The West casts a wary eye on the latest nuclear craze
Reborn
Posted inWotr
Will I ever become a local?
I’m still what people call a newcomer, but it seems to me that most people who live in the mountains fall into one of three categories: Second home owner, transplant from somewhere else — usually a city, like me — or native, though I meet very few natives who are older than 10. I’ve lived […]
Posted inWotr
Utah legislation endangers lands we hold dear
There’s a bill before Congress that would have far-reaching impacts for my backyard in Utah and could also set a precedent for where you live, especially if you — like me — love the public lands that make the West unique. The legislation is called the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act, sponsored by Utah […]
Posted inWotr
Wyoming can buy what Portland can’t
It’s too early to panic, but there’s a rumor that Wyoming, with a population that’s only a quarter of metropolitan Portland, Ore., might buy Portland’s basketball team, the Trail Blazers, using the $2 million that daily aggregates into the Cowboy State’s swelling reserves. Portland should cringe at the outrageous notion of losing the Blazers because […]
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Our lungs, ourselves: Smoking in Wyoming bars
In a victory for health activists, non-smokers are increasingly able to enter workplaces, restaurants, bars and outdoor patios without breathing secondhand cigarette smoke. Smoking bans of various levels of restrictiveness are being enacted all around the country, and even my state of Wyoming, historically resistant to knee-jerk social change, has seen a few communities unplug […]
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Montana Sen. Conrad Burns spotlights a bad burn policy
Conrad Burns, the third-term Republican senator from Montana, may have done Westerners a backhanded favor when he cornered firefighters in the Billings airport and berated them for the job they did on an eastern Montana wildfire. Burns reportedly confronted members of the Augusta Hotshots last month as they were waiting for their flight back home […]
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We need to talk about why some minorities lag behind
It is hard for this old civil rights attorney to be called a “racist,” but some recent comments of mine on minority under-performance kicked up a firestorm of criticism. This hurt, but there are important issues involved, and America needs to talk frankly about its problems. It is unfortunate that political correctness, a liberal orthodoxy, […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Bearable ways to deal with bruins
Generally speaking, the last thing anybody wants is a book waving a “practical” banner. But practical can also be informative and funny, especially when it comes to bears. Linda Masterson, an award-winning writer and volunteer for the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s Bear Aware team, has succeeded in converting what could have been a boring how-to […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Loss and renewal in the Northwest
“These stories of loss are about farming and forestry in the Pacific Northwest,” writes Steven Radosevich in this compact collection of essays. “They come along with me out of my vineyard.” Radosevich, hunter, fisherman, grape grower and professor of forest science at Oregon State University, writes simple, painful prose about the diminishing natural wealth of […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
For the love of a river
“Welcome to a way of life”: With these words, Christa Sadler invites readers to sit down by her literary campfire on the banks of the Colorado River. There’s This River is a gathering of rambunctious tattletales: often-hilarious accounts of river guides’ (mis)adventures herding tourists through the Grand Canyon. The anthology includes a glossary of river […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Splendid isolation?
Dorothy English said it as plain as possible: “I want my land to be mine, to do with whatever I want” (HCN, 7/24/06: Taking Liberties). Community concerns enter in not. I live in isolation on this planet and I don’t want to be obstructed by war, famine, pestilence, nearby neighbors, or global warming. It is my […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Uninformed voters create unintended consequences
Ray Ring’s “Taking Liberties” shows how easily the initiative process can lead to unintended and unpleasant consequences (HCN, 7/24/06: Taking Liberties). Most people rarely take the time to fully inform themselves on the issues they’re voting on. It reminds me of something the journalist H.L. Mencken said almost a hundred years ago: “Democracy is the theory […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Tough luck, planners
The “Taking Liberties” article is completely overblown (HCN, 7/24/06: Taking Liberties). I have filed and won a Measure 37 claim, so I have some experience with this. The sky is not falling, folks. Life in Oregon goes on as before, for 99 percent of the people. No, everyone is not finding a trailer park or gravel […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Fight fire with fire
One response to the takings movement might be to pass legislation allowing neighbors to sue developers for reductions in their own property values, or recreationists to sue them for lost value of amenities. Posted by nordell This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Fight fire with fire.
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Sick and tired of regulations
The “Taking Liberties” article is pure propaganda (HCN, 7/24/06: Taking Liberties). These sinister Libertarians who can never seem to get a percent or two of the vote have somehow hypnotized Oregon voters (hardly a bastion of conservatism) and pulled the wool out from under everyone? Huh? All of these measures are going to pass and pass […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Takings law could help property owners
Ray Ring writes: “Governments use eminent domain occasionally, to condemn property and force the owners to accept a buyout, to make new roads, urban renewal and other projects that benefit the public” (HCN, 7/24/06: Taking Liberties). OK, but who decides if the projects will benefit the public? In New Mexico, Bernalillo County has rezoned so that […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
A ‘no’ vote for takings measures
I stumbled across your newspaper at my girlfriend’s house (the landlords subscribe to it) and while waiting for my microwave meal to heat, I started reading this article (HCN, 7/24/06: Taking Liberties). By the time I was done, my food was cold and I was ranting and raving to my girlfriend about this Howie Rich devil […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Measure 37 a wake-up call
As an Oregon voter, I strongly support Measure 37 (HCN, 7/24/06). Do I think it solves everything about land use? Of course not. Will it need revision in the future? Certainly. So why do I support it? Because it forces government at all levels to pause and think about what they are doing. In some areas […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Measure 37 snookered voters
Yee-haw! It’s great to see High Country News riding full bore to expose the awful “takings” initiatives under way in six Western states (HCN, 7/24/06: Taking Liberties). HCN is right on when it asserts that people were snookered into voting for this awful legislation in Oregon, where I lived at the time. Even my conservationist and […]
Posted inAugust 21, 2006: The Lure of the Lawn
Mainstream libertarians
Not all libertarians are affiliated with the Libertarian Party and get just 1 to 2 percent of the vote in elections (HCN, 7/24/06: Taking Liberties). The majority of libertarians these days are active in the GOP and actually win elections, like Congressmen Ron Paul of Texas, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Butch Otter of Idaho, and Dana […]