Winnemuccans help mend strain in social fabric
By Don Cox
The singing may not be as loud when the weekly music and religious program for kids resumes next month at United Methodist Church in Winnemucca.
"Three of our leaders were public school music teachers," said the Rev. John Dumermuth, church pastor. "They all moved out of town in the last three months. Some of the spouses were involved in mining."
While the economic consequences of northern Nevada's mining slump are fairly obvious, the strain on a town's social fabric may be subtler.
People leave towns where mining slows or stops. Some of the folks heading out of towns may be the music teachers, the youth coaches, the public-spirited citizens who join service groups, and the activists who get things done.
Or, something else could happen: The people who stay may pitch in and work even harder.
"What is the amazing thing about this area is somebody always steps forward," said Caroline Hilton, a school administrator in White Pine County. The county's communities of Ely, McGill and Ruth continue to deal with the June closure of a copper mine that employed more than 400.
Despite the tough times, a group of parents in McGill operate their own preschool for their small children. They pay for it and hire the teacher, using a classroom in the McGill Elementary School.
Enrollment, not fund-raising, is the primary challenge, said Lori Carson, a preschool board member.
"We had (families) who didn't know if they were going to be here in September," said Carson, whose 4-year-old twins, Kamber and Kasey, are in the preschool. "We need 13 kids to keep it going. We got 12. But the teacher said she'd do it with 12."
Volunteers are important to the school. Parents pay $55 a month to send their kids to the preschool three days a week, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. - if they volunteer to help in the classroom two days a month. If they don't, they pay $70.
"This is a participatory (area)," Hilton said. "There is no expectation that the other person will do it. That social factor improves when the chips are down."
Geography, she said, has something important to do with it. Ely, McGill and Ruth are alone on the eastern side of the state. "We're so isolated and there is no one else to help us," Hilton said. "It's always been that way."
In Winnemucca, mining's troubles haven't hurt the Pop Warner youth football program, which has plenty of volunteer coaches for this season.
Churches in town still get enough food donations to feed needy families. But there's no extra money to help cover their rent and utility bills.
"Our big donors were the mines. That pretty much dried up," Dumermuth said. "We can keep them from starving. But we can't help them keep a roof over their heads."
The Rev. Tim Wehn of Ely's Sacred Heart Catholic Church doesn't expect the full impact of the local copper mine's closing to be felt in his community until January, when benefits run out for most of the laid-off workers.
"Right now, it's too early to see any major effect," Wehn said. "Ninety percent of our parishioners are still here. That might change come January."
Wehn, who's been in Ely for 20 years, remembers what happened after Kennecott closed its copper mine and smelter in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Eventually, the Catholic grade school in Ely closed when enrollment dropped.
But older residents form the backbone of the town, said Wehn, who came to Ely from Pennsylvania.
"The thing we are blessed with is we have a high percentage of retired people," he said. "I come from mining towns. You have your good years and you have years when things are a bit slower."
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL