Columnist Susan Snyder: Drawing the line in Wendover

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 | 8:18 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

It seems lawmakers from Nevada and Utah are talking about the possibility of moving the Nevada state line a bit to the east.

Honest. See, the only thing that separates our West Wendover from Wendover, Utah, is the Utah-Nevada state line that runs between the two.

West Wendover has the casinos. Wendover has the airport. Together they make one good tourist destination.

So U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, and our own Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons, are talking about writing legislation that would open this Pandora's Box of unity. It would set forth a sketchy idea of how far east the Nevada line would move, giving residents of both towns something to discuss, a Gibbons aide said.

If residents go along with it, the measure would then need approval from the governors and legislatures of both states, the staffer said. Then they'd have to find ways to consolidate everything, make sure everyone's tax is covered and, of course, change all those maps and telephone books.

"It's really never happened before," the Gibbons staffer said.

Sure it has. We ended up in a big old ugly war, of course. But the re-enactment festivals are fun.

Gibbons' staff people say neither he nor Hansen are endorsing the idea per se. They're simply offering to support the legislation that would allow the discussion to take place.

"And the legislation would have to give a feeling of square miles and set a limit. Otherwise you just don't know where things would go," the Gibbons aide added.

That alone would be worth seeing.

After all, how much of Utah do we truly want?

They would get to stop paying state income tax. We would get the Wendover airport. They would get real liquor stores. We would get part of the Bonneville Salt Flats.

They would get legal brothels.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

"You're talking about (merging) two different ways of life," the Gibbons spokesman said. Hoo-boy, you got that right. And it would almost be worth it just to see commissioners from Elko and Tooele (Utah) counties in the same room.

How many Nevadans does it take to correctly say, "Tooele?" (It's "too-IL-a," in case you wondered.)

Still, why stop with Wendover? If we move the whole state line 30 miles east, we could snare the pretty, rolling Grouse Creek Mountains to the north and St. George to the south.

Move it 70 miles, and we'd get Zion National Park, Cedar City and its annual Shakespearen Festival and Brian Head Ski Resort. Nevadans pretty much subsidize those places anyway.

As the Gibbons staffer pointed out, this isn't the first time people have talked about merging West Wendover and Wendover. And the process would take at least three years, even if everybody approved of everything right off.

Residents of Susanville, Calif., also have raised similar concerns in past years, the aide said. They figured it would be better to be considered part of the Tahoe-Carson City-Reno scene, rather than be constantly ignored in a state that encompasses Los Angeles and San Francisco.

"And I'd like to get all of Lake Tahoe into Nevada," the aide added.

You know, maybe we should take Susanville under wing. Has a nice ring to it.

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