WEST WENDOVER, Nev. — No one is forcing either Wendover, Utah, or its Nevada-border neighbor to say "I do" over a proposal to merge the two towns.
That's what three congressmen tried to impress upon residents here Monday during a House Judiciary Committee field briefing on altering the Utah-Nevada border that would move the Utah town into Nevada.
"When was the last time you had three members of Congress out here in Wendover?" Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, asked. The rhetorical question was used as a means of measuring the importance of moving a state line, something that hasn't happened in the U.S. for more than a century.
Still, skeptical residents said the invisible, imaginary line cannot be erased and that the cost of taking on millions in debt from Tooele County would be too much to bear.
Casino representatives urged Hansen, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., to let local problems be solved locally, not at the state or federal level.
Meanwhile, proponents of a border shift asked the question, "How long can Wendover, Utah, hang on?" Annexing Wendover into casino-rich Nevada could save the city from further financial decline, some said.
Sounding repetitive after several meetings on the subject, others said combining the two cities with a total population of about 6,000 people, would do away with duplicative public and school services that Hansen called "ineffective" and redundant. Talk on how to combine those services will continue Wednesday in a joint meeting of city councils and subcommittees headed by residents.
Sensenbrenner told a roomful of residents Monday that when two people marry, it is the two sides that say, "I do," and no one else. Drawing from the demolition of the Berlin Wall as a metaphor for the bureaucratic wall that divides Wendover and West Wendover, he said, "It's you folks that are going to tear it down, not us folks up here."
As the courtship continued Monday, the three congressmen assured local leaders and residents that the enabling legislation being proposed in Washington is intended only to usher in the new relationship, not to force the issue.
The bill, HR2054, is still sitting in a House subcommittee after being introduced June 18. It says, in part, that the federal government agrees to step aside while both cities study the idea of annexing up to 10,000 acres in Tooele County, Utah, into Nevada.
If passed, HR2054 would give the cities up to six years to keep talking about annexation. Monday was just the latest round of discussions on a subject that has captured national attention.
Hansen supports moving the state line to help save a dying airport on the Utah side that in the past has played a vital military role and could still be a viable financial opportunity for the entire community.
How or even if to actually combine two cities could come down to a vote on a unification proposal in a referendum next November. West Wendover Mayor Josephine Thaut also put forth an amendment to HR2054 that calls for the local referendum.
Even Gov. Mike Leavitt threw his support behind letting the people decide first. A spokesman told the congressmen, "He believes in local determination." After the local decision is made, the state would step in before sending the matter on to Congress.
E-MAIL: sspeckman@desnews.com