High Country News deserves praise for publication of Debra Weyermann’s article, “The Darkest Shade of Polygamy” (HCN, 6/11/12). The article appears to be well-researched and firmly based on verifiable fact, and in several respects even more compelling than Jon Krakauer’s earlier book, Under the Banner of Heaven. Readers might also question the reasons for the […]
Letter to the editor
Posted inAugust 20, 2012: Troubled Taos
Sleuthing swifts in Indiana
I couldn’t help but smile while reading about Larry Schwitters’ pursuit of Vaux’s swifts (“Swift sleuth,” HCN, 7/23/2012). One of our favorite restaurants near downtown Indianapolis is the Rooftop Restaurant at Fountain Square, atop an old five-story brick building with a magnificent view of the downtown skyline and Midwestern sunsets. In the back of the restaurant, […]
Posted inAugust 20, 2012: Troubled Taos
Slip-slidin’ away
Thank you for the excellent story “The great runoff runaround” in the July 23, 2012, edition. The article focuses on logging roads, but landslides are another important source of sediment pollution. Landslides are natural in the young, steep, unstable mountains of the American West, but clear-cutting and logging roads increase their rates by one or […]
Posted inAugust 20, 2012: Troubled Taos
Stump appreciation
Becca Hall captured our town perfectly in her essay “Stump Proud” (HCN, 7/23/12). I am fortunate to live on the opposite side of the Upper Snoqualmie Valley. On my acre and a half, I have some of those old stumps left from the clear-cuts of the early 1900s. In fact, I have 90- and 100-foot-tall […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2012: Of Birds and Men
Farewell, Ed Quillen
I’m not much on being anyone’s fan, but I will have to live with my failure to ever write in to thank Ed Quillen for repeatedly sharing his knowledge and sharp, long-view perceptions that felt as right and big as the West (HCN, 6/25/12, “Dear Friends”). I never met Ed. I didn’t always agree with […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2012: Of Birds and Men
Gutted protections, gutless politicians
I am weary of politicians who “gut” the rules and regulations intended to protect human health and the environment (HCN, 7/23/12, “(Not so) quiet canyon”). They all seem to play the jobs/economy card, when in fact the deterioration of the environment leads to situations that cost the taxpayers money and citizens their health (and therefore […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2012: Of Birds and Men
Hail the ab
Thank you for the superb article on the plight of red abalone along the Northern California Coast. (HCN, 6/11/12, “Gastropodan Crimes”). Growing up in Crockett, in the San Francisco Bay Area’s East Bay, my brother and I spent more than a few days of our youth out in that frigid, four-foot-visibility water, being knocked around by […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2012: Of Birds and Men
Political pawns
Posted in response to Emily Guerin’s blog “Grand Cacophony National Park?“, at hcn.org, an expanded version of the snapshot “(Not so) quiet canyon,” which ran in our 7/23/12 issue. I was backcountry packing in the Grand Canyon in 2010 and subjected to relentless fixed-wing overflights echoing off the canyon walls (HCN, 7/23/12, “(Not so) quiet […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2012: Of Birds and Men
‘Postmortemism’
Your issue covering off-the-beaten-track Western places of interest is very appealing to those of us who prefer reality travel over canned tourism (HCN, 6/25/12, “Touring the Postmodern West”). It seems more honest than the usual “family vacation” photo ops. I also found the descriptions of land art and industrial landscape art interesting. While some of us would […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2012: Of Birds and Men
Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Paul Larmer’s editor’s note and the feature article by Greg Hanscom each present a valid point: The multibillion-dollar outdoor industry makes a minuscule contribution to conservation (HCN, 7/23/12, “The Hardest Climb”). But take a look on the other side of the fence: The Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, passed in 1938 in the middle […]
Posted inJuly 23, 2012: The Hardest Climb
A deep rot
Judges James Shumate and Dee Benson both had access to the rape tape mentioned in this article, solid evidence of a culture of sexual abuse in the FLDS. If they had been kindergarten teachers, they would be required to report the abuse to authorities, who would then be required to follow up. Instead, Judge Shumate […]
Posted inJuly 23, 2012: The Hardest Climb
Legalize polygamy
I have been struggling to write a response to the story on polygamy in the June 11 issue of HCN (“The Darkest Shade of Polygamy”). I don’t condone immoral behavior, yet I am astounded by the blatantly negative attitude. While the focus of the article was on the extreme practices by this particular sect, its […]
Posted inJuly 23, 2012: The Hardest Climb
More diversity than meets the eye
Debra Weyermann’s excavation of the hidden connections between the FLDS and mainstream LDS culture was very interesting. I wrote about this ambivalence and its reflection in The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News and in a chapter of Saints Under Siege. Overall, that book is more sympathetic to the FLDS than Weyermann, and tends to […]
Posted inJuly 23, 2012: The Hardest Climb
Neutrality not needed
I am enormously proud of High Country News for writing about this growing menace in the U.S. I know many Mormons who would argue that their Church is not part of this fundamentalist sect, but their Church turns a blind eye, hence it is part of the problem. So many newspapers and television shows pander […]
Posted inJuly 23, 2012: The Hardest Climb
Rambling horror stories
I was disappointed to see HCN join the long list of publications choosing to print rambling horror stories about polygamy in Utah and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In the future, I hope you will clearly distinguish facts about individual misconduct (i.e., Warren Jeffs’ pedophile conviction), from rumors and allegations about […]
Posted inJuly 23, 2012: The Hardest Climb
Spiritual Superfund sites
I have read many stories about villains without redeeming values, but never have I read one that made me want to wash my hands — no, endure a thorough toxic-chemical decontamination procedure — until slogging through the FLDS article. I often had to stop and shake my head to cast out the demons of the […]
Posted inJune 11, 2012: The Darkest Shade of Polygamy
Keep what’s public public
One of the very best things about the West is the availability of public land for all kinds of outdoor recreation (HCN, 5/14/12, “Sagebrush skirmish”). Conversely, a major shortcoming of the East is the lack of the same. Unfortunately, some of the very best public land has been misused and abused for decades by grazing, drilling, […]
Posted inJune 11, 2012: The Darkest Shade of Polygamy
L.A.’s wild underbelly
By publishing such an indispensable, comprehensive account of an issue that has been all but forgotten by local news organizations, HCN has filled a critical role in keeping an accurate narrative of the sediment management issue in Los Angeles alive and well (HCN, 5/14/12, “Los Angeles Against the Mountains”). As Emily Green so eloquently explained, […]
Posted inJune 11, 2012: The Darkest Shade of Polygamy
Let gravity do its thing
This round of the sediment management plan won’t provide a sustainable solution to the problem (HCN, 5/14/12, “Los Angeles Against the Mountains”). But now is a good time to make the case for long-term solutions. For that, we’re going to have to rethink the flood control system, or rather, remember it as a functioning riparian […]
Posted inJune 11, 2012: The Darkest Shade of Polygamy
Three cheers for Emily Green
You have done us all a great service by publishing a very important story about the oak woodland and the sediment dump (HCN, 5/14/12, “Los Angeles Against the Mountains”). I consider myself a member of the “environmental” community in Southern California, and I am an avid HCN reader. It is good to see a piece […]