"Misguided austerity policies" by conservatives lead to people falling through the cracks

I've written before about how right-wing ideology in Wyoming is driving budget cuts for mental health care. After another senseless massacre, we need to take a serious look about the lack of funding and services for those diagnosed with some form of mental illness. States have cut $4.35 billion in public mental health spending from 2009 to 2012, according to the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD). Wyoming will join their ranks in 2013.

We recently had a case in Casper, Wyoming, where a young man murdered his father and his father's girlfriend and then committed suicide. No guns were involved; lethal weapons in this case where a compound bow and a hunting knife. The young man drove all the way from Connecticut to Casper to do this deed. That takes planning. The deed itself takes rage and focus and something else that we can't name.

What's at stake? Lynn Parramore writes in Alternet:

Thanks to the misguided austerity policies embraced by conservatives, more people are falling through the cracks. There are not enough psychiatric beds, treatment services or community support programs. Medication is expensive, and insurance companies routinely leave patients inadequately covered (the Affordable Care Act will hopefully address this problem by finally putting psychiatric illnesses on par with other health issues).

Mental healthcare workers have been laid off. Vulnerable people are neglected until their situation becomes acute – often after it’s too late. Many are incarcerated, often subjected to solitary confinement because prison officials don’t know what to do with them. Others are homeless –- as many as 45 percent of the people living on the streets suffer from mental illness.

"Misguided austerity policies" have caused the Republican-dominated Wyoming Legislature and Governor Mead to slash the state's healthcare budget. Let's hope they're prepared for the consequences.

Gallatin County, Montana, borders Yellowstone. Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin speaks about some of those budget-cutting consequences in the March 22, 2012, report to Congress by the NASMHPD:

Police forces are experiencing a significant increase in psychiatric emergencies, which is a direct result of mental health funding reductions. In Gallatin County, Montana — an area twice the size of Rhode Island, encompassing Bozeman and part of Yellowstone National Park — Sheriff Brian Gootkin oversees 48 deputies. He said his force is “experiencing a significant increase” in psychiatric emergencies, which he said was a “direct result of mental health funding reductions” and that his officers have become an involuntary component of the State of Montana’s emergency psychiatric response teams.

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He pleaded to federal lawmakers in Helena and in Congress to stop cutting funds for community-based mental health services. He reiterated that people in psychiatric crisis need to receive community-based mental health services staffed by licensed professionals — not in the back of a patrol car.

Sheriff Gootkin’s fear is that if we continue to go down this dangerous path, both public safety in Gallatin County and access to emergency medical care will be compromised. He concluded, “The result will have a huge impact, not only on people with mental illness, but the entire community.”

If Tea Party Slim had a pair of spurs, he'd wear them to the farmer's market to rattle veggie-eating Liberals

Tea Party Slim and I sip coffee and talk about progress.

“I don't want to see Cheyenne get any bigger,” he says. “It will lose its Old West character.”

I sip my latte. “Old West character?”

He nods. “You know, Cheyenne Frontier Days, rodeo, country-western music, steaks as big as my cowboy hat, Old West shootouts, horses and cattle, boots and spurs.”

I look at Slim. He was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans. His UW ball cap rested on the table. On the way in, I saw that he wore sensible shoes. “Nobody's trying to take away your boots, Slim.”

He shakes his head. “All of these people moving into Laramie County,” he said. “They'll change the place. It will lose its conservative character.”

I thought about the recent election. Wyoming's lone Republican House member and one of its Republican senators were reelected by wide margins. Democrats lost one of their 14 legislative seats (out of 90). Tea Party types were elected to the county commission. The state gave Romney his second-biggest margin (after Utah) over President Obama. Meanwhile, our southern neighbor Colorado legalizes marijuana and goes even more blue and it's one of the battleground states that hands Obama the victory.

“So you expect an invasion of Colorado Liberals any day?” I ask.

“We have a new supercomputing center west of town and Microsoft is building a data center right next door. Microsoft is also building a test site east of town to see if biogas from our waste treatment plant can power computers.”

“What's wrong with that,” I say. “Isn't that economic development? Don't you want your kids and grandkids to find good jobs in Wyoming?”

“But we give these companies millions of dollars in financial incentives. Why do the taxpayers have to foot the bill? Microsoft owns the damn planet.”

“That's Google that owns the planet, and maybe Facebook.” I smile. I know that Slim is on Facebook a lot with his pet rants. I've been tempted to unfriend him but don't want to hurt his feelings.

“And downtown? Why does the city have to subsidize downtown development. Let the free market decide what businesses go downtown.”

“The free market turned downtown into a ghost town. It wasn't until the legislature provided funding and the city matched it that we were able to save the train depot and turn it into a gathering place and a museum and that wonderful outdoor plaza. I've seen you at the downtown farmer's market.”

“You can have a farmer's market anywhere. A Wal-Mart parking lot, for instance.”

“Why isn't it at the Wal-Mart parking lot?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Maybe Wal-Mart fears the competition? Maybe it doesn't like vegans and assorted Liberals wandering around its parking lot?”

“It's no competition to Wal-Mart. They're even building another Super Wal-Mart east of town. I love shopping at Wal-Mart because I know it irritates you Lefties.”

He had me there. “What would you do about downtown, Slim? How would you deal with all of those absentee landlords who are holding on to their properties so they can maximize their investment when commercial real estates improves.”

“I have no problem with that. People should be able to do what they want with their property. We don't need the U.N. coming in a taking away our God-given right to own a building or a piece of land.”

“Even when doing so damages the livability of your town?”

Slim puts down his coffee. “Livability. There you go with some of that U.N. Agenda 21 lingo.”

“I'm just talking about making my town a nice place to live. Isn't that what you want?”

“I want to live in a place where a man's home is his castle and he can protect it any way he wants. I don't need some urban city planners coming in spouting about social justice and environmental justice, telling me I can't burn wood in my fireplace or park my RV out on the street.”

I'd read an interview in our local paper with new county commissioners M. Lee Hasenauer and Buck Holmes. They are both fixated on Agenda 21 and urban planners spouting off about social justice. They want to keep Laramie County western, whatever that means. “You're against planning for the future?”

“I'm against big city experts coming in and doing the planning,” says Slim.

“You don't want any planning?”

“Let the free market decide.”

I drain the last of my coffee. “What would you do, Slim?”

He looks pensive as he stares into his cup. “Not a thing,” he finally says. “I like this place the way it is. Conservative. Gun rights protected. Governor fights the feds. I can park my RV where I want.”

Slim has a hulking RV. It blocks out the sun when he parks it in front of my house.

“Why would the U.N. Want to tell you where to park your RV?” I ask.

“That's what they want. They want to tell us where to live and what to drive and the width of our streets and what kind of energy we can use.”

“And they want to take away our boots and spurs. Do you have boots and spurs Slim? If I remember correctly, you grew up in suburbs somewhere in Ohio.”

He shifts in his chair. “That may be, but I'm a Wyomingite now. I don't need any spurs but I have five pairs of boots and I wear them.”

“When you go shopping at Wal-Mart?”

He levels his gaze at me. “I'll wear them any damn where I please.”

“Even to the downtown farmer's market?”

“Especially the downtown farmer's market. My cowboy hat, too, and my Wranglers, and my gun because I have a concealed carry permit. If I had spurs, I'd wear those too, so you pantywaist organic-farming Liberals would hear them jingle-jangle-jingle as I walked toward you.”

“They might quiver in their Birkenstocks, Slim. Then they'll sell you some organically-grown local produce and some home-baked bread and some grass-fed bison steaks and locally roasted coffee sweetened with unpasteurized goat's milk.”

Says Slim: “Those are some Old West traditions I can get behind.”

Deadlocks and Jalan Crossland perform Dec. 21 for Save the Hoback benefit

The Deadlocks and Jalan Crossland perform a benefit for Save the Hoback on Dec. 21 at the Center for the Arts in Jackson. Money will go to a fund to stop energy exploration in the Wyoming Range south of Jackson, which is home to the Hoback headwaters. Tickets are $20 or $100 for VIP with food and cocktails. More info at jhunderground.

Shop locally for the holidays at UUCC WinterMart this weekend

Gifts made by artists, crafts people and other vendors of handmade wares can be found at the annual Unitarian Universalist Church of Cheyenne WinterMart, 3005 Thomes Avenue, December 14-15, Friday 4:30-6:30 pm, Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Lunch and baked goods will be available. Proceeds benefit programs supported by UUCC. FMI: Terry at (307) 214-3932, UUCC at (307) 638-4554.

Books about vanishing glaciers and wildlife art make WY Outdoor Council''s "best of" list

Dr, Janice H. Harris is the former chair of the Women's Studies Department at the University of Wyoming. As president of the Wyoming Outdoor Council board of directors, she offers her list of best books for 2012 on the subjects of natural history and the environment. Sad to say I haven't read any of the books on her list, but plan to remedy that in 2013. 

She has high praise for an art book, Bob Kuhn: Drawing on Instinct, edited by Adam Duncan Harris (University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 978-0806143019). Dr. Harris adds the caveat that the editor is her son, a curator at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson. But there's no caveat when it comes to quality. We have this book in our office and it's a beauty. Bob Kuhn spent a long lifetime sketching and painting animals. He also served as mentor to scores of wildlife artists in Wyoming and elsewhere. The museum has a lot of Kuhn's work -- drop in and visit next time you're in The Hole.

Another of her selections with Wyoming ties is Ice: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers, James Balog and Terry Tempest Williams (Rizzoli, ISBN 0847838862). This features photographs from the Extreme Ice Survey along with observations by noted environmental writer (and part-time Wyoming resident) Williams. This should be mandatory reading for any Wyoming global warming deniers. Williams was writer in residence at UW a few years ago and ruffled a few feathers with her enviro town meetings held at various locales around the state. 

The one I plan on reading first is Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe, Charlotte Gill, (Greystone Books, ISBN 978-1-55365-977-8). Here are Dr. Harris's reflections on the book:

One of first things you notice when you start reading Charlotte Gill is her wit. Given the title and the cover of the book, she had me initially skimming here and there to see where these dirt-eating, tree-planting folks live. I figured remote Brazil. Not at all. When not planting trees in Cascadia, from February through October in the Pacific Northwest, Gill lives in Vancouver writing award-winning short stories. It shows. I loved Eating Dirt. I now want to read Ladykillers, winner of the British Columbia Book Prize for fiction. How can a book about being wet, filthy, bitten, and exhausted be such a joy to read, such a page turner, such a rich introduction into the history and current practices of the timber industry of the northwest? This is a gem.

Gill is a fellow short story writer, and she has wit -- what's better than that?

Workers urged to share their voices in a "community-building, creative investigation of what it means to labor in Wyoming"

Today's news from Michigan shows that the Republican war on workers continues unabated. Southern Wyoming once had a strong union presence in the mines and on the railroads. But most of the railroad jobs were moved out of Rawlins and Rock Springs and the mines got all "Right-to-Work-State" on its workers.

Mark Nowak is a documentary poet, teacher and labor activist who will will serve as eminent writer-in-residence for the University of Wyoming creative writing program in February. He and I are two of the writers featured in Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking out the Jams, a 2010 anthology from Coffee House Press.

This is an excerpt about working in a steel mill from Mark's poetry series, "$00 / Line / Steel / Train," which is included in the anthology:

Because the (brake) past is used because the tearing  (past) of the (brick) form is used is used because the fence (in) of the (goddam) frame is used is used is utterly used against us and by us and upon us and for us is used is used in the present (past) future (form) we are used yet users yet used.

Every day you put your life on the line when you went into that iron house. Every day you sucked up dirt and took a chance on breaking your legs or breaking your back. And anyone who's worked in there knows what I'm talking about.

Mark sent along this info about the "Working (in Wyoming)" project he'll be conducting when he's in the state. Here it is:

Working (in Wyoming) is a community-building, creative investigation of what it means to labor in Wyoming. A series of creative writing workshops will be held in southeastern  Wyoming (Laramie and Cheyenne) in February of 2013.

These workshops will be facilitated by Wyoming writing instructors and students in the University of Wyoming's MFA program in creative writing. In these workshops, Wyoming workers of diverse backgrounds will have the opportunity to collaborate with others in the Wyoming community to create a short piece of creative writing (a poem, a parable, a short story, a piece of flash fiction/nonfiction, etc.).

Working (in Wyoming) will culminate in a large-scale yet intimate evening event in Laramie on February 28. Here working people from across the state will have the opportunity to share what it means to work in Wyoming with a presentation of pieces created in workshops. 

To get involved in the project, contact Kay Northrop at knorthrop@uwyo.edu or Brie Fleming at briennafleming5@gmail.com Read more on the project's Facebook page.

Mark's blog is filled with info about union organizing and strikes worldwide. If you think that workers in the U.S. don't have anything in common with coal miners in China or maquiladora laborers in Mexico, think again, and take a look at Mark's Coal Mountain blog.

Note to Wyoming Sens. Enzi and Barrasso and Rep. Lummis: NO CUTS!

Overpass Light Brigade posted this: From the San Diego Labor Council's candlelight event outside Sen. Dianne Feinstein's downtown office to avoid cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs; instead to pressure Congress to raise taxes on the wealthiest 2% of Americans. NO CUTS!

Seeing new West Coast coal terminals as a red-state, blue-state issue

On Wyofile, San Juan Islands' resident Charlie West offers a tongue-in-cheek modest proposal: You send us your coal, we'll send you our trash.

West notes that the wide open spaces of Wyoming and Montana have plenty of big holes for the trash of the 48 million residents of Washington, Oregon and California. It's only a fair trade, right? You send us your dirty coal and we send you our dirty trash.

A batch of inland Republicans, including our very own Cynthia Lummis, is trying to browbeat Washington's coastal residents in permitting a new coal shipping facility. West reports a lively conversation at the local tavern which goes something like this:

“We’re selling taxpayer-owned coal for next to nothing, so it can be sent somewhere else, to run someone else’s factories, and employ someone else’s people while we don’t have enough jobs in this country?”

“It makes no sense, pollute the air with trains and ships to get the coal there, then they burn it and their pollution drifts back here!”

We all pay for dirty coal. Global warming is real, no matter what the Know Nothings say in my Deep Red State of Wyoming. And while Wyoming rakes in taxes from its oil and gas and coal, including almost a billion federal dollars from energy resources extracted on public land (see previous post), coastal residents pay the price with rising sea levels and whopper storms.

Forward-thinking blue states such as WA, OR and CA invest heavily in alternative energy while WY continues burning and shipping coal. The coal is shipped to China and India where it is burned, creating more CO2 in the atmosphere -- this speeds global warming. The ice sheets melt, forcing a rise in ocean levels which swamps blue-state cities, drowning Liberal, latte-drinking, mountain-bike-riding voters by the millions. Wyoming builds a big wall at its borders to keep out the riff raff. We keep mining and burning and shipping coal, secure in the knowledge that sea levels have to get pretty darn high before bitchin' waves begin to break on the beaches of Cheyenne. Besides, the wall will keep the water out. We'll call them dikes. And we can open our own ports to ship our own coal to China and India, those parts that aren't at the bottom of Davy Jones Locker.

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. I better wear shades, what with the dissolving ozone layer and blinding sun and all.

"Carbon Sink" revisited by Cheyenne's Michaela Rife

Cheyenne's Michaela Rife penned a meditation on Chris Drury's late, lamented "Carbon Sink" sculpture at the University of Wyoming for the Nevada Museum of Arts Art + Environment site. Read the Nov. 21 piece here. Michaela is an arts writer who is in Vancouver, B.C., pursuing a master's degree at the University of British Columbia’s Critical and Curatorial Studies program.

Two holiday choral concerts on tap for Cheyenne

Some big holiday-oriented concerts on the Cheyenne schedule for the weeks before Christmas.

First up is the "Unto Us a Child is Born" performance on Monday, Dec. 10, 7 p.m., at St. Mary's Cathedral, 2107 Capitol Ave. It's an "a capella concert with the LCCC men's and women's ensembles, Cantorei and the collegiate chorale that will showcase scared choral arrangements, ancient and modern anthems, all combined to weave a magical performance with something for everyone." Admission is free, although donations will be accepted for the Comea House, Cheyenne's homeless shelter. My daughter Annie will again be a soloist. You can see a You Tube clip of the Dec. 1 LCCC choral performance at the Cheyenne Civic Center. Yes, I am a proud pops. I'm also quite impressed by the quality of music programs at our community college. I'm equally impressed by the amount of financial aid available at LCCC. This county resident will be backing any expansion plans proposed by LCCC and will gladly do battle with any Know Nothings who oppose such plans. BTW, the poster for this concert shows the silhouette of the baby Jesus in the manger with his hands raised high to heaven. When I first  saw it, I was convinced that the babe was doing the "Spirit Fingers" routine from "Bring It On." Jesus has spirit fingers -- yeah! Maybe it's "holy spirit fingers."

On Sunday, Dec. 16, 7:30 p.m., the Cheyenne Capital Chorale performs "Seasons in Song" at St. Mary's. It will feature selections from Vivaldi's "Gloria" and will be filmed by Wyoming PBS for a later broadcast. Free, but donations will be accepted at the door. Go here for more info.

Music for the holidays. A great gift for yourself.

Wyoming among top ten states in scholarships lawmakers receive to attend ALEC meetings

From Joan Barron's article in the Sunday Casper Star-Tribune:

Late last month, 17 newly elected Wyoming legislators attended a three-day meeting at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. The event was sponsored by the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC.

On Dec. 3, the nonprofit citizen-lobbyist organization Common Cause and the Center for Media and Democracy released a report that said Wyoming is among the top 10 states in the amount of corporate “scholarships” lawmakers receive to attend ALEC meetings.

Read the entire article here.

Read my earlier post about one of the ALEC model bills geared toward eliminating Wyoming state employees' defined-benefit retirement plan.

Local concert promoter shows creativity in booking heavy metal, rock and hip-hop acts

Neat article in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle about local concert promoter Jake Byrd. At 19, Jake is already a seasoned impresario, a promoter of rock, heavy metal and hip-hop concerts at downtown's Atlas Theatre and other venues. He's brought bands such as Static-X, Alien Ant Farm and Tech N9ne to a city known more for Toby Keith than Psychostick. Not bad for someone just a few years out of high school. And he faces a lack of proper local performance spaces. The Atlas is a funky space, and the Cheyenne Little Theatre makes money from renting it out. But it's a shame there's not a dedicated concert venue in Cheyenne. Meanwhile, Jake keeps bringing in the talent. You have to buy the Sunday paper to read the article, as the WTE lacks a proper web site.

How about a WWInc membership for that writer on your gift list?

I've been attending the annual conference of Wyoming Writers, Inc., since I first came to Wyoming in 1991. I've been to June conferences in Cody (twice), Casper (many times), Cheyenne, Rock Springs, Sundance (Bear Lodge Writers home turf), Riverton (the year after the hotel caught fire) and Thermopolis (with my teen daughter). In 2013, the conference will be in Laramie for (I think) the first time. This June 7-9 conference is shaping up to be a fine one despite the fact that I am one of the presenters. You've been forewarned! I'll be talking about short stories and will be shilling my new book which, I hope, will be hot off the presses come May. I'll also address blogging and social media for writers.

Who are some of the writers, editors and agents featured at WWInc conferences? Glad you asked. Performance poet M.L. Liebler, mystery writer Margaret Coel, novelist Tim Sandlin, Graywolf Press editor Katie Dublinski, Coffee House Press publisher Chris Fishbach, Hollywood screenwriter Ben Garant, father/daughter poetry team Robert and Lee Ann Roripaugh, poet and musician David Romtvedt, western novelist Johnny Boggs, essayist Teresa Jordan, folklorist Hal Cannon, romance novelist Amanda Cabot and scores of others. 

Wyoming Writers, Inc. (WWInc) has had its ups and downs over its 38 years. Some of its founders remain active members, and one of the challenges is attracting and keeping new members. Here's one way to do this, taken from the new and improved WWInc web site:

WHAT DO YOU GIVE A WRITER? If you're looking for a special Christmas gift for your favorite writer, or perhaps there's a birthday coming up that deserves something more than another book, lunch out or a gift certificate to the same ol' place... Consider giving a membership to Wyoming Writers, Inc., the oldest statewide, multi-genre writers' organization in Wyoming! Go to the "Become a Member or Renew Your Membership" page and either fill out the form online or print and mail it, with the appropriate payment (add student ID information if needed) to: Wyoming Writers, Inc., P. O. Box 999, Sundance, WY 82729 Help us increase our membership and give a wonderful gift to a writer at the same time!

I'm a member so this is not the appropriate gift for me. A much better gift would be a Kindle or perhaps that beard trimmer I have been looking at with envy. No neckties, thank you very much! And especially no Wyoming neckties (know what I mean?)

Did I mention that WWInc is a recipient of a Wyoming Governor's Arts Award?

Anyway, it's a great group. Its members are accomplished and friendly, and always find a way to put on a smashing conference.

Give the gift of membership. You'll be glad you did.

Wyoming rakes in the federal dough for energy and mineral extraction

File this under That Darn Federal Gubment:

The Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) announced today that more than $2.1 billion was disbursed to 36 states as part of the state share of Federal revenues collected in Fiscal Year 2012 from energy and mineral production that occurred on Federal lands within their borders, and offshore on the Outer Continental Shelf. 

One state that starts with a "W" received $995,169,098, or about 47 percent of the total. No, it wasn't Washington or Wisconsin or West Virginia.

It was Wyoming.

Several other big almost-square states also got big numbers. New Mexico and Utah. All that energy and all those minerals.

Get the numbers at http://statistics.onrr.gov

Tip of the hat to South Dakota's always-alert Interested Party blog.

Message to Wyoming Republican legislators: LOWRSTFA!

LOWRSTFA!

Last year, Republican legislators tried to change the Wyoming Retirement System from a defined-benefit program to one that was based on a defined-contribution model. Because there is no logical reason to change a system that is solvent and well-managed, one must look elsewhere for explanations, musn't one? Blame the Tea Party -- that's what I usually do. True, the Tea Party hates government and government employees. But there are more insidious forces at work.

No, not Agenda 21.

A batch of Republican legislators are members of the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC. The organization, heavily-funded by right-wing gazillionaires the Koch Brothers, drafts model legislation at national gatherings for its stooges to take home to their state legislatures. A series of these bills attempt to end defined-benefit retirement plans and replace them with IRA-style plans funded entirely with employee contributions and managed by an outside party which will rake in millions in fees from the pension fund. ALEC Exposed carries a model bill similar to the one we saw during the 2012 Wyoming Legislature. Go to Public Employees Portable Retirement Option Pro Act Exposed. 

The Wyoming Retirement System recently conducted a poll of its members. The findings were announced today and aren't surprising:

A majority of Wyoming Retirement System members indicated their pensions are an important part of their employment benefits and more than half of active members want to keep the current defined benefit plan, results from WRS’ 2012 Member Survey showed.
 
WRS sent a survey to active members and retirees that asked about demographics, attitudes and beliefs about WRS, customer service, the preferences of a defined benefit versus defined contribution plan and the usefulness of communication resources. The 2012 survey, which was conducted from mid-October through Nov. 20, was the second year WRS surveyed its members.

Regarding their pensions, the survey showed that 82.9 percent of active members indicated their pensions were “very important” or “mostly important” in keeping them in their current employment. The survey also showed that 86.2 percent of retirees indicated their pensions were “very important” or “mostly important” in keeping them in their employment.

The survey also indicated that 58.1 percent of active members said they prefer the current defined benefit plan over a defined contribution plan, and 29.9 percent said they would need more information to decide.

There were 2,338 active members and 582 retirees who responded to the surveys. The following is a summary of the responses.

Active Member Results

• Approximately three quarters of respondents were “Positive” or “Mostly Positive” regarding their attitude toward WRS, belief that WRS operates in their best interest and that WRS is financially strong.
• The customer service rating for WRS was favorable overall with 67.8 percent of respondents rating it “Excellent” or “Good.”

Retiree Survey Results:

• 7.3 percent of respondents reported having been a rehired retiree at some time compared to 11.8 percent last year.
• Retirees reported even more favorably than active members regarding their attitude toward WRS (91.1 percent positive), belief that WRS operates in their best interest (88.6 percent agreement) and that WRS is financially strong (87.7 percent agreement). 
• The customer service response was very positive, with 90.4 percent of respondents rating it “Excellent” or “Good.”

The following infographics show the complete results of the surveys:

• Active Member Survey Infographic
• Retiree Survey Infographic

CONTACT:   Aimee Inama
                      Information Officer
                      Phone: (307) 777-7776
                      Fax: (307) 777-3621; aimee.inama1@wyo.gov 

About WRS: WRS administers retirement plans for roughly 42,000 public employees in Wyoming and 23,000 retirees and has approximately $6.5 billion in assets.

LOWRSTFA?

Leave Our Wyoming Retirement System The Freak Alone. Feel free to use your own expletive in place of "freak."

More info on the battle to save the state retirement plan at the Coalition for a Healthy Retirement web site.

Hike Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites while they're still open

Wyoming's state parks and historic sites are treasures. This year, they mark their 75th anniversary. Lots of time and effort has gone into upgrading facilities the past ten years. But unnecessary, Tea Party-inspired legislative budget cuts loom that may soon cut hours and staff and services at the parks. 

So it's a good time to hike these sites on New Year's Day:

For the second consecutive year Wyoming residents can begin the year with eight New Year’s Day guided hikes held at Wyoming Divisionof State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails venues statewide.

The hikes are held in conjunction with similar hikes held in all 50 states; a part of the America’s State Parks First Day Hikes initiative.

These first day hikes were very successful for the Division as last year we had over 500 participants statewide,” State Parks Administrator Domenic Bravo said. “ Last year we only had four parks participating and this year we have doubled that.  First Day Hikes is an initiative of the National Association of State Parks Directors and the America's State Park Foundation, encouraging people to get outside and healthy on January 1 and enjoy one of the many close to home treasurers that the 50 states have to offer.”

Park staff and volunteers will lead the hikes, which average one to two miles or longer depending on the state park or historic site. Details about hike locations, difficulty and length, terrain and tips regarding proper clothing are listed on the America’s State Parks website.  Visit www.americasstateparks.org to find a First Day Hike nearest you.

In Wyoming, hikes will be offered at the following locations and times:

Bear River State Park - Short nature hike along the Bear River.  Hike distance will vary upon participant’s abilities.  Begin at 10 a.m.

Boysen State Park- There will be two hikes along the Wind River of varying difficulties. Begin at 10 a.m.

Curt Gowdy State Park – Up to four mile hike on a trail to be determined. Meet at Aspen Grove Trail head at 1 p.m.

Edness K. Wilkins State Park – There will be two walks.  One will be wheelchair accessible and the other will be on natural surface on the nature trail. Each 2 miles.  Begin at 10 a.m.

Fort Bridger State Historic Site – one mile hike/walk around the historic site. Meet at entrance booth at 1 p.m.

Glendo State Park – A three mile hike around Two Moon Trails and newly constructed Towers trail.  This hike will be held on Saturday, January 5^th at 10 a.m.

Guernsey State Park - Hike will begin and end at the yurts and will be approximately 3 miles in length. The terrain will be a mixture of level to rolling hills.  Begin at 10 a.m.

Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site - 1 mile hike on the "Deer Path" trail covering level and areas of slightly steep terrain.  Begin at 10 a.m.

Participants are urged to wear adequate clothing, coffee and hot chocolate will be provided, Bonn Fire at most locations, this is a kids and family friendly event, entry fee to participating parks will be waived.

RSVPs are requested but not required. Please RSVP by emailing Paul.Gritten@wyo.gov.

For more information, please call the Wyoming Division of State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails at 777-6323.

King Coal holds a seminar in Gillette

An Overpass Light Brigade protest in Portland, Maine.These LED-light-fueled protests are coming to an overpass or state capitol near you.

King Coal holds a seminar in Gillette on Dec. 13, "Powder River Basin Coal: Domestic Challenges and International Opportunities:"

“Coal is important as an abundant, low-cost energy source for the U.S. economy,” UW School of Energy Resources Director Mark Northam says. “The energy programs at the University of Wyoming are looking at ways that coal can continue to be used in the decades to come, because maintaining a viable coal industry is important to ensuring stable, low-cost, reliable electric power generation.”

Domestic challenges, according to Wyoming, the nation's Republican-controlled energy colony: President Brack Obama
Unstated international opportunities: China
The international challenge whose name we dare not say: Global warming

Enzi allies himself with Tea Party crackpots on Senate vote

The U.S. Senate today failed to ratify a U.N. treaty that would codify the rights of the disabled. Tea Party Republicans led the opposition, apparently fearing that black helicopters manned by Kenyans would swoop out of the sky to ensure that the other-abled had access to all the benefits of civilization enjoyed by the abled.

The vote was 61-38 to ratify the treaty that has already been signed by 155 nations and ratified by 126, including Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia. It is based on the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act. Treaties must be passed in the Senate by a two-thirds vote. The all-GOP opposition included Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi but not Sen. Dr. John Barrasso. That shocked the heck out of me. Enzi has always seemed the level-headed one while Barrasso just seems to love seeing himself on Fox News. Not this time.

Joining Enzi in voting against this obvious takeover of American sovereignty were the usual crackpots from the South and West, including Oklahoma's James Imhofe, Mike Lee of Utah, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida.

From an AP story:

The opposition was led by tea party favorite Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who argued that the treaty by its very nature threatened U.S. sovereignty. Specifically he expressed concerns that the treaty could lead to the state, rather than parents, determining what was in the best interest of disabled children in such areas as home schooling, and that language in the treaty guaranteeing the disabled equal rights to reproductive health care could lead to abortions. Parents, Lee said, will "raise their children with the constant looming threat of state interference."

Tiny paranoid minds were working overtime on this one.

Read Joan McCarter's excellent Daily Kos post on the subject here.

If this is December in Wyoming, it must be time for Kickstarter gardening projects

I grew a few herbs last summer. Rosemary, basil, oregano. They grew in a pot next to my gas grill, handy for throwing into marinade or tossing on the fire for some extra flavor. Most summers, I have tomatoes and squash and zucchini and broccoli and pole beans and Chinese pea pods and spinach and a variety of lettuces. My garden (and my roof and my car) got slammed by hail twice during the wet summer of 2011. Golf ball size. I was out there trying to shelter my plants, getting pounded by ice balls the entire time. Good thing I was wearing my lucky Broncos caps or my noggin would have been perforated.

So I went on a gardening hiatus during the summer of 2012. I plan to be back in the fray come spring of 2013. We high altitude gardeners are gluttons for punishment.

But there is hope for us. I came across the web sites of two new gardening projects located at opposite corners of Wyoming. Coincidentally (or inevitably) they both have active Kickstarter projects. The first touts the "Spring System" by Laramie's Bright Agrotech. It's a self-contained growing tower that addresses the need for portable gardening systems. This aids the growth rate of plants. It also allows you to fetch your veggies in out of ice storms with relative ease. Here's a description:

We designed a special production system based on our patented vertical towers that allows us to grow more produce using less space, and then transport the unharvested towers to market.  It allows us to sell "You-Pick" vegetables at the supermarket, letting the customers pick exactly how much they want.

Whenever we would talk about growing towers of greens or herbs or flowers, or when folks saw our towers at the supermarket, people would always ask when we would make a model for home use. This got us thinking:  What if we could take live towers directly to people’s homes - kind of like a "You-Pick" Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in your own kitchen? Or what if people could just grow their own produce, easier, and with less space than a garden?  What if people could do both?  The more I thought about it, the more I knew this product would help enable the kind of future I want to live in.  So, we decided to make a kit that allows folks to grow their own vegetables, or participate in live tower CSAs.

To start, we found some brilliant engineers, stayed up late, and designed a reservoir that would let us do all of the above, and most importantly, makes it simple and easy for people to do vertical farming in their own home, or on their patio, or wherever there’s room. 

Sounds good to me. To contribute, go here. It's a $20,000 project; Bright Agrotech is about 25 percent along the way. Why not kick in a few bucks. 

The second project comes to us from Jackson. The ski town has a parking garage that nobody parks in. Wyomingites would rather park in the street or on someone's front lawn. Its south side is just sitting around doing nothing, just gathering the warming rays on the sun of the mountain sun. 

Here's where Vertical Harvest comes in. The idea is to build a three-story greenhouse on the garage's south side. The greenhouse would grow veggies year-round, nurturing the caldera's many vegans and those of us who like to have some greens with our bloody meat. Tending the gardens would be special needs teens and adults. Organizers have held fund-raisers and have already got some money in the bank. Here's a bit more about the project:

Vertical Harvest will be the first of its kind: A three story vertical farm built on an infill piece of land that will grow fresh, local produce in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, extending its four month growing season to all year round. What makes this project truly unique is that we will develop an innovative hydroponic growing system that can be used in vertical greenhouses of all configurations. This innovative mechanism will maximize efficiency by dramatically increasing the amount of produce that can be grown in the greenhouse and will also use less energy to grow produce. In addition, this growing carousel is also specifically designed to provide a safe and meaningful work environment for adults with developmental disabilities, the employee base of Vertical Harvest. With this technology, Vertical Harvest will wrap agricultural, architectural and social innovation into one project that will be a critical milestone in urban agriculture. Go to www.verticalharvest.org

VH's Kickstarter goal is $30,000. The organizers just started today. Contribute here. Pledge $50 and get a "swanky Vertical Harvest T-shirt."

We have some creative people in this state. What's your big idea to help us all eat locally year-round?

There was in Qatar an old emir, who put a poet in the slammer...

There are some things up with which the Emir of Qatar will not put

Satiric poetry, for example.

A 37-year-old Qatari poet was sent to prison for reciting a poem at an in-home reading that satirizes the Emir of Qatar and his son, the crown prince. The poem then was posted online by someone who had attended the reading. The poet, Mohammed al-Ajami, has spent most of the past year in solitary confinement without books or pen or computer or contact with his family.

I learned about this through my pals at the Montana blog, 4&20 Blackbirds. Lizard writes the blog's Liz's Weekly Poetry Series. This is fitting, as 4&20 Blackbirds comes from the land of Richard Hugo and Sandra Alcosser and Henry Real Bird and Jim Welch (poet and novelist) and John Haines and Wyoming transplant B.J. Buckley. MT knows its poets.

Traditional Arabic poetry praises the monarch, according to a BBC story. That's a bummer. Monarchs should be ridiculed, and often, as should presidents, legislators, poets, and just about anyone else in public roles. Said the BBC:

A key part of the evidence against the poet was near-identical testimony submitted by three government poetry experts at the ministries of culture and education, asserting that the poem al-Ajami had written was indeed insulting to the emir and his son.

Part of my job with the Wyoming Arts Council is to serve as a government poetry expert. I wonder if I could ever be called to testify about whether a poem funded by a state grant or fellowship was insulting to the governor or his wife or son or daughter. What would I say? What could I say? What should I say? Would I go to prison to defend a poet or writer who also might go to the Wyoming gulag?

Mohammed al-Ajami is not the first poet to go to prison for his work. Sometimes poets are tortured and killed for speaking ill of despots. Spain's Federico Garcia Lorca and Miguel Hernandez come to mind.

Here's Emily Dickinson's poem on the subject:

The Martyr Poets — did not tell —
But wrought their Pang in syllable —
That when their mortal name be numb —
Their mortal fate — encourage Some —

The Martyr Painters — never spoke —
Bequeathing — rather — to their Work —
That when their conscious fingers cease —
Some seek in Art — the Art of Peace —

Lizard writes that she's been looking online for a copy of al-Ajami's poem but has been unsuccessful. Anyone know where we could find it?