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L.,s Vegas Morning Sun-August 16, 1951 WHERE STAND B y HANK GEEENSPUN The Boulder City Rotary Club almost got its name in the paper today, but when I returned to Las ' Vegas alter visiting with the Ro-tarians, I was greeted by a blast ! on the part of the Las Vegas Water District. Water will, there­fore, have to be the subject for today. 2 think the members of the : Water District should have blown their tops long ago and there i; might have been some action by ; this time. I saw the handwriting [ on the wall when the elusive John Mueller would fail to show when important meetings were sched­uled and both he anft Jess Larson would not even give the dis­trict the courtesy of a reply to Its numerous letters and tele­grams asking for a hearing. Lar­son would push it off onto Muel­ler and John would blame it on the birds. The water district still intends to pursue negotiations with the * General Services Administration i which to me makes about as j much sense as saying hello to a | cue ball. The treatment will be ' no different as long as Johnny ! Mueller is the part-time employee ! with whom water business: has | to be conducted. I think that John should be retired to pasture and have Washington send some new faces out here with .a new outlook and no previous ties. A fresh ap­proach, free from any entangling alliances, might be the shot in the arm necessary to bring wafer to Las Vegas. At one time,, the War ’Assets Administration was intent on scrapping the whole plant with a liquidating return to the government of a possible ten ! percent of its complete invest^: ; ment. Suddenly, Jess Larson in­sists on a pound of flesh, when t the future of a whole commun­ity is involved. A good deal of blame can be laid at the threshold of the Colo­rado River -Commission. No gov­ernmental body- should have the right to exclude interested par­ties from any- meeting. When negotiations between the plant lessees and the CRC were taking place, the water district commis­sioners' begged to be admitted while talks .were in progress. It was their right to know how the plant lessees felt about a situa­tion of such grave importance, but the Colorado River Commis­sioners not only kept the water commissioners cooling their heels for four hours, but reporters! from this newspaper were also in the group that was barred. It is time that Gov. Charlie] Russell issued an edict that there I will be no more secret sessions.! I f matters are being discussed' | that should not receive publica­tion, the reporters would respect [the “off the record” status of the talks. We have never violated any confidences and we do not intend to, but we certainly should have the right to know what is [taking place where the rights of I the people are concerned. I also believe that it is high | time the governor completely [broke with the faction that has j been controlling the state for (years. I know they are some- I what displeased with him be- | cause of some appointments he I made without their official stamp | of approval. In fact, the gover-f nor went contrary to their wishes. | The talk is prevalent that Nor-iman Biltz and John Mueller are [ looking around for a new boy for 1 governor. Charlie has made them I extremely anxious with his new I show of independence. 1 My best advice to Ch'arlie f would be to break it off clean. He now has the opportunity that comes to few men in his posi­tion. A complete, break from the ties that bind. A strong show of independence will bring the peo­ple to their feet cheering. Las Vegas needs water and needs it badly. The governor could become a hero by telling the greedy few, to go jump-: in the lake, and seeing that all ef­forts are made to satisfy the re­quirements of over 30,000 people in the southern part of Nevada, ; The king-makers may fret and! fume, but Russell would not be! wrong by sticking with the peo-j pie that elected him. The time is now. Larry Atkinson, president of the Exchange Club, called today. He and his group are particularly perturbed about the statement of the water commissioners that “all qualified authorities conedr that the Las Vegas' area will re­vert to barren desert if the water supply is not. implemented.” Larry wants, tb know what to do to help. Frankly, it beats the heck out of me. These birds who are so strongly entrenched in power, and who do not give a plugged nickel for the rights of the people, make a person heart­sick. I don’t mind baffling them, but it is about as .effective as a dog trying to ki§k ;’dpwn a tree with his hind leg» q$ey just sit back and laugh. And they’ll continue to laugh as long as a lackadaisical citizenry allows them to. Ii;