Tourism key to Tahoe financial system

For the Washoe, the Minden Siren symbolizes the oppression and loss of the land they once freely traversed. For the elderly residents of Minden, it is a symbol of home – a tribute to the volunteer firefighters and ranchers who come home from the fields.

The siren was not used in an emergency in the 21st century. It could be, but by the time it was activated, thousands of cell phones would have alerted residents to any danger, be it fire, flood, earthquake or nuclear attack.

A bill banning the sounding of a siren associated with a sunset law may receive final approval in the Nevada Convention and be sent to the governor for signature. Silencing the siren was an afterthought in Bill 88 that would remove schools and local governments from using names and mascots with racial or confederate connotations.

With an estimated $ 9.3 million cost of renaming the UNLV rebels, the entire bill is a pretty expensive way to get a point.

Silencing the siren is probably the most cost-effective item that would result from the passage of Bill 88. Should the bill become law, the question arises whether and how it will be enforced?

Is it possible for the siren to be brought to justice? More likely, the outcome would be a public meeting where people in the valley could voice their opinions.

And that is one of the problems with the siren. Better historians than we have looked through the records and have been unable to document a direct link between the siren and the clearly unconstitutional sunset laws enacted in Douglas County during the first two decades of the 20th century.

We believe that the elders who reported Washoe were beaten and arrested if they dared to stay in town after sunset.

But like many symbols of oppression, the importance of the siren in storytelling has increased. We also heard that washoe was served in Gardnerville bars after sunset in the 1960s, long before the ordinances were repealed in 1974.

Activists planning a bike ride from Minden to Lake Tahoe to protest the siren may have something to celebrate on Saturday. It’s what happens next, which will be the real story.