Columnist Susan Snyder: Selecting quarter no flip decision

Monday, May 9, 2005 | 8:19 a.m.

Did you vote yet?

I remain in a quandary. After all, this is an important decision, that could have a far-reaching effect on how the rest of the country sees Nevada.

Seeing as how my votes didn't do so well in the 2004 presidential election, I am a bit gun-shy when it comes to making my voice heard.

But the state quarter is something people across the country will use daily. We wouldn't want them to get the wrong impression of the Silver State from a measly little coin.

That job belongs to the Strip.

To see the five designs from which we are to choose, log on to www.NevadaTreasurer.gov.

The decision is not going to be easy.

The first proposed design is of three wild horses framed by sagebrush with the sun rising above the Sierra Nevada's peaks in the background.

It is a beautiful design, but in order to accept it you'd have to ignore that if the sun is rising behind the Sierras, it would mean the horses are running on the California side of the mountains, rather than on Nevada soil. Maybe they should change the description to, say, "sun setting."

And, of course, the idea of wild horses running free across the West was a lot more attractive before the federal government allowed the animals to be captured in Nevada and sold for slaughter in Utah.

Next.

The second rendition is an ancient petroglyph imprinted on the state's shape with the state's artifact, the Tule Duck decoy, and a basket woven by Dat-So-La-Lee, a Washoe basket weaver whose actual birth year and full name are the subject of conflicting theories.

Historical accounts briefly mention that though married three times, none of her children lived to adulthood. Of course, not knowing her real name, birth date or children's names wouldn't stop us from "honoring" her on a coin.

We did it with Sacagawea -- whose name is also up for debate, as she was never referred to by name in the journal of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's journey.

Hey slap 'em on a coin, and behold, as decades of ignored treaties and bureaucratic abuse is all gone.

Maybe Nevada's quarter could instead include a likeness of Mary Dann, the Northern Nevada Shoshone woman and activist who died last month. Dann and her sister Carrie waged a years- long battle over violations of the Ruby Valley Treaty signed with the Shoshone in 1873.

But commemorating someone who sought to hold the federal government to its century-old promises makes us more uncomfortable than a likeness of a basket.

Either the design showing a miner holding a pickax or the one with crossed pickaxes above a star would seem logical choices -- as long as you can ignore the destruction mining imposes on Nevada's natural environment.

Actually, the choice depicting a bighorn sheep is probably best. It could serve to remind us what one looks like as development, relaxed federal air quality standards, rural water-grabs and the growing support for construction of new coal-fired power plants threatens the animal's habitat.

It's a lot to think about, but maybe I think too much.

After all, a quarter is just a quarter.

And it's all the same to us once that guy from Toledo drops it into one of our slot machines.