JH Underground – news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming news, sports and music blog from Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The thunderhead of a passing squall looms over the Teton Range.

June is going out the way it came in: with a rumble, and of course more rain. At least lately we’ve been treated to some pyrotechnics in the sky.

This photo was taken last night outside Dornan’s during the Hootenanny. The color was even more spectacular in town, where Brent McWhirter of the News&Guide shot a beautiful image (too late for publication in today’s Daily) of the streets and sky suffused in the orange glow.

Thus concludes the third-wettest June on record, according to meteorologist Jim Woodmencey. We received 3.8 inches of precipitation in Jackson this month, more than twice the average of 1.65.

In the annals of weather history, June 2009 trails only 1998 (4.19 inches) and 1967 (4.82) for precipitation.

We can read it on the green hillsides, the bursting crop of wildflowers and the rushing waters of the Snake. Again, the ripest time of year.

Posted under Environment, Weather

Willie Neal on the eve of the 2008 Wyoming Democratic Convention. The next day, we elected him to be an Obama delegate at the national convention.

Willie Neal, eight-time Nordic skiing state champion and hero of the local Obama campaign, is dead after being hit by a car Sunday in Maine. He was 19 years old.

If ever there was a life with more promise senselessly snuffed out, I am not aware of it.

Neal was roller skiing at the time of the accident. He was training to make the U.S. World Junior Biathlon Team.

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Posted under Deaths, Democratic Party, Politics, Sports

Updated 10:11 a.m. 6/23

The Hole in the Wall Gang is not suspected in the case.

The downtown branch of Wells Fargo bank was held up at gunpoint today.

No one was injured, said Pete Lawton, bank president. The robbery occurred at about 10:30 a.m.

The robber made off with a sum of cash, but Lawton could not say how much.

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Posted under Crime, Economy

(click on photos to enlarge)

Earlier this spring some friends bought a house in east Jackson and began remodeling it. I asked them how old the old part of the house was, but they weren’t sure.

After peeling up wood and then six or seven layers of linoleum, they found their answer: The very last layer was newspapers … dating to 1936.

The front page of the Dec. 31, 1936 Jackson’s Hole Courier (a precursor to the Jackson Hole Guide) featured stories on the tally of elk killed during hunting season; the migration of elk to the refuge; the Christmas tree on the Square being adorned with new lights (and fresh snow); and construction of the new fish hatchery on Flat Creek nearing completion.

And this journalistic gem, about the quality of the skiing.

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Posted under Media, Sports, Wyoming

After sprinting through the Tetons, Conan O’Brien unleashes Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Bonnaroo.

Be sure to watch Part 2.

The Wyoming flag has been raised over Bonnaroo; on my only trip to the festival, in 2004, I was greeted by the white bison and familiar faces right inside the gate.

This year Jackson Hole was well represented by Andrew Wyatt, whose photographs of Bruce Springsteen playing with Phish raised eyebrows on Facebook.

Too bad Triumph did not encounter Andrew in full regalia!

Posted under Entertainment, Humor, Music

Beyond breakfast: Shades opens the deck for Greek, Ethiopian and Indian dishes.

Pica’s is serving weekend brunch, Betty Rock fires up its debut Pizza Night, and Shades prepares to launch a new night menu on the deck.

Work up an appetite.

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Posted under Business, Food