Nevadans share their memories as Harry Reid retires after lengthy political career

As Senator Harry Reid retires from Washington, eight stories were put together to highlight a career that spans decades.

Here is one of them, and to read the rest, visit the Las Vegas Sun story.

Hometown is bracing to lose its greatest champion

When this tiny desert town’s most famous former resident visited in recent years, he sat in the same corner booth at Terrible’s Road House while his entourage of black sport-utility vehicles lined the parking lot.

“It was impressive for Searchlight,” said Pat Milliren, a cashier at the casino off U.S. Highway 95, about an hour south of Las Vegas.

Sen. Harry Reid grew up here and put Searchlight on the national radar. The 77-year-old politician has frequently referenced his hometown throughout his more than three decades representing the Silver State in the nation’s capital.

Searchlight, in return, has embraced its homegrown power player: His portrait greets visitors inside the town’s community center. His biography hangs in the museum down the hall. And the elementary school bears his name. On a new welcome sign, organizers wanted to add a line saying “Home of Harry Reid,” but local historian Jane Bunker Overy said that’s where the senator drew the line.

In a sense, Searchlight lost its champion more than two years ago, when Reid sold his home there to a gold-mining company. He and his wife, Landra, now own a home in the Anthem area of Henderson, though it doesn’t seem like the senator has lost any affection for his hometown.

“It’s a long way from Searchlight to the United States Senate,” Reid said during his farewell address on the Senate floor.

Come Jan. 3, when the 115th Congress convenes, Searchlight won’t have one of its own just a phone call away in Washington, D.C.

“I’m sure we won’t get mentioned like we did on occasion,” Milliren said. “That was kind of nice.”

Read the Original Story here ->