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

By now, another story about the Comprehensive Plan is about as welcome as dust on crust. But be patient, we’re nearing the finish line.

Yet again, it’s critical to get input from a broad swath of citizens, not just the usual suspects. And giving input can be as simple as describing what’s in your neighborhood, or what’s lacking.

Last month, I attended one of these character district workshops and was impressed. The quantity and depth of information presented can be intimidating, but it just means planners are doing a thorough job. Staffers are on hand to walk you through the process and explain everything. And really, anyone can participate — even, as the adage goes, if you’ve lived here only a minute.

Planners are holding workshops today through Tuesday all around the valley. Click here for a complete schedule, or just stop by the 4-H building, 255 W. Deloney Ave., any day between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The future is up to us. Don’t be left grousing about a hollow bar of soap.

Posted under County Government, Economy, Environment, Politics, Town Government

Tags: affordable housing, conservation, development

It’s curious how our society commemorates events especially in five-year cycles. Witness, for instance, the mass hoopla over the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which surely stung no less on the eighth or ninth anniversaries.

But I’ll play along. Twenty-five years ago tonight, I became an eternal optimist.

Down two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning, with two outs and two strikes. “Hoping against hope that something will start to happen,” as Bob Murphy said in the radio broadcast.

I write this not to rub salt in the wounds of Red Sox fans, wounds no doubt salved by the balm of ’04 and ’07 titles. I’ve always argued we share a common enemy in the Yankees.

I write this because the Mets’ comeback to win Game Six of the 1986 World Series was as close as I’ve ever come to witnessing a miracle. Especially for a teenage boy who grew up in New York rooting for the Mets, Jets and Rangers, enduring year after year of futility.

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Posted under Religion, Sports

Tags: baseball, new york mets

Activists returned to the Town Square last weekend for a second round of protest in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. The turnout was small, although the group continues to grow and a demonstration is planned for Saturday at the Capitol in Cheyenne.

Foster Friess, the conservative investor turned philanthropist and Tea Party activist, waded into the fray last week, saying protesters should take a lesson from the late Apple chief Steve Jobs. Friess circulated a post written by Joe Lindsley, one of several prolific bloggers he has gathered around his Campfire.

“Why don’t you follow the example of the man who created your iPhones, pull yourself together, and try to succeed, instead of screaming like two year olds for more cookies from the nanny state?” Lindsley wrote. (Lindsley, it should be noted, is the former small-town newspaper editor who quit after allegedly being spied on by his boss, Fox News overlord Roger Ailes.)

Never mind the co-opting of Jobs, who while he was alive railed against Fox News as a “destructive” force in America. Never mind that several of the more vocal participants in Jackson Hole are business owners, while another served in the Army and earned enough money through the G.I. Bill to pay for college.

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Posted under Democratic Party, Economy, Politics, Republican Party

Tags: fat cats, foster friess, Media, revolution

One of the most raved-about shows from Music on Main last summer was Anders Osborne and his band. The shaggy guitarist from New Orleans so impressed the Victor crowd with his axe that promoters Shannon McCormick and Jeff Potter decided to bring him back to Jackson this fall.

Osborne will play the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar on Wednesday, Oct. 26. In a twist, doors will open at 7 p.m. and the show will start at 8.

“I think this is just crazy enough to work,” McCormick says.

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Posted under Music

Tags: new orleans, rock

The revolution will be caffeinated.

With Occupy Jackson Hole protesters gathering Saturday and Sunday on the Town Square, Shades Cafe is planning to shuttle over coffee and muffins. Bring your own mug, presumably. Efforts also are underway to procure pizza.

People are free to come to the Square beginning at noon each day. Participants will be acting on their own, showing solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement begun in New York and rapidly growing around the world.

Predictably, as word of the Jackson protest has spread, critics have smirked at the idea of such an event in a county that has been touted (falsely) as the richest in America.

“You morons, get a job and support yourself,” former cop Alan John wrote on the Facebook page.

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Posted under Economy, Politics

Tags: fat cats, new york, revolution

While working on a story recently for the new Jackson Hole food magazine, Dishing, I learned that agriculture is making a comeback in Teton Valley, Idaho. As the real estate market has imploded, landowners are turning to raising pigs, beef and even goats to help feed their families and earn a few extra bucks.

Groups such as Slow Food in the Tetons, which hosts its SlowToberFest beer and appetizer tasting tonight at Q Roadhouse, have nurtured this movement, which holds promise for any semblance of a “sustainable” lifestyle in these parts.

On his blog A Vivid Eye, photographer David Stubbs has posted a photo essay from a summer spent documenting brothers Chase and Cody Lockhart on their Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch. Once a stream monitor for the Forest Service, Stubbs re-evaluated some of his perceptions about ranching and its impact.

“Here was a small family business conserving open space and wildlife habitat by producing local food on some of the most valuable rural real estate on earth,” he writes, “a unique piece of Jackson history evolving from its roots with two fifth-generation ranching brothers — legitimate, local cowboys.”

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Posted under Economy, Environment, Food

Tags: cowboys, david stubbs, grand teton national park, photography