Both the Las Vegas Sun and ABC News Channel 3 in Nevada are running reports that the Nevada Cancer Institute will be opening offices in Elko and Fallon this week to help provide outreach, education and support to the projected 11,000 Nevadans who will be diagnosed with cancer this year. According to the reporting, Susan Robinson, Nevada Cancer Institute associate director of outreach and education, said the offices will help make sure cancer patients and their families have access to the latest in cancer information, prevention, education, detection and treatment options. End of story.

Sounds nice that they are doing this for the communities of Elko and Fallon, doesn't it? However, the reporters on this story have either missed the real story of the story, or they are simply not reporting the most significant part of the story. Fallon is considered one of the more famous cancer clusters. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, classifies a location as a cancer cluster when a greater-than-expected number of cancer cases occur within a group of people in a geographic area over a period of time. So, are they setting up shop to service the higher-than-normal incidence of cancer cases experienced in a cancer cluster -- or are they there to collect data on cancer patients living in a cancer cluster -- or are they there to put out fires -- or all three. I know -- how cynical of me. Maybe it's nothing at all. But why, in the reporting of this news story, was the story left out? Trust me, I will be paying attention. My family once lived in Fallon.