About 25 years ago I had the honor of serving as the first chair of the Nevada CRAPS - Commitee to Revere And Preserve Symbols. I had forgotten what important work we had done till I recently uncovered the minutes of our final meeting. I thought I would share them with the world.
The CRAPS was charged with the task of designating various Nevada state symbols - state bird, state flower, etc. One weekend, while on a retreat at a member's family ranch in the shadow of Mt. Lassen, here's what we came up with (some of these will no doubt date me):
State flag - a pair of dice and three cherries on green felt
State fossil - Floyd Lamb
State diva - Liberace
State animal - leech
State baseball player - Oscar Gamble; Norm Cash (a tie)
State singer - Johnny Cash; Eddie Money (a tie)
State hockey player - Wayne Cashman
State clergyman - Jaime Cardinal Sin, former Archbishop of Manila
State gem - sequin
State attire - polyester leisure suit
State material - plastic
State bird - raised middle finger
State insect - Bugsy Siegel
State personality - Wayne Newton
State song - "Fools Rush In"; "The Gambler" (a tie)
State fish - sucker
State seal - the familiar marine mammal
State reptile - lounge lizard
State motto - 'Bettor Built"
State food - 99-cent breakfast
State rock - lovestone (as in "Just another f**cking rock")
State mineral - leaverite (as in "What kind of mineral is that?" "Leaverite - leave 'er right there")
State vehicle - tour bus
State joke - the legislature; Board of Regents (a tie)
State drink - 50-cent well drink
State legal tender - drink toke
State sport - Casino decathlon: handle pull; dice throw; keno running; card counting; dealing; keno writing; streetwalking; bar hopping; buffet plate filling; 50-meter stagger.
We also recognized a "State fruit" and "State vegetable", but I will defer in the interests of political correctness, except to say that the latter was a certain nondescript U.S. senator whose tenure is best forgotten.
Maybe I'll resurrect the committee and see if we can update these.
"If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten." -- George Carlin
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