Pearl Street Bagels and Jackson Whole Grocer are among the businesses that discourage idling, but they only can do so much without public support.

There are many good reasons not to leave your car idling: save gas, reduce pollution, save money, reduce engine wear, fight terrorism, improve public health. Also, the vehicle will warm up faster if you drive it.

But people still idle, anyway, mostly because we live in a cold climate and it sucks to be freezing all the time.

Willie Neal

At what point does the right to waste fuel and money interfere with the public’s right to clean air?

That’s bound to be the crux of the discussion Monday when the Town Council takes up the concept of an “idle-free” Jackson. Beginning at 3 p.m., councilors will consider a proposal to prohibit idling on public streets and parking lots.

A group of citizens has come together on this issue to honor the memory of Willie Neal, the all-world teenager hit and killed by a car last summer. Making Jackson an idle-free community was Willie’s signature issue.

I’m not in favor of a lot of nettlesome laws infringing on our personal liberty, but at some point we have an obligation to our fellow citizens and community. All it takes is one diesel dually left running to foul up the air on an entire side of the Town Square, for instance. (And I’ve observed this, especially during December — people leaving their SUVs running while they go inside to shop!)

It’s offensive, so much so that observers are motivated to leave notes on windshields or, even bolder, reach inside and turn off the engines.

This note was left on a vehicle in the vicinity of Pearl Avenue. I came across it today outside the Cloudveil store, discarded in the street.

Councilors discussed the issue back in January, at which time they instructed the town attorney to draft an ordinance. Since then the council has backtracked, and Monday’s meeting likely will focus on which approach is best to raise public awareness and change behavior: an ordinance enforced by law officers, or a resolution backed by an educational campaign (or some combination thereof).

I’m of the opinion that passing an ordinance — with the required three readings and concurrent media coverage and public dialogue it would generate — is itself the most effective way to inform and educate. But I’m keeping an open mind.

People feel strongly on both sides of this issue, but it’s worth noting that among younger residents like Willie and his peers, prohibiting idling is a no-brainer. It’s the lowest of the low-hanging fruits to reduce energy consumption and make Jackson a cleaner, more sustainable community — goals the mayor and council have targeted through their many environmental initiatives.

Wyoming law actually prohibits idling. State statute:

31-5-509.  Requirements before leaving motor vehicle unattended.

No person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle shall permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, removing the key from the ignition, effectively setting the brake thereon and, when standing upon any grade, turning the front wheels to the curb or side of the highway.

This provision is rarely enforced, but in Rawlins, for instance, it has been adopted into the municipal code and strengthened to include attended vehicles, likely to reduce idling of large trucks from I-80. Ketchum, Idaho, enacted a similar idle-free ordinance last year.

Mayor Mark Barron and councilors have questioned whether passing an ordinance would place too much of a burden on an understaffed police department. Instead, Jackson could pass a resolution calling on the department’s community safety officers, who are out on the streets writing parking tickets and citations for other nitpicky offenses, anyway, to enforce the Wyoming statute. First offenders could get a warning.

At the very least, the town should allow “idle-free” signs to be installed in highly visible public places where idling is a problem, like the Square and post offices. Currently, through the efforts of Willie and his family, many businesses in the valley have signs, but they only can be placed on private property.

Willie Neal’s Environmental Awareness Fund has 1,240 fans on Facebook. It would be great if the council heard from some of them in advance of Monday’s meeting. E-mail electedofficials@ci.jackson.wy.us or call (307) 732-3932.

What do you think? Do we need a law to prohibit idling, or will people pay no heed and keep wasting fuel, anyway?

Bono performs at the Delta Center in December 2005. This photo was taken by the guy standing next to me, whose name I wish I could recall to credit.

Tickets have been on sale since late last month, but judging from conversations with friends, not many people realize that U2 is kicking off its 360º World Tour in Salt Lake City on June 3.

The Irish rock band is playing Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah, with Lenny Kravitz opening. There are plenty of tickets available, although many are spendy ($55 to $250).

U2 last played Salt Lake in 2005. Dozens of Jackson Hole fans made the trek to the Delta Center and were treated to a life-affirming performance, a review of which follows after the jump.

There are few bands I would travel to Utah to see, and U2 is one of them. This time, on an outdoor field of grass, the sound should be even better.

In God’s Country, no less.

——————————————————————————————————-

Originally published in the Jackson Hole News&Guide on Dec. 21, 2005:

U2 fans, in Salt Lake, heed the battle call

By Jim Stanford

SALT LAKE CITY — Halfway through his band’s concert Saturday at the Delta Center, U2 singer Bono reached down into the crowd and picked up a small American flag.

“America, this is your song now,” he said, as behind him drummer Larry Mullen Jr. began pounding out the beat of “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

Guitarist The Edge strummed the familiar opening notes that pierced like bullets and seemed to rain down from the rafters of the arena, as Bono launched into the signature anthem.

The song, written about the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, remains remarkably pertinent and powerful 20 years later in this age of war, terrorism, torture and domestic spying. But rather than drive a wedge even deeper between the already-polarized factions in the crowd, Bono, mindful of the walls that once divided Belfast, beseeched the 18,000 or so in attendance — red state, blue state, Mormon, pagan — to come together.

“Tonight we can be as one,” he sang, as a brilliant light show illuminated the stage behind him.

Throughout the two-plus-hour concert, the penultimate stop on U2’s sold-out Vertigo tour of North America, Bono set about mobilizing an army of all ages and backgrounds to join his fight against poverty and tyranny. One of Time magazine’s people of the year walked a fine line between politics, religion and music, preaching and proselytizing as he pranced around the elliptical catwalk that extended more than 100 feet into the audience.

With the show taking place only a few blocks from Temple Square, home of the Mormon church, a religious aura pervaded.

“We’re going to turn this song into a prayer,” Bono said during a stretched-out interlude in “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” tying around his forehead a bandanna adorned with the crescent of Islam, star of David and cross of Christ.

“Jesus, Jew, Mohammed, it’s true,” he chanted. “All sons of Abraham.”

Standing in a shaft of light with his back arched and the bottom of the microphone pointed toward the sky, Bono appeared as much of a prophet as Brigham Young. Each move and exhortation drew screams from the adoring fans.

“Sunday Bloody Sunday” was a call for Americans to rebel against the tyranny of their own government. “You don’t have to become a monster to destroy a monster,” Bono said.

But in the next breath he was dedicating “Bullet the Blue Sky” to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces. And he gave props to arch-conservative U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, for working with him to forgive Third World debt.
“We are more powerful when we work together as one,” Bono said, a cue for the band to break into the mega-hit “One,” from Achtung Baby.

The show began with a cascade of confetti and phantasmagoric display of lights, with strings of bulbs suspended more than 50 feet above the stage. Thirty-six thousand hands went up into the air, silhouetted, along with about 5,000 cell phones taking pictures, and for a brief moment it seemed as if one had stepped inside an iPod commercial.

Rapper Kanye West had performed a short, sonically muddy opening set, asking “Y’all come to party?” as the crowd largely sat and stared. It was a shame that his backing band — composed of four women on violins, one on harp and two on cello, along with a male turntablist — couldn’t be heard better, as one of the violinists was kicking.

U2 overcame the acoustic challenges mainly by being loud. It wasn’t until the fourth song, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” introduced by Bono as a “little folk song,” that the sound got properly tuned.

“Still Haven’t Found” started the spiritual march that thumped through “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “Pride (In the Name of Love),” which had fans singing “WHOA-oh-oh-oh, whoa-OH-oh-oh” for several minutes.

In fact, at times when there seemed to be an echo in the arena, it was only the crowd singing along on favorites such as “Where the Streets Have No Name” and “With or Without You.”

Dozens of Jackson Hole residents — ever eager to find fun within a 300- to 500-mile radius — traveled to Salt Lake for the show. Many gathered before and after at Bayou, a downtown bar boasting the biggest selection of beers in the state.

Everyone in attendance seemed to embrace U2’s message, but they left pondering the refrain of the final encore, “40.” If Bono can join with the likes of Orrin Hatch and Jesse Helms, one had to wonder, why hasn’t poverty been eliminated, in America if not in Africa?

“How long … to sing this song?”

Pete Jorgensen at the Capitol.

No more Re-Petes.

State Rep. Pete Jorgensen, D-Jackson, said Monday he won’t seek re-election for House District 16.

“I think it’s time,” Jorgensen said. “I’m hoping we can get a good person to fill the seat.”

Jorgensen, 75, a retired highway engineer, served four terms in the Legislature. He established himself as a watchdog on the Appropriations Committee, which controls the purse strings of state government spending.

The former University of Wyoming trustee took on legislators from both parties in resisting projects he deemed lavish or frivolous. He gained a small measure of notoriety in 2004 for opposing the use of state funds for construction of luxury boxes at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie.

His skepticism was pivotal in the state’s jettisoning of a plan, hatched by Republican leaders in 2005, to build a $28 million graduate school of business and corporate training center in Jackson — a boondoggle that looks even more foolish in light of the economic collapse on Wall Street. U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, then state treasurer, was among the architects of that plan, along with state Sen. Grant Larson, R-Jackson.

Jorgensen was a champion of open government and Wyoming’s public lands and wildlife. He used to say he represented only one special interest in Cheyenne — the public interest.

Teton Dems now have two sets of big shoes to fill; Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced last week he won’t run again this fall.

The Teton County Democratic Convention is March 20. Candidates have until May 28 to file to run in primaries.

Participants also will receive a Coombs patch.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has added another event for its Mountain Festival: the inaugural Coombs Classic.

The resort has teamed with Marmot for this spring skiing challenge, in which participants will hike the Headwall or traverse into Casper Bowl in memory of the late extreme skier. Each lap earns a raffle ticket for prizes such as Marmot clothing and packs and a pair of K2 Coomback skis with skins.

The centerpiece of the festival is a free concert by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals on March 27. The Coombs Classic will run from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on March 28, followed by a party from 3 to 5 p.m. on the Nick Wilson’s deck with music by the Chanman Roots Band.

The event honors Doug Coombs, a two-time World Extreme Skiing champion and former JHMR ambassador. A portion of sales of Coomback skis is donated to Coombs’ family.

Skiers and snowboarders will have their choice of hiking Pepi’s Bench to the Coombs run atop the Headwall, or traversing from the Bridger Gondola along Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride into Casper Bowl.

No word on whether extra points will be awarded for a descent of the Parachutes, the infamous “gray area” beyond the Cirque that Coombs was banned from the resort for skiing in 1997.

Town Downhill may be abbreviated.

A mechanical problem has forced Snow King to close its Summit Chairlift until the middle of next week.

Workers will be replacing the bearings in the bottom bullwheel, which have worn out after 30 years.

“It’s a big project taking all that hardwear apart,” says Ski Area Manager Jim Sullivan. The lift has been closed since Monday.

Sullivan said the resort aims to have the chair ready in time for the Town Downhill on March 13-14 and Snowmobile Hill Climb on March 26-28.

Of greater concern for both events is the lack of snow. The Grizzly slope, where the downhill is run, is thin near the top.

Sullivan says it’s doubtful the race will be run at its full length, although the Jackson Hole Ski Club’s race crew is exploring every option.

For the Hill Climb, always controversial because of its impact on the mountain, snowmobilers are likely to tear through a soft, shallow base on the Exhibition run rather quickly. The key, Sullivan says, is proper reclamation after the event.

The ground froze solid on the north-facing slope this year, which will help keep sleds from ripping up too much vegetation, he says. The resort also made a lot of snow on the lower part of Exhibition.

Sullivan sticks by his challenge for anyone to inspect the slope on July 15 and find much damage; hikers and dogs cause more impact, he says.

As for the lack of snow, “We’ve seen much worse,” Sullivan says.

Freudenthal speaks to supporters at a gathering in Jackson last summer.

In a move that largely had been expected, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said today he won’t seek a third term.

“Eight years is enough,” the governor told the Cowboy State Free Press.

Why he waited so long to make the announcement is a bit of a mystery, but so has been much of Freudenthal’s political strategy these past few years.

The move clears the way for a primary with what is likely to be a crowded Republican field and one prominent Democratic contender, state Sen. Mike Massie of Laramie.

While Freudenthal enjoyed high popularity, he often frustrated Democratic supporters by not going far enough on their behalf. I once heard him say that the best way for him to help the Democratic Party in Wyoming was to be a good governor, and while Democrats would not dispute that, there is a sense of disappointment that he could have done more.

Among his accomplishments are creation of the Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Fund and major investments in education, including the Hathway Scholarship program at the University of Wyoming.

The most detailed, true-color image of the Earth yet. Click to enlarge.

Closer look reveals the human race.

And these Bermuda triangles of plastic adrift in the Atlantic. To go with the garbage flotilla in the South Pacific.

If we keep buying, using and making plastic, soon we’ll be ingesting it, too.

Image by Reto Stöckli, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. From NASA: “Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet.” The full-resolution image is 21,600 pixels across.

Even in this photo Wyoming seems plagued by a split jet stream.

(Update: I would be remiss not to credit the song lyrics to Bob Weir and former Wyoming resident John Perry Barlow.)

Grant Larson

A bill that would have made it easier to sell whole milk, produce and baked goods at venues like farmers’ markets has died in the Wyoming Senate. Another bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Roscoe, D-Wilson, that would have forced natural gas producers like Exxon Mobil to pay a fairer share of severance taxes also has died.

But it’s not all doom and gloom and macho gunplay in the Wyoming Legislature this session.

Sen. Grant Larson, R-Jackson, has been championing a bill that would empower the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to combat the spread of invasive species into our waterways. The bill already has passed the House and second reading in the Senate, where lawmakers are wrangling over whether to provide funding for inspection and enforcement.

Why is this issue important? Aquatic invasives like didymo (aka rock snot), zebra mussels and New Zealand mud snails could spoil habitat, fishing and recreation on the Snake River and disrupt the operation of dams and irrigation canals.

Didymo can grow in thick mats and suffocate stream bottoms.

Fishing guide and journalist Paul Bruun has been writing extensively about the dangers to Wyoming waterways, and it appears Sen. Larson, himself an angler, has taken notice.

With the snow rapidly melting and boaters making spring plans for river trips, it’s important to follow these steps after visiting another watershed. The easiest way to make sure you don’t pick up aquatic hitchhikers and transport them into the Snake is to clean, inspect and dry equipment before launching.

Mercifully, a Senate committee has killed a bill that would have allowed anyone 21 and over to carry a concealed weapon; another bill that would ban texting while driving appears likely to pass. Several of the rootin’, tootin’ resolutions also are progressing. Follow the legislative updates via the Cowboy State Free Press.

Karl Denson raps out a beat with drummer Terence Higgins.

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe rolled into Victor, Idaho, last week and proved once again there’s no place like the Knotty Pine to leave music fans so satisfied.

Coming off a tour with Galactic, the band sounded the best it has in years, with guitarist Brian Jordan shredding riffs of funk and the rhythm section of Chris Stilwell and Terence Higgins holding a tight groove that had the Knotty shaking. Karl wailed on saxophone, flute and percussion as sweat poured off his face. Visit here and click on “Shake It Out” for a sample of the latest offering.

Tonight another mighty rebel visits the Knotty: Jamaican reggae artist Michael Rose and the Dub Tonic Kru. Rose is the former lead singer of Black Uhuru, whose albums Sinsemilla and Anthem are classics of the genre.

For anyone bummed they missed him, Karl D. will be back in a few weeks to rock the Pink Garter with Greyboy Allstars.

Photos by Jim Stanford. Click to enlarge.

Not quite an 8.8 quake, but people were shook up nonetheless.

Because I was going to be in the backcountry, and because the event promised so much spectacular hugeness, I asked a photographer to shoot the fourth annual Red Top Ski Jump Party on Saturday.

Alas, she forgot her camera. And then the deck collapsed.

Last year's air.

Miraculously, the casualties were limited to one sprained ankle, even though there were about 40 people on the deck when it fell.

GreenBeanSkier has a firsthand account:

all was going well and the beer was flowing freely and the photo flashbulbs were popping. late in the evening i was standing by the bonfire watching my friend scooter launch the jump on his snowmobile when a deafening CRACK! broke the conversation. everyone who heard it looked at each other and asked “did that really just happen? was that really the porch collapsing?” and then the screams and yells started and people started snapping more photos: as the flashes popped and i looked over my shoulder at the house all i could see was the shadows of the skeletal looking porch railing hanging in open space. the porch HAD collapsed, with probably 30 or 40 people standing on it.

Buzz kill. At least there's fodder for the next bonfire!

The party at Red Top Meadows south of Wilson has become one of the biggest ragers of the winter. Jet Black Ninja Funkgrass Unit and Random Canyon Growlers performed, as daredevils leapt off a kicker and flew over the bonfire.

Who knew the most dangerous feat would be stepping outside for a smoke?

All's peaceful before the mayhem.

(Carnage photos by Jeff Rapp. Bonfire by Ashley Reis.)