In a little over two weeks, we will experience the longest night and shortest day of the year. It will be the first official day of winter and it gives me pause.

         These short winter days and interminable long nights, well, they give you things to think about. For example:

         • Lately I have been worrying about all the beasts roaming around the edges of our towns.

         Paula McCormick snapped a photo of a huge mountain lion strolling through their barnyard just northwest of Lander.

         Among the lions, wolves and bears, it is beginning to appear that in some places around here (and elsewhere in Wyoming these days), human beings may no longer be at the top of the food chain.

         • Books have been on my mind a lot, lately, including my new book called Strong Winds, Blowing Snow, Slick in Spots, which will be out Dec. 10.

         Looking forward to reading Shooting From The Lip, the biography of former U. S. Senator Al Simpson by Don Hardy. It is getting great reviews and should be a hoot.

         Simpson has been the news recently as he rails against Congress as gridlock continues to prevent the country from taking the necessary actions to save itself.

         Former Vice-President Dick Cheney’s book In My Time, that he wrote with daughter Liz Cheney, should also be a best seller this Christmas.

         Geoff O’Gara, on Wyoming PBS, did a wonderful interview with Joe Hutto about a documentary on the Lander wildlife expert called “My Life As A Turkey.”

         A turkey?

         A fascinating story, Hutto became an expert on imprinting, as he raised 14 turkeys in Florida for a year and half. Hutto’s book on the subject and the documentary both are getting good reviews.

         • We have lost of friends to the grim reaper in the last month, which has left us stunned.

         Our friend Lori Barney, 52, was a vibrant young wife and mother who died of an aneurysm while working out at a gym. At the time of her death, she was the most fit she had ever been. We will miss her.

         My friend Larry Murray, 70, was saddling a horse when he died from a heart attack. He exemplified something that is actually quite common here in Fremont County – an Indian Cowboy.

         Lander’s Mr. Fourth of July, Dr. Brent Bills, 60, died in a plane crash near Casper. No explanation except the weather was deteriorating.   He was a legend as an orthodontist, benefiting thousands of men, women, girls and boys. His passionate hobby was fireworks. He helped bring thousands of people to Lander each July 3 when he staged one of the best fireworks shows in the state.

         Along with these actual deaths, a report on Facebook of the death of one of my closest friends (one of our coffee group, the Fox News All-Stars) was reported. We all frantically tried to confirm it. Yes or no?

         Although I was convinced my friend was a goner, the phone rang and it was him! Charlie Krebs had been confused with someone else by a similar name who had passed away.

         Now, we call him Lazarus. 

         He says, like Mark Twain once said: “Reports of my demise have been somewhat exaggerated.”

         And there was another devastating, amazing and horrible, event that took place near Lander earlier in November.

         A despondent and suicidal high school student drove his Suburban 97 miles an hour into a head-on crash with a van full of folks – killing all four of them plus him. It was in the middle of the night. The victims were a family heading to Salt Lake City for a doctor appointment, of all things.

         A horrible tragedy which brings to the fore again the need to counsel people of all ages who feel suicidal. What a catastrophe.

         • Perhaps I should wind this up with some comments about the good news associated with the football season.

         The Denver Post says the Wyoming Cowboys are the best college football team on the Front Range. How about that? Better than CU, CSU or Air Force Academy. Good job, Pokes!

         • Folks all across the state are busy helping people in need during this Christmas season.

         Locally my wife Nancy coordinates the Christmas Food Basket program where the local Elks Club delivers about 250 overflowing baskets of food and toys to families who would have had a much more quiet holiday without them.

         That, after all, is the reason for the season.

         One small step for Gov. Matt Mead.  One giant leap for Wyoming.

Perhaps this paraphrased of all famous phrases has some hyperbole in it, but to me, it correctly describes what our governor accomplished during his first Governor’s Economic Forum, which concluded in Cheyenne a week ago.

         Perhaps only a governor with close ties to Jackson Hole could pull off what Mead did – inviting four of the most powerful business people in America (all with strong Wyoming connections) to travel the full length of the state from one corner to the other to tell 500 Wyoming leaders their thoughts on how to improve our state.

         It was heady.

         Not sure most of the audience could appreciate just how influential these folks are.

         The conference also featured dozens of our wonderful homegrown state leaders, plus 21 success stories by successful men and women.

 But the importance of having internationally famous and respected world leaders offering their best advice was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

         As a columnist limited to 750 words, there is no way I can do justice to the messages presented. But here are some highlights:

         • Former President of the World Bank James Wolfensen preached ardently about the need for America to get more involved in China and India.

         He said there are 1.1 million Chinese studying in America today and just 1,600 Americans studying in China. He urged students today to learn the Mandarin language.

         Wolfensen has had a home in Jackson Hole for 20 years and annually hosts an impressive economic conference in that valley with international leaders.

         • Foster Friess, a longtime Jackson resident, was founder of the famous and super successful Brandywine Fund. He and his wife Lynn have been active in both statewide and Jackson Hole projects.

         He said that Wyoming could use its small population to its advantage. “Wyoming can be a beacon for the rest of the country when it comes to solving education and healthcare problems. “

He said there is a cultural war in America between the Tea Party folks and the Occupy Wall Street folks. “Here in Wyoming, we can show them how to solve our problems.”

         • Herb Allen has a ranch in Cody and said he had voted for and given money to President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. “But like the old Texas saying, the second kick in the head by a mule is not instructive, he said.” 

He predicts a big hit of inflation that is coming as the only solution to solving our national economy’s problems. Allen hosts a conference of business leaders every summer in Sun Valley that features folks like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.

         “In the USA, we used to be all about manufacturing. Now we are all about service. Manufacturing is being done better and cheaper overseas. Get used to it.

         He predicted inflation would have to come along to solve the debt crisis. “We are in a lull now because we have to pay off the communal national mortgage. When inflation comes, places with raw materials like Wyoming could benefit. It is the only way out of this mess.”

• Hank McKinnell may have been the most impressive of all.

         He has lived in Jackson and for six years was CEO of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.

         He laid out a 10-point plan for Wyoming that included: 10. Think small. 9. Think big. 8. Think global. 7. Improve Internet access across the state. 6. Invest in preventative health systems. “We have a sick-care system in this country, not a health-care system,” he says.

         His points 5 through 1 were all about schooling. He railed on the need for better education. His main points were:

         5. Start early.

         4. Emphasize math and science.

         2. Higher education for everyone.

1. Have some BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals),

         All four of these speakers were impressive but perhaps McKinnell was the most impressive, if for no other reason, he stayed for the entire conference and made a real effort to know folks across the state, not just from his corner of the state.

The conference was the 29^th annual conference staged by the Wyoming Business Alliance but the first tied in with a governor in awhile.

         Gov. Mead said that when he was campaigning for the job, McKinnell told him to “pay attention to the business people.” This conference looked like a good example of the new guy listening to some pretty good advice and putting it into action.

         “Admit it. You are a hoarder!” says my wife Nancy.

         “No I am not. I clearly am not,” I reply.

         “The evidence is clear. Look around you.”

         “Just because of my tendency to save things, you think I am a hoarder. As a journalist, it is important to keep track of my stuff. Research, you know.”

         “Okay. Here is a banker’s box. Written on it is ‘top of Bill’s desk, Feb. 11, 1993.’ Why are you saving that?”

         “Well, you know, you never know what crosses your desk that some day will be important.”

         “What about the 84 other boxes stacked up here that are just like that other one? Are they important, too? Admit it, Bill. YOU ARE A HOARDER!”

         Over the course of my very interesting life, I have encountered (and acquired) so many interesting things. And according to my wife, all this stuff is still here.

         She thinks maybe one of those TV shows about hoarding will be showing up any day. Since we also have lots of junk around, she also thinks those American Pickers may come calling, too, but that is another story.

         Now my piles of piles are probably not worthy of a TV show expose’ but lately we have tried to get my two offices and five storage sheds organized.

         Note: A “banker’s box” is a sturdy cardboard box used by banks and businesses to store old business records in. I have hundreds of these boxes stored with the records of the 20+ businesses we have operated plus the aforementioned 84 boxes of “personal” stuff.

         We own a small acreage in Lander that has a garage, a shed, a small barn, a larger barn and a nice storage building. All are filled with remnants of a 46-year journalism career.

         It is easy to admit that people who have worked with me know that I usually maintain one of the most cluttered offices and desks imaginable. Having worked in a business where gigantic amounts of paper come your way, well, this is almost a stereotype among newspaper editor-types.

         Publisher Steve Woody of Sheridan, who worked with me in Lander back in the 1970s, always said: “Bill, you do not have a filing system. You have a piling system.”

         Such little faith.

         Actually there was a system. When the piles got so high that even I could not find anything, out would come a banker’s box and I would write the date on it plus the label “top of Bill’s desk” and then push the entire contents of the top of my desk and stuff inside the box. It would then go under my desk for a few months. After that, it was sent to a warehouse somewhere.

         So there. Who says I am not organized?

         My neat freak wife, that’s who. She is also known as Antiseptic Annie and the White Tornado.

         One of my goals for 2011 was to go through all these hundreds of boxes and throw away the outdated records and “rediscover” my long lost treasures.

         After going through a dozen of them, I have found some wonderful things that, under normal circumstances, probably would have been lost.

         There are photos of our family skiing at Grand Targhee 30 years ago. Plus I found a letter from Ronald Reagan congratulating the Lander newspaper on its 100^th anniversary. See?

         Working its way up through the debris was a copy of a wonderful college report by our daughter Shelli Johnson dissecting the old newspaper war in Jackson Hole between the News and the Guide. (They have since merged.)

         Even found remnants of when I attended the Master’s program at the University of Wales. Lots of British newspapers. But most important, found my Master’s thesis research, which I had long feared was lost.

         Yes, my system really works well.

         Another reason for all this is that I am now allowing my wife to share my man cave office at the house. It is amazing how neat and clean the office is now but it will be a wonder if anything important will ever be able to be found in the future.

         Looming over the office is an old sculpture by the late Joe Back of Dubois. It shows a man pulling hard on a rope trying to get a mule to move and that critter is digging in its heels just as hard, trying to resist.

          I tell Nancy that I am the man in the sculpture and the mule is . . .?” 

         She disagrees.

         To a majority of folks in today’s economy getting and keeping employment is often “job one.”

         Some great ideas were presented on getting a job. It occurred at a panel I participated in a week ago that brought into focus what is needed in today’s rapidly changing economy.

         Some terrific people journeyed to Lander to speak at the first ever Career Symposium for students at Wyoming Catholic College, the state’s second four-year college after UW.

         As I stood there at the end of my business career looking out at 50 earnest young men and women who were just starting to embark on theirs, well, it made you want to give them the best advice possible.

         Like graduates of UW and the seven community colleges across the state, these students were apprehensive about their chances to succeed in a national economy that appears to be in a tailspin. Luckily, Wyoming is doing much better than the rest of the country but still there are no guarantees.

         A diverse panel of men and women with backgrounds in law, accounting, teaching, medicine, stock brokering, construction and journalism had been assembled to share their knowledge.

         Supt. of Public Instruction Cindy Hill journeyed to the event, despite snowy roads between Lander and Cheyenne. There were a lot of future teachers in the crowd of students and she offered some key advice.

         She recalled that many people who become teachers seem to know it at an early age. Her mother was a teacher, for example, and she knew she wanted to be one, early on.

         Bill Schilling, Casper, the CEO of the Wyoming Business Alliance, suggested they learn to “network.”

         He believes that the key to success in getting a job and keeping it is to continuing to “learn your craft” your entire life and to network with other people you respect. He suggested they seek internships at businesses.

Schilling is one of the best networkers in the state and invited the students to attend the number-one networking event held in Wyoming – the annual Business Forum, which is in Cheyenne Nov. 15-16.

         Bill Edwards, a contractor from Cheyenne, always tried to build the best buildings possible. After years of being a contractor, he recalls fondly being able to drive around Cheyenne and seeing how well projects his company built are holding up. 

         He reminded the students, to “build it right.”

          Edwards also feels that the Good Lord has a plan for each of them and they should watch for those signals that help guide them to their goals.

         Andrew Emrich told of watching for and taking advantage of opportunities when they present themselves to you.

         A Cheyenne attorney at Holland and Hart, Emrich organized the symposium and talked about how mentors like Mike Enzi and Tom Sansonetti helped launch his career that once took him all the way to Washington D.C. and working for President George Bush. 

         Jared Black, a Cheyenne stockbroker for Wells Fargo, said less than a third of the people who enter his business are able to succeed, making it tough odds. You better be resilient if you want to make it, he said.

But he said the rewards were ample if you make it and he especially loved the fact that in his business he deals with generations of people in the same family.

CPA Sarah Sweeney said she always felt a calling to numbers. If anyone loves working with numbers and helping people in their accounting and tax situations, this is the career for you, she said. She now is a partner in the accounting firm McKee, Marburger and Fagnant of Lander. She has been a valuable resource for WCC, having served as the college’s Chief Financial Officer up to a year ago.

Dr. Steve Hickner, a Lander OB-Gyn, encouraged the students to go into the medical profession, despite all the turmoil going on in it.

He said, “the population is getting older and there is a shortage of qualified professionals.” Was he looking at me when he said that?

         As the final panelist, I opined that the students needed to look for mentors and remember that employers are looking as hard for workers like them as they are looking for those same employers to hire them.

         Ten of the WCC students had worked for me and I have never seen a group of people who were as smart, hard working, honest and loyal as this group. 

         “Believe me,” I concluded, “what you offer should guarantee you the chance for good business careers.”

         “Mallory’s throat was cut this morning at school,” our daughter Alicia Haulman told me on the phone just before noon on Nov. 11, 2008.

         To most people, the upcoming date of 11-11-11 will mean something else, but to me it is the anniversary of one of the most horrific events in our families’ lives.

         To Alicia’s credit, she preceded the sentence about our oldest granddaughter getting her throat cut, but saying, “Dad, you need to know first that Mallory is doing okay.”

         In what later become one of the top news stories in Colorado in 2008, our beautiful and talented Mallory was attacked in her Montrose school by a deranged 14-year old boy. He walked up behind her, grabbed her and slashed her throat almost from ear-to-ear.

         Today, three years later, I am happy and proud to write that Mallory, now 20, is in her second year at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction and is doing very well. Not sure if it is the result of the attack and all the attending medical attention, but now her goal is to become a medical professional. So far her grades would merit it.

         But back to 11-11-08.

         The day started out like any ordinary day. Mallory and her freshman sister Mae left home enroute to their new high school in Montrose. The family had just moved there a year earlier from St. George, Utah, and both girls were still a little uncertain about their new classmates and new school.

         Little did they know, that while they were getting ready for another school day, a 14-year old boy named Michael Yates was hearing voices in his head saying he needed to kill somebody.

         Yates, who was big for his age, had recently been dismissed from a facility for special needs children because he was difficult to deal with.

         Apparently he spotted the two girls at the school and followed them into the building. He strode up to Mallory from behind and grabbed her and attempted to slit her throat. Although it was a bloody incident, luckily, Mallory was strong enough (she had played softball, track and was a champion swimmer) that she somehow pulled away enough that his knife did not cut the jugular vein.

         Mae screamed along with others when they realized what was happening.

         After the attack, the Yates boy ran from the building and was later apprehended by local police.

         In a good quirk of fate, the school had a number of police and EMT folks in the building that day to recognize Veterans Day.

         Fortunately for Mallory, a teacher, named Mike Nadiak, was in a nearby classroom when he heard screaming. “It was definitely a scream of distress,” he said. “It got my attention.”

         Nadiak also works as an outdoor guide and knows first aid. “I really didn’t think. I just put my hand on her wound,” he later recalled.

With his hand still on her injured neck, he guided her to the nearby nurse’s office and EMT`s arrived almost immediately. A unit just happened to be standing by at the school because of the Veterans Day activities.

         She was rushed to the hospital where a surgeon and a surgical crew were waiting. It was a very short time between the time of the attack and when she was being tended to at the hospital.

         The story was huge news in Colorado. It was on all the front pages and TV stations. The Colorado legislature passed a bill called “Mallory’s Law” concerning school safety as a result of the attack.

         After the Columbine High School massacre 12 years ago, when two students killed 12 students and one teacher in a Denver suburb, Colorado lawmakers are more than jittery when it comes to attacks in their schools.

         A week later, Mallory was back to school and doing well. The only permanent injury was a long scar around her neck, which is gradually receding.

         The Yates boy because of his age and his mental condition was sentenced to a special corrections facility until he is 21.

We are proud of our oldest grandchild and very thankful that this horrible incident did not have a much worst result.

         But while others are thinking about an odd date that will not ever come again (11-11-11) and still others are thinking appropriately about veterans, our family will be thanking God that on this day three years ago, our brave young granddaughter was allowed to live another day.