Turning a Blind Eye to Reality

A freely available OPINION

By GIL BRADY
The Cowboy Picayune-Sunny Times

Filed 7-16-07

JACKSON, Wyo. (CT) -- It would be nice to believe the “I’m okay, you’re okay, let’s all get along” rose-tinted view of immigration and bootstraps entrepreneurship as recently portrayed by a certain local alternative weekly.

Unfortunately, reality is a bitch. And a tough one, apparently, to report on.

In a breathlessly Pollyannish assertion, devoid of any recent legal history or nuance, the periodical, Planet Jackson Hole, reported: “But things have changed. In the past decade, a river of immigrants mostly from Mexico and Colombia has washed over the formerly homogeneous valley, helping to support Jackson Hole’s booming service and tourist-based economy.”

In all that washing and rinsing, the Planet certainly got one thing right: Jackson Hole’s demography has changed dramatically over the last ten years.
As has its violent crime profile.

(Click & read on courtesy of NewWest.net)