UTAH
Jim
Stiles, publisher of the Canyon Country
Zephyr in Moab, has been called cynical,
chronically ticked off, dour and – more kindly perhaps –
curmudgeonly. He is greatly annoyed by the Lycra-clad bicyclists
that invade his part of the world, and he’d like the rip-’em-up
crowd of ATV and four-wheel-drivers to take a hike. But he’s not
always in a bad mood. This winter, in fact, he asked his readers to
share some of their “perfect moments.” Not surprisingly, Stiles’
readers tend to leaven their wonder and joy with quirkiness, and
Devin Vaughan of Moab was no exception. He told about driving
through a southern Utah thunderstorm so torrential that he was
forced off the road. As he sat out the downpour in his car, thunder
and the lightning strikes that followed became “a steady call and
response,” and then he heard “a sound like bacon frying … or
maybe the sky was made of canvas…, and God was tearing the sky
apart.” There was a blinding flash and a terrific kick in the chest
that left him laughing and grinning like an idiot, he says, except
maybe he’d peed his pants a little. It was, he says, a perfect
moment.
CALIFORNIA AND THE WEST
Dogs are such fun, though taking care
of one can be a pain if you live in a small apartment or have an
erratic work schedule. That leaves many urbanites resigned to
doglessness. A few months ago, Marlena Cervantes, 32, tried to
remedy the no-pet blues by starting FlexPetz, a company that rents
out well-trained dogs to busy professionals in several California
cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Cervantes told The Associated Press that she prefers to think of
the arrangement as “shared ownership” rather than pet renting,
because the dogs spend time with no more than two or three people.
Customer Farng-Yang Foo told The Week magazine that he feels like
an uncle to the dog he borrows for $39.95 a day: “I can take it out
for walks and take care of it. But I don’t have to worry about it
being alone…” FlexPetz is expanding to other cities fast, though
one critic warned that the time-share arrangement might lead to the
animal becoming a “lifestyle accessory.” Judging from the surprised
and pleased reactions of some Flexpetz customers, adoption might be
a more likely outcome. Meanwhile, dog and cat owners who travel
frequently now have another option for their pets besides taking
them to a kennel or finding a pet-sitter. Posh digs for pets are
available at airports in San Diego, Portland, Ore., and Seattle,
and “these are no chain-link kennels,” reports
Governing magazine. Amenities for dropped-off
animals include piped-in music, individual suites, gourmet treats
and Web cams so distant owners can check in on their pampered pets.
COLORADO
Anti-tax
crusader Douglas Bruce – the man behind TABOR, the
controversial Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights – caused quite a brouhaha
at the State Capitol in Denver on his first day as an appointed
legislator. He kicked a Rocky Mountain News
photographer in the shins and persisted in refusing to be sworn in
unless he was allowed to address all of his colleagues with a
90-second talk. Bruce, a Republican, so embarrassed members of his
own party that they voted 22-1 to recommend that the vacancy
committee find someone else to fill the seat unless Bruce agreed to
be sworn in by afternoon, reports the Denver
Post. “This is the House of Representatives. It is not
the House of Bruce,” fumed House Minority Leader Mike May. Bruce
finally allowed himself to be sworn in and said he was praying when
he kicked the “rude” photographer. This explanation, according to
Rocky Mountain News publisher John Temple,
doesn’t hold water, since prayer in the House of Representatives is
a public act and photographs of elected officials praying are
routine. Democrats, of course, crowed about Bruce’s self-indulgent
behavior: “What is this?” joked the director of the liberal group,
ProgressNowAction, ” ‘Republicans Gone Wild’? “
MONTANA
At a Forest Service
meeting in Darby, Mont., cursing with the “F word” was
more common than kicking, as supporters of motorized recreation
protested the updating of a 38-year-old travel management plan.
More than 200 people packed the too-small room, and according to
Friends of the Bitterroot president Jim Miller, “It was the ugliest
meeting I’ve ever been to. It was ugly and sad.” If you didn’t
support fun in the forests on a vehicle with an engine, it was also
intimidating. When one woman tried to make a comment in favor of
wilderness, a man in the crowd said: “Put a bullet in her head.”
Afterward, an agency spokeswoman assured the
Missoulian that she would follow up on the
threat. The Forest Service decided to cancel its next public
meeting, set for Stevensville, after the raucous Darby gathering;
the agency intends to complete a draft environmental impact
statement by August.
Betsy Marston is editor of
Writers on the Range, a service of High Country
News in Paonia, Colorado. Tips of Western oddities are
always appreciated and often shared in the column, Heard around the
West.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Heard around the West.
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