Capitol grounds security buoyed with array of big, ugly boulders

CARSON CITY -- Big, ugly boulders have been dropped in the middle of sidewalks at entrances to the state Capitol grounds.

They represent one Gibbons administration move to improve security in the wake of a March 29 letter from Guardians of the Free Republics that warned the governor -- and most other governors in the nation -- to resign his seat or "be removed."

"We needed to act quickly," said Lynn Hettrick, Gov. Jim Gibbons' deputy chief of staff. "The rocks will sit there for now while we decide what to do next. We will play it by ear for now."

In addition to the boulders, designed to keep vehicles away from the Capitol grounds, a metal detector was also installed at the Capitol's main entrance. All side entrances were closed, and now all Capitol employees and visitors must enter and exit through the front doors.

No other governor took a similar reaction to the letter, according to news accounts. And the scare that moved Gibbons to order new precautions hasn't spread to the nearby Supreme Court, the Legislative Building and the attorney general's office .

Armed police officers sit at desks near the entrance of these buildings, but there is no requirement that visitors go past metal detectors to enter them.

Gibbons' move has been criticized by some longtime capital city workers as overreacting in an attempt to get free publicity for his re-election campaign, but visitors to the historic Capitol had no problems with the added safety precautions.

Former state Archivist Guy Rocha said Gibbons' response exceeded the threat the letter represented.

"They reacted with a fortress, under siege mentality," he said. "We used to take pride that in Carson City, we weren't like Washington or Sacramento. You could go right in the Capitol, visit the constitutional officers' offices. We weren't like the big states. That era has come and gone."

He said past Nevada governors did not become as fearful as Gibbons after domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh detonated explosives that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995 or following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., which killed 3,000 people.

Right after 9/11, Gov. Kenny Guinn ordered the Nevada Highway Patrol to park patrol cars in front of the Capitol and its entrances. The cars were removed within a couple of days.

Rocha said Gibbons has a history of overreacting to the potential of violence that began when he insisted on being sworn into office at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2007, in his home in Reno, rather than waiting for the 11 a.m. inauguration at the Capitol.

Gibbons at the time issued a statement that state agencies "know of no credible threat," but world events at the time raised the potential for problems.

One longtime state employee said Capitol employees initially supported Gibbons for the heightened security.

But because other states did not take similar steps and the FBI checked out the Guardians of the Free Republics, he said now it looks like overreaction.

"It seems like another method by Gibbons to get his name in the papers," said the employee, who requested anonymity. "He doesn't have to raise money for his campaign. He gets free exposure in the media."

Recent visitors to the Capitol were appreciative of the heightened security.

"I feel more comfortable because of the metal detectors," said Norma Webber, of Sparks. "A lot of people complain about the security when you fly on airliners. But it is done to protect us."

John Williams and his adult daughter, Frances, both of Carthage, Texas, were not at all upset by the Nevada Capitol security measures.

"It is like this at most government offices that I have been to," Williams said. "In this day and age, it is important to protect the government."

Frances Williams said she used to live in California, and every government building she knows of had metal detectors at entrances.

In the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas -- where the governor has an office -- police greet visitors at the main entrance. A couple of additional police cars have been parked near the building. Barriers were erected years ago to prevent people from driving into the front of the building.

Gibbons always travels with a dignitary protection officer, who is a member of the Nevada Highway Patrol.

The FBI warned police that the letters the Guardians of the Free Republics sent to at least 30 governors could promote violence but arrested no members of the organization.

The group claims Congress in 1871 made the United States into a corporation and set a March 31, 2010, deadline to "restore America" to its rightful republican form of government.

Despite the group's call to remove governors -- none of whom resigned -- the FBI did not accuse the Guardians of violent motives but said other individuals might interpret the letters as a call to justify violence against government.

The group calls itself a "peaceful and non-violent" organization.

Hettrick does not rule out that the administration might remove the boulders and metal detector.

Police cars initially were parked in front of two sidewalk entrances to the Capitol where boulders were not placed. One police car had been removed by the middle of last week.

In the rear of the Capitol, a gate has been erected along the road that leads to the rear parking lot where Gibbons, his staff and top constitutional officers park their cars. But that gate was planned long before the letter was received from the anti-government group, Hettrick said.

Without the gate and boulders, he said, someone could drive a pickup full of explosives to the walls of the Capitol, as McVeigh did in Oklahoma City.

"No one expected Oklahoma City," Hettrick said. "We will err on the side of caution."

Nevada is the 21st state that has installed metal detectors and screening devices at its Capitol entrance, according to a new National Conference of State Legislatures' study.

Six states declined to participate in the study, and the legislators group requested that no information be given about the specific security measures states use.

But the study found most states still only use armed police officers to scrutinize people who walk into their capitols.

Nevada is one of a handful of states where the Legislature is housed in a separate building from the Capitol. The Legislative Building was constructed 100 yards south of the Capitol before the 1971 session.

Lorne Malkiewich, administrator of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, said a metal detector was bought for the building several years ago, but it never has been used. Before each session, legislative leaders discuss whether to put up the metal detector, and Malkiewich imagines the time will come when visitors will be required to go through a metal detector .

For now, legislators rely on legislative police to eyeball visitors. Many of the police are retired detectives and homicide officers from Los Angeles and other major cities.

The attorney general's office has not taken any additional precautions since the letter was sent to Gibbons, spokeswoman Edie Cartwright said.

As in the Legislature, a police officer sits at a desk near the entry of the attorney general's office.

Other state buildings, such as the Richard Bryan Building, don't even have a visible presence of police.

Malkiewich said that in the mid-1990s, a Carson City cabdriver attempting to commit suicide drove his car up the sidewalk leading to the Legislative Building and broke front windows.

In response, legislative workers erected concrete planters, a granite pillar and a clock along the sidewalks. They prevent drivers from making a straight run at the building.

If the administration decides to continue to maintain its security measures, Hettrick said he hopes that the boulders can be replaced with something that looks better.

The front of the attorney general's office has a unique barrier -- a horse watering trough erected in 1909 by a humane organization -- that prevents drivers from taking a straight run at the building.

The Supreme Court for several years has required people who walk into its courtroom while justices are meeting to pass by a metal detector, but you can walk into the building and court clerk's office unobstructed.

Hettrick maintained the metal detector has not caused any problems to staff and visitors to the Capitol.

"Most people expect it," Hettrick said. "It takes just a few seconds."

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.