Idaho may have gained the dubious distinction of leading the West in regressive economic innovations. In the small town of Blackfoot, local police will soon show off the first of their three new police cruisers, all free to the taxpayer. Well, not exactly free. The patrol cars will cost a buck, and there is a […]
Stephen J. Lyons
Posted inWotr
Real men head for Alaska
There is the West, and then there is Alaska, a region so wild and isolated as to make Wyoming appear tame as a strip mall. Flying to Kodiak Island (“America’s second largest island”) is risky on a good day. The day I chose to travel to the island on business was not a good day. […]
Posted inWotr
Freedom of the press is eroding before our eyes
On Sept. 1, the Idaho Statesman ran a fascinating exposé of local CEO salaries. The amounts of money, stock options and the all-encompassing “bonuses” lavished on these public company executives were staggering and obscene. Not to mention, according to Statesman reporter Julie Howard, “generous severance, salary, pension and retirement packages.” Many of the companies the […]
Posted inSeptember 2, 2002: Backlash
The fission of a New Mexican nuclear family
In this richly layered novel, author Bradford Morrow peels back the geography of New Mexico to reveal its unforgiving core of rock and scree. The Land of Enchantment is also a landscape haunted by nuclear testing during the 1950s, and it is within this rough physical and emotional terrain that Morrow sets his tale about […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
When good tax-evaders go bad
Back in the halcyon days of the Northwest militia movement in the mid-’90s, a curious breed of man emerged from the moist backwoods and unemployment lines of the disenfranchised West: the wannabe Patriot. In Whatcom County, Wash., the commander in chief of the Washington State Militia, John Pitner, was experiencing New World Order visions. The […]
Posted inJune 8, 1998: Don't fence me in
Lyons answers his critics
It’s difficult to respond to such off-issue, personal attacks and the chest-thumpings of Idaho nationalism as Peterson’s (HCN, 5/25/98) and Medberry’s (HCN, 4/13/98) – weak and flaccid as they are, full of red herrings and other beneath-the-belt cow droppings – but my point remains: Idaho doesn’t work for the poor, for persons of color, or […]
Posted inAugust 18, 1997: The West that was, and the West that can be
How the writer learned that he is not very spiritual
My wife and I had just finished hiking Brims Mesa outside of Sedona, Ariz., when we spotted a woman at the trailhead wearing a purple velvet, or velour, dress that hung loosely to her bare ankles. In her right hand she held a hawk feather, and around her neck dangled a leather “medicine bag.” She […]
Posted inAugust 19, 1996: Western voices
What is a Navajo taco?
The sign at Ambassador Auto’s used-car lot in Moscow, Idaho, is advertising a 1993 Mazda Navaho (sic) in stock for $18,487. Seems like a lot of cash, but then I remember the glossy magazine ads: “Navajo: It knows the land.” Just down the street, Taco Time has launched their new “Navajo Taco,” for only 99 […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Letter to Edward Abbey from Earth: A Review
Dear Ed, You won’t, or probably you will, believe what’s currently happening in the West: Too many of us, a commercialized landscape “- all your worst predictions have come true. We’ve finally caught up with your predictions, your “good news.” Armed militias call the West their home – white-guy losers in Montana and Idaho who […]
Posted inMarch 18, 1996: What does the West need to know?
My God! Healthy trees!
Note: this article in one of several feature stories in a special issue about the West’s land grant universities and their extension programs. Cottonwood, Idaho – Sister Carol Ann Wassmuth of St. Gertrude’s Monastery wants to be reincarnated as the monastery porcupine so she can keep an eye on the progress of the 1,000 acres […]
Posted inSeptember 4, 1995: I came, I saw, I wrote a guidebook
Grow up, dig in, and take root
Outside magazine recently picked six or seven towns – mostly in the West – as great places to live. But those seduced into pulling up stakes by the glossy photos and idyllic promises in July’s cover story should first consider a few facts. Here are three days’ worth of headlines from the Spokesman-Review, the newspaper […]