Them on Us: Bison hunt; rich teachers; expensive homes

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

By Jake Nichols

Film crews from the British Broadcasting Corp. were in Powell, Wyo., last week shooting Don Eden pulling weeds out of an irrigation ditch. It hardly sounds thrilling, but BBC producer Matt Hill said, “I really enjoy coming here. It feels like the real United States here.” The documentary will look at the role Powell founder and western legend John Wesley Powell played in the opening of the American West. It is scheduled to air on PBS in London this October.
                                                      •
Teton County isn’t the only county in Wyoming to be slammed by wild increases in property taxes. The Casper Star-Tribune headline on Sunday said it all: “People are mad.” Bill Doenz of Sheridan County is one of the many trying to organize residential property owners who are ready to march on lawmakers in Cheyenne.

“People in western Wyoming particularly are hopping mad and ready to go, and they want to organize. We want to have a county committee in every county in the state,” Doenz said.

Without caps, county property assessments have caused dramatic increases in property tax for many Wyoming residents. In Natrona County, assessments are up 20 percent. In Sheridan County, it’s more like 30 to 40 percent. Here at home in Teton County, some residents were dinged with higher than 80 percent increases.

                                                      •

What a difference a century makes.
Them on Us editors have managed to obtain original transcripts from KNBA’s “News from Indian Country” radio program, which have not failed to cause us significant alarm.
According to the report, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has granted two Idaho tribes permission to hunt for bison on the National Elk Refuge at any time of the year in 2008. The Shoshone-Bannock tribes on the Fort Hall Reservation near Pocatello, Idaho, will be allowed to take five bison of either sex and of any age as part of the tribe’s religious ceremonies.

Hunting whatever and whenever got natives in trouble around here back in 1895. Shoshone and Bannock hunting parties were confronted at Battle Mountain that summer. Shots were fired, killing one Indian.

                                                      •

They’re still searching for Molly B. in Great Falls, Mont. Tribune business editor Jo Dee Black penned the saga of the infamous heifer that escaped Mickey’s Packing Plant and rumbled through the streets of Great Falls a few years back. The cow was eventually corralled and allowed to live out her life on the feed lot there.

Mickey’s, however, was recently shut down by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Inspection and Safety Service. The yard is chained shut and there is no sign of Molly B. Tracking down the heifer, who has had songs written about her in Great Falls, led the story’s reporter to Jackson Hole.

The packing plant is owned by Jackson’s Paradise Valley Meats. They also seem to have gone AWOL. The website is down and calls to the office do not go through. Paradise Valley Meats provides many of Jackson’s top eateries with beef. It is feared by Montanans that Molly B. may be on somebody’s plate right now in a Jackson restaurant.

                                                      •

Chugach is an adventure tourism business based in Girdwood, Alaska, featuring skiing, rafting and fishing. The company’s founder, Mike Overcast, recently announced his intention to merge with Sun Valley Heli-Ski Guides of Sun Valley, Idaho, and create a one-stop outdoor adventure firm in Jackson Hole called Epic.

The company will offer international fishing expeditions, exclusive private lodges in Africa with safaris, mountain biking, fishing and equestrian activities. A water-sports program is being developed in Hawaii and biking treks will also be offered around the world.

Joining the Epic team are ski legend Tommy Moe and one of the co-founders of Teton Gravity Research, Dirk Collins.

                                                      •

Local News 8 in Idaho Falls is reporting teachers in their state are leaving Idaho for more lucrative jobs in Wyoming. Dozens have already left their posts at public schools in the Gem State. “Wyoming’s economy is humming because of natural resource production,” TV anchors said. The average teacher pay in Wyoming last year jumped from $40,000 a year to more than $53,500. The average teacher pay in Idaho still remains at just over $40,000.”
PERMALINK:
Them on Us: Bison hunt; rich teachers; expensive homes | Planet JH News Article: General News

Leave a Comment