Planet Jackson Hole 11.29.17

JACKSON HOLE’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE | PLANETJH.COM | NOVEMBER 29-DECEMBER 5, 2017

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M R O F E R E C I T S U J L A N I M I R C S D E L W L I K O O L H B W L A N I F E H T . par t 2

2 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE | | OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

JACKSON HOLE'S ALTERNATIVE VOICE

VOLUME 15 | ISSUE 46 | NOV 29-DEC 5, 2017

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11 COVER STORY WHO KILLED CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM? THE FINAL BLOWS

WHO KILLED

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STICE REFORM CRIMINAL JU BLOWS L A IN TH E F part 2 .

Cover illustration by Vaughn Robison

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DEMO IN CRISIS

16 CULTURE KLASH 18 MUSIC BOX

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20 CINEMA

REDNECK

8 THE BUZZ

26 EAT IT

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567 W. BROADWAY | P.O. BOX 3249 | JACKSON, WYOMING 83001 | 307-732-0299 | WWW.PLANETJH.COM

BY METEOROLOGIST JIM WOODMENCEY

THIS WEEK

NORMAL HIGH NORMAL LOW RECORD HIGH IN 1949 RECORD LOW IN 1972

34 11 55 -32

WHAT’S COOL

WHAT’S COOL

Average low temperatures this week are getting down close to 10-degrees as we finish out the month of November and head into December. Chances are we could get close to that average low this week, but the chances of getting down near the record low temperatures for this week would be a long-shot.

Record low temperatures are in the 20 to 30 below zero range. The coldest of those records was the minus 32-degree reading from December 5th, 1972.

Average high temperatures this week are still in the mid-30’s as we enter the first days of December. Record high temperatures this week are in the 50’s, with a good spread of those records dating back to the 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, and 1979. The warmest temperature ever recorded in Jackson during this week was 55-degrees, which dates back to December 1st, 1995. Contrast that with the record cold high temperature we had on December 5th, 1992 of one-degree.

AVERAGE PRECIPITATION: 1.3 inches RECORD PRECIPITATION: 4.2 inches (1988) AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 9 inches RECORD SNOWFALL: 40 inches

Carpet - Tile - Hardwood - Laminate Blinds - Shades - Drapery Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm Open Tuesdays until 8pm 1705 High School Rd Suite 120 Jackson, WY 307-200-4195 www.tetonfloors.com | www.tetonblinds.com

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

THIS MONTH

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 3

After a warmer than normal Thanksgiving Weekend, temperatures are cooler and closer to normal this week. We did break a record this past Sunday, November 26th, when it hit 60-degrees in town. The old record high temperature for that date was 54-degrees, set back in 1990. Prior to that, the warmest temperature ever recorded around the Thanksgiving holiday was 58-degrees on November 25th, 1949. That was sixty-eight years ago, so I doubt there are many who would remember that record.

SPONSORED BY GRAND TETON FLOOR & WINDOW COVERINGS

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

JH ALMANAC

NOV 29-DEC 5, 2017

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6 OPINION

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4 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

DUD e , WHere’s

SHOVELING REQUIREMENTS Additionally, we would like to remind people: Town residents are responsible for keeping sidewalks shoveled.

my car?

• The TOJ assists with snow removal in the downtown core and along Broadway.

• Residents should not put their garbage cans out the night before, but rather after 7:00am on garbage days.

The Town of Jackson’s overnight parking ban is in effect.

SO, if you want to avoid all kinds of hassles, listen up!

PARKING RESTRICTIONS

• Please keep trash cans, cars, and other obstacles out of the streets and off of the curbs.

This saves your property and makes the streets more clear of drifts and snow.

November 1 through April 15, between 3:00am & 7:00am,

it is illegal to park overnight on Jackson streets, including public parking lots, regardless of weather (rain, snow or shine). Crews begin plowing at 3am. Parked cars on town streets make the job of keeping roads clear of snow more difficult.

Consequently, cars left on town streets between 3am & 7am will be ticketed and may be towed by Jackson police. To retrieve your car, contact Ron’s Towing at 733-8697, 1190 S. Hwy 89. Overnight parking for 48 hours or less is allowed in the public parking structure at W. Simpson Ave. and S. Millward St. but not on other town parking lots.

SNOWPACK REPORT This season’s snowpack kicked off early with over 120 inches of snowfall in Rendezvous Bowl, which had settled to about a 50-inch base. The 2017-2018 early season snowpack is not specific to the Tetons; across the west the mountains have been covered in whiteness for months.

Sadly, two avalanche fatalities already occurred, one in the Madison Range in Montana on October 7 and the other on November 22 at Hatcher Pass in Alaska. Both individuals were experienced backcountry skiers.

In the Tetons, a snowstorm arrived on September 14 and lasted until September 26. This storm laid the base for this season’s snowpack. The mountains received up to two feet of dense snow. Then, over the first few days of October, another storm brought 12 to 18 inches.

The month of October continued with significant accumulation on the 13th and then again on the 20th to the 21st. November continued with more stormy

• Residents are also encouraged to help keep fire hydrants clear of snow.

BROUGHT TO YOU

BY THE FRIENDLY FOLKS AT THE TOWN OF JACKSON

SPONSORED BY HEADWALL RECYCLE SPORTS

weather. From November 1st to 6th, over forty inches of snow fell with high winds, causing a natural avalanche cycle. Another potent storm crossed over the Tetons from November 15th to 18th, which dropped almost 30 inches of snow.

For those who are willing to work for it, the riding season began months ago. The high water content in the snow created a supportable mini-pack, where only a few inches kept one from punching through to the ground.

Locally, lift access started at Grand Targhee over two weeks ago and at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort over a week ago. Over Thanksgiving week, warm temperatures and rain settled the snowpack and, once refrozen, reduced the avalanche hazard. So far this season the snowpack is strong and stable, but we will have to wait to see after the next storm arrives.

- Lisa Van Sciver

Dude columnist struggles with what it means to be a man, female editor has doubts

BY BAYNARD WOODS AND MARY FINN

M

Power & Equality. Afrocentric by Shepard Fairey

a one-time ass grab and the guy got scolded, that’s different than a serial predator.” Should the consequences be applied bluntly or is there any room for nuance? I mean, I don’t want a boss who even grabbed one ass. But, would I be okay with a onetime ass-grab senator if he votes to keep Obamacare? I’m not sure how to judge.—M.F. Some young men growing up in this moment may take the failures of Franken and C.K. and Charlie Rose as hypocrisy and embrace their inner Trump. They have an answer to these questions that they can use: Ignore it all. Be A Men’s Rights Douche or a FarRight Western Chauvinist ™.

I got a text from a “good guy” friend of mine:”Jesus Christ, Charlie Rose??”

The more “good guy” or “progressive” the accused, the harder the blow. It really may be ALL men. Yes, even Charlie Rose. Are there any “good” guys out there?—M.F It’s the “good guys” who can be especially problematic because they hide behind their rhetoric (Franken): they can be sexual predators AND be seen as feminists/champions for the people. At least we know who Roy Moore really is.—M.F. Others will hold their worst parts in check out of fear of social consequences. Is that the best we can hope for, something like a paraphrase of Flannery O’Connor? “He would have been a good man ... if there had been someone there to shoot him every minute of her life” Didn’t we already have this conversation during Anita Hill? I’m skeptical.—M.F. PJH

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 5

know Trump won’t be held accountable. Is that why so many women are participating in this national mass disclosure movement? If you can’t hold the president accountable, may as well make sure your boss isn’t a mini-Trump. —M.F. More than 50% of white women voters checked the box for Donald Trump, even after all of this was known.

He also defeated the first woman nominee. I think that matters but I’m not entirely sure how. Why are the women feeling any level of confidence to tell their stories with THIS guy as president? I’d think it would have been safer to disclose when Obama, a self-declared feminist, was in charge.

Why now?—M.F. It’s weird that we’ve turned all of this horror into a partisan issue, but that is partially what it has become. And the Democrats are responding horribly.

It is unbelievable that the Clintons threw themselves an anniversary celebration of the 1992 win. I’ve always believed that Clinton raped Juanita Broaddrick in the 1970s. It was disgusting to see the Democratic party luminaries celebrating Clinton. Bill Clinton and Donald Trump got away with sexual assault and got elected. Democrats need to reject Bill Clinton to have any credibility on Trump.—M.F. Rather than seeing this as an opportunity to truly interrogate themselves and what they are as a party, they want Franken to stay because they see it as politically advantageous.

Is there any gradation in how we judge what all these men did? My women friends say things like, “If it’s

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

ary Finn, an editor with Democracy in Crisis, often makes extensive notes on my columns—in this case, we decided they were far more interesting than the column itself. So we left them, in dialogue with a half-formed column.

I have been trying to figure out a way, as a white man, to write about the mounting evidence that we are all horrible. Who needs to hear what I say about this?

Some guys are staying away from writing about this because they’ve behaved badly and they don’t want to be hypocrites or get caught. Can Glenn Thrush (NYT) write credibly about Trump’s assaults when his own aggression and follow-up apology emails are now on full display? This column’s women readers may feel dissatisfied with your reflections. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.—M.F. I made a list of every man I’ve ever known who I’d put my 401K on the line that they’ve 1) Never harassed someone at work 2) Never coerced a woman for sex 3) Never could be perceived by a woman as doing any of the above.

There are four men on my list and I’m 42. Maybe we’re now seeing men for who they are. Even the “good” men.

The “good men” need to see themselves as they are, not how they want to be seen.—M.F. I’ve been talking to parent friends about raising boys to be good men. Is this even possible?-M.F. But in the absence of an idea of what the good man may even be like, I worry that the more racist a man is the more likely he is to be believed and his victims vilified. Donald Trump and Roy Moore are only the most obvious examples.

I was talking to a nominally progressive guy in San Francisco and he said, “I mean, it just seems like we can’t win. It feels like no matter what we do, it’s never enough.” This guy despises Roy Moore but he feels misunderstood and attacked for being a man in the Me Too moment. There’s some solidarity between Mobile, AL and the Bay Area after all.—M.F. Sixteen women have gone on record to say they were sexually assaulted or harassed by Donald Trump. He himself admitted to assaulting women in the Access Hollywood tape. There are further allegations that he raped a 13 year old. He was elected.

It’s not a coincidence that the Women’s March was the first mass movement under Trump. Trump will get away with his sexual assaults. Still, there’s something that’s happened to me since he got elected that has changed the way I see men. A friend told me she is sick of men. Me too. I’m having a hard time staying patient with men who pontificate. I think I’m holding regular guys (bosses, landlords, men on blind dates) accountable in a way I didn’t use to because I

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A Good Man Is Hard to Find

STEVE SNODGRASS VIA FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

6 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

GUEST OPINION Fishing in Troubled, Powerful Waters STEPHEN LOTTRIDGE

O

rganizations grow dysfunctional when the formal power structure and the actual locus of power diverge. That is the case in the United States today.

To a certain extent, it is always the case in any organization, especially in large ones. Powerful personalities, powerful ideas and powerful financial interests draw people to them, no matter where in the structure they are located, but the issue has become acute in our political system currently.

As President Carter pointed out, we are now an oligarchy more than a democracy. A more accurate term would be plutocracy. Strikingly wealthy and secretive financial groups greatly influence, and sometimes control national campaigns and governments, with the goal of protecting their own economic interests, hiring spokespeople to conflate their interests with those of the country at large.

The Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United opened the floodgates, although considerable seepage had developed before that, thanks to PACs and the ingenious manipulation of purportedly not-for-profit organizations for political lobbying purposes.

This situation is not new in the history of the United States. The first decades after the Revolutionary War saw intense struggles to define the relations between states and the Federal Government and between individuals and any government. Those struggles continue. The Constitution itself did not guarantee equal rights or opportunities to all people; it allowed discrimination of many kinds.

Always, the relationship among moneyed and privileged groups, ordinary citizens and the government has required a delicate balance. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Gilded Age, a few hands accrued immense wealth and those hands influenced the conduct of government inordinately.

In a few instances, private interests actually bailed out the government, not for altruistic reasons, but because the collapse of the government would have damaged their own positions.

Any society inevitably confronts the question of where it wants governmental power to reside, and different opinions contend with one another. A country such as the United States that attempts to combine a democratically elected, republican form of national government with a private, corporate capitalistic economic system, faces the issue in its own way.

Following the Great Depression, which was in some part the result of the excesses of the Gilded Age, the federal government moved to restrict the unchecked influence of the financially powerful few. It devoted much of its energy to protecting the working and less affluent members of the body politic through legislation designed to provide a cushion against monetary and social catastrophe. Under Roosevelt’s New Deal and later Johnson’s Great Society, the federal government took firmer, more expansive control over economic and social institutions and strove to protect the wellbeing of most of the citizens more thoroughly than had been the case before. Even conservative administrations and legislatures saw the importance of protecting the general populace and the environment in which we all live. During this time, the formal structure of government coincided more closely with actual centers of power.

Many people opposed such reforms and believed that the solution to our economic problems lay in unfettered private capitalism. For them, the only rightful activity of the federal government was to attend to the military security of the country. The far right represents this view today, and has more recently dedicated itself to undoing the civil protections enacted through much of the twentieth century.

Their view of the future is the past.

They desire to return the country to what they envision it to have been some hundred to hundred and twenty years ago, with the addition of the global power it accrued after WWII. They want to undo the protections the New Deal and later administrations and legislatures put in place for working men and women, for the middle class and for the environment, and let unfettered private enterprise and financial speculation reign.

And we now have a president with chaotic ideas, no consistent policy

positions, no experience in government, only occasional interest in performing the actual tasks of president, a dictator’s mentality and the attention span and impulse control of a hyperactive twoyear-old. He sees the world in terms of competitive winners and losers, rather than of cooperative alliances and mutual interests. He suits their purposes perfectly.

Trump’s ballyhooed executive orders have been designed primarily to undo governmental protections for the environment and for working people, many of them the very ones who voted him into office. The purported goal is to free the populace from unwarranted governmental interference and regulation.

Except for a few basic national functions, such as military defense, all else should be left to private citizens, private organizations and local governing bodies as they see fit. On paper, this looks like the greatest freedom for the greatest number. In practice today, it means control by giant corporations, financial institutions and their leaders, who, freed from electoral and financial control and regulation, will run roughshod over the middle and working classes.

The current budget proposals making their way through Congress are a clear example. While giving token and temporary tax relief to members of the lower and middle economic strata, they greatly reduce the tax burden on the wealthiest of individuals, on giant corporations and on financial institutions who already know how to evade taxes legally.

The purported justification is that this will spur the economy and everyone will benefit. A rising tide lifts all boats.

Except that trickle- down economics has never worked in the past and there is no sane reason to think it will work today.

And it takes no account of the boats tied to docks by reason of poor education, training or social conditioning.

“Government over-reach” has been a rallying cry of the right for several years. Trump’s actions hew to that line.

They support government under-reach.

Federal over-reach certainly does exist.

Large organizations, especially governments, tend to become cumbersome and to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, for the sake of bureaucratic efficiency.

This approach may indeed put burdensome and pointless restrictions on the work of small businesses and local governments, even on individual citizens, and in some cases, creates conflict with already sufficient, more local,

regulations and procedures. We would all benefit from adjusting and easing those strictures.

And, in truth, thousands of people game the welfare systems at the expense of those in real need. The issues are not monolithic and neither side is entirely right. But prudence would suggest that we not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Trump’s executive orders so far – and there is no reason to think they will change–support a massive undoing of federal protections for the disadvantaged, the needy and for all of us in regard to the environment and climate change.

It is not clear whether Trump actually believes these orders will benefit our country, or if he is caught in the noose of his own incautious and reality-television campaign promises. He may simply be being led by those in whose interests (including his own and his family’s) these orders are being issued, or he may primarily be reacting to all things Obama, in a long-lasting fit of pique.

Probably some of all of them.

The fact is, Trump does not have a plan, nor does he want one. His approach to government is to rely on instinct and reactiveness, not on information and planning. He made that clear in his campaign and has proven it in his first year in office; he intends to keep others guessing. He thrives on chaos. The less people know about where he is headed, the better chance he has of taking them by surprise for his own benefit.

That may work well in a competitive, entrepreneurial world; it works far less well in the network of alliances and institutions that rely on predictability and a certain level of openness and transparency. His approach, attitude and character structure lead him to surround himself with a narrowing circle of obedient, often sychophantic people, to indulge in nepotism and to practice a paranoid style of unpredictable behavior, rife with sudden swerves and short term solutions.

One group that especially benefits from such a chaotic and unpredictable manner of governing is wealthy speculators and financial manipulators and investors. The less oversight, the less transparency, the better.

The more troubled the civic and governmental waters, the better the fishing. Everyone else is chasing the chaos; they are quietly profiting. In their profiting, they accrue greater and greater wealth and power, which increases the

Underage: It’s not just for Alabama anymore!

BY CLYDE THORNHILL

P

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 7

lanet Jackson Hole’s interview with three teenage women who claim Hog Island mayor Ndogo Uume made improper sexual advances towards them has caused an uproar in the Hog Island political establishment.

Repercussions of the scandal have reached as far as Star Valley, where the concept of “age of consent” is considered left-wing, politically correct liberal governmental meddling.

At yesterday’s press conference, Uume’s Press Secretary Sara Hucksterabee venomously denied that the mayor had inappropriate contact with underage women and called the article in the Planet lies planted by Uume’s political enemies.

“Tweeds sent by the mayor stating he assaulted, dated and walked in on underage girls while they were changing clothes for his sponsored Hog Island Bacon Queen competition are rhetorical in nature, not meant to be taken literally.” Hucksterabee insisted.

“Uume had no contact with any of the women interviewed at any time, ever, never did it, didn’t happen, end of story, period.’

Hucksterabee said.

“But even if he had, we’re talking several weeks ago, hardly proper to bring up accusations after the fact. And besides what is improper sexual advances supposed to mean anyway?

What if a mosquito landed on her behind and he swatted it away in a heroic

attempt to reduce the chance of malaria? These charges are perpetrated by women who are evil, lying, conniving and bad and who will be publically ostracized, sued, arrested and charged.

If it had really happened, why didn’t they come forward sooner? What could they have possibility been afraid of?”

At a fundraiser, Uume was defiant about the charges.

“I don’t know anything about the woman,” he said. “I don’t even remember the rose tattoo on her left butt cheek, a yellow rose if I don’t remember right. If you look at the situation, you’ll see it’s all about politics. I am a good Christian; just look at my record. For years I’ve been publically expressing hate toward those who are different than myself. That proves I follow the teachings of Jesus.”

Uume’s latest girlfriend vouched for his character.

“We’ve been together for like almost a whole month.” She explained. “We met on the town square after the bouncer at the Cowboy Bar like wouldn’t let me in. Ndogo, or as I like to call him, my little, very little, Do-doie, knew the bouncer and he, like, cashed in a favor to get my fake I.D. approved. Do-doie paid for all the Tequila I could drink and an order of chicken wings! The next morning we had breakfast in bed with lots of bacon! Tons of bacon! The biscuits were store bought Pillsbury, but no one is perfect. Do-doie got me up, got me dressed, gave me some aspirin and a beer for my hangover and drove me to school in time for my freshman English class! I love English class first thing in the morning, gives me a chance to catch up on my sleep. That is not the behavior of a man that makes improper sexual advances toward t e e n agers. I would say very proper ad v a nc e s indeed!”

PJH

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Stephen Lottridge is a former professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and a retired clinical psychologist. He has lived in Wyoming for 29 years, the last 23 of them in Jackson. He is a writer of plays, stories and essays, and is concerned about the current direction of our country.

SATIRE

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dysfunction of the body politic. And through clever propaganda, misinformation and disinformation, they managed to persuade the very people who will suffer most from their policies to support their candidate, who now our president.

I don’t believe that Trump was fully complicit in this design. His thinking would not be suitable for such intricate, conscious planning. He was certainly not the first choice of the power brokers on the right. But once it became clear that he was the Republican choice, they seized upon the opportunity and fed him his lines. They saw that his very impulsiveness and unbridled crudity could serve their purposes. For him, I believe, it was always a show. He played to his audience, as he plays to it now. If something he says evokes a response, he rides that response to its limits. It was, and is, a heady game for him.

And behind the scenes, the far right grows its plans and tends to its interests. Trump made promises willy-nilly during the campaign, most of them based on false information he either made up or had been fed. But a formless candidate with no fixed ideas, who could possibly be manipulated, was a good second best. So he has proven to be as president.

History teaches us that every action breeds a reaction. We can hope that an informed citizen response and activism will burgeon as the plutocratic excesses of the current power structure become increasingly evident. But it will be a long road, and the actual and pending catastrophes of the world’s societies, political structures, and the ability of the planet itself to sustain a thriving human population require all of us to band together, now.

The seeds of discord Trump has sown, and the plutocracy’s seining of the waters Trump has troubled, pose a grave danger. We need to listen to each other. We are all in this together.

“America First” is a ringing slogan.

It obscures the fact that America’s well-being depends on the well-being of our entire world, in all its complexity.

Oligarchy, plutocracy, will not get us there. PJH

REDNECK PERSPECTIVE

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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

8 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

THE BUZZ Animal Action Teton County residents are pushing for successful local prosecutions and changes in animal cruelty laws for Wyoming

BY ANGELICA LEICHT @writer_anna

T

eton County residents, get your virtual pens ready.

A campaign to change Wyoming’s lax animal cruelty laws and ensure Wyoming outfitter Forest Stearns is successfully prosecuted on charges of cruelty to animals is ramping up on Facebook, and it’s going to require a lot of letters to be successful.

The Facebook group, “Justice for Horses of Stearns Outfitters-Wyoming,” is spearheaded by Jackson resident Mary Wendell Lampton and photojournalist Leigh Vogel, whose work to rescue abused sled dogs in Aspen was recently highlighted in a documentary about the case.

The Facebook group is, in part, calling on concerned residents to write letters to Governor Matt Mead’s office to call for outside support to be sent to the Teton County prosecutors handling Stearns’ case. The group is hoping that if Stearns’ case is successfully prosecuted, it will set precedence for other animal cruelty cases that are sent to local courts.

“The greatest possible outcome I could ask for with this case against animal cruelty would be to enlighten those not yet aware that it is in protecting, honoring and living in balance with all of the natural world-all plants, all animals, every living thing including the planet herself,” Lampton said. “That is the path to our own true happiness and well-being as humans.”

Lampton first became involved in the case on August 8 when she videotaped Stearns, her neighbor, allegedly torturing one of his horses for several hours before it died. The horse can be seen bleeding and kicking throughout the video.

Vogel, whose work heard about the case through Lampton and offered her

assistance.

Stearns was charged with one count of misdemeanor animal cruelty stemming from the incident. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.

For some, a misdemeanor charge isn’t enough for Stearns, who owns the now-defunct Stearns Outfitters in Wilson. The Teton County resident has a long history of legal issues that includes a handful of DUIs for which he was found guilty.

Other charges against Stearns for “unlawful contact: rude, insolent or angry touch without bodily injury,” and one count of battery against a household member, were dismissed, according to court records.

Stearns is perhaps best known for pleading guilty in 1981 to assault and battery charges after he and three other men lassoed an African American man who was riding a bicycle.

According to court documents from the case, on July 17, 1980, Jackson resident Wendall Brown was riding his bike between the Gros Ventre Bridge and Gros Ventre Junction when four men rode up alongside him with a looped rope hanging out the window.

“A rope was then thrown out the passenger window of the vehicle, looping around the left side of the handlebars of the victim’s bicycle,” according to the documents.

Brown was dragged over 200 yards before the truck stopped. Stearns was sentenced to two weekends in Teton County Jail in that case.

This is also not the first time Stearns has been investigated for animal cruelty. A similar complaint against Stearns was launched in 2015, but the Teton County Prosecutor’s Office was unable to move the case forward.

This time, Stearns’ case is going to move forward, though – and Lampton wants to make sure there is as much support in place as possible so that local prosecutors are able to do their jobs.

Lampton recently reached out to Wyoming Governor Matt Mead’s office to ask for additional support to help Teton County Prosecutor Becket Hinckley prosecute Stearns’ abuse case. The letter to Mead read, in part: “Jackson Hole is one of the most highly visited areas in the country. It directly represents the heritage and treatment of horses, and ought to set an example in that regard. This case has been highly publicized and is bringing a negative image to our town and horse culture.

A still from the video taken by Mary Lampton that sparked an animal cruelty investigation.

There is a proven correlation between those who harm animals and those who harm people. The Humane Society reports: “Of those who commit animal crimes, 65% had been arrested for battery against another person”. As a community and as representation for all communities, we here in Jackson Hole want to ensure the safety and rights for all, animals and people alike, and to be assured that our local authorities are taking right action on our behalf.”

But so far, the governor’s office hasn’t agreed to send in the outside support Lampton and Vogel think is necessary to help the Teton County Prosecutor’s Office do its job.

That’s why the group has been calling on community members to appeal to Mead via a letter writing campaign.

The more noise they make, the more change they may help put into place.

Lampton said that while they do hope Stearns is successfully prosecuted, this push for support from the governor’s office isn’t only about the Stearns case. It’s about changing the laws for Wyoming as a whole, making it easier for other communities to curb animal abuse.

“What I want to accomplish is not just the prosecution of Stearns but the change to Wyoming laws. They’re extremely weak; we’re at the bottom of the list for animal cruelty laws,” Lampton said.

That change won’t come easy, given that Wyoming ranks an appalling 48th in the nation for its lax cruelty laws. The state needs a serious animal cruelty overhaul, according to Lampton, and it will take knowledgeable, active community members to make that happen.

Luckily, Lampton said, there are plenty of folks who have already climbed aboard to help steer the ship.

“There are so many people involved who have brought forth incredible contacts and experts – Liz Brimmer and Liz Hirschland have both been incredible – and we need as many people on board to help as possible if we want things to change,” she said.

It isn’t enough to just take animal cruelty on a case-by-case basis.

“We need more of this community to change the laws; we need them to say they need law enforcement to be held accountable,” Lampton said.

The only way that any real change will be effected is if that happens.

Accountability – not only from animal owners but from every single angle – is key.

“We’re hoping that we’re shining a light to make sure the legal system and communities are held accountable from bottom to top,” she said. PJH

Hypothetical Hunting Ten grizzlies fair game in hypothetical 2017 hunt ANGUS M. THUERMER JR., WYOFILE.COM

T

Two grizzly bears rummage for army cutworm moths in a high-altitude talus field where animals gather seasonally in larger-than-usual numbers. Some residents have asked Game and Fish to protect grizzlies from hunters in such high-value food areas.

think that’s going to be the case,” he said.

Among the ideas proposed were a prohibition on hunting in the 24,000-acre John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway between Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Grizzlies should not be hunted on some high-elevation talus slopes where they gather seasonally in groups to forage for army cutworm moths, an attendee said.

Other proposals called for mandatory education of hunters and for hunts to focus on bears known to have a history of conflicts with people, their property and livestock. Game and Fish, which would charge $600 for a resident grizzly license and $6,000 for a non-resident one, should seek revenue sources other than hunting licenses, one attendee said.

Game and Fish also gathered ideas about population monitoring, research, conflict management, outreach and education.

No hunting in Jackson Hole?

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 9

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

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The department spent an average of $2.06 million on grizzly bear conservation between FY 2012-2016, officials told WyoFile. In fiscal year 2015, the agency paid $457,516 for livestock and other property losses from grizzly bears, according to department data.

The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce and the group Wyoming Wildlife Advocates have challenged Game and Fish over a potential hunt of grizzlies, listed as “trophy” game by the agency. Wildlife is a top draw for visitors in Teton County’s tourism-driven economy, the chamber said in an April letter to Game and Fish. Consequently, hunt areas and quotas should “explicitly account for the economic value that bears represent for tourism and businesses in Wyoming.”

Two grizzly bears rummage for army cutworm moths in a high-altitude talus field where animals gather seasonally in larger-than-usual numbers.

This could include “significantly reduced or no trophy hunting in and around Jackson Hole,” the letter said.

Also, Wyoming should not immediately institute a hunt, then chamber president Jeff Golightly and chairwoman Julie Faupel wrote.

Visitors would pay an extra $41 to see a bear, according to a study in Yellowstone.

Authors said the figure might have been higher if they had included a figure more than $50 for the hypothetical guarantee.

Tourism generated $1.02 billion in Teton County in 2016, including $54 million in state and local taxes, Wyoming Wildlife Advocates said. “There is no economic justification for hunting grizzlies in Teton County,” the group said in a flyer it distributed at last week’s meeting. “There is no scientific justification for hunting grizzlies in Teton County; There is no cultural justification for hunting grizzlies in Teton County.”

Grizzly supporters have filed at least six suits challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to remove the Yellowstone grizzly from the threatened species list. Those include action by the Humane Society of the United States and Fund for Animals; WildEarth Guardians; Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and National Parks Conservation Association; the Crow Indian Tribe et al.; the Alliance for Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council and Western Watersheds Project; and Jackson Hole and Illinois resident and attorney Robert Aland. PJH

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o illustrate the potential magnitude of a state grizzly bear hunt, Wyoming Game and Fish department calculated hunters could have legally shot up to six male and four female bears during a hypothetical season in 2017.

Agency officials presented those figures in Jackson last week, part of an eighttown tour to collect residents’ input on grizzly bear management. While the meetings are designed to gather public sentiment and ideas on everything from research to conflict resolution, the prospect of a hunting season is paramount in the minds of conservationists, hunters, stockmen and others.

“That’s why a lot of you people are here, I imagine,” Dan Thompson, the agency’s large carnivore section supervisor, told a crowd of 80 persons at the Jackson meeting.

The department will consider public comments from the listening tour, which ends Dec. 4 in Lander, then possibly present a hunting proposal for public comment early next year. Any plan is expected to be prepared in time for the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission’s April meeting, the scheduled time the commission votes to set hunting seasons for the year.

Until this week, agency officials have declined to speculate what the scoping meetings might produce, what the department might recommend and how the commission might vote. Last Wednesday, however, Jackson regional wildlife supervisor Brad Hovinga broke that silence.

Asked whether he thought the state would allow a hunt, he said there is a “high probability the department’s going to go that way — at some point.”

Federal sideboards remain to ensure 500 bears The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed Yellowstone ecosystem grizzlies from the list of threatened species earlier this year, turning over management to Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Grizzlies have been protected almost continuously since 1975, when there were fewer than 140 in the ecosystem.

Since then the population has grown and spread beyond the 19,279 squaremile Demographic Monitoring Area in which the official population is estimated annually. Wyoming, Idaho and Montana must maintain at least 500 grizzlies in the DMA to keep the species off federal protection lists. The goal is for a population of around 674, the average between 2002 and 2014.

In addition to a Wyoming quota, Idaho and Montana could institute hunts in their portion of the ecosystem. Hunt quotas there would be much lower than in Wyoming because they contain correspondingly less grizzly habitat. Wyoming has 58 percent of the ecosystem habitat and therefore is entitled to that portion of huntable bears.

Yellowstone-area grizzlies would be managed according to where they live in various zones around two national parks.

Outside the Demographic Monitoring Area, Wyoming would have little tolerance for grizzlies that conflict with human activities.

Game and Fish estimated a current DMA population of 695 grizzlies in producing its hypothetical hunt numbers for this year. A hunt of females would be limited to “independent” bears traveling without cubs, according to an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In addition to the population minimums, females with cubs must be well-distributed across the DMA and total mortalities — deaths from all causes including hunting, vehicle collisions and agency culling of problem bears — must not exceed certain parameters. Bears outside the monitoring area are not counted in the annual population estimates and it is uncertain how they might figure into a hunting season and agency quotas.

Females traveling with cubs would be protected there.

At the Jackson meeting, sentiments ranged from pro- to anti-hunting, including strong feelings in this tourism-oriented town that the state should recognize the economic value of grizzlies to wildlife viewers and visitors from around the world.

Asked if he favored hunting, one attendee stated “absolutely.” Regarding the prospect of hunting, another said “it shocks me.”

Officials told attendees any hunt season would be “based on science,” and the population would persist. If the public overwhelmingly said it did not want a hunting season, “there would not be a hunting proposal,” Cody regional supervisor Dan Smith told WyoFile. “I don’t

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Nerd Alerts

By THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL

WEIRD

Since Twitter announced that it would allow 280-character messages rather than its original 140, a whole new world has opened up for the game-addicted among us.

Gizmodo reports that tweeters are using the expanded tweetspace to play board games such as chess, Connect Four, Shogi and Go. Games are even being customized; one tweet enthuses about “Marine biology twitter-chess.

With a new marine biology fact every time a piece is moved, and a scientifically accurate death scene when a piece is taken.” Uh, ok. n A sharp-eyed Google Earth user from Leeds, England, searching for Longcross Studios in Surrey, came across a “Star Wars” fan’s dream: the Millennium Falcon, nestled inside a ring of stacked shipping containers and covered with a tarp. Andi Durrant tweeted about his find on Nov. 8. The spaceship was used in filming “Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi” at Longcross; that movie is set for release Dec. 15.

Sweet!

Becky Reilly of Omaha, Nebraska, was forced to call in a roofing company after discovering thousands of honeybees had invaded her home’s attic, producing so much honey that it was dripping down the side of the house.

“We heard a loud and rhythmic buzzing, and it was somewhat terrifying because we knew what it meant,” Reilly told KETV. Jason Starkey of Takoda Green Roofing said he removed about 40 pounds of honey on Oct. 26 before moving the bees and tackling the damage, which he called “horrible.” Local beekeeper John Gebuhr moved the bees to his garage, but he is pessimistic about their survival through the winter. But Reilly’s friends and neighbors are thrilled: They’re getting honey for Christmas!

Inappropriate

An Indonesian museum, De Mata Trick Eye Museum in Yogyakarta, has been forced to remove an exhibit that encouraged visitors to take a selfie with a waxwork of Adolf Hitler. The figure, which stood in front of a giant image of the entrance to Auschwitz concentration camp, had been on display since 2014, and the museum said it was one of the most popular displays. Metro News reported that the museum originally defended the exhibit as “fun,” but when the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles demanded its removal, the museum complied, taking it down on Nov. 10.

Ewwww!

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Reserve online at www.bluelionrestaurant.com

OF THE

Sean A. Sykes Jr., 24, of Kansas City, Missouri, has discovered one way to avoid the justice system. Sykes was detained in a Sept. 1 traffic stop, but he denied any knowledge of the drugs and handguns found in the car, The Kansas City Star reported. As he was being questioned at the police station, the detective wrote in his report, Sykes was asked his address. In response, he “leaned to one side of his chair and released a loud fart before answering with the address. Mr. Sykes continued to be flatulent and I ended the interview,” the detective wrote. Charges were not filed at that time, but Sykes was pulled over again on Nov. 5 and was in possession of marijuana, crack cocaine and a stolen pistol. He was in custody awaiting a bond hearing.

10 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

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NEWS

OFF SEASON SPECIAL

Least Competent Criminals

A loss prevention officer at a Vero Beach, Florida, Walmart happened to catch 25-year-old Cheyenne Amber West and another woman as they carried out some complicated maneuvers in the electronics aisle on Nov. 6. The officer told the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office that West and her friend chose a computer, video game controllers and other items worth a total of almost $2,000, then covered the bar codes with stickers taken

from less-expensive clearance items. They then moved to the self-checkout lane, where their loot totaled just $3.70. “I am just trying to get gifts for my son that I cannot afford,” West told officers. “The computer is for my husband. Since he just got me a Coach purse, I figured he deserved something nice as well.” Treasure Coast Newspapers reports that West was charged with felony grand theft and felony shoplifting and was released on $3,000 bail. The other woman was not charged. n Rondell Tony Chinuhuk, 32, of Anchorage, Alaska, had the pedal to the metal on Nov. 7 when he nicked a motorized shopping cart from a Safeway store in Fairbanks. But the battery-operated Mart Cart tops out at 1.9 miles per hour, so even after a 10-minute joyride, he had barely left the parking lot. The Fairbanks Daily NewsMiner reported that Chinuhuk was charged with felony second-degree theft.

A New Twist on Yard Work

Council officers for the village of Blubberhouses in North Yorkshire, England, stumbled upon seven trash bags full of cannabis plants at the side of a road on Nov. 12, according to the BBC. They contacted the North Yorkshire Police, whereupon Constable Amanda Hanusch-Moore tweeted a photo of the bags and invited the owners to “come and speak to us at Harrogate Police Station, we’re more than happy to discuss!”

Voting Woes

Douglas Aaron Shuttlesworth, 34, was simply trying to exercise his civic duty when he reported to an elementary school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to vote on Monday, Nov. 6, the day before Election Day. Susquehanna Township police arrested Shuttlesworth for DUI after he appeared at the school intoxicated and admitted he had driven there to vote. The Associated Press reported that Shuttlesworth’s mother elucidated: Her son thought it was Tuesday. n Poll workers at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine, made an unusual discovery on Election Day: Someone had left behind a plastic bag with a complete set of dentures inside. UPI reported that the dental prosthetics were removed to the Portland City Clerk’s office, where they await retrieval by their (presumably) toothless voter.

Naked and Weird

Joseph Vaglica, 40, of Edgewater, Florida, surprised a woman at her New Smyrna Beach home on Nov. 7 when, naked, he burst in through the garage door and ran through her kitchen “acting irrationally.” The homeowner dashed next door to her stepson’s house and called 911, reported the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Meanwhile, Vaglica helped himself to some of the woman’s clothes, then ran outside and started banging on the windows at the stepson’s home. When New Smyrna Beach police officers arrived, Vaglica was rolling around in the grass.

Police said he was intoxicated; he was later charged with burglary with assault. n Sullivan, Missouri, police department Lt. Patrick Johnson joined the town’s residents in witnessing a barrage of weird behavior on Nov. 3 and 4. Johnson thinks the people who were “barking like dogs or other farm animals, running up and down the street, entering people’s homes, breaking into a business” were high on flakka, a synthetic drug, mixed with methamphetamine, although the substances have not yet been tested. Some of the people broke into a nightclub, stripped down to their birthday suits and showered in fountain water or soda, according to the Sullivan Independent News.

Two people were arrested, and others were treated at a hospital.

Send tips to weirdnewstips@amuniversal.com.

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NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 11

?

M R O F E R E C I T S U J L A N I M I R C D E S L L W O L WHO KI B L A N I F E H T .

BY ANDREW GRAHAM, WYOFILE.COM par t 2

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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

12 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

ANDREW GRAHAM/WYOFILE

I

n January of 1991, Wyoming was one year shy of carrying out its last execution to date. The state had sentenced Mark Hopkinson, a football player turned criminal mastermind, to death for orchestrating a murder.

With the execution date approaching and a legislative session underway, three Democratic lawmakers proposed a constitutional amendment to ban executions in Wyoming. If passed, the question of state executions, and thus Hopkinson’s life, would have been left to voters.

Rep. Doug Chamberlain, a Republican from agrarian La Grange, was the Majority Floor Leader in the House of Representatives then. A Vietnam war veteran, he had served in the House since 1977.

While the Speaker of the House and Senate President decide whether a bill will be introduced at all, the floor leader determines the order in which it will be debated. It’s a powerful prerogative, particularly as time winds down on short legislative sessions and the bills stack up.

Before the deadline for bills to move off the House floor, Chamberlain called a press conference. He told reporters he planned to hold 14 bills and let them die — including the Democrat’s resolution.

“I don’t know Mike Hopkinson or his case,” Chamberlain told the press, according to an Associated Press article at the time. “I am concerned that if we consider and debate the death penalty, we have changed the rules, the level of the playing field when a resolution of the Hopkinson case is still in balance,” he said.

The House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a watered-down version of the amendment, which allowed the governor to commute a death sentence to life imprisonment. The House’s secretary was getting hundreds of calls a day asking for the bill to reach the floor, Chamberlain recalled.

“I realize I have opened myself up to abuse,” he told reporters. “But I feel the general public needs to know how these decisions were arrived at so they can contact their legislators. And I will not be the least bit offended if the majority of the House overrules me, because it is their prerogative if they so see fit.”

The overruling vote never came. Gov. Mike Sullivan did not intervene. Hopkinson was executed on Jan. 22, 1992.

“The sanctity of the process exceeded any personal feeling I might’ve had one way or another,” Chamberlain told WyoFile recently. Once the Legislature starts interfering with the courts and the justice system based on the emotions of the day, he said, “there’s no end to it.”

Chamberlain would go on to serve three more years in the Legislature, including a stint as speaker of the house.

A quarter century later, in early 2017, Chamberlain was serving on the Wyoming Board of Parole as a bill to reform the criminal justice system moved through the Legislature. His lawmaking days were behind him, but Chamberlain’s convictions again led him to take a stand against a piece of legislation.

Chamberlain denies having lobbied against HB 94: Criminal justice reform. He only sought to inform

lawmakers of his concerns, he said. But his conversations with leading legislators contributed to the doubt surrounding the bill. Though once hailed by lawmakers for its broad-based support, HB 94 was doomed to die by procedural fiat.

Lawmakers on the House Floor of the Jonah Business Center, the temporary Capitol, at the onset of the 2017 General Session of the Wyoming Legislature.

Board of parole Today, Chamberlain serves on the parole board, and has since 2014. He is also treasurer of the Wyoming Republican Party — which holds the vast majority of elected offices in the state. Now 75 years old, he drives a truck for work, carrying hazardous materials in and out of Cheyenne.

In June of 2016, then Board of Parole Director Daniel Fetsco asked Chamberlain and the rest of the parole board to consider the criminal justice reform bill at its quarterly public meeting.

The bill proposed changes in probation, parole and sentencing to reduce the number of people entering Wyoming’s prisons and hasten releases. With a focus on providing supervision and treatment for substance abuse instead of incarceration, the idea behind the reform was that non-violent criminal offenders could be kept in the community with better outcomes for both them and the state. Part 1 of this story explained the bill’s history, and tracked it through the first part of the 2017 general session of the Wyoming Legislature.

Fetsco presented the bill to the parole board, according to the minutes, along with Wyoming Department of Corrections Director Bob Lampert and Deputy Director Steve Lindly, both of whom had worked on reform efforts for years. To reach its goals, the bill restricted some of the board’s decision-making powers. It suggested limits on the time the board could reincarcerate someone for “technical violations” such as a failed drug test.

The bill also encouraged the board to grant “street time.” Parolees’ days spent in compliance — “street time” — can be credited against their original sentences if they are reincarcerated for a violation. When

street time is not granted, violating parole can lead to a cumulatively longer sentence than originally given.

This possibility leads some offenders to waive parole hearings and stay in prison, where they can complete their time away from the temptations of the street.

Ultimately, however, the bill left such decisions up to the board.

Chamberlain opposed what he saw as a loss of the board’s power over those who violate parole. He had wanted the parole board removed from the legislation altogether, he told WyoFile shortly after the session ended. The parole board is deliberately separated from the Department of Corrections to give it independence from agency bureaucracy, he said. Chamberlain believes the governor appoints board members who will make sound decisions on public safety when weighing parole applicants and violators.

“We’re supposed to represent the general public,” Chamberlain said. “And I, in every decision I make, am representative of the people I know.”

Chamberlain is not deaf to the arguments made by reform advocates. Incarcerating people for small drug possession cases isn’t a good use of taxpayer money, he said, nor is it constructive. Substance abuse and counseling programs WDOC provides within the prison system are successful, he said. Those programs have seen budget cuts over the last two years, however.

But Chamberlain doesn’t yet see a clear way around high rates of incarceration. There are other more fundamental explanations for the U.S.’s high incarceration rate compared to other countries, he said.

“What you have to keep in mind is we’re the most affluent,” he said, “we have the most freedom, we have Second Amendment rights, our whole society allows

the opportunity to get in trouble and reasons to do so… I wish we had a magic wand we could wave to stop that” Toward the meeting’s end, the board was asked if it “generally supports [the bill] as it works its way through the legislative process.” The vote was to determine whether the parole board would convey to the Legislature that it supported the bill, according to Fetsco. Communicating that support, or lack thereof, would largely fall to him, as he had become a regular attendee at Judiciary Committee meetings.

The board voted 4 to 1 to support it.

Chamberlain was the lone dissenter.

Bill enters House floor

No one contested Nicholas, however, and the amendment passed with another voice vote. Again, few if any no votes are audible on the recording.

Third reading

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 13

On Feb. 7, the last day possible, the bill came back for its final vote in the House. Fetsco was listening in his office. Vibbard stood in “the fishbowl” — the glassed-in viewing gallery where lobbyists, reporters and the general public are sequestered while observing floor proceedings. Vibbard, technically, was no longer a lobbyist.

The Wyoming Liberty Group had let several of its lobbyists and policy analysts go mid-session, including Vibbard. Fired one day before the final House vote, Vibbard said he was never given a good explanation for why. Via email, Liberty Group CEO Jonathan Downing declined to comment on former employees, but said the group remained committed to criminal justice reform. Speaking on condition of anonymity, another former employee confirmed Vibbard had been let go at that time, along with other policy staff.

Vibbard, who had moved to Cheyenne from his home state of Missouri for the job, decided to push the bill on his own. “I was committed to this thing, so I said f— it,” he said. “I’ll just go in as a citizen.

Nicholas again took the floor and again shocked Fetsco and Vibbard. He proposed deleting the bill’s enacting clause — meaning it would never become law. Lawmakers use such amendments to force debate on a bill.

Nicholas, who just days before had made an amendment that bill proponents thought signalled support for HB 94, now wanted it dead.

“I just can’t let a sleeping dog lie here ladies and gentlemen,” he said, and began to try and convince the House to vote down the bill. Nicholas noted that the

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

substitute bill had been introduced late in the session.

Few legislators had time to read and digest its impact, he said.

He also argued that the expense of increasing substance abuse treatment for offenders would go far higher than was being estimated.

“It’s not ready for prime time,” he said of the legislation.

Members of the Judiciary Committee argued back as debate over the bill broke out.

“I, too, was frustrated by the last-minute changes,” Rep. Charles Pelkey, a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee told the House. “But the meat of the effort is still there, and I think it’s a significant step in the proper direction.”

Rep. Nathan Winters, another member of the Judiciary Committee, agreed with Pelkey. “The caution of the good chairman [Nicholas] demonstrates the reason why this issue has been talked about since 2003 and little has happened,” he said. All the parties in the criminal justice system were giving up something to make the bill work, he said.

Debate focused on the bill’s history, and whether it had resulted in a flawed piece of legislation. The question was whether to pass the bill as an imperfect compromise worth pursuing and give the Senate a chance to discuss it, or to kill it on the House floor. Few technical aspects of the bill were discussed.

When Nicholas returned to the podium for a second time, he echoed some of the concerns made by prosecutor Mike Blonigen, in saying the bill had the potential to cycle people — particularly addicts — in and out of jails, parole, and treatment programs without effecting real change in their behavior.

Nicholas called the bill “a blow gun at the wall to see what’s gonna stick.” It was not well-vetted, he said.

Then he added something else. “I had two calls from folks who currently serve on the board of [parole],” Nicholas said. “They’re against it, they think it takes away their authority and their power.”

Fetsco was caught off guard; “dumbfounded,” he said. Months after the session, though, he had an explanation. “It’s pretty obvious Doug [Chamberlain] read my email and called Nicholas and said, ‘well, I’m totally opposed to this,’” Fetsco said.

In an interview this month, Nicholas said he couldn’t remember which other parole board member had called him, but he confirmed that one was Chamberlain. WyoFile later sent him a list of the current board members, plus one recent departure. He didn’t identify any of them.

Nicholas had earlier considered bringing his own bill removing the requirement of prosecutors’ consent for parole, he said. What proponents saw as a sudden about face on the bill — from taking more sentencing power away from the prosecutors to asking his colleagues to vote it down — he said was just an attempt to work his own goal into a piece of legislation that might pass. Chamberlain’s concerns echoed his own about the legislation, once he’d had time to digest it, he said.

After roughly 40 minutes of debate on the floor, Nicholas withdrew his amendment. The roll was

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On Jan. 27, as the 2017 legislative session approached its halfway point, the bill had advanced from the House Judiciary Committee with the committee’s unanimous endorsement — despite many members’ frustrations over late changes made in closeddoor meetings with two prominent prosecutors.

The impact of the closed-door bill rewrite was yet to be fully realized. But criminal justice reform supporters remained committed and ready to push the bill through to the Senate.

“It was such a good bill I think that it still would’ve done some good,” said Anthony Vibbard, at the time a lobbyist working on the bill for the Wyoming Liberty Group.

Fetsco agreed. “Everybody was gung-ho,” he said.

“It was like let’s get this thing going.”

From Judiciary, the bill moved to the Appropriations Committee. The state’s fiscal watchdogs were looking to trim every dollar they could as the Legislature grappled with a growing budget deficit and slumping revenues. Appropriations cut two WDOC administrative positions the bill would have created to manage the new programs.

No matter, said WDOC director Lampert. “We would’ve made it work.”

On Feb. 2 the bill hit the House floor. Rep. Jared Olsen, a freshman lawmaker who told the Judiciary Committee he would “fight like crazy” to get the bill through the House, introduced it. Olsen walked the representatives through the changes made by the prosecutors, and some of the committee’s subsequent deletions. Now, he said, “we have everybody on board and we still have the grand compromise that is criminal justice reform.”

House Bill 94 passed it’s first of three House tests by a voice vote. There was little discussion. Few, if any, “no” votes are audible on the chamber recording.

On Feb. 3, a Friday, the bill came up on second reading. Rep. Bob Nicholas, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, took the podium. A former defense attorney, he proposed amending a section that required a prosecutor’s consent for putting an offender on probation.

In Nicholas’ experience, prosecutors regularly blocked judges from granting probation, he told lawmakers. His amendment took away prosecutor’s power and left it solely with the court.

Nicholas told his colleagues he was returning the

bill to its original form, before the prosecutors had tinkered with it, but he was mistaken. In fact, removing prosecutorial consent for probation had not been considered in the original bill or its subsequent markups.

No one contested Nicholas, however, and the amendment passed with another voice vote. Again, few if any no votes are audible on the recording.

Fetsco was listening to the live audio from the chamber at the parole board office, less than a mile from the temporary capitol building.

“That shocked the hell out of me,” he said, recalling Nicholas’ amendment. “At the time I thought it was just a big F-you to the prosecutors,” he said. It seemed as though HB 94 had gained a powerful new supporter in Nicholas. “Then I kind of made the mistake … I thought I had a loyal board on hand.”

Fetsco emailed the parole board members an update on the change and who had brought it, as he had at other times throughout the legislative process.

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14 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

ANDREW GRAHAM/WYOFILE

Lobbyists in the Senate “fishbowl” — the glassed-in viewing gallery where lobbyists, reporters and the general public sit while observing floor proceedings. called, and the bill passed the House 31 to 26, with three representatives excused.

There was no clear ideological split between the ayes and no votes, but many lawmakers who identified as libertarian (or are considered far-right) voted for the bill. Most of the no votes came from more centrist Republicans, along with three Democrats.

HB94 then moved to the Senate, where it landed on the desk of Senate President Eli Bebout, a Republican.

He had 13 working days to assign it to a committee.

Lobbying or not “If you’re a parole board member and you’re gonna comment, contact a legislator and voice an opinion, you should do it in a public forum,” Fetsco said.

The governor has a handbook for those appointed to state boards, which includes instructions to refrain from lobbying the Legislature.

Wyoming statute defines lobbying as “an attempt to influence legislation.” The Governor’s board handbook expands the definition to “trying to gain the support of a legislator to vote either yes or no on a bill under consideration; or to gain the support of a legislator on an interim committee to support or speak against a proposal.”

The handbook also says that board members are “permitted, and even required, to provide information to legislators.” Board members should “make every effort” to provide any information to lawmakers only in a public forum, like a committee meeting.

“I was not lobbying and I didn’t intend to,” Chamberlain told WyoFile. He wanted to convey his concerns to the lawmaker, he said, but had not asked Nicholas to oppose the bill — despite what Nicholas said on the floor.

“I think I’m duty bound, any of us, if you have some information that you think other people need to know you have a duty to say something,” Chamberlain said.

Because of the interference from the prosecutors and the governor’s office, the House Judiciary Committee scratched the original bill from its agenda. “Rather than talk to individual legislators I was going to stay within the system, go appear in front of the committee and give them the other perspective,” Chamberlain said. “I never got a chance to.”

He asked to be informed when the bill came up before the committee next, Chamberlain said, but received no notice.

The Judiciary Committee meeting to introduce the substitute bill was announced late in the afternoon the day before, which is not unusual for a legislative session according to LSO staff. There had also been three interim Judiciary Committee meetings since the parole board voted to support the legislation. “If he was that intent on speaking he could’ve found time or a way,” Fetsco said.

Vibbard put it differently. “All these guys,” he said sarcastically, “this late opposition, they come in behind closed doors because they just never got a chance for two years and four months to oppose it.”

Coup de grace Like everyone around the Capitol who was interested in the bill, Vibbard was waiting for Bebout to assign it to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Leland Christensen, the chairman of that committee for the last three years, and a former police officer, had expressed strong support for the bill. Vibbard was hopeful it would pass through that committee easily.

As the Senate rapidly approached its deadline for bills to move through committee and onto the House floor, proponents began to worry.

On Feb. 13, Lindly, the WDOC deputy director, wrote an email to Richard Barrett, Special Counsel to Gov. Matt Mead, who had helped facilitate meetings between prosecutors and bill proponents.

“I was curious if you had heard anything from the Senate president, or anyone else, on whether or when the criminal justice reform bill might be referred to a committee?” Lindly wrote.

“I have been keeping my ear to the ground but have not heard anything whatsoever about the disposition of HB 94,” Barrett responded.

At this point of the session, debate between the House and Senate over how to approach Wyoming’s education funding crisis had consumed the Jonah Building. It was difficult for members to focus on criminal justice reform, lawmakers said later, particularly given the bill’s costs — an estimated $2.5 million a year to support the new programs plus a more than $2 million initial appropriation. That the estimated savings far outstripped those costs — $7.6 million a year plus around $13.5 million in new prison construction — seemed to be lost in the noise. Proponents called those savings estimates conservative.

Vibbard had been talking to senators, and said doubt had spread through that body. What they were hearing was “something screwy happened on the House side and it had all changed,” he said, “so these people that were hardcore backers of it were not as solid behind it as they were before.” HB94 seemed tainted.

Christensen, the Senate Judiciary Chairman, said he didn’t remember whether he had asked Bebout to introduce the bill or not. “It gets to be a bit of a tornado,” he said, and given that the bill had issues on the House side he wasn’t sure if he had pushed for its consideration.

The bill doesn’t seem to have received any help from the House either. None of the Judiciary Committee members WyoFile spoke to for this article, including Chairman Dan Kirkbride, said they asked Bebout to assign the bill. Rep. Jared Olsen, a fierce proponent on the House floor, said he’d been focused on other things since the bill’s passage in his chamber.

“I don’t want to say I washed my hands of it,” he said, “because I intended to follow it through and speak with Senators … I had no idea the Senate President wouldn’t assign it. I just didn’t even think of that as a possibility.”

“Until it was too late,” he added.

On Feb. 23, one day before bills had to move out of their senate committees, a WyoFile reporter approached Bebout in the hall outside the Senate Chamber. Bebout said he would not assign the bill.

No effort was made to overrule Bebout’s decision.

House Bill 94 was dead.

“Bebout just pocketed it,” Fetsco said.

Autopsy

Olsen, the freshman legislator, interviewed in September, took exception with Bebout’s decision.

“The entire House had an opportunity to debate the merits of the language of that bill and the subject of criminal justice reform and that was amazing,” he said. “If the bill needed work or the bill had no merit then it should’ve died in the Senate committee, but it should not have died without being assigned … the people lost their voice when that happened.”

ANDREW GRAHAM/WYOFILE

He also noted that one thing will have changed by next general session. It’s a Wyoming tradition that Senate presidents, and speakers of the House, step down after a term of leadership. “Maybe the people will be tired of bills being stuffed into drawers,” he said.

Vibbard has left the state and is now a public defender in Kansas City. Losing the battle over criminal justice reform without a Senate vote was difficult to take, he said, and left him with a fixed impression of Wyoming politics.

“It’s a small state with a citizen legislature and they’re guarded about the decisions they make,” he said. “And I don’t think they trust outsiders who they haven’t known for a long period of time very quickly.”

Influencing policy without good connections is tough, he said, regardless of how firmly you research your points.

“That’s kind of what I figured out,” he said. “There’s a lot more to it than just being right.” PJH WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 15

The Judiciary Committee is not looking at comprehensive criminal justice reform again this interim period, though it is considering some smaller measures.

“I think we just didn’t quite have the heart to reproduce that bill,” said Kirkbride, the House chairman.

The state is approaching a budget session in February, which is shorter and during which bills that don’t deal with the state’s budget have to be introduced by a twothirds vote in either the House or Senate.

Blonigen, the Natrona County prosecutor whose opposition to the legislation helped create the substitute bill, has become a regular attendee at Judiciary Committee meetings. At the first meeting after the session, he warned lawmakers against pursuing reform too aggressively, often with anecdotes from his time as a prosecutor.

From left to right: Sen. Leland Christensen (R-Alta), Senate President Eli Bebout (R-Riverton) and Sen. Ogden Driskill (R-Devils Tower) converse on the Senate floor. Christensen does not remember whether he asked Bebout to assign the criminal justice reform bill to his committee for public debate.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Moving on

“There’s a natural tension between the corrections folk who want to focus on the offender and the prosecutor and police agencies that want to focus on the victims and getting these people off the streets,” he said.

It’s not a bad thing, he told the committee, but he worried what could happen if the pendulum swung too far the other way. “A lot of serial killers have a background in burglary,” he said.

Of the 2017 bill’s failure, he said, “it reminds me of the three blind men and the elephant, everybody who was in the room has a different description of what happened and how.”

Fetsco left the Board of Parole in August, and is now teaching criminal justice at the University of Wyoming. He would like to write a research paper to support reform efforts, and says he doesn’t miss the politics of his last job.

“I was born and raised in Wyoming and I’ll probably stay here forever,” he said. “I love it for a lot of different reasons. But my experience with the State Legislature … is frustrating.” He said he worries the seeming futility of reform efforts could start to take a toll at WDOC. Director Lampert continues to remind lawmakers of the impending prison crowding crisis whenever he comes before interim committees.

Olsen remains committed to bringing reform, he said. If criminal justice reform is not a topic assigned to the Judiciary Committee next interim, he will consider bringing the bill himself. The Cheyenne Republican said if so he would attempt to build a new coalition around the legislation.

“You can bet I would be on the phone with Blonigen, I would be on the phone with Jeremiah Sandberg [a Cheyenne prosecutor], I would be on the phone with our Department of Corrections, our parole board, and just try to have as comprehensive a conversation as we can,” he said.

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At the time, Bebout told WyoFile he chose not to assign the bill because of the concerns he understood had been raised by the prosecutors, and because of the money involved.

He also said he had been approached by Chamberlain with his concerns of the bill, but that Chamberlain had not done so as a member of the parole board.

The two men had served in the House together in the 1990s — when Chamberlain was Speaker, Bebout, then a Democrat, had been the House Minority Whip.

Fetsco scoffed at the distinction between approaching someone as a board member or a private citizen.

“That doesn’t work that way,” he said. “You can’t be like ‘I’m Donald Trump but I’m calling you on my own personal behalf and I don’t want my position as president to affect you on this’ … good old boys, you know?”

Chamberlain said he had approached Bebout only to be sure he would have a chance to testify in front of a Senate committee. “Because of what had happened in the House,” he said. “I chaired the House Judiciary Committee, I chaired a select corrections committee, I have some experience in the legislative sector that others [on the parole board] don’t have.”

The Senate president had then asked him what he wanted to talk to the committee about, Chamberlain said. He shared his concerns with the senator, he said.

Recollecting his decision to hold the bill, Bebout said a lot of factors came into play. The Senate was locked in debate on education reform, the bill had been replaced by a substitute and the prosecutors and Chamberlain had all expressed their concerns. No prosecutors had spoken to him though, he said.

In his experience, when this much doubt surrounds a piece of legislation, “you ought be patient and revisit it,” Bebout said. Particularly when it came to the criminal justice reform bill, the complexity of it made it particularly vulnerable to problems, and caused him enough concern to just hold the bill back. “It’s harder to say no” when there are so many people invested in the legislation, he said, “but you want to get it right.”

Bebout does not regret the decision to hold the bill. “It wasn’t prime-time ready,” he said.

“People disagree with me and that’s the process.”

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

16 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

CULTURE KLASH

Creative Commuting Artists Bobbie Miller takes inspiration, appreciation from daily drive

BY KELSEY DAYTON kelsey_dayton

A

rtist Bobbie Miller’s drive from her home in Moran to Jackson is more than just a commute. It’s her inspiration.

From behind the windshield she takes in the scenery, not with just an appreciative eye but a critical one. She notes color and evaluates space. She thinks about how she could convey the three-dimension scene she sees and the emotions it evokes on a two-dimensional surface.

“My eyes have just opened up to a whole different art experience,” she said. “You begin even when you don’t have a paint brush or pencil in your hand.”

Miller isn’t the only one who sees the valley through an artist’s eye and then renders it in paint. The Jackson Hole Art Association is showcasing

works by Miller and about 30 of her colleagues and friends in the exhibition “On Location.”

The show, which opens with a reception this Friday, features works created in the last year by members of the Teton Plein Air Painters.

Miller co-founded the group with Joe Branca in 2012 after the two took a painting class in Driggs, Idaho. Miller spent years filling sketchbooks with notes and painting ideas.

She took the plein air painting class with hopes it would inspire her to actually paint – and do it outside.

“It’s a different experience than studio painting,” she said. “It has to do not only with being outside and a love of nature, but realizing you can create more accurate art observation … and the art is more spontaneous and direct.

You have to confront a lot of the art elements such as line and form and color and space, but in a quick period of time because the light is fleeting.”

Even when you plan to do most of your work later in the studio, working on sketches and notes outside has the added challenge of the elements and being part of the landscape, she said.

Miller and Branca decided after the class to meet once a week to practice what they’d learned and make sure they stuck with it. They invited friends and acquaintances, and soon amassed an

email list of more “Autumn in Buffalo Valley”, Fir Creek Ranch, Moran, WY, 11” x 14”, Oil than 60 people they alerted each and inspires Miller to push her own week of where they would paint. The group grew so work in new directions, she said. She’s large the Art Association took it under been working in oil paints lately and challenged herself to using a limited its umbrella last year, Miller said.

They meet from 9 a.m. to noon on palette of white, red, black and yellow Tuesdays from May through October at ochre.

But the part she loves best is the scenic locations across the valley. Some days, only about five people show up. camaraderie within the group. Plein Other times there are more than 20, air painting can be a lonely endeavor.

Some artists like to work at distance and Miller said.

“On Location” features the work of remain independent on the outskirts of artists who attended at least one session the group, while others look for a more of the painting group in the last year. social experience. The group accomThey could submit up to three works modates both types of artists and all the from the sites where the group paint- moods between, she said.

Painting in the environment with ed, which included popular places like Mormon Row and Oxbow Bend, as well the group changed Miller’s relationship with the scenery and the landscapes as private ranches.

Despite the artists creating the she sees regularly. Instead of blowing by work at the same locations, the show an overlook with a stunning view she’s is incredibly diverse, said Bronwyn become immune to seeing, , she thinks Minton, director of exhibits and pro- about how she’d capture it on canvas.

“Plein air painting completely grams at the Art Association.

Some are close details of flowers, changes your world view,” she said. And while others are traditional landscapes she hopes “On Location,” will share with sweeping views, she said. There that altered lens with viewers. PJH are a variety of painting styles and sizes On Location, an exhibition of work in the exhibition.

“I think it’s going to make for a very from the Teton Plein Air Painters, show opens with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. interesting show,” she said.

The diversity in the work that the Friday and hangs through Dec. 31, Main members of the group produce amazes Gallery, Art Association of Jackson Hole at the Center for the Arts.

Elizabeth Kingwill,

MA/LPC

Licensed Professional Counselor • Medical Hypnotherapist

Counseling: THIS WEEK: November 29 - December

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 20

n Annual Christmas Craft & Gift Show at the Presbyterian Church of JH 8:00am, Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole, Free, 3076907219 n Saturday Morning Swim 10:30am, Jackson Parks and Recreation, n App Time - Study Room 4 2:00pm, Teton County Library, n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Moose Hockey Game 7:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n Jon E Boothe Band 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n UP IN THE NIGHT BAND Million Dollar Cowboy Bar,

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3

n Wild About the Season 11:00am, National Museum of Wildlife Art, n Ceremony of Carols Concert 4:00pm, Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church, Free, 3076905015 n Open Gym - Adult Volleyball 4:00pm, Teton Recreation

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n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Books & Babies Story Time 10:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Storytime - Youth Auditorium 10:30am, Teton County Library, n Story Time, Victor 10:30am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633

n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 10:00am, Teton Recreation Center, n Open Hockey - Weekday Morning 10:15am, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n All Ages Story Time 11:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Read to Rover 3:30pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Fun Friday - Youth Auditorium 3:30pm, Teton County Library, n Film Friday Victor 3:30pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, n FREE Friday Tasting 4:00pm, Jackson Whole Grocer & Cafe, Free, 307-733-0450 n Friday Tastings 4:00pm, The Liquor Store, Free, 307-733-4466

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1

n Game Night 4:00pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Hole Food Rescue presents Wasted: The Story of Food Waste 6:30pm, Center for the Arts, $10.00 - $12.00, 3076997015 n Moose Hockey Game 7:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n FREE Public Stargazing 7:30pm, Center for the Arts, n Jon E Boothe Band 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Bartender Shootout 8:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, n Wyoming Whiskey Bartender Shootout Finals 8:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, Free, n UP IN THE NIGHT BAND Million Dollar Cowboy Bar,

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n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 10:00am, Teton Recreation Center, n Story Time 10:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Baby Time - Youth Auditorium 10:05am, Teton County Library, n Open Hockey - Weekday Morning 10:15am, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n Fables, Feathers & Fur 10:30am, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Free, 307--733-5771 n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Tech Time 1:00pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, Free, 208-787-2201 n Read to Rover 3:00pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, Free, 208-787-2201 n Art Association of JH Youth Auditorium 3:30pm, Teton County Library, n Search Party: Valley History Goes Digital - Auditorium B 5:30pm, Teton County Library, n Intuition: Your 7th Sense 6:00pm, Medicine Wheel Wellness, n Engage 2017: Housing, Parking & Natural Resource Event 6:00pm, n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center,

n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 12:00pm, Teton Recreation Center, n App Time - Study Room 4 2:00pm, Teton County Library, n Writer’s Club 3:30pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Eli Williams, The Cougar Fund - Youth Auditorium 3:30pm, Teton County Library, n REFIT® 5:15pm, First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539 n Open Build 5:30pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Jackson Hole Community Band 2017 Rehearsals 7:00pm, Center for the Arts, Free, 307-200-9463 n Pat Chadwick Trio 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Salsa Night 9:00pm, The Rose, Free, 307733-1500

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18 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

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A Lesson in Disappointment Black Pistol Fire may have ditched us, but those sad feelings will linger

BY CORY GARCIA @cfaust

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B

efore we get into this week’s discussion of band names, I’m going to need you to put down your torch for a moment. I know you’re upset with me. I lied to you, after all. I didn’t mean to, honestly, and I meant every word about why you should go check out Black Pistol Fire. Then they cancelled and you learned a very important lesson about disappointment. Better to learn how to put on a brave face now so you’ll be all set for Christmas. You’re welcome.

I’ll confess that part of me is happy things turned out this way. Yes, it is a bummer you took my sage wisdom to heart only to be let down by the cruel winds of fate, but having the chance to bring up Black Pistol Fire again works quite nicely for discussing something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: the importance of band names.

Elephant Revival play for free at Laramie’s Wyoming Union on Wednesday, Nov. 29.

Consider Black Pistol Fire. With only the knowledge of their name, what would you expect them to sound like?

It took me a long time to give them a chance because I’ve always assume they were either a bad throwback hair band at best or below average butt rock at worst. The type of band that ends up sharing a bill with Pop Evil and/or Puddle of Mudd. That they’re somewhere closer to Death From Above -bonus opinion: taking the 1975 out of their name was a bad call -- was a pleasant surprise.

It’s not that Black Pistol Fire is an inherently bad name, it’s just one that can distance a promising band from listeners who are prone to prejudgement or have a problem with America’s love of all things gun culture. We all have our reasons for rolling our eyes at a band name, which is why picking the right one is so important.

A band name has to do so much. It has to look appealing on a marquee.

It has to be unique enough not to be forgotten. It has look good on a shirt. It has to be something you’re not afraid to own when you talk about it. If the first thing you do when you mention it to someone is look away or feel embarrassed, you’ve picked a bad name.

WEDNESDAY Fables, Feathers & Fur (National Museum of Wildlife Art) THURSDAY Pat Chadwick Trio (Silver Dollar) FRIDAY John E Boothe Band (Silver Dollar) SATURDAY Up In The Night Band (Million Dollar Cowboy) SUNDAY Stagecoach Band (Stagecoach) MONDAY Hootenanny (Dornan’s)

TUESDAY Bluegrass Tuesdays with One Ton Pig (Silver Dollar)

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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 19

You also have to Big Gigantic play Pink Garter Theatre on Wednesday, Dec. 6. be prepared to talk about your band 2017 political controversy #414111123: name at the drop of the hat, because Trump and elephant trophies. The as long as there are reporters out there “complex” story made simple is this: looking for easy quotes, there will be dudes with guns are super mad they someone who wants to know the origin can’t bring back their dead elephant story of your band name. I’d tell you trophies from Zimbabwe, because what to make sure you include that story in good is a dead elephant if you can’t nail your press bio, and you might as well part of it to a wall and point to it when because that’ll help pad the length, but company comes over? the only person who will ever read the Just like that, we’re all thinking and entire thing are your family members to talking and tweeting about elephants see if they got a shout out for supporting in 2017. And along comes Elephant you even when you were just a goober in Revival, bringing free music to the state, the garage. Spoiler alert: the first thing and you’re like, “what are the odds?” anyone wanting to know about your Math isn’t my jam, so I can’t tell you the backstory does is go to Wikipedia. odds, but I agree that it’s pretty wild.

Elephant Revival, who are playing Sadly, Big Gigantic, who are over a free show in Laramie tonight, have a at the Pink Garter on the 6th – which solid band name origin story. It has to at the time of this typing is an absodo with pachyderms and deaths and lutely true statement and not a lie told separation, the kind of story that you’d by a music writer hellbent on getting hear on NPR and feel bummed out for you to make impossible plans -- are a few hours after. It’s also a pretty good just outside of this week’s coverage, name for a band featuring dudes in silly which means we can’t play the “[reguhats and a washboard player. lar adjective] [fancy adjective]” game in What the members of Elephant this week’s column, which easily could Revival probably didn’t predict was that have take up 250 words at least. But you their name would suddenly sound so got to learn about disappointment and relevant in 2017. For the broad majority band names and recent controversies of Americans, elephants are things they about elephants. Life is weird. Go to only see in zoos and on Reddit, which more shows. PJH means they don’t really think about them all that much. Then along comes

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n Stagecoach Band 6:00pm, Stagecoach, Free, 307-733-4407 n Songwriter’s Alley 7:00pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-7323939

MONDAY, DECEMBER 4

20 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 21

CINEMA A Lack of the Clones The absence of Titanic knockoffs says something about an audience Hollywood doesn’t value.

BY MARYANN JOHANSON @maryannjohanson

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ecember 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of what would become one of the most lucrative and most deliriously popular movies ever made: James Cameron’s Titanic. It should also mark the 20th anniversary of the beginning of a wave of Titanic clones—and it says something about the movie industry that it doesn’t.

The epic romantic disaster drama debuted in U.S. cinemas on Dec. 19, 1997, and wouldn’t leave U.S. cinemas until October 1998, 41 weeks later. It earned $1.8 billion worldwide, and remained the biggest box-office hit ever until 2010— when it was supplanted by Cameron’s own Avatar. Titanic wasn’t just a huge hit; it was an inescapable phenomenon. Showings were sold-out well into early 1998, even with the film in saturation release, and it stayed at the top of the box-office charts for 15 consecutive weeks (still a record).

The film was a critical success, too. It won the Oscar for Best Picture, and tied for the most Oscars won by a single film, with 11.

In 2012, to commemorate the centenary of the sinking of the ship, the film was released in newly rejiggered for 3D, and earned another $300 million plus globally, pushing its total box office take over $2 billion. Now, in honor of this landmark anniversary, Titanic will be back

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Titanic will be back in theatres for one week only in a new and remastered edition. Score!

in theaters for one week only, in a new remastered edition. Expect sellouts again.

I love Titanic, and I’ve seen it countless times, and revisited it as a critic four times. I don’t think there’s a single movie I’ve written more about. And here’s an irritation I always come back to when I think about the film: Where are all the knockoffs?

The film was “supposed” to be a huge flop, destined to be a legendary example of big-budget folly, Cameron’s out-of-control creative arrogance destined to doom it. But we all know what happens when a movie is a hit, especially if it’s an unexpected one, as Titanic was: Knockoffs.

Lots of ’em, to the point where we get sick of ’em, even if some of the knockoffs are pretty good. It’s been a feature of the blockbuster era since the 1977’s Star Wars, which spawned a lot of crap—including Italian schlock Star Crash and Battle Beyond the Stars, directed by an uncredited Roger Corman—and some not-at-allbad flicks like Disney’s The Black Hole and The Last Starfighter. We can also thank George Lucas for the existence of the 1970s TV series Battlestar Galactica.

Some movies are so popular and so influential that they ignite what feels like entire subgenres: the “Alien Movie” (and then there were none, but in space); the found-footage horror flick, kicked off by 1999’s The Blair Witch Project; the “Toy Story Movie” (“let’s animate some inanimate objects and/or animals to amuse the kiddies”). Gladiator, 2000’s Oscarwinning Best Picture, started a swordand-sandals craze that is still in progress almost 20 years later, and the knockoffs keep getting made even when they flop, like 2012’s Wrath of the Titans ($83 million box office in the U.S. on a $150 million budget) or 2014’s Exodus: Gods and Kings ($65 million domestically on a $140 million budget).

So it’s very mysterious indeed that we were never inundated with Titanic knockoffs. We should be absolutely sick to death of all the cash-ins, pseudo-remakes and imitators. Hollywood is a business, we who complain about the poor quality of much the industry’s output are constantly reminded: Hollywood is only out to make money. That’s the excuse we hear, particularly when we complain about the lack of movies about women: They don’t make money (although clearly, they do.)

But the evidence of Titanic and Hollywood’s supposed business practices is clear. We should have been swamped with movies that tried to recapture its money-making magic. And we weren’t.

Adventure romance amidst disaster and/or big historical events? Messed-up woman who learns how to really live via a manic pixie dream boy (that’s what Jack Dawson is, after all)? There are so many possibilities here, and Hollywood completely ignored them.

Is it because the female audience that spent so much time and money on the film was actively derided in the press?

The phenomenon of the film received almost hysterical coverage in the media, and we heard tell of girls and women seeing the film a dozen times or more as if that were crazy, rather than indicating an underserved audience eating up a story that finally spoke to them. Did that only add to Hollywood’s usual disdain for stories about girls and women?

Of course it’s true that if we had gotten a slew of ersatz Titanics, most of them would have completely misunderstood what made the film so appealing to its female audience. But the fact that the industry didn’t even try makes it tough to buy that movies are “just a business.”

Not when Hollywood left so much money on the table simply to avoid telling more stories like Titanic. PJH

TRUE TV

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6

n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Toddler Gym 10:00am, Teton Recreation Center, n Story Time 10:00am, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Open Hockey - Weekday Morning 10:15am, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Read to Rover 3:00pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, Free, 208787-2201 n Art Association of JH - Youth Auditorium 3:30pm, Teton County Library, n Intuition: Your 7th Sense 6:00pm, Medicine Wheel Wellness, n Planning Ahead for Standardized Testing Youth Auditorium 6:00pm, Teton County Library, n The Swap Meet: Mayor Pete Muldoon 6:00pm, Teton County Library, n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Big Gigantic with support from Brasstracks 9:00pm, Pink Garter Theatre, $36.00 - $71.00,

For complete event details visit pjhcalendar.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 21

epic it thinks it is. The Christopher Meloni kills his Law & Order: SVU character once and for all in Syfy’s new series, Happy! network’s companion videogame, Knightfall: Rivals, is more compelAside from Jean-Claude Van Damme, ling. Not a good sign. himself, who exactly is Jean-Claude Shut Eye (Season 2 premiere Van Johnson (series debut Friday, Dec. Wednesday, Dec. 6, Hulu), a dark dram- 15, Amazon Prime) for? This can’t be edy about a Los Angeles crime syndi- part of Amazon Prime’s “We’re the new cate of gypsy psychics, was one of 2016’s HBO” plan … can it? Anyway: Jeanmore interesting, if overlooked, stream- Claude Van Johnson is JCVD’s undering debuts. Charlie (Jeffrey Donovan, thought alias as an unhappily-retired Burn Notice) is a cynical fortune-tell- international superspy now forced to er conman desperate to get out of the slum it as a Hollywood martial-arts gypsies’ racket and start his own with star—can you smell the meta comehis wife Linda (KaDee Strickland)— dy? Jean-Claude Van Johnson is funnialso, thanks to a head trauma, he might er, more action-packed and definitely really be clairvoyant now. In Season 2, more expensive-looking than it should Charlie and Linda are still struggling be; a nice surprise, since this series is to get away from the gypsy syndicate, arriving to zero expectations, probawhile boss Rita (Isabella Rossellini) is bly not even from the Prime members under Fed investigation. Unlike other who’ve forgotten they upvoted it.

Hulu shows, all 10 episodes of Shut Eye I’ve worked as hard as I can to stop are dropping at once (a see-the-future the scourge of stupid that is Fuller gag?).

House (Season 3 winter premiere It was inevitable that Psych: The Friday, Dec. 22, Netflix), but ‘Merica is Movie (Thursday, Dec. 7, USA) would apparently beyond saving. We’re now happen because, after all, the series three—three!—seasons into the most ended three whole years ago—a lifetime moronic, soul-eating, 9/11-times-1,000 in revival years. After eight seasons of reboot that television has ever excreted, wacky crime-solving in Santa Barbara, and the second half is dropping right fake psychic Sean (James Roday) and before Christmas! Oh, the laugh-tracked partner Gus (Dulé Hill) relocated to San humanity! This column launched in Francisco and renamed the business 1998, three years after the blessed PsychPhrancisco (sure, why not?), but demise of the original Full House; since now the gang (Maggie Lawson, Kirsten then, I’ve tried to warn you away from Nelson, Corbin Bernsen and, to a less- hundreds upon hundreds of shit TV er extent, Tim Omundson) is reunited shows. It’s like you people aren’t even listo bring down another mid-level bad tening to me! Pay attention! I’m brilliant guy. The details matter not; Psych: The and fascinating! Argh! [Chokes on burriMovie is full-tilt comfort-food fan ser- to, turns blue, falls forever silent …] PJH vice, and that’s not downplayed in the least. Bonus treat: A loving David Bowie Listen to Frost on the TV Tan podtribute, personified by Zachary Levi cast via your favorite pod platform and (Chuck).

BillFrost.tv.

n Dance & Fitness Classes 8:00am, Dancers’ Workshop, $10.00 - $16.00, 307-733-6398 n Senior Book Club: “Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah - member’s home 10:30am, Teton County Library, (307) 733-2164 n Public Skating - Weekday 12:00pm, Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 12:00pm, Teton Recreation Center, n App Time - Study Room 4 2:00pm, Teton County Library, n Theatre with Nicole Madison - Youth Auditorium 3:30pm, Teton County Library, n Teton Literacy Center Volunteer Training 5:30pm, Teton Literacy Center, Free, 307-7339242 n Open Gym - Adult Volleyball 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center, n Bluegrass Tuesdays with One Ton Pig 7:30pm, Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-7323939

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

he Only TV Column That Matters™ only needed to hear “from the creators of Crank” to be all-in for Happy! (series debut Wednesday, Dec. 6, Syfy). Based on the Image comic, Happy! follows disgraced ex-cop Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni, killing his old Law & Order: SVU character once and for all), now a druggie fuck-up and assassin for hire. After being gunned down and left for dead, Nick awakens to a cartoon winged unicorn named Happy (voiced

by Patton Oswalt) who needs his help in rescuing a little girl who’s been kidnapped by Santa Claus. Yep. Insanity, violence and a gonzo-command performance from Meloni ensue. Happy! is too bizarre to last long, so drink it in.

What Vikings did for, well, Vikings, the new, terribly-titled Knightfall (series debut Wednesday, Dec. 6, History) hopes to do for the Middle-Ages tale of the Knights Templar. The Knights were warrior monks charged with protecting Christian relics—most notably, the Cup of Christ, a.k.a. the Holy Grail, which they of course lost. Knightfall stars the requisite amount of beardy, semi-familiar British actors from period dramas like Downton Abbey, Spartacus and The Tudors, as well as basic-cable swordplay and sex, but it’s nowhere near the Vikings 2.0 or Game of Thrones-lite

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5

| WELLNESS | DINING | A & E | NEWS | OPINION |

Happy! brings the weirdness to Syfy; Fuller House further erodes ‘Merica.

T

n Movie Monday 3:30pm, Valley of the Tetons Library, n Hootenanny 6:00pm, Dornan’s, Free, 307-733-2415 n Beginning/Intermediate Jazz Dance 6:15pm, Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00 - $55.00, 307-733-6398 n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 6:30pm, Teton Recreation Center,

@bill_frost

PETER KRAMER / SYFY

BY BILL FROST

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

22 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

GUESS WHO’S CO M I N G TO

DINNER

Where do you take the picky eater visiting town this ski season, and how do you cater to the friend who crashes your dinner party?

Find out in our 2017 Winter Dining Issue!

Whether your guest is a vegan, a meat head or a particularly picky partner, join us as we uncover the valley’s best places to feed your dietary-demanding friends.

Plus, we’ll dish on the best places around town to find dinnerware, decor and more for feeding and entertaining on your turf.

Serve your message to more than 10,000 hungry readers who know this special issue as the go-to guide for staying fresh FIRST TASTE FIRST TASTE on the valley’s dining scene.

DISCOUNTED RATES

40% OFF STANDARD OPEN RATES

ON STANDS DECEMBER 20

BOOK NOW FOR BEST RATES!

DISCOUNTED RSVP’S ARE DUE 11/30 @4 P.M. ART DEADLINE 12/18 @10 A.M.

CALL 307.732.0299 OR EMAIL SALES@PLANETJH.COM

DON’T MISS Ski Town Showdown Whiskey and cocktails take center stage at Jackson’s bartender throw down

BY KELSEY DAYTON kelsey_dayton

D

Creating a new drink is part art and science. It has to capture the eye and surprise the palate. It’s like creating a new culinary dish from scratch—its far more complicated than tweaking a classic recipe, Kaplan said.

While the competition is built around, and to showcase, the bartenders, it’s also meant to be a social spectating event.

Bartenders pick music to play while they craft their cocktails and some even wear costumes. Audience members will get a chance to try the drinks and also win prizes — including a snowboard or pair of skis. Wyoming Whiskey will also offer samples of products like its recently released single barrel bourbon whiskey, DeFazio said.

If you’ve ever wanted to witness the artistry that goes into crafting creative cocktails, or maybe just sample something different, don’t sleep on the Wyoming Whiskey Bartender Shootout Ski Town Showdown Finals.

It’s a whiskey win-win for everyone. PJH Wyoming Whiskey Bartender Shootout will be held Friday, Dec. 1 at Pink Garter Theater. The event starts at 8 p.m. and is free to observe.

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 23

Judges score drinks based on appearance, creativity and taste.

“When it comes down to it, the more simple the cocktail the better,” DeFazio said. “We are looking for a drink that is enhancing the spirit, not trying to cover the spirit.”

The winners from Jackson’s regional contest each kept their cocktail recipe on the minimal end and used only about three or four ingredients, DeFazio said.

David Kaplan, a Jackson native and co-founder and owner of Death & Co. in New York and Denver, is one of the judges.

The fun part of the contest is that bartenders can create drinks that wouldn’t necessarily work on a bar menu, he said, and are free to use crazy garnishes or expensive ingredients.

“But sometimes they run away with that creative freedom they don’t always get in their restaurants and forget it also has to be drinkable,” he said.

Sometimes people get too creative, like the bartender who used elk jerky simple syrup. It would have been delicious for a Bloody Mary contest, but it didn’t work for the whiskey competition.

“You really want the drink to be incredibly drinkable and you really want Wyoming Whiskey to be the star,” he said.

Cocktail competitions allow bartenders to showcase specialized skills people don’t always get to see, Kaplan said.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

DeFazio wanted to create an event that would not only familiarize bartenders with Wyoming Whiskey, but stamp it into their minds for when they make whiskey recommendations and create new signature cocktails for their bar and restaurant menus, he said.

The top 10 finalists competing in the showdown were chosen from an earlier round of competition, which plucked the five best bartenders from Aspen and the five best from Jackson.

Representing Jackson in the finals is Amber Pollack, who actually is from Casper and works with Backwards Distilling. She’ll compete alongside Rene Woodmencey from Teton Tiger, Wolfgang Reckart from the Rose, Zach Isler from the Rose and Christina Molofsky from Piste Mountain Bistro.

All the bartenders have to use the same drink they used in the regional competitions, but are allowed – and encouraged– to tweak it.

The payoff for these bartender badasses is two-fold: Not only will they have the chance to earn a title and some serious bragging rights, but they are also up for some serious prizes, including $2,500 in cash, new skis or a snowboard and a belt buckle, DeFazio said.

Finalists also receive gifts like a knife, a day ski pass at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and other prizes.

| WELLNESS | DINING | A & E | NEWS | OPINION |

o you take your whiskey with gunpowder? Or would you prefer a sage-smoked glass? Whatever your preference, the expert bartenders competing in this year’s Bartender Shootout are ready to conjure up a drink to tickle your boozy fancy.

Wyoming Whiskey, a Wyo-born whiskey company, will be hosting the shootout, which gives bartenders a chance to show off their skills in crafting creative – and delicious – cocktails.

And every year, they deliver.

The premise is simple. The competing bartenders have five minutes to craft cocktails using Wyoming Whiskey’s small batch bourbon or its Outryder Straight American Whiskey and two to six ingredients — ice and water don’t count.

David DeFazio, founder and COO of the Wyoming Whiskey, said he has seen some impressive and unusual drinks emerge from the competition over the years, and at times, the results have astounded him.

He’s seen unique garnishes like an orange peel curled around a lavender spring.

“The aroma of it was just divine,” DeFazio said.

One of the more memorable drinks was courtesy of a bartender from Cody, who created a drink called “Cabin Fever.”

The bartender crafted a chimney from a cinnamon stick and used dry ice to give the appearance of smoke.

Another bartender froze a rose inside the ice he used in his drinks.

This is the third year Wyoming Whiskey has hosted a bartender competition. The first year focused on a competition between bartenders from around Wyoming. This year, though, they’ve changed up the format to a ski town showdown, pitting competitors from Aspen and Jackson against each other.

“The big challenge for us as a small brand is getting the attention of bar tenders,” DeFazio said.

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

24 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

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 1155 S HIGHWAY 89 JACKSON, WY 83OO1 | OPEN DAILY: 7AM - 1OPM | 3O7-733-O45O | JACKSONWHOLEGROCER.COM

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.

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

CONTACT YOUR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE TODAY TO LEARN MORE

SALES@PLANETJH.COM OR CALL 307.732.0299

THE BLUE LION

A Jackson Hole favorite for 39 years. Join us in the charming atmosphere of a historic home. Serving fresh fish, elk, poultry, steaks, and vegetarian entrées. Ask a local about our rack of lamb. Live acoustic guitar music most nights. Open nightly at 5:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays. 2-for-1 entrees through December 7. Must mention ad, dine-in only. Reservations recommended, walk-ins welcome. 160 N. Millward, (307) 733-3912, bluelionrestaurant.com

PICNIC

Our mission is simple: offer good food, made fresh, all day, every day. We know everyone’s busy, so we cater to on-the-go lifestyles with quick, tasty options for breakfast and lunch, including pastries and treats from our sister restaurant Persephone. Also offering coffee and espresso drinks plus wine and cocktails.

Open Mon-Fri 7am-5pm, Wknds 7am-3pm 1110 Maple Way in West Jackson 307-2642956www.picnicjh.com

ELEANOR’S

CONTINENTAL ALPENHOF

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.

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

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.

SPILL THE TEA (or beer, wine, etc.)

Planet Jackson Hole is looking for writers to review the area’s best drinks and the places that serve them. email inquiries to editor@planetjh.com

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 seasonally-inspired food. We offer an extensive wine list and an abundance of locallysourced 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 Mon-Sat 11:30am.

Dinner Nightly 5:30pm. 55 North Cache, (307) 201-1717, localjh.com.

LOTUS ORGANIC RESTAURANT

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. Serving breakfast, lunch & dinner starting at 8am daily.

140 N. Cache, (307) 734-0882, theorganiclotus. com.

MANGY MOOSE

MOE’S BBQ

Opened in Jackson Hole by Tom Fay and David Fogg, Moe’s Original Bar B Que features a Southern Soul Food Revival through its awardwinning Alabama-style pulled pork, ribs, wings, turkey and chicken smoked over hardwood served with two unique sauces in addition to Catfish and a Shrimp Moe-Boy sandwich. A daily rotation of traditional Southern sides and tasty desserts are served fresh daily. Moe’s BBQ stays open late and features a menu for any budget. While the setting is family-friendly, a full premium bar offers a lively scene with

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.

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 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.

PIZZA DOMINO’S PIZZA

Hot and delicious delivered to your door. Handtossed, 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.

PINKY G’S

The locals favorite! Voted Best Pizza in Jackson Hole 2012-2016. Seek out this hidden gem under the Pink Garter Theatre for NY pizza by the slice, salads, strombolis, 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 micro-brews 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.

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

Visit our website

TetonWyo.org 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.

| WELLNESS | DINING | A & E | NEWS | OPINION |

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.

HDTVs for sports fans, music, shuffle board and other games upstairs. Large party takeout orders and full service catering with delivery is also available.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 25

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

26 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

HELEN GOELET

EAT IT! OFF SEASON SPECIAL

2FOR1 ENTREES

Dine-in only | Good all night | Valid through Dec. 7 Open nightly 5:30pm

733-3912

160 N. Millward • Reservations recommended Reserve online at bluelionrestaurant.com

Bovine Butchery ELY UNIQUPEAN EURO

F O H HE ‘

T

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

AT THE

307.733.3242

Butcher Joel Tate on trading in his ski sticks for meat sticks

BY HELEN GOELET

J

oel Tate brandishes a sanitizing hose, his body covered by a white doctor’s coat and high boots. He showers his butchery in suds, sanitizing his theater after a full day of sausage-making.

After ten agonizing months of waiting for USDA approval, Bovine + Swine goods hit the shelves on November 9 at Hole Grocer in Jackson.

After ten agonizing months of waiting for USDA approval, Bovine + Swine goods hit the shelves in Jackson.

Believe it or not, it’s pretty darn hard to get a stamp of approval from the USDA, the federal organization that oversees the production of meats distributed across state lines.

Getting their go ahead is like having “best seller” stamped at the top of a book.

“In order to be USDA certified,” Tate said, “someone has to be here five days a week to validate my daily process.”

What that means is that one must have a full time employee at the office whose job is to check homework every day and give a gold star. The demand for these officials in the valley is low to say the least.

With the addition of Bovine + Swine there are now three USDA certified butchers in Wyoming — the other two are in Cody.

But even after the long wait for that rubber stamp, Tate’s spirits are high — he can finally get to work packaging his various sausages and is selling them first locally at the Hole Grocer, Bodega and Binn22. Once the local market is conquered, the hope is to take things nationally.

Tate’s current line includes the popular Jalapeno Cheddar, Andouille, Black and Blue, snack sticks and all natural casing all beef hot dogs that people in the valley have indulged in at Bodega for the last couple of years.

Like most Jackson success stories, Tate hasn’t always wielded the butcher knife.

Back in 2001, a young, avid skier from Washington, Joel Tate bussed tables at the Red Oak Grill in Jackson. As the winter season approached, he realized

THE LOCALS

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

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

SCOOP UP THESE SAVINGS

1/16TH COLOR AD • 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 CONTACT YOUR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE TODAY TO LEARN MORE

SALES@PLANETJH.COM OR CALL 307.732.0299

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

HELEN GOELET

| WELLNESS | DINING | A & E | NEWS | OPINION |

his income wouldn’t support his skiing needs and began to look elsewhere.

Recognizing his work ethic and love for food, the restaurant offered him a free season pass for kitchen labor. He accepted, and with a little taste of the kitchen, Tate fell in love. He never looked back.

The following year, Tate decided to move on to the infamous Rendezvous Bistro. For two weeks, he shucked oysters until he was offered a job. He worked tirelessly, wanting to prove his worth and earning respect until finally being promoted to the grill.

By 2005, the young cook became sous chef of the restaurant, and two years later executive chef. It was in this role where Tate began to experiment with food and discovered charcuterie and sausages.

As he read about various techniques and traditions, his interest grew and with it, his desire to learn.

Tate eventually found his way to a meat science short program at Iowa State University where he learned about the chemistry of meat science — the science behind fermenting and curing, muscle cell structures in various meat — as well as the ins and outs of creating a balanced flavor profile.

“It was a crash course in chemistry, which, having opted out of the subject in high school sort of had my head spinning,” Tate said, “but it really got me inspired to learn more about meat science.”

Upon his return, Tate was determined to focus his culinary career toward butchery and sausage making.

It’s a lot of work for one man to handle on his own, though. Tate looking for a helper, someone passionate about learning how to work with meat and how these systems can be used to their potential.

“I’m still learning every day,” Tate said.

But hey, that’s the fun part right?

PJH

FAMILY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT

1110 MAPLE WAY JACKSON, WY 307.264.2956 picnicjh.com Free Coffee with Pastry Purchase Every Day from 3 to 5pm

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

www.mangymoose.com

PIZZAS, PASTAS & MORE HOUSEMADE BREAD & DESSERTS FRESH, LOCALLY SOURCED OFFERINGS TAKE OUT AVAILABLE Dining room and bar open nightly at 5:00pm (307) 733-2460 • 2560 Moose Wilson Road • Wilson, WY

A Jackson Hole favorite since 1965

NOVEMBER 29, 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.

| OPINION | NEWS | A & E | DINING | WELLNESS |

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

28 | NOVEMBER 29, 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 “MOVERS” By NORA PEARLSTONE

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2017

ACROSS 1 6 10 14 19 20 21 22 23 25

__ act Graceful bird Manhattan sch.

Baggage check requirement Primer sequence Trillionth: Pref.

Surprised greeting Actress Thomas Screwballs in the hayloft?

Where crooks learn their trade?

27 Enjoying a wilderness vacation, maybe 28 Two-mile-high city 30 Caged, with “up” 31 Very long tooth 32 Pouch occupants 33 Fronded tree 34 Picasso, for one 37 Med. prefix 38 Income statement write-offs 42 Live-income filler 43 Cookie cooks?

46 Cosmonaut Gagarin 47 Film-rating org.

48 Elec. instrument 49 “Later” 50 “The Simpsons” character Sideshow __ 51 Faller of 2001 52 “Hmm ... don’t think so” 53 Northumbrian monk, briefly 55 __ facto 56 Slowish movement 58 Leafstalks 60 Interfere (with) 61 Mickey and Jerry 62 Strict diet restriction 63 Blacken 65 “... dark, __ the blaze of noon”: Milton 67 Prizes in a case 69 Feline named for an island 72 Sensible 73 Tardy with 74 Team across the state from the

Marlins 75 Artist Yoko 76 Decked 77 Zany Martha 78 They’re heavier than foils 80 Villain named Julius 81 Russian city 83 Dealt with unproductive mollusks?

85 Easy putt 86 Faithfulness 88 Showing skill 89 Order givers 90 Ending with ortho91 Bar, at the bar 93 Algebra, e.g.

94 Rabbitlike rodent 97 Arctic temperature word 98 Inherited 102 Restaurant reservation for fish?

104 Result of Uncle Sam frequenting Papa John’s?

106 Link with 107 Banned for a rules infraction, informally 108 Marginally 109 Kate’s sitcom pal 110 Above it all 111 Old pol. divisions 112 Toon explorer 113 Window insert

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Mexican resort, familiarly Not fatty Above-it-all attitude Clementi composition Fill, as with light Lively quality User-edited site Top performer Pretty darn good Patient share Game with capturing Dragsters’ org.

Shelter sound

14 “Brr!” 15 Former name of Benin 16 74-Across’ stadium, casually, with “The” 17 Burn soother 18 Top prize 24 Bottom position 26 Many 29 Rosemary, e.g.

32 Fun 33 Celebratory procession 34 Run-on sentence’s lack, probably 35 Remove, as a brooch 36 Like surfers?

37 El __ 38 Stimulating leaves 39 Group of body shop specialists?

40 Long lock 41 Storage cylinders 43 10 micronewtons 44 Wear 45 Cookout fare on sticks 48 “Fiddler on the Roof” village 52 The Tar Heels of the NCAA 53 Spray ’n Wash target 54 Much of Lamb’s legacy 55 High-resolution film format 57 Help on the Hill 58 Character who uses “yam” as a verb 59 Repeated 62 __ public 64 USN rank 65 Require from 66 Like about 15% of New Zealanders 68 It’s unlikely 69 Fannie __: securities 70 Musical in which FDR is a character 71 58-Down et al.

74 __ Martin Cognac 78 Skateboarder’s protection

79 80

Crab’s sensor Hammett who created Nick and Nora 82 Was a factor in 83 Handy “Mr.” 84 Roman statesman 85 Reward for a donation, maybe 87 Beaucoup 89 Perennial NCAA football powerhouse 91 Conger catcher 92 Snow-covered hill sights 93 “Zoom-Zoom” sloganeer 94 Official records 95 Windy-sounding woman’s name 96 Sandwich cookie 97 Some fam. meals 98 Mogul 99 Simba’s mate 100 Speaker of Cooperstown 101 Poems of honor 103 Spots on the tube 105 Midori on the ice

COSMIC CAFE WITH CAROL MANN

Thought Provoking Discoveries “The illiterate of the 21st century will be people who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” ~Bob Proctor

T

THE MYSTERY OF SATURN’S RINGS

RUINS FROM AN ADVANCED CIVILIZATION 12,000 YEARS OLD

Human by Design is the latest book by scientist, spiritual teacher and best-selling author Gregg Braden. He continues his extensive search into who we are, sharing peer reviewed science that there is no physical evidence that we descended from apes or from Neanderthals. Rather, he relates, Anatomically Modern Humans (formerly called Cro-Magnons) suddenly appeared on the earth 200,000 years ago, and we have not changed since.

Braden notes that specific, intentional, simultaneous and precise genetic changes involving swapping two DNA letters, fusing two other chromosomes and deleting other parts, suddenly appeared at that time, making us who we are today. He concludes this was not the product of slow evolution. Only because some Cro-Magnons interbred with Neanderthals do some of us have a bit of Neanderthal in our genetics.

How and maybe why this happened are to be discovered. An important take away from this book is that there is still so much untapped potential in our current DNA which is ours to discover, activate and experience the full potential of who we are.

THE FURTHER UNFOLDING OF THESE DISCOVERIES It is important and exciting to allow the new evidence in these and other rapidly expanding arenas to lead wherever they are taking us, rather than trying to fit new information into an old, outdated story. We are all invited to be resilient in the face of all these changes. As Charles Darwin said a very long time ago, “It is not the smartest or the strongest of a species that survives, it is those who are most adaptable to change.” 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

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NOVEMBER 29, 2017 | 29

The archaeological site of Gobekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey is one of many current “smoking gun” excavations revealing that highly advanced civilizations have been on this earth for thousands and thousands … and some suspect even millions … of years. The ruins of Gobekli Tepe are

NEW EVIDENCE ABOUT US

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

In his book, The Ring Makers of Saturn, former longtime NASA and aerospace industry scientist and author Norman Bergrun documents that the rings of Saturn are not permanent. Rather, he and many other scientists using data from our space probes have observed for decades that the rings change as frequently as minute by minute.

NASA’s Cassini Probe detected what they describe as electromagnetic vehicles thousands of miles long inside several of the rings. These vehicles were observed emitting a plasma exhaust as they apparently made and changed the rings. Further, NASA reported that another large “thing in the ring” is wedge-shaped and has been emitting radio signals for the past 25 years. Some theorize that these enormous rings are not only created, but the entire pattern looks like a gigantic CD. Sound engineers examining the rings consider them to be a mega-powered broadcasting system of sound frequencies.

Are these sound frequencies sourced from a hyper dimension? Are they made by a different, advanced level of intelligence? Might the frequencies reaching us affect the ways we are able to perceive what we consider to be real? TBD.

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he horizons of understanding who we are, what is possible and what goes on in the cosmos are all rapidly expanding frontiers. The following information is the kind that challenges old ideas and beliefs. Enjoy noticing your responses as you read on … and see if you are able to hold an open mind, lean in with curiosity and perhaps do your own further research. Or perhaps your tendency is to resist what can be a bit mind blowing and belief shattering.

12,000 years old, and were built by an advanced civilization right after the last ice age. Scientists determined the last ice age was preceded by a comet, which struck the Earth and caused mass destruction, extinctions and climate change.

This event is also depicted in some of the carvings at Gobekli Tepe.

Since excavations began there in 1995, this archaeological treasure has revealed very sophisticated architectural structures, carvings of animals now mostly extinct, precisely placed monumental sized stones with inscriptions and giant T-shaped pillars 18 feet high weighing up to 60 tons.

All of this is 7000 years older than Stonehenge in England or 7,500 years before the accepted dating of the Pyramids in Egypt.

Think about it. These discoveries are rewriting the history of civilization. Advanced civilizations have been here continuously way earlier than previously considered. In the sweep of time, each of these civilizations disappeared. We are not the first or the last or the most advanced civilization this earth has hosted.

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30 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) “What is love?” asks philosopher Richard Smoley. “It’s come to have a greeting-card quality,” he mourns. “Half the time ‘loving’ someone is taken to mean nurturing a warmish feeling in the heart for them, which mysteriously evaporates the moment the person has some concrete need or irritates us.” One of your key assignments in the next ten months will be to purge any aspects of this shrunken and shriveled kind of love that may still be lurking in your beautiful soul. You are primed to cultivate an unprecedented new embodiment of mature, robust love.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You know that unfinished task you have half-avoided, allowing it to stagnate? Soon you’ll be able to summon the gritty determination required to complete it. I suspect you’ll also be able to carry out the glorious rebirth you’ve been shy about climaxing. To gather the energy you need, reframe your perspective so that you can feel gratitude for the failure or demise that has made your glorious rebirth necessary and inevitable.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) In an ideal world, your work and your character would speak for themselves. You’d receive exactly the amount of recognition and appreciation you deserve. You wouldn’t have to devote as much intelligence to selling yourself as you did to developing your skills in the first place. But now forget everything I just said. During the next ten months, I predict that packaging and promoting yourself won’t be so #$@&%*! important. Your work and character WILL speak for themselves with more vigor and clarity than they have before.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) What might you do to take better care of yourself in 2018, Virgo? According to my reading of the astrological omens, this will be a fertile meditation for you to keep revisiting.

Here’s a good place to start: Consider the possibility that you have a lot to learn about what makes your body operate at peak efficiency and what keeps your soul humming along with the sense that your life is interesting. Here’s another crucial task: Intensify your love for yourself. With that as a driving force, you’ll be led to discover the actions necessary to supercharge your health. P.S. Now is an ideal time to get this project underway.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Here are themes I suggest you specialize in during the coming weeks. 1. How to gossip in ways that don’t diminish and damage your social network, but rather foster and enhance it. 2. How to be in three places at once without committing the mistake of being nowhere at all. 3. How to express precisely what you mean without losing your attractive mysteriousness. 4. How to be nosy and brash for fun and profit. 5. How to unite and harmonize the parts of yourself and your life that have been at odds with each other.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) I predict that in the coming months you won’t feel compulsions to set your adversaries’ hair on fire. You won’t fantasize about robbing banks to raise the funds you need, nor will you be tempted to worship the devil.

And the news just gets better. I expect that the amount of self-sabotage you commit will be close to zero. The monsters under your bed will go on a long sabbatical.

Any lame excuses you have used in the past to justify bad behavior will melt away. And you’ll mostly avoid indulging in bouts of irrational and unwarranted anger. In conclusion, Scorpio, your life should be pretty evil-free for quite some time. What will you do with this prolonged outburst of grace? Use it wisely!

Go to RealAstrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes. Audio horoscopes also available by phone at 877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You were born with the potential to give the world specific gifts -- benefits and blessings that are unique to you.

One of those gifts has been slow in developing. You’ve never been ready to confidently offer it in its fullness.

In fact, if you have tried to bestow it in the past, it may have caused problems. But the good news is that in the coming months, this gift will finally be ripe. You’ll know how to deal crisply with the interesting responsibilities it asks you to take on. Here’s your homework: Get clear about what this gift is and what you will have to do to offer it in its fullness.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) In his book Life: The Odds, Gregory Baer says that the odds you will marry a millionaire are not good: 215to-1. They’re 60,000-to-1 that you’ll wed royalty and 88,000-to-1 that you’ll date a model. After analyzing your astrological omens for the coming months, I suspect your chances of achieving these feats will be even lower than usual. That’s because you’re far more likely to cultivate synergetic and symbiotic relationships with people who enrich your soul and stimulate your imagination, but don’t necessarily pump up your ego. Instead of models and millionaires, you’re likely to connect with practical idealists, energetic creators, and emotionally intelligent people who’ve done work to transmute their own darkness.

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ARIES (March 21-April 19) I hope that everything doesn’t come too easily for you in the coming weeks. I’m worried you will meet with no obstructions and face no challenges. And that wouldn’t be good. It might weaken your willpower and cause your puzzle-solving skills to atrophy. Let me add a small caveat, however. It’s also true that right about now you deserve a whoosh of slack. I’d love for you to be able to relax and enjoy your well-deserved rewards. But on the other hand, I know you will soon receive an opportunity to boost yourself up to an even higher level of excellence and accomplishment. I want to be sure that when it comes, you are at peak strength and alertness.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) I suggest that you take a piece of paper and write down a list of your biggest fears. Then call on the magical force within you that is bigger and smarter than your fears. Ask your deep sources of wisdom for the poised courage you need to keep those scary fantasies in their proper place.

And what is their proper place? Not as the masters of your destiny, not as controlling agents that prevent you from living lustily, but rather as helpful guides that keep you from taking foolish risks.

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) There used to be a booth at a Santa Cruz flea market called “Joseph Campbell’s Love Child.” It was named after the mythological scholar who wrote the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The booth’s proprietor sold items that spurred one’s “heroic journey,” like talismans made to order and herbs that stimulated courage and mini-books with personalized advice based on one’s horoscope. “Chaos-Tamers” were also for sale. They were magic spells designed to help people manage the messes that crop up in one’s everyday routine while pursuing a heroic quest. Given the current astrological omens, Pisces, you would benefit from a place that sold items like these. Since none exists, do the next best thing: Aggressively drum up all the help and inspiration you need. You can and should be well-supported as you follow your dreams on your hero’s journey.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Happy Unbirthday, Gemini! You’re halfway between your last birthday and your next. That means you’re free to experiment with being different from who you have imagined yourself to be and who other people expect you to be. Here are inspirational quotes to help you celebrate.

1. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” - George Bernard Shaw. 2. “Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.” - W. Somerset Maugham. 3. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

4. “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” - Friedrich Nietzsche.

32 | NOVEMBER 29, 2017

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