Dear Editor,

Dear Hawthorne Residents and beyond

There is something special about being a Serpent. Maybe it’s the gathering under the Friday night lights, amidst the bonfire and the roar of Cecil as he takes his lap around the gridiron or the rowdiness of the crowd as the basketball game is taken to the buzzer. Maybe it’s the crack of the bat as the ball flies deep over the fence of our massive diamond or a long legacy of sprinters taking out of the blocks at the sound of the gun. Or maybe it’s just walking the halls of the oldest operating school building in the state of Nevada or something just as simple as the perfect blend of the colors black and gold.

Whatever the case and whatever the traditions, Mineral County High School and the communities of Mineral County are special. So special are we, that our mascot was celebrated as the second most fearsome mascot in the nation. That mascot deeply rooted in the folklore of this beautiful valley’s ancient cultures. Being a Serpent means that you are forever a member of a family of Serpents who have achieved great heights. Athletically speaking, that means 49 state championships, countless league and zone championships, 52 NIAA state record holders, countless league record holders, five NIAA Hall of Fame inductees and well over 100 athletes that have gone on to play sports at the college or professional level. Oh yes, the athletic history of our school is rich with stories of greatness.

It is that great history that prompts our need to preserve it. In keeping with that great tradition we have fostered three undertakings that will forever etch our Serpent history, but in order to complete them we are now at the point that we must reach out to you for help. The three projects are as follows:

Serpent Athletics Record Book – We have now compiled a 65 page record book over a three year span. Much of that information was retrieved through scrapbooks of alumni, old newspaper articles and word of mouth. The reality is that many athletic records/statistics have been lost over many years of change in our district. We need you to reach out with any information you can lend to help us complete this great undertaking.

College/Pro Serpent Athletes – If you ever visit the gym, you’ll now see the walls lined with former Serpents that went on to play sports at the college or professional level and lettered in good standing at their institution. This information has only been achieved through word of mouth and very detailed searching on the internet. However, the information out there is very limited. With your help we can come as close to completing this project as possible. If you know of any athlete that attended MCHS and went on to compete in a college or professional sport, please contact us with the information so that we can showcase them as need be.

Yearbook Archive – We have recently began to gather MCHS yearbooks from every year in order to maintain a living archive of our school’s history. However, we are missing a few and are now needing to reach out to the community for help. If you have a yearbook needed for our archive and are willing to part with it, or even a copy of it in worst case, please contact us. The yearbooks needed are as follows: 1946, 1950, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1983, 1992, 1993, and 1995. Also, our earliest yearbook is 1937, but we have nothing from 1938 to 1943. If there is anyone out there that can help us out, we would greatly appreciate it.

If you are interested in helping, please contact the school at 775-945-3332, or Darren Hamrey at 775-316-0593 or by email at hamreyd@gmail.com.

Thank you,

Darren Hamrey

Hawthorne

Dear Editor,

Around 2 p.m. yesterday, Monday the 11th, we had a county worker give us a flyer about our water being out and to boil water when it came back on, until further notice. (His words). When my neighbor across the street got home at 4 p.m., I asked if she’d gotten a notice. No.

But she said at noon she had seen workers around Fir Street. So it was at least two hours after the break, before we were notified and the flyer made no sense! Said, “On Birch and Pine Street, between Cedar and Ash.”  Well, it’s Ash, Birch, Cedar and Pine which would be Birch and Cedar between Ash and Pine.

The flyer went on to say” when water is restored, this notice will be in place”. What does that mean? When my neighbor called the utility office, she got to speak to Missy Snippy. You all know who that is! She couldn’t tell my neighbor if she needed to boil, flush lines or anything else; only that it didn’t affect her! My neighbor told her, from reading the flyer, it did affect her and me across the street but also, the flyer was messed up.

Missy Snippy also told my neighbor, “Well, the garbage guys put out the flyers and probably messed up”. Excuse me but the “garbage guys”, EMT’s and Sheriff’s office know the order of the streets better than anyone. Apparently, the utility office doesn’t and this is not the first time the utility office has sent out flyers about a water break in Barney Estates and got the streets and information messed up. When I called the utility office this morning, I was told all of Barney Estates is under boil water notice; it could be days before it is lifted. Still don’t know if we have to flush our lines when it’s lifted but sure glad I was at home when the county worker came by with the flyer, even if it was confusing.

Pattie Pletzer

Hawthorne