Word: ranchos
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...nominated for a National Book Award, and McGuane became, in the words of ^ Saul Bellow, "a kind of language star." Critics compared the 34-year-old author to Faulkner, Hemingway, Chekov and Camus. The big time -- and Tinseltown -- beckoned. McGuane became a celluloid hotshot, penning scripts for Rancho Deluxe and Tom Horn among other movies. In exchange for writing 1976's The Missouri Breaks, which starred Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, he was given the chance to direct the screen version of Ninety...
...never spoken with such indubitable authority as Sacramento voters did last week. They became the first ever to vote, by a solid 53.4%, to shut down a functioning nuclear power plant. The decision, in a special referendum, put an end to the operations of the 15-year-old Rancho Seco facility owned by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Within twelve hours after the polls closed, SMUD directors, who had pledged in advance to abide by the decision, had started shutting down the plant 25 miles southeast of California's capital city...
...against the start of Seabrook's low-power tests (734 were arrested) on the very weekend before the Sacramento vote. By its effectiveness alone, the referendum became the most potent demonstration ever against nuclear power. What made it more potent still was the unusual nature of the campaign against Rancho Seco...
...previous tests -- 14 referendums in ten states in the past 13 years -- debate turned primarily on purported threats to the safety of both people and the environment. Rancho Seco opponents, however, directly attacked the idea that has helped the nuclear industry win all earlier elections: the proposition that nuclear power is cheaper than conventional power. The Sacramento plant produced only 40% as much electricity as expected, and its output cost twice as much as that bought on the conventional market. One result was a doubling of electricity rates. Said Bob Mulholland, who headed the campaign to close Rancho Seco...
After most of the golden oldsters have departed, the handful of permanent residents settle down for the summer heat. "This is one of the hottest places in the States," says Johnny Braswell, owner of La Casa Del Rancho restaurant, "but you learn to live with it." Braswell and his wife Betty have lived here for 17 years and raised six kids, packing them off to school in nearby towns. In a community where no one is in charge, Braswell takes it upon himself to maintain the big Q sign on Q mountain. "A while ago, I filled my pickup with...