Eagle Scout project improves lives of seniors

Local Boy Scouts spent two mornings beautifying the front of a local senior citizens' home.

Michael Kubel, 16, of Jacks Valley, is a member of Troop 145. He organized the project, which was conducted Friday and Saturday mornings outside the Evergreen Center at Mountain View assisted-living facility on Koontz Lane, to obtain his Eagle Scout ranking.

"There were weeds everywhere; it was not really kept up," Kubel said of the landscape facing Koontz Lane. "They have occasional gardening, but it got kind of overgrown."

Virtually the entire troop - 20 members - was working on the landscape upgrade.

"We help each other with these projects," Kubel said.

Kubel has been in scouts since he was 8 years old, and has earned 43 scouting badges. He attends Sierra Lutheran High School in Minden.

Greenhouse Garden Center supplied the plants and ground cover; Cinderlite donated the rocks; and Dave Marson, a coach at Sierra Lutheran, gave them energy bars to keep them sustained, Kubel said.

And they also received sustenance from Evergreen. Kubel and the other scouts received lunches cooked by employees at the center, in exchange for their outdoor labor.

Residents there seemed happy to see their front yard getting the additional attention.

"They were watching us work through the windows," Kubel said.

Evergreen has a 146-bed capacity, and part of it is devoted to residents dealing with Alzheimer's and dementia.

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The Nevada Department of Agriculture is announcing that, by law, all Nevada registered livestock brands are set to expire on Dec. 31. This date marks the end of the current 4-year brand registration cycle provided for in NRS 564.

The process of re-recording all livestock brands will begin in August. All livestock that are grazed on federal land permits are required by law to have a brand recorded in the state in which they graze. For those that do not graze on federal land, branding livestock is encouraged, as the brand is considered prima facie proof of ownership of the livestock so branded.

The cost to register a livestock brand in Nevada is $100, and is good until the end of the next 4-year cycle, Dec. 31, 2011.

For more information, call Billie, JoAnn or Jim at the brand office in Elko at (888) 399-7739.