Political conversations this fall often include the observation that “We need a third party.” In the Mountain West, the most reliably Republican part of America, the reply is often “Third party? Wouldn’t it make more sense to start by having a second party?” Soon comes a practical admonition that unless you cast a ballot for […]
Third-party votes count for plenty
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Heard around the West
The Seattle-Post Intelligencer tries to be conscientious during election season, interviewing by its count more than 100 candidates. Perhaps surreptitiously, the staff of the daily also write down the silliest comments from would-be public servants. Among the paper’s top 10: I was born into leadership – period. Give the Indians Food Stamps to buy salmon. […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
‘A choice between bad and worse is not good enough’
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. NIJHUIS: I’ve been wondering who you’d pick for Secretary of the Interior. NADER: Well, I haven’t thought about that yet (laughs), but it would be someone with a determined record of achievement on behalf of the environment and the preservation of the […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Nader shakes up Western enviros
Note: a sidebar article, “‘A choice between bad and worse is not good enough,’” accompanies this story. MONTROSE, Colo. – “There’s a lot we have to cover here,” sighs Ralph Nader, stooping over the podium with all the enthusiasm of a harried college professor. The Green Party presidential candidate isn’t campaigning this afternoon. Not officially. […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Colorado’s growth amendment rouses voters
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Landscape photographer John Fielder is a household name in Colorado, but he hasn’t had time to document the changing aspen leaves this fall. He’s too busy championing Colorado’s proposed Amendment 24. “From now until Nov. 7, the camera’s packed away, until we […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Arizona’s 202 takes aim at sprawl
Note: a sidebar article, “Colorado’s growth amendment rouses voters,” accompanies this story. ORACLE, Ariz. – On a Pinal County cattle ranch about 30 miles northwest of Tucson, El Salvadoran-born real estate broker and developer Alex Argueta envisions thousands of homes, as well as shopping centers, high-tech parks, vineyards and several resorts and golf courses. He […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
In presidential politics, the West has a bad hand
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Life, as someone once pointed out, is unfair. Someone, no doubt, pointed it out millennia ago, but the observation is generally attributed to John F. Kennedy, among whose distinctions was winning the closest presidential election in living memory. A mere 118,570 more Americans voted for Kennedy than for Richard M. Nixon 40 […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Washington’s Steel Magnolia
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Like her opponent, Slade Gorton, Maria Cantwell is not a native of Washington. She grew up in Indianapolis in a political household – her father was a county commissioner and a city councilman. Cantwell leaped into politics herself at a young age. […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
A tricky tale of the past and the future
Salt Dreams, text by William deBuys and photographs by Joan Myers, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1999. Hardcover: $35. 307 pages. There is only one Western story. It is the story of a mad rush to “settle” and exploit. This single story consisted always of the destruction and displacement of native people, followed by […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Democrats see the light in Montana
The 2000 elections could be pivotal for theeconomy and environment
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Montana hunters blast game farms
Initiative 143 would kill canned huntingand hobble the elk industry
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Dear Friends
Our election issue If there’s a theme for this year’s election issue, it’s that Old West politicians are under increasing attack: Our cover story reports on Washington Sen. Slade Gorton’s tough re-election battle, and Todd Wilkinson writes on p. 5 that several of Montana’s statewide races remain neck-and-neck. Western citizens are demanding more power in […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Stalking Slade
Tribes, Greens and Democrats hope to ambush Washington Sen. Slade Gorton in November
Posted inOctober 11, 2004: The First Family of Western Conservation
Heard Around the West
MONTANA For 30 years, says biologist Charles Jonkel, he’s tried to educate people about grizzlies and black bears. He started an International Wildlife Film Festival in Missoula, Mont., 28 years ago to spread the word that ethical standards were needed for making films about the animals. Nonetheless, he says, thrill-seeking has gained ever-wider prominence, with […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
Collaboration makes democracy work
Dear HCN, Thank you for the great commentary on collaboration and the criticism it receives (HCN, 8/28/00: Squishy-soft processes – hard results). As someone who has participated in several of these processes on behalf of ranchers and farmers, I’ve been told that collaborators are those that helped the Nazis in World War II France and […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
Collaborators must stand on equal ground
Dear HCN, Ed Marston’s “Squishy-soft processes – hard results’ leaves the false impression that the Hells Canyon Preservation Council is opposed to collaboration (HCN, 8/28/00: Squishy-soft processes – hard results). His misrepresentation is an affront to the collaborative processes the group has founded, including discussions on resource issues with local eastern Oregon ranchers, hunters, tribes […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
Stop that fawning
Dear HCN, We were surprised to read HCN’s fawning interview with Floyd Dominy (HCN, 8/28/00: Floyd Dominy: An encounter with the West’s undaunted dam-builder), a man who is obviously proud of his role in destroying significant portions of the Colorado River watershed. Floyd is the (washed-up) Darth Vader of Western rivers, and rather than unmask […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
Be honest, environmentalists
Dear HCN, It is with much amusement that I read the letters about my defeats, moral decay and capitulation to the forces of the dark side. Is the environmental movement so rigid and dogmatic that it would assault character in order to quash dissent? (HCN, 9/11/00: Wilderness is the key). To start with, who said […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
Illegal immigrants take jobs from Americans
I am a native-born New Mexico Hispanic. I often write letters to newspapers on a subject which those without an Hispanic last name dare not write: the urgent need for immigration reform. This nation’s immigration policy, begun in 1965, is a disaster. It hurts minorities, the poor, the environment – as we see dramatically here […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
On the Trail
In the close presidential race, even New Mexico’s five electoral votes are worth a fight. George W. Bush has visited three times, Al Gore has stopped by twice, and Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman both showed up in Albuquerque in mid-September. “For the first time in recent memory, New Mexico appears to be playing an […]