Common sense should prevail in Dayton sign dispute

"Whenever A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving C, A is a scoundrel...."

Mencken's Law

It seems that certain political forces in Dayton are obsessed with the controversy over the historic sign removal from the side of Mia's Swiss Odeon Hall Restaurant.

These forces appear to be dismayed at how the Comstock Historic District could so ineptly handle the controversy. But they know better. They're really trying to goad the Comstock Historic District Commission into doing something stupid in their frustrated attempts to have Max and Mia Kuerzi beheaded in the Dayton town square.

It is rumored that an unofficial verbal agreement was reached between certain commission members and Max and Mia Kuerzi to restore the old sign on the side of the Odeon Hall at no cost to the Kuerzis, and add an even older historic sign to the front of the building to be paid for by the Kuerzis. Fair enough? Yes, until the commissioners also insisted that Max and Mia remove their restaurant sign as well. How can they do business without a prominent restaurant sign? No, as yet there's no official agreement.

The Comstock Historic District is on shaky ground and the commissioners know it. Oh, sure, the law that established the district and gives it its authority is quite specific, but from what I've heard, the commission hasn't always played by its own rules. Good old boys and girls run things in the Comstock, which means that rules and regulations haven't always been equally enforced.

Also, there are questions about some of the dealings involving the restoration of Piper's Opera House in Virginia City. Public grant money was extensively used for this historical restoration and certain private participants purportedly benefited financially for little work done. And now that the project is completed with taxpayer money, who actually holds the title to Piper's?

What I'm leading up to is this: With the Comstock Historical District commissioners being well aware of past inconsistencies and not wanting to get into a time-consuming, drawn-out public bloodletting, they would prefer settling the sign dispute with Mia's Swiss Restaurant out of court. So would the Kuerzis. Fair enough.

Moreover, the CHD knows that Max and Mia Kuerzi aren't acting without legal advice. The Kuerzis aren't challenging the authority given to the CHD by state law, but instead may challenge the very existence of the Comstock Historical District itself, either in court or in the Legislature. I don't think the commissioners want that.

Now, why on earth would two ordinary, non-wealthy citizens challenge the establishment knowing that expenses could be lethal and they may end up losing their restaurant? It has to do with freedom, and a fundamental belief that here in the United States, unlike Europe, citizens aren't supposed to be hassled by non-elected appointees.

To Max and Mia, who left Europe to join this great republican experiment because it was supposedly free from such intrusions, this sign issue is a matter of principle! Yes, principle! A word politicians will never understand.

Now I'd like to ask you citizens of Dayton if you really think the Kuerzis want to harm the Dayton historic district. Don't the Kuerzis have a substantial investment within that district? Haven't the Kuerzis lived in Dayton for the better part of 20 years? Did the sign change, which they carried out with impeccable taste, detract from the historic aura of Odeon Hall?

I attended the public hearing where it was proved to my satisfaction that the sign which the Kuerzis painted out wasn't originally on the side of the building anyway. The photos presented by Bruce Kittess proved conclusively that the painted-out sign originally appeared on the front of the building. Max and Mia have agreed to restore that historic sign on the front of the building.

I guess what irritates me is the lack of appreciation for the expensive restoration the Kuerzis performed to their Odeon Hall which was done in the best of western taste and has produced a better looking building with improved structural integrity. There are few buildings in the downtown Dayton district which are a credit to the district, and the Odeon Hall is the beacon.

This has all the earmarks of a vendetta on the part of the "good old girls and boys." Personally, I've never opposed anything historic. I'm a dedicated supporter of the V&T. But I question the validity of any and all historic districts and commissions when they become so sacred unto themselves that common sense no longer prevails.

Bob Thomas is a Carson City businessman, local curmudgeon and former member of the Carson City School Board and Nevada State Assembly.