Nevada Appeal turns 150

Readers, leaders included, lauded the Nevada Appeal at age 150 Saturday for being an integral part of their day, the community and the state’s history.

The refrain, which came from young and old alike at a festive gala the newspaper held, was the Appeal starts their day. Gov. Brian Sandoval, who issued a proclamation and also pushed the button to begin a commemorative printing press run, started the ball rolling on the refrain during his remarks to a crowd outside the Appeal offices.

“I start every day and I open up the paper, the Nevada Appeal,” he said. The governor congratulated the paper on a commemorative edition that wrapped the regular Appeal Saturday morning, said the publication is a state and city archive, and presented to Mark Raymond, Appeal publisher, a special Nevada prestige license plate bearing this appropriate symbol: NA 150.

Sandoval took note the Appeal’s 150 celebration comes just months after state’s last year. Nevada became a state on Oct. 31, 1864; the Appeal began publishing on May 16, 1865.

Carson City Mayor Robert Crowell proclaimed Saturday Nevada Appeal Day and in the proclamation document, which he said he wrote himself, called the Appeal “a mainstay in Carson City as a primary source of local news.” In spoken remarks, the mayor reinforced that message with comments about Saturday morning’s paper.

“As I read through the history edition of the Nevada Appeal,” he said, “I found myself going back several times to read the various stories by current writers and past stories.” He said some of the latter he recalled from his youth growing up in Carson City.

“But beyond my own reading experience,” he added, “it occurs to me that the Nevada Appeal really embodies the meaning of Carson City’s motto: ‘Proud of our past and confident in our future.’ In one form or another, the Nevada Appeal has been a vital part of Carson City since our inception as a community.”

The mayor went on to speak of the need for the publication in modern times.

“As the world turns to digital communication with the corresponding decline in interpersonal communication, the role of the Nevada Appeal as a community newspaper becomes more and more important,” Crowell said. He said that importance is not only as a repository of history, but also as an organ which helps express a sense of community today and in the future.

On hand throughout the day for what amounted to a large block party in the newspaper’s parking lot were about 1,000 folks. They enjoyed a near carnival atmosphere that included booths featuring wine, beer, tamales and other fare, which were topped by a cake marking the newspaper’s birthday. Other booths promoted community businesses or organizations.

Musical background by the Chorus of the Comstock accompanied the birthday cake cutting and consumption. Other musical fare during the day included Molly Seals of Carson City, she of American Idol fame, as well as Jake Houston and the Royal Flush Performance.

The Naughty Tea Mistresses of Nevada and McAvoy Layne as Mark Twain, all appearing in period costumery, entertained with their historical and occasionally histrionic wit or wisdom.

Tours of the Nevada Appeal were conducted for those interested in the publication’s operations. At noon, a community photograph with staff and the public on hand was taken. Photographer Jim Grant actually took several shots from atop the Appeal’s roof, urging those in the parking lot to gather together and wave appropriately into the camera’s lens for posterity.

Commemorative Appeal 150 Silver Coins were struck at the Mint on North Carson Street, the first coming out of the historic coin press there about an hour before the celebration started at the newspaper office. There were 150 struck, with Raymond as the publisher doing honors on the first one.

Among those on hand celebrating who declared themselves faithful Appeal readers were Margaret and Stephen Wolfe, relatively new residents of Carson City who dote on the local news. The retired bankers, who moved here from California, said when they first arrived someone told them to forego the Appeal and subscribe only to a newspaper published to the north. The couple subscribes to both, preferring the Appeal.

“This has got local news,” said Stephen. “We love the Appeal,” said Margaret, who already had declared moving to Carson City and taking the Appeal the best things the pair ever did. In fact, she said in their marriage she sees Stephen gets everything first save one. “I grab the Appeal first.”

Matt Teixeira, an insurance agent and son of the late Mayor Marv Teixeira, moments later went the Wolfes one better with a kudo and a lament the Appeal publishes just six days weekly.

“The Appeal is as much a part of this community as anything in this community,” he said. “Monday morning is depressing because there’s no Nevada Appeal.”

Teixeira, dressed in regalia from the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn., perhaps knows whereof he speaks as a longtime Little League umpire. As an umpire, he calls ‘em as he sees ‘em.