Does UNR really need your rebate check?

The University of Nevada, Reno's campaign to raise money from residents' rebate checks is a rather cheeky gambit for an institution already getting its share of $1.1 billion in state tax dollars for the statewide university and college system.

We'll just file it under "It never hurts to ask."

On the other hand, there are quite a few organizations who don't have the PR muscle of the state's second-biggest university and who would probably appreciate the $75 or so you'll get back from the Department of Motor Vehicles just as much, if not more, than UNR.

We're thinking of places like the Boys & Girls Club, Carson Advocates for Cancer Victims, CASA, Meals on Wheels, the Children's Museum, FISH, Advocates to End Domestic Violence, Boy and Girl Scouts and the collection plate at your church, to name just a few.

So on behalf of all the charities that didn't feel like they got shorted $25 million by the Legislature, we urge anybody thinking of donating their rebate check to consider the little guys.

Most people, though, apparently believe charity begins at home. In a decidedly unscientific poll of 321 readers on nevadaappeal.com, 45 percent said they were going to use their rebate checks to pay bills. Another 23 percent said theirs would go into a savings account.

Just 1.86 percent (six people) said they plan to donate their DMV rebate. That's not going to make much of a dent in anybody's deficit.

If you should feel the urge to give your rebate back to the state, we have another suggestion.

Perhaps there could be a collection fund for a new Kinkead Building - you know, the state offices in Carson City that might collapse in the next earthquake.

Gov. Kenny Guinn recommended building a replacement. Instead, the Legislature decided the money should go toward construction of a building ... umm, where was it?

Oh, yes. The UNR campus.