Column: Kurt Hildebrand

It turns out that little 9-year-old Brittney Richardson sold 752 boxes of cookies for her Girl Scout Troop 252.

I must have written down the correct figure on the e-mail Bob Schirlls gave me, but the other number was in the e-mail and by the time I got to composing my column, the number didn't click in my head.

I had a nice talk with Brittney's troop leader Melissa Chelius about the little troop that could. Troop 252 consists of just six girls and is half the size of the troop that sold the most cookies.

"The girls do all their own finances and they've been in the red a lot," Melissa said. "They are a great bunch of girls and they work very hard."

In addition to Brittney and Nadine Wemheur, whom we talked about last week, Sarah Combs, Alyssa Sharp, Carissa Brewer and Melissa's daughter, 10-year-old Carly, make up the troop.

Melissa ought to know. She joined the Girl Scouts when she was 10, two years before she moved to Carson City.

"My mom was my Scout leader," she said. "And when Carly was old enough, it was time for me to step up."

The 1990 Carson High School graduate said being a Scout leader has allowed her to do things she wouldn't otherwise.

"I've had a chance to do some really cool stuff," she said.

Melissa is married to Jason Chelius, who was an Eagle Scout and also a member of the Carson High class of 1990. Jason was born in Carson City. The two were high school sweethearts.

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Tom Blomquist donned shorts and a tuxedo and started hitchhiking in order to make the point that Lyon County needs to make an effort to advertise outside the county to hire a new animal control officer.

Now that he successfully made his point, Tom is back trying to find homes for dogs.

"We still have two golden retriever, German wire-haired pointer pups we're trying to place," Tom said in a message Wednesday. "I found a book of dog heraldry and, in Latin, these dogs have a coat of arms, non disputar illegitimus."

My Latin is pretty rusty, but it sounds like these dogs may have a little trouble tracing their lineage.

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What would vacation be without visiting a major theme park? Cheaper.

Jennifer and I decided to take our friend, Nick Dey, and his mom to a theme park. We went on the Internet and got tickets at half price and the hotel room was very reasonable.

However, one lesson I should have learned from my dad 30 years ago is never ever eat in the park.

I ordered three corn dogs and a hot dog, four medium drinks and a single fry. Jenn came up to me just as they shared the price with me. Thirty dollars and change. We'd gone to Applebee's the night before and paid that for dinner for four, not counting drinks and dessert.

Jenn was mad as a hornet, but she ate her corn dog anyway. They didn't give us lids or straws for the drinks, so I got up and looked. There were none. I went back to the counter and asked and was told they didn't just hand out straws, but for 30 cents apiece, I could buy silly straws.

As I was shelling out the extra $1.25 for the straws, the lady next to me had had enough.

"It's a rip-off, honey," she tells her very young daughter as they walk away from the window after paying $3 for a soda, but drawing the line at the straw.

Maybe so. But for 5-year-old Nick, the memory will be of a place where he got to go on rides and have fun, without commerce entering into the picture. That's what being 5 is all about.

Kurt Hildebrand is acting city editor at the Nevada Appeal. Reach him at 881-1215 or e-mail him at hildebrand@nevadaappeal.com