Free pancakes at IHOP today

The IHOP in Carson City will host its first major event today since the deadly shootings in September.

The restaurant's celebration of National Pancake Day includes a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes for every customer, though IHOP asks in return for a donation to the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals' program at Renown Children's Hospital.

Nationwide, IHOP served more 4 million pancakes for last year's event and raised more than $2.5 million. The Carson City location alone served more than 5,400 pancakes.

"We're just trying to raise as much money as we can," said district manager Peter Kouis. "Everyone is doing it for the hospital."

It will also help area residents realize that the IHOP still is there and part of the community, despite the tragedy of Sept. 6, Kouis said.

On that day, Eduardo Sencion, opened fire with an automatic assault rifle, killing four people in the restaurant and wounding seven. Three of the dead were uniformed National Guard soldiers. Sencion, 32 and a diagnosed schizophrenic, then fatally shot himself in the parking lot.

Kouis said that just because the event is something that the IHOP will be doing for the sixth year, it's not an indication of the past being scrubbed.

"I don't think normalcy will be part of the vocabulary (here) anytime soon," he said.

Sheriff Ken Furlong echoed that, saying he hopes the event is a success and a way for IHOP to reassert itself in the community, but in no way will it erase the past.

"I don't have the right words, because 'putting it behind us' is not true. That means we're going to forget it, and that's just not true," he said.

Furlong praised IHOP's efforts, however, both the national corporation and the chain, for its response and the charity drive itself. But he said Monday that he was still talking to victims' families. It's a pain that will probably never go away, he said, and a memory the community will likely never forget.