Them on Us: Great Greys; GTNP Ranger; Gerry Spence

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyoming - The Denver Post discovered the Greys River. Alpine residents may be lining up to show appreciation or apprehension after the voice of Colorado declared the Greys River drainage to be western Wyoming’s best kept fly fishing secret.

“It may not play as well for bragging rights back at the home fly shop, but a quick turn south at Alpine Junction leads to an experience perhaps unmatched in the Rocky Mountain West,” Post pen Charlie Meyers wrote.

Game & Fish super Rob Gibson said the unique attraction is really the access to the river. Fully 50 miles of blue-ribbon trout stream is easily accessible from a road that runs alongside the river. Gibson also noted the isolation of the Greys, making it a smart choice to beat the crowds. But will the story ruin that?

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Writers recognize good writing. Whether one agrees or not with the content, the politically and emotionally charged issue at the core, a reader can’t help being affected in some way by Franz Camenzind’s editorial in the Denver Post. The May 20 guest commentary was predictable, coming from the executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, but it was written with a passion all professional journalists aspire to and all readers can appreciate.


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Grand Teton National Park Ranger Jessica Ryan has a few fans in Portland, Ore. Christopher Broderick, writing for The Oregonian, admitted he and his family had overlooked GTNP during their annual visits here, opting instead to spend most of their vacation in Yellowstone. “What a mistake,” Broderick wrote.
Ryan took the family on a boat ride across Jenny Lake and a hike up to Inspiration Point. The three Broderick daughters never forgot her, pestering dad with “when are we going to see Jess again?” questions all year.


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Newspapers throughout the middle and eastern portions of Wyoming were all abuzz with weather-related gloom and doom last week. In the Powell-Cody area, sugar beet growers are concerned with the cool spring temperatures. Not good for crops. In Kaycee, they’re sandbagging along the banks of the Middle Fork (Powder River) for fear of downtown flooding. And tornadoes were the topic amongst residents in the southeast as twisters swept through Burns and Laramie last week.


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Trial lawyer extraordinaire Gerry Spence has a Detroit courtroom in stitches. Spence is defending lawyer Geoffrey Fieger in a high profile case in the Motor City and garnering rave reviews along with frequent laughs.

When U.S. District Judge Paul Borman asked if anyone wanted the ceiling blowers turned on, Spence blurted, “Mr. Fiegler’s already here,” eliciting cackles from the gallery. Later, Fiegler coached Spence along during his own testimonial as a witness, prompting the judge to ask, who was the lawyer and who was the witness. Spence shrugged his shoulders to even more guffaws.


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A hilarious piece by Joel Stein caught our eye. “Confessions of a Lobbyist” ran in Time Magazine on May 22. We were so busy laughing we almost missed the bit about Wyoming.

Excerpt: “I then met with Flip McConnaughey, chief of staff for Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi. I remembered from my training with Republicans, I was supposed to stress crime prevention. McConnaughey said Wyoming didn’t have a big gang problem. I told him it was possible that L.A. gangs could get wind of that market vacuum and send kids to carjack around Jackson Hole from three to six. ‘You should stick to magazine work,’ he told me.”

But wait! This was the lead in a TV news piece airing on Denver’s CBS4 last week: “Police in Jackson say they’ve busted an auto burglary ring.” Jackson police tied more than 30 auto burglaries since the beginning of April to the same group, er, gang of juveniles.
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Them on Us: Great Greys; GTNP Ranger; Gerry Spence | Planet JH News Article: General News

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