Planet JH 1.25.17

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JACKSON HOLE’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE | PLANETJH.COM | JANUARY 25-31, 2017

GUARDIANS OF

PLACE How people across Wyoming have mobilized to create a stalwart network of public land protectors.


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2 | JANUARY 25, 2017

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JACKSON HOLE'S ALTERNATIVE VOICE

VOLUME 15 | ISSUE 3 | JANUARY 25-31, 2017

15 COVER STORY GUARDIANS OF PLACE How people across Wyoming have mobilized to create a stalwart network of public land protectors. Cover photo by Robyn Vincent

4 THE NEW WEST

20 MUSIC BOX

5 DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

22 IN MEMORY

6 THE BUZZ

24 FEAST 31 SATIRE

10 THE BUZZ 3

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Chambers, Aaron Davis, Carol Mann, Traci McClintic, Chuck Shepherd, Shannon Sollitt, Tom Tomorrow, Tom Wilkinson, Jim Woodmencey, Baynard Woods

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January 25-31, 2017 By Meteorologist Jim Woodmencey With a week to go in the month, we have already had over two feet of snow and around 2.50 inches of water in that snow in January 2017. This will certainly not be the snowiest January ever, that distinction is still held by January of 1969 when 56 inches of snow fell in Jackson that month. Other big January snowfalls in recent memory were: 44 inches in January of 2008 and 40 inches in January of 2009.

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Average overnight low temperatures this week are in the single digits, which means we could be much warmer or much colder than that “average” temperature. I imagine that is exactly what will occur; with above zero readings to start this week, and some below zero readings to end the week. The record low temperature this week is 44-degrees below zero and that was set back on January 25th, 1949. That is a sixty-eight year old cold record.

We actually got above freezing in town this past Sunday afternoon, with a high in of 33-degrees. That is the first time the afternoon high temperature has been above freezing in almost two weeks. Last time the high was above freezing was January 9th, 2017. The record high temperature this week dates back even further than the low temperature record. On January 29th, 1925 the afternoon high temperature was 55-degrees. That is a ninety-two year old record, and very hot for January.

NORMAL HIGH 28 NORMAL LOW 5 RECORD HIGH IN 1925 55 RECORD LOW IN 1949 -44

THIS MONTH AVERAGE PRECIPITATION: 1.5 inches RECORD PRECIPITATION: 4.9 inches (1969) AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 19 inches RECORD SNOWFALL: 56 inches (1969)

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Jim has been forecasting the weather here for more than 20 years. You can find more Jackson Hole Weather information at www.mountainweather.com

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JH ALMANAC


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4 | JANUARY 25, 2017

Roaming for Truth Filmmaker Ken Burns talks American prairie, writer David McCullough and war in Vietnam. BY TODD WILKINSON

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hen I asked Ken Burns what he thought of our new post-ethics, post-truth, fake-news world, in which distortion of reality is openly promoted and condoned, the renowned documentary filmmaker responded with incredulity. “I would say it’s terrifying. Orwellian. I’m interested in facts, period. If people aren’t interested in facts, god help them.” Few people in this country are better versed in the facts of American history and bringing them to life than Burns. From his groundbreaking exploration of the bloody war between the states to subsequent deep dives into baseball, the West, Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark, Jazz, the national parks, Prohibition, cancer and WWII, among others, Burns has proved himself to be an incisive storyteller. Burns and I chatted on the phone Monday, hours before the American Prairie Reserve announced that one of the country’s foremost historians—David McCullough—would be receiving a new award that bears Burns’ name. Later this spring in New York City, McCullough will formally accept the first-ever Ken Burns American Heritage Prize, yet another accolade for a writer who has already won a Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. McCullough and Burns are dear friends who stand in awe of each other. McCullough famously narrated Burns’ signature masterwork, The Civil War, in 1990. This fall, Burns’ latest epic, a 10-part series co-produced with Lynn Novick called The Vietnam War will air on PBS. Before we got into discussing that project, our focus was on McCullough and the American Prairie Reserve. Burns became a fan of APR’s ambitious efforts because, as he was making documentaries about historical events in our region, he fell in love with the West. “It is a geography of extraordinary imagination, a geography of hope, a geography of mythology that is, at times, a distracting mythology that doesn’t quite really fit with the model of life,” he said.

“But mostly the West is a geography of beauty and an immensity of space. You begin to realize, in front of nature, your own insignificance which is paradoxically inspiriting.” APR has a goal of protecting three million contiguous acres of the northern Great Plains—about 5,000 square miles of terrain in east-central Montana—that straddles the Upper Missouri River. Steadily, the architects of APR are making progress toward creating a preserve, eventually equal to the combined area of Yellowstone and Glacier national parks that will be home to every major plains species that was there before Europeans arrived on the continent. “American Prairie Reserve is grateful to collaborate with both Ken Burns and David McCullough at this inflection point in our journey to return an entire grassland ecosystem to its original vibrancy,” Sean Gerrity, president of the novel conservation initiative said in a statement. “Together we honor the struggles and successes of those men and women who continue to shape America’s character — all against the backdrop of our natural heritage. Just as Ken’s National Parks series demonstrates, this land should be open and accessible to the people forever. That’s our goal. And David’s work helps us understand that ordinary Americans are capable of extraordinary acts of courage and conviction — something we see every day as we work alongside our supporters and volunteers to preserve the fastest- disappearing ecosystem on the planet.” McCullough is an extraordinary writer able to tap into the essence of the American experience, Burns said. “Through a variety of seemingly diverse topics, from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Panama Canal to the Johnstown flood to investigating the lives of remarkable individuals like John Adams and Harry Truman, and now the Wright Brothers, he’s been devoted to finding the things that unite us. He doesn’t sanitize or whitewash a story but paints it in all its complexity. He understands that in order to understand light, there has to be shadow; to understand the dawn, you have to understand there’s night.” When Burns ponders the big picture being assembled, he reflects on how the West, documented by landscape painters during the 19th century left behind visual reference points, some of which he used in his films. “I know what it is to be inspired by the frame of a place and what it’s like to dive into a photograph and try to open it up and give it a dimension that it actually doesn’t have. It is all an illusion. That’s been my work, waking the dead, and one is humbled by it. It leads you to places where you submit, in the best sense of the word, to larger forces,” he said.

AMERICAN PRAIRE RESERVE

THE NEW WEST

The American prairie, he says, is one where time is fluid. “You understand the immensity of the sky there and imagine what it might have been without fence posts and divisions of property. You imagine herds of buffalo stretching to the horizon, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, moving across the plain. And you grasp the sense of majesty that doesn’t intrude in any way on your ability to see what’s still possible.” Burns invoked one of McCullough’s favorite quotes that he, in turn, extracted from research into Harry Truman. “Truman said ‘the only thing that’s really new is the history of what we don’t know,’” Burns explained. “In a way, we sort of think of the past as being fixed and we conceive of the future as being sort of unknown. But in fact it’s malleable. There’s new information and new perspectives we unearth and there are new people we include in the stories we tell. What’s so great about history is that each generation enlarges it.” I asked Burns about Thomas Jefferson’s ideal of the yeoman farmer and people seeking their destiny in the West. He spoke to the myth of the endless frontier. “I think Jefferson envisioned a continental United States and a canvass that he said would take 100 generations to fill up,” Burns said. “Well, as soon as Lewis & Clark charted it, it was barely five generations later when, in 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner is lamenting ‘the end’ of the frontier. We tamed that environment relatively quickly. Manifest Destiny brought about our spreading out across the continent and then there was this realization that, yikes, we ran out of places to explore, purchase, and conquer.” Biological diversity in a landscape, he notes, is as inspiring as the kind forming the dynamic social fabric of our country. He believes in the power of places to pull people together. “It doesn’t matter who you are. Landscape moves all of us. We have longstanding institutions and longstanding relationships galvanized by places of common interest that shape our national identity.” Such places are touchstones in the midst of tumultuous division, he said. “Let’s remember that the dividedness in America today is part of a very pathetic, binary politics—yes versus no, black

or white, good or bad, red or blue, gay or straight, rich or poor, male or female, westerners or easterners, north or south,” he suggested. “It’s all a completely binary thing. What landscape does, by reminding you of your insignificance, is to open your eyes to a third thing—that the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts. Any bit of yes versus no is always mitigated by a much bigger wisdom. Having a sunset on the prairie is all you need to end a heated argument.” Part of Burns’ mission in film is “bringing people to sing the epic verses of our common history together, to remind us of the reasons why we agree to cohere as a people.” He warned against those who deliberately dispense “alternative facts” to mislead or as a way to evade accountability, though he concedes that legitimate variations exist for what differing people perceive to be personal truths. “In war, for example, there’s not one truth; there are many truths. When the fighting starts in any war, truth is the first casualty,” he said. Of his forthcoming documentary on the Vietnam War, a project a decade in the making, he said: “It’s one hell of a story about a war that Americans have not yet come to fully understand. It’s a controversial subject but the film will be controversial only for those who don’t watch it.” Calling it “an ecumenical bracing story,” he was startled by what his research team turned up. “Most of us who lived through Vietnam will find it a complete revelation, gobsmacked maybe because it might be possible to check, or make useless the preconceptions about the war and what was thought to be conventional wisdom. Hopefully it will help start the kind of courageous conversations we haven’t had about Vietnam to help those people who did participate in the most horrible way; which is to say, the soldiers who were up close and doing it, to help liberate them from our indifference.” PJH Todd Wilkinson has been an environmental journalist for 30 years. His work has appeared in publications ranging from National Geographic to The Washington Post. His award-winning column, The New West, appears in The Planet every week and is syndicated via thebullseye.media


DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS The Darkness of Noon What the Trump inauguration may signal for America. BY BAYNARD WOODS MARIE MACHINE PHOTO

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Saturday in Washington D.C. was a stark contrast to the chaos of inauguration day. and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean, hear these words: You will never be ignored again.” The day ends with a burning limousine in the streets, a new symbol of our unity. “Your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.” The guerilla chaos that filled the air like the pepper spray on Friday is washed away the next days as half a million people pour into the the city for the Women’s March on Washington, filled with righteous anger, solidarity, and community. At one point, after the march has officially ended, a barricade blocking off Pennsylvania Avenue, leading towards the White House is knocked down. Marchers make their way to the fence on the other end, where Secret Service agents stand. An African-American woman walks up right beside them. “Whose house? Our House!” she chants, her fist raised in the air. PJH Additional reporting by Brandon Soderber.

Baynard Woods is editor at large for Baltimore City Paper. His work has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times and The Washington Post. He is the author of the book Coffin Point: The Strange Cases of Ed McTeer, Witchdoctor Sheriff, about a white sheriff who used hoodoo to govern a largely black county for 37 years. He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy, focusing on ethics and tyranny and became a reporter in an attempt to live like Socrates.

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JANUARY 25, 2017 | 5

the time I reached them, they too were running, chased by police on cycles—motor and bike—swerving almost as if to mow them down. A protester threw a trash can into the street. It rolled into a motorbike, forcing it to stop. A sign from in front of a store went flying through the air. Other officers came in from the other side. The group— which had allegedly been using Black Bloc tactics of property destruction and the like and, it was announced later, will now likely face felony charges—was cornered. That’s when they went crazy with the pepper spray and the batons—for the first time of the day (earlier, activists had chained themselves together to block a checkpoint into the inauguration and the police had not arrested anyone). “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. January 20 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.” Suddenly, a man appears walking through the crowd, followed by followers and the mood changes, briefly. “I am the president of America,” the man said. He is wearing a boot on his head and he has a long gray beard and Rasputin eyes. “I am also an amateur hostage negotiator.” His name is Vermin Supreme and he actually did run for president, as he has since 2004 (he promised a free pony for every American). A little later, the air again filled with pepper spray and what seemed like a gas, he gets right in front of the police line and squawks out the National Anthem, Jimi Hendrix style, through a bullhorn. Another officer sprays gas into the crowd and “sting ball” grenades sound around the corner, where the heat of the action has moved. Lines of riot police face the protesters, some of whom threw bricks and concrete. “Officers did not deploy tear gas and did deploy pepper spray and other armaments,” D.C.’s Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham told Democracy in Conflict. “A full accounting of the control devices deployed will be made available when we have it.” “The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action.” The same multinational corporations Trump railed against in the campaign, had their windows smashed— Starbucks, Bank of America. “So to all Americans, in every city near and far, small

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

ozens of police officers block off the corner at 12th and Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C. gripping their batons and big canisters of pepper spray, faces obscured behind shields, as nearly 100 activists who had already been arrested are cordoned off behind them, waiting to be processed. Protesters line the other side of the street. More and more arrive, chanting, yelling, “Let them go!” A trial of pink smoke cuts through the air. There is the sound of a sting ball grenade and several officers open up with long orange streams of chemical warfare pepper spray. Many people reported that rubber bullets were also fired. “Because, today … we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.” Earlier, a woman who said she lived in the neighborhood, was standing at the battle lines screaming at both sides, her body wrapped in an American flag, her face burned by pepper spray, now caked with milk of magnesia. “Why are you doing this?” she wailed. “For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished—but the people did not share in its wealth.” Officers run at people holding their billy clubs in both hands at throat level. (Dalton Bennett, a Washington Post reporter was thrown to the ground.) Now they tackle a woman on the street, and use tall Clydesdale horses to menace anyone getting too close to the tackled protester. “The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.” Before the melee began, the streets of D.C. were weirdly empty, a ghost town, nothing like what we had seen in previous years, especially Obama’s record-setting first inauguration. “We’re not seeing big crowds,” said Lacy MacAuley, an organizer for DisruptJ20 (a collection of groups that came together for the inauguration protests) and D.C. resident. “We haven’t seen any area where we the protesters don’t outnumber Trump supporters.” The ever-growing melee in Northwest D.C. around 12th and 13th streets began small enough. I was wandering around at the makeshift headquarters for DisruptJ20 when I saw a small group of five young people wearing all black start to walk away with purpose. I followed them. They pulled on their masks, but suddenly appeared lost. “Where are they?” they asked. I started to scan the street and saw it, the mass of black shirts they were looking for. We all ran towards them. By


| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

6 | JANUARY 25, 2017

Daughters of Equality From Jackson Hole and Lander to Cody and Cheyenne, Wyoming’s women’s marches will be counted among the efforts that helped make history on Saturday. BY ROBYN VINCENT @TheNomadicHeart

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he ongoing headcount for the Women’s March on Washington and its “sister marches” has spiked to at least 3.2 million, making the march—a grassroots effort to oppose President Donald Trump’s agenda and to support women’s rights and human rights—the largest single day protest in American history. Erica Chenoweth, an expert on civil resistance at the University of Denver, is tallying attendance numbers along with political scientist Jeremy Pressman of University of Connecticut and Rivera Sun out of New Mexico. They are parsing news stories, studying aerial images and considering the more than 3,300 attendance reports people have submitted to them from all over the world, as the march happened in locales on all seven continents. About half a million people showed up in Washington, D.C. on the Saturday following Trump’s inauguration, but equally noteworthy, Chenoweth says, is the number of people who marched in towns and cities throughout the conservative and least populated state in the union: Wyoming. “While at least 1,000 people demonstrated in Cheyenne and I know at least 1,000 in Jackson Hole, I wouldn’t have guessed that hundreds of people would have turned out in Casper and Cody,” she said. “I think it’s really impressive and it speaks to the value that people have in their power of agency and expression. This is a country of people who have a variety of rights and one of those rights is to peacefully demonstrate and say what you want.” “When that message happens to unity and dignity,” Chenoweth continued, “and the common experience of womanhood, and that [the marches] were billed as a nonviolent action brought out more people.” This notion aligns with Chenoweth’s previous research

PETE MULDOON

COLE BUCKHART

THE BUZZ

Both Jackson’s women’s march (left) and Cheyenne’s march amassed more than 1,000 demonstrators about the efficacy of nonviolent protesting and its ability to garner robust public participation. “People’s impulse to participate in nonviolent movements is validated throughout world history,” she said.

Jackson Hole, 1000+ people A PJH video of the Women’s March on Jackson posted on The Planet’s Facebook page depicts a crowd stretching several downtown blocks. As people continued to populate the streets of Jackson Hole on Saturday for the 10-block march, the event’s organizers, three self-described “ordinary women” were astounded. “I think the most powerful moment for me was showing up 15 minutes early,” said co-organizer Elisa Stephens. “I was shocked to see how many people were there already and by 10 a.m. the crowd was enormous. More and more people just kept joining us.” Stephens, along with Sue Wolff and Shannon Burns, planned the event three days before using a private Facebook event page to spread the word. The trio did not make a public Facebook event until Friday, one day before the march. Women, men and children marched in Jackson Hole for various reasons. Many brandished signs about women’s rights, some were there to protest Trump’s promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act and his rejection of climate change, while others showed up to support social justice. “Now is not the time to remain silent,” said Dr. Travis Ridell, a local pediatrician. “I went to the march today to support my wife Annie, and to support our community in general. In this time of extreme divisiveness, I think supporting each other is one of the most important things we can do.” Days after the 2016 presidential election, Riddell expounded on his stance via the Jackson Pediatrics Facebook page: “We recognize that we are in a time when many children (and adults) may be feeling anxious, marginalized or threatened based on ethnic, racial, economic, cultural and gender divisions. [We] will continue to welcome and support all children, regardless of any of these differences.” Amanda Taylor carted her seven-week-old son to the march. She rattled off a litany of reasons for attending: “equality—rights for everyone, the environment, Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court, abortion; it’s a lengthy list of terror.” “I came to stand in solidarity with my brothers and sisters around the world,” said Daniel Hady. “[Under a

Trump administration] I’m concerned about a nuclear holocaust, a police state, a total lack of respect for other people’s opinions, an economic meltdown, and violence and war indefinitely.” His message to Jacksonites: “Pay attention. And if you aren’t appalled, you haven’t been paying attention.” As protesters cheered and chanted and motorists honked in support, people like Christie Koriakin left the march that day with a to-do list. On Sunday she launched the group JH Activate. “My friends and I started thinking about it after Trump was elected,” Koriakin said. “Then we began second guessing ourselves, like we don’t know anything about politics. But during the march we saw all this energy and how easy it was to get people out there, and I realized we don’t have to be experts; I don’t have to be a political analyst to get involved.” Right now people can join the group via Facebook and Koriakin said the first order of business is to offer a crash course on civics. “Some people are not even sure who is who in state politics, but it only takes half an hour of researching,” Koriakin explained. The group is now registered under the nationwide activist efforts Indivisible and Moveon.org, which provide outfits like JH Activate with guidelines, such as how to effectively communicate with your senators. “We realized it’s not that hard … but first we need to know what we’re talking about.” Koriakin says learning about the Women’s March on Jackson organizers—that they had no prior activism experience—also convinced her to pull the trigger. “My hope is to empower people like myself who are intellectually interested but have been too shy to speak up … I always left it to the government, but now I don’t trust them, and if you’re not paying attention it moves pretty quickly.”

Cheyenne, 1000+ people

In the Cowgirl State’s capital more than 1,000 people demonstrated, including Jackson Mayor Pete Muldoon. “I went to Cheyenne to support those people whose value as human beings is being questioned and threatened by the Trump administration,” he said. “People from all across the spectrum are disgusted by the rhetoric and actions of this administration, and reject not only its policies but also its embrace of fear and hate.” The new mayor says he was surprised and encouraged by the robust turnouts in Jackson Hole and Cheyenne. Organized by Hawaii transplant Shayna Alexander, the march in Cheyenne featured keynote speaker Rep.


Cathy Connolly. She is among the state’s 10 female legislators and also happens to be a tenured professor teaching women’s studies at the University of Wyoming. In a state where the legislature just introduced one of the country’s most discriminatory bills towards LGBTQ people— the Government Anti-Discrimination bill—Connolly, an openly gay woman, delivered a dispatch of hope to demonstrators. “She is driven and unapologetic,” Alexander said, “her message really resonated with people.”

Casper, 700 to 1,000 people

ROWENE WEEMS

AUGUSTA FRIENDSMITH

national and state reps … and I passed out info on tracking the actions of local officials,” she said.

Lander, 350 people

Cody, 500 people

“This was the first thing I ever organized on such a large scale and there was definitely a moment of, ‘What if no one shows up?” admitted 24-year-old Kirsten Britain. While Britain expected 10 or 20 people, the Lander march garnered a crowd of about 350 demonstrators. A receptionist for the school district, Britain had never participated in a protest before. “Being in a red state and a red town, there are a lot of people saying, ‘This is how it’s going to be and we have to live with it,’” she said. “I decided that I can’t be the only one against Donald Trump— someone who brags about grabbing women by the pussy and says how minority groups are not important.” Actions like the march, she says, aimed at supporting minorities, hold immeasurable weight in her small town, and in the Cowboy State. “Here in Wyoming, we have people coming from all over to work and Native American groups that bring so much diversity to our country … the message to them is: We support you.” Britain says the luxuries she enjoys have also given her pause, especially since the election. “I don’t fear being pulled over or being turned down to rent an apartment, for example. Recently a Native American woman was verbally accosted at a restaurant near me. It amazes me that racism like that still exists. So for me, as a white woman, it is my responsibility to make sure that people feel welcome and safe. My parents always taught me, if there is something you can do for other people you should do it.”

Hariett Bloom-Wilson comes from a family of activists. A New York native, Wilson’s aunt was a renegade organizer. She was president of the United Retail Workers, one of the first unions organized to protect retail workers. The Cody march had Wilson’s deft organizing legacy all over it. “We had 17 speakers representing the arts, public education, religious freedom, services for differently abled, women’s rights, healthcare, climate change,” Wilson said. A retired French professor at Northwest College, Wilson also implemented a way to track the number of people who attended the march. “We handed out safety pins with numbers that identified people as being present at the march.” They ran out of safety pins around No. 480 but people kept coming. Crowd estimates for the march hover around 500. They also had several sign-in tables to collect people’s information. Initially Wilson and her team thought people would be hesitant to sign up. “But everyone wanted to be recorded,” she said. Wilson came to Cody 35 years ago with her husband “thinking it would be two years max.” They met as grad students in New Mexico and both got jobs at Northwest College. “We recognized this was a place where you could make a real contribution, much more so than if we stayed in a big city,” she said. Indeed, for minority populations, small town Wyoming can feel like a scary place sometimes. That’s one reason Wilson remains in the area. “I am Jewish, as one of a handful of Jews in Powell, my destiny became to introduce people to my background and culture,” she said. But if advocates like Wilson who become discouraged by Cowboy State politics were to leave Wyoming, she says underrepresented populations would lose more of their voice. Instead, the answer, Wilson believes, is to stay and fight. “Saturday was one more piece of evidence that people can make their contributions more visible when they are in small communities like ours.” PJH

Pinedale, 110 people A native Wyomingite and Jackson resident for 30 years now living in Pinedale, Joni Mack thought only a few people there might be interested in a women’s march. Instead, 110 people and eight dogs proved her wrong. Mack said many of the marchers were impromptu participants. “People just stopped their cars and got out and started marching with us; there were some junior high boys who stopped what they were doing, a guy on his bicycle who stopped riding to march with us.” As people waived signs that read, “Honk if you love equality,” Mack says semi truck drivers cruising by obliged with honks of support. For Mack, the goal was to raise awareness among her community members that they do have a voice. “During the march I passed out cards with contact info for our

Jessica Sell Chambers contributed reporting to this story.

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JANUARY 25, 2017 | 7

always get there but that’s what we are supposed to be going for.”

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

A caravan of 20 Jacksonites joined a crowd that swelled to between 700 and 1,000 people, the Casper Star Tribune reported. Jackson residents made the trip because they felt their presence marching in a conservative place like Casper would be more impactful than if they demonstrated in Jackson Hole. “I march for equality,” said Jackson resident Angela Cook. “Because I believe everyone deserves basic human rights, instead of fear and hateful rhetoric that is built on oppressing those that are already marginalized.” Janine Earl traveled from Rawlins for the Casper march. “My mom marched for the same issues in the 70s,” she said. “I have daughters who will have daughters and I want them to know that it is not OK to ‘grab a woman by the pussy.’” Seasoned organizer and activist Jane Ifland, 67, organized the Casper march. “I went to my first march with my mother when I was 12 years old,” she said. “Since then [social justice activism] is not a decision, it is a way of life.” A 37-year Casper resident, Ifland has worked with the local chapters of the NAACP, Planned Parenthood and PFLAGG, among other organizations. She has played a key role not only mobilizing people in Casper but since the march, she has also become a statewide consultant of sorts, working with local organizers from each march to craft a long-term plan. “If we don’t keep momentum going this will have just been a nice party, but I am not going to be satisfied with that. Instead we must have frequent, persistent communication with our local reps.” In light of the marches, she says Wyoming lawmakers need to adjust their language. “I think we need to help our reps in Congress to see the reality that was clearly demonstrated on Saturday … instead of saying, ‘All Wyomingites think this way,’ they should say, ‘Most think X, but some think Y.’” Ifland said if she had found the time to make a sign for the march it would have read, “Liberty and justice for all.” “Those are not weird, extremist values,” she said. “They are the mainstream underpinnings of America, we don’t

Political scientist Erica Chenoweth said attendance at the Casper march (left) and the Cody march were particularly noteworthy.


| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

8 | JANUARY 25, 2017

THE BUZZ 2 Coverage Conundrum Millenials in Jackson don’t remember a time before the Affordable Care Act, and they don’t know what to expect next. BY SHANNON SOLLITT @nooner22

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wenty-four-year-old Danika Comey has bounced back and forth between her parents’ healthcare plans her entire life. Her health insurance depends on whose plan was better between her two parents, which is determined by one thing: The plan that provides the best coverage for her Type 1 diabetes. Comey was diagnosed with diabetes when she was four years old. She considers herself lucky to have benefited from her parents’ insurance until now. But after she graduates from graduate school, she says her future is less certain. “It’s pretty scary for me looking forward to the next year or two where healthcare is not a guarantee.” Comey says that since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, she has rested assured that she would have access to healthcare when the time came for her to buy her own plan. Over the past few weeks, her confidence has waned. This month both the Senate and House approved a budget resolution that

would begin to dismantle sections of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. And just hours after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed an executive order urging Congress to strip as much of the Affordable Care Act as they can. So far, Republicans have not proposed any viable plans for replacing ACA should they succeed in repealing it. Without a replacement, an estimated 18 million people would lose their healthcare coverage in the first year. At least 22,000 Wyoming residents would risk losing theirs. For millennials, this is both concerning and mystifying. Much of their generation has never known a time before the Affordable Care Act. They have nothing with which to compare the ACA, and cannot know with certainty what a future without it looks like. Dawn Mecham, licensed insurance agent and self-proclaimed healthcare fanatic, says the before the Affordable Care Act, “unhealthy people were not able to get insurance at all.” Or if they were, it was for everything except the condition for which they needed it. Without a job and without access to her parents’ plans, Comey says she doesn’t know what her options are, and fears the possibility that she might not have any coverage. “When you lose employee sponsored insurance, to enter into the private market is expensive,” Comey said, “and then you have this big red flag saying it’s gonna cost insurance more, so you’re gonna have to pay more.” Comey attends a number of Type 1 diabetes support groups, and has heard enough horror stories to make her nervous. “It’s not uncommon for [insurance]

SNOW PACK REPORT

companies to drop people when they’re diagnosed with Type 1,” she said. Ensuring coverage for people with preexisting conditions is actually one of the tenants of ACA Republicans want to uphold. The problem, Comey says, is that without a mandate or sufficient subsidies, healthy people, particularly young people, will opt out of coverage all together, and her premiums will rise. “Most people in our generation are young and healthy,” Comey said, “and I understand the temptation to opt out and not have insurance, but that’s why Obama implemented the mandate ... you need healthy people paying in as well.” But Obamacare isn’t perfect, and this sense of altruism—of paying your premium so others can afford to pay theirs— isn’t actually affordable to everyone. Many millennials in Jackson find themselves in a difficult position of either making too much or too little to qualify for a subsidy. On one hand, Jackson millennials who are too old to stay on their parents’ plan need incomes that reflect the cost of living in Jackson. So for people like Mecham’s son, the Affordable Care Act has been a “total failure.” Meanwhile, 26-year-old Amanda Payne was shocked by her $500 monthly premium for the plan she needs. She just outgrew her parents’ plan, but has no substantial income to report as a graduate student. She needs a plan with a low deductible that will cover her prescriptions. Wyoming’s failure to expand Medicaid leaves her ineligible for that as well. In fact, over the course of her interviews with PJH, she called the Medicaid office in Washington State where she goes to school to see if she qualifies. She does, and she might soon switch. While Payne is frustrated with her

SPONSORED BY HEADWALL SPORTS

COLD SMOKE Just when the soft snow morphed into crusts and everything appeared tracked out, Mother Nature delivered a couple feet of cold smoke. From January 19 through the 24th light density snow fell. Light winds transported this new snow creating soft slabs isolated to ridgelines and upper elevation start zones. These slabs on crusts, faceted snow, or steep terrain were easily triggered. Everywhere else was cold smoke. Cold smoke is light density snow. When the air temperature is cold, like in the low teens and single digits Fahrenheit, snow has less water causing it to be 4 to 8 percent density. Wind is another factor in causing snow to become denser. As wind blows around snowflakes, they break down, and become smaller, denser particles. The snow’s density is measured by dividing the snow’s

water or SWE (snow water equivalent) by the amount of snow. For example, in 24 hours if there was .55 inches of water in 11 inches of snow and the density is 5 percent. This is the kind of snow that trails smoke behind skiers and riders. The cold smoke covered old surfaces adding another layer to the snowpack. Cold snow will not bond well to other layers especially crusts. Even where there is no slab present, loose snow may entrain and become very dangerous around terrain traps like gullies and cliffs. The sun and daily warming will cause this new surface layer to become more reactive. Always assess the terrain, as each slope is little different and enjoy the cold powder while it last. – Lisa Van Sciver

current situation, she does not blame Obamacare as much as Wyoming’s limited marketplace. Blue Cross Blue Shield is the only insurance provider in Wyoming’s market, and she says a lack of competition allows for providers to increase premiums as they please. “Despite my personal not-awesome experience, I am still a huge fan of the ACA,” Payne said. “Healthcare in this country has been an issue for decades and Obama at least tried to do something about it. I think it’s unreasonable to expect that it came out perfect the first time.” Local millennial Cody Daigle has mixed feelings about the Affordable Care Act. As a self-proclaimed “libertarian ... leaning towards Republican,” he understands the frustration that many healthy people feel when their premiums increase. “My biggest mantra in life is ‘look out for yourself,’ he said, “and a lot of people are in that same place. But by that same token, it’s hard to justify paying an extra even $60 a year. That extra five dollars a month is coming out of my paycheck, and why am I having to pay that extra money so someone else can have that same coverage for less?” While he understands and shares, to some extent, that “me first” mindset, he also acknowledges that ACA has been hugely successful in the sheer number of people it has insured — approximately 30 million. He says he’s proud of that. Daigle, like Comey, says his healthcare future is uncertain. He has never had to shop the marketplace—he has county insurance through his job with Teton County Parks and Recreation—but he has also never known anything else. Finding insurance is one thing, he says, but finding insurance to cover what he needs is


REUTERS

After taking his oath of office, President Donald Trump made his first order of business Friday to sign an excutive order encouraging the swift repeal of Obamacare. else in Idaho. The Driggs hospital no longer delivers babies. The fact remains, however, that if fewer people don’t have health insurance, fewer people will seek out healthcare unless they absolutely need it. The problem then is it’s almost impossible to predict when that will be. Unexpected pregnancies, illnesses and accidents can strike at any time, Lofaro said. Lofaro sees the Affordable Care Act as a government response to a struggling industry. Unfortunately, she said, “the government cannot be all things for all people.” It is also our collective responsibility to manage expectations. Pond notes benefits of the Affordable Care Act extend further than insurance rates. Ten percent of the Center for Disease Control budget is made up of a fund made possible by the Affordable Care Act. A lot of that money, she says, trickles down to state and local public health initiatives, including immunizations, HIV prevention and treatment, and community health clinics that provide affordable healthcare to the uninsured. These are the same public health funds that Comey hopes will pay her salary and insure her one day. It is important to remember, she says, that the huge percentage of Jackson’s population that is uninsured, primarily due to documentation status, that still need healthcare. Without the ACA’s public health provisions, that population is at an even greater loss. PJH

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JANUARY 25, 2017 | 9

out of insurance, but insurance companies would likely opt out of the marketplace, leaving approximately 10 percent of the nation’s population without access to marketplace insurance. Approximately 20 million people would lose coverage in the first year after the repeal, and that number could increase to $32 million in 10 years. The Washington Post reported Monday that repealing the Affordable Care Act could kill more than 43,000 people a year, based on previous studies on Medicaid expansions. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that for every 455 people who gained coverage through Medicaid expansion, one life was saved. By those same estimates, if 20 million people lose coverage, then over 43,000 people could die. Director of Teton County Public Health and Environmental Health Jodie Pond says the impact of Obamacare in the valley is measurable. Teton County has the highest enrollment in the state; 12 percent of its population enrolled in ACA in 2016. Still, another imperfection of the Affordable Care Act is the lack of access to healthcare across state lines. Doctor Maura Lofaro of Gros Ventre OB/GYN says she sees patients at her clinic in Driggs who cannot get coverage for the same treatment in Jackson. “There are people in border towns all over the country who may not have access [to special care] in their town, have to cross the border for special care, and aren’t covered.” Expecting mothers in Driggs, for example, either have to drive to Jackson to deliver their child and risk not being insured, or find an OB/GYN somewhere

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another. Payne says she also feels misinformed. Even after filling out her application on Healthcare.gov as accurately as she could, she felt she did not quite understand her options. “I wish I had been taught anything about this, ever, because I’m worried I’m just missing something,” she said. For all of the millennials that spoke to Planet JH, employment was presented as the only alternative to the Affordable Care Act. And all recognized employment at their age as uncertain. “I could get coverage from work,” 25-year-old Avery Nelson said. “But I’d end up paying more, and only if I work fulltime. Otherwise I’m uninsured and in the same boat as other people, hoping nothing happens.” Comey graduates from Columbia Graduate School in May, and realizes it could take her years to find a job in her field in public health. During that time, without access to an insurance plan, medical bills could leave her bankrupt. Medical bills, she noted, are the number one cause of bankruptcy in the country. And the medical costs of diabetes are high “even with insurance,” she said. Millennials, as with the rest of the population, cannot reasonably be painted with one brush, and as such cannot uniformly agree on or be protected by the same insurance policies. At so many different stages in life, it is hard for any of them to know what their future holds. The numbers, however, paint a clearer picture. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that without the mandate in the nongroup (individual) market, premiums in that market will increase by 20 to 25 percent. Not only would individuals opt


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10 | JANUARY 25, 2017

THE BUZZ 3 Dual Decisions Which students benefit most from the valley’s increasingly popular dual immersion program? BY JESSICA SELL CHAMBERS @jsellechambers

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s Teton County’s dual immersion program rises in popularity, questions have surfaced about how to handle the demand, but no matter the answers native and non-native English speakers may not be enjoying the same benefits. School board trustees decided to reexamine their decision to reconfigure the schools at the behest of 40 Jackson Elementary teachers. The educators recently penned a letter emphasizing the need for a school dedicated entirely to the dual immersion program. “Ultimately, the board will have to say, ‘Do we want schools to reflect neighborhoods or the community?” said Bo Miller, principal at Colter Elementary School, the one school that will likely be most affected regardless of school model. While neighborhood demographics vary, the district serves a population that is 30 percent Latino. Within the school reconfiguration debate, there are those who prefer “neighborhood” schools known as the “strand school model,” where dual is embedded within, and those who would like to see one whole school dedicated to dual immersion and two dedicated to traditional classrooms— the “whole school model.” With the strand model, Colter’s student population would be 44 percent white to 56 percent Latino. What’s problematic about this model is almost half of the school’s students would be on the free and reduced lunch program—almost 10 percent higher than at Jackson Elementary—a school poverty indicator and thereby a risk indicator for low student achievement. “The most accurate predictor of student achievement is a student’s socioeconomic status,” Miller said. “When you have a school with high free and reduced lunch, you’re going to have a larger percentage of students needing support, especially in language arts and math, and those services must be delivered.” Conversely, the whole school model would likely mean Colter would be the dual school with a 50-50 population, dropping the number of students on free and reduced lunch to 42 percent. The drawback of Colter as a dual school would be that some students who live in Cottonwood would not be able to walk or bike to their neighborhood school unless they were in the dual program, something parent Susan Johnson spoke out against at the January 11 workshop on the subject of school reconfiguration. “We chose to live in our neighborhood, a lot of us, because we have a school in the neighborhood. We chose to have our children walk or bike to school instead of spending time in a car,” she said. Implemented in 2009, TCSD’s dual program is a two-way immersion model, meaning dual classrooms have a 50-50 split between native Spanish and native English speakers. Students are selected by lottery. If the district went with the whole school model, the dual school will have a 50-50 split and the traditional schools are projected to have populations that mirror that of the community (70-30). Predictably, the strand model would not reflect the community’s population and diversity but would instead mirror that of the neighborhoods, which would also mean the current two-way dual immersion model would not work at Munger Mountain Elementary School, with a projected

student population comprised of only 20 percent Latino students. The school would not have enough native Spanishspeaking students to actually have a two-way immersion. But the model could be adjusted, with a higher proportion of native to non-native English speakers, for instance. Though this would simultaneously limit overall dual program slots for native Spanish speaking students in the district while also limiting language acquisition of the Anglos in the program. So far the dual program is performing well for an effort in its relative infancy. And dual classrooms appear to be working better than the traditional classrooms when it comes to native Spanish speaker student achievement. Data provided by the district on student standardized testing indicates native Spanish speakers in the dual program are outperforming native Spanish speakers in traditional classrooms. Anglophone students in the program are performing at the same level or slightly above their traditional classroom counterparts. While the scores are positive, the program has room to improve when compared to national data sets, which is one reason why TCSD trustee Annie Band isn’t sold on establishing a whole dual school. “Statistically there are no achievement advantages for students in whole school over dual,” she said. “There is no right answer unfortunately but I think our cons seriously outweigh benefits at this point in time for our students.” However, proponents maintain as the program grows, matures, and stabilizes, test scores of dual students are expected to continue to rise. Chad Ransom, TCSD’s director of student services, said the district’s dual program is relatively young compared to those used to compile national data sets. “Because we’re growing the program every couple of years, it makes it an even newer program,” he said. “That’s the most important thing to look at with regard to the data.” With the current strand model, opportunities for the most effective dual and traditional instruction are lost. Ransom said dual teaching practices are different from traditional practices even in physical education or music classes. “We can’t get to the national results if we’re not using professional development, curriculum, and other tools that are specific to dual immersion.” He added that the whole school model is beneficial for other reasons. Having a whole school model lends teachers have access to larger teacher teams, which is better for planning and collaboration and efficiency of systems, he said. Comparing the cost of implementing either school model, says Charlotte Reynolds TCSD information officer, was like comparing apples and oranges. She said the whole school model would actually save money over time as less staff would be needed though “the transportation piece adds additional complexity to the question of cost but staff is trying to understand the complexities.” Rising tensions Even though dual immersion programs appear effective when implemented properly, they are often met with opposition. This is mostly in communities grappling with changing demographics, as traditionally white communities become more brown. “Two-way programs exist in an environment of increasingly negative attitudes toward immigrant and minority groups and their languages,” explained Donna Christian, senior fellow at the Center for Applied Linguistics. While research has demonstrated the clear benefit of dual immersion programs for English language learners (ELs), dual programs are also often appealing to communities because dominant language speakers get to learn a foreign language, which has both academic and professional benefits [read: economic benefits and increased advantages in their already privileged lives.]

Often dual language immersion programs are encouraged by communities for the benefits they provide their Anglo students rather than the benefit to their Latino students. “Although there is a long history of indifference toward learning languages other than English in the U.S., there remains a significant difference in attitudes toward English speakers learning other languages and language minorities continuing to develop their native language while they learn English,” Christian writes. The contention over dual immersion means it is even more important to make sure a program is structured and organized properly. Some believe if it’s not done right, it shouldn’t be done at all—and some view a poorly organized dual program as potentially harmful. “Immersion education is an ambitious undertaking. It aims to give students the opportunity to learn high levels of academic content—all the core curriculum prescribed by the state and school district—and to do it in a language other than English,” Christian writes. “In this era of standards-based reform, that means planning to work toward high standards in all academic content areas—math, science, social studies AND language—with the proficiency targets at the highest levels.” Trustees will have to decide whether a whole dual school will help improve a program many teachers believe is already effective and could use the dedicated space. “The vast majority believe, as teachers, they can do a better job with the whole model versus the strand,” Miller said. Miller, a former teacher, says the school board will have to take a holistic look at reconfiguration. But, he also said that within the walls of the school the most impactful factor for student achievement is quality of teaching. Building support for a dual school will be an important piece moving forward, Miller noted. Different people have varying ideas about what conversations regarding immersion programs ought to include. In an academic article examining dual-language immersion programs, Stanford University’s Guadalupe Valdés says she hopes bilingual educators will start to discuss “dual-language immersion programs in terms of equal educational opportunity and social justice, not just in economic terms.” Valdés also pointed to an unnoticed negative effect of two-way dual programs. In the short-term they help ELs academically, but a truly effective program ultimately undermines the strong advantage native Spanish speakers have over their already advantaged white peers in the long term: their bilingualism. “Being bilingual has given members of the MexicanAmerican community, for example, access to certain jobs for which language skills were important,” Valdés said. “Taken to its logical conclusion, if dual-language immersion programs are successful, when there are large numbers of majority persons who are also bilingual, this special advantage will be lost.” Reynolds said while social justice aspects for the Latino student population is one piece considered with regard to the dual program and a dual school, no one has specifically raised the concern of the long-term disadvantage arising from dual programming to native Spanish speakers yet. “Part of what we are looking at is what do all of our students need to be successful,” she said. Some view dual immersion for English speakers as an all around bad idea. The Spanish language itself has often served as unifier for a community that is often disadvantaged, giving a kind of power to a powerless segment of the community. One bilingual educator Valdés interviewed said, “Dual language immersion education is not a good idea. Si se aprovechan de nosotros en inglés, van a aprovechar de nosotros también en español.” [If they take advantage of us in English, they will take advantage of us in Spanish as well.] PJH


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JANUARY 25, 2017 | 11


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11:59PM ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12TH


GUARDIANS OF

PLACE How people across Wyoming have mobilized to create a stalwart network of public land protectors.

RANDY SHACKET PHOTO

BY MEG DALY

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MOMENTARY CELEBRATION

up in droves to two public meetings in November and December to blast the proposed amendment. When they heard the news Friday, conservationists around the state celebrated. “We’re thrilled to see this amendment get killed by Senator Bebout,” said Max Luddington, volunteer chair of the Wyoming Hunters and Anglers Alliance (WYHAA). WYHAA is joined by Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the Wyoming Outdoor Council, the Wyoming Wilderness Association and a cadre of diverse stakeholders who came together under the banner, Keep It Public, Wyoming to wage a battle against the transfer of public lands. Their members range from anglers and hunters to wildlife enthusiasts, cyclists, mountaineers and conservationists. The group’s online petition—at KeepItPublicWyo.com—has garnered hundreds of names from across the state in opposition to the transfer of public lands. Jeff Muratore, of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, is among the advocates engaged in this battle. He pointed to the groups of people who united against the amendment as part of the reason for Bebout’s decision. “It is heartening to see folks from every walk of life—Democrats, Republicans, sportsmen, fishermen, outdoor enthusiasts—all coming together in the name of public lands,” he told PJH. Luddington too noted the massive opposition by various constituents. “It truly speaks to both the power and the passion that hunters and anglers bring to this issue. The legislature has recognized that this amendment flew in the face of what Wyoming citizens, broadly, and hunters and

anglers, specifically, want to see.” For Luddington, whose day job is project director with the Jackson conservation organization LegacyWorks Group, public lands were for many years an amenity he took for granted. He grew up camping with his family in North Carolina. In 2001 after graduating college, he moved to Jackson Hole. Now he is raising his own family here. Every chance he finds, he is outside fishing, hunting, hiking, biking, camping. His story is not unique; his is like so many Wyomingites. “When I have free time I almost always try to get outside and, inevitably, I end up on public lands,” Luddington said. Luddington says he feels fortunate to have so many public lands in his back yard. In his opinion, the backcountry of Wyoming offers unparalleled hunting and fishing opportunities, as well as something else: “True solace.”

AN EVOLVING RELATIONSHIP

About eight years ago, Luddington had an experience that attuned him to the fact that a mountain doesn’t always belong to everyone. It was 2008 and he was on a work trip in Argentina providing resource management training for the Argentinian park service, and also working with them on a large-scale trail restoration project. During his travels, he encountered a surprising fact: some of Argentina’s legendary, awe-inspiring mountain ranges are privately owned. “The entire flank of one of the mountains was private land,” Luddington said. “The Argentines were trying to explain to me that we needed to pay a fee

JANUARY 25, 2017 | 15

Public land advocates claimed a victory Friday when a proposed public lands transfer amendment to the Wyoming constitution died before it made it to the legislature’s floor. Wyoming Senate President Eli Bebout-R, Riverton, who had hoped to introduce the amendment this session, told PJH: “I am not sure we would have had the votes to get the constitutional amendment through.”

To pass the amendment—which originated in the Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee in November—it would need two thirds of votes from the House and the Senate. Proponents argued that the state could do a better job managing land than the feds. Committee member Rep. Tim Stubson-R, Casper, explained to PJH in December: “I don’t support wholesale transfer of public lands, but I think there’s an opportunity for more responsible management. What we’ve seen over and over again is that we get really good input at the state level that gets ignored once it’s sent to DC.” Bebout, belonging to the same committee as Stubson, cited a few factors that shaped his decision. “This is a tough [legislative] session concerning the budget and schools … we have a lot of other issues on the table that we need to concentrate on. It was a good process to get everyone’s input, but it is not the time so I killed the bill.” Regarding the massive public opposition to the amendment bill, the senator pointed to what he deemed people’s misperception that the bill would pave the way for private land ownership. “We were trying to protect [land] access and have no sale or privatization … that is what I have said for the past couple months.” However, opponents have pointed to the bill’s language. There was no wording prohibiting the sale of lands in the amendment. Many in Wyoming remain skeptical about the transfer of public lands. A vast group of advocates argue that state control would ultimately result in the sale of these lands for things like oil and gas development. These public land defenders showed

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rying to qualify the value of public lands can leave a person speechless. What are the words for that feeling as dawn breaks, flooding the valley with light, as backcountry skiers make their ascents up Jackson’s peaks? How to explain a sighting of a bull moose’s regal stance as he noshes willow branches with a crystal clear stream at his feet? How to impart the exact tenor of those indelible childhood memories of camping in a national forest and listening to wild, adventurous yarns told by adults? What makes experiences like these possible is a simple yet radical notion in America that some portion of the land be reserved for public access, in effect that the lands exist for the public good. It’s one of this country’s most democratic notions: You don’t have to be rich to access nature. You own it collectively with the rest of your fellow Americans. Now, this message has managed to unify a swelling number of public land advocates and activists, an army of people who come from vastly different backgrounds all in the name of protecting public lands, and today they sit on the front lines vigilantly awaiting what comes next.


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16 | JANUARY 25, 2017

Yvon Chouinard

Governor Matt Mead

to cross over and it took me several explanations to understand that the mountain range leaving the park was privately owned.” His Argentinean colleagues explained that most of the mountains around the area were also privately owned. “Having lived in Wyoming for about a decade at the time, it was just unfathomable to me that people owned the wild places around them and restricted access to those lands.” Because of his work and his choice of residence, Luddington pretty much lives, eats and breathes public lands. So it’s no wonder he was outraged earlier this month when Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney made her first order of business to vote in favor of changing an accounting rule that Congress uses when considering whether to dispose of federal public land. This would effectively fast track the transfer of federal public lands to states. The majority of Republican representatives also voted in favor of this rule. It passed the House 233-190. “Liz Cheney used one of her first votes to tell the public a huge whopper: that transferring federal lands to states won’t cost the federal government a cent,” Luddington said. “She’s saying these lands have no value, when in reality, they are priceless to many Wyomingites, especially the hunting and fishing community.” Cheney did respond to an email request for comment. Currently, the Congressional Budget Office requires lawmakers to consider lost revenues to the U.S. Treasury that result from such transfers— from energy extraction, grazing, logging and other activities. The rule passed by the House would falsely designate any transfer legislation “budget neutral,” eliminating existing safeguards against undervaluing public lands and making a bill calling for a land transfer more palatable. Cheney also just became a new member of the influential House Rules Committee that proposed this and other rule changes.

OUTDOOR INDUSTRY BIGWIGS FIRE BACK

Linda Merigliano

But Cheney’s vote was only the first public lands bombshell of 2017. The next one came from the other camp, public lands advocates in the outdoor recreation industry. Responding to Utah Governor Gary Herbert’s promise to challenge former President Barack Obama’s designation of Bears Ears twin buttes area as a national monument, the heads of two preeminent outdoor recreation companies spoke out publicly against Herbert. Black Diamond Equipment founder Peter Metcalf— also the founder of Outdoor Retailers trade shows which happen biannually in Utah—said he would pull the trade shows from the state if the governor and legislators didn’t change their stance on Bears Ears specifically, and public lands generally. “We are calling on Herbert, Utah’s congressional delegation and other state leaders to drop their efforts to take down Bears Ears National Monument, to gut the Antiquities Act, to transfer our public lands to the states and to gut funding for these monuments, parks and public lands,” Metcalf wrote in a January 10 guest editorial in The Salt Lake Tribune. “If they don’t, the Outdoor Retailer shows must leave Utah.” Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard followed suit, issuing his own statement taking Herbert to task. “Every January and August, Patagonia and hundreds of other companies spend gobs of money

to show our latest products at the Outdoor Retailer show,” Chouinard wrote. “The whole thing is a cash cow for Salt Lake City. You’d think politicians in Utah would bend over backward to make us feel welcome. But instead, Gov. Gary Herbert and his buddies have spent years denigrating our public lands, the backbone of our business, and trying to sell them off to the highest bidder. He’s created a hostile environment that puts our industry at risk.” “We love Utah,” Chouinard continued, “but Patagonia’s choice to return for future shows will depend on the Governor’s actions. I’m sure other states will happily compete for the show by promoting public lands conservation.” Back home in Wyoming, Governor Matt Mead has, in recent months, recognized outdoor recreation as a key economic driver in Wyoming, and he has indicated that he wants Wyoming to be a friendly place for outdoor retailers. At the October 2016 SHIFT Festival, Mead announced a new initiative to promote the outdoor recreational industry in Wyoming. He has created a Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources to work with private and public stakeholders to develop recommendations that grow Wyoming’s outdoor recreation economy. “The Task Force will build on the considerable work already done and offer ideas to improve outdoor recreation opportunities, marketing and business recruitment,” Mead said in a statement at the time. “There is no better place for outdoorrelated businesses than Wyoming. Our business climate, workforce, cost of living and quality of life make Wyoming a great option for new and existing businesses.” As outdoor recreation’s power grows, so does that recognition, explained SHIFT founder Christian Beckwith. “The most recent study showed that outdoor recreation generates $646 billion dollars per year in consumer spending. That places it ahead of extractives. Which is one of the reasons that Mead created the task force—he recognizes it’s an economic engine.” The numbers in Wyoming are equally impressive to national figures. According to a 2012 study by the Outdoor Industry Association, outdoor recreation generates $4.5 billion in consumer spending each year in Wyoming. It provides 50 thousand jobs and $1.4 billion in wages and salaries in the state, as well as generating $300 million in state and local tax revenue. According to David Bush, Mead’s spokesperson, the governor wants to keep an open door to outdoor manufacturers and retailers. Bush said the Outdoor Recreation Task Force is active in contacting companies and exploring opportunities to expand this sector of the state’s economy. “The governor knows what an asset our outdoor amenities are and what a great place Wyoming is for outdoor product manufacturers,” he said. Those who work closely on public land management are attuned to the myriad values of the outdoors, economic and esoteric. Bridger Teton National Forest Wilderness & Recreation program manager Linda Merigliano understands firsthand how valuable public lands are to the state’s economy. “There’s a myth that the economic contribution of outdoor recreation only supports tourism and support services,” she said. “But that’s only part of the story. The reality is recreation contributes a huge part of the economy.”

The numbers back her up. The Outdoor Industry Association found that 71 percent of Wyoming residents participate in outdoor recreation each year—and that’s not counting hunting and fishing, which were estimated separately. You can’t throw a snowball in Wyoming without hitting someone who loves the outdoors and spends time and money doing so. Outdoor recreation includes everything from tourism to backcountry snowmobiling, Nordic skiing, climbing, kayaking, camping, backcountry skiing and hiking, mountain biking, and most anything people do on BLM land, national forests, and in national parks – all publicly owned land. Merigliano notes that Wyoming’s human demographics have changed drastically in recent decades. “The story of many Western communities has changed,” she said “People today are much more mobile. So they are looking for amenity based lifestyle and they are looking at what attracts them to communities which are these outdoor recreation opportunities.” That’s certainly the case for Luddington. “Hunting has taken me to some incredible places in the Bridger Teton National Forest that I would never have set foot on otherwise.” For him, the rugged hillsides and isolated meadows he finds provide a unique and much-desired sense of isolation and being completely disconnected from the rest of the world. “These aren’t necessarily the spots with incredible views that you see in catalogues,” he says. “But they provide the unique backcountry experience that has made so many of us fall in love with hunting and fishing,” he said. Hunters and anglers have become a formidable force in the fight to keep public lands public. WYHAA has more than 5,000 Facebook followers. Its video showing Wyoming citizens voicing their opposition to the public lands transfer amendment at a November public meeting in Cheyenne generated more than 217,000 views and 3,000 shares on Facebook. Another conservation organization of sportsmen and women, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA), currently has chapters in 26 states and provinces in the U.S. and Canada. The organization was formed in 2004 and boasts nearly 10,000 paying members. They estimate that their Facebook posts and Facebook Live events routinely reach more than one million people. BHA’s board chair Ryan Busse recently published a guest column in The New York Times condemning the U.S. House vote to designate lands transfers as “budget neutral.” “No state is prepared to shoulder the taxpayer burdens of maintaining forest roads, fighting wildfires and controlling weeds,” Busse wrote.

VALLEY DEFENDERS

Here at home, the public lands transfer amendment—killed Friday—was the latest attack on public lands in the state. The amendment outlined the methods by which the state would manage federal lands if lands were transferred to the state in the form of an exchange. However, as a recent letter of opposition from the Jackson Town Council and Teton County Board of Commissioners points out, the amendment asks Wyoming voters to decide on how lands should be managed in the event of a transfer without first asking voters if they approve of land transfers to begin with. People like Luther Propst, Teton County


The view from Teewinot looking north.

RANDY SHACKET PHOTO

Jeff Muratore

she claims that the federal government is in fact legally bound to transfer lands, citing a clause in the Wyoming state constitution. The clause states “the people of this state do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof … and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States.” Halverson says that the word “shall” means “will” or “must” and thus that the U.S. must extinguish those rights and titles to public lands.

ILLEGAL LAND GRABS?

But conservationists use the first part of the clause to explain why it would be illegal for the state to take over public lands. According to an interview with Mead in the Casper Star Tribune in December, two state attorneys advised the governor that Wyoming is not legally structured to obtain federal land. Not only is the legality in question, the transfer would be costly. A 2016 study by Y2 Consultants of Jackson explored the feasibility of transferring management of federal lands to the state. The $75,000 study, commissioned by the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments, determined it would be a costly endeavor for Wyoming to manage lands under federal mandates with little benefit to the state. If the finger-pointing and fine-print reading seems confusing, it is. On the one hand, public

like the concern over it.” For many residents of the rural west, the reason they live where they live is for the access to the great outdoors. As Gillette school counselor Bryon Lee points out, Wyoming is a self-selecting state. A lot of people choose to live here, and recreating in nature is a big reason why. Lee is the board president of the Wyoming Wilderness Alliance. He was born and raised in northeastern Wyoming, outside of Gillette. His father was friendly with local ranchers. He remembers in the early part of summer he would hike and ride around on the ranchlands, seeing badgers, porcupines, and myriad raptors. In the fall, his family helped the ranchers with haying. It instilled in Lee a love of being outside in open spaces. In high school he backpacked in the Cloud Peak Wilderness, which made a huge impression on him coming from the Gillette area where he says rangelands have been decimated by commercial development. A school counselor at a K-12 school, Lee tries to instill in students the same love of outdoors that’s such a pivotal part of his own life. He sometimes reads to them from the Wilderness Act, passed in 1964, which established the National Wilderness Preservation System. The Act defined wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Like many people interviewed for this article, Lee cited one of the benefits of adventuring in

JANUARY 25, 2017 | 17

RANDY SHACKET PHOTO

A climber approaches the summit of the Grand.

RANDY SHACKET PHOTO

The west side of the Grand Teton.

lands advocates can seem tone deaf to the concerns of those who make their living in the extraction industry, still the state’s leading industry. On the other hand, state management advocates can seem out of touch with the present and future use of public lands. Halverson asserts that federal management is poor and that the lands aren’t being managed enough for revenue. Yet every chance they get, Republican lawmakers vote to cut funding to national parks and forests, which are then expected to do more with less. Like Bebout, Halverson says she does not want to sell off public lands; she just wants the state to have control. But the problem is the only way the state could afford to manage the lands is if it sold off lands to foot the bill. There are some people who see both sides. Hunter and horseman Barry Reiswig says there are legitimate concerns that the federal process is very slow, and he acknowledges that Obama’s environmental policies made things difficult for the coal industry. “But I don’t think the solution is to sell off public lands or put them under state management.” Reiswig lives in Cody where he fishes, hunts, and rides horses. His favorite spots include the Bear Tooth plateau and the headwaters of Greybull River. A member of Backcountry Horsemen of America, Reiswig says there is a rising tide of conservative voters in Wyoming and Montana who are coming out against public lands transfers. “Our membership is conservative,” Reiswig said. “Backcountry horsemen are really upset about [the proposed amendment]. I’ve never seen anything

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Democratic party chair, say the bill was disingenuous. “I consider it like a group of burglars that want to steal your car by sneaking into your bedroom at night and taking your car keys. … The authors of this bill were trying to create a message that the legislature with approval of voters is ready, willing, and able to take over public lands.” Advocates like Craig Benjamin, executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, echoed Propst’s concerns: “This amendment is a thinly veiled attempt to lay the foundation for transferring public lands to state ownership—an idea that is overwhelmingly opposed by people across Wyoming,” However, proponents of public lands transfers maintain that the federal government hasn’t done a good enough job managing public lands for multiple use and sustained yield, i.e. not enough extraction happening. Bebout—who happens to be president of an oil and natural gas drilling company—Nucor Oil and Gas in Riverton—noted that Wyoming is dependent on resources from minerals for the jobs mineral extraction creates. “Those that want to leave it in ground, there’s no other plan to supplement revenue.” Bebout says the bill would have protected state interests. “It’s not about taking away access,” he said, adding that he does not want public lands to be privatized or sold. House District 22 Rep. Marti Halverson also is a vehement advocate for transferring management of federal lands to state hands. On her website,


SHOW US THE MONEY

Health and human spirit aside, economics could be a big factor in what saves public lands. The most impassioned activists acknowledge the economic factor. Some say the public lands transfer is the single most nonpartisan issue facing our state. “Keeping our public lands public is really about preserving the culture and heritage of our state,” Luddington said. “Not to mention the growing economic engine that is the outdoor recreation industry.” In addition to his outdoor recreation task force, Mead created a Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force last February. “It is the first ever state-level effort to study the benefits and opportunities of bicycle and pedestrian pathways and natural surface trails,” said Tim Young, executive director of Wyoming Pathways and a member of the task force. According to Young, the task force will create a report about bicycling and walking on everything from walkable main streets to mountain bike trails. “It’s going to look at safety, opportunities for biking and walking, enhanced tourism and community enhancements from biking and walking. We want to identify how the state can help communities with their trail and

pathways projects, and how to coordinate some of the federal and state grant sources available.” Mead’s task forces on outdoor recreation and pathways do not signal backward-looking leadership. The governor seems well aware of the economic benefits for Wyoming of all manner of outdoor adventuring, from casual sightseeing to extreme sports. What remains to be seen is how forcefully the governor will support the public lands on which all this lucrative recreating takes place. So far, Mead is not taking a hard line. According to Bush, the Governor has “concerns” about the transfer of federal public lands to the state. Mead has suggested that Wyoming could work with the federal government to develop a pilot land management project. “Baseline environmental measurements would be taken for soil, wildlife, and vegetation on a piece of federal land,” Bush said. “The state would then manage that land for a period of time and determine if the environmental measurements improved.” But it’s unclear how the governor’s pilot project plan would circumvent the general opposition to state management of federal lands, which already have environmental safeguards in place. Meanwhile, citizen activists like Luddington are not resting easy. He says the hunting and fishing community has always opposed public lands transfers, but he says that the community was not as vocal as it’s become in the past two years. Combine those efforts with traditional conservationists like Propst, outdoor recreation advocates like Beckwith, and pathways emissaries like Young, and future legislation to transfer public lands to the state likely faces formidable opposition. Luddington said he and WYHAA will continue to fight any efforts by the state legislature to take over public lands. He hopes instead to work with the legislature to devise collaborative solutions that can lead to better local input on federal land management, particularly as it pertains to hunting and fishing opportunities in the state. “Hunters and anglers around this state know exactly what we stand to lose,” he said. “We are not going to let the legislature give away or sell off our cultural identity.” PJH

Surprise Lake and Disappointment Peak.

RANDY SHACKET PHOTO

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

18 | JANUARY 25, 2017

public lands to be, “it’s nice to know you might not see another person for a few days.” Solitude in nature is one of the ways humans reckon with the big issues in life, to get perspective, to rejuvenate and still their minds. “For me, much of what has made my life wonderful is the experience I’ve had on public lands,” Propst said. “Along with family and community, public land is what matters. For me it is the place where you find the answers to the questions that matter in life.” Not only do people find meaning out walking in the woods, they find better mental health. A 2015 study led by Stanford University found that people who walk for 90 minutes a day in a natural area showed decreased activity in a part of the brain associated with depression. In her role with the forest service, Merigliano pays attention to studies like this. “Public lands and contact with nature are part of our nation’s health infrastructure,” she said. “More and more evidence is coming out that people’s health, physical and mental, is greatly increased by being in nature. To have those quiet spaces where you have the ability to put things in perspective in combination with physically doing something and not being bombarded with negative stuff is incredibly healing.”

THIS WEEK: January 25-31, 2017

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25

n Citrus Fest at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Women’s Snowboard Camp 8:00am, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, $1,445.00, 307-733-2292 n Digital Photography 9:00am, CWC-Jackson, 307733-7425 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Fables, Feathers & Fur 10:30am, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Free, 307-733-5771 n Library Mountain Story 2017 3:00pm, Various Locations, Free, 307-733-2164 n PTO 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n Silver Metal Clay: GR 4-8 4:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $99.00 - $118.00, 307-733-6379 n FoodTalks 5:30pm, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Hansen Hall, Free, 307733-2603 n Your Dog and the Winter Backcountry 5:30pm, Animal Adoption Center, Free, 307-739-1881 n MELT® Hand & Foot 5:45pm, Dancers’ Workshop, $20.00, 307-733-6398 n Open Studio: Figure Model 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307-7336379 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Intermediate Spanish 6:00pm, CWC-Jackson, $110.00, 307-733-7425 n Ramen Night At The Handle Bar 6:00pm, Handle Bar, 307-7325056 n Gallim Repertory with Fran Romo 6:30pm, Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00 - $75.00, 307-733-6398 n JD High Country Outfitters Winter Fly Tying 6:30pm, JD High Country Outfitters, $75.00, 307-733-3270

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 19

n Donation Dry Needling Clinic 7:00pm, Medicine Wheel Wellness, 307-699-7480 n Mountain Story 2017: Epic adventures from the Grand Canyon to the Tetons 7:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, Free, 307-733-1500 n KHOL Presents: Vinyl Night 8:00pm, The Rose, Free, 307733-1500 n Jack Nelson Band 8:00pm, Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, $5.00, 307-733-2207 n The Bo & Joe Sexy Show 9:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-733-3886

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26

n Citrus Fest at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Women’s Snowboard Camp 8:00am, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, $1,445.00, 307-733-2292 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Beginning Throwing 10:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $184.00 $220.00, 307-733-6379 n Toddler Time 10:05am, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307733-2164 n JD High Country Outfitters Brown Bag Fly Tying 11:00am, JD High Country Outfitters, Free, 307-733-3270 n InDesign Basics 3:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $140.00 $168.00, 307-733-6379 n Photoshop Basics 3:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $140.00 $168.00, 307-733-6379 n After School Monthly Workshops 3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $180.00 $216.00, 307-733-6379 n Stackhouse 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913

Compiled by Caroline LaRosa n Down Under the Tram: Australia Day 4:00pm, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Free, 307-733-2292 n Après Ski and Art 5:00pm, Diehl Gallery, Free, 307-733-0905 n Penny Lane Cooperative Chamber Mixer 5:00pm, Penny Lane Cooperative, Free, 307-733-3316 n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Advanced Excel 6:00pm, CWC-Jackson, $40.00, 307-733-7425 n Intro to Papermaking 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $132.00 $158.00, 307-733-6379 n Thursday Silver 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $34.00 - $42.00, 307-733-6379 n Armchair Adventures: Adventures in Baja 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, $5.00, 307-739-9025 n JD High Country Outfitters Beginners Fly Tying 6:30pm, JD High Country Outfitters, $75.00, 307-733-3270 n Jackson Hole Communty Band 2017 Rehearsals 7:00pm, Centre for the Arts, Free, 307-200-9463 n Major Zepher 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Jack Nelson Band 8:00pm, Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, $5.00, 307-733-2207 n Salsa Night 9:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, Free, 307-733-1500 n An Evening with Brett Dennen 9:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, $20.00 - $25.00, 307-733-1500 n Canyon Kids Duo 9:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-733-3886

FRIDAY, JANUARY 27

n Citrus Fest at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398


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1/2 Off Drinks Daily 5-7pm

••••••••••• Monday-Saturday 11am, Sunday 10:30am 832 W. Broadway (inside Plaza Liquors)•733-7901

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SEE CALENDAR PAGE 21

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

n Women’s Snowboard Camp 8:00am, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, $1,445.00, 307-733-2292 n IFSA College Freeskiing Competition 8:00am, Grand Targhee Resort, 800-TARGHEE n Knowledge is Powder Off Trail Camp 8:00am, Grand Targhee Resort, 800-TARGHEE n Breakfast Club Organizational Assessment 8:30am, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole, Free, 307-739-1026 n Steep & Deep Camp 2 9:00am, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, 307733-2292 n Open Studio: Portrait Model 9:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $10.00, 307-733-6379 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Super Bowl Kick-Off at Jackson Whole Grocer 11:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, $5.00, 307-733-0450 n Feathered Fridays 12:00pm, Jackson Hole & Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center, Free, 307-201-5433 n Brain Works 3:00pm, St. John’s Medical Center, $300.00, 307-739-7493 n InDesign Basics 3:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $140.00 - $168.00, 307-733-6379 n Photoshop Basics 3:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $140.00 - $168.00, 307-733-6379 n Screen Door Porch EP Release ‘Pay it Forward’ 3:00pm, The Trap Bar & Grill, Free, 307-3532300 n Screen Door Porch 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n Friday Tastings 4:00pm, The Liquor Store of Jackson Hole, Free, 307-733-4466 n FREE Friday Tasting at Jackson Whole Grocer 4:00pm, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450 n Après Ski and Art 5:00pm, Diehl Gallery, Free, 307-733-0905 n PEDIGREE® Stage Stop Race 5:00pm, Town Square, Free, 970-310-7746 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n “Like A Wolf” Screening and “Baby Ask” Music Video Premiere 6:00pm, The Center Theater, $17.00, 434-2428827 n Pam Drews Phillips Plays Jazz 7:00pm, The Granary at Spring Creek Ranch, Free, 307-733-8833 n Free Public Stargazing 7:30pm, Center for the Arts, Free, 844-9967827 n Country Western Swing with BJ & Clayton 7:30pm, Dancers’ Workshop, $65.00 - $90.00, 3077336398 n Quenby and the West of Wayland Band 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307732-3939


| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

20 | JANUARY 25, 2017

MUSIC BOX Charisma and Chemistry to a Higher Power Nth Power returns with Fire and Winship and West perform two nights at Dornan’s. BY AARON DAVIS @ScreenDoorPorch

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OLA soul-funk band Nth Power oozes charisma. Super tight grooving with moody, powerful pockets of hypnotic fusion, this is some seriously heavy dance music spanning R&B, rock, gospel and world beat. What cannot be explained without seeing them live is offset by peeking at the personnel—drummer Nikki Glaspie (Dumpstaphunk, Beyonce), compounded by ultra melodic bassist/vocalist Nate Edgar (John Brown’s Body), guitarist Nick Cassarino (Jennifer Hartswick Band, Big Daddy Kane), West African djembe master Weedie Braimah (Toubab Krewe, Kreative Pandemonium), and keyboardist/vocalist Courtney “Jay-Mel” Smith. “It’s my dream team,” Glaspie said. The all-star band—which performed a Steely Dan tribute set at Jackson’s Contour Festival in 2015—curated a tribute show to Earth, Wind & Fire last month with proceeds benefiting a nonprofit. That could be a sneak peek into what new offerings they’ll dig into. “Serving the song up and writing a song up in a way that we can touch as many people as possible is really where we are coming from,” Edgar told PJH during the band’s last visit to the valley. “It really has to do with trying to communicate the human experience. And those fans that support live music are important to the preservation of live bands. I grew up on sampled music. I’m an old

Nth Power hip-hop head, love that early EDM and early dub and all that whanka whanka stuff. I’m a fan [of that music] for sure, but the community that loves humans playing the music is really important.” Nth Power, 10 p.m. Tuesday, January 31 at Town Square Tavern. $5. 307-733-3886.

Winship and West pick it up Local mandolin hero and fishing music purveyor Ben Winship has really picked up steam in the last year. He taught mandolin at a workshop in British Columbia in August, was on the road with Growling Old Men through the Northwest in October, his trio Brother Mule toured Germany back in November, after which he accompanied London-based artist Ben Somers for a week in England, Wales and Scotland. Now he’s gearing up for a Northern Rockies run with flatpicker Eli West. As for West, his longtime duo collaboration with

Cahalen Morrison is on hiatus after recently closing the chapter with a tour down under in Australia. A Seattlebased multi-instrumentalist that divulges angular note phrasing and non-traditional improvisation, West released three records with Morrison. Also playing guitar, banjo and bouzouki with Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project and John Reischman and the Pine Siskens, West had a stint with multi-Grammy nominee Sarah Jarosz’s band last year. The West-Winship assembly makes a lot of sense. They’re like-minded, progressive pickers that push the boundaries of bluegrass, old-time and obscure folk gems. Contrasting simplicity with complexity is the entertainment, both for these hot pickers and the audience. Getcha some. Ben Winship & Eli West, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, January 27 and 28 at Dornan’s in Moose. $15 at Dornan’s, Valley Bookstore, and The Liquor Store. 307-733-2415. PJH


Screen Door Porch Celebrates Civil Liberty Early proceeds from the band’s first EP to benefit ACLU of Wyoming. BY PATRICK CHADWICK @PatrickChadwick

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fter making three full-length albums at professional studios, the Jackson-based Americana band Screen Door Porch was looking to mix things up for its new release. “Right after recording our third album, we thought, hey, for the next thing that we do, we want to do it more rustic, more down home where we started,” said Seadar Rose, the singer-songwriter in Screen Door Porch. Rose’s bandmate/husband is PJH columnist Aaron Davis. Instead of waiting for inspiration to deliver the 10 or more songs typically required for an album, the band decided to focus heavily on five existing songs for an EP. Rather than booking studio time, they began recording last September where they were most comfortable: at their practice space in drummer Andy Peterson’s log cabin south of Jackson. Not wanting “rustic” to mean “unprofessional,” Screen Door Porch upgraded their recording equipment with the help of a Wyoming Arts Council grant and enlisted the local production talents of Dusty Nichols from the indie folk band, Canyon Kids. Recording the Pay It Forward EP at the log cabin captured sounds that could not be replicated in a proper studio, including an old guitar amp picking up the signals of Rush Limbaugh and another radio show at the end of the

Screen Door Porch EP’s opening track, “The Parade.” “It was one of those moments where you’re like, this only happens here—at this place,” Rose said. Happy accidents aside, Pay It Forward creates a casual sense of space, as if the listener is plopped down on a vintage chair in the band’s cabin, a glass of bourbon in hand. The five songs roll smoothly from heartland rock to slide-guitar blues to honky-tonk. Anchored by Peterson’s lively drumming and the fluid bass lines of band newcomer David Bundy, the guest appearances from Mark Longfield on keys, Rachel Gray Bundy on trumpet and Matt Herron on fiddle all find a natural place in the mixes. Fans can name their own price to buy an early digital download of the Pay It Forward EP at screendoorporch. bandcamp.com before its official release on Friday. Those

proceeds will go to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wyoming. “Now more than ever, [the ACLU] is really important,” Rose said. “We all really support the missions that they are going after, including LGBT rights, reproductive freedom and Standing Rock.” Screen Door Porch Pay It Forward EP release shows, 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, January 27 and 28 at the Trap Bar at Grand Targhee Resort. On Sunday, January 29, SDP plays 7 p.m. at the Silver Dollar Showroom and the following week at 8 p.m. Saturday, February 4 at the Knotty Pine in Victor. PJH A lover of sad songs in our happy valley, Patrick Chadwick is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and a content writer for local businesses.

n CREST No School Day Planetarium Programs Jackson Elementary School, Free, 844-WYO-STAR

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28

n Citrus Fest at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Knowledge is Powder Off Trail Camp 8:00am, Grand Targhee Resort, 800-TARGHEE

n Photography Composition & Visualization 8:30am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $77.00 - $92.00, 307-733-6379 n REFIT® 9:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $20.00, 307-733-6398 n Intro to Silversmithing Workshop 9:30am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $154.00 - $184.00, 307-733-6379 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Teton Valley Winter Farmers’ Market 10:00am, MD Nursery, Free, 208354-8816

n Screen Door Porch EP Release ‘Pay it Forward’ 3:00pm, The Trap Bar & Grill, Free, 307-353-2300 n Winter Wonderland - Ice Skating on Town Square 4:00pm, Town Square, $0.00 $8.00, 307-733-3932 n Après Ski and Art 5:00pm, Diehl Gallery, Free, 307-733-0905 n Daddy and Daughter Snow Ball 5:30pm, Grand View Lodge at Snow King Resort, $76.00, 307739-9025 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307733-3316

n Madame X Gala 6:00pm, Center for the Arts, $175.00, 307-733-3021 n Quenby and the West of Wayland Band 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Jack Nelson Band 8:00pm, Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, $5.00, 307-733-2207 n Greg Creamer 8:00pm, Knotty Pine, Free, 208787-2866 n Ben Winship and Eli West 8:00pm, Dornan’s, $20.00, 307739-2415 n The Funk Felons 9:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-733-3886

n Garrett LeBeau 9:00pm, Mangy Moose, $7.00, 307-733-4913 n Live Music w/ The Minor Keys 10:00pm, The Rose, Free, 307733-1500 n IFSA College Freeskiing Competition Grand Targhee Resort, 800-TARGHEE

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29

n Citrus Fest at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450

JANUARY 25, 2017 | 21

n Jack Nelson Band 8:00pm, Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, $5.00, 307-733-2207 n The Deadlocks 8:00pm, Knotty Pine, 208-7872866 n Ben Winship and Eli West 8:00pm, Dornan’s, $20.00, 307739-2415 n Gold Cone 9:00pm, Town Square Tavern, Free, 307-733-3886 n Garrett LeBeau 9:00pm, Mangy Moose, $7.00, 307-733-4913 n Friday Night DJ Featuring: Oh! Nassi 10:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, Free, 307-733-6379

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 23


| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

22 | JANUARY 25, 2017

IN MEMORY

Another Being Creative Remembering the life of artist, filmmaker and conservationist Anthony Birkholz. BY MEG DALY @MegDaly1

“A

nother being creative in the endeavor of the eternal now.” That was the tag line of beloved artist and environmental activist Anthony (Tony) Birkholz, who passed away January 18 surrounded by friends and family at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center’s Intensive Care Unit. Birkholz, 32, had been in a brief coma. His exact cause of death is still unknown. Birkholz grew up in Minnesota and moved to Jackson in 2006. He worked as a filmmaker and digital editor for a number of local businesses including Circ Video, Teton Gravity Research, and Yoga Today. He was very involved at the Teton Artlab. In recent years he gave much of his heart and time to Buffalo Field Campaign, a nonprofit organization that works to protect bison and their natural habitat. As friends responded to his sudden passing, many shared stories of his lasting impression in their lives. Resoundingly, people extolled Birkholz’s gentle nature, his ethic of kindness, and his deep spirituality. “It’s amazing the impact one person can have through the simple act of leading by example,” said artist Mike Parillo, a friend to Birkholz. “Men like Tony stand out like a gold brick on a black sand beach. I was touched by his infectious positivity, and he made me rethink how I could be a more kind and positive influence on the world in which I operate.” “Tony was of those people whose spirit just comes out of him,” said Wren Fialka, Spread the Love Commission founder. She called Birkholz one of her closest friends. “He was really mellow and quiet, incredibly loving, aware, and present.” Fialka joined dozens of friends and family in the ICU

before Birkholz passed, and People across the valley have been mourning the death of Anthony Birkholz. Friend Kelly Halpin created the above image in his honor. described feeling his presence in the room. A massage therapist, Fialka travhis digital media creations, beautiful meditative videos eled to be by Birkholz’s side so she could put oils on his blending music, images, and symbolism. feet in the hospital bed. One video, “The Singing Pond Milieu” shows looping “Even though that day was so hard, Tony made it a spe- footage of gently lapping waves moving over a rock in a cial day,” she said. “Every time I was overwhelmed with clear pond. The rock appears to pulse like a heart, sending sadness, I could hear him giggling in my ear. He reminded ripples and slow waves across the surface of the pond. The me about the cosmic giggle, which is a realm where all this viewer is drawn to contemplate spirals originating at the pain and suffering and drama that we create doesn’t have rock then spinning out, the pattern of the sky reflected that heaviness anymore.” on the water, and perhaps how the center of the universe Twenty-one-year-old Noah Jones remembered Birkholz might be anywhere, or everywhere. His videos can be as a friend and mentor. Jones met Birkholz two years ago viewed at vimeo.com/anotherbeing. when he first moved to the Jackson area. They floated the A number of Birkholz’s friends said they felt him still Snake River together and skated at the Driggs skatepark. with them. Hynes laughed and said she thought he was “He was inspiring,” Jones said. “He was so intelligent, playing innocent pranks on her from another dimension. much beyond any friends I had at the time. He opened “He’s a trickster,” she said. “He and I would laugh so hard me up to being more outgoing and pursuing dreams no together. He has a dry and witty sense of humor.” matter the cost.” But Birkholz also embraced the deeper parts of life, as Full Circle Frameworks owner and DJ Rocky Vertone well as the light. “He wanted people to believe in themremarked on Birkholz’s “gentle soul.” selves,” Hynes said, a sentiment echoed by his longtime “He taught me to just mellow out,” Vertone laughed. friend, artist Lyndsay McCandless. “He definitely helped me see things in a different light. “He inspired us to look within ourselves to see what He’d roll into my shop, and it was like, ‘Hey Tony!’ and our higher purpose is, and honor who our true selves we’d talk for a while. He always had positive things to say.” are,” McCandless said. “He pushed me to recognize that Both Jones and Vertone noted Birkholz’s skill as a BMX through art, I was having an impact and bringing people rider. “He was a badass,” Jones said. together.” Friends also commented on Birkholz’s talent as a cinNow, bringing people together is what his passing has ematographer and editor. Yoga Today executive producer done, a fact many acknowledged. McCandless called it a Kim Whitman said Birkholz was a “true artist” who gave web that he had woven throughout his life, and the world, of himself to the benefit of his community, wildlife and connecting the many different individuals and communithe planet. “He funded his own documentary projects that ties he touched. spotlighted underrepresented causes from bison conserMcCandless is helping to organize a celebration of vation to community recycling,” she said. Birkholz’s life that will take place in June, the month of his His colleague at Circ Video and Teton Gravity Research birthday as well as the summer solstice. The celebration Alden Wood had worked with Birkholz in 2007 and again will include an art exhibit curated by McCandless and a in 2014, calling him “brilliant.” Working alongside him on fundraiser for Buffalo Field Campaign. a recent project caused her to reflect, “If I could be editing In the meantime, those wishing to donate to Birkholz’s with someone of his talent and creativity I’d better pay memorial funds should visit his GoFundMe campaign attention and soak it all in.” organized by friend Casey Hardison, who writes on the For many, it was Birkholz’s courage to be his true self fundraising page, “Tony embodied the sun and the light of and pursue his artistic dreams that inspired similar per- the world. Tony warmed, and will continue to warm, the sonal awakenings. Close friend Danielle Hynes said that hearts of everyone he encounters with infectious laughter he taught her “to live with my heart, and to live with love, and thoughtful words of wisdom.” PJH not fear.” Hynes said Birkholz would stay up all night working on gofundme.com/tony-birkholz-slips-the-mortal-coil


MONDAY, JANUARY 30

n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Level 2 AvalancheAnalyzing Snow Stability And Avalanche Hazard 8:00am, CWC-Jackson, $475.00, 307-733-7425 n REFIT® 8:30am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $20.00, 307-733-6398 n Adobe Photoshop 9:00am, CWC-Jackson, $200.00, 307-733-7425 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Toddler Time 10:05am, Teton County Library Youth Auditorium, Free, 307733-2164 n White Lightning Open Mic Night 3:00pm, The Trap Bar & Grill, Free, 307-353-2300 n Brain Works 3:00pm, St. John’s Medical Center, $300.00, 307-739-7493 n Photoshop Basics 3:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $140.00 $168.00, 307-733-6379 n The Maw Band 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n Hand and Wheel 3:45pm, Ceramics Studio, $180.00 - $216.00, 307-7336379 n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Handbuilding Clay 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $184.00 $220.00, 307-733-6379 n Watercolor 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $160.00 $191.00, 307-733-6379 n One Ton Pig 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n The Nth Power 9:00pm, Town Square Tavern, $10.00, 307-733-3886

TUESDAY, JANUARY 31

n Citrus Fest at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450

FOR COMPLETE EVENT DETAILS VISIT PJHCALENDAR.COM

JANUARY 25, 2017 | 23

n Citrus Fest at Jackson Whole Grocer 7:00am, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450 n Dance & Fitness Classes All Day 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Digital Photography 9:00am, CWC-Jackson, 307733-7425 n Beginning Painting 9:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $160.00 $191.00, 307-733-6379

n Adobe Photoshop 9:00am, CWC-Jackson, $200.00, 307-733-7425 n Create with Me: Ages 2 & 3 with caregiver 9:15am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $75.00 - $90.00, 307-733-6379 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Professional Development Series 10:00am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $5.00, 307-7336379 n Kindercreations Ages 3-5 10:30am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $80.00 - $96.00, 307-733-6379 n Foreign Policy Series: The Future of Europe 12:00pm, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-2164 n B.O.G.D.O.G - Band On Glen Down on Glen 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n After School Kidzart Club: Grade K-2 3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $165.00 $198.00, 307-733-6379 n Handbuilding Plus! 3:30pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $150.00 $180.00, 307-733-6379 n Pica’s Margarita Cup presented by JHSC 3:30pm, Snow King Mountain, 307-733-6433 n Studio Sampler 3:45pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $264.00 $316.00, 307-733-6379 n Hootenanny 6:00pm, Dornan’s, Free, 307733-2415 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Printmaking 101 6:00pm, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $200.00 $240.00, 307-733-6379 n Foreign Policy Series: The Future of Europe 6:00pm, Teton County Library, Free, 307-733-2164

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

n Knowledge is Powder Off Trail Camp 8:00am, Grand Targhee Resort, 800-TARGHEE n Intro to Silversmithing Workshop 9:30am, Art Association of Jackson Hole, $154.00 $184.00, 307-733-6379 n Sleigh Rides 10:00am, National Elk Refuge, $15.00 - $21.00, 307-733-0277 n Moose Gumbo 3:00pm, The Trap Bar & Grill, Free, 800-TARGHEE n Major Zephyr 3:30pm, Mangy Moose, Free, 307-733-4913 n Winter Wonderland - Ice Skating on Town Square 4:00pm, Town Square, $0.00 $8.00, 307-733-3932 n Garrett LeBeau 4:00pm, Mangy Moose, $7.00, 307-733-4913 n Stagecoach Band 6:00pm, Stagecoach, Free, 307-733-4407 n Great Until Late 6:00pm, Local Stores, Free, 307-733-3316 n Italian Wine-Paired Dinner 6:00pm, Orsetto, $150.00, 307203-2664 n Screen Door Porch EP Release Show ‘Pay it Forward’ 7:00pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-733-2190 n The Center Presents High Anxiety: The Moth in Jackson Hole 7:00pm, The Center Theater, $45.00 - $85.00, 307-733-4900 n Hospitality Night - Happy Hour 9:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, 307-733-1500 n IFSA College Freeskiing Competition Grand Targhee Resort, 800-TARGHEE


| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

24 | JANUARY 25, 2017

TRACI MCCLINTIC

FEAST

Saved and Devoured How the valley’s rescued food is enjoying a makeover. BY TRACI MCCLINTIC

I

n 2015 more than 200,000 pounds of food was diverted from dumpster demise thanks to Hole Food Rescue, now more local folks are devising creative ways to dress that food up. Salvaging foods that have potentially surpassed their “best by” dates, or are on the borderline of becoming inedible is a time sensitive business. When overflowing crates arrive at their destination, the work is not done, it’s just beginning. The goal is to get the food into the right hands, hands with the skill and will to revitalize lackluster ingredients. Preventing further waste requires resourcefulness, creative thinking, and initiative to ensure food rescue efforts have not been made in vain. Michael Ratliff, lead cook and kitchen manager for Jackson’s Good Samaritan Mission, has become skilled at taking life’s lemons and making lemonade, or tomato sauce out of cases of overripe tomatoes, croutons out of loaves of stale bread, and soup stock from leftover chicken and turkey bones. He even has a recipe for overripe cantaloupe, which involves freezing the fruit after it has been peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks, then placing the frozen chunks into a juicer to spin out a quick cantaloupe sorbet. “In 2016, we served 16,547 meals here at the mission and gave away 37,453 pounds of food boxes to local community members, and 30,226 pounds to Hispanic Ministries from Blackfoot, Idaho,” Ratliff noted. He prepares meals by hand with the help of local volunteers, with food from Hole Food

From baklava to a yonana sundae, Katherine Bouma, assistant kitchen manager at C-V Ranch, has whipped up various dishes with ingredients rescued or donated from Hole Food Rescue. Rescue and leftover inventory from local resorts, Dominos and Pizza Hut, and the seasonally operated restaurants in Grand Teton National Park. “The annual food budget for Good Samaritan Mission is only $4,000, and I stick to it!” Ratliff proclaimed. Calculated out, he spent only about 25 cents per meal in purchased food to supplement ingredients coming in from last year’s salvage projects. But he still managed to stock a full salad bar, and serve dishes like bacon wrapped trout, crudité platters, cheese boards, fruit stuffed watermelon baskets, and his signature Fowl soup made from homemade stock, vegetables, chicken and turkey. The principal goal of the mission’s food program is not only feeding those in need, but also distributing food. This same mentality is shared by organizations around the valley, including those running Jackson Hole Bible College, where refurbished food has been on the menu since 1996. “One of the most elaborate meals I have seen created with almost entirely salvaged food was bacon and minced mushroom stuffed pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes, salad bar and various toppings, the full nine yards,” said Tim Thornton, food distribution manager for The Manna Ministry, which uses the Bible College as a hub to help distribute an estimated 100,000 pounds of food a year throughout the valley. Thornton, who grew up in Indonesia, contributes his own culinary flare to the salvaged food scene in the form of a chocolate avocado milk shake. “One time we had so many cases of avocados, and you can only eat so much guacamole, so I blended them up with condensed milk, ice, regular milk, and fancified the glass with a drizzle of chocolate syrup,” he said. It might sound like an unconventional concoction, but he stands by the recipe. Like everyone else faced with large quantities of surprise ingredients and a fast narrowing window in which to utilize them before they go bad, Thornton must innovate. Katherine Bouma, assistant kitchen manager at C-V

Ranch, picked up more than 300 pounds of produce from HFR last Friday, a haul which included 45 pounds of over-ripened bananas. Students working in the school vocational program there helped peel, freeze and process the fruit into frozen banana yogurt to be used in the afterschool snack program. “We’ve made dried fruit for trail mix, juiced fruit and poured it into popsicle molds, fried thin sliced potatoes to make homemade potato chips, cut them into wedges for steak fries, used different breads for bread pudding, and soup—we’ve made a lot of soup,” Bouma said. Her goal is to teach students to be open to trying different foods and to get creative in the kitchen. Donated ingredients, she says, are great teaching tools because there is no harm done to the program’s food budget if recipes bomb. Sure, words like refurbish, refresh, revitalize, and repurpose are not usually associated with the food scene, but are perfectly fitting when it comes to describing the efforts that go into preparing salvaged products. And the best part is that all of these organizations work together and are willing to share, not just with each other, but also with anyone in the community willing to experiment with ingredients that have lost their curb appeal. For more info on these efforts attend the Food Talks, hosted by St. John’s Episcopal Church. Channeling the TED Talks style of presentation, this week marks the first in a series of conversations discussing how people’s lives have been affected by the work of organizations focused on feeding folks. In closing, I will leave you with something I overhead while visiting the Good Samaritan Mission: “Sharing food is showing love.” PJH Food Talks, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 25 at St. Johns Episcopal Church, Hansen Hall.


Trio is located just off the town square in downtown Jackson, and is owned & operated by local chefs with a passion for good food. Our menu features contemporary American dishes inspired by classic bistro cuisine. Daily specials feature wild game, fish and meats. Enjoy a glass of wine at the bar in front of the wood-burning oven and watch the chefs perform in the open kitchen.

Dinner Nightly at 5:30pm 45 S. Glenwood Available for private events & catering For reservations please call 734-8038

Featuring dining destinations from buffets and rooms with a view to mom and pop joints, chic cuisine and some of our dining critic’s faves!

ASIAN & CHINESE TETON THAI

Serving the world’s most exciting cuisine. Teton Thai offers a splendid array of flavors: sweet, hot, sour, salt and bitter. All balanced and blended perfectly, satisfying the most discriminating palate. Open daily. 7432 Granite Loop Road in Teton Village, (307) 733-0022 and in Driggs, (208) 787-8424, tetonthai.com.

THAI ME UP

Home of Melvin Brewing Co. Freshly remodeled offering modern Thai cuisine in a relaxed setting. New tap system with 20 craft beers. New $8 wine list and extensive bottled beer menu. Open daily for dinner at 5pm. Downtown at 75 East Pearl Street. View our tap list at thaijh.com/brews. 307-733-0005.

CONTINENTAL ALPENHOF

Serving authentic Swiss cuisine, the Alpenhof features European style breakfast entrées and alpine lunch fare. Dine in the Bistro for a casual meal or join us in the Alpenrose dining room for a relaxed dinner experience. Breakfast 7:30am-10am. Coffee & pastry 10am-11:30am. Lunch 11:30am-3pm. Aprés 3pm-5:30pm. Dinner 6pm-9pm. For reservations at the Bistro or Alpenrose, call 307-733-3242.

THE BLUE LION

A Jackson Hole favorite for 38 years. Join us in the charming atmosphere of a historic home. Ask a local about our rack of lamb. Serving fresh fish, elk, poultry, steaks, and vegetarian entrées. Live acoustic guitar music most nights. Early Bird Special: 20% off entire bill between 5:30-6:0pm, Open nightly at 5:30 p.m. Reservations recommended, walkins welcome. 160 N. Millward, (307) 733-3912, bluelionrestaurant.com.

1/16 COLOR AD TH

• FREE PRINT LISTING (50-75 WORDS) • FREE ONLINE LISTING ON PLANETJH.COM • 6 MONTH MINIMUM COMMITMENT • $25 A WEEK CASH OR $40 A WEEK TRADE ON HALF OFF JH

SALES@PLANETJH.COM OR 307.732.0299

Serving inspired home cooked classics in a historic log cabin. Enjoy brunch daily at 8 a.m., Dinner Tues-Sat 5 p.m. and Happy Hour Tues-Sat 3-5:30 p.m. featuring $5 glasses of wine, $5 specialty drinks, $3 bottled beer. 135 E. Broadway, (307) 732-1910, genevievejh. com.

ELEANOR’S

Enjoy all the perks of fine dining, minus the dress code at Eleanor’s, serving rich, saucy dishes in a warm and friendly setting. Its bar alone is an attraction, thanks to reasonably priced drinks and a loyal crowd. Come get a belly-full of our two-time gold medal wings. Open at 11 a.m. daily. 832 W. Broadway, (307) 733-7901.

FULL STEAM SUBS

The deli that’ll rock your belly. Jackson’s newest sub shop serves steamed subs,

JANUARY 25, 2017 | 25

CONTACT YOUR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE TODAY TO LEARN MORE

CAFE GENEVIEVE

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

SCOOP UP THESE SAVINGS


| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

26 | JANUARY 25, 2017

reubens, gyros, delicious all beef hot dogs, soups and salads. We offer Chicago style hot dogs done just the way they do in the windy city. Open daily11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Located just a short block north of the Town Square at 180 N. Center Street, (307) 733-3448.

Local is a modern American steakhouse and bar located on Jackson’s historic town square. Serving locally raised beef and, regional game, fresh seafood and seasonally inspired food, Local offers the perfect setting for lunch, drinks or dinner.

Lunch 11:30am Monday-Saturday Dinner 5:30pm Nightly

HAPPY HOUR Daily 4-6:00pm

307.201.1717 | LOCALJH.COM ON THE TOWN SQUARE

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL

20%OFF ENTIRE BILL

Good between 5:30-6pm • Open nightly at 5:30pm Please mention ad for discount.

733-3912 160 N. Millward

Make your reservation online at bluelionrestaurant.com

ELY UNIQUPEAN EURO

F O H ‘ E H

T

INNERGE D I UNCHETON VILLA L I T IN T FAS BREAKE ALPENHOF AT TH

AT THE

LOCAL

Local, a modern American steakhouse and bar, is located on Jackson’s historic town square. Our menu features both classic and specialty cuts of locally-ranched meats and wild game alongside fresh seafood, shellfish, house-ground burgers, and seasonallyinspired food. We offer an extensive wine list and an abundance of locally-sourced products. Offering a casual and vibrant bar atmosphere with 12 beers on tap as well as a relaxed dining room, Local is the perfect spot to grab a burger for lunch or to have drinks and dinner with friends. Lunch MonSat 11:30am. Dinner Nightly 5:30pm. 55 North Cache, (307) 201-1717, localjh.com.

LOTUS CAFE

Serving organic, freshly-made world cuisine while catering to all eating styles. Endless organic and natural meat, vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices. Offering super smoothies, fresh extracted juices, espresso and tea. Full bar and house-infused botanical spirits. Open daily 8am for breakfast lunch and dinner. 140 N. Cache, (307) 734-0882, tetonlotuscafe.com.

MANGY MOOSE

307.733.3242

®

For all MEETING AGENDAS AND MINUTES WEEKLY CALENDAR JOB OPENINGS SOLICITATIONS FOR BIDS PUBLIC NOTICES AND OTHER VALUABLE INFORMATION

Large Specialty Pizza ADD: Wings (8 pc)

Medium Pizza (1 topping) Stuffed Cheesy Bread

$ 13 99

for an extra $5.99/each

(307) 733-0330 520 S. Hwy. 89 • Jackson, WY

The public meeting agendas and minutes for the Board of County Commissioners and Planning Commission can also be found in the Public Notices section of the JH News and Guide.

MILLION DOLLAR COWBOY STEAKHOUSE

Jackson’s first Speakeasy Steakhouse. The Million Dollar Cowboy Steakhouse is a hidden gem located below the world famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Our menu offers guests the best in American steakhouse cuisine. Top quality chops and steaks sourced from local farms, imported Japanese Wagyu beef, and house-cured meats and sausages. Accentuated with a variety of thoughtful side dishes, innovative appetizers, creative vegetarian items, and decadent desserts, a meal at this landmark location is sure to be a memorable one. Reservations are highly recommended.

SNAKE RIVER BREWERY & RESTAURANT

America’s most award-winning microbrewery is serving lunch and dinner. Take in the atmosphere while enjoying wood-fired pizzas, pastas, burgers, sandwiches, soups, salads and desserts. $9 lunch menu. Happy hour 4 to 6 p.m., including tasty hot wings. The freshest beer in the valley, right from the source! Free WiFi. Open 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 265 S. Millward. (307) 739-2337, snakeriverbrewing.com.

Visit our website

TetonWyo.org

Mangy Moose Restaurant, with locally sourced, seasonally fresh food at reasonable prices, is a always a fun place to go with family or friends for a unique dining experience. The personable staff will make you feel right at home and the funky western decor will keep you entertained throughout your entire visit. Teton Village, (307) 733-4913, mangymoose.com.

LOCAL & DOMESTIC STEAKS SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK @ 5:30 TILL 10 JHCOWBOYSTEAKHOUSE.COM 307-733-4790

TRIO

Owned and operated by Chefs with a passion for good food, Trio is located right off the Town square in downtown Jackson. Featuring a variety of cuisines in a relaxed atmosphere,

THE LOCALS

FAVORITE PIZZA 2012, 2013 & 2014 •••••••••

$7

$4 Well Drink Specials

LUNCH

SPECIAL Slice, salad & soda

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

TV Sports Packages and 7 Screens

Under the Pink Garter Theatre (307) 734-PINK • www.pinkygs.com


Trio is famous for its wood-oven pizzas, specialty cocktails and waffle fries with bleu cheese fondue. Dinner nightly at 5:30 p.m. Reservations. (307) 734-8038 or bistrotrio.com.

ITALIAN CALICO

A Jackson Hole favorite since 1965, the Calico continues to be one of the most popular restaurants in the Valley. The Calico offers the right combination of really good food, (much of which is grown in our own gardens in the summer), friendly staff; a reasonably priced menu and a large selection of wine. Our bar scene is eclectic with a welcoming vibe. Open nightly at 5 p.m. 2560 Moose Wilson Rd., (307) 733-2460.

MEXICAN

Two- fer Tuesday is back !

Two-for-one 12” pies all day. Dine-in or Carry-out. (LIMIT 6 PIES PER CARRYOUT ORDER, PLEASE.)

EL ABUELITO

Serving authentic Mexican cuisine and appetizers in a unique Mexican atmosphere. Home of the original Jumbo Margarita. Featuring a full bar with a large selection of authentic Mexican beers. Lunch served weekdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nightly dinner specials. Open seven days, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. 385 W. Broadway, (307) 733-1207.

HALF OFF BLAST OFF!

PIZZA DOMINO’S PIZZA

11am - 9:30pm daily 20 W. Broadway 307.201.1472

PizzeriaCaldera.com

FAMILY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT PIZZAS, PASTAS & MORE HOUSEMADE BREAD & DESSERTS FRESH, LOCALLY SOURCED OFFERINGS TAKE OUT AVAILABLE

A Jackson Hole favorite since 1965

PINKY G’S

The locals favorite! Voted Best Pizza in Jackson Hole 2012, 2013 and 2014. Seek out this hidden gem under the Pink Garter Theatre for NY pizza by the slice, salads, stromboli’s, calzones and many appetizers to choose from. Try the $7 ‘Triple S’ lunch special.Happy hours 10 p.m. - 12 a.m. Sun.- Thu. Text PINK to 71441 for discounts. Delivery and take-out. Open daily 11a.m. to 2 a.m. 50 W. Broadway, (307) 734-PINK.

PIZZERIA CALDERA

Jackson Hole’s only dedicated stone-hearth oven pizzeria, serving Napolitana-style pies

using the freshest ingredients in traditional and creative combinations. Five local microbrews on tap, a great selection of red and white wines by the glass and bottle, and one of the best views of the Town Square from our upstairs deck. Daily lunch special includes slice, salad or soup, any two for $8. Happy hour: half off drinks by the glass from 4 - 6 daily. Dine in or carry out. Or order online at PizzeriaCaldera.com, or download our app for iOS or Android. Open from 11am - 9:30pm daily at 20 West Broadway. 307-201-1472.

SWEETS MEETEETSE CHOCOLATIER

Reservations at (307) 733-4913 3295 Village Drive • Teton Village, WY

www.mangymoose.com

Meeteetse Chocolatier brings their unique blend of European style chocolates paired with “Wyomingesque” flavors. Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit, Sage, Huckleberry and Sarsaparilla lead off a decadent collection of truffles, Belgian chocolates and hand made caramel. Sample Single Origin and Organic chocolates at our Tasting Station. Open Weekends, 265 W. Broadway. 307-413-8296. meeteetsechocolatier.com

CHASING TAILS

30 MINUTE DOG WALK FOR $15

JH COMPUNET

1 HOUR OF COMPUTER REPAIR/ CLEAN UP FOR $47.50

CORE CHANGES WITH CAREY

PIZZERIA CALDERA

FULL STEAM SUBS

JACKSON HOLE FEED & PET

50% OFF ONE DROP IN CLASS FOR NEW CLIENTS FOR $9 $10 VOUCHER FOR $5

DOMINO’S PIZZA $25 VOUCHER FOR $12.50

REVOLUTION INDOOR CYCLING

$20 VOUCHER $10

$25 VOUCHER - NEW CLIENTS ONLY FOR $12.50

TETON COUNTY SOLID WASTE & RECYCLING UP TO 100 LBS OF E-WASTE RECYCLING FOR $20

1-MONTH UNLIMITED INTRO - NEW CLIENTS ONLY FOR 49.50 SINGLE CLASS PASS FOR $10

REDEEM THESE OFFERS AT HALFOFFJH.COM

JANUARY 25, 2017 | 27

Mangy Moose Restaurant, with locally sourced, seasonally FRESH FOOD at reasonable prices, is a always a FUN PLACE to go with family or friends for a unique dining experience. The personable staff will make you feel RIGHT AT HOME and the funky western decor will keep you entertained throughout your entire visit.

SAVE UP TO 50% OFF

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Dining room and bar open nightly at 5:00pm (307) 733-2460 • 2560 Moose Wilson Road • Wilson, WY

Hot and delicious delivered to your door. Hand-tossed, deep dish, crunchy thin, Brooklyn style and artisan pizzas; bread bowl pastas, and oven baked sandwiches; chicken wings, cheesy breads and desserts. Delivery. 520 S. Hwy. 89 in Kmart Plaza, (307) 733-0330.


| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

28 | JANUARY 25, 2017

New Perspectives, New Possibilities “I cannot understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones...” - Nicola Tesla

E

very day we gladly update the apps on our phones and eagerly anticipate the launch of new technologies. Here are some recent discoveries, which invite us to update some long held beliefs about our relationship to the world, the cosmos and ourselves. It’s evolutionary to update beliefs; it brings us closer to being galactic citizens. And it’s fun to expand our horizons.

Our relationship to history Old assumptions: History of civilization began about 5,500 years ago. History has a linear progression and therefore we are the most advanced. New evidence: History is cyclical. Advanced civilizations have repeatedly been on this earth. There appear to be cycles of about 5,000 years during which civilizations rise and fall and disappear. We now have peer-reviewed science of technologically advanced civilizations in Peru, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, India and Africa, which pre-date the end of the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago. Further evidence suggests these repeating 5,000-year cycles of advanced civilizations may go back half a million years.

Our relationship to what is real Old assumption: Only what we perceive with our five senses is real. Seeing is believing. New evidence: The majority of what is possible and what is happening exists outside the visible light frequency. We are taking in a fraction of it and thinking it is everything. The visible portion makes up an incredibly small fraction of the total electromagnetic spectrum. Less than 1 percent of all light that reaches us is in the visible spectrum. By most estimates it comes out to about .0035 percent of the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Because the human eye is incredibly limited in its range, we see only that one tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Our relationship to the soul Old assumption: The soul is in the body. New concept: The body is in the energy field of the soul. The soul can link with this physical body to experience itself in this physical Earth reality. The consciousness of the soul is non-local, meaning it is not limited by time or space. Something like the cloud is to a computer, the soul records everything it has experienced wherever it has been, since creation. We are souls having a human experience. Being able to access the information in the soul could give us the equivalent of a cosmic internet. The physical body is the only temporary part, and like everything else, it recycles.

Our relationship to our body Old assumption: We are separate from our bodies. New evidence: Every cell responds and reacts to our every thought, belief, action and emotion. How many cells are listening to us and communicating among themselves? Latest calculation: 37.2 trillion. Our bodies are in a constant feedback loop with us.

Our relationship to the cosmos Old assumptions: The Milky Way is only one of a limited number of galaxies. All galaxies are spirals. All stars and galaxies are separate from one another. New evidence: Current research estimates there are 2 trillion galaxies in the observable region of the cosmos. This is in the observable universe; how much is beyond our ability to even “view”? To date, spiral, elliptical, lenticular and other “irregular” shaped galaxies have been documented. When we look at the stars they all seem to be separate. However, sophisticated telescopes probing the non-visible light spectra have revealed that all stars and galaxies are connected by what literally looks like a web of energy.

And now back home— our relationship to people we admire Old concept: The attributes and accomplishments of our heroes and heroines are a cut above us and not within our capabilities. New perspective: The attributes of people we admire are precisely the qualities we are intending to develop and/or refine and/or express in our own way in our lives. Yes! PJH

Carol Mann is a longtime Jackson resident, radio personality, former Grand Targhee Resort owner, author, and clairvoyant. Got a Cosmic Question? Email carol@yourcosmiccafe.com


WELLNESS COMMUNITY

These businesses provide health or wellness services for the Jackson Hole community and its visitors.

DEEP TISSUE • SPORTS MASSAGE • THAI MASSAGE MYOFASCIAL RELEASE CUPPING

Oliver Tripp, NCTM MASSAGE THERAPIST NATIONALLY CERTIFIED

253-381-2838

180 N Center St, Unit 8 abhyasamassage.com

Professional and Individualized Treatments • Sports/Ortho Rehab • Neck and Back Rehab • Rehabilitative Pilates • Incontinence Training • Pelvic Pain Rehab • Lymphedema Treatments Norene Christensen PT, DSc, OCS, CLT Rebekah Donley PT, DPT, CPI Mark Schultheis PT, CSCS Kim Armington PTA, CPI No physician referral required. (307) 733-5577•1090 S Hwy 89

www.fourpinespt.com

Enjoy

TM

®

Transcendental Meditation Center of Jackson Hole Introduction - Instruction Refreshers - Advanced Programs

307-690-4511

www.tm.org/transcendentalmeditation-jackson

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

JANUARY 25, 2017 | 29

TO ADVERTISE IN THE WELLNESS DIRECTORY, CONTACT JEN AT PLANET JACKSON HOLE AT 307-732-0299 OR SALES@PLANETJH.COM.


| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

30 | JANUARY 25, 2017

SUDOKU

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9. No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

L.A.TIMES “NOWHERE” By Robyn Weintraub

SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2017

ACROSS

1 Where there’s smoke 5 Happy, in Juárez 10 They go with the flow 15 Misplace 19 Ninth Greek letter 20 Girl who obeyed 4-Down 21 Courtier in “Hamlet” 22 Gem for some Libras 23 Black kitten crossing your path? 25 Wedding registry category 26 Old TV knob 27 Aftershock 28 Exhilarating 30 Princess Peach creator 32 Words often etched in stone 34 Transgressions timeline? 36 Villain Luthor 37 “Boston Legal” co-star 38 Name change indicator 39 It’s done in Paris 43 Superfund agcy. 45 Clears 46 Bad-mouthed 49 Matching food containers? 53 Summer getaway 54 Worked one’s fingers to the bone 55 One may be jam-packed 56 Angler’s shout 58 Dept. head 59 Straight 60 Biblical prophet 62 Medium power? 63 It feels like forever 64 New England proceedings concerning allergic reactions? 69 Indication to stop playing 72 Letters for 94-Across 73 Get the message 74 Brand whose ads feature alpenhorns 78 Pipe plastic 79 Arms treaty subjects, briefly

82 83 84 86 89 90 91 92 93 94 96 99 102

2001 boxing biopic Went on and on Places for reflection Cheating millionaire? Doc’s pal Kings, e.g. TV’s “Science Guy” Go across Canal site Crook’s creations Gardner of old Hollywood Tony Soprano’s quilt? Emergency supplies delivery point 107 Area of severe industrial decline 108 Brainless 110 Like typical laundromats 111 First century Roman emperor 112 When “eye of newt” is mentioned in “Macbeth” 114 Wrigley’s in-house hip-hop group? 116 It could be fishy 117 Feudal lord 118 Two-time N.L. batting champ Lefty 119 __ facto 120 Nursery stock 121 Fountain fare 122 Tweeting locales 123 IRS agents

DOWN

1 Laundry challenge 2 Chateau-dotted valley 3 Consummate 4 Fictional words written in currants 5 Spenser’s “The __ Queene” 6 “Don’t Bring Me Down” gp. 7 Branches 8 Bakery artist 9 Apex 10 Speeding 11 Camel debris

12 Peripheries 13 Even smaller 14 Digitizes, in a way 15 Affectionate celebration 16 “Let me in,” facetiously 17 Restaurateur with an honorary Tony 18 “The Lion King” co-composer John 24 Lounge about 29 Puppeteer Lewis 31 Marquee time 33 Biz bigwig 35 Conclusion beginning 37 Hero material? 39 56-Across object 40 Frivolous 41 Like a pin? 42 Get some Intel, say 44 Undercover attire? 46 Longtime “SNL” announcer 47 Freezer aisle breakfast brand 48 “Jurassic Park” co-star 50 Prefix with hertz 51 Blind reverence 52 Relaxed pace 53 Mozart’s “__ fan tutte” 57 Scare stiff 61 Destination for many srs. 63 Natty neckwear 65 Just about makes, with “out” 66 Get better 67 Raptor features 68 NYC line to the Hamptons 69 Record speeds, for short 70 Really bad 71 Picture of a picture 75 “Movin’ __”: “The Jeffersons” theme 76 Contemporary of Ella

77 Mideast seaport 79 “Piece o’ cake!” 80 His and hers 81 Calming agents 85 Powerful power sources 87 Ruhr Valley city 88 Cause of white knuckles 90 Fixed, as one’s lipstick 94 Union union 95 Christopher Paolini fantasy best-seller 97 They may be recorded separately 98 Each 99 Succumb to gravity 100 Surpass 101 Board with a room? 102 Reps’ promotions 103 “Not another word!” 104 Latish lunch hr. 105 Like the mythological AesirVanir War 106 HP competitor 109 Hosiery shade 113 Supermarket chain with a redand-white logo 115 Hard thing to get out of


REDNECK PERSPECTIVE SATIRE

Hog Island M16 Intel Briefing BY CLYDE THORNHILL

I

was called in to brief Ndogo Uume, the new Hog Island mayor, on our latest intelligence operations. We met in the situation trailer, a 1998 Thunderbird singlewide that had been refitted with a big screen TV and a fridge full of Bud Lite. I updated Uume on the efforts of Hoback Junction president Blatter-mire Poopin to initiate a cyber-attack on Hog Island by jamming cable reception during the Super Bowl. His operatives, posing as cable repairmen, intended to steal all the Bud Lite and eat all the bacon wrapped sausage Super Bowl snacks. I suggested we inform Poopin that if he doesn’t back off, Hog Island M16 will open a Starbucks next to the Hoback Store. Then Hoback Junction would be overrun with Connecticut transplants and Wilson moms talking about book clubs and white wine, I explained. Poopin would be blamed and every Hobacker with a pickup truck and shotgun would be hunting him. “Poopin’s a great, remarkable, incredible, amazing leader,” Uume said. “Who do you think caused the delay in the Hoback Bridge? He made millions! I’m hoping for a similar coup with the new Hog Island School. Plus he tipped the election to me by spreading rumors that my opponent was a closet latté sipper! Your intel is faulty; you’re a retarded, idiot, stupid, Mexican, Jew, black,

immigrant, nasty Westbanker!” I took my rebuke in silence then moved on to other security issues. “A branch of the Teton Pines Syndicate operating out of Sudachi Sushi is responsible for pushing sashimi to impressionable teenagers in the trailer park,” I told the mayor. “Kids are becoming addicted to raw yellowfin and the mob is squeezing them to feed their habit. It has been reported that some Hog Islanders have hocked guns, even pickup trucks to feed their addiction. I explained to Uume how I infiltrated Sudachi by disguising myself as a Connecticut skier. I dressed in a gingham murray shirt with a fleece harbor vest and pincord slim breaker pants, my reservation confirmed by the concierge at Hotel Terra. (Unbeknownst to the Sudachi host, the reservation was made from a safe-trailer in lower Hog Island.) I eavesdropped on Tony “the Sushi seller” Spilotro, a Brooklyn mafiosi who carried out murders for various crime bosses before moving to the Pines. By drowning Hog Island in sushi, he is hoping to expand his raw fish empire beyond the South Park Bridge. “We recommend flooding the Hog Island region with barbequed pork ribs from Big Hole Barbeque,” I told the mayor. “No kids are going to get addicted to sushi when barbequed ribs are available. “It’s time to vote for Best of Jackson Hole!” Ndogo Uume replied. “I’m going to tweet that Andrew Munz is an overrated actor. I’m voting for Kjera Strom Henrie as Best Actor.” I was exasperated. I wondered if Uume realized the seriousness of the situation. Strom Henrie doesn’t even do nude scenes. “We’re talking the theft of beer and bacon and rampant sushi usage among our children,” I said, stunned. “Hey,” he complained. “I can only do one tweet at a time.” PJH

Elizabeth Kingwill,

MA/LPC

Licensed Professional Counselor • Medical Hypnotherapist

Counseling: • Individual • Premarital • Marriage/Family • Anxiety, Stress

• Anger Management • Pain Relief • Depression • Stop Smoking

733-5680

Practicing in Jackson since 1980 • www.elizabethkingwill.com Flexible Hours - Evening & Weekends • Now Accepting Blue Cross Blue Shield

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

JANUARY 25, 2017 | 31


32 | JANUARY 25, 2017

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |


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