Them on Us: Odd men down; stump speech; Hole freezes over

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Last weekend’s annual Jackalope Festival, held in Douglas, Wyo., made the “Odd News” section of Yahoo!. It seems a celebration of antlered rabbits is no longer considered odd by national news standards. It was the “Dunk-a-Democrat” booth that piqued the interest of Yahoo web news gatherers. House hopeful Gary Trauner led a contingency of Dems that aspire to federal office and volunteered to get wet over it.
At five bucks a toss, the Converse County Democratic Party looks to better last year’s take of $400, but don’t expect much help from Republicans, who outnumber them 4-to-1 in the county. In fact, State Rep. Dave Edwards, a Republican, said he might watch but would not step up to give it a shot. “That would be me contributing to their campaign,” he smartly told AP reporters.

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Democrats are stirring here at home. In the Casper Star-Tribune we read about Obama-backer Willie Neal and his planned trip to the national convention in Denver this summer. Neal, 18, is one of three teenagers from the state who will make the trip. The eight-time state cross-country skiing champion has also recently stumped for a ‘no idling’ ordinance in Jackson.

At the State Democratic Convention held on May 23 in Jackson, more than 300 gathered to hear speeches. It was the one from Wilson resident Bill Broyles that had them buzzing. Some delegates called it the best speech they ever heard, according to the Jackson Hole News and Guide. Broyles, a former news editor, is now a screenwriter. His movies include “Apollo 13” and “Castaway.”

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Fish if you dare. Last Saturday was Free Fishing Day in Wyoming. We got the news from TV and radio throughout the state – it’s not like we saw anybody attempting it around here. Both residents and out-of-staters could wet their line for free and without a license in all of theWyoming waterways, with the exception of those in Yellowstone NP. But in the Hole, nasty spring conditions made fishing all but impossible. Moving water is raging and cloudy. Still water, in great part, remains partially frozen. Even Westbank Anglers’ daily radio report has been delayed until it’s safe to float the Snake or wade into the Greys.
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The bridges of Madison County are in jeopardy over the rising waters of the Snake River. With news that the Bureau of Reclamation would be releasing flows from Jackson Lake two weeks earlier than normal, officials downriver are watching Twin Bridges just south of Rexburg, Idaho. The Snake has decided to run through the north channel there for the first time since 1997, causing worry over the bridge and other potential flooding.
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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is a big deal in China. Newspapers in Xinhua were reporting on his whereabouts in Jackson Hole over the weekend. Ban helped open the first-ever Global Insight Summit, a joint effort by the United Nations and the Jackson Hole Film Institute to work with the entertainment community to highlight critical international concerns.

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We did a triple-take at the Associated Press’ “Nation’s Weather” roundup on June 7. While shivering through numerous snow squalls last Saturday, we read later that it was all apparently a bad dream. Maybe we were in the wrong spot.

“Temperatures in the Lower 48 states on Friday ranged from a low of 21 degrees at Copper Mountain, Colo., to a high of 111 degrees at Jackson, Wyo.,” read the report. Perhaps someone was reading the rain gauge instead of the thermometer.

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A Laramie-based environmental group rated oil and gas companies operating in Wyoming on their environmental performance. CNN Money ran the news that the report ranked BP America as “best” and Encana Corp. as “worst.” Biodiversity Conservation Alliance rated Encana as having the worst environmental practices “due to their abysmal track record in Wyoming.” Encana took flack mainly because of its dense drilling in Jonah Field in southwest Wyoming.
EnCana spokesman Randy Teeuwen said his company has pioneered various environmentally friendly techniques in Jonah Field, including the use of wood mats that allow vegetation to recover more quickly and flareless completions that reduce venting of pollutants.
BP was lauded mostly for their extensive use of directional drilling. Directional drilling involves drilling multiple wells from a single pad at angles instead of straight down.
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Them on Us: Odd men down; stump speech; Hole freezes over | Planet JH News Article: General News

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