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Thursday, June 26, 2008
826 - Rainbow Family visits Wyoming, I recall earlier visit
Somewhere among my boxes of old stuff is a photo scrapbook that used to be R-rated. Today, it would barely be PG13-rated.
The first photo in it is of a slim 27-year old editor interviewing some men and women who are pretty much naked.
That occurred here in the mountains above Lander on July 2, 1973, when the infamous Rainbow Family of Living Light made their first trip to Wyoming.
This week about 20,000 of them will gather in the Big Sandy area about 40 miles southwest from Lander, as the crow flies. And I intend to go back and see what all the fuss was about.
Since their annual gathering is always around July 4, that initial Lander adventure seemed fraught with danger.
After all, Lander hosts the oldest paid rodeo on the planet over the 4th and the town is always swarming with cowboys.
Then-Sheriff C. A. “PeeWee” McDougall was very worried that some of the hippies would get beaten up. At the least, he figured partying cowboys would scalp a whole bunch of the longhaired visitors. It was a heck of dilemma.
Compounding the problem was that the Rainbows had picked the glorious St. Lawrence Basin as their site.
Bad choice.
This is an area sacred to the local Native Americans and is on tribal land.
Tribal leaders told PeeWee if he thought the cowboys might be hard on the interlopers, well, the Indians would be much more ornery. “The term scalping might take on a whole different meaning,” I recall the salty PeeWee telling me. That comment did not make it into print until now.
After days of tense negotiations, PeeWee and then-District Forest Ranger Doc Smith came up with an alternative and it was incredibly ironic.
The Rainbows accepted Doc’s offer and decided to move to an area below Freak Mountain near South Pass.
The site required a two-mile hike to get into and was just far enough away from everything that Doc and PeeWee thought it just might eliminate the potential for violence. The coincidence of moving a bunch of freaks to Freak Mountain was the work of genius, I used to say to the modest Doc.
It was estimated that about 2,000 of these folks showed up for that first gathering in Wyoming. It was the second one ever held by the group, said Barry “Plunker” Adams, who was its spokesman the previous year in Granby, CO. Plunker is orchestrating this year’s event at Big Sandy, 35 years later.
My brother-in-law Roger Thomsen from Iowa happened to be visiting us that July. He enjoyed being my assistant as I made a couple of journalistic sojourns to cover the story first-hand. Our dedication drew hoots of derision from our wives however.
The Rainbow folks often start the day in a huge chanting circle waiting for the sun to rise. They do the same thing when the sun goes down.
And it is a really big deal when they see a rainbow, obviously. In Wyoming’s mountains in July, this is not an improbable occurrence, as it rains almost every afternoon.
And it should be said back then it seemed like a significant percentage of the people in the camps were running around pretty much nude.
We had to laugh as some of the guys – whose unique extensions of anatomy were sunburned. Ouch.
These folks just did not realize how close to the sun they could be in Wyoming’s tall mountains. And how thin the atmosphere can be. You can get sunburned really fast and in places that are not used to solar exposure.
Their last trip to Wyoming was in 1994. Some 14,000 Rainbow folks made the annual trek near Big Piney back then.
They held their first one in 1972 so that Lander visit that I covered so diligently as a reporter-photographer was just their second gathering ever.
Nobody really knew who they were back then and local officials were driving blind.
There was some drug use and lots of music. When I interviewed them, well, it was like La-La Land of California from the 1960s. Peace and love. Enjoy nature. Life is good.
Fremont County was lucky to have two visionaries like PeeWee and Doc. They maintained the peace, and I think there was only one incident where a hippie rolled his van on a mountain turn.
The Highway Patrol turned out in force, and the governor even alerted the National Guard, is my recollection.
When it was all over, Doc told me he was astounded at how well these folks treated the land. “Hard to believe, but I think it is better up there now then before they got there.”
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Thursday, June 19, 2008
825 - NOT EVEN ONCE ... when it comes to Meth
We turned the video camera on the 27-year old Powell mother and asked her to tell us what had happened to her on Meth?
She slowly let out her breath, looked directly into the camera and said:
“I lost my family.
“I lost my kids.
“I lost my job.
“I lost everything. “
A pause.
A sigh and a shudder.
Tears ran down her cheeks as she said, “I tried Meth. That was it.”
Another pause.
“Please, please do not try it. It’s the devil’s drug.”
As I recall, then she stopped talking. The camera kept rolling.
I tried to say, “cut” but my voice was gone and tears were in my eyes. This was real life. It was heart wrenching. And it was right here in Wyoming.
Our PR/ad agency (Wyoming Inc.) had been hired by the state to do the first round of anti-Methamphetamine TV ads, billboards (remember Extreme Meth Makeover?) and several 8-page tabloids called Wyoming Faces Meth, which were distributed statewide.
Ernie Over, George Grossman, Amy Russian and I created those ads in 2003-2004-2005. Then a Colorado ad agency took over the contract. But we will never forget those experiences.
This past week a new campaign was launched in Wyoming called NOT EVEN ONCE, which is an effort that debuted up north called the Montana Meth Project.
It is much better than an earlier national campaign (not by us) called Meth Death. We had lots of young people who laughed at that saying, as they had never heard of anyone dying of Meth.
Not true, of course. Yes, Meth can lead to death but death usually is not sudden and occurs through other events related to Meth use.
NOT EVEN ONCE is also better than a recent controversial series of Wyoming TV ads that showed a young person being tortured. Watching those ads was pure torture.
That young wife in the TV ad mentioned at the beginning of this column said she tried Meth just once and was hooked. She left her media job in Casper, left her family and moved in with the dealer. She was on her way to certain death, she contends, and her sentencing to rehab saved her life.
Our Wyoming Faces Meth campaign had two meanings: first, it was that the people of the state needed to face the reality of Meth addiction in their midst and second, we wanted to put Wyoming faces on the campaign. So we used people from our state who were in treatment.
The ads and the stories were compelling.
Another fellow featured in our ads was from Evanston. His grandfather had been the Speaker of the Wyoming House.
When we interviewed him, he talked about spending one Christmas Eve under a bridge with his sleeping bag and his Meth, rather than traveling 20 miles to where his wife and kids were. This was in Wyoming in 2002.
After treatment, he went back on Meth and went to work in the oil patch. I ran into him in Rock Springs and he had lost 50 pounds. No idea of what has become of him.
Another pretty little gal was pregnant when we filmed her. She was from Cheyenne and said: “I didn’t know pregnant people did Meth. But they do. I am glad to be here for my baby’s sake.”
I ran into her at a convention in Cheyenne and she claimed she was off Meth and doing well. It was easy to be happy for her.
The most messed up person we filmed was a head case from Sheridan who was bouncing off the walls. She was delusional and told these graphic stories involving guns and Meth. Whew, they were incredible. The Southwest Counseling staff in Rock Springs where we filmed assured me her stories were true.
Interestingly, she phoned me a few months ago and was looking for one of her fellow rehab residents who was living in Lander. She was in college and said she is always scared about getting back on Meth but so far, so good.
Then there was Jim from Rawlins. He said the worst day of his life was when they took his newborn baby away because he was arrested for having Meth in his home. Ran into Jim a few years later and he said his life was back on track.
And so it goes.
I wish the best to those who are launching this new campaign called NOT EVEN ONCE.
Meth is scary stuff and although science has not concluded if extreme ads like these work or not, dealing with the problem is worth the effort.
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Friday, June 13, 2008
824 - The race for the House
It is expected that the last 60 days of this year’s GOP primary race for the U. S. House will be a lot more exciting that the first six months have been.
That is the conventional wisdom of the people I have contacted around the state in the past week about this race.
Former State Treasurer and legislator Cynthia Lummis of Cheyenne appears to have the best name recognition as she competes against newcomer Mark Gordon of Buffalo and second time candidate, Bill Winney of Bondurant.
Perhaps the biggest result of my survey was that so few people are even paying attention to the race.
Republicans Ms. Lummis, Mr. Gordon and Mr. Winney are all trying to succeed the retiring Barbara Cubin as Wyoming’s lone U. S. Representative. The primary is Aug. 19 and these candidates have about two months to get their messages across to voters.
A fourth candidate is Michael Holland, Green River, who most feel will not be a factor.
In this race, getting through the GOP primary used to ensure an automatic general election victory but not so this year.
Teton County Democrat Gary Trauner came within an eyelash of defeating Mrs. Cubin two years ago and he is well positioned to win the general election this time. He has more than a half million dollars raised and is a viable candidate.
Interestingly, a number of my contacts felt that Mark Gordon would be the tougher candidate for Mr. Trauner to beat in the general than either Ms. Lummis or Mr. Winney.
The common thread that ran through their responses was that Mr. Gordon would appeal to both moderate and conservative Republicans in the general while the other two might be limited to conservative Republican voters.
The immediate concern of these GOP candidates, though, is how to win the upcoming primary.
It appears that Ms Lummis is campaigning the old-fashioned way. She is well known among the party faithful and she has been working the county meetings and building on past relationships. The Cheyenne rancher-lawyer gal had a big head start when this race started.
Rancher Mark Gordon (no connection to Gordon Gin, by the way) has spent serious money to increase his name recognition while Mr. Winney no doubt figures he already has good visibility since he was a candidate two years ago.
My survey resulted in some complimentary comments about candidates
“The people around here who know Mark Gordon value him for his independent thinking on a lot of issues,” says Jim Hicks of Buffalo. “Johnson County has always been regarded as a Republican stronghold but Dave Freudenthal carried it by better than a 60 percent margin. A lot of the GOP gray beards like Mark because he is intelligent and able to discuss a wide range of issues.”
Here in Lander, outfitter and former legislator Jim Allen heaped praised on Cynthia Lummis:
“Cynthia has a remarkable background and has many noted accomplishments, including 14 years in the Legislature, a Juris Doctorate from UW and eight years as State Treasurer. All the other candidates fall short when measured against her.”
One educator told me that she had been hearing more about Mr. Winney than either of the other two.
The former naval officer has been working hard and spending money. His name recognition is not on par with Ms Lummis and his bank account is not in the same league as Mr. Gordon. A candidate who touts his military experience, people need to recall that Mr. Winney garnered 33,000 votes in this primary two years ago.
Two opinions that came out of my survey asked to be anonymous.
“Mr. Trauner is an opportunist who cannot win,” said a Cheyenne businessman, who supports Gordon in the primary.
And then there is the couple in Jackson where the husband says he is voting for Ms. Lummis and the wife totally supports Mr. Trauner. Both think Mr. Trauner will prevail in the general, however.
Political expert Phil Roberts of Laramie points out that both Ms Lummis and Mr. Trauner face the problem of coming from extreme ends of the state.
He notes her “Cheyenne connection” could actually be a disadvantage as could be Mr. Trauner’s Jackson Hole address.
At this time, it could be concluded that Cynthia is leading for now but Mr. Gordon is not out of it yet and Mr. Winney is running hard. Two months can be a lifetime in a political campaign.
Once through the primary, the general could be a real free-for-all. And the guaranteed winners of that should be the voters of Wyoming.
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Friday, June 6, 2008
823 - Snakes on a plain
Did you see that photo that was circulating on the Internet of a den of rattlesnakes found in the Gas Hills area east of Riverton?
It was a huge gob of snakes, all rolled up together. Pretty scary. The photo was by former Fremont County Sheriff Larry Mathews. They can be seen on rivertonradio.com.
As an old newspaper writer, I could not resist the thought of the headline “snakes on a plain.”
A geologist once told me about an area of the Gas Hills known as the Rattlesnake Hills. It was named that because the place was literally crawling with rattlers.
Over the years drillers noticed a dearth of snakes. They disappeared over the decades.
Speculation has it that the area is full of old drilling locations. The snakes would crawl into the holes thinking they had found a nice den and, oops, they would fall into the earth never to be seen again.
• Another headline that was probably used a dozen times in Iowa when we were there two weeks ago was “When Pigs Fly!” This is an old English saying to express the impossible.
If you thought something could never happen, you would say that it could happen “when pigs fly.” Much like hell freezing over, etc.
Tornados ripped through a hog confinement building in Iowa and, yes, pigs were seen flying all over the landscape, hence a headline writer’s dream.
• With all the downsizing of airlines, a passenger was recently told by a grumpy gate attendant while boarding a United flight in Denver “welcome to Greyhound with wings.”
• The national presidential primaries ended this past week.
One observation is that I thought the security for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was not as severe as could be expected while attending talks by them two months ago here.
It also seemed quite lax for a speech by former President Bill Clinton. Not sure what I expected, but something just seemed to be lacking.
Nobody signed me up as a press guy at Hillary’s talk. And I was within 10 feet of her with my camera bag over my shoulder, which no one inspected.
At Barack’s rally, a security guy went through our bags and ran a wand over me, so that was better than the other two.
The security was indifferent enough that I started to think how an assassin might think and although there might have been hidden cameras on me and everyone else, they were not evident. Just hope nothing terrible happens between now and November.
Folks of my generation recall the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and attempts on George Wallace, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.
In this era of roadside bombs and sniper rifles, it was surprising that security was not tighter.
I fear for our candidates. We love our open society but it would only take one crazy loony person out there to change the entire election landscape.
• If you think gasoline prices are high here, in Europe they are nearing $10 per gallon. It has caused riots among motorists, truck drivers and barge operators.
The value of the dollar, meanwhile, continues to sink in comparison to the English pound or the Euro.
Thus, many of the huge RVs you see motoring around our region this summer are being driven by Europeans who holiday here. And they are chuckling mightily at the thought of “expensive” American fuel.
Fully 30 percent of the tourists visiting Yellowstone National Park these days are international.
• During our recent 2,500-mile road trip it was amazing to see the large number of hybrid Toyota Prius cars plus many other small Hondas and Yaris-type vehicles. Still lots of SUVs, but I definitely noticed more cars that get in the 35 mpg or more range.
Tourism inquiries are up at the Wyoming Division of Tourism and at Yellowstone International, both of which have been monitoring the travel trends.
It appears the tourists are coming, high prices or not. And that is good for Wyoming.
• New hot name is “locavore.” It stands for a person who tries to eat as much local food as possible. Somewhat like herbivore and carnivore, I guess.
A big deal that came out of a recent community assessment in Lander was the concept of a “community garden.” Progress is being made on it, too.
The locavore movement is a big one across the country. Our growing season is pretty short, though. Will be interesting to see how this develops.
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Sunday, June 1, 2008
822 - A memorable Memoridal Day weekend
Dodging tornadoes, dealing with ugly traffic on I-80, paying $100 gasoline fills and enduring the threat of floods – whew! And how did you spend your Memorial Day weekend?
Mine was, in a word, memorable.
People across Wyoming dealt with tornadoes, heavy rain, fog, snow and cancelled picnics and events. The bad weather stretched from the Rockies to the Midwest, where I was.
Members of my family got caught up in those horrible tornadoes in northeast Iowa last Sunday that killed seven people and injured seventy. Five of the injured included two of my brothers, two nephews and a sister in law.
I drove thru little Hazleton, Iowa, about 4:30 p.m. last Sunday. My brothers Jim and Dan and family members came through the same area two hours later and were nailed by a tornado that lifted a nearby mobile home and slammed it into their Suburban, which then rolled and came to rest amid pieces of the trailer.
Jim’s son Michael was sucked out of his shoes and out of the car but landed safely nearby. Jim’s wife Laura had to be freed by Jaws of Life by local firemen. All are safe now, thankfully.
Then another brother, Ron, who lives in Laramie, was watching a tornado roll through his town and lift the roof off an adjoining building and knock out some of his windows earlier the same weekend.
Yes, I have eight brothers. I could also tell you about John driving around thunderstorms and my sister Mary spending much of last Sunday in the basement in Strawberry Point, Iowa.
Cheyenne folks dodged a tornado and south of the border a person was killed in Windsor, CO.
A not as exciting but painful thing to endure was my first $100 fill of gas for my SUV. Highest price for unleaded was 3.96.9 cents per gallon in Avoca, Iowa. It was $4.83 per gallon for diesel.
While we were gone Lander had more than three inches of rain over the weekend and recorded its wettest May, ever. And it was raining from Wyoming to Wisconsin.
We have driven across Nebraska for almost 40 years and never have we seen so much water standing in the fields and puddles everywhere.
On our way home on Monday, Memorial Day, the highway was packed with huge trucks. I am convinced that a toll should be mandatory for these huge rigs to help out pay for maintenance.
How cold can it get in Wyoming on May 26? It was 38 degrees at both Muddy Gap and Beaver Rim. Probably got below freezing later that night.
Drove through a thick fog between Cheyenne and Laramie. Pretty scary … kept thinking about that huge multiple accident up there awhile back.
Other big news in northeast Iowa was the raid of immigrant workers in Postville, Iowa. More than 400 illegals were picked up by immigration officials while working in a packing plant.
It was the largest raid in the history of the USA.
That plant will always be famous to me since one night’s work there in 1964 was my prime motivation to get a desk job.
Called Hygrade back then, it was a horrible place to work. And apparently it is even a worse place today. Workers had been bullied and beaten at the place, which had been converted into a kosher meat plant.
Meanwhile in my hometown of Wadena, Iowa, my brother John, my mom and I attended the annual Alumni Banquet. This little town, which always reminded me of Hudson, served up a nice meal and good times.
High point was a presentation by a member of the class of 1928. She was 99 years old and more alert than most people there.
It was also an opportunity for me to get into an argument with a local business leader about what a boondoggle ethanol is. He was quite insulted and made it clear that until we have a shortage of food, my argument was not valid.
And they were pleased with the recently passed farm bill, which gives even more money to Midwestern farmers.
Also, while in Iowa, I caught up with my old friend Dan, the curmudgeon, who offered up the following philosophy in-between coughing and hacking on his cigarettes. He thinks the following:
John McCain would be the best president for Wyoming.
Hillary Clinton would be the best president for the USA.
Barack Obama would be the best president for the world.
He supports Sen. Obama but thinks Sen. McCain will win.
Go Figure.
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