Planet Jackson Hole February 22, 2018 by Planet Jackson Hole

JACKSON HOLE’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE | PLANETJH.COM | FEBRUARY 21-27, 2018

DIGGING

How federal giveaways to Big Coal leave Wyoming ranchers and taxpayers out in the cold

DOWNHILL

plus! LEGISLATIVE “REMEDIES” FOR GUNS, PORN & GAYS /> GUNPOWDER ART

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2 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

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DUD e , WHere’s my car?

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 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.

SHOVELING REQUIREMENTS Additionally, we would like to remind people: Town residents are responsible for keeping sidewalks shoveled. • 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. • 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. • Residents are also encouraged to help keep fire hydrants clear of snow.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FRIENDLY FOLKS AT THE TOWN OF JACKSON

JACKSON HOLE'S ALTERNATIVE VOICE

VOLUME 16 | ISSUE 6 | FEBRUARY 21-27, 2018

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12 COVER STORY DIGGING DOWNHILL How federal giveaways to Big Coal leave Wyoming ranchers and taxpayers out in the cold

THE NEW WEST

18 MUSIC BOX 20 STREAMING

10 THE BUZZ

21 GET OUT

17 CULTURE KLASH

24 EAT IT

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BY METEOROLOGIST JIM WOODMENCEY

LOWS

NORMAL HIGH NORMAL LOW RECORD HIGH IN 1986 RECORD LOW IN 1952

35 10 58 -30

The average high temperature this week hovers right around 35-degrees, as we have finally rounded the corner at this point in the winter when the averages each day will be above the freezing mark. As days get longer and the sun gets higher in the sky, we will gain a few degrees per week to these high temps. Counting down, we are now one month away from the first day of spring. The record high temperature this week is 58-degrees, which occurred on February 25th, 1986.

AVERAGE PRECIPITATION: 1.14 inches RECORD PRECIPITATION: 5.75 inches (2017) AVERAGE SNOWFALL: 14 inches RECORD SNOWFALL: 33 inches (1978)

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

Average low temperatures during this last week of February have finally cracked the single digits, with a long-term average of 10-degrees for the morning low. Of course, that means it could be much cooler or much warmer than that temperature. The record low temperature this week is minus 30-degrees, which occurred back on February 24th, 1952. The 1940’s and 1950’s were particularly cold decades, with many record lows that still stand today.

THIS MONTH

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Snow over the President’s Day Weekend brought the valley floor back from the brink of brown-ness and returned it to all whiteness, with a good dumping of snow over the weekend. Six inches fell overnight Saturday around the downtown area, more in other valley locations. Seemed like a big dump in a short time, but that was nothing compared to the biggest single day snowfall in Jackson during the month of February, with 15 inches on February 25th, 1969.

THIS WEEK

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JH ALMANAC HIGHS

FEBRUARY 21-27, 2018

8 REDNECK

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4 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

FROM OUR READERS JACKSON HOLE’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE | PLANETJH.COM | FEBRUARY 14-20, 2018

On hunting grey wolves, the subject of “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf,” the cover story published in the Feb. 14 issue of Planet Jackson Hole. Wolves vs. Elk Too bad wolves kill millions of elk per year for sport, it’s a known fact look it up. - Brenton P Long via Facebook

WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG, BAD

Media Musings Sadly the shallow media over-polarized and emotionalized this issue for its own benefit. - Wildflowers of Jackson Hole via Facebook

WOLF?

Donkey Kong

As management of the iconic predator transfers back to Wyoming, will the public conflict that surrounds it actually help promote a sustained recovery?

Maybe get a mule or donkey. I had one and he chased the dogs out of the pasture that would chase our horses. Or sit up and smoke a pack a night. - Sheri Walkerpetterborg via Facebook

A 26th Letter to America

Submit your comments to editor@planetjh.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject line. All letters are subject to editing for length, content and clarity.

JH SNOWPACK

Last year, and maybe before then, TV News kept showing children of various ages riding on top of train cars headed north to America un-accompanied by grown-ups, in an extremely dangerous way. Now we hear that we need to do

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BY LISA VAN SCIVER

In the final week of February, arctic air brought wintery conditions and the coldest temperatures we have seen this season. These below-zero temperature help dry out the snow’s surface and preserve the cold powder. From Valentine’s Day to February 19, 4 feet of snow with 4 inches of water fell. Snow depths reached 100 inches and strong winds formed dense wind slabs. Sadly, the eighth avalanche fatality for the season happened in the Tetons on February 17, with a skier was caught in the fray. Due to the heavy load and strong winds, the Bridger Teton Avalanche Center issued an avalanche warning for February 18. Many large avalanches occurred during this time. As the snowpack adjusts to the new load it will gain strength, but there could be a new slab

over weak faceted grains formed during the last dry weather period. This season’s snowpack has huge spatial variability. As a backcountry traveler, it is important to treat every slope as if it could possibly have its own persistent weak layer. In the age of instant sharing, it is hard not to allow the actions of others influence decision making, but remember — the snowpack is always changing. At the 2016 ISSW in Breckinridge, Colorado, Todd Guyn, a long time ski guide and avalanche practitioner, presented a paper on “10 Common Missteps of an Avalanche Practitioner.” Three of the 10 missteps may apply locally: being impatient with conditions, information overload, and underplaying uncertainty. The path of skiing is a slippery slope, and enjoy the cold snow!

something about giving citizenship to those who were brought here by their parents when they were young, and they are calling them dreamers. However, no one seems to mention that their parents are most likely illegals too. In the past, America has been a magnet to the world. Still is! But that cannot go on forever. It is time to stop saying, “We are a nation of immigrants,” and then using that period of America’s history, to justify acceptance of legal and illegal immigration. Remember, America’s population is now 316,158,692 and counting. As Americans we should always be grateful for the great contributions made by those who already resided in the territories, acquired by purchase, cessation, or by wars. In the 1800’s, those acquisitions expanded America’s land holdings all the way to the Pacific. This of course started migration from the eastern part of America to the new territories west. “Go west young man, go west” was the old cry. A phrase attributed to Horace Greeley. And this was soon followed by Europeans who desired to own land, and immigrated to America, the Land of Opportunity. But those who came here illegally have no right to be here. They have been breaking our laws. They should be told to show respect for our laws and pack their bags and go back home. They can then place their names on the list behind those who have been waiting. Fair is Fair! Manuel Ybarra, Jr. Coalgate, OK

HECTOR ALEJANDRO VIA FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

The flyover.

Rethinking Flyover States Assessing the political map in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho BY TODD WILKINSON |

WILKINSON: How connected are Westerners to public lands and where are the sentiments trending? PARKER: Very connected. I don’t see that appreciably changing, particularly in Montana where people use public lands extensively. In fact, Westerners may appreciate it more as cities expand and population continues to rise globally. WILKINSON: If you could wave a magic wand and by edict order changes to the political process, what would those changes be? PARKER: I would require our executive officials to subject themselves to weekly questions from Congress much as they do in Great Britain. I would also require politicians to create policy briefs which honestly, and forthrightly, lay out the positive and negatives of the policies they pursue—and to anchor all of their policy decisions in empirics, rather than their hopes and prayers—or blind adherence to a particular ideology. PJH Todd Wilkinson, founder of Mountain Journal (mountainjournal.org), is author of “Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek” about famous Greater Yellowstone grizzly bear 399 featuring 150 photographs by Tom Mangelsen, available only at mangelsen.com/grizzly.

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 5

WILKINSON: Why does the media matter? PARKER: The media matters for two reasons. First, to create a record of facts upon which we can all agree. Second, to hold our elected leaders accountable to the people. A free and unfettered media is an important public check on tyranny. WILKINSON: In what direction do you see the political make up of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho headed? PARKER: That’s hard to say. I can’t see Wyoming becoming any less Republican or conservative. Montana is interesting. The rural areas are getting older and less populated, with the state’s growth in urban counties. The highest rates of birth are among Native Americans. This all suggests that that the state may trend more Democratic in the years to come, but much of that depends on migration pattern into the state and who is moving here. The same might be said about Idaho, which has a growing and sizeable Latino population. The key question here, though, is what percentage of Latinos in Idaho are Mormon—which would make them more conservative, perhaps, than other Latino groups. Even then, I think I’d be hard pressed to say that Idaho will become a purple state soon.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

will be more conservative and a Western seat, which is more liberal. The big question would be where booming Bozeman might fall in drawing those lines. WILKINSON: The widely-held perception from the coasts is that spacious Montana is a “rural” state. PARKER: Montana is an urban state, a state of small cities. It’s not as “rural” as one might think. Do rural counties have disproportionate influence? I’d say that rural counties in Montana receive far more federal and state assistance than they might like to believe. Is that influence? Perhaps. WILKINSON: Both active U.S. Sen. Tester of Montana, a Democrat, and former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming support campaign finance reform. Is Dark Money a problem? PARKER: I think Dark Money is enormously problematic because it allows some individuals a grossly unequal voice in the political process and in a manner that distorts democratic procedures. A group can pop up, drop a bunch of ads, and disappear. That creates a problem of accountability and it distorts the political agenda. And because there is not accountability, they can make outrageous, even false claims—and do so at the last minute in low information elections that can tip the balance.

@bigartnature

ven though Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are considered inconsequential flyover states in the electoral map of America, court decisions involving redistricting, especially recent rulings in Pennsylvania, have huge consequences for the U.S. House of Representatives. Not long ago, I had a conversation with David Parker, a political science professor at Montana State University in Bozeman. TODD WILKINSON: Are there any implications of redistricting for Montana, Wyoming and Idaho? DAVID PARKER: Not immediately in the sense that Montana and Wyoming have only one seat in Congress, and Idaho only two. There may be implication for state legislative districts. Looking at Section 4 of Montana’s Constitution, there’s language suggesting you can’t discriminate based upon political beliefs while also guaranteeing equal protection of the law. Under that, I could see a lawsuit being filed to overturn seats that create an undo advantage for a party. WILKINSON: There is talk that Montana may gain back another Congressional seat. How do you expect to see those districts being set compared to, more or less, the old way of an eastern vs. west divide? PARKER: Yes, I’d agree with that. And you’d get an Eastern seat which

THE NEW WEST

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6 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

PET SPACE Pet Space is sponsored by Alpenhof

The Birth Certificate.

ANDRÉ-PIERRE DU PLESSIS VIA FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

BETTER WYO

A Seed is Not a Tree Senate introduces bill to give birth certificates to miscarried fetuses BY NATE MARTIN, BETTER WYOMING | nate@betterwyo.org | 307.703.0198

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CHEYENNE— The Wyoming State Legislature just can’t resist the urge to barge into doctors’ offices and tell physicians and their female patients what to do during the most private and vulnerable scenarios imaginable. A proposed bill that would force medical professionals to offer a “nonviable birth certificate” to women who miscarry a pregnancy passed introduction in the Senate on Wednesday. It will be considered by the Senate Committee on Labor, Health, and Human Services next week. Senate File 85’s sponsor is Sen. Brian Boner (R-Douglas), who will of course never experience a miscarriage himself. He’s got an advanced degree in Agribusiness and his occupation is “farmer/rancher” according to the Wyoming State Legislature’s website. Perhaps his experience with livestock miscarriages gives him insight into the proper medical attention a (human) woman who’s just experienced a miscarriage needs. Boner’s speech in the Senate chambers on Wednesday sure made it seem as though he believes himself some kind of medical expert. His bill, he said, “will be a way to educate people about an issue that occurs in about 10 percent of pregnancies after the first trimester.” There you go. Sen. Boner is going to make doctors offer women birth certificates for their miscarried fetuses in order to educate them. If there exists a more presumptuous, pathological, morbid variety of mansplaining, we’re struggling to imagine it.

An anti-abortion bill Of course, Boner’s bill actually has nothing to do with education, and

everything to do with chipping away at Wyoming women’s reproductive rights by manipulating the language the state uses to describe pregnancy. Anti-abortion activists are in the midst of a decades-long crusade to change the legal definition of a “fetus” and, instead, make it an “unborn child” in the eyes of the law. The thinking is that, if a fetus is really a child, then you simply cannot kill a child—making abortion de facto illegal. But a seed is not a tree. A fetus is not a child. A miscarriage is a body’s way of expelling a nonviable pregnancy—it is not a birth. It does not call for a birth certificate.

A wild intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship Boner’s proposal would apply to fetuses miscarried between nine and 20 weeks of pregnancy, spanning the first and second trimesters. Miscarriage at any point in a pregnancy tends to be a traumatic experience. Linda Burt, a lobbyist for NARAL ProChoice Wyoming, points out that women who miscarry early in a pregnancy might be relieved that the loss occurred before they had time to personalize the pregnancy. Forcing a doctor to intrude into this situation by offering a birth certificate would be harmful in these instances. “My concern is that it’s an interference with a birth issue that is extremely private,” Burt said. “It’s something that women should be able to decide on their own, and not be asked whether they want to name a fetus. I think in many situations this could put more stress on a woman and her family, as opposed to less stress.”

For a Legislature that tends to view itself as valuing hands-off, small government, this bill is a wild intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship. Medical personnel, not the government, should decide on a case-by-case basis what counseling, guidance, and information to give to women dealing with miscarriages.

“Feels like political theater”

Boner told the Senate on Wednesday that his bill purposely avoids using medical terminology. It describes a miscarriage as “an unintentional spontaneous demise that happens in a pregnancy.” It just “happens in a pregnancy.” Burt doesn’t buy it. “Most medical professionals believe there is a medical reason for a miscarriage,” she said. “Putting any extra pressure on a woman who is under enormous stress anyway is inappropriate.” Burt said NARAL is also concerned that the Boner bill may be a step toward legislation that would declare a fetus a person. “You have to wonder why they are even bringing the bill, because it’s so unnecessary,” she said. “Using the term ‘birth’ for a miscarriage is not an appropriate medical term under any circumstances. I just want to know what the actual motivation is.” Sara Burlingame, director of Wyoming Equality, said the bill to her “feels like an intrusion into something that is incredibly private.” She said the sponsors of SF 85 “may want to honor something. But when I read it, that didn’t come across to me—it sounded like male politicians using it for what feels like political theater.” PJH

ANSON STEVENS-BOLLEN

Law Enforcement, Antifa, and the Alt-Right Pop culture embraces Trump’s “both sides” narrative as alt-right grows increasingly dangerous clothes near a “black bloc” action where a few windows were broken. At the same time, right-wing terror is on the rise. The same week that Law & Order aired its “Info Wars” episode, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a new report showing that individuals who were associated with or influenced by the alt-right killed 17 people in 2017. That doubled the number from the previous year. Nikolas Cruz killed that many people in one day when he went on a shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last week. More information about his motives will surely arise in coming days, but the leader of white supremacist militia Republic of Florida (ROF) told the Anti Defamation League that Cruz had trained with the group. Jordan Jereb, ROF leader, soon started trying to distance himself from his earlier statement, blaming the “Jew media,” but this is the second school shooting in the last two months with possible white supremacist ties. William Edward Atchison, who frequently posted on sites like Daily Stormer, killed two students at Aztec High School in New Mexico. When the FBI visited him in 2015 after he had posted about trying to find a weapon for a school shooting, they concluded that he wasn’t a threat. The FBI had apparently been warned by a YouTube vlogger that someone with the name Nikolas Cruz posted “I’m going to be a professional school shooter” on his page.

The local sheriff’s office in Leon County, Florida says it has not been able to find any concrete ties between Cruz and ROF — and Jereb may have just been trying to gain attention by claiming the horrendous actions of the MAGA-hatwearing murderer. Still, it is clear that the racist, misogynist ideology of the alt-right is a serious threat, and that threat is enhanced when it is equated with anti-capitalist property destruction. The white supremacist violence in Charlottesville was able to reach the level it did because law enforcement stood around the mall across from Emancipation Park, protecting the windows of restaurants and stores from antifa protesters, instead of protecting people from the Nazis who, leaked communications show, were clearly set on violence. But we know that the FBI and Homeland Security are actively monitoring people who are inspired by a “kind of an antifa ideology,” according to FBI director Christopher Wray, and is actively investigating “black identity extremists.” So when our popular culture starts to mimic Trump and right-wing memes, declaring “both sides” are bad and adding the layer that law enforcement somehow sympathizes with antifascists, it adds yet another dangerous layer to our already deeply toxic political discourse about violence, race, and law. PJH Baynard Woods is a reporter at the Real News Network. Email baynard@ therealnews. Twitter @baynardwoods. Download the Democracy in Crisis podcast on Itunes or Soundcloud.

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 7

to acknowledge that much of our history is not pretty.” The Anglo-American tradition of law enforcement has been one of white supremacy for much of that history — and police departments and sheriff’s offices around the country are still trying to grapple with that. When the CBS news show 60 Minutes interviewed recovering racist Christian Picciolini a few months back, he talked about how skinheads made a conscious decision to clean up and join law enforcement. “You know 30 years ago, we were skinheads,” he said. “We wore swastikas and shaved heads, and you could identify us pretty easily. So we decided at that time to grow our hair out, to trade in our boots for suits, and we encouraged people to get jobs in law enforcement, to go to the military and get training and to recruit there.” A 2006 FBI report worried about white supremacists “infiltrating law enforcement communities or recruiting law enforcement personnel” and leading to “to investigative breaches.” But one of the first things the Trump administration floated upon coming into office was to changing the name of the Countering Violent Extremism program to “Countering Islamic Extremism” and eliminating a focus on white supremacist terror groups. At the same time, they were ramping up a prosecution of 200 people arrested in an anti-capitalist anti-fascist protest of Trump’s inauguration. More than a year later, 59 people, including a journalist, are still facing decades in prison for wearing black

@baynardwoods

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

recent episode of the seemingly-eternal crime drama Law & Order: SVU featured an Ann Coulter like figure — she had a name in the show but let’s call her Ann Fauxlter — who was raped with a protest sign in a “riot” on a college campus in New York (the fictional Hudson University). The “ripped-from-the-headlines” show engaged in a bit of both-sidesism worthy of Schrodinger’s cat. At first Fauxlter claims that an antifascist activist wearing all black and a mask raped her. Tracking down leads, the “liberal” cops and prosecutors come to suspect a small-handed alt-right troll whose advances she spurned the night before. SPOILER ALERT: In the end, it never says who raped Fauxlter, but it pushed hard the general establishment consensus that “both sides” — antifa and the alt-right — are equally bad. Recent events show, again, that this is bullshit — especially in the show’s depiction of police officers and prosecutors who are more sympathetic to antifa than the alt-right. Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions praised the role of sheriffs in the “Anglo-American” tradition of law enforcement. As so often with Sessions, the phrase was a dog-whistle. He could defend his position and note that the position of sheriff originated in England — think Sheriff of Nottingham— but the racists would hear that he supported them. In contrast to Sessions, James Comey — the FBI director that Sessions fired over the Russia investigation — gave a speech in 2015 noting that “All of us in law enforcement must be honest enough

BY BAYNARD WOODS |

DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS

SATIRE

Hog Island Stock Crash

EARLY RISER? Planet Jackson Hole is looking for a Wednesday morning delivery driver to start immediately.

8 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

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REDNECK PERSPECTIVE

CONTACT PETE@PLANETJH.COM | (801) 413-0936

og Island’s major stock indexes opened sharply lower on Tuesday as stocks headed for their third straight day of steep losses. Big losers were Hormel, makers of fine bacon; General Motors, manufactures of the Silverado 1500 — a favorite in the trailer court; and Golden Star, a manufacture of single wide trailers with a division that specializes in exclusive, exceptional, unique, upscale doublewides classified as legacy trailers. Armstrong Flooring fell 3.8 percent on fears that a reduced discretionary spending would trigger a lack of demand for genuine wooden imitation linoleum flooring. On the positive side, Oldcastle Concrete, Hog Island’s leading cinder block importer gained a whopping 8 percent on the expectation that as truck trade-in value decreased, more cinder blocks would be needed to block up old pickups. Gun manufacturers and Budweiser (brewer of the popular Bud Lite) stocks were unaffected by market turmoil as insiders seem confidant that Hog Islanders will buy guns and beer no matter their financial situation. The turmoil in the Hog Island exchange spilled over to other markets which were off by as much a 4 percent. The TPFWI (Teton Pines Fine Wine Index) dropped 2.4 percent, while the WMDM (Wilson Moms Driving Mercedes) fell 2.6 percent. The more inclusive WCCWBM (Westbank Composite Culinary, Butlers and Maids) dropped a staggering 3.8 percent from its recent highs with iTouchless, the maker of the touch-free sensor controlled automatic toilet seat taking a 10 percent loss.

BY CLYDE THORNHILL In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 plunged 4.7 percent, fearing a reduced demand in Teton Pines for sushi, and the French CAC 40 fell 2.6 percent over fears that the music festival wine auction would not meet forecasts by economists. Hog Island Mayor Ndogo Uume called the market decline treasonous, threatened to have them arrested and blamed the market’s actions on “people not cheering whenever I speak.” Fox News host Sean Hannity blamed the markets decline on Obama being a Muslim and therefore unwilling to eat bacon and driving the price of pork belly futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange down to “un-American levels.” When informed the CME had not traded pork belly since 2011, Mr. Hannity blamed Obama for covertly banning the trading of pork belly and not informing the public. “Widespread and excessive optimism that Mayor Uume’s tax cut would provide cash for consumer spending on guns, trucks, Bud Lite and bacon were overestimated, as the majority of tax relief went to wealthy owners of new doublewides who tend to drink Coors, drive SUV’s, and fly fish rather than shoot chiselers and signs,” News and Guide columnist Jonathan Schechter explained. “We are seeing a shift in economic f u nda mentals that however chaotic in the short term are u navoidable,” he said. ‘The m a r g i n between positive action and stability particularly in the face of breaks in the stochastic behavior of the exogenous variables and disturbances when first order equations characterize choices on the intensive margin and act or process distinguishing a null hypothesis from an alternative will necessarily characterize choices on the intensive margin,” Schechter clarified. Duh! PJH

Karma Takes Wing

NEWS

BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL

OF THE

A Canada goose got its final revenge on Feb. 1 when, after being shot out of the sky by a hunter in Easton, Maryland, it struck Robert Meilhammer, 51, of Crapo, Maryland, seriously injuring the waterfowler. NPR reported that Meilhammer was hunting with a group when one of the large geese flying overhead was killed and fell about 90 feet, landing on Meilhammer’s head and knocking him out. It also dislodged two of Meilhammer’s teeth. Adult Canada geese weigh about 12 to 14 pounds and can have a wingspan of 6 feet. At press time, Meilhammer was in stable condition after being airlifted to a hospital.

Wind River Mountain Festival Presents

lost all feeling in his lower limbs after playing the same game for more than 20 hours straight. Newsweek reported that the unnamed man didn’t realize he had become paralyzed until he tried to use the restroom and couldn’t move his legs. As he was being carried out on a stretcher, he was heard begging his friends to finish the game for him.

WEIRD

Crime Report

When the city gets to be too much for Jo and Lonnie Harrison of Houston, they escape to their pre-fab vacation cabin, nestled on a 10-acre plot in Madisonville, Texas. Having last visited the property in November, Lonnie set out on Feb. 2 to check on it. But when he arrived, he told KTRK-TV, “I didn’t see the house. All I saw were blocks and pipes sticking out. The whole house gone.” Sgt. Larry Shiver of the Madison County Sheriff’s Department later said, “I’ve never had a house reported stolen in my career yet.” (Update: The house was found a few days later, having been repossessed from the previous owner.)

Inexplicable

Somebody in Muskegon, Mich., didn’t want the Philadelphia Eagles to win Super Bowl LII. Immediately following the Eagles’ victory over the New England Patriots on Feb. 4, Subaru of Muskegon ran an ad on local NBC affiliate WOOD-TV that featured 30 seconds of silence and a written message: “Congratulations Patriots!” WOOD-TV reported via Twitter that the business had submitted only one version of the ad and had specified that it run regardless of the game’s outcome.

Precocious

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

News That Sounds Like a Joke

Staff at an internet cafe in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China, had to call paramedics on Jan. 28 when a gamer

Sonny Donnie Smith, 38, of Clackamas, Oregon, was feeling snubbed in September 2016 when both his father and his brother were invited to a family wedding, but Sonny wasn’t. As a perfectly reasonable revenge, Sonny made anonymous phone calls to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and the Midland International Air and Space Port in Midland, Texas, claiming that his father and brother were terrorists and would be traveling through the airports. An FBI investigation revealed no terrorist threats, and after interviewing the father and brother, they were both released. On Feb. 1, Sonny Smith pleaded guilty to making the calls, according to The Oregonian, and will be sentenced on May 10.

Redneck Chronicles

Cheryl Merrill, 60, of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, was arguing with her boyfriend of five years about who would win Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 and became so enraged shortly after kickoff that she picked up a wooden shelf and threw it at him. St. Johns County sheriff’s deputies were called and found Merrill “extremely intoxicated,” according to reporting by WJAX-TV. Merrill was charged with aggravated battery and taken to the St. Johns County Jail. Her boyfriend was unable to sign an affidavit because of the hand injury he sustained in the assault.

False Alarm

A Scottish farmer called Police Scotland after spotting what he believed to be a tiger in his cow shed near Peterhead in Aberdeenshire on Feb. 3. An armed response team scrambled to the farm and within 45 minutes, established that the fierce big cat was in fact a large cuddly toy. “Any call reporting a potential danger to the public has to be taken seriously,” Peterhead Inspector George Cordiner told Metro News. “Until you know exactly what you are dealing with, every option has to be considered.”

Awesome!

Undoubtedly, many records will be set during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. But before the events even began, one Winter Games record was in the books: Organizers distributed 110,000 condoms to the 2,925 athletes—about 37 condoms per competitor. “We hope to aid the athletes visiting from various countries to complete their events successfully and safely,” said a spokesperson for Convenience, the South Korea condom manufacturer that supplied most of the prophylactics. The Korea Biomedical Review reported on Feb. 1 that finely conditioned athletes have been notoriously “sexually unrestrained” before, during and after Olympics contests. Free condom distribution began in 1988 when 8,500 were handed out during the Seoul Olympics. Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 9

Houston Realtor Nicole Lopez is sporting a new nickname these days: The Taco Lady. Since late 2017, Lopez has incorporated a novel incentive for buyers of homes she’s listed: $250 in free tacos with the purchase of a home. “Let’s be honest, everyone in Texas loves tacos,” Lopez told KHOU-TV. “And so, it’s really been this ‘taco the town,’” she laughed. Lopez cited as proof of her success a $170,000 home that’s under contract “and they are super excited for their taco party at the end of this month.”

Smooth Reactions

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

When a Texas stripper arrived at her 11:30 a.m. gig on Feb. 1, she smelled a rat: Her destination turned out to be Noel Grisham Middle School in Round Rock, Texas. Rather than going inside, the performer called the school and reported a prank. Jenny LaCoste-Caputo, a district spokesperson, told the Austin American-Statesman the student jokester had used his cellphone to order the stripper and paid for it with his parents’ credit card. He is now facing disciplinary action.

A parking lot in Augusta, Georgia, became the scene of a nightmare for an unsuspecting motorcyclist and his 1982 Honda bike on Jan. 31. On his way to exchange some shirts at Target in the Augusta Exchange shopping center, Don Merritt told WJBF-TV, “I was going to go around the back to avoid the speed bumps,” but when he did, he and his bike fell into a sinkhole. Firefighters were called to rescue Merritt, who suffered a skull fracture and a loose tooth as a result of the 15-foot fall. The bike was totaled. “It’s not good customer relations,” Merritt said about the sinkhole. The center property manager reportedly is fixing the hole.

n Aaron Meininger, 29, of Hernando Beach, Florida, was arrested on Feb. 2 after Hernando County deputies caught him stealing items from the Demarco Family Funeral Home in Spring Hill. When officers arrived, Meininger was carrying a tub of formaldehyde out of the building. They also found makeup, nail polish, electric clippers, soap and other items used in funeral preparation in Meininger’s car. Curiously, the Tampa Bay Times reported, Meininger told deputies that he was “bored” and “messed up” and didn’t even know what kind of business he was burgling. He said he probably would have just thrown the stolen items away.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

10 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

PHOTO BY LEWIS MINOR VIA FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

THE BUZZ

Under penalty of law.

Guns, Gays and Porn Wyoming Legislature opens by proposing legal “remedies” for just about everything BY FW BROSCHART |

he Wyoming Legislature opened its session last week, and as is to be expected, the good old boys in Cheyenne spent much time pondering the sorts of legislative remedies needed by residents of the Cowboy State to address some of the more pertinacious problems plaguing the state. Among the issues the legislature spent time addressing last week was how terribly inconvenient it is to shoot people in Wyoming under the state’s already generous so-called “castle doctrine,” as well as making sure every classroom in the state prominently displays the phrase “In God We Trust.” The perennial problems with pornography addiction were also brought to the attention this year’s legislative session. And, the lower chamber of the state legislature actually passed two criminal justice reform bills, one that would give judges more leeway in sentencing and another that would allow non-DNA exculpatory evidence to be considered in overturning a criminal conviction.

GOD House Bill 133, the quaintly-named “Display of National Motto” bill, says “the national motto of the United States, “In God We Trust,” shall be displayed prominently in the state capitol building, the library and each classroom of each public elementary and secondary school of the state, the lobby of each public building or facility owned by the state and within the leased space of any building or facility leased by the state.”

It would also be required that schools or other buildings would be required to display the U.S. and Wyoming flags whenever “In God We Trust” is prominently displayed. The good news for Wyoming taxpayers and school districts that are facing severe budget cuts at the hands of the state legislature is that according to the bill, such displays would be funded by donations to the state or local school boards, not taxes. The bill does not make it clear where the funding for the display — which is required by the statute — would come from were donated monies not made available for the purpose. The bill sailed through its first test in the legislature — the introductory vote — with a 44-16 margin. The bill was assigned to the minerals committee who may decide to pass the bill on to the entire legislature.

GUNS During a week marred by what is only tied for the fourth worst school shooting in the United States, the Wyoming Legislature was scheduled to take up proposed legislation designed to address how inconvenient it is to shoot people in the state. The bill, House Bill 168, is what is commonly referred to as a “Stand Your Ground” bill. The bill would expand the so-called “Castle Doctrine,” a tenet of common law that allows a person to avoid civil or criminal liability for defending him or herself within the home. Under the Castle

@broschartfred

Doctrine, a person in their home has the right to defend themselves without a duty to retreat from the attacker. Wyoming’s proposed HB 168 would, in essence, expand that doctrine out to cover a person who is not in their home. The bill would essentially codify the idea that a person is not required to retreat, even in public, and is entitled to stand their ground. Across the nation, many states have adopted such legislation. One of the most notable cases involving “stand your ground” laws was the shooting of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, in 2012. In that case, Zimmerman followed Martin — who had not committed any crime — telling police the boy was acting suspiciously. Despite being asked by 911 dispatchers not to confront Martin, Zimmerman did anyway and wound up fatally shooting Martin in the ensuing confrontation. Zimmerman was acquitted of Martin’s murder under the state’s “Stand Your Ground” laws. The proposed Wyoming “Stand Your Ground” bill takes the state’s existing self-defense laws — which do not require retreat — and muddies the water significantly. Under the proposed law, a person may use defensive force to protect injury or loss to himself or another, and anyone who does so will be immune from being arrested or detained by police during their investigation.

According to the law, “A peace officer may use standard procedures for investigating the use of defensive force, but shall not arrest a person for using defensive force unless the peace officer determines that there is probable cause that the person did not believe the defensive force was necessary to prevent an injury or loss to himself or another person before taking defensive action.” The law goes on to say that even if a person kills someone in self-defense wrongly, that person will not held liable as long as there was a “good faith” belief on the part of the shooter that they were acting in self-defense. Shooters who have “good faith” belief they are justified in taking the life of another are also protected from being sued in civil court for damages by the families of victims, even if the shooter acted incorrectly. The bill cleared its introduction in the house last week, and now will be taken up by the Judiciary Committee for review.

GAYS (AND PORN, TOO!)

Of course, no legislative session would be complete without yet another bill intended to save marriage from people who just want to get married. HB-167, the so-called “Marriage and Constitution Restoration Act,” would have prohibited the state or any state agency from recognizing any marriage “not between a man and woman.” In the text of the bill, same-sex marriages are referred to throughout as “parody marriages,” and part of the “religion

BLM VIA VIA FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

Last week, two criminal justice reform bills cleared their first hurdles in the legislature.

The Important Issues Budget, criminal measures show Wyo Senate bills aren’t all fun and games BY FW BROSCHART |

types. A second criminal justice proposal, House Bill 26, would change an existing law that prevents non-DNA exculpatory evidence more than two-years-old from being considered in the overturning of convictions. Under the existing system, even if a person can be proven to be innocent of a crime, they can remain in jail if the evidence is found more than two years after a wrongful conviction. If passed, HB 26 would allow such evidence to be weighed. Any new evidence brought to the attention of the court must be newly-discovered evidence that is not merely a reinterpretation of existing evidence, according to the bill. Any such exculpatory evidence used to overturn a conviction must also not have been known to the defendant or the defendant’s legal counsel at the time of the original trial. The court may also consider evidence that was available at the time of the original trial if the court finds the accused’s legal counsel provided ineffective assistance or failed to exercise due diligence uncovering evidence. While both of the reform measures passed their first hurdles in the house, it is unclear how they will fare in the Senate. Last year, two similar measures made it past the house, but both died in the state Senate.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE UNIFORMITY

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 11

The Wyoming State Senate also introduced new legislation last week, and one bill in particular is seeking to shore up punishments for domestic violence. Senate File 19, called the “Uniformity in domestic violence law,” was introduced by Joint Judiciary Interim Committee.

The state Senate voted to send the bill to the house for their consideration The act doubles punishments meted out for some domestic violence offenses. Strangulation of a household member was reclassified as a domestic abuse crime, and its punishment was bumped from five years in the pokey to 10. A first charge of domestic assault now carries a six-month jail term in addition to a $750 fine. A second conviction will get the abuser a year in jail instead of six months. The punishment for false imprisonment under the proposed law would double from five years’ incarceration to 10, and the accompanying fine would skyrocket from $2,000 to $10,000. The Senate acted to pass the package of domestic abuse laws in order to bring some parity between those laws and other serious crimes not of a domestic nature. Under existing laws, punishments tend to be harsher for those convicted of violent crimes that are not classified as domestic abuse crimes. The Senate attempted to pass a package of laws last year to address the disparity in the punishment of domestic abusers and other violent criminals, but some concerns by lawmakers about the proposed laws sank the effort. The two criminal justice reform bills, House Bills 26 and 42 were accepted by the house and will move on for debate in the Senate just as they did last year. Senate File 19, the domestic abuse uniformity law, was passed in the Senate and will be sent to the house for a vote this legislative session. If any of the proposed bills pass both houses, they will then be forwarded to Gov. Matt Mead for his approval or veto. PJH

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

espite some of the bills introduced in the state legislature last week being little more than red meat for a lot of voters in the state, it wasn’t all fun and games for the legislature last week. State legislators spent some time dealing with several important issues, even if the body still has yet to address the state’s looming budget woes. Last week, two criminal justice reform bills cleared their first hurdles in the legislature and will be sent on. Another bill, aimed at It’s unclear if the measures will pass, however, as very similar ones passed the house last year, but failed to make it past “law and order” types in the Wyoming Senate. The first of the two criminal justice reform bills, House Bill 42, would grant judges more leeway in their treatment of parole and probation violators. Rather than simply sending parole or probation violators directly to prison — where about 40 percent of inmates are parole or probation violators — under the proposed changes, judges could instead order several days in jail as a wakeup call for parolees and those on probation. Or, a judge could order an offender into substance abuse treatment for up to 90 days instead of prison. While there are costs associated with establishing a drug treatment program since the legislature voted to disband an existing in-prison treatment program in 2016, the hopes of the bill are to ultimately reduce costs to the state. With each inmate costing the state approximately $35,000 per year and the state prison rapidly running out of space, programs that can keep non-violent offenders out of the crowbar hotel are increasingly appealing, even to dyed-in-the-wool law-and-order

@broschartfred

of secular humanism.” As such marriages are essentially religious and the state cannot recognize the religious over the “secular” non-religious construct of heterosexual marriage, same-sex marriages cannot be recognized, the bill states. In the United States, same-sex marriage has been recognized as a right since the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. In that landmark case, the court declared the fundamental right to marry — whether as part of a religious ceremony or a civil union — is guaranteed to same-sex couples by the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The bill, however, will not be taking its arguments to the supreme court, as the bill failed to make it past the introductory phase in the legislature. There, it joined the 2018 legislative scrapheap along with another proposal for a joint resolution declaring pornography a “Public Health Crisis.” A joint resolution, if adopted, would not make any chances in the law but instead declares a position on an issue taken by the legislature. The problem, according to the proposed resolution, is that pornography has become more ubiquitous due to the internet, and ready access to porn has contributed to a “sexually toxic environment” of porn addiction, “hypersexualization” of children, the morphing of “hardcore” porn into “mainstream pornography” as well as body image disorders among young people. Porn, the resolution said, also treats women as objects and teaches boys and men to continue that objectification and contributes to the problems of sex trafficking. If passed, the resolution would have recognized pornography as a public health crisis, and the state would have recognized, “the need for education, prevention, research and policy change at the community and societal level to address the pornography epidemic that is harming the people of our state and nation.” Like the gay marriage bill, the porn bill failed its introduction to the legislature and, for the year at least, shunts off a back corner of history. In the legislature right now, however, the show goes on and the legislative session continues, working its way through a few important and much-needed bills, as well as all the rest. PJH

THE BUZZ 2

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

12 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

DIGGING

How federal giveaways to Big Coal leave Wyoming ranchers and taxpayers out in the cold

DOWNHILL

n the morning after the autumn’s first snow, L.J. Turner looked out over a creek near his house that reliably watered his family’s livestock for more than 70 years. A third-generation Wyoming rancher, Turner remembered hunting rabbits there amid lush marsh grasses and high cottonwood trees when he was a boy in the 1950s. Then the nation’s three largest coal mines began to dig in downhill from his 10,000-acre ranch. To get to the coal, they blasted through and drained the region’s aquifers. The marsh grasses vanished. The creek began to recede and eventually ran dry, as did a well Turner

dug to feed a livestock watering trough. As the mines grew and oil and gas wells came, Turner lost not only his ranch’s abundant water, but also 6,000 acres he once leased as grazing land—scraped away to reach the coal. Now his cattle herd is half what it was, calves near the coal mines die at alarming rates, and he has had to spend thousands of dollars drilling deeper and deeper wells, eating into an already reduced income. “You can’t really do a whole lot about this as an individual, and there’s not a reason or a lot of benefit to sitting there and beating your head against the wall,” said

By Neela Banerjee & Robert McClure, insideclimatenews.org

Turner, who sued the state unsuccessfully over the loss of water. “It’s just, you have to change.” Over the last 40 years, Turner and some of his neighbors have paid a heavy price for the development of energy resources beneath the sagebrush-studded high plains where he lives in the Powder River Basin, a West Virginia-sized swath straddling Montana and Wyoming. The wave of fossil fuel extraction brought jobs and money. It also depleted aquifers that allowed people to live and ranch here for generations, devoured thousands of rural acres, and worsened air quality. American taxpayers everywhere have paid heavily,

Law School. “And there’s no doubt that if you had less coal development there, you would have less aquifer depletion.” The government has long subsidized industries to foster their growth. Renewable energy gets tax breaks— but their cost to taxpayers to date is smaller than for fossil fuels and they’re written to sunset in the future. Fossil fuel supports have lasted for decades, with two oil subsidies about a century old. In 2009, President Barack Obama pledged to phase out fossil fuel subsidies by 2020, citing a need to keep more fossil fuels in the ground and avoid the worst damage from climate change. The Republican-led Congress took no action on Obama’s budget requests to end them. In his last year in office, the Interior Department suspended new federal coal leases in order to overhaul the program so it better reflects environmental costs and boosts revenue. The Trump administration reversed those efforts, part of the president’s deregulatory agenda aimed at maximizing production of coal, oil and natural gas while backing away from climate policy. The tax bill signed by Trump this month preserves the subsidies enjoyed by industry. “We’ve ended the war on beautiful, clean coal,” Trump declared recently.

Free Land in Coal Country but With a Catch

As coal mines grew and oil and gas wells came to the Powder River Basin, L.J. Turner lost his ranch’s abundant water as well as thousands of acres he once leased as grazing land. Credit: Anna Belle Peevey

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 13

After fighting in World War I, L.J. Turner’s father sold the family farm in Missouri and moved a thousand miles to become a rancher in Wyoming. There he got a subsidy of his own. The federal government gave the Turner family land for free under the Homestead Act, passed during the Civil War to encourage westward expansion. When the family was picking acreage, locals advised them, “Be sure you get the big spring there, ‘cause it’s absolutely foolproof water” for livestock, L.J. Turner said, recalling the stories he was told. But there was a catch: A few years before the Turners arrived, Congress changed the terms of the Homestead Act so that the federal government would retain ownership of minerals beneath the land it was deeding to settlers. It was a move that would come to benefit today’s corporations immensely. Mining federal coal in the Mountain West began in spurts in the 19th century to feed the railroads, but coal leasing accelerated in the 1970s to meet demands of utilities that needed more fuel to support booming manufacturing. The 1973 Arab oil embargo added urgency. At the time, environmental activists, empowered by the Federal Lands and Management Policy Act of 1976, were pushing for opening more public lands to uses other than resource extraction and for better planning. Even supporters of resource extraction wanted competitive bids and better royalty rates so that taxpayers would be paid a fair price for the fossil fuels they own. But “the urgency to mine coal ended up winning out,” said Bucks, who served on a U.S. Commerce Department commission in the 1970s that studied the consequences of coal mining in Wyoming and Montana. “Land management was complex, the science evolving. That’s a long-term endeavor, while the energy need was immediate.” The rush to mine had its biggest impact on the Powder River Basin. In 1977, the Black Thunder mine opened about 20 miles east of the Turners’ home. Five years later came the Antelope Mine, now owned by

too. The federal government owns most of the coal, oil and gas in the ground here. And it has fostered mining and drilling through a host of subsidies, including tax breaks, cheap leases and low royalties that permit fossil fuel corporations to privatize the benefits while socializing many of the costs. Corporations have been able to lease federal coal at $1 a ton or less, use loopholes to halve official royalty rates, and take risks that could push the costs of land reclamation onto taxpayers. Direct fossil fuel subsidies by the federal government amount to about $10 billion annually in tax breaks and deductions, according to a conservative estimate by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group. Oil and gas companies, for instance, can deduct the bulk of a well’s drilling costs in the year they are incurred, as opposed to writing off the capital expenditures over many years as other industries do. That deduction cost taxpayers almost $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2015, and “distorts markets by encouraging more investment in the oil and natural gas industry,” according to the Treasury Department. Tallies of direct subsidies don’t include the hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenues from undervalued leases and royalty rates. They also don’t account for billions taxpayers shell out to clean up after fossil fuel extraction or the resulting damage to human health and the environment from climate change. After calculating all the effects, the International Monetary Fund estimated that governments worldwide pay more than $5.3 trillion annually to support the burning of fossil fuels. The United States is the second-most prolific fossil fuel subsidizer, behind China, according to the 2017 study. “We’re a century and a half into coal and oil. These are not fledgling industries,” said Dan Bucks, former director of the Montana Department of Revenue and a consultant on tax and conservation issues. “We’re subsidizing fuels with enormous environmental costs especially climate change, and it can’t be justified when we know we can supply our energy needs by other means. “The subsidies slow the natural transition to a more competitive and environmentally sound energy future,” Bucks added. Industry spends considerable amounts to hold on to this taxpayer support, part of a multi-pronged strategy it deploys across courtrooms, legislatures, news media and in Congress to preserve its bottom line. During the 2016 federal election cycle, fossil fuel companies laid out $354 million in campaign donations and lobbying, according to a report by the climate watchdog group Oil Change International. Over the same period, the industry enjoyed $29.4 billion in direct and indirect federal and state subsidies, the group estimated. Many fossil fuel projects would likely have gone ahead even without the tax and royalty breaks. But reducing the number and forcing companies to pay for the impact on air, water, land and the climate would shrink fossil fuel extraction markedly, analysts said. If coal mining in the Powder River Basin had gone slower or been less widespread, things could have ended up differently for the Turners. “There are significant external costs that companies don’t pay for, and if they had to pay for them, we would have a lot less coal production” in the Powder River Basin, said Mark Squillace, director of the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

14 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

Cloud Peak Energy, about 15 miles to the southeast. Eventually, between those two projects, Peabody Energy built the largest surface coal mine in the world, the North Antelope Rochelle mine. By 2002, the Powder River Basin had become the country’s largest coal-producing region. Today it produces 40 percent of all the coal burned in the United States and accounts for more than 10 percent of the country’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. The coal boom employed 7,000 people in Wyoming at its employment peak in 2011. By 2016, that number had fallen to fewer than 5,700, as demand for coal slowed considerably under competitive pressure from cheaper natural gas and renewable sources and the weight of federal regulations. Even with the industry in decline, the government continues to support the coal companies in the Powder River Basin and elsewhere by offering short cuts, subsidies and tax breaks at nearly every step of the mining process.

Taxpayer Coal for Sale at $1 a Ton—or Less Since coal mining took off there 40 years ago, investigations by federal agencies and independent analysts have repeatedly shown that the leasing process shortchanges taxpayers. The first two coal leases sold in 1982 “were legally suspect and publicly criticized for not receiving fair market value,” leading to a major Congressional inquiry, Squillace wrote in a 2013 law journal article. In 1990, the Interior Department under Pres. George H.W. Bush rescinded the Powder River Basin’s status as a federal coal-producing region for reasons that remain unclear. The move loosened coal leasing restrictions. Rather than Interior deciding where, when and how much coal should be mined, those decisions fell to industry. One enduring effect of this has been to make noncompetitive lease sales the norm. A corporation will pick a tract of coal to expand an existing mine and petition Interior to lease it. These parcels are too small to be standalone mines that would otherwise invite competitors, Squillace said. So when the coal lease is put up for sale, there’s usually only a single bidder, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in 2013. In a survey of 107 leased parcels, 96 of them, or 90 percent, went to a sole bidder, almost always a company seeking to expand an existing mine, the report found. This lack of competition means rock-bottom rates and sparse returns to taxpayers. Over the years, the federal government has sold leases in the Powder River Basin for about $1.00 per ton of coal or less. The market price of Powder River Basin coal is about $12.00 a ton, according to the Energy Information Administration. Besides the lack of competition, leases are so cheap because the Interior Department itself sets the initial price for a coal tract at far below market value. The process for calculating a lease’s value is confidential, but separate studies by the Interior Department’s Inspector General and the GAO determined the process is flawed. It fails to account for growing overseas demand and other market forces, and deprives taxpayers of millions of dollars annually. The government collects royalties on the sale of the coal. But the way royalties are calculated also benefits

coal companies at the expense of taxpayers. The official Inspector General, the Obama administration underroyalty rate is 8 percent on sales of coal from under- took a sweeping review of the program. In January 2016, ground mines, and 12.5 percent for strip-mined coal the Interior Department under Secretary Sally Jewell like in the Powder River Basin. But corporations often paused the sale of new coal leases during this review. In convince federal officials to reduce those rates if the mid-2016, the administration reformed the royalty rule companies are facing financial hardship, or if the coal is to close the captive transaction loophole, requiring that expensive to mine for technological reasons, according royalties be assessed on the first sale to an unaffiliated entity. to Pamela Eaton, senior Just before adviser for the energy “Based on the thoughtful input Trump took office and climate program at we received through this extensive in January 2017, the Wilderness Society, a conservation group. review, there is a need to modern- Jewell released the of the coal For instance, in ize the federal coal program.” results leasing review. September, the Interior “Based on the Department signed off on an expansion of Arch Coal’s underground West thoughtful input we received through this extensive Elk Mine in Colorado—despite warnings about high review, there is a need to modernize the federal coal progreenhouse emissions—and cut the royalty to 5 percent gram,” she stated. “We have a responsibility to ensure because Arch said the coal was especially difficult to the public...get a fair return from the sale of America’s coal, operate the program efficiently and in a way that mine. Between 1982 and 2011, taxpayers lost around $28.9 meets the needs of our neighbors in coal communities, billion from undervalued lease sales and royalty pay- and minimize the impact coal production has on the ments, or about $1 billion a year, according to an anal- planet that our children and grandchildren will inherit.” Jewell’s successor, Ryan Zinke, reversed those steps: ysis by the Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis, a think tank working to encourage a transition The results from the review of coal leasing were discarded, the moratorium lifted and the proposed royalty rule away from fossil fuels. rescinded, tilting the system back once more to industry. Heather Swift, an Interior Department spokeswomAmong the Biggest Subsidies, Captive an, declined to answer questions about why Zinke Transactions The biggest royalty losses to the Treasury occur once overturned Obama-era steps to reform coal leasing. She coal has been mined and is sold. By law, royalties are pointed out that in making its decision the Interior had assessed on the first sale after the coal has come out of revived the dormant Royalty Policy Committee to advise Zinke. Nearly all the committee members are from fossil the ground. Companies have succeeded in minimizing payments fuel extraction states and industries. There are no local to the government by setting up networks of subsidiar- environmentalists, consumer advocates or tax specialies, to which they make the first sale at low prices. The ists among the representatives. coal then gets sold, and resold at higher and higher pricCleaning Up After Fossil Fuels es, until a power plant buys it. Fossil fuel extraction tears up the land, even when Taxpayers get a royalty payment only on that first, there are no spills or accidents. Forests and prairie get captive transaction. In 2004, only 4 percent of Wyoming coal was sold peeled away for mines, well pads, roads and more. Once through captive transactions between a corporate par- corporations are finished, they are supposed to restore ent and a subsidiary. By 2012, that figure rose to 42 per- what they disrupted to a semblance of its previous state. cent, according to a review of federal data by the Center And they are required to post bonds with state and fedfor American Progress, a liberal think tank. In a 2013 eral authorities, as a form of insurance to pay for restoSecurities and Exchange Commission filing, Cloud Peak ration—even if they go bankrupt. The country’s largest coal companies often use the Energy, one the biggest companies in the Powder River Basin, disclosed that if the federal government changed option of self-bonding, which allows them to operate captive transactions in the coal sector, “our profitability without posting any actual cash or collateral, essentially offering their promise that they will pay fully to restore and cash flows would be materially adversely affected.” An investigation by Reuters estimated that industry an area once the mine has closed. Self-bonding rests on the assumption that the corpoused the loophole created by captive transactions to pay at least $40 million less in royalties in 2011 alone. Even rations are too big and stable to go bankrupt. Yet by 2016, the Wyoming state auditor recommended stricter feder- $2.4 billion of the $3.86 billion in outstanding self-bondal control over captive transactions among affiliates of ing obligations nationwide were held by companies that a single mining corporation because it had determined had filed for bankruptcy in recent years, including Alpha that such sales “are highly susceptible to manipulation.” Natural Resources, Arch Coal and Peabody. Critics are Luke Popovich, spokesman for the National Mining concerned that taxpayers could be on the hook for Association, did not answer questions about criticisms reclaiming their old mines if coal sales continue to of the federal leasing programs, calling the queries decline. Wyoming state regulators proposed rules last month “tendentious.” He said that coal corporations paid fees “actually above market rates,” and that Obama’s Interior that will tighten self-bonding requirements. Companies secretary “concluded no major reform” of the federal will be able to self-bond only up to 70 percent of cleanup costs. Whether they’re allowed to self-bond will be coal leasing program was warranted. In fact, after years of reports critical of federal based on current credit ratings, rather than older auditcoal leasing, including by the Interior Department’s ed financial statements. The rules will no longer allow

For the Turners, Digging Deeper to Find Water

Billions of gallons of water have been lost across the Powder River Basin from coal mining. L.J. Turner sued the state unsuccessfully over the loss of his water. Credit: Anna Belle Peevey

U.S. taxpayers have lost billions of dollars in revenue over decades from undervalued coal lease sales and royalty payments that benefit coal companies, investigations by federal agencies and independent analysts have shown. Credit: Anna Belle Peevey

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 15

For L.J. and Karen Turner, the effects of fossil fuel extraction have rippled through their property like waves of an earthquake. “It’s negatively affected our quality of life—air quality, water quality and our bottom line,” Karen Turner said. They used to graze cattle on large stretches of federal land. After coal mining began, L.J. Turner lost access to 6,000 acres his family had leased for generations near the North Antelope Rochelle mine. It costs about $2 per cow per month to run cattle on public lands. The privately owned pastures the Turners now must use charge about $25 per cow per month, one of the reasons the couple has reduced their herd from 400 head to 200. The Turners have noticed that calves on the remaining piece of grazing land they lease beside a mine are dying at higher rates than those farther away. When the Turners married in 1969, the water was only about four feet below ground level near their house, Karen recalled. After the first wave of mining in the 1980s, even more water was drained in the 1990s for the extraction of shallow methane, or natural gas known as coalbed methane. Government scientists once predicted that the drawdown of water because of mining would extend no more

than five miles from coal mines. But billions of gallons have been lost across the basin. For many years, state geologists have documented falling underground water levels—up to 582 feet at one well last year, which is deeper than the Washington Monument is tall. Across the wells checked, the average decline was 82 feet last year. In Gillette, the largest town in the Powder River Basin, population growth fueled by mining made great demands on the region’s limited water supplies. In 2007, the city scrambled to come up with the more than $200 million it cost to run water lines about 45 miles to the next county. State taxpayers funded most of the project, which is not yet complete. The Turners have paid many thousands of dollars to have their wells redrilled to greater depths and have had to install thousands of yards of pipe to supply the family and their livestock. But the Turners themselves find the deeper well water undrinkable. “It smells like rotten eggs,” Karen Turner said. “It doesn’t taste too bad if you hold your nose, which is why we buy bottled water.” The well water also sometimes forms a gelatinous sludge in toilet tanks, she said. Environmental rules do little to protect local residents from the loss of their water due to fossil fuel extraction. In 2007, with a neighboring ranching family, the Turners sued the state, saying officials had failed to settle “questions regarding management of Wyoming’s most valuable and finite resource: water.” “This is a matter of great public importance, impacting the social and economic realities of the present-day organization of Wyoming’s society,” the suit said. The Wyoming Supreme Court rejected the argument, ruling that even though the state conceded that “the administration of water is unquestionably a matter of great importance in Wyoming’s arid environment,” the ranchers had failed to pursue administrative remedies and “it is not the function of the judicial branch to pass judgment on the general performance of other branches of government.” Standing next to the now-trickling creek where he hunted rabbits and his daughter was married in the 1990s, Turner said he knows he cannot prove in the courts that the coal mines were responsible for the loss of water. But he knows this: “There was willows and rose bushes and all this kind of brush along here. We’d have beaver, mink, different things like that, sometimes some pheasants. Now it’s just, it ain’t there no more. “And whenever we had the water in the creek, frogs were absolutely thick, and now I don’t know that we have a frog on the place.” PJH InsideClimate News is a non-profit, non-partisan news outlet that covers climate, energy and the environment.

self-bonding by subsidiary companies, instead forcing the parent mining company to pledge its assets. Under Jewell, the Interior Department also moved to shore up reclamation, beginning a review of self-bonding to see if it adequately protected taxpayers. Several federal agencies under Obama, including the Justice Department, successfully argued in federal court in 2016 that Alpha Natural Resources should be required to replace self-bonding with outside insurance before exiting bankruptcy. Now, the Trump Interior Department plans to loosen reclamation insurance standards by permitting routine use of self-bonding once more. Charlene Murdock, a spokeswoman for Peabody, owner of the North Antelope Rochelle mine near the Turner Ranch, said in an email that the mine “maintains a strong record of environmental stewardship, and our monitoring shows standards to protect air and water quality are being achieved. Peabody works in partnership with neighboring landowners who successfully graze their livestock on the ample forage of reclaimed mine lands.” She added: “In 2016, Peabody’s successful land stewardship achieved 1.8 acres of reclamation for every acre disturbed in mining activities. Over the past decade, Peabody has spent $185 million to restore approximately 48,000 acres of land.” Even when coal companies reclaim the land they’ve stripped away, it’s unclear whether the water will return to ranchers such as the Turners who watched it dry up. “We don’t know yet as there has not been a surface mine that has achieved full and final reclamation, including hydrologic reclamation, in Wyoming,” said Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy program director at Wild Earth Guardians, an environmental law nonprofit. “We question whether full hydrologic reclamation can be accomplished in the arid Powder River Basin. The coal companies obviously claim they can. We haven’t seen anything empirical that suggests this is the case.”

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

16 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

THIS WEEK: February 21, 2018

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21

n Toddler Gym 10 a.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Story Time 10 a.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Baby Time - Youth Auditorium 10:05 a.m. Teton County Library, n Open Hockey - Weekday Morning 10:15 a.m. Snow King Sports & Event Center, $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n Public Skating - Weekday 12 p.m. Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $8.00, (307) 201-1633 n Read to Rover 3 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Art Association of JH Youth Auditorium 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, n Beginning Pilates Reformer Workshop 3:30 p.m. Dancers’ Workshop, $100.00, 307-733-6398 n Winter Wonderland Ice Skating on Town Square 4 p.m. n Open Gym - Adult Basketball 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Marshall Star Band 9 p.m. Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, Free, 307-733-2207

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22

n Books & Babies Story Time 10 a.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Storytime - Youth Auditorium 10:30 a.m. Teton County Library, n Story Time, Victor 10:30 a.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n App Time - Study Room 4 2 p.m. Teton County Library, n Bridging the Gap Performance Clinics 2 p.m. Jackson Hole High School, $10.00, 307-734-9718 n Eli Williams, The Cougar Fund - Youth Auditorium 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, n REFIT® 5:15 p.m. First Baptist Church, Free, 307-690-6539

SEE CALENDAR PAGE 23

n Open Build 5:30 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Papa Chan and Johnny C Note 6 p.m. Teton Pines Country Club, Free, 307 733 1005 n Teton Adventure Traveler Series 6 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Open Gym - Adult Soccer 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Armchair Adventure: Walking the Camino de Santiago 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, 307-739-9025 n Pat Chadwick Trio 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Salsa Night 9:30 p.m. Pink Garter Theatre, Free,

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23

n All Ages Story Time 11 a.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Fun Friday - Youth Auditorium 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, n Film Friday Victor 3:30 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Game Night 4 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Beauty and the Beast, Jr! 2018 Youth Musical 6:30 p.m. Center Theater, $8.00 - $18.00, 3077333021 n Moose Hockey Game 7 p.m. Snow King Sports & Event Center, $5.00 - $10.00, (307) 201-1633 n FREE Public Stargazing 7:30 p.m. Center for the Arts, n PJ Moon and the Swappers 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n The Motet 9 p.m. Pink Garter Theatre, $20.00 - $50.00, n Intermountain Youth Festival Jackson, WY

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24

n Library Saturdays - Youth Auditorium 10:15 a.m. Teton County Library,

Compiled by Cory Garcia n Winter Wonderland Ice Skating on the Town Square 12 p.m. n The People’s Market, A Winter Farmers Market 2 p.m. Teton County Fairgrounds Building, Free, 206-715-9039 n Girlband “Knock On” 3 p.m. Alpenhof Lodge - Bistro, Free, 307 690-8859 n Chanman - SOLO 4 p.m. Teton Mountain Lodge, Free, 307 201 6066 n Ties and Tiaras: A Father Daughter Dance 5:30 p.m. Grand View Lodge, 307-739-9025

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25

n Open Gym - Adult Volleyball 4 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, n Tasha and the Goodfellows 7 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26

n Maker 3 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Movie Monday - Youth Auditorium 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, n Movie Monday 3:30 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Movie Monday-Driggs 3:30 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Sound Bath with Rachel Holmes 6:45 p.m. Teton Yoga Shala, $10.00, 307-690-3054

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27

n Tech Time 1 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Read to Rover, Driggs 3 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Theatre with Nicole Madison - Youth Auditorium 3:30 p.m. Teton County Library, n Aaron Davis 4 p.m. Ascent Lounge at Four Seasons, Free, n Black History Month Movie Screening 6 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library,

TARYN BOALS

Wallpaper at Teton Artlab is one of the only times the studio is opened up for a party (and art show!)

Wallpaper Wonder Teton Artlab has evolved but continues to keep its eye on the local art prize @Kelsey_Dayton

The work is all unframed making it more affordable for new collectors. Works range from as low as $5 up to several hundred dollars. Purchased work must be paid for the same night. The work usually runs the gamut of subject matter, as well as medium. Last year an artist showed — and sold — prints of bags of poop, Walker said. “Art is a funny thing, there really does seem to be a buyer for literally every piece of art you put out there, no matter how strange it is,” he said. Unlike the first year Artlab hosted Wallpaper, most of the work sold in the show is now made in Jackson at the Artlab. The residency program has expanded the reach of Artlab to around the world. Former residents like June Glasson and Erin Curry will show work in the Wallpaper show, as will local like Mike Piggott, Amy Lay, Ben Roth and many more. Walker will also sell some of his work including landscapes, paintings of trailers and RVs and a painting from the World Championship Hill Climb that he’s never shown. Money raised from the show goes to the Artlab’s residency program. Artists keep 50 percent of the proceeds, although some choose to donate the entire price tag of their work. The evening will feature food from Pearl Street Market and beer from Melvin Brewing. PJH

This Week at The Wort THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22 PAT CHADWICK TRIO FRI & SAT, FEB 23 & 24 PJ MOON & THE SWAPPERS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25 TASHA & THE GOODFELLOWS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 BLUEGRASS TUESDAY WITH ONE TON PIG Full music schedule at worthotel.com 50 N. Glenwood St. • 307-732-3939

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 17

“This is one of the only times we really open the studios up and have a party and that’s always a good formula for a successful and fun event,” Walker said. This year, the show will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Teton Artlab. The curated show will feature more than 25 artists representing a mix of those who live in Jackson and alums from its residency program. The show is only one night. The only parameters participating artists must follow are that the work must be on paper and it can’t be a digital print. Hundreds of works on paper will hang like a crazy grid across the walls. “When it comes together, it does have a feeling of wallpaper,” Walker said. Attendees are given a sheet of red dot stickers when they enter. When they find a piece they want, they can place a sticker next to it with their initials. “It’s kind of a free for all,” Walker said. The first year Walker had to solicit friends to create work for the show. When the doors opened, he was overwhelmed with people wanting to buy the hundreds of pieces of work papering the walls. He came up with the sticker system to help with the chaos. “I think that really changed the dynamic of the show — giving the people the power to go nuts with the red dots,” he said. “People really love that power.”

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

bout a decade ago, Travis Walker was still a relatively unknown artist. The painter, known for his contemporary scenes of Jackson and the West, started Teton Artlab in part to offer a place where artists like himself could show work; where people could see modern and unusual paintings, prints and sculptures that didn’t fit in the more mainstream gallery scene in Jackson. The fledgling gallery’s first major show to feature work by more than just a couple of artists was called Wallpaper. Works on paper covered the walls in the salon-style show. Some prints went for only a few dollars, enticing people who’d never bought art to buy their first pieces. “This is how I started my career,” Walker said. “I started as an artist without representation. This show, along with the other group shows at the Artlab, helped establish myself here.” Altamira Gallery now represents Walker, and Teton Artlab has grown to include a residency program that brings artists to Jackson from around the world. What hasn’t changed is the organization’s dedication to supporting local artists and exposing the community to different styles of art, and its regular Wallpaper show. The show has become the main event the Artlab hosts each year.

BY KELSEY DAYTON |

CULTURE KLASH

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

18 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

MUSIC BOX

GOT SOME GRIPE-WORTHY ISSUES, OR EVEN… SOMEONE TO PRAISE?

MATT KENNEDY/©MARVEL STUDIOS 2018

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD WITH A LETTER TO THE EDITOR. EMAIL EDITOR@PLANETJH.COM WITH “LETTER TO THE EDITOR” IN THE SUBJECT LINE.

T H E M E T ROP OL ITAN OP ERA : LI V E I N H D

King Kendrick The Black Panther album music may not win all the awards, but it will be on quite a few lists BY CORY GARCIA |

GAETANO DONIZETTI Thursday, March 1 at 7PM | Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole Pretty Yende debuts a new role at the Met with her first Adina opposite the great American tenor Matthew Polenzani. Bartlett Sher’s production is charming with deft comedic timing and revealing emotional depth. Domingo Hindoyan conducts. The Elixir of Love represents the best of the bel canto tradition that reigned in Italian opera in the early 19th century— from funny patter songs and rich ensembles to wrenching melody in the solos.

PRESENTED BY THE

GRAND TETON M U SI C F EST IVAL & CENT E R OF WON D E R

lack Panther The Album Music From and Inspired By will not be the best rap album released this year. It’s only February, which means there’s plenty of time on the clock for someone — be it Kanye West, Chance the Rapper or someone who isn’t even on our radars yet — to show up with the next classic. Hell, there’s more than enough time for King Kendrick Lamar himself to show up with another killer release. That said, it is a shockingly good record for a modern soundtrack release, and for people who don’t really dip their toes in the water of hip-hop it might very well end up on their best albums of the year list. It seems silly to be skeptical of anything that Lamar touches, given the hot streak that he’s been on, but you can’t win all the time; yes, he released To Pimp A Butterfly, but he’s also on that awful remix of Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood.” And really, how long has it been since a superhero movie had a soundtrack album that was worth a damn? If you think of something better, let me know, but best I can tell the last truly good “music from and inspired by” superhero release was attached to 2002’s Spider-man. Like it or not, it did spawn at least two pretty popular singles, Chad Kroeger’s “Hero” and Corey Taylor’s “Bother,” forever attaching

@cfaust

them in music history and making their feud last year hilarious; a feud, I might add, Taylor lost because comparing Chad Kroeger to KFC isn’t an insult because KFC is delicious (Tip: if you’re going to try insulting someone by comparing them to fast food, the answer is always to attach them to Papa John’s). Not for nothing, it also had a really great Black Lab track on it. There was a time when superhero soundtracks were actually pretty awesome on the regular. We act like superhero movies didn’t exist before Nolan’s Batman flicks, but anyone with an interest in music knew that the older Batman movies were worth it for no other reason than the excellent soundtracks they had. Those flicks were the perfect vehicle to keep artists in the public’s mind in between albums, even if the songs sometimes didn’t have a damn thing to do with the movies they were attached to. I mean, think about just some of the wonders we got thanks to the Batman soundtracks alone:

Prince, “Batdance”

Even supremely dumb, Batmancentric Prince jams were roughly 75% better than what your favorite cooks up on a regular basis. Kind of tragic no one ever thought to cast Prince as The

Joker, because that would have been incredible.

U2, “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me”

Quite possibly their last great single before they went full dad-rock in 2000. Fun fact: this was their highest charting single released between “One” and “Discothèque.”

Although I’m personally not sure this song has stood the test of time, there’s no denying that it was a jam when it was released. But judging from the nearly 100 million streams it has on Spotify, I’m probably just wrong.

The Smashing Pumpkins, “The End Is the Beginning Is the End”

Marshall Star Band Million Dollar

THURSDAY Salsa Night Pink Garter

FRIDAY The Motet Pink Garter

Chanman

SATURDAY

Chanman Teton Mountain Lodge

industry is weird.) Superhero movie soundtracks also gave us the weird novelty that is Spawn: The Album. Each of the fourteen tracks on Spawn: The Album, released in 1997, pair a modern rock band of the time with an electronic music act. The results don’t always work, but it does feature the stellar “Familiar” by Incubus & D.J. Greyboy, DJ Spooky’s drum & bass take on Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and the wild teamup of Atari Teenage Riot and Slayer. My point is this: if Disney can shell out the money for Kendrick Lamar curated Black Panther soundtrack, why stop there? Give Spider-man the emo/ hip-hop mixtape a modern teenager deserves. Do an Avengers soundtrack full of wacky, random collaborations. Where is my Thor power metal record? Or hell, maybe just do what worked in the ‘90s and have bands submit b-sides that aren’t related to the movie but together work as a compilation release. But even if they don’t, the Black Panther soundtrack exists, and that’s a win as it is. It’s pretty much the perfect melding of rapper and character, and I’ll never hate on Kendrick for getting that Disney money. PJH

SUNDAY

Tasha and the Goodfellows Silver Dollar One Ton Pig

MONDAY

Marshall Star Band Million Dollar

TUESDAY One Ton Pig Silver Dollar

JACKSON HOLE 2017 BDHL CHAMPIONS

FE B RUARY 24-25 VS

O C S I C N A R F SAN S

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

The Batman & Robin soundtrack didn’t have the hits that Batman Forever did, it did have the last great single from The Smashing Pumpkins, and I say that as someone who thinks Monuments To an Elegy did not get enough love. (For what it’s worth, “The Everlasting Gaze” should have been their last great single, but wasn’t officially released as one even though it had a rad video. The music

WEDNESDAY

The Motet

Seal, “Kiss From a Rose”

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| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

20 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

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Here we go again.

Redundant Recommendations Streaming services would be so much better with social sharing and personalized playlists BY CORY GARCIA |

here’s something missing from most digital streaming services, something that seems so obvious that I can only assume it’s missing by design rather than simply being overlooked. For all the options the bigger services tout, doesn’t it ever strike you as odd, especially here in 2018 when we’re more connected as a society, that so few services offer any sort of social sharing? Most of us have that one person in our life that we trust completely when it comes to recommendations. We develop a sort of crush on their sense of taste, ready to blindly follow it into whatever it tells you is good. That’s a great thing to have if you can get it, but it’s not without drawbacks, mainly that other humans have lives and aren’t always available when it’s the middle of the night and you don’t know what to watch. While a Venn diagram of “people who take movies/television seriously” and “people who like to make lists” isn’t a perfect circle, it’s rare that a media lover keeps quiet their personal recommendations. That’s part of the joy of Film Twitter or Classic Cinema Twitter or Wrestling Twitter; even if you’re an expert at something, there are always people out there with different perspectives and backgrounds who might not only know about things that you don’t but are willing to share that knowledge with the world for free. So, yes, Netflix has invested a ton of money in making sure there is ample content available to stream through their

@cfaust

service, yet somehow it always seems like they’re recommending the same 50 or so movies. Are the lists you get for “recently added” and “new releases” or “what’s trending” really all that different from one another? While I’m certainly not here to knock their hustle in recommending their Netflix originals — if you spend $50 million on a Cloverfield movie you might as well mention that it’s available early and often — Netflix gets stuck in some pretty serious recommendation ruts. Worse at presenting their offerings is Amazon. Again, they make it pretty easy the stuff coming out of Amazon Studios, but after that it’s pretty much a complete disaster. I understand why it’s easy to discover the new Hollywood hits landing on the service, as that’s the type of thing that a lot of their customer base is looking for — you know, once they realize that it’s a thing that exists as a bonus to free shipping. But there is a ton of interesting content on Prime that will almost never turn up unless you’re really willing to dig deep and surf past a whole bunch of garbage along the way. Do that long enough and eventually the algorithm will start to serve up some interesting stuff for you, but in our culture of immediacy not everyone is going to care enough to do that, and as a result there are wonders they’re going to miss. Which brings us back to the idea of social sharing. It’s bad enough that most streaming service providers don’t allow you to make playlists for yourself, let alone for other people, especially when you consider that playlists are an important part

of why music streaming services work. Sure, you can make a queue of all the things you want to want, but that just leaves you with a scattershot patchwork of unrelated viewing presented without context for you to click through hoping you remember that you added something to it six months ago because you think you read a good tweet about it, or at least something with a similar title. It’s great to have all that information available at the click of a button, but what would be better is if you could add streaming video to playlists: movies I can watch at any time, really twisted horror movies I only watch when I’m alone, films that I’ll never learn the plot to because I just fast forward to the sex scenes, so on and so forth. Then all you would have to do is pick something in the playlist, hit play and let things unfold the same way they unfold when you’re binge watching a television show. But it’s the sharing that would make the playlist function shine. Rather than having to hope your friends and family will remember your recommendations, you should just shoot a playlist to them. You could subscribe to playlists of those who make recommendations you enjoy, so you won’t have to hang on every word or tweet waiting to find out what you should be watching. Modern life is sharing every last detail of what we do, just short of tweeting about every time we stop to use the restroom. It seems silly that we can’t share what we’re watching at the push of a button. PJH

XXXXX

Vendors for the Victor-based company have expanded to forty-eight nationally-recognized locations, including evo, Backcountry and REI.

Sego Ski Company Skis designed and handcrafted in the Tetons BY JESSICA L. FLAMMANG

I can really charge on them,” she said. “They are made locally, and I was able to do work trade for them. I even have my old friend Tony Birkholz’s artwork on them, which makes them extra special.” Sego’s big bright blue ski bus cannot be missed, and has become a local icon at the tune shop and Grand Targhee’s parking lot. Sporting the iconic unicorn that represents Dyer’s brand alongside the Sego emblem, the company says it was “designed to spread Sego stoke across the nation.” Equipped to keep the athletes outfitted for months on the road, they chase storms to resorts around the country in comfort, and offer ski demos out of the unique mobile! Justin Adams, Ski Ambassador and Team Manager, enjoys sharing his passion with like-minded skiers in the USA, Canada and Europe. “I love getting feedback from ambassadors who rip on our skis! It’s a great help with sales and the design process,” he said. Upcoming demo days include A-Basin, Red Lodge, Cold Smoke Powder Festival in Nelson, B.C., Schweitzer, and three stops at Grand Targhee in February and March. Stay tuned for wine tastings coming in February at Sego’s new show room in Victor, where you can also pick up Sego merchandise such as ski hats and beer glasses. “You can get yourself and your skis tuned up at Sego!” Adams said, laughing. PJH Sego Ski Co. is located at 7667 Lupine Lane in Victor, ID. Instagram: #segoskico

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 21

twist. But it’s not all fun and games. He has worked hard to spread the brand’s reach and grow its dealer base. “Our strategic plan is working. We are face to face with people constantly,” he said. “Last year we had thirty demo days throughout west coast. This year, the goal is sixty demo days including Canada, the West and Europe.” Wholesale accounts have expanded to forty-eight locations, including evo, Backcountry and REI. Sego’s skis are sweeping the market for their sturdiness, longevity and affordable price point. “People need to test the product and believe,” he said. With more than a dozen athletes, including local legend Lynsey Dyer, who is their female forefront on design, Sego is developing its brand in the local limelight. The company prides itself on an athlete driven production design process. “For the most part, a lot of women’s skis have been capped,” said Dyer, a professional skier. “The only new technology that is going into them is an update on the graphics.” She helped design and craft the Up Pro and the Gnarwhal in collaboration with Sego. The Up Pro 110, a big mountain directional moustache rocker ski, earned Freeskier Magazine’s Editor’s Pick, Skiing Magazine Official Selection 2016, and Powder Magazine’s Skier’s Choice 2017 awards. “These skis are no joke,” Dyer said. ”And the industry is taking notice.” Local skier Shannon Clay attests to the Sego brand and the Up Pro model, an all mountain ski that also performs well on groomers. “I love my Up Pro’s because

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

Magazine’s Skier’s Choice for the Cleaver 102, an all-mountain ski with a midsized waist and titanal reinforced core. This winter’s line boasts 16 different ski models. Next year’s will expand to 21 models. Women’s and men’s skis, made for the backcountry, all mountain and park/jib sticks are available to consumers, as well as bindings — the company has partnered with some of the top binding makers in the industry, including Look, Rossignol, and Marker. “Our skis are constructed with care and quality. We upcycle as much as we can,” said Tim Wells. “And we use a non-toxic zero VOC epoxy with organic compounds. We source materials as close as we can. Our wood is from the west coast, and fiber and glass epoxy come from Utah.” Unlike most skis in the industry that come out of the plastic, Sego’s models come complete with a de-tune and wax pre-sale. Consumers can unpack their new sticks, mount them, and ski on them right away. But Sego isn’t just a ski company; it’s truly a homegrown business. The company has two locations in Victor, including a classy new show room, complete with a cozy bar that serves wine and four kinds of beer, including a Sego branded beer, the ‘Ski Pressing Session,’ co-created with Roadhouse Brewery in Jackson. “We want the community to come in and spend time with us for a tune, a mount, a beer, a lap on the hill,” said Tim Wells. Alex Suckling, athlete and inside sales manager jokes that he has a ski bum background with a business and sales

ot every shredder would expect their town councilman to be the brains behind their hardcharging all-mountain skis, but Tim Wells, CEO of Sego Ski Company, based in Victor, Idaho, wears both of these hats. He and his brother, Peter, brainstormed the idea four years ago for production quality and wholesale driven skis. Sego’s world headquarters are in our own backyard, the Tetons, which the Wells brothers affectionately term “the premier big mountain laboratory in North America.” “We fell in love with the vibe and the energy of the community at the base of the Tetons. It made business sense,” Tim Wells said. “We like the low key lifestyle in Teton Valley.” From the start, they shared a vision for a sustainable ski company that would ensure a trustworthy bond between skiers and the ski industry. This winwin relationship requires manufacturing and marketing durable, high performance, impeccably tuned skis at an affordable price for customers and retailers. Their business is rapidly growing, already appearing in the European and Canadian markets, making a real tidal wave in the ski industry. Tim’s business and finance background meshed perfectly with his brother Peter’s experience working at ski shops, while engineering and building his own designs within the industry. Sego is Tim’s second ski company. Previously, he was CEO and founder of a small ski company in Portland, Oregon named Deviation. Sego won the Freeskier Magazine Editor’s Pick in 2016 and Powder

GET OUT

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

22 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

DANNY SHERVIN

DON’T MISS

Danny Shervin was studying finance and economics in college when he first, accidentally, set fire to the artistic medium of gunpowder.

Gunpowder Guru Jackson artist Danny Shervin creates outdoor art with a unique, flammable medium BY KELSEY DAYTON |

anny Shervin and his college buddies were messing around with gunpowder in an attempt to make rockets late one night in Bozeman, Montana. The gunpowder spilled onto the laminate kitchen table and Shervin brushed it into the shape of a tree and set it on fire. The landscape he’d created burned into the table. It looked cool, but Shervin didn’t think much about it. Years later he started playing with the gunpowder and about six years ago started using it to make and sell art. He’s now sold pieces he’s created with gunpowder around the world. One of his latest works, “General Sherman,” hangs at Wonderspot through the month. The piece is a two-sided creation showing a moose head. One side is the skull and the other represents a live moose. It took Shervin nearly six hours to pour the nearly two pounds of gunpowder he used and place it on the canvas before he lit it on fire and it burned for eight minutes. Planet Jackson Hole caught up with the artist to talk about his unusual medium. The following was edited for length. PJH: What were you studying in college when you accidentally discovered

gunpowder for art creation? Shervin: Finance and economics — not art. PJH: So how did you get interested in art? Shervin: I’ve always been into art. Since I was a little kid, I was always drawing and painting. Wildlife and landscapes have always been what I’ve been drawn to, or animals in general. Most of my work is based on landscape or wildlife or things like that. PJH: You are originally from Jackson, how did growing up here impact your work? Shervin: I’ve always been outdoors and loved the outdoors. There’s a lot of inspiration. It’s easy to look around and find subjects I want to turn into art. I go fishing for the weekend and I find all kinds of idea. PJH: What is your process in creating work with gunpowder? Shervin: I don’t draw anything out on the canvas. Sometimes I’ll do sketches in a sketch book and use that as a reference for the larger work. I find the canvas side I want to use and start by pouring gun powder out. Sometimes I’ll pour a loose design with the gunpowder and then I use paintbrushes, toothpicks and foam

@kelsey_dayton

brushes to push the gun powder around to where I want. That’s what I like about gunpowder, it’s a workable medium. I can continue to move it around to get it into the position I want. Then I just light it on fire and it burns and typically I can burn it all in one go. That’s what I also like, the finale. Burning it gives it that finality. Once I burn it, it’s done. You’ve got to get it laid out and it’s got to work perfectly. I’ve had times where I’ve had the wrong gunpowder or too much gunpowder and the canvas lights on fire. When I get to that end and light it, nerve-wracking. I don’t know if it will work until its done. PJH: What kind of gunpowder do you use? Shervin: The gunpowder I use is all smokeless powder, but there’s all kinds of smokeless powders. The ones I like to use the most is this pellet that comes in all sizes. They don’t get too hot when they burn. They all leave a distinct pattern when you burn them. I’ve seen folks try to us black powder, but its super explosive and not safe. PJH: What do you put the gunpowder on? Shervin: I’ve done work on wood and canvas. Then this last piece, the piece I

did for JH Public Art, Bland Hoke and I mounted sheets of Formica and mounted it to plywood and the Fomica burned really well. I might use more of that in the future. PJH: How did you decide on the piece for WonderSpot? Shervin: Moose are awesome, nobody can deny that and everybody loves moose. It was easy to give the people what they want. PJH: What will happen to the piece when it comes down? Shervin: It’s going to Gregory Lane on the side of Mike’s Body Work. PJH: Are you a full-time artist, or do you work elsewhere in town? Shervin: I also work at First Interstate Bank. PJH: Has your work changed in the last six years since you started professionally working with gunpowder? Shervin: Significantly. My work was a little simpler, I would say at first. I would kind of let the gunpowder do the design. Over the years I’ve gotten better at using the gunpowder to shade and create the style. With different gunpowders I use I can use different techniques, it’s always changing. PJH

n Bluegrass Tuesdays with One Ton Pig 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28

n Teton Literacy Center Volunteer Training 12 p.m. Teton Literacy Center, Free, (307)732-9242 n Metal Upcycle Workshop with Ben Roth 6:30 p.m. Teton Habitat ReStore, Free, 307-734-0828 ext.102 n Meet & Make at JH Backcountry Health 6:30 p.m. JH Backcountry Health, Free, 8043806728

THURSDAY, MARCH 1

FRIDAY, MARCH 2

n Night of the Wild Cat 6:30 p.m. Center for the Arts, $10.00, 307-200-3286 n Moonshine Mountain Band 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939

Shervin chose a moose motif for his public art piece that hangs at WonderSpot because, “...everybody loves moose. It was easy to give the people what they want.”

n Auditions for Rapture, Blister, Burn 7:30 p.m. Dancers’ Workshop Studio 2, Free, n Nathan Dean 9 p.m. Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, Free, 307-733-2207

TUESDAY, MARCH 6

n Free Tax Assistance 12 p.m. Valley of the Tetons Library, n Pigeons Playing Ping Pong w/ Joe Hertler at Pink Garter Theatre 9 p.m. Pink Garter Theatre, $15.00 - $18.00,

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7

n Tap with Savion Glover & Marshall Davis, Jr. 6 p.m. Dancers’ Workshop, $25.00, 307-733-6398

THURSDAY, MARCH 8

n Lunchtime Reading with Writer Kali Fajardo-Anstine 12 p.m. Teton County Library Auditorium, Free, 307-413-4096 n Big Wines, Small Plates 6:30 p.m. Piste Mountain Bistro, $0.00 - $250.00, 307-739-8317 n Armchair Adventures: The Galapagos Islands 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, 307-739-9025

FRIDAY, MARCH 9

n Taste of Teton Village - Best of Après-Ski 5 p.m. Four Seasons Resort Ballroom, $0.00 - $150.00, 307739-8317 n WhoDunnit? 5:30 p.m. The Center Theater Lobby, $25.00, 3077336379

FOR COMPLETE EVENT DETAILS VISIT PJHCALENDAR.COM.

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 23

n Stomping The Snow | The Hilarious Magic of Sam Sandler / Max-i-mime 1 p.m. Grand Teton Ballroom at Snow King Hotel, 307-201-1189 n Nature Mapping Community Celebration Featuring Nathan Pieplow 5:30 p.m. Center for the Arts, Free, 307-739-0968 n The Two Tracks 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939

MONDAY, MARCH 5

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

SATURDAY, MARCH 3

n Revitalize & Restore with Kriyas 12 p.m. Teton Yoga Shala, $30.00 - $35.00, 307-690-3054 n Sled Hockey Sundays 3:45 p.m. Teton Adaptive Sports, n Songwriter’s Alley 7 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939

n Armchair Adventures: A Trip Through South Africa, Namibia and the Okavango Delta of Botswana 6:30 p.m. Teton Recreation Center, 307-739-9025 n The Women by Clare Boothe Luce 7:30 p.m. Walk Festival Hall, $15.00 - $20.00, n Derrik and the Dynamos 7:30 p.m. Silver Dollar Showroom, Free, 307-732-3939 n Talib Kweli 9 p.m. Pink Garter Theatre, $27.00 - $30.00,

SUNDAY, MARCH 4

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

24 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

EAT IT!

HELEN GOELET

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

A large log cabin filled with ski memorabilia, Nora’s Coffee Cabin is quickly snagging hearts.

Rollin’ Coffee Caffeine fixes and delicious dishes a’plenty at Nora’s Coffee Cabin BY HELEN GOELET

“H FAMILY FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT 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

ey Butch,” Cindy Taylor, resident barista at Nora’s Coffee Cabin, said to a regular rolling through on his way to work. “I see you have a very thin dog with you,” she joked, knowing the pup has just been put on a regimented diet. He laughed as his pit-bull starts to cross his lap, eyes fixed expectantly on Cindy. “I’ll have a medium dark roast,” he said. “No mocha today?” she said, turning to pour his coffee. I moved my chair a few inches to allow her access, then shifted back to give her room to move to the window again. They continued to chat for a few minutes before he headed off for his day. “We usually give our customer’s a freshly baked chocolate-chip cookie

with their coffee,” she said. “I’m already out, but Kat’s baking a new batch now.” On the side of Highway 22 in Wilson, Nora’s Fish Creek Inn has been a local favorite for 35 years. If you’re not an early riser during the summer months, you’ll be among the many waiting in line for their famous huevos rancheros, biscuits and gravy, banana bread french toast and other delicious, affordable breakfast options. A large log cabin with a roaring fireplace and walls filled with skiing memorabilia, it’s one of the last standing establishments embodying the heart and soul of what Jackson Hole was in its hayday. These days, they’re continuing to cater to their loyal customers, which is why chef and owner Kathryn Taylor opened Nora’s Coffee Cabin. The idea behind the Cabin had been

brewing — pun intended — for years. “People used to come in and ask for a cappuccino and I’d have to tell them sorry we don’t have that,” says Norene Cannedy, Taylor’s right-hand-woman. “They would bring them in from Pearl Street too, so we knew we were lacking something. Now when they ask for a cappuccino, we can tell them to grab one from the Coffee Cabin while they’re waiting on their breakfast.” The Cabin offers everything from Americanos to caramel macchiato lattes and cold brewed coffee. All of their beans come from Snake River Roasting. “They do a Nora’s Blend and a Tortilla Flats for the coffee cabin, named for a beloved old-timer’s nickname for his nieces who used to live there (in the cabin) thirty years ago,” Kat said.

Open nightly 5:30pm

733-3912 160 N. Millward • Reservations recommended Reserve online at bluelionrestaurant.com

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

www.mangymoose.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

Featuring dining destinations from breweries to bakeries, and continental fare to foreign flavor, this is a sampling of our dining critic’s local favorites.

ASIAN

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. Located at 7432 Granite Loop Road in Teton Village, (307) 733-0022 and in Driggs, (208) 787-8424, tetonthai.com.

THAI ME UP

ELY U Q I N U PEAN EURO F, MAD

Y, E V E R Y

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

R DINNEAGE I H LUNCTETON VILL I T S IN FA BREAKE ALPENHOF AT TH

AT THE

307.733.3242

ALPENHOF

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

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. 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 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. on weekends. Located at 1110 Maple Way in West Jackson, (307) 264-2956, picnicjh.com

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

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

MANGY MOOSE 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.

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 award-winning Alabama-style pulled pork, ribs, wings, turkey and chicken smoked over hardwood served with two unique sauces in addition to Catfish and a Shrimp MoeBoy 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 HDTVs for sports fans, music, shuffle board and other games upstairs. Large party takeout orders and full service catering with delivery is also available.

VIRGINIAN SALOON

Come down to the historic Virginian Saloon and check out our grill menu! Everything from 1/2 pound burgers to wings at a great price! The grill is open in the Saloon from 4 p.m.-10p.m. daily. Located at 750 West Broadway, (307) 739-9891.

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 25

ESH

G OOD

F O H ‘ E TH

CONTINENTAL

LOTUS ORGANIC RESTAURANT

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

The longterm dream for the Cabin stretches beyond the location itself. “I’m not gonna open for dinner again any time soon,” Kat said. The alternative is offering Nora’s precooked meals for customers looking to take something home. “We’d love to be able to offer affordable catering options,” she said. “People can call and order nine biscuits and gravy [meals] for an office meeting, or a caesar salad and lasagna for a dinner party at home.” They already offer day-old burritos for $2 a piece. Customers can head in and grab six for $12, throw them in their freezer, and have a taste of Nora’s whenever they want. They also offer Shephard’s Pie, meatloaf with mushroom/garlic/onion gravy, and mild chicken enchiladas for $35 — all of which feed a group of eight. At the end of the day, it’s about bringing the unique Nora experience to everyone. Whether it be at home, at the Cabin, or the infamous Inn, every customer can now walk away with the taste of Nora’s. PJH

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

In addition to assorted coffees, they offer Nora’s popular burritos (including a huevos option with the famous Nora’s salsa verde), biscuits and gravy and house-rolled oats, an oatmeal parfait with house-made granola. Kat cracks the grains herself before baking together her delicious blend. There are also tamales on the menu alongside an assortment of baked goods. “I want to be able to serve everybody,” Kat said. “Gluten-free, sugar free — Nora’s just isn’t known for that, but I want customers to know that they can get that from the Coffee Cabin.” While the Cabin is currently a graband-go spot, once summer rolls around, a fence will encircle picnic benches on the deck for customers to sit and enjoy coffee, breakfast or perhaps just a bloody mary or mimosa. “The idea is that when we’re crazy busy in the summer, and customers are faced with a forty-five minute wait, they have options,” Kat said. “Eventually I’d like to offer a soup, sandwich and salad option for hikers too,” she said.

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. View our tap list at thaijh.com/brews. Open daily for dinner at 5 p.m. Located downtown at 75 East Pearl Street, (307) 733-0005, melvinbrewing.com.

LOCAL

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

26 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

THE LOCALS

FAVORITE PIZZA 2012-2016 •••••••••

$5 Shot & Tall Boy

LUNCH

SPECIAL Slice, salad & soda

HELEN GOELET

50 DISHES

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.

The garnishes — fresh cilantro, shallots and pickled mustard greens, for starters — are what set the dish apart.

The 50 Best Dishes in Teton County

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

#46, Khao Soi at Chiang Mai Thai Kitchen

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

TV Sports Packages and 7 Screens

HAPPY HOUR Daily 4-6:00pm

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

307.201.1717 | LOCALJH.COM ON THE TOWN SQUARE

BY HELEN GOELET

t’s about time one of the many delicious Thai dishes in the area is featured on The 50 Best Dishes list, which is precisely what is happening this week. If you have not found your way to Chiang Mai in Victor — just across the Pass — you’re missing out. Unlike most Thai restaurants, Chaing Mai in Victor focuses on a unique subsect, northern Thai cuisine, which is why one of their most popular — and in my opinion best — dishes is the Khao Soi, a Burmese-influenced dish created with coconut milk, curry and rice or egg noodles that’s served widely in northern Laos and northern Thailand. The dish is influenced by the vibrant flavors of neighboring Myanmar — formerly Burma — and unlike curries and fried noodle dishes served at most western Thai restaurants, this dish is unique in its flavor, texture and serving style. It’s also not featured on any other menu in town. Have you ever eaten a curry and thought, “This is so good I wish I could just eat it like soup?” If so, Khao Soi has your name all over it. Served over boiled egg noodles and chicken, Khao Soi is a better soup than your mom ever would have made when you were sick.

While the dish is most similar to massaman curry in its flavor profile, it’s a thinner, lighter dish that’s unique in its marriage of noodles and curry. But while Khao Soi isn’t as hefty as most traditional curries, it doesn’t lack any of the deliciously warm, sweet and spicy flavors that make traditional curry dishes so spectacular. And while the soup itself is delicious, the garnishes — fresh cilantro, shallots and pickled mustard greens, for starters — are what set the dish apart. Crunchy fried egg noodles sit atop the soup to give it a wonderful texture contrast, and the fresh cilantro cuts through the heavier flavors of the soup, as do the accompanying shallots and pickled mustard greens. The sweet soy sauce adds just the right level of savory sweetness to the dish to bring all of the flavors together. For $13, the soup is well worth a drive over to Victor if you’re not lucky enough to live next door to this gem. Make sure to enjoy their wonderfully salty kaffir lime roasted peanuts and a $2 tallboy while you wait for your dinner to arrive. Oh, and pro tip: Dishes are also available for take-out. PJH

WATERIN’ HOLE

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 runs from 4 - 6 p.m., including tasty hot wings. The freshest beer in the valley, right from the source! Free WiFi. Open 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Loacted at 265 S. Millward. (307) 7392337, snakeriverbrewing.com.

ITALIAN CALICO

Budget Booze 10 top-rated wines between $15 and $20

Chehalem INOX Chardonnay 2012

Seghesio Zinfandel 2012

Khroma Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 For something far from the norm, try the Khroma Cabernet Sauvignon, also a California wine. With overtones of ripe blueberries and vanilla and an

Summer meals aren’t complete without a great Rose. Gerard Bertrand Cote des Roses from France is a simple, fresh Rose that offers great balance and flavor to pair with your favorite light summer meal. It offers a very slight bit of sweetness and is excellent served very cold.

Canoe Ridge Sauvignon 2011

Reserve

Cabernet

For a deep and balanced Washington red, try Canoe Ridge Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a very deep and dense flavored wine and has hints of fruit without being overly sweet. Washington’s Columbia Valley is known for producing excellent Cabernet Sauvignon and this particular bottle doesn’t disappoint.

Mount Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2012 For a classic New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, try Mount Nelson Sauvignon Blanc. The flavor is very fresh and pure. It’s a very bright wine incorporating the taste of citrus and spice. For a dry and crisp white wine that is delicate yet flavorful, this is a perfect pick.

Castello di Querceto Chianti Classico Reserva 2009 No list would be complete without a big, bold Italian Chianti. Castello di Querceto Chianti Classico Reserva 2009 delivers just that. This is a very bold and full wine with flavors that are definitely earthy, but remains a very well structured wine.

Chook Shiraz Viognier 2012 For a smooth Shiraz, try Chook Shiraz Viognier, a Shiraz Syrah blend from Australia. This wine gets high marks for its breadth of flavors that

Domaines Schlumberger Princes Abbes Pinot Gris 2011 For something a little more full bodied than a Pinot Grigio, try a Pinot Gris from Alsace, France. Domaines Schlumberger Princes Abbes Pinot Gris is darker than a Pinot Grigio and has a stronger aroma and flavorful taste. Unlike its lighter cousin, this Pinot Gris is best described as a full bodied wine that tastes rich and creamy.

Pacific Rim Vin de Glaciere Organic Riesling 2012 To end on a sweet note, those who enjoy a nice dessert wine won’t want to miss Pacific Rim Vin de Glaciere Organic Riesling from Washington’s Columbia Valley. The wine has hints of honey, fruit and walnuts with an extralong finish. This Riesling is best served cold and is one to savor. At just $15.99, this bottle offers exceptional value. Be adventurous, try new things and keep notes when you find a bottle that you particularly enjoy. In time, you’ll be recommending great wines between $15 and $20 per bottle to your friends and family. PJH To find more wine articles and content please visit Remember Wines. RememberStuff.com is the place to save and remember your favorite wines, visit http://www.RememberStuff.com. You can also save recipes, restaurants, beer, movies, books, and more. NEVER FORGET AGAIN.

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. Located at 385 W. Broadway, (307) 733-1207.

PIZZA

DOMINO’S PIZZA

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

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. - 2 a.m. Located at 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 p.m. daily. Dine in or carry out. Or order online at PizzeriaCaldera. com, or download our app for iOS or Android. Open from 11 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. daily at 20 West Broadway. (307) 201-1472.

FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 27

If a rich, bold red is what you’re looking for, try Seghesio Zinfandel from California’s Sonoma Valley. Full of flavor, this bottle goes great with bold, spicy and hearty meals. This bottle is one of the best values of the Sonoma County Zinfandel’s to be purchased. This wine is bold and structured enough to go with rich foods, but not too strong as to be overpowering.

Gerard Bertrand Cote des Roses 2013

finish nicely and with good length. It has notes of berries with hints of spice and pepper to give it a lively yet smooth flavor.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

For a perfect summer Chardonnay, try Chehalem INOX Chardonnay 2012 from Oregon’s famous wine producing Willamette Valley. It’s a very light and crisp Chardonnay, yet offers a full bodied flavor at a great value.

oak finish, this isn’t a wine you’re likely to forget.

f you drink wine regularly, and you’re on the quest for the perfect budget-friendly wine between $15 and $20, take a look at these top ten wines from around the world. Whether rich or light, fruity or spicy, read on to find your perfect bottle of vino. Choosing a wine in this price range can be challenging for some, but for under $20, you can find a wine that is excellent for your meal, an event, a gift or just for staying at home and relaxing. Often, wines under $10 can run the gamut from “exceptional value” to “horrible mistake” and unless you have tried a particular bottle in that price range, it’s generally better to go with a wine above $15 to ensure you’re getting good quality grapes from well- kept land.

BY SCOTT BARNARD

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. Located at 2560 Moose Wilson Rd., (307) 733-2460.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

28 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

SUDOKU

EARLY RISER?

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.

Planet Jackson Hole is looking for a Wednesday morning delivery driver to start immediately.

CONTACT PETE@PLANETJH.COM | (801) 413-0936

L.A.TIMES “KINDA SORTA” By JEFFREY WECHSLER

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018

ACROSS

1 JFK’s 109 7 Gives in 12 Egg white protein 19 Ronzoni rival 20 Open, as an aspirin bottle 21 Quarters and halves 22 It’s often written in stone 23 Snow in southwest England? 25 Snack 26 Hayseeds 28 Salad bar container 29 EKGs may be done in them 30 Nice 33 Waikiki wreaths 34 Rte. finder 36 Golf-loving priest’s dream? 43 Cal. locale of the Latino Walk of Fame 46 Bottom-row key 47 Fixed 48 Pastry with a metallic taste? 52 Steamed 53 Boodles, for one 54 Renaissance painter della Francesca 55 Auto body problem 56 Eye layer 59 “Gracious!” 60 Since Jan. 1, in accounting 61 Start of many a riddle 63 Ben Gurion carrier 64 Freight unit 66 Result of certain radar screens conking out? 70 Ski resort aids 72 Mishmash 73 “M*A*S*H” roller 74 Dec. setting in Denver 77 Lea sounds 78 Rum-and-water drink 79 Tusker hunted as game 81 Hostile calls 83 CPR provider 84 Brazilian map word 86 Media outlet in Pennsylvania

coyote 24 Dish using seaweed 27 Small change: Abbr. 31 More to the point 32 Less healthy-looking 33 Auction array 34 “I approve” 35 Stout server 37 Pediatrician Asperger 38 Move like a moth 39 Poet Lazarus 40 Entertainer of the Year org. 41 Muck 42 Child’s counting word 43 Notice 44 Feuding 45 Acorn, functionally 49 “Phooey!” 50 Name on a spine 51 With 10-Down, Waikiki entertainer 57 Mayflower roller 58 Prophet associated with Passover DOWN 59 Western alliance: Abbr. 1 Like decrees from Francis 62 Is down with 2 Overused 63 Bolivian president Morales 3 It might come from the horse’s 64 Role in “Evita” mouth 65 Put another way 4 Portuguese hi 66 Existed 5 Nuclear decay emission 67 Symphonic rock 6 Sesame seed paste gp. 7 Rudolph’s dad, e.g. 68 European capital 8 Baseball Hall of Famer Slaughter on its own gulf 9 ATM maker 69 Feudal peasant 10 See 51-Down 70 Sri Lankan people 11 Scrooge visitor 71 Armed forces 12 Flu symptom strategy 13 It’s measured in degrees for 74 Manner golf clubs 75 Commotion 14 Fed. budget unit 76 General __ chicken 15 Merkel of “Destry Rides Again” 77 Head of Byzantium? 16 Fixes 78 Rise 17 Eisner’s successor at Disney 79 Tell what’s due 18 Fabled loch 80 European capital 19 Attraction for a cartoon

Dutch country? ’90s golf club-making innovation 92 Coughing, perhaps 93 Provides fare for 94 General-use gesture? 99 Source of brain research data: Abbr. 100 Unresponsive (to) 101 Like delicate fabric 105 The Jungfrau, e.g. 107 Makeup malfunction 109 Take as one’s own 111 Binary code basic 112 Cause of an origami flaw? 116 “Just like us!” 119 Genteel café relative 120 Conclude 121 Feeling guilty 122 Charming small-town street array 123 Old lab heaters 124 Became less hostile

82 84 85

Court declarations Warm and comfy “The __ bites shrewdly; it is very cold”: Hamlet 87 Annoy 88 Eponymous apple grower 90 Mimic 91 Web surfing tool 95 North Atlantic navigation worry 96 Part of a telemarketer’s gear 97 “The X-Files” sighting 98 Attacks, as a wrapped gift 102 Vichy verse 103 Matchless? 104 Requirement 105 Aqua Velva alternative 106 Movie mogul Marcus 107 Neck, in Nottingham 108 Theaters associated with 106Down 109 Acapulco abode 110 Unlocks, in verse 113 Wash’n __ towelettes 114 Charged thing 115 Dynasty after the Qin 117 “Eureka!” 118 Cold and rainy

COSMIC CAFE

Knowing What’s True Listen to your heart for higer guidance and inner wisdom BY CAROL MANN

A SILVER LINING

BODY INTELLIGENCE

The longstanding adage to listen to your heart is on the mark. However, be aware that this higher function of the human heart is neither a mental activity nor about emotions. It is a way of knowing which bypasses the mind. The intelligence comes directly from our soul’s connection to Source/the Unified Field of Consciousness, and is relayed to us from the soul via the heart. What this intel looks like is “you just know.” You “just know” if a person you meet, a job, a place to live, a decision you face or an idea to pursue is in your highest greatest good or not. How many times do people “just know” they’ll marry a person when they first meet. Or when looking to buy a house, the minute they walk in the

RESEARCH Studies conducted at the Heart Math Institute have measured and demonstrated that the heart picks up information from the environment, from people, from future events and from higher intelligence first, and then passes it on to the brain. Ideally, the heart and body intelligence are also supported by linear data ... aka facts. When the facts line up but the body signals and intuition are saying “no” it is best to pay attention to your inner wisdom. Other studies have shown that in job interviews, for example, people make decisions about potential hires in a matter of seconds (via heart, body and right brain intuitive intelligence) and then spend the rest of the interview gathering left brain data/facts to support the near instant initial decision.

Visit out our website website Visit

tetoncountywy.gov 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.

OLLOW US

PRACTICE The way to access your inner knowing and recognize what’s true is to be still. Go for a walk by yourself, meditate, sit quietly and take some slow deep breaths. Do this often during the day; it can just be for a few minutes. And as my favorite poet Rumi wrote, “ The door is wide open, don’t go back to sleep.” 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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Your body is an energy meter. The body reads frequencies and gives an immediate read out in the presence of someone or something we see, hear or read. If a person is telling the truth or not, the body responds to the incoming energy and lets us know if it’s a green or a red light. The signals are loud and clear. Some of these include shivers, heat, a rush of energy, a stomach ache, a pain in the neck, involuntary tears or maybe simply either a distinct yucky or good feeling. The heart is another energy reader and a big part of the body’s intel. In the

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door, they “just know” this is the one. Most people who find their way here to live in Jackson “just know” they need to be here. I’m sure you’ve had a “I just knew” kind of experience in your life.

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If there is a silver lining in all the current confusion about what’s true and what’s not, it is that we are being called to access and trust our own builtin ways of knowing. Depending less on external authorities and more on our own deep knowing is an important, empowering upgrade in our consciousness. When trying to discern fact from fiction, we can count on objective higher guidance from our souls and honest signals from the body.

presence of a genuinely kind person, an honest person, someone who walks the walk and talks the talk, the heart literally opens/expands and signals the rest of the body to relax. Conversely, in the presence of someone running an ego agenda or who is cruel or shady, the physical heart contracts and the rest of the body follows suit. The challenge is to learn the unique signaling code of your body and to pay attention. Do not allow your mind to override the signals. The body does not lie. The mind can make up a reason for anything, whether or not it is true.

“T

his other intelligence… It’s fluid, and it doesn’t move from outside to inside through conduits of plumbing-learning… This second knowing is a fountainhead from within you, moving out.” ~ Rumi

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30 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) In her novel The Round House, writer Louise Erdrich reminisces about how hard it was, earlier in her life, to yank out the trees whose roots had grown into the foundation of her family’s house. “How funny, strange, that a thing can grow so powerful even when planted in the wrong place,” she says. Then she adds, “ideas, too.” Your first assignment in the coming weeks, my dear Pisces, is to make sure that nothing gets planted in the wrong place. Your second assignment is to focus all your intelligence and love on locating the right places for new seeds to be planted. — ARIES (March 21-April 19) When you’re playing poker, a wild card refers to a card that can be used as any card the cardholder wants it to be. If the two of hearts is deemed wild before the game begins, it can be used as an ace of diamonds, jack of clubs, queen of spades, or anything else. That’s always a good thing! In the game of life, a wild card is the arrival of an unforeseen element that affects the flow of events unpredictably. It might derail your plans, or alter them in ways that are at first inconvenient but ultimately beneficial. It may even cause them to succeed in an even more interesting fashion than you imagined they could. I bring this up, Aries, because I suspect that you’ll be in the Wild Card Season during the next four weeks. Any and all of the above definitions may apply. Be alert for unusual luck.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Have you ever had a rousing insight about an action that would improve your life, but then you failed to summon the willpower to actually take that action? Have you resolved to embark on some new behavior that would be good for you, but then found yourself unable to carry it out? Most of us have experienced these frustrations. The ancient Greeks had a word for it: akrasia. I bring it up, Gemini, because I suspect you may be less susceptible to akrasia in the next four weeks than you have ever been. I bet you will consistently have the courage and command to actually follow through on what your intuition tells you is in your best interests.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) During the next four weeks, there are three activities I suspect you should indulge in at an elevated rate: laughter, dancing, and sex. The astrological omens suggest that these pursuits will bring you even more health benefits than usual. They will not only give your body, mind, and soul the precise exercise they need most; they will also make you smarter and kinder and wilder. Fortunately, the astrological omens also suggest that laughter, dancing, and sex will be even more easily available to you than they normally are. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) The little voices in your head may have laryngitis, but they’re still spouting their cracked advice. Here’s another curiosity: You are extra-attuned to the feelings and thoughts of other people. I’m tempted to speculate that you’re at least temporarily telepathic. There’s a third factor contributing to the riot in your head: People you were close to earlier in your life are showing up to kibitz you in your nightly dreams. In response, I bid you to bark “Enough!” at all these meddlers. You have astrological permission to tell them to pipe down so you can hear yourself think. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Paleontologist Jack Horner says that developmental biologists are halfway toward being able to create a chickenosaurus—a creature that is genetically a blend of a chicken and a dinosaur. This project is conceivable because there’s an evolutionary link between the ancient reptile and the modern bird. Now is a favorable time for you to contemplate metaphorically similar juxtapositions and combinations, Capricorn. For the foreseeable future, you’ll have extra skill and savvy in the art of amalgamation.

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AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) “Be stubborn about your goals but flexible about your methods.” That’s the message I saw on a woman’s t-shirt today. It’s the best possible advice for you to hear right now. To further drive home the point, I’ll add a quote from productivity consultant David Allen: “Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.” Are you willing to be loyal and true to your high standards, Aquarius, even as you improvise to uphold and fulfill them?

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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FEBRUARY 21, 2018 | 31

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) During World War II, British code-breakers regularly intercepted and deciphered top-secret radio messages that high-ranking German soldiers sent to each other. Historians have concluded that these heroes shortened the war by at least two years. I bring this to your attention, Leo, in the hope that it will inspire you. I believe your own metaphorical code-breaking skills will be acute in the coming weeks. You’ll be able to decrypt messages that have different meanings from what they appear to mean.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) According to British philosopher Alain de Botton, “Maturity begins with the capacity to sense and, in good time and without defensiveness, admit to our own craziness.” He says that our humble willingness to be embarrassed by our confusion and mistakes and doubts is key to understanding ourselves. I believe these meditations will be especially useful for you in the coming weeks, Libra. They could lead you to learn and make use of robust new secrets of self-mastery.

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

CANCER (June 21-July 22) “There is no such thing as a failed experiment,” said inventor Buckminster Fuller, “only experiments with unexpected outcomes.” That’s an excellent guideline for you to keep in mind during the coming weeks. You’re entering a phase of your astrological cycle when questions are more important than answers, when explorations are more essential than discoveries, and when curiosity is more useful than knowledge. There will be minimal value in formulating a definitive concept of success and then trying to achieve it. You will have more fun and you will learn more by continually redefining success as you wander and ramble.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) In April 1972, three American astronauts climbed into a spacecraft and took a trip to the moon and back. On the second day of the 11-day jaunt, pilot Ken Mattingly removed and misplaced his wedding ring. In the zero-gravity conditions, it drifted off and disappeared somewhere in the cabin. Nine days later, on the way home, Mattingly and Charlie Duke did a space walk. When they opened the hatch and slipped outside, they found the wedding ring floating in the blackness of space. Duke was able to grab it and bring it in. I suspect that in the coming weeks, you will recover a lost or missing item in an equally unlikely location, Virgo. Or perhaps your retrieval will be of a more metaphorical kind: a dream, a friendship, an opportunity.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) If you gorge on ten pounds of chocolate in the next 24 hours, you will get sick. Please don’t do that. Limit your intake to no more than a pound. Follow a similar policy with any other pleasurable activity. Feel emboldened to surpass your normal dosage, yes, but avoid ridiculous overindulgence. Now is one of the rare times when visionary artist William Blake’s maxim is applicable: “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” So is his corollary, “You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.” But keep in mind that Blake didn’t say, “The road of foolish, reckless exorbitance leads to the palace of wisdom.”

You won’t get fooled by deception and misdirection. This knack will enable you to home in on the elusive truths that are circulating—thus saving you from unnecessary and irrelevant turmoil.

SAVE THE DATE!

32 | FEBRUARY 21, 2018

| PLANET JACKSON HOLE |

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 | 7-10 P.M. AT LOTUS CAFE

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