Them on Us: Birds and planes; WYDOT tolls

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

By Jake Nichols

Flying high, could be grounded
Jackson Hole, Wyo.-The battle for the renewal of the lease for the Jackson Hole Airport to continue to operate within Grand Teton National Park is likely to play out in various publications. The airport’s current lease runs through 2033.

Depending on the outlet, we found numerous quotes from Franz Camenzind on the merits of delaying the lease renewal for an environmental-impact statement. Or this statement by the Park Service found in Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association online: “The Jackson Hole Airport is the most important airport in Wyoming, accounting for more than 30 percent of all aviation-related jobs in the state, 40 percent of total annual expenditures of the state’s general aviation visitors, and almost 75 percent of scheduled passenger enplanements.”
The public comment period ended on June 15.

Was grounded, now flying high
The bald eagle found shot and wounded by Game & Fish in Idaho has been released back into the wild near Rexburg. It flew off just fine but not before visiting Wyoming and Colorado for care.

The eagle was nursed back to health at the Teton Raptor Center in Jackson Hole. It was then trucked down to the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program facility in Fort Collins, Colo., where it was re-taught how to fly.
The sentimental story, with video footage, was aired by Denver-based Fox affiliate KDVR TV-31.

Banking crash foretold
He told us so … and we didn’t listen.

Raghuram Rajan, professor of finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, spoke at what the Dow Jones Financial News Online called the “now-infamous 2005 meeting of economists in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.”

It was back then, with the world economy soaring, that Rajan boldly asserted that financial innovation and skewed incentives had made the world riskier and further warned that potential damage could be caused by the asset-backed securities that banks were holding. Back then, the Wall Street Journal quoted Rajan as saying: “The interbank market could freeze up, and one could well have a full-blown financial crisis.”

He was roundly jeered by his peers then. And then the sky did fall.

Jackson Hole Saab story
With insolvent Saab looking for a buyer, Merbanco is stepping up to the plate with an offer. The Jackson-based investment group is headed by Christopher Johnston. Johnston has been a valley resident for more than a decade, and has served on the Teton County School Board and the Teton County Recreation District Board. His father founded Agco, one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of agricultural equipment, including Massey Ferguson tractors.

Fellow Jackson resident Thomas H. Wyman once served as a director of General Motors. Saab is a Swedish unit of bankrupt General Motors Corp. The story ran in the Casper Star-Tribune.

Road trip mementos
Webster-Kirkwood Times columnist and publisher Dwight Bitikofer chronicled his recent road trip to Jackson from his paper’s hometown in St. Louis. We were braced for the usual ‘Tetons, bison, cowboy flare’ business but were surprised when Bitikofer touched on the highlights of his visit: Drinking beer with a News & Guide reporter and meeting a truck driver from Riverton.

Bitikofer might be easily amused but it turns out he has ties to the NAG scribe. “I sipped a beer with a former Times writer, Kevin Huelsmann, now a full time reporter with the Jackson Hole Daily,” he wrote.

Toll booths on I-80?
WYDOT is tired of giving interstate truck drivers a free pass through Wyoming. All this week, “open house” meetings are being sponsored by WYDOT to promote a proposal that would add tolls along the 400 miles of Interstate 80 that pass through the state.

WYDOT estimates 80 percent of the travel on I-80 is traffic just passing through. The proposed toll would be $116 for trucks and $10 per passenger vehicle. With 12,920 vehicles per day travelling the Wyoming’s only interstate, WYDOT hopes to generate $147 million annually.

We read the scoop in www.TheNewspaper.com – a journal of the politics of driving. JHW

COURTESY PHOTO
Toll Booth

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Them on Us: Birds and planes; WYDOT tolls | Planet JH News Article: General News

Reader Comments
We don't need parking meters or toll roads. It's just another example of government reaching into your pockets when it should be looking for ways to cut spending. I know for a fact that WYDOT pays employees for not working, pays them overtime when they don't even work 40 hours, pays them to sleep on the job, and has more employees standing around doing nothing than any other employer in the state. This is an organization that can not be trusted to spend money wisely. eyeson jackson
Awesome...let Chris Johnston drive yet another company into the ground. If he can't handle a small real estate company, what on earth makes him think he can do something with Saab. Frigtard. steve
Chris Johnston didn't drive REJH into the ground, the economy did. Simply bad timing. As for Saab, it may be another matter of bad timing; nonetheless, a Saab deal is a possible investment vehicle to sell at a later date----same idea didn't work too well for Cerberus but then again, none was too good at predicting the meltdown. Buy low is usually a good investment practice--now may be the right time. eyeson jackson
Eyes: OPEN your eyes. You have no idea of what you're talking about. Chris Johnston is an arrogant jerk. He almost single-handedly tanked REJH, which threw many good people out of work and left at least three banks in town with millions in unpaid debt. Ask anyone who was there at REJH, especially the original partners. He talked a big game, spent a lot of (borrowed) money, but it all came unravelled in a hurry, yes, eventually accelerated by a tanked real estate market. But don't be fooled. He's the last one to be trusted to lead a group trying to save any concern, let alone a car company in a bad economy. Anonyholic II
REJH would have done just fine had the economy not tanked. Could CJ have done things differently? Sure! Were folks hurt? Sure! Just because REJH failed doesn't mean a Saab investment will fail due to his involvement. REJH's failure was an unfortunate bit of bad timing along with wishful thinking. If you really want to open my eyes, give us an example of the mismanagement that drove the company into the ground in a way that all of us could clearly see as irresponsible at the time of execution. .....Saab may fail simply due to the lack of interest in its products. As it stands, you and I already own a car company. I'd rather have the private sector pay up than Uncle Sam. eyeson jackson
Eyesonjackson you obviously have a friendship with the loser...he drove the company into the ground by buying buildings and espresso machines...he was greedy Period... what other Real Estate companies bonked?? Can you name some ? And this is the third time he's done this. Spanky
I agree with Spanky. Chris Johnston did and still does very seedy things in Jackson Hole. People that don't even enjoy the flavors of Jackson Hole should just stay in the city and ruin things there. Creed

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Them on Us: Birds and planes; WYDOT tolls

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Reader Comments