Yellowstone oil spill cleanup continues

By CORY HATCH
JH News & Guide

Filed 8.31.06

Yellowstone concessionaire Xanterra started excavating soil contaminated with roughly 700 gallons of fuel oil spilled behind the Old Faithful Snow Lodge on Tuesday morning.

(Click & Read on courtsey of the JH News & Guide)

Photo Captions & Credits: "Old Faithful Geyser 1883" by William Henry Jackson courtsey of Nat'l Park Service

Father pleads to hear from missing daughter

By GIL BRADY
The Cowboy Times

Filed 12:44 a.m.
Updated 1:21 p.m.

JACKSON, Wyo. (CT) – Following a reported late-night, high-speed car chase last week, the father of a Jackson teen pleaded on Tuesday for his daughter, or anyone with information concerning her whereabouts, to contact him.

Megan Andrea Barlow, 15, of Jackson, went missing nine days ago from her home near Bar B Bar, just north of Jackson, her father, Richard, reported.

In a bulletin released by the Teton County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday, Megan Barlow, born Aug. 4, 1991, is described as 5’6”, 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. The bulletin did not include a description of clothing that Megan Barlow was wearing when she vanished.

During a phone interview for Jackson Hole Radio News Tuesday, Richard Barlow said his daughter left home around 11:30 pm and returned around 1:30 am in a maroon Ford F-250 pick-up with dark-tinted windows. The father said his son used a car to chase a truck he believed his daughter was in out of their neighborhood at high speeds before giving up.

“My son saw the vehicle, followed the vehicle. The vehicle then turned around out of our neighborhood and sped back into Jackson doing about 80 miles an hour when my son backed off and didn’t want to chase the vehicle anymore,” Richard Barlow said. “That was the last we saw of Megan. We think that she’s very scared and frightened because she knows that we’re upset with her having left the house. We just want her to at least call in and speak with us and just let us know that she’s okay.”

Barlow said his son gave the truck’s Idaho tag to authorities. Investigators, he said, were interviewing people in Jackson and Teton County, Idaho, regarding Megan’s whereabouts.

“At this time we believe that it’s a runaway,” the father told JH Radio News’ DeeDee Dudley. As time passed, however, Barlow said his daughter’s disappearance became a much more serious matter.

“We don’t believe that Megan, at the age of fifteen, would remain away for any period of time,” he said. “We thought that she might have run away initially, scared, because she had been seen coming back in late at night when she shouldn’t have been out. But, now it’s been over a week and we think that now it may be a little more serious.”

The father said that if Megan contacted him he would be patient and understanding, stressing that his biggest concern was the welfare of his daughter.

“I would ask Megan that she simply call in. Let us know she’s okay. We’ll be willing to talk to her," Richard Barlow said. "We’ll be willing to listen to what she has to say. If she doesn’t want to speak to us, she can certainly call Choral. That’s a very close friend of hers. We just want to hear from her that she’s okay.”

The father also requested that any of his daughter’s friends who have any information on Megan Barlow’s whereabouts notify him immediately, so that her family can know whether she’s okay or needs help.

“That’s what’s very important. The only thing that’s important to us at this particular point,” he said.

As previously reported by The Jackson Hole News & Guide, the missing girl's mother said that Megan's cell phone had been reactivated. Investigators said earlier this week that Megan had not been using her cell phone since its reactivation.

Anyone with information regarding Megan Barlow’s whereabouts is urged to call (307) 733-2331 or contact the Teton County Sheriff’s Office.

Photo Caption & Credit: "A maroon Ford F-250" courtsey of C.K.'s Auto, Inc. ; "Megan Andrea Barlow" courtsey of T.C.S.O.

Dozens die in Iraq violence

...BREAKING VIDEO!
REUTERS via RooTV

Filed 8.29

(REUTERS) - Iraqi troops killed in fierce battles with Shi'ite militia in southern city of Diwaniya. 8/2006 Reuters8/29/2006 4:57:00 PM [rootvau World Headlines]

(Click & Read on courtsey of RooTV)

Two Down, Two to Go

$10,000 Reward

WANTED FOR FELONY RAPE














Armando Rodriguez Aguilar / Daniel Juarez "Bonilla"

By GIL BRADY
The Cowboy Times

Filed 9:41 am

JACKSON, Wyo. (CT) – Two of four men accused of violating women on the Jackson Town Square last summer were convicted of conspiracy to commit sexual assault Wednesday. Two others, rapists officials say, are still at large.

Laramie County’s 1st District Judge Peter G. Arnold, who presided over the case, sentenced Frederico Perez Lopez, 19, of Jackson, and Gustavo Zuniga Bonilla, 21, of Big Sky, MT, to between 3 and 5 years and 4 and 6 years, respectively, for conspiracy to commit sexual assault in the third degree, said Deputy Teton County Attorney Nicole Krieger.

Though Krieger said neither Perez or Bonilla touched the first victim, they are, she reportedly argued in court, “just as guilty as the primary actor” under the conspiracy law. Arnold also ordered both men to pay a $500 fine to a crime victim’s fund, Krieger said.

Because of her purported relationship with a family member of one victim, 9th District Judge Nancy J. Guthrie removed herself from the case.

Following the assault and rape of two women within minutes of bars closing here on Aug. 21 last year, Lopez and Bonilla, both illegal immigrants, and two accomplices became the focus of an intense, nationwide manhunt—involving Wyoming’s Division of Criminal Investigation, Teton County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Wyoming Highway Patrol and outside authorities—spanning to California and the Mexican border, Jackson Police Detective-Sgt. Todd Smith has said.

Within two weeks, immigration authorities had detained Bonilla on an immigration violation in Big Sky, MT, and police had arrested Lopez in Jackson.

Krieger and Smith said that Lopez received a reduced sentence for signing an affidavit and providing evidence for Bonilla’s arrest and conviction. Lopez’ cooperation also led to a federal warrant being issued for two acquaintances alleged to have raped a second woman on the same night, Smith said.

Authorities and affidavits say that Armando Rodriguez Aguilar and Daniel Juarez (a.k.a. Daniel Bonilla) are still at large, possibly in Mexico, and wanted for felony rape of a woman who survived her attack. Smith said that both men should be considered dangerous and that a federal warrant for both extends to Mexico. It is believed, he added, that Daniel Juarez “Bonilla” is related to Gustavo Zuniga Bonilla.

Police say anonymous sources have accused Aguilar or Juarez of assaulting other women, prior to last year's alleged offense.

Lopez’s affidavit describes Aguilar and Juarez discussing an assault on another woman one year earlier. Charging documents say that Lopez alleged Juarez was the most excited to “touch a woman” as the four conspired to find an intoxicated female before leaving the Log Cabin Saloon around 2 am.

Police describe Daniel Juarez “Bonilla” as 18-22 years old, 5’6”, 140-150 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. Armando Aguilar, they say, is 23 years old, 5’4,” 145 pounds, with black hair, dark eyes, and sometimes sports a Fu Manchu-style mustache. Both are Hispanic, reportedly speak English and have worked as laborers.

According to courthouse records, after Aguilar and Juarez assaulted and raped the second woman for about 20 minutes in a back alley near the Town Square, the victim alleges both men kissed her and, before running off, said: “Thank you, thank you!”

A Mexican national, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said they once saw Aguilar driving a late 90s white Eagle Talon around Jackson, and that Aguilar and Juarez were from Tlaxcala, Mexico.

“My office wants these rapists badly,” Teton County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Weichman has said. “And we will take cooperation in any way we can get it. If anyone knows anything about [Aguilar’s or Juarez’s] whereabouts, they should call my office or the police.”

Police and courthouse officials say Lopez and Gustavo Bonilla will serve their sentences at Rawlins state penitentiary and have 11 months credit for time served since their arrests. Both face felony deportation to Mexico upon their prison release, Smith said.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Armando Aguilar or Daniel Juarez “Bonilla” should call Teton County dispatch at (307) 733.2331 or CrimeStoppers at (307) 733.5148.

CrimeStoppers has offered a reward of $10,000 for help in finding and bringing Aguilar or Juarez “Bonilla” to justice.

Photo Captions & Credits: (1) "Armando Rodriguez Aguilar" & (2) "Daniel Juarez 'Bonilla'" courtsey of JPD

Stay with The Cowboy Times

Plane crashes in Kentucky shortly after takeoff:'Significant number of fatalities,' FAA says; flight en route to Atlanta

...BREAKING NEWS!

"The crash marks the end of what has been called the 'safest period in aviation history.' There has not been a major crash since Nov. 12, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 plunged into a residential neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., killing 265 people, including five on the ground."

NBC News
Updated (CT): 3:12 p.m. MT
"49 dead, 1 survivor!"

8.27.06

A plane flying from Lexington, Kentucky to Atlanta, Ga. crashed shortly after takeoff early Sunday morning.

Comair flight 5191 was carrying 50 people on board - 47 passengers and three crew. It crashed a mile west of the airport in a wooded area, according to a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

There are a "significant number of fatalities," said Kathleen Bergen, a spokesman for the FAA in Atlanta.

The FAA believes a fire was associated with the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending team of inspectors to the scene.

(Click & Read on courtsey of © 2006 MSNBC Interactive)

Photo Captions & Credits: "CRJ-100" courtsey of X-Plane.org

THEK Accepts!

BREAKING Lincoln County PRIMARY NEWS 8/26 (4:11pm)...!

DEMOCRATIC WRITE-IN CANDIDATE
& current Lincoln County Jail Administrator

Sgt. BILL THEK says he plans on running against JPD's Det.-Sgt. Todd Smith, Lincoln County's Republican primary winner, for sheriff in Novemeber.

"I worked for Lincoln County for 12 years. My career started with Wyoming Highway Patrol in 1986. My heart is in Lincoln County and I plan on filling out a [candidate] registration notice on Monday," Thek said Saturday. Thek also thanked his supporters for backing his candidacy.

Lincoln County election officials had reported that Thek recieved 79 write-in votes for sheriff during last Tuesday's countywide primary. As of today, however, election officials report there were 41 write-in votes for Lincoln County sheriff. (Click here to view)

Stay with The Cowboy Times for all the latest Lincoln & Teton County election year news!

"First in news, last in BS."

Artwork: "Sheriff's Star" courtsey of John Sayles & "Lone Star"

Bill Clinton was Right: He saw the roots of America's welfare problem

A freely available OPINION

By ROBERT RECTOR
Special to Washington Post's "Think Tank Town"

Filed 8.23.06

As a conservative analyst who spent much of the 1990s working against most of Bill Clinton's agenda -- including even some aspects of his welfare reform proposals -- it pains me to say this.

Bill Clinton was right.

He deserves more credit for the passage of welfare reform than most conservatives probably care to admit.
(Click & Read on courtsey of The Washington Post)

Artwork courtsey of Memberstelering

Slumber Party

By SLATE

Filed 8. 24.06

Dear Prudence:

What do you do when values clash? I know it's up to my husband and me to set the standards in our house, and we always have, but we now have a problem. Our teenage son (17) has started going out with his first girlfriend. He badgers us to let her stay overnight in our house, but we've said no and explained that as long as he is in high school, we don't approve of having him bring home girlfriends overnight.

(Click & Read on courtsey of SLATE)

West keeps burning as new fire starts here

By THOMAS NEWELL
JH News & Guide

Filed 8.25.06
Although new fires started in the area in recent days, the smoke that filled the sky Thursday in Jackson Hole primarily came from large blazes in central Idaho.

(Click & Read on courtsey of the JH News & Guide)

Photo Credit: "Idaho Wildfires Summer 2000" courtsey of Boise State U

Is it adios to the 4th Estate? A cause for concern, but not for panic

By The ECONOMIST

Filed 8.24

“A GOOD newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself,” mused Arthur Miller in 1961. A decade later, two reporters from the Washington Post wrote a series of articles that brought down President Nixon and the status of print journalism soared. At their best, newspapers hold governments and companies to account. They usually set the news agenda for the rest of the media. But in the rich world newspapers are now an endangered species. The business of selling words to readers and selling readers to advertisers, which has sustained their role in society, is falling apart.
(Click & Read on courtsey of The Economist)

Glitch screws N & G

By CARA FROEDGE
JH News & Guide

A “glitch” in Teton County's voting machines caused errors in unofficial results of the Jackson Town Council’s primary race released by election officials Tuesday night, they said Wednesday morning.

(Click & Read on courtsey of the JH News & Guide)

Photo credit: "Elelction Genius" By Igophoto

VIDEO: Kidnapped FOX News Journalists

Breaking...VIDEO!
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLICK HERE & WATCH
courtsey of AP/RooTV

(AP) -- The US State Department rejected on Wednesday demands by a previously unheard-of Palestinian group for the release of all Muslim prisoners in US prisons in exchange for the release of two kidnapped Fox News journalists.

(Click & Read on courtsey of The Jerusalem Post)

Photo Caption & Credits: "FOX News journalists" courtsey of CBS News

Who Moved on to the BIG SHOW? Primary 20006 Results!

ON to the BIG SHOW!

PRIMARY 2006 RESULTS

UPDATE 8/24 9:32pm
SCROLL DOWN FOR TETON COUNTY!

For a complete listing of primary results:

UNOFFICIAL CLICK HERE for LINCOLN COUNTY

UNOFFICIAL CLICK HERE for TETON COUNTY

UNOFFICIAL CLICK HERE for LC Precinct Results

SELECTED RACES: Candidates for Lincoln County Offices

For Primary Election 2006
County Offices up for election:

%100POLLS REPORTING
FINAL RESULTS (unofficial) 8:52pm

LOOKS LIKE THERE'S A NEW SHERIFF in LINCOLN & it's...

JPD'S Todd Smith SMITH WINS by 7 points over CLEMENT

BREAKING 8/24 (9:47pm)...!

DEMOCRATIC WRITE-IN CANDIDATE

Lincoln County Sheriff's Sgt. BILL THEK

GOT 79 VOTES for Sheriff

Will Thek accept? Stay tuned....

SUMMARY REPORT LINCOLN COUNTY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

RUN DATE:08/22/06 2006 PRIMARY ELECTION

RUN TIME:08:39 PM AUGUST 22, 2006

STATISTICS

VOTES PERCENT

PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 18) . . . . . 18 100.00

REGISTERED VOTERS - TOTAL . . . . . 200

BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL. . . . . . . 3,763

BALLOTS CAST - BLANK. . . . . . . 0

VOTER TURNOUT - TOTAL . . . . . .

VOTER TURNOUT - BLANK . . . . . .

********** (REPUBLICAN) **********

UNITED STATES SENATOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

CRAIG THOMAS . . . . . . . . . 3,023 99.02

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 30 .98

Total . . . . . . . . . 3,053

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

BARBARA CUBIN . . . . . . . . . 2,211 68.66

BILL WINNEY. . . . . . . . . . 999 31.02

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 10 .31

Total . . . . . . . . . 3,220

GOVERNOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

RAY HUNKINS. . . . . . . . . . 2,006 73.91

JOHN H. SELF . . . . . . . . . 670 24.69

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 38 1.40

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,714

SECRETARY OF STATE

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

MARY ANN COLLINS . . . . . . . . 1,446 48.31

MAX MAXFIELD . . . . . . . . . 1,542 51.52

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 5 .17

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,993

STATE AUDITOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

BRUCE BROWN. . . . . . . . . . 1,067 36.84

RITA MEYER . . . . . . . . . . 1,824 62.98

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 5 .17

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,896

STATE TREASURER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

JOE MEYER . . . . . . . . . . 1,528 52.64

FRED PARADY. . . . . . . . . . 1,369 47.16

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 6 .21

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,903

STATE REPRESENTATIVE HOUSE DISTRICT #21

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DAN DOCKSTADER. . . . . . . . . 1,435 64.18

ROBERT MCKIM . . . . . . . . . 799 35.73

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 2 .09

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,236

COUNTY COMMISSIONER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

BRUCE M. DAVIS. . . . . . . . . 1,097 22.32

JERRY T. HARMON . . . . . . . . 1,933 39.33

DEB WOLFLEY. . . . . . . . . . 1,806 36.74

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 79 1.61

Total . . . . . . . . . 4,915

COUNTY SHERIFF

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

VAL K. CLEMENT. . . . . . . . . 1,166 35.72

TIMOTHY MALIK . . . . . . . . . 644 19.73

TODD SMITH . . . . . . . . . . 1,413 43.29

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 41 1.26

Total . . . . . . . . . 3,264

********** (DEMOCRATIC) **********

UNITED STATES SENATOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DALE GROUTAGE . . . . . . . . . 555 97.37

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 15 2.63

Total . . . . . . . . . 570

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

GARY TRAUNER . . . . . . . . . 567 99.65

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 2 .35

Total . . . . . . . . . 569

GOVERNOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DAVE FREUDENTHAL . . . . . . . . 579 89.49

AL HAMBURG . . . . . . . . . . 68 10.51

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0

Total . . . . . . . . . 647

COUNTY COMMISSIONER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

TAMMIE ARCHIBALD . . . . . . . . 537 97.99

NO CANDIDATE FILED . . . . . . . 0

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 11 2.01

Total . . . . . . . . . 548

********** (NONPARTISAN) **********

CITY OF KEMMERER MAYOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DAVID A. FAGNANT . . . . . . . . 87 51.18

CAROLINE M. NICHOLLS. . . . . . . 76 44.71

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.12

Total . . . . . . . . . 170

CITY OF KEMMERER MAYOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

CAROLINE M. NICHOLLS. . . . . . . 95 40.60

DAVID A. FAGNANT . . . . . . . . 131 55.98

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 8 3.42

Total . . . . . . . . . 234

CITY OF KEMMERER MAYOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DAVID A. FAGNANT . . . . . . . . 167 64.98

CAROLINE M. NICHOLLS. . . . . . . 85 33.07

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.95

Total . . . . . . . . . 257

CITY OF KEMMERER COUNCILPERSON WARD #2

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DAVID LUNDGREN. . . . . . . . . 80 33.90

BILL R. PRICE . . . . . . . . . 78 33.05

KATHY SLOVERNICK . . . . . . . . 73 30.93

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.12

Total . . . . . . . . . 236

TOWN OF DIAMONDVILLE COUNCILPERSONS

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

ANNIS NICOTERA. . . . . . . . . 118 43.07

CHARLENE SMITH. . . . . . . . . 141 51.46

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 15 5.47

Total . . . . . . . . . 274

TOWN OF OPAL MAYOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

SPENCER PREECE. . . . . . . . . 16 80.00

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 20.00

Total . . . . . . . . . 20

TOWN OF OPAL COUNCILPERSONS

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

THOMAS OSBORNE. . . . . . . . . 11 25.00

KAREN RAWLINGS. . . . . . . . . 22 50.00

ROBERT RAWLINGS . . . . . . . . 10 22.73

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 2.27

Total . . . . . . . . . 44

TOWN OF LABARGE MAYOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DENNIS HACKLIN. . . . . . . . . 76 44.97

BOB A. JACOBSON . . . . . . . . 9 5.33

DIANE SAKAI. . . . . . . . . . 52 30.77

LARRY C. STEPP. . . . . . . . . 31 18.34

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 .59

Total . . . . . . . . . 169

TOWN OF LABARGE COUNCILPERSONS

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

JAY EDMISON. . . . . . . . . . 54 16.72

NICK GOODMAN . . . . . . . . . 75 23.22

DAWN MARQUARDT. . . . . . . . . 49 15.17

KAREN ROMJUE . . . . . . . . . 50 15.48

MICHAEL TRAUGHBER. . . . . . . . 95 29.41

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0

Total . . . . . . . . . 323

TOWN OF AFTON MAYOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

KENN BELVEAL . . . . . . . . . 133 28.30

ALAN STAUFFER . . . . . . . . . 302 64.26

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 35 7.45

Total . . . . . . . . . 470

TOWN OF AFTON COUNCILPERSONS

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

J. GURN BROWN . . . . . . . . . 145 15.74

VAN L. HALE. . . . . . . . . . 289 31.38

SAMUEL C. HEPWORTH . . . . . . . 160 17.37

JC INSKEEP . . . . . . . . . . 128 13.90

PAUL A. SCHERBEL . . . . . . . . 194 21.06

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 5 .54

Total . . . . . . . . . 921

TOWN OF ALPINE MAYOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

BRYANT S. BROWN . . . . . . . . 18 14.88

VICTORIA DECORA . . . . . . . . 42 34.71

DAVE GUSTAFSON. . . . . . . . . 61 50.41

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0

Total . . . . . . . . . 121

TOWN OF ALPINE COUNCILPERSONS

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

JIM BLITTERSDORF . . . . . . . . 37 17.79

SHIRLEY B. BROWN . . . . . . . . 57 27.40

D.R. "HUTCH" HUTCHINSON. . . . . . 60 28.85

TOM TURNER . . . . . . . . . . 51 24.52

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.44

Total . . . . . . . . . 208

TOWN OF STAR VALLEY RANCH COUNCILPERSONS

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 4

KENT B. HARKER. . . . . . . . . 243 19.71

MARK MICHEL. . . . . . . . . . 81 6.57

PATRICK O'NEY . . . . . . . . . 54 4.38

GEORGE "AL" REDLIN . . . . . . . 243 19.71

DAVID L. WARD . . . . . . . . . 160 12.98

CAROL J. WARREN . . . . . . . . 220 17.84

JIM D. WHEELER. . . . . . . . . 223 18.09

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 9 .73

Total . . . . . . . . . 1,233

FINAL UNOFFICIAL TETON COUNTY PRIMARY'06 RESULTS

WHINNEY BEATS CUBIN 

TURLEY TAKES TOWN with 20% of VOTE

59 MAYORAL WRITE-INS

%100 POLLS REPORTING 9:28pm 8.22.06
SELECTED RACES!
TETON COUNTY, WYOMING

UST 22, 2006

RUN DATE:08/22/06 08:31 PM STATISTICS

TOTAL VOTES % ABSENTEE ELECTION DAY

PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 18) . . . . . 18 100.00

REGISTERED VOTERS - TOTAL . . . . . 12,121

BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL. . . . . . . 4,362 769 3,593

VOTER TURNOUT - TOTAL . . . . . . 35.99

********** (DEMOCRATIC) **********

UNITED STATES SENATOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DALE GROUTAGE . . . . . . . . . 714 99.03 134 580

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 7 .97 2 5

Total . . . . . . . . . 721 136 585

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

GARY TRAUNER . . . . . . . . . 927 99.78 158 769

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 2 .22 1 1

Total . . . . . . . . . 929 159 770

GOVERNOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DAVE FREUDENTHAL . . . . . . . . 921 93.88 154 767

AL HAMBURG . . . . . . . . . . 60 6.12 12 48

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 0

Total . . . . . . . . . 981 166 815

STATE AUDITOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

BILL EIKENBERRY . . . . . . . . 697 100.00 127 570

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 0

Total . . . . . . . . . 697 127 570

STATE TREASURER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

RON REDO. . . . . . . . . . . 659 100.00 120 539

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 0

Total . . . . . . . . . 659 120 539

STATE SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

MICHELLE L. HOFFMAN . . . . . . . 740 100.00 132 608

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 0

Total . . . . . . . . . 740 132 608

STATE SENATE SENATE DISTRICT 17

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

CHUCK HERZ . . . . . . . . . . 642 99.38 116 526

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 .62 2 2

Total . . . . . . . . . 646 118 528

STATE REPRESENTATIVE HOUSE DISTRICT 16

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

PETE JORGENSEN. . . . . . . . . 407 99.51 84 323

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 2 .49 0 2

Total . . . . . . . . . 409 84 325

COUNTY COMMISSIONER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 3

BEN ELLIS . . . . . . . . . . 689 35.46 121 568

KASEY MATEOSKY. . . . . . . . 549 28.26 105 444

HANK PHIBBS. . . . . . . . . . 675 34.74 122 553

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 30 1.54 4 26

Total . . . . . . . . . 1,943 352 1,591

COUNTY SHERIFF

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

CHERYL MAHONY . . . . . . . . . 446 90.47 79 367

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 47 9.53 16 31

Total . . . . . . . . . 493 95 398

COUNTY TREASURER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DONNA M. BAUR . . . . . . . . . 544 66.50 93 451

KATHLEEN G. KENIRY . . . . . . . 270 33.01 43 227

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 4 .49 2 2

Total . . . . . . . . . 818 138 680

CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

JILL V. CALLAWAY . . . . . . . . 699 99.86 124 575

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 .14 0 1

Total . . . . . . . . . 700 124 576

D PREC COMMITTEEMAN DIST 1 PREC 8 (Prec-0108)

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

ARNE O. JORGENSEN. . . . . . . . 83 98.81 9 74

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.19 0 1

Total . . . . . . . . . 84 9 75

D PREC COMMITTEEMAN DIST 1 PREC 5 (Prec-0105)

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 3

GREGORY J. BLENKINSOP . . . . . . 65 98.48 11 54

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.52 0 1

Total . . . . . . . . . 66 11 55

********** (REPUBLICAN) **********

UNITED STATES SENATOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

CRAIG THOMAS . . . . . . . . . 2,569 97.64 469 2,100

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 62 2.36 11 51

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,631 480 2,151

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

BARBARA CUBIN . . . . . . . . . 1,453 48.40 284 1,169

BILL WINNEY. . . . . . . . . . 1,519 50.60 242 1,277

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 30 1.00 5 25

Total . . . . . . . . . 3,002 531 2,471

GOVERNOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

RAY HUNKINS. . . . . . . . . . 1,461 66.77 281 1,180

JOHN H. SELF . . . . . . . . . 681 31.12 116 565

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 46 2.10 4 42

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,188 401 1,787

SECRETARY OF STATE

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

MARY ANN COLLINS . . . . . . . . 1,253 50.91 220 1,033

MAX MAXFIELD . . . . . . . . . 1,200 48.76 213 987

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 8 .33 2 6

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,461 435 2,026

STATE AUDITOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

BRUCE BROWN. . . . . . . . . . 760 33.27 146 614

RITA MEYER . . . . . . . . . . 1,517 66.42 257 1,260

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 7 .31 2 5

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,284 405 1,879

STATE TREASURER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

JOE MEYER . . . . . . . . . . 1,460 63.07 267 1,193

FRED PARADY. . . . . . . . . . 846 36.54 158 688

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 9 .39 4 5

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,315 429 1,886

STATE SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

JIM MCBRIDE. . . . . . . . . . 2,131 99.16 379 1,752

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 18 .84 2 16

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,149 381 1,768

STATE SENATE SENATE DISTRICT 17

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

GRANT LARSON . . . . . . . . . 1,411 52.36 264 1,147

PETER MOYER. . . . . . . . . . 1,281 47.53 232 1,049

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 3 .11 0 3

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,695 496 2,199

STATE REPRESENTATIVE HOUSE DISTRICT 16

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

JIM DARWICHE . . . . . . . . . 525 36.33 101 424

KATE MEAD . . . . . . . . . . 914 63.25 179 735

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 6 .42 2 4

Total . . . . . . . . . 1,445 282 1,163

STATE REPRESENTATIVE HOUSE DISTRICT 22

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

MONTE OLSEN. . . . . . . . . . 355 99.16 59 296

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 3 .84 0 3

Total . . . . . . . . . 358 59 299

STATE REPRESENTATIVE HOUSE DISTRICT 23

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

KEITH GINGERY . . . . . . . . . 920 98.08 152 768

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 18 1.92 4 14

Total . . . . . . . . . 938 156 782

COUNTY COMMISSIONER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 3

CECI E. CLOVER. . . . . . . . . 1,232 15.08 224 1,008

STUART HERMAN . . . . . . . . . 692 8.47 124 568

CAPT. BOB MORRIS . . . . . . . . 861 10.54 145 716

BILL PADDLEFORD . . . . . . . . 1,875 22.95 323 1,552

LINDY SAYERS . . . . . . . . . 954 11.68 169 785

ABE TABATABAI . . . . . . . . . 1,339 16.39 226 1,113

JONI UPSHER. . . . . . . . . . 1,193 14.60 205 988

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 24 .29 5 19

Total . . . . . . . . . 8,170 1,421 6,749

COUNTY CORONER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

BOB CAMPBELL . . . . . . . . . 2,438 99.31 414 2,024

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 17 .69 5 12

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,455 419 2,036

COUNTY ATTORNEY

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

STEVE WEICHMAN. . . . . . . . . 2,360 97.88 405 1,955

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 51 2.12 15 36

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,411 420 1,991


COUNTY SHERIFF

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

BOB ZIMMER . . . . . . . . . . 2,625 97.66 470 2,155

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 63 2.34 12 51

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,688 482 2,206

COUNTY CLERK

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

SHERRY L. DAIGLE . . . . . . . . 2,412 99.55 432 1,980

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 11 .45 2 9

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,423 434 1,989

COUNTY TREASURER

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

RENEE' B. HARRINGTON. . . . . . . 2,342 98.99 427 1,915

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 24 1.01 3 21

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,366 430 1,936


COUNTY ASSESSOR

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

CATHY L. TOOLSON . . . . . . . . 2,490 99.60 440 2,050

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 10 .40 3 7

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,500 443 2,057


CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

DEE MAHONEY. . . . . . . . . . 2,347 99.16 417 1,930

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 20 .84 4 16

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,367 421 1,946


R PREC COMMITTEEWOMAN DIST 1 PREC 1 (Prec-0101)

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

SHERRY L. DAIGLE . . . . . . . . 210 98.59 43 167

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.41 1 2

Total . . . . . . . . . 213 44 169


R PREC COMMITTEEWOMAN DIST 1 PREC 10 (Prec-0110)

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

CECI E. CLOVER. . . . . . . . . 130 51.59 22 108

DIANA VAUGHAN . . . . . . . . . 121 48.02 16 105

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 1 .40 0 1

Total . . . . . . . . . 252 38 214


R PREC COMMITTEEMAN DIST 1 PREC 7 (Prec-0107)

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

KEITH GINGERY . . . . . . . . . 164 98.80 20 144

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.20 1 1

Total . . . . . . . . . 166 21 145

R PREC COMMITTEEMAN DIST 4 PREC 4 (Prec-0404)

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

JACK LARIMER . . . . . . . . . 120 57.69 38 82

CAPT. BOB MORRIS . . . . . . . . 88 42.31 19 69

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 0

Total . . . . . . . . . 208 57 151

********** (NONPARTISAN) **********

MAYOR OF THE CITY OF JACKSON

VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 1

MARK BARRON. . . . . . . . . . 1,205 95.33 165 1,040

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . 59 4.67 3 56

Total . . . . . . . . . 1,264 168 1,096

CITY OF JACKSON COUNCIL MEMBERS
VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN 2

UPDATE (8/24)

According to election sources, computer errors led to a miscount of Jackson town votes. The below is a revised update of votes, with aprox. unofficial pecentages, as of 12:18 am 8.24.06

SCOTT ANDERSON. . . . . . . . . 384 -- (13%) 11 72

KYLE BURSON. . . . . . . . . . 32 -- (1%) 37 208

STEVE HARRINGTON . . . . . . . 464 -- (16%)43 241

FRANK LANE . . . . . . . . . . 163 --(6%) 20 149

BOB LENZ. . . . . . . . . . . 562 --(19%) 64 438

TIM SULLIVAN . . . . . . . . . 299 -- (10%)32 263

MELISSA TURLEY. . . . . . . . . 608 -- (21%)74 536

PAUL VOGELHEIM. . . . . . . . . 423 -- (14%) 50 371

WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 16 48 283

Total . . . . . . . . . 2,940 379 2,561

Fed's NSA wiretapping ruling a victory and challenge for 'Orginalists'

A freely available ink-stained wretch/Cowboy Times EDITORIAL

Originally published 8.22.06

Despite the Bush administration, their mouthpieces and allies in Congress, such as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and yak-a-ratchiks in the right-wing media chorus tarring a federal district judge’s decision last Thursday, declaring unconstitutional the president’s warrantless NSA wiretapping program, with the ludicrous brush of liberal judicial activism, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor’s opinion is indubitably grounded in the most traditional of judicial philosophies, ‘Originalism.’

Taylor, a Democrat appointed by President Jimmy Carter, soundly rejected President Bush’s secret and warrantless NSA program to intercept the calls and e-mails of Americans, who might or might not be in contact with foreigners suspected of terrorism, based on a judicial philosophy shared by the Supreme Court’s most conservative jurists, Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Judge Taylor is also the first black woman to be appointed to a federal bench in Michigan. But you don't hear her right-wing naysayers mentioning that, only that she is, hold the crazy-pills, a duplicitious Democrat! How come right-wingers like to trumpet the race of minorities who agree with them, but only disparage the contrary party affiliation of minorities who disagree? Can't dem damn Democrats be dem damn black Democrats too?

"Originalism," a formalist theory of law, closely related to “textualism” that focuses on the "original intent" of the Founding Fathers, is mostly popular among political conservatives. However, some liberals, such as Hugo Black, have also subscribed to the theory. Conservatives who believe in 'Orginalism' include Robert Bork.

Critics of Judge Taylor, such as the glittery American Foreign Policy Council senior fellow James Robbins in a recent USA TODAY editorial, have ridiculed Taylor for using abstract rhetoric “to patch holes in her substantive argument”.

In characterizing President Bush’s progressively aggressive and unitary expansion of executive branch power since 9/11, Judge Taylor decried the NSA wiretapping program, which has and continues to break existing laws, as expressed in the Foreign Intelligence Survelliance Act of 1978 (FISA) and as enurmerated in the Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution, as an act comparable to “hereditary Kings".

“There are no hereditary Kings in America,” she wrote, “and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all 'inherent powers' must derive from that Constitution.”

Fleshing out her 43-page opinion with 'originalist' clarity and fervor, Judge Taylor, in striking down the Bush-backed NSA program, reasoned: "It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights."

In his criticism of Judge Taylor, Robbins, like the sophist and apologist for an unlawful policy he so valiantly aims to be, argues a one-legged "straw man," from the corner where he sits under his funny hat, when he writes: “One might ask how the NSA can determine which conversations are important before they are collected.”

First off, dear court jester Robbins, as you well know but your cynacism prevents you from mentioning, FISA provides the president a 30-day retroactive application for a warrant and up to one-year without a court order for foreign intelligence gathering. In creating the law, its authors and amenders realized that tying the hands of intelligence officials in hot pursuit of a suspect or suspects would present a danger to the nation. Ergo, they wrote FISA with an eye toward allowing its secret court to grant permission after survelliance was fait accompli. By doing so, FISA's creators gave counterterrorism agents and others great discretion and great trust, essentially pre-9/11 preemptive authority, to hunt down America’s enemies--demanding only an eventual permission slip to wiretap and be watched themselves via a retroactive apology note.

Why they even bother keeping up the whole charade of professional courtsey is much, too much nuance for me.

If intelligence experts or the NSA, or even my bookie, can not figure out after a year of surveillance, including wiretapping, whether a target or targets are a potential threat or not, then the problem lies not with FISA or Judge Taylor but with the methods and capabilities of intelligence professionals. Secondly, who is this abstract "one" made of straw Rowdy Robbins cites as a dissenting authority in his dissemblings posing as candid argument?

And why is it not okay for Judge Taylor to be abstract but okay for wonkish eggheads like you, Monsieur Robin Egghead? And please give us something better than: "Yo! If you're black, don't be abstract."

One might rightly ask why you, Rappin' Robbins, like the president and vice-president, are still trying to push our “fear buttons” when your harum-scarum syllogisms fall faster than stardust?

Unless President Bush and his attorney general have a federal statute in their purported grab bag of secret evidence justifying their repeated breaking of existing laws, all the alleged proof of their much ballyhooed NSA spying programs' victories in thwarting America’s enemies will not matter a whit, according to an 'Originalist' take on the Constitution.

Taylor’s ruling is hardly the last word on this matter. For her decision, as is the White House’s prerogative, is already on appeal. However, by siding with the 'Originalists,' Judge Taylor presents a unique challenge to Justices Scalia and Thomas, should this fight go the distance, to prove their well-burnished conservative credentials are more than just partisan warpaint.

Will the far right's MIB remain intellectually honest or serve us up a boilerplate wartime waffle?

In the meantime, President Bush and his minions ought and try upholding and defending the Constitution for a change. It is, after all, what Mr. Bush swore to do before Chief Justice William Rehnquist and the world before that enigmatic jurist’s untimely death.

Photo Captions & Credits: "Lady Justice"; "Federal District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor" ; "Conservative intellectual James Robbins"; "Justices Scalia & Thomas" all courtsey of on-line stock

Iran will pursue nuclear

BREAKING VIDEO...!

REUTERS via RooTV

Filed 8:46am

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran, set to reply on Tuesday to an offer by world powers aimed at defusing a nuclear standoff, has insisted it would not stop enriching uranium as they demand by an August 31 deadline to avoid possible sanctions.

(Click & Watch courtsey of RooTV)

Unlikely environmentalists

From STAFF and WIRE REPORTS
Casper Star-Tribune

JACKSON -- Gary Amerine doesn’t look like an environmentalist.

He doesn’t wear Birkenstocks, tie-dye shirts or a peace sign tied around his neck with a length of hemp rope. He looks and talks more like a rancher, with a cowboy hat and a weathered face.
(Click & Read on courtsey of the Casper Star-Tribune)

Photo Captions & Credits: "Homies on the Range" By Gil Brady for The Cowboy Times

Why doesn't America believe in evolution?

A freely available REALITY-BASED COMMUNITY REPORT

By JEFF HECHT
For the New Scientist

Filed 8.20.06

Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals: true or false? This simple question is splitting America apart, with a growing proportion thinking that we did not descend from an ancestral ape. A survey of 32 European countries, the US and Japan has revealed that only Turkey is less willing than the US to accept evolution as fact.

(Click & Read on courtsey of the New Scientist)

Photo Caption & Credit: "The Descent of All The President's Men" on-line stock photo

Scientists disagree on link between storms, warming: Same data, different conclusions

A freely available INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

By JULIET EILPERIN
Washington Post Staff Writer

Filed 8.20.06

A year after Hurricane Katrina and other major storms battered the U.S. coast, the question of whether hurricanes are becoming more destructive because of global warming has become perhaps the most hotly contested question in the scientific debate over climate change.

(Click & Read on courtsey of The Washington Post)

Photo Caption & Credit: "Flying Grand Canyon" By Gil Brady for The Cowboy Times

Looking to the future: As homes sprout up, Teton Valley residents wonder what's ahead?

By LAUREN M. WHALEY
Jackson Hole News & Guide

Filed 8.16.06

As they quip about land-use regulations in an increasingly developed valley, residents of Teton Valley wonder what their communities will look like if the surging growth of recent years and months continues apace.

(Click & Read on courtsey of the JH News & Guide)

Photo Captions & Credits: "An Unmovable Feast" By Gil Brady for The CowboyTimes

MEDIA WATCH on Panic JH: Biased, Bananas, or Both?

A freely available Staff ink-stained wretch/Cowboy Times EDITORIAL
Originally published 8.14.06
Updated 8.20.06

JACKSON, Wyo. (CT) – Believe it or not, but the very act of publishing this investigative OP-ED parody is likely to inspire allegations of libel against The Cowboy Times by a local alternative weekly purportedly charged with, among other hyperboles, promoting and defending free speech as well as the public interest.

Am I worried? Hell no. Why? Because, I have witnesses and evidence for everything—including local law enforcement—but mainly, for now, all I need is you and your two lying eyes. However, I’m willing to take a single fibber if that’s all you’ve got.

Besides, satire is still protected speech even if the object of one’s ridicule doesn’t get it. How do I know they don’t get it? Well, for one thing, during last year’s Kiwanis Follies a local crypto-neo-con, Zionist horse whisperer whined, after a bully lampooning of a local official, “How do they get away with that? If I did that I’d get sued.”

Satire is still protected speech. At least as of today in America it is.

For those of you still confused about whom I am alluding to it is Jackson Hole’s very own mild and crazy alternative weekly; that colorful confection of tabloid tripe, half-assed opinion and high-minded features who should long be used to charges of libel by now as they are presently being sued for millions for allegedly defaming BLAH, BLAH whomever.

Personally, I think much of the lawsuit against Le Panic is baloney. Though, after witnessing what stories of mine were censored by the paper of least record, I am stunned that they ever found the ink to print it.

But this is not about that.

This is about how the pseudo-news-lite and entertainment-heavy tabloid I once scribbled for, before resigning last December after realizing the ignorant psychopath they had hired was now my boss, has systematically suppressed, skewered or ignored bona fide public interest news while exhibiting, all too often and most recently in the town’s latest hullabaloo, glaring biases, so beyond Le Panic’s normal rightward slant, one wonders if they are merely unconscious or asleep at the switch.

Did I say rightward? Yes. Sorry. I meant RIGHT-WING. (Tune in next week for more on that. In the meantime, don’t fall for the hippy wrapper). Time for an example….ready? Let’s start with “bias,” possibly even “libel”.

Recently, Demo Derby ‘06 wrapped-up, brining with it much hoopla, legal consequences, and fortunately for one young man a second crack at life and a pass from the Guf. Question: Can anyone even name the cotton-pickin’ King of the winner-takes-all round? (Scroll to end of this silly opinion if that’s why you stopped by).

Regarding the Demo Derby, and in particular the scuffle between the naked guy and rabbit-punching deputy, the local media have contextualized (framed) all the myriad facts and issues—ranging from nudity, child endangerment, appropriate or excessive force, public intoxication, potential serious, even lethal injury, and general unruliness and bad manners to boot—in unique ways.

After running racy photos of streakers in its build up and post-derby wrap up, and taking some heat for it, most notably from the mayor, then being the first to issue a post-derby post-mortem on Monday, Martin Reed of the JH News & Guide focused on ping-pong reporting. This is where a reporter races back and forth between all sides to a controversy like a chicken with their ass on fire.

Often this happens, especially when one has a large portfolio of stories on their beat, and is writing breathlessly on deadline and can’t track down every disputant and must toss something into those giant holes that one’s editor is barking to be filled before the bell goes off, winding up with copy under the headline: “Zimmer backs….BLAH, BLAH.” You get my point.

Other than sometimes leaving readers dizzy, there’s nothing ethically or journalistically wrong with this, per se, so long as one tries their best to give everyone equal time. However, the good reporter is obligated to seek out all sides for comment and get their copy out fast, which can contribute to shallow reporting lacking detail, nuance and background. Frequently, first and second day news following a big event assumes this form; often leaving readers with an episodic wooziness worthy of a FOX News produced soap opera.

By the time the weekly N & G rolled out Wednesday’s edition, Martin had produced a solid, well-rounded feature piece. One that, including photos, was balanced and appealed to the intellect by raising relevant issues and statements as gleaned from facts and sources versus those imposed subjectively by leading or rhetorical questions informed by the perceptions and judgments of the news outfit.

When one reads el Panic’s Demo Derby’06 news coverage, it becomes obvious they relied heavily on the Redneck Racing video and a handful of sources. So convinced of wrongdoing but lacking the goods, Le Panic on its blog, much like Redneck Racing on their Web site before editing it out late Monday, also invoked the word “brutality” outside a direct quote and without attribution. That’s inflammatory, biased, yellow journalism. AND it goes great with goose-liver pate and tournedos of American Enterprise Institute-issued talking points sauteed in M & J's own extra-special cherry Kool-Aid!

Speaking of photographic evidence…

I’d bet a derby jackpot the N & G has more derby shots in their quill. I mean…Christ…they assigned everyone but Ansel Adams to shoot that night and that’s only because he’s too classy to be there, not because he’s dead. And they probably received a trove of pictures from eager derby spectators claiming this shot or that shot proved all sorts of controversial things.

By contrast, the careful reader of derby coverage might have noticed that Le Panic JH has not, to date, published a single original photograph. Why? Simple.

The odds are tremendous that they did not assign a photographer to cover this year’s derby. I mean, there I was, wearing my old Panic press pass, and didn’t see a single Panic photographer, not even the very talented Andrew Wyatt in a chocolate Moo-Moo. Nobody. Nada. Though some gutless Panic fiend ratted me out to the fuzz for wearing my old Panic press pass.

Ratted me out, mind you, six days after I offered Le Panic a look at my photos, since published here and elsewhere. My offer came on the Tuesday morning following the derby, presumably hours before they went to press. A top Panictoid politely rebuffed me, which I accepted and told him I held no grudge against el Panic. I then left town for a week. Upon my return, I got a message from local law enforcement notifying me that the Panic had complained about my call to them 6 days earlier, as if!

As if somehow my call to offer relevant visual information of a public interest value to help illustrate their story was criminal. It’s almost as if el Panic saw the photos they could have had, then suddenly decided being offered them was criminal. Ladies and Gentlemen, there’s a word for that kind of logic: Bananas!

Anyways…excelsior.

So, if it is true that Le Panic forgot or blew off assigning a photographer for this year’s derby, or did not consider hiring one, after what went down last year, that is astonishing. Astonishing considering the windfall of digital capital el Panic reaped, not to mention newfound self-respect for pulling off a 1st class tabloid story via Wyatt’s crazy-naked Derby ‘05 streaker "Tasering" stop-action photo sequence.

To date, that single Panic Web page containing Wyatt’s Tasered-streaker photos has been viewed more than 75,000 times. One of those shots even made Le Panic’s cover last year, wiping to the margins, at the Panic’s sensational-obsessed publisher’s hectoring, a feature on INL and plutonium. Guess the risks and benefits of INL and plutonium was too heady for Le Panic’s taste. What’s weird is that the Panic thought so highly of last year’s Demo Derby coverage they reprinted it on Page 1 of their Web site as a promo to this year’s derby.

Can’t anyone write fresh copy over there? I guess 75,000 hits will do all sorts of quirky things to a Panic.

To put 75,000 hits in perspective: the Casper Star-Tribune’s average daily circulation is about 70,000. And I know all those Panic on-line page views weren’t due to the news copy. How? Because I wrote that crappy, over-hyped news copy. And I’d bet the average time spent looking at that page is well below 2 minutes, too short to read the article.

Le Panic? Que pasa? How did you miss your boat?

In lieu of publishing their own photographs, which I’m betting they have none, or they would have published them by now, Le Panic, that graphics-mad, brilliantly visual tabloid-sized periodical, grabbed crappy, grainy frames from a video of the Derby showing McKinney streaking then Deputy Stanyon and Officer Weber pinning him as Stanyon is about to wallop McKinney’s ribs. (Just for the record, I’ve never spoken to Deputy Stanyon. I don’t know him. Don’t have an opinion of him, and I would be hard-pressed to recognize him on the street. Ditto for Mr. McKinney, though I might, depending on what he wasn't wearing, recognize him).

Interestingly, and I encourage all to click here and view first or refresh your memory before reading on, the Panic grabbed just two frames from that video sequence then ran them on-line without captions. They published, on-line, a highly selective photographic representation of Demo Derby’06 reality without ALSO showing a frame of McKinney barreling into Stanyon and another man, later identified by PJH as Jeff Lord.

Don’t believe me? Click here and watch what the video sequence, seen in its unedited entirety, clearly shows. Then click here and compare el Panic to how the News & Guide choose to pictorially represent the same event.

This biased Panic photo layout is the narrative equivalent to writing: “McKinney ran around the rodeo pit naked and then, unprovoked, the cops jumped him and beat the livin' sh—t out of him.”

Got a burning question now? Mine: Was this biased photo illustration selection process deliberate? I doubt it and here’s why.

It fits a larger pattern of early Panic responses to covering the event. The day after, July 31th, a Panic writer, probably at his bosses’ non-stop nattering if memory provides any relevant insight, regurgitated some on-line Demo Derby news copy that was so vague, unverified, seemingly from out-of-space, or at least following a deep, narcotic-induced snooze sounding, and eventually proven to be equally inaccurate by bloggers, that Le Panic later printed an apologetic correction.

The Panic corrected their original report then erased it from cyberspace, because of its potential for libel by implying the cuffs were on McKinney as Stanyon was hitting him---WHOAH! Hello…where’d you get that whacky idea?

Maybe el Panic jumped to that hasty conclusion because Redneck Racing.com had originally framed and promoted their video with the word “brutality,” among other sensational phrases, before editing them out late Monday.

Did Le Panic, in its frenzy to put something out, even if it didn’t stick, just to assuage their N & G inferiority complex, report on events not witnessed first-hand? And, without an assigned photographer to help interpret a lightening fast, ambiguous and confusing reality become influenced by another, non-news outfit with its own agenda and then select frames reflecting that agenda?

Well, I’ll let you decide. I gotta go.

Next week, The Cowboy Times, provided certain hot-headed hacks in Le Panic’s employ (a word they’ve used to inspire staff before) have not stalked or accosted CT staff again in crowded restaurants, will expose the Panic’s bag of sneaky tricks to intimidate and harass those who dare resign and move on rather than continue to labor under their biased and bananas atmosphere.

Look for Panic to go on character attack offensive in coming days as well as their get it out last “investigative” report on how the county has been throwing your money out the window. But ultimately, who you gonna believe: A biased rag or your own lying eyes?

PS: The widely reported Demo Derby ’06 Winner was Tory Thomas from Rock Springs, Wyoming in his car #12T, a 1974 Chevy Impala. This was his third time at the Teton County Fair Demo Derby, but he said he usually races in several Derbies each year. Thomas is the District Traffic Engineer for WYDOT. His brother, Cole Thomas won the trophy for “Most Aggressive Driver.”

PSS: If I was the much maligned Deputy Stanyon, I’d hang up my "Taser," grab a pina colada, get-up with a bloodthirsty lawyer then Ben Delicious a la Maui under my Stetson fielding offers from the land-sucking bankpires.

PSSS: Congrats to Maureen of Washington, D.C., last week's $25 Winner for The CT's 1st Media Watch. Maureen responded first to our illustrated question (see below): "What's Wrong with this Picture?" correctly guessing: "Is the answer...'looks like the coppers jumped that naked boy for being naked...?'"

Artwork by Crass Mench

Photos: "Demo Derby'06 grabbed frames layout" courtsey of Planet JH
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