my own formy own mental health. And, you
know, my physical health aswell, because it was taking the
(08:33):
stress was taking such an impacton me
that I just had to so it wasfive months in and then I stayed
until I think middle of July tomake sure that the other seat
that was emptied by trusteecoddles of resignation when he
moved away, just to make surethat the board wasn't left short
(08:53):
handed, so I stuck it out alittle bit longer as much as I
could. Well, let's let's also beclear to that.
School boards, especially invery large districts, well, not
even large districts. ElkoCounty has seen this.
School boards have becomeextremely politicized by
(09:14):
basically far right contingentsto the point where, you know,
threats are being made peopleare yelling and screaming at
school board meetings. I imagineit would have been very intense.
It was it waslike to equate it to slow
torture, being sitting having tosit through that, you know,
listening to such hatred andvitriol for hours on end.
(09:41):
And there's nothing you canreally do. So it does take a
toll on you no matter how youmay have thick skin you may you
may think you havebecause I know going in I
thought I've been called everyname of the book. But this was
just unreal. And we've seen itacross the country. So I
remember around that timeI kept thinking like God, I
just, you know, wasn't strongenough. But then someone told me
(10:03):
like, this really isn't normal.
And it may be kind of helped putthese things into perspective
for me believe the entire ifit's not the entire most of the
Elko County School Board alsoresigned about the same time.
Yeah, there were foot five, Ithink. Yeah. So this is this has
(10:24):
sort of been a a tricky issue. Imean, after Trump lost the
election, and we researched thisquite a bit that sort of, like I
said, the far right, folks onthat, you know, end of the
political spectrum, were reallytrying to politicize things at
the ground level. And you reallysaw this at school board
(10:45):
meetings across the country.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, I witnessedit up close. And it was so it
was just really bizarre andunreal, I remember, you know,
when they start talking aboutCRT, critical race theory, and
all of that, I when we werediscussing, you know, diversity
initiatives, I just was like, Idon't even know what that means.
I had to go look it up, becauseI've never heard of it. And then
it started becoming more andmore clear across the country
(11:07):
that this is some sort of, youknow, playbook that. That's
happening and unfolding.
Right. Okay. Well, let's, let'sstep back to your book a little
bit. You self published thisyesterday, I self published it.
It's actually kind of been outsince January. But it was in
kind of revision modes. I wantedto make sure everything was
(11:29):
good. And I had proof sent tome, but I announced it on
February 1, so it's been out fora few days. And now it's the
Amazon bestseller how to howdoes that happen? I am just as
surprised.
I've been watching it over thelast few days. And I've only
been promoting it within my ownnetworks, online through social
(11:50):
media, and all my emailnewsletter, which isn't that
large. But I think people wereexcited about it, people that
supported me,maybe you know, with everything
that happened, and they they'vejust been the it's just been
tremendous. So I was kind oflooking at the dashboard and
seeing like, oh, like today,it's now in the top 100 per
(12:13):
election and all that. So it'sreally ranking high for the
niche categories that it's in.
That's incredible. And I'm very,I guess, impressed and
fascinated by in local politicsis that you do have these
moneyed interests, but you alsohave people who just like say,
(12:33):
You know what, I think I can dobetter than what's happening
now. Yeah. And that's how Iapproached it was like, with my
school board, right. And I waslike, I have a unique experience
from like the studentperspective of, you know, some
adversities I faced in school.
And basically, I just ran on, Iwant to prevent these things
from happening on my watch. Andit works. I was worried too,
(12:57):
because I don't have kids yet.
You know, things like that. ButI thought we're going to be
major disqualifiers ended up notmattering at the end of the day.
Right. Okay. million dollarquestion. Last question. I
promise. Are you going to runagain? And if so, for what? I
have no plans to run foranything. It is funny, though, I
(13:19):
get asked that a lot. And thensomeone started a rumor, I guess
that was gonna run for mayor andI was like, No, too soon.
I haven't rolled it out. But Ihaven't made any decisions or I
don't have a desire to anytimesoon. So you won't see me in the
22 election cycle, that's forsure.
(13:41):
The Nevada cares Campus openedunder the city of Reno's lead
last year and has since beenplagued with allegations of
rampant crime and drug use. BenWest is the head of security for
Washoe County. He said a numberof challenges persist at the
campus. A lack of adequatestaffing is among the biggest
concerns. Yes, we are familiarwith the,
(14:03):
you know, reports, both formaland informal, from participants
on on site. Regarding drug use.
We're obviously familiar withincidents that have occurred on
site with participants who haveassaulted one another.
You know, we have issues withfor sure we know we have
(14:28):
knives on campus, and I've hadincidents involving that. So,
you know, we get incidentreports from Allied universal
security, which is our securitycontractor.
So, you know, we do take all ofthe allegations and report
information seriously andinvestigate all of them to the
(14:51):
extent that we can. There arechallenges sometimes with people
not wanting to beforthcoming with information.
You know, a lot of people havehad some
negative interactions in thepast with government entities.
And so it's understandable thatsometimes while they want to
(15:12):
have their issue address,there's sometimes like said,
hesitant to make formal reportsto us. But we do look into
everything as fully as we can.
And what are you finding whenyou look into these complaints
or reports. Now, some of theissues are criminal in nature.
And we do have a policy for thecares campus, that, you know, in
(15:33):
the event that a crime isreported to a staff member,
whether it's security staff, orVA staff, or county staff who
happened to be on campus, thatdepending on the severity of
what is reported to them, either911 will be called or non
emergency dispatch at thesheriff's office. So, you know,
when we find those allegationsthat rise to the level of a
(15:55):
crime, we have said inappropriate circumstances, we
call 911. For the sheriff'soffice to respond and conduct an
investigationin lower level incidents that
are reported to us, our policyis to facilitate getting the
person in contact with lawenforcement, whatever the
(16:17):
appropriate law enforcementagency is, whether that's
through making a phone call ontheir behalf, you know, calling
the sheriff's office to havethem respond to the campus and
meet with the individual. And sothose are how we respond to
criminal allegations, as far asitems that would might be found
on campus that aren't supposedto be there, whether it be
(16:38):
drugs, which are prohibited oncampus, or weapons.
Security will make contact withthe person or VOA staff
depending on the interaction andthe person's having remind them
of the policies and have themremove the prohibited item from
campus, whether it's you know,you have to take your drugs off
(16:59):
campus, they can't bring themback on. Or,
in the case of weapons, eithertake them off campus, or we do
allow forweapons to be checked in at
security. And then those itemsare logged and then they're
returned to the owner when theyleave campus. Yes, I'm aware of
(17:22):
one sexual assault that wasreported as being associated
with the campus that wasalleged, I mean, apparently a
valid complaint. But the actualsexual assault took place off
campus, there was a little bitof confusion. And we do have a
little bit of a rumor millconcern with, you know, like any
(17:46):
other kind of community,something happens and a neighbor
tell somebody that they heardsomething happened and they pass
on someone else. But thatparticular incident occurred off
campus, it did allegedlyinvolves some people who were on
campus. So we cooperated withReno Police Department on that
investigation. I don't know whatthe outcome of it was. But the
specific incident did not happenon campus. We've had a couple of
(18:09):
other incidents that have beenreported to sexual assaults, the
sheriff's office has followed upon those is based on the records
that I have from the sheriff'soffice, none of them were
confirmed to be sexual assaults.
But I know they were allinvestigated by the sheriff's
office, or the person who wasinvolved was given the
(18:33):
information to contact thesheriff's office. You know,
obviously, I can't speak onbehalf of the sheriff's office
on policy and things like that.
But they do need the actualvictim or someone to make a
formal report for them toconduct the investigation.
Yeah, so if it's the case wherethese folks might be not
(18:56):
trusting of law enforcement, orpeople employed by the
government, or whatever the caseis, then it's possible some of
these things could be happeningand just not being dealt with.
Yeah, it's challenging. Youknow,
I had a prior career in lawenforcement for about 15 years.
And you know, it definitelycould be frustrating to, you
(19:18):
know, know something happened orhave someone reports something
to you. Sometimes people will,even when I was in law
enforcement, someone make kindof an informal comment, you
know, oh, this happened. And I'dbe like, Oh, well, we should
definitely make a report aboutthat. And they're like, Ooh, I
don't know if I want to getinvolved, you know, whether it's
concerns for their personalsafety or they may have concerns
about how the investigation isgoing to be conducted. It
(19:42):
definitely is challenging foranybody doing an investigation
if it's difficult to getcooperation or witnesses.
How many calls for service areyou getting approximately each
day there now?
Hang on just a second. We have Abi weekly call with the
(20:02):
sheriff's office just for kindof some background information.
Andthat call involves Dana Sirsi.
Myselfstaff member from human services
because it's not just aboutcares campus, it's for cares
campus, our place and the safecamp. So I'm going to look at
(20:25):
our most recently because we getan actual report from the
sheriff's office on a weeklybasis with calls for service
to the campuses.
The most recent report I have,which is for the week of January
27.
(20:46):
through February 2,calls for service at Keres
campus that wereon when we get to the one that's
the law enforcement because theyalso send us their EMS calls.
Non EMS calls for service forcares campus.
(21:09):
And that's for a week and it'spretty consistent. I'm gonna
give you an average here realquick because this is per day.
(21:30):
Non EMS calls so that would beSheriff's Office. Could be our
PD are averaging about fourcalls a day.
And what are the general natureof those calls?
Pull up cares.
There's EMS non EMSkind of calls that we I'm just
(22:00):
looking at this list from thatweek, we have
reports of people who aresuicidal
general disturbances, welfarecheck.
Follow up for other cases,there's a burglary to a vehicle.
(22:21):
I don't know if that occurred oncampus or off.
Mental health issues. There wasa sexual assault reported during
that week. But the dispositionof it according to this record
is unfounded. So I don't knowthe details on the what the
deputies discovered. Butyou know, that's a pretty good
(22:42):
example of it.
You know, we do have calls forgeneral disturbances and for
unwanted subjects on campus. Butlike this week, we don't have
any unwanted subject calls. ButI know that that is a call that
we get. They come across asunwanted subject calls to the
sheriff's office.
(23:04):
Generally, that is someone whohas been expelled from the
campus for rule violations. And,you know, either refuses to
leave campus or may try toreturn to the campus before
they're set out time period isexpired. Well, I know, you know,
at least from watching city andcounty meetings, a lot of the
(23:25):
concern at the previous shelterwas the number of calls for
service. And it seems to me likemaybe that's that's just been
moved to a different location isthat?
I mean, sounds like you're stillgetting a Yeah,
I would say that's prettyaccurate. It's looking pretty
consistent, that we're runningaround that for lawn toward us
(23:46):
per days, who cares campus. Sosome of those incidents that are
being reported in lawenforcement responding to that
address, may have occurred offcampus just so happens that the
person making the report is oncampus. And
you know, and it also could befollow up from somewhere else,
you know, some of the things dooccur on campus. But, you know,
(24:06):
just anecdotally, I mean, I'mnot getting contacted every
single day by ally, and theyreport the serious incident that
occurs on campus, to me by phonefor my account manager, and I
don't get daily calls. I knowthere was a stabbing I believe
last fall. Have you had anythingat that level? Since then? Not
(24:27):
it's been reported now. Yeah.
I would say as far as injuriesthat have occurred to staff or
participants,and I know, kind of backup
because I know you asked aboutthat we have had security staff,
you know, get punched byparticipants that got upset
about incidents. So, but I canonly think of two incidents
(24:51):
where there was actually anassault on security staff. And
in both of those circumstancesthe person well once one of
those circlesstances the person stayed on
campus security was able to deescalate it to law enforcement
that arrived, and the otherperson was actually restrained
until law enforcement couldarrive.
Okay,offenders being led back on
(25:12):
campus,I can refer you to the homeless
services webpage with thecounty, it does have all of the
county written policies inthere. So it does explain that
people are allowed back oncampus after a certain period of
time, depending on the nature ofthe infraction.
If someone gets back on campus,who is supposed to be sat out
(25:36):
for a certain period of time,you know, on every any given
day, my manager reports that,you know, there's 50 People in
the book that are at one stageor another have not being
allowed back on campus. Andright now, it's relying on
officers, you know, kind ofmemory as well as the honesty of
(25:57):
the person coming on campus toprovide their name so that they
can check them against the book.
So we know occasionally peopleget back on campus, but when
that's reported, we make contactwith them and you know, they're
escorted back off campus untilthe end of their kickout period.
Drug use on campus, you know,it's the population there are,
(26:20):
you know, substance abusechallenges for those folks. And
so, it's not shocking to me thatsomeone may you know, see
someone using drugs on campusagain the staff is made aware of
it and can substantiate itthough you know, make contact
with people have removed thedrugs from the campus and you
know, it's certainly notcondoned.
(26:46):
Taking us out this week is a newsong by Brian McPherson. Brian
is no stranger to Reno and thissong is from his latest release
(27:13):
we are fine in the windgo around.
Come back again.
The Sundaythe sky makes me great
to be alive we go in Russiago around makes me crazy.
(28:01):
Be alive.
In the darkest corners ina phone with drag
I've been rained on a tornadogoing down a tree we have to
(28:30):
go around come back again.
Because it's a bomb.
Makes me great via right now byover river EO F ever stop trying
(29:21):
to sit to go around.
Comeback again thismakes the great beat alive.
(29:44):
He makes me cravefor this is Reno I am Bob
Conrad, please visit us onlineat this is Reno dot Calm
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