A political speech the west needs to hear

"One of our most urgent projects is to develop a national energy policy. The United States is the only major industrial country without a comprehensive, long-range energy policy. Our program will emphasize conservation ... solar energy and other renewable energy sources. ... We must face the fact that the energy shortage is permanent. There is no way we can solve it quickly. But if we all cooperate and make modest sacrifices ... we can find ways to adjust."

Imagine those words spoken by the next president shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, 2009, continuing a theme originally established on the campaign trail. The words seem to be aimed directly at Westerners: "If we wait, and do not act, then ... we will feel mounting pressure to plunder the environment. We will have a crash program to build more nuclear plants, strip-mine and burn more coal, and drill more (oil and gas) wells. ... Intense competition will build up among ... the different regions within our own country."

The president concludes: "If you will join me so that we can work together with patriotism and courage, we will again prove that our great nation can lead the world into an age of peace, independence and freedom.

"This difficult effort will be the moral equivalent of war - except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy."

Inspiring and timely, indeed. But doesn’t it sound kind of familiar? It should. The president who made those speeches did so 30 years ago. His name was... [click here to read full article]

Trapped

Patty was watching PBS earlier tonight. On it, there was a winter advisory notice.

I heard her say, "Janice, come here," as I was working out an overdraft on my Wachovia account. I went in, and I found Patty sitting there with her jaw dropped open in wonder.

"I've never seen this before!" she exclaimed.

Maybe it's because she was on PBS, maybe it's just a crazy storm out there, but either way, it means that I'm trapped here in Rawlins for the night. Not that I need to go anywhere, so it's completely fine, but if I sit back and think about it, I realize just how ridiculous it is to live here.

The other night, I was at a lecture at the local community college. Senator Bill Vasey was speaking on the history of local politics, and he said that a prior Governor Campbell said something along the lines of, "this state is so rich in minerals, it's like a gold mine. But no one is crazy enough to settle in such a harsh climate!"

Well, here you have it. Here I am!

First time...

And, it's the first time none of my by-lines appeared in the paper. Granted, my production was low, and I did have two "staff reports," but it strikes me that I did something wrong...

Senior pinners to be honored SaturdayTimes staff report

Times staff report

Due to road closures, the Outlaw wrestlers missed last weekend’s tournament at Riverton High School.

Now, they are looking ahead to a busy week with a Thursday dual against Torrington and a senior day event at home against Wheatland on Saturday.

The team has finished its conference meets, assistant coach Wes Banta said, and now awaits the state competition on Feb. 22 and 23 in Casper. In the meantime, they are preparing for this week’s upcoming meets.

On Thursday, the Outlaws face Torrington with have a nearly-full lineup.
On Saturday, Outlaw wrestlers Dennis McCaslin and Aaron Steele should be honored at the senior day dual against Wheatland.

Wheatland, one of the better teams in the state, according to Banta, should put on a good show, but shouldn’t overshadow the time set aside to honor this year’s Outlaw seniors who have shown leadership throughout the season.

Three swimmers advance to state

Times staff report

The chaos of road closures shook things up in last weekend’s swimming events in Lyman and Gillette.

Arriving in Lyman for the 3A Lyman Invitational, the Outlaw swimmers found themselves up against three 4A teams — Evanston, Green River and Rock Springs — that meant to be in Gillette. Cheyenne Central was scheduled to be at the Lyman meet but instead found themselves at the 4A invitational in Gillette.

Sublette County, Kemmerer, Lyman and Rawlins high schools welcomed the 4A teams into the meet so everyone could get another chance to shave some time as they sought to qualify for the upcoming regional and state meets.

The Outlaws came off the weekend with three more boys qualified to compete in the 3A state meet. Daniel DeMillard joins James Laux in the ranks of the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:33.92. Jacob DiFore also qualified to swim the event last weekend, earning a time of 2:34.45. David Trujillo, with a time of 1:10.29, added himself to the 100-yard backstroke list alongside Laux, Daniel DeMillard and Erick DeMillard.

With more than two weeks remaining before the state meet in Gillette on Feb. 21-23, Outlaw swimmers and divers have qualified in every event except for the 500-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke.

The Outlaws compete this weekend in Buffalo at the 3A east conference tournament, where Rawlins is shooting to win its seventh championship.