Guinn writes to Washington Post

Gov. Kenny Guinn wrote a letter to the Washington Post concerning an article written by Gene Weingarten about Battle Mountain.

Guinn said he enjoyed parts of the Dec. 2 article in which Weingarten described the pride parents showed in their children and watching Battle Mountain's football team beat rival Lovelock.

He included a quotation from Robert Laxalt in his letter.

"How very much like the sagebrush the people are, at least in the hinterland that makes up most of Nevada, setting down roots and thriving in unlikely places, hardy and resilient, stubborn and independent, restrained by environment and yet able to grow free."

"This is what Battle Mountain and much of the Silver State is all about," Guinn wrote.

Weingarten's article appeared on the cover of the Dec. 2 Washington Post Magazine. Weingarten offers an unflattering portrait of Battle Mountain, but concludes that people make the place worth living. In naming it the "Armpit of America," he wrote that he hoped the townspeople could use the publicity to make a difference.