August 12, 2020
Liz Writes Life
Church in
Nevada
A coalition
of church groups, in Nevada, can’t seem to catch a break. After the U.S.
Supreme Court upheld Nevada governor’s edict stating only 50 people can attend
any religious service, a group called “Evangelicals for Trump” decided to hold
a church service at the Ahern Hotel and Convention Center in Las Vegas on Aug.
7, 2020. The dispute is that casinos are allowed a much larger population of up
to 50 percent the maximum recommended for a room or facility.
Many evangelical
leaders claim the biased restrictions infringe on their First Amendment right.
So, they rented a convention room with a legal maximum of 1,600 individuals.
About 500 people attended. Temperatures were checked and masks were worn with
social distancing encouraged.
Nevada’s
governor was immediately notified of the religious event in the casino and sent
a letter demanding compliance to his regulation of a maximum of 50 people
attending a religious service. A $250 fine was levied against the evangelical
event’s organizers and also the owner of the casino.
Yes,
religious folks are frustrated and want at least equal treatment. I learned of
another religious group that decided to hold their service inside a
Pennsylvania Walmart back on June 26, 2020. The group claimed that if people
can go to a large grocery store, it seems absurd they couldn’t attend religious
services. I am not sure of the result of the Walmart event.
Must say, I
sure don’t understand why Nevada casinos can house a large number of gamblers,
but a church service of more than 50 people can’t be held there. Our U.S.
Constitution and Bill of Rights are being trampled by our own governments in a
variety of ways.
Bundys
There is
good news for Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, 74, his family and some of his
supporters. Recently, the federal government tried to overturn a decision by
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro, who declared a mistrial with prejudice back
in January 2018. As a result, the Bundys and other pre-trial incarcerated men
walked free. Cliven Bundy, his sons and other men had been held in prison for
nearly two years before the trial.
Federal
prosecutors spent millions of dollars in attempting to prosecute Bundy and 19
men for their roles in the Bunkerville protest of 2014 and over-played their
hand, when it was revealed federal lawmen did have a “kill list” for the Bundy
family; and the feds did indeed have snipers surrounding the Bundy ranch family
homes; and the feds did have on-going video camera surveillance of the Bundys
that was not revealed by the prosecution.
So after
nearly three months of the appeal working through the court system, last
Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in San Francisco, denied
the federal prosecutors their appeal of Judge Navarro’s 2018 decision. And it
looks like the decision is final. Unfortunately, Judge Navarro did have the
authority to punish the federal government’s prosecutors for their deceptions and
did not.
The Bundy,
and supporters, situation was complicated. Cliven Bundy maintains the federal
government has no jurisdiction over Nevada state lands. That is where his fight
has been with the federal Bureau of Land Management and his grazing rights. He
says his cattle grazing contract is not with the BLM. So far, this state versus
federal land issue has not been settled.
Elks
fundraiser
A fundraiser
will be held for the Yreka Elks Lodge #1980 on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020 at
Black’s Appliance Parking lot by Walmart. The Covid-19 lockdown has adversely
affected the lodge, which is trying to stay open and viable. It will be helpful
for the $20 tickets to be purchased early, so they know how much to cook. Call
530-842-1980 or 530-340-3443 to get your tickets.
Dave Tyler
is the grill master for this tasty dinner that includes Kahlua pulled pork or
barbecue chicken thighs, Island Macaroni Salad, Island rice, cabbage slaw with
pineapple, Kings Hawaiian rolls and cookies. This comes as a boxed dinner in an
easy access drive-thru.
Eating more
beef
Apparently,
the Covid-19 virus lockdown has not diminished our desire for meat. Several of
the farm news sites recently announced an increase of beef sales during the
pandemic. Since March 15, 2020, the dollar sales are up 35 percent over the
same period last year. Apparently, this translates into an additional $7.7
billion in meat department sales, which included $3.5 billion for beef, $1.1
billion for chicken and $814 million for pork.
With the
restaurant industry hammered and closed by the pandemic, people have looked-up
recipes and lighted the barbecue doing their own cooking of their favorite
foods. Early-on during the pandemic, there were some infrastructure supply-line
problems, but the livestock industry couldn’t slow down and Americans have
continued eating meat.
Garden
The
cucumbers are starting to come on and I was able to can two quarts of dill
pickles last week. Yay! There are plenty of volunteer dill plants in the
garden. Some are five feet tall. I cleaned the dry stems and dirt-covered paper-layers
from the garlic that I dug-up in July and ended-up with 21 bulbs. They all have
nice-sized cloves. I was happy to have both dill and garlic ready to go for the
pickles.
The 10
comfrey plants that I transplanted in June are doing well with lots of leaves
and some are nearly two-feet tall. Yep, old timers told me you can’t kill
comfrey!
Also the
onions that I transplanted a month ago are growing well with some over a foot
tall. Last week, I weeded them a second time and put some dry grass clippings
around them for mulch.
I am pleased
with the five tomato plants. Two are nearly five-feet tall and all have lots of
green tomatoes. Couldn’t believe how fast the harvested rhubarb plant has grown
back. The one green bean plant is growing well despite the moles that are still
making lots of tunnels that I try to mash down every morning.
Hope your
garden is doing well!
Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in
newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan.
Columns from the past can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at
530-467-3515.
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