Good evening and welcome to Nevada Weekly, I'm John Marshall and this is my
co-host, Terri Nault. Our first segment tonight deals with John Mason. Terry, can
you tell us a little bit about him. I'd love to John. John Mason was born in
Nebraska in 1937 however he moved to Nevada and he's a former felon resident.
It's interesting because many people think that his experience in Nevada
had a tremendous impact on the kind of art that he chooses to do. For example
One critic wrote: "The awesome power of nature and the sense of timelessness
that one experiences in the desert were influences on Mason that can be felt
throughout his work. John Mason is better on campus, he's been giving slide
demonstrations and uh also lectures on the art of ceramic sculpture." John Marschall; Another
commenter on his work has talked about the unique way in which he redefines the
relationship of sculpture and environment. There's a spectacular
example of that that's currently being built on the lawn outside of Lombardi
Recreation Building and our reporter Richard Lebunski files the story about
Richard Lebunski; It it can be described in many ways as a series of frames flowing across an open
field or a group of steel doors leading to nowhere.
But soon, people will come to the University of Nevada Reno to look at
John Mason sculpture and they will decide for themselves. An artist of
national stature and local roots John Mason has returned to Nevada to create a
work that will span one hundred fifty feet across a field and will stand eight feet high.
Putting together such a sculpture as required many hours of effort. While some
working on the project are art students at the University,
others are volunteers from the community who just want to help Mason paint and
connect the large steel frame.
Despite the hard work, it is obvious that his volunteers are excited by the
project. John Mason; The paint won't stick to the grease, but it might stick to rust. Richard Lebunski; Katherine
Hale is not only interested in art she has another talent that can be practiced
at the same time.
The site for his yet unnamed sculpture was carefully chosen
by Mason himself. John Mason; My search really was for some site that would uh fit the concept
which is a long uh vista. Richard Lebrunksi; After considering various locations on the
campus he decided on the grassy area in front of the Lombardi Recreation
Building which overlooks the campus and the City of Reno. John Mason; and the piece itself
needed a very long flat space and this particular side here gives us a view of
the city of the mountains and of the University and so the piece will be up
here and we'll be able to see uh the piece and then it'll frame these various
aspects of Reno. Richard Lebrunksi; Mason spent his teenage years in Fallon
and he recalled what his life was like then. John Mason; Right, I spent my adolescent years
in that in the Fallon area between Hayes and then Fallon. I went to high school in
Fallon and uh was raised on a ranch near Hazen and you know, it was a typical
desert ranch, irrigation, and cattle and uh trees and uh fruit trees. Richard Lebrunksi; Then I needed to
ask you John how does ones creative spirit uh
released or hindered by living in Los Angeles or New York very different
environments from, from this part of the West. Does the open West give you a little
more room a little more freedom? John Mason; Well certainly the West gives you freedom, it
gives you vistas, and it gives you landscape and it uh gives you a different
way of relating to people on but each each area in each community has uh you know
the positive aspect of that environment and I think you know for a creative
person I mean you're attracted to certain situations because they're good
working situations or else they have resources that you want or people that
you need to be around. Richard Lebunski; Are you happy in New York? John Mason; Yes.
Richard Lebrunksi; Are you well received? John Mason; Well I find I find it a very interesting environment and uh
having been in the West most of my life, it's a great you know it's a great treat
to be able to see the East and to you know to be around some of the things
that are there. Richard Lebunski; What about the fact that you've chosen a university for
this piece. What is there about either the University of Nevada or universities in
general as a chance for young artists to view it for students with other
interests to learn something about art. What is it about a university that appeals to
you? John Mason; I think I think the uh concept of the work certainly is not appropriate for a
gallery or museum installation. It really needs a big space as you can see and one
of the places that very often have large spaces and are interested in receptive
uh to uh the ideas and are willing to support projects are universities. Richard Lebunski; Have you had a
chance to visit with some of the young art student here? John Mason; Uh yes. I have some some
some of them have been helping and uh you know I've met some of them socially. It's
a it's quite a change from the days I was here. I mean you do now have you know
a real art community here which you didn't have you know uh 25 years ago. Richard Lebunski; Is it
possible that a young John Mason today does not have to go to Los Angeles or to New York
John Mason; Oh I think so. I don't think uh
that it is necessary for an artist to go anywhere anytime. I mean I think uh it
depends on the personality and the needs of the individual. So, I think certainly
people have and can you know uh remain in whatever environment they want and not
suffer from it. Richard Lebunski; Bob Morrison: the chairman of the Art Department at UNR is very
excited about the attention John Mason sculpture will bring to the campus. Bob Morrison; Well,
it's a really exciting event in terms of uh having the a piece that come from an
artist who has the kind of importance historically in American sculpture that
Mason has to have take the time to to come and build the piece here on campus and
it certainly provides a exciting and interesting experience for the students,
to be able to see that the process kind of from the ground up of doing something
which although, apparently simple is quite complex, in terms of its
construction and finish and I think one of the things that will surely happen
with it in the in at least our sculpture classes it will be hebt able to have
this piece here to make reference to and come up and talk about how it works and
how it functions and how it relates to what's going on in contemporary art. One
of the things that it's uh that we suffer from living in Reno is that uh because of
its size, the art activities are somewhat limited and we really need to have as
much of this kind of thing as possible not only for the entire community but
for our students to be able to view not and not have to run to San Francisco to
see things all the time. Richard Lebunski; John Mason has returned to his Nevada
roots to provide the university with an ambitious sculpture, spanning more than
one-hundred fifty feet across this field but more than steel and paint this work will be a
reminder of John Mason himself: a man who has traveled this country, who has been
associated with the great universities and art Institutes in this nation, but
whose affection for Nevada and its people brings him back. Whether or not
John Mason considers himself a native son, the people of the state can be proud
of the artist and his work. This is Richard Lebunski. Terrie Nault; Football season is well
underway here at UNR as all of you certainly know
and the excitement is contagious, the tailgate parties, John, are in full swing
and Saturdays before the game, hot dogs in the stands. It's a real treat isn't it.
John Marschall; It is and there's a new addition this year and that's the UNR pep band led by
Mack McGranahan. He and Chris all are interviewed by Dave Anderson who files
his report. Dave Anderson; The cool evenings of the harvest season have come to the Truckee
Meadows. Some spend their time alone in solitary pursuits. Others band together
as spectators and as players for the spirited excitement of college football
in the fall. Chris Ault, head coach of the UNR football team has been involved as a
player or coach for the better part of his life. He coached on a high school
level in Reno at Minogue High and Reno High after a brief stint at UNLV as an
assistant coach. Chris Ault came back to Reno in 1976. Ault bases his football
program on excitement for the fans and excellence for the player. College
football are definitely in the air at UNR and here with me is your UNRs' head
football coach Chris Ault. Coach, has there ever been a fall when Chris Ault wasn't
playing or coaching football? Chris Ault; Well, I can't recall any you know uh one way or the
other, probably one when I was a little, but uh you know it's part of
it's part of life right now. Dave Anderson; Is the spirit and energy you felt
about football as a kid the same as it is now? Chris Ault; Oh it is. I think this is a young
man's game, it's a game of enthusiasm. I don't think you belong and if you
don't have that you know and I've always had that and been fortunate to have players
around me that have it also. Dave Anderson; Do you think the innocent wide-eyed wonderment of
amateur sports exists in the trenches of the National Football League? Chris Ault; No I don't.
I think the the NFL is a completely different ballgame in some ways it does
not represent football the way should be represented and uh really pro sports uh to me
have taken away from the glamour of intercollegiate athletics in high school
athletics. Dave Anderson; Coach, you said that "the winning edge in reality is the attitudes
and trust developed by a coach with his players both on the field and off the
field" Could you describe what exactly you mean by attitudes and trust? Chris Ault; Well,
basically what it is is a chance for the players to come in and sit down and
establish their goals with the coaches. We asked them to come in on
Mondays and Tuesdays and sit down and write down their goals for the week and
we ask them to put down the problems that they think they're going to face
against the opponent and how they plan on solving them and basically we want to
hear their answers not our answers. Also, I think the most important thing is
probably getting close to your players and sitting down talking them. We want to
know their problems in school out of school, mom and dad problems, so and so
forth and we've had great success with this and I think it gives us an insight
to hear what's important to them rather than just what's important to us. Dave Anderson; A pep
band has recently been re-instituted for the UNR football games. Is this the kind
of spirit and student energy you like to see in the football program? Chris Ault; Well, I
really believe that the football team is just an extension of the student body in
the first place and I think anything that you can do to create enthusiasm
within the campus uh is more apropos to what you're doing and I think a pep band,
marching man, anything that goes along with the uh pageantry of football is
important. Dave Anderson; And, just one more question coach or you're coming off a tough loss
to Las Vegas and do you have to work extra hard as a as a coach to bring
confidence and precision back to a team after a tough loss? Chris Ault; Well, not we work hard
all the time we really are we're fairly consistent what we have to do is we have
to get some players playing harder and that's motivation and that's what we're
paid to do is coach you know you just can't put them on the field and throw
the ball out there and uh what we find doing this week for in preparation for
Davis is just getting some players motivated to go full-speed from the from
the snap of the ball to the whistle blows. Dave Anderson; Mac McGranahan is like many
people today. He is and always has been a sports enthusiast. Mac isn't like many
people today though he plays in the house orchestra of a local casino now
combined his love of music and music education with his love of football and
is now in charge of the refurbished pep band. Uh Mac how did the pep band come into
being here in 1979? Mac McGranahan; Well, actually the pep band is kind of an
extension, Dave, of what has been going on before. The Jazz Band has always been uh
providing the music at the games and uh you have a winning football season, you have
more interest in music and everything so we have a bigger band now bigger pep
band. Dave Anderson; I say that that's great. What types of music can uh we look forward to
the band offering for us at the football games? Mac McGranahan; Well, mainly pop music music uh music that's uh
popular at the very date. We do some disco tunes and some uh pop groups uh tunes
that are like I say popular at this time. Dave Anderson; Is the band going to perform at any
other functions during the year? Mac McGranahan; The band will be performing at all the home
basketball games in addition. Uh we're going to take the pep band, which is about well
they're 57 or 58 in the band, and we're going to break it down into two pep
bands for the basketball games. Dave Anderson; I see. Are most of these musicians University
musicians? Are they all? Mac McGranahan; Yes they are. Some of them are in music and some of them are in
other fields but they're very interested in this sort of thing. They're sports
enthusiasts so they come out for these games. Dave Anderson; How did you personally get
involved in this UNR project? Mac McGranahan; Well uh, I'm a sports enthusiast and uh I like this sort
of thing I think it provides an opportunity for uh the music department to
be exposed in a big way in front of the amount of fans that there are. Dave Anderson; And, do you
feel that the the band provides a lift and a boost to the student interest in
the football games and a music department? Mac McGranahan; Almost definitely yea. Like it
says, "pep band", it's supposed to pep up the crowd and the team and so I think it
definitely provides interest in enthusiasm.
Unknown; First and ten Wolfpack. Ball at their own thirty-four. Jeff Wright comes wide left side. Jeff
Jones goes wide right side. Dan Gussin's going to leap out of a booth there in a
minute grab one of those. Rebels stay in that sixth one, warm and straight drop
back looks right side got a man wide open. Jones in the slack.
It's gonna be a footrace! Jeff Jones, no contest! No flags down.
Ball at the thirty-four yard line to start that play. One more look at it.
A sixty six-yard passive run. Larry Warren the Jeff Jones, and from here on, it's pick them up
and lay them down. Richard Jackson, thirty-one, comes into your picture at the bottom of the
screen but he cannot catch Jones, a sixty-six yard pass and run for the Wolf Pack. Holy Cow,
just like that, it's now twenty to twelve. Dave Anderson; Yes, it seems UNR has all the necessary
ingredients for a winning exciting fall season: a group of talented young players,
a thoughtful, motivated young coach, a group of artful musicians, and enthusiastic
community support. Now all they need is what the city thrives on: luck. This is
Dave Anderson from Mackay Stadium. John Marschall; We all remember the water storage of two years
ago and many of us have heard recently that either a shortage or drought may be
coming up. Terrie Nault; Back in 1978, conservation programs were in full swing and things
were looking pretty good, but apparently it's gone down the drain
according to Richard Perrault our reporter who has more. Richard Perrault; Nowadays there are a lot of
Americans who feel that life is pretty bleak put upon by inflation, gas
shortages, money shortages, job shortages. For a lot of people it seems as if
things couldn't get any worse. Well, for Reno area residents things could get
worse. Reno is faced with the prospect of a
serious water shortage that may be upon us as soon as next summer. If for
instance we have a winter of a low precipitation. This isn't just a
short-term concern either. With growth in the area continuing as it is at about
ten percent, the threat of a long-term water crisis is a very real one.
I asked Claude Dukes, the US District Court Water Mentor, about the reports
that have recently come out on the subject. Claude Dukes; The reports had two parts to
them. Number one was the long term effect that the cities of Reno and Sparks
another two years could not be served by the power company under their present
water rights because it would be not be enough water to service all the peoples
in the service area. The other part was that we are actually in the midst of a
drought it started in 1976.
1977 of course as you'll remember was very
dry. 1978 wasn't too bad, but this year turned up again is a dry year. Richard Perrault; mm-hmm.
Claude Dukes; Now, if we should have another dry winter, winter of deficient precipitation, we
will have very definite shortage of water in this area not only for M&I our
city uses but for agriculture. Richard Perrault; This chart illustrates graphically the water level
of Lake Tahoe. Since 1900, the water level in the lake has dropped below the rim
only ten times and it's expected to drop below the rim again this year for the
11th time. This would reduce the Truckee to a trickle. Gil Cochran a research
professor for the Water Resources Center of the Desert Research Institute
describes how growth effects a less publicized source of water. Gil Cochran; As we have
put more that agricultural land under asphalt, buildings, concrete, what we've
done is taken that land out of irrigation. In production we've stopped
applying water to the land there and thus reduce the amount that's going in
the ground water reservoir. So, in effect we're doing is cutting down the supply
that we may have available to produce from there and uh as I say the the volume
of groundwater is limited in the extent in terms of comparison with the Truckee
River. Richard Perrault; How much do we depend on groundwater as a supply of water?
Gil Cochran; It represents a very fairly small fraction of what is actually delivered
by Sierra Pacific Power Company but it is an important component in that it is
used to make peaking purposes and helped us through the last drought we
experienced in '77 and a fair amount of our summer production came from groundwater. Claude Dukes; We
noted here in this office and the power company noted also that their diversion
from the stream this year was almost thirty percent greater than it was two
years ago. Actually, the Sierra Pacific Power Company,
for a short-term drought, for instance a couple of weeks or even a month in the
end of the season and I'm talking about the months of August and September and
October now can usually supplement their priority water with privately owned
stored water that they have in Donner Lake and in Independence Lake and they
can carry themselves through but they can't carry themselves through if the
demand is up in the range that it has been this summit. In other words to carry
through they're going to have to get their customers to cut back on their use.
Richard Perrault; Now is this a short-term solution or? Claude Dukes; This is a short-term solution. Now in a
different manner and a long-term solution, sure they have to cut back to
but I'm not too sure in my own mind at the present time whether the power
company with those two reservoirs can carry through a long-term drought. Richard Perrault; What
are the chances that Reno could become another Marin County? Claude Dukes; Well, I think
they're pretty good and all we need is a couple of winters like we had in 1976-77.
Richard Perrault; Bad winters? Claude Dukes; Bad winters, well bad winters in the sense very little precipitation
and we could be in just about the same situation that Marin County was in
during that period. Richard Perrault; Mr. Dukes described the predicament in which the South Marin
County Water Company found itself. Claude Dukes; Their only source of water dried up, so they
were put in the position late or I guess was early in '77 if I recall correctly,
of having to not only ration water but to act absolutely prohibit the use of
water for certain purposes such as washing your car or Richard Perrault; Lawncare? Claude Dukes; Lawn care.
Richard Perrault; Couldn't use water for lawn care? Claude Dukes; No, it was too valuable. Richard Perrault; Now this is a
possibility in Reno, people, homeowners might have to go without uh
watering their lawns. Claude Dukes; It is a possibility. Richard Perrault; Sierra Pacific has also come out with a
report. Bob Firth, the company's manager of Land and Water Resources, spoke about
their findings. Bob Firth; Okay, our report didn't really address the drought situation. Our
report is more aimed at what the future growth will do to uh water supply in the
Truckee Meadows area and after about a year and a half of study we attempted to
identify what the water resource is and then compare that with population
projections done by ourselves and also done by the state of Nevada to see how
our water resource compares with projected growth and looking at the
water resource that we have available right at this time and the growth
projections we can get by probably till 1981 or 1982 with the resources that we
now have available. Richard Perrault; So this is a really a long-term shortage of water that you're
worried about. Bob Firth; Yes, not really a shortage of water but what point in time will the
demands of the population reach the supply that we have available. Richard Perrault; What steps
have you taken regarding Stampede? Bob Firth; Stampede was originally intended by by
act of Congress when they appropriated the money for its construction. It was
intended that municipal and industrial water be available to the Truckee
Meadows area. Richard Perrault; So people voted on this? Bob Firth; Yes, there was a there was an election to
determine the people's feelings is whether that reservoir should be
constructed or not and they voted in the affirmative because I think they felt
municipal industrial water would be available to this area uh. Since its
completion, there has been no use of that water for
municipal and industrial that has been used by the Secretary of Interior
primarily for fishery experiments and for the benefit of Pyramid Lake. Because
of that, we have filed an action along with the Carson Truckee Water
Conservancy District against the Department of Interior to try and force
them to use the reservoir as it was originally intended by Congress and that
is to supply water to the Truckee Meadows area. Richard Perrault; What happens to your water
rights then? What happens to eh, is there are a series of priorities in terms of
who gets served first? Bob Firth; Yeah, your water rights are of course only as good as the
water supply that's available. You could have all the water rights on the river
and if there's no water available your rights really don't mean anything.
The water rights, which were originally adjudicated by the Federal District Court
all have priorities established on them. If you're in a water short year then of
course the water master has to distribute that water according to
priority. Richard Perrault; and the priority is based on the date of the water right? Bob Firth; The date of
the water right, that's correct. Richard Perrault; If we do have a dry winter and the expected water
shortage results, short term solutions are somewhat limited. Bob Firth: If there's not
sufficient water in the river to meet the demands of our system, then of course
all of our customers would be short and we would have to ask them to go into
some type of conservation program so that we could meet all their demands
still get by with what waters available. Richard Perrault; but this is mostly on a voluntary basis
there'd be no way of monitoring. Bob Firth; No, it would have
to be on a voluntary basis. Richard Perrault; Conservation then, according to Mr. Firth, will help us
out in the short run. Ironically, though, conservation is not a long-term solution.
Gil Cochrane, a research professor for the Water Resources Center of the Desert
Research Institute explains why. Gil Cochrane; Conservation is is often put forward as
our Savior. I particularly don't, I personally don't feel that conservation
can help you through a shortage uh but there is the risk that you know if we push
people to live at the margin area in a water conservation mode all the time,
which will free up water in good or very good water years. There will probably be
a tendency to see, well you know we have a lot of water we can afford even more
growth of people who living at the margin, alright. When you do get a shortage
everybody is already conservative. You've been forced into a conservation
lifestyle. There's no room to conserve anymore. The naked floor of course is one
acre covered one foot deep with water and the as I say the average flow being
used as a measure of water availability is like five hundred and nine thousand
acre feet per year. That's average but the average is made up of some extremes
on both ends some very high flood years which bias that average. If you look at
the amount of water that crosses the state line at fair at fifty percent of
the time or five years out of ten or fifty out of one-hundred, that number is significantly
less than five hundred and nine thousand acre feet and is closer to four hundred
thousand acre feet. So, if we're basing our decisions on growth of water use on
the average, we're building in then a an automatic shortage condition while say
I'd say a five hundred and nine thousand acre feet. We're building in a shortage
condition sixty percent of the time. It's almost seventy percent of the time
you know. Richard Perrault, Because the local allocations are based on that so-called
average figure? Gill Cochran; Well, right. That's what we would have been used historically to
allocate the water. What's the average flow well uh we don't have enough storage
capacity to hold back all the big years to average, to even out the low years so
that the big years go right on bias and in order for us in the community, the
Truckee Meadows Community Area, to use those, the upper end of that average, we
have to have a place to store it and we don't. The reservoirs have never and have not
come back to their full level and uh I think it's only wise to anticipate the
worst and uh you know do your planning on that basis. If the worst never comes to
pass so much the better but if it does you're ready for it.
Richard Perrault; Water, we are often told is one of our most precious natural resources.
Nevertheless, most people including me, have always taken water for granted. It's
always been available. Well, if you plan on stayin' in Reno for any length of time,
water is something you'll probably learn to appreciate whether you want to or not.
For Nevada Weekly, this is Richard Perrault.
Terrie Nault; That wraps up another edition of Nevada Weekly. We're glad you could join us tonight and hope that you'll
join us again next week, Sunday evening 6:00 o'clock,
channel eight. John Marschall; Good night. Unknown; Nevada Weekly is produced at UNR by the Office of
Communications and Broadcasting in cooperation with KOLO TV. Segments by
Richard Lebrunski, Dave Anderson and Richard Perrault.
This program was pre-recorded.
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