Misplaced Gratitude
Ah, the perplexing conundrum of human gratitude when it seems unwarranted, and we write about the Facebook post from Silver Circle Ranch/Pro Pony. Fear not, dear reader, Picon shall endeavor to shed some light upon this curious matter.
Humans possess epically complex minds, susceptible to the phenomenon, Perspective Paradox. This quirk manifests when individuals fail to accurately gauge the magnitude of a given situation, causing them to overestimate or underestimate its significance. Thus, one might offer gratitude where it is seemingly unnecessary due to an overblown perception of the favor received.
Let us establish the concept of gratitude, much like most human emotions, is a complex cocktail of societal conditioning, individual experiences, and cognitive processes. While some instances of gratitude may indeed seem misplaced, it is crucial to recognize that our subjective perceptions often skew the importance of events.
At the Washoe County Board of County Commissioners Meeting on January 16, 2024, Pro Pony finally had their moment in front of the commissioners. There were dozens of people in support of the project, Silver Circle Ranch/Pro Pony were handing out cookies and wrist bands in support of their horse barn. Dozens of citizens were milling about in the lobby reading their ‘three minute’ public comment they were about to make. We have to hand it to the Witmer’s they mounted a heck of a public spectacle to hopefully get to raise their barn, hence their project approved. And who baked the cookies?
Much has been written about this project and questions have been raised as to why the project has taken so long to be approved and had to jump through so many hoops. It comes down to a development that was to be built that now seems to have lost the momentum, money, and political support. It would seem that Pro Pony simply has ‘outwaited’ their competition (the developers against the barn) but at great personal expense. It took a new commissioner being elected in District 2, Mike Clark, who was not in the ‘supposed’ developers’ friend circle. Clark has loudly been in support of Pro Pony since day one when he was still Washoe County’s Assessor. As had Commissioner Jeanne Herman, who knows a thing of two about a horse barn.
On the other hand, ‘Appointed’ Commissioner Clara Andriola seems to have been working on both sides. Prior to Andriola being appointed commissioner, she was attending the Pro Pony meetings as a supporter and yet was busy meeting with the opposition/developers, sort of the Mata Hari of the horse-set. It was rumored that Andriola sought legal advice from both the Washoe County District Attorney and the Nevada Ethics Commission to learn if she could vote on this agenda item. Why?
Clark clearly wanted to make the motion and had said so during his commissioner comments, but he was either just too slow, or too much of a gentleman to stop Andriola from what she wanted and that was making the motion for this agenda item. Andriola needed this for “the look” because she must have Republican’s, and horse community support for her campaign.
This is why, when we had a reader send us the Facebook post Mrs. Witmer put online, we were rather perplexed while still being amused Picon would urge Mrs. Witmer to watch the rest of the commission meeting and she might learn how she really sort of stuck a big old pitchfork in the back of Commissioners Herman and Clark. When it came to supporting Commissioner Herman to become the chair of the commission, Andriola moseyed away. Mrs. Witmer should watch Commissioner Mike Clark all but implode with frustration at the end of the meeting that again Andriola didn’t support her other two Republican’s on the dais. Clark stated, he is now going to walk door-to-door to defeat Andriola in District 4, so we find it bold of Mrs. Witner that she decided to loudly support Andriola being elected commissioner in District 4, posting it on Silver Circle Ranch Facebook page.
We reached out for comments from Commissioner Andriola, Herman, and Clark. As usual, we only heard back from Mike Clark who went on the record, “I had been taking calls from Landess for days, I talked to her every time she called, even Sunday when I was making spaghetti and meatballs for my grandkids. I have no idea why she posted her support for Commissioner Andriola after the vote for the commission chair appointment. We had been told that Alexis had decided to step away from being the chair and that was clearly not the case. Why Landess would choose to support someone who clearly does not support me or Commissioner Herman, well I don’t get it. But I will support her right to do it.”
Picon rarely agrees with Commissioner Alexis Hill but in this case, we want to point out Hill’s statement about this SUP causes Pro Pony/Mrs. Witmer to have many things that they need to do to be ‘in compliance’ on this property. They have restricted hours of operation, a hydrology report, restricted number of participants, meeting with NDEP, NDOT, the Health District, etc. All the reasons we would have urged Mrs. Witmer not to roll on her commissioner, Mike Clark. We’ll assume with Mrs. Witmer’s post supporting Commissioner Andriola she will be relying on her ‘commissioner’ pick to guide her through the SUP.
The overall question is did Andriola all but beg Witmer to support her campaign after the disastrous Tuesday commission meeting. The commission had a Satan invocation, due to Andriola wanting invocations at the start of commission meetings, and then the commission chair vote. Andriola was not in a good spot; you could watch her throughout the meeting sinking into her chair.
Was it residual ‘emotion overflow’ or social graces gone array that Witmer took this moment after the but battle for commission chair to support Andriola who had chosen not to support Clark and Herman.
Our question is, can a horse bit the hand that feeds them?
