Tag: carsonvalley

Man shot dead in his Johnson Lane home.

Douglas County Sheriff's Deputies say 36-year-old Benjamin Oxley was murdered early Thursday morning. He died from a gunshot wound at his home on Wildhorse Lane.

All questions that remain unanswered. Terrified neighbors say the home had a history.

"The day before, there were cops there for somebody stealing property, so it's a little scary in our neighborhood," said Oxley's neighbor, Bob Wilson.

This is two blocks from my house. I saw the police tape strung around the street this morning before the story had broken.

I didn't know there was a movement afoot to shut down the Minden airport, but I'd have to agree with this opinion piece that it's a "bad plan".

The skies over the Carson Valley used to be lousy with hot air balloons on the weekends. Now it's a less common sight to see them floating along. This one was from yesterday morning.

I saw this guy in my tree earlier today. You can tell he's not too happy about the snow either.

There he goes!

Bonus shot: our icicle sculpture has evolved into a double-decker.

Just a few pictures from the snow this morning. First is from Cheryl Mathwig.

6 to 12 inches of the white stuff

The rest are from my house, and my drive in this morning.

Blue skies to the east...

Angry skies to the west.

Doy! Fun!

Yes, I need to take the lights down.

Nasty roads.

The river's not too full. Anyone who was here in '97 knows to keep one eye always on the river.

Coming into Carson. Most of the lights in the south of town were out completely or flashing red.

So we woke up this morning to the largest snowfall we've had in nearly a year. I measured a solid six inches in Carson City and the Carson Valley both. Some are reporting drifts of up to 12 inches in areas. So I'd call this a pretty successful storm. Plus, it's noon and we've had hardly any melting yet, so that's another out-of-the-ordinary occurrence for us. And another wave is supposed to be hitting tonight, bringing in possibly another six inches.

Of course all eyes are on Fernley this morning, where a levee broke along the Truckee-Carson Canal early this morning, sending three to six feet of water into the neighborhoods in southern Fernley. So that could mean that thousands of people might have to weather this next storm in a makeshift high school shelter instead of in their own homes.

The Nevada Appeal has a few flooding pictures here and here and here.

Letter to the Editor, Record-Courier:

As the cable barrier between the north and southbound lanes of Highway 395 inches ever so close to completion, I can't help but reflect on my letter to the editor shortly after the loss of Nicole Snyder. Her tragic death due to a crossover accident only a few miles from home, triggered something in my soul, as I felt her parent's pain. This was the second crossover accident that caused loss of life on this dangerous stretch of highway, made even more dangerous by the Nevada Department of Transportation's lack of concern for a problem so simple to fix, or so it seemed to me.

My letter to the editor of this paper, as well as e-mails to the state directly, appeared to go unanswered. But then I started to see some changes. Slow to come, but changes none the less. It took another loss of life at the intersection of Highway 395 and Stephanie, this time due to the combination of a lack of a traffic light and impatience. The state responded to the cries of those close to the victim, and a light was finally placed at this dangerous intersection. Shortly thereafter, comparatively at least, work began on the median cable barrier.

At this writing, the barrier work has reached the location of Nicole Snyder's accident. I think of her often as I pass this location, noticing the makeshift memorial placed by friends and family who refuse to forget her. Although I didn't know her, I can't help but feel that I did. She was one of our own ... one of my own. So, I call on this county's decision makers once again. Help her friends and family remember her officially by placing a sign in the median along side the section of the barrier that would have saved her life. Might I suggest "The Nicole Snyder Memorial Barrier"?

Thank you, Nicole. Rest in peace.

Jim DeZerga

Why not, we already have A Light For Bridget.

It's good to see snow on the mountains again.

Since I took these photos this morning, the clouds have descended again and it's been snowing lightly in Carson for the last couple of hours. I don't think it's due to last, though.

The Wild Goose Villa that I mentioned last week cleared a big hurdle this week, when it was approved by the Minden Town Board.

They're hoping to break ground in the spring.

I came across these concept drawings for a proposed development in Minden, and I thought they were too good not to share. This is exactly the kind of mixed-use development we've been talking about lately, the kind I think should be built in downtown Carson City. Except this one is being built in pastureland on the outskirts of Minden.

The Wild Goose Villa is slated to go in at the northwest corner of Ironwood and Lucerne Streets in Minden, cater-corner across from the Sierra Nevada Trading Company. Click here to see the exact location on a map.

At first glance, this looks like any other high-end high-density residential project. The building holds about fifty condos, a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, with an on-site gym, covered parking, interior hallways, balconies in each unit, and other amenities.

But when you look close at the plans, you see that strip of glass windows along the ground floor. All of that, facing the parking lot, is retail space available for lease. These could be specialty shops set up to serve the residents of the building or, more interestingly, they could be shops owned by the residents. This would allow owners and employees to literally walk down the stairs to get to work, providing a little bit of urban living in what is still predominately a rural town. It's a bold plan, made even more bold by the out-of-the-way location, but it would be exciting to see it come together and actually get built. Sort of like an experiment to see if this sort of thing can fly around here.

There are a few other details to the project. The whole building is shaped like a horseshoe, like a hexagon cut in half. The retail space would only take up about half of the square footage of the ground floor. The rest of it, behind the stores, would be a covered parking garage for residents. You can see a car disappearing into the garage on the right-hand side of the drawing. The shops at each end of the building, flanking the strip mall, would be set aside as larger spaces for restaurants. And phase two would involve building a detached three-story office building in the parking lot, roughly where the imaginary photographer is standing. This would provide an incentive for professionals to buy into the development, if they could live this close to their office.

I'm excited to see this project get off the ground, and see how well it's received. But I think it's still in the early stage of development, and not a sure thing to get built. We'll be keeping our eyes on that corner.