Friday, October 3, 2008

Lawrence P. Growney

"Most aficionados of geology have heard of the Giant's Causeway, a distinctive area of perfectly formed hexagonal basaltic columns that form a "stone bridge" that juts eastward into the sea from Northern Ireland and has an equivalent counterpart along the coast of Scotland. While Idaho can't claim to possess a similarly impressive counterpart, Cassia County can lay claim to a small-scale version of this rocky causeway."

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Idaho's forgotten war

Remember the Kootenai Tribe's struggle against the feds in 1974?

Now's your chance to learn:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/life/story/388225.html

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Grumpy's bar turns 30

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005120477

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Fingerprint Expert Tries To Debunk Bigfoot - Reaches Opposite Conclusion

http://www.rense.com/politics6/fing.htm

The gospel according to Ron Gillett

http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=17691

Fiery advocate against wolves connects with a small farm town

ASHTON, IDAHO

The West’s traveling anti-wolf evangelist, Ron Gillett, brought his crusade to this rural community a couple of weeks ago.

It’s a good venue for him. Hundred-pound wolves prowl among people and livestock and elk around here, on the western border of Yellowstone National Park, stirring up waves of fear and anger.

In mid-April, naked dirt showed in the farm fields, and the higher-elevation public lands held the ruins of winter in melting snowdrifts. The town of Ashton is nothing fancy, just a few blocks of small businesses and a scatter of houses around a stand of grain elevators.

About 120 of the locals turned out to see Gillett on a chilly Thursday evening. They parked mud-splattered pickups and SUVs at the Ashton Community Center and along side streets, by the Log Cabin Motel and the Zion Lutheran Church. As they filed into the metal-roofed, brick-walled community center, the sky glowed with sunset. A nearly full moon was rising, and the snowy tips of the Tetons brightened the horizon. The sound of cattle bawling came from a nearby feedlot.

Exploring the underground

http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2008/05/11/news/top_story/136498.txt

Friday, May 9, 2008

Episode No. 8: The stony lava flow of Bennett Mountain

http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2008/05/09/features/outdoors/136354.txt

The Wandering Geologist
Lawrence P. Growney

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Skeleton in a drawer: a Bellevue mystery

http://www.mtexpress.com/1999/10-27-99/10-27skeleton.htm

Remains used for Odd Fellows initiation rites
Excerpt from Travis Purser's Mountain Express story:
"Before a building can be sold in Idaho, the seller must disclose any murders or suicides that have happened on the premises, the building’s new owner said recently during a tour.
The owner requested that his name not be used in connection with this story.
"I got a call from my lawyer," he said, grabbing a drawer handle at the bottom of a built-in wardrobe, "who told me there was a skeleton in the closet, literally." He yanked the drawer open, and sure enough, a dusty, wired-together, brittle-looking skeleton, screeched into the harsh florescent light.
"My wife’s not too happy about it," the owner said.
It’s not a very big skeleton. Perhaps the bones of a woman or an adolescent. It rests in what appears to be a home-made coffin, and someone has propped its head up with newspaper.
Rumor has it, the owner said, that an individual of Chinese descent drowned in the Big Wood River and someone wired the bones together. The Odd Fellows used the skeleton for Halloween. He added he didn’t know what the legal ramifications of finding the skeleton were and that he hadn’t yet decided what to do with it."

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Stroud's classified ad makes David Letterman show

From the Challis Messenger:

http://www.challismessenger.com/index.php?accnum=story-32-20080410

BY TODD ADAMS

There was a Late Show response to Rev. Paul Stroud's classified ad to trade a clothes dryer for Oreo cookies in the February 7 issue of The Challis Messenger.

Stroud got no calls the first week he ran it, so he ran it again. Then, on April 1, it was broadcast on "The Late Show with David Letterman."

Letterman read the ad as part of his Small Town News segment that night: "OLDER CLOTHES DRYER. Works well but needs new home. Will trade for 2 large packages Oreo double stuffed cookies (unopened)."

It got the biggest laugh and the most applause, beating the other humorous Small Town News items that night. The items typically include quirky stories, headlines, ads and photos from weekly or daily newspapers. Letterman often highlights humorous mistakes, but fortunately not in this case.

The Messenger contacted Stroud last Friday and asked him if he'd heard the news. Stroud immediately started laughing. "No," he replied, adding "Oh, that's interesting!"

Stroud said he only watches the Letterman show "once in a great while."

Stroud and wife, Robbi, only paid about $15 for the used dryer at a Challis High School yard sale several years ago. When their washing machine died, they decided to get rid of the dryer, too, so they could get a new matching set.

"I wanted some Oreos, but my wife won't buy them for me," Stroud laughed. "I don't need them," he said, but still was craving cookies.

After getting no initial response to his ad, Stroud surmised people might have thought it was a joke, so he added the option "or $15" and ran the ad again on February 14. He got three responses this time and ended up giving the dryer to the first caller, his friend and fellow minister, the Rev. Bill Matthews and wife, Jackie. The Matthews' later came through with the cookies.

The ad didn't include Stroud's name, and Letterman didn't read his phone number on "The Late Show," so "I didn't even get my 15 minutes of fame," Stroud joked.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

'They say it starts with a prayer and ends with a fight'

To promote better sportsmanship, some of the immensely popular LDS Church basketball leagues institute new rules.

http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/347942.html

Snake River fishing trip: Is that really a naked woman reflected in Cheney's sunglasses?

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/348575.html

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Idaho Statesman honored as Pulitzer finalist for breaking news

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/345737.html

Monday, April 7, 2008

Return of the Teton Dam?

http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=17631&fhp

From High Country News

Almost 32 years ago, the Teton Dam in southeastern Idaho failed against the force of a 17-mile long, 270-foot deep reservoir. Eight months of stored stream flow and snowmelt crashed down the valley in less than six hours, swallowing the communities of Rexburg, Teton, Newdale and Sugar City. Eleven people died and the wall of water caused as much as $1 billion in damage, according to local reports.

Now, the dam may be resurrected.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

The Secret life of Lou Dobbs

Why did the influential CNN business anchor undergo an abrupt metamorphosis from corporate sycophant to fire-breathing populist? LUKE MULLINS found the surprising answer in Rupert, the hardscrabble Idaho town where Dobbs grew up.

http://www.american.com/archive/2006/november/lou-dobbs