CHRONICLE
4 I The Lovell Chronicle I September 5, 2013
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If you can pull a trailer and have at least one spare hour
per month to spare, the Lovell recycling program could use
your help.
That was the message presented by Christy Fleming at
last week Lovell Town Council work meeting at town hall.
In a very interesting presentation, Fleming, a recycling
organizer and advocate who also happens to be the chief
of interpretation for the Bighorn Canyon National Recre-
ation Area, told how the local recycling program is nearly
becoming a victim of its own success.
So many people are using the trailers stationed at the
Red Apple parking lot that they are filling faster than they
can be taken to the Powell Recycling Center some weeks.
And with the National Park Service bearing a significant
portion of the burden but facing further budget cuts, our
community is going to need to step up if the program is to
continue.
The nice thing about volunteering through the Nation-
al Park Service is that trailer drivers can officially sign up as
NPS volunteers, which means they are covered by insur-
ance while driving. The Park Service will also provide some
training.
It only takes about an hour per trip, Fleming said, and
the folks at the recycling center in Powell are very helpful
when it comes to unloading the trailer.
This program is saving our landfill about 90,000 pounds
of waste material per year, and that figure is growing. It
would be a shame to lose it,
As Fleming put it, "We're at a critical mass. Either we
don't do it anymore or we come up with a plan. We're at
the end of the bridge."
If you'd like to help, give Christy a call at 548-5402. The
Town of Lovell is also seeking solutions, and ideas would be
appreciated at town hall.
-David Peck
Letters to the editor
Dear Editor,
We recently held our annu-
al family reunion in Cowley and
wish to let the community know
how beautiful Cowley looks.
Main Street looks better than
it ever has. The lawns, streets
and buildings are clean and well
maintained.
Thank you for taking pride
in our town and for taking such
good care of a place that means so
much to so many people. Many m
our family learned in fourth grade
Wyoming history class (teacher
Norma Black) that the Meadow-
lark (state bird) is easily recog-
nized by its song, "Cowley is...a
pretty little place."
We agree.
The McKay and Ina Welling
Family
Dear Editor, first 10,000th point in NBA his-
Big screen TV is great and tory. I saw Meadowlark Lemon,
gives you a front-row seat at all Marques Haines and Goose Ta-
sorts of events, but nothing can tum of The Harlem Globetrotters
replace the experience of seeing and was doused with a bucket of
the events live and in person. I confetti.
have attended many events that I I saw the 1980 USA gold med-
would like to tell about, al Olympic hockey team in an ex-
I have seen great parades hibition game and got goalie Jim
such as the Rose Bowl Parade and Craig's autograph. I saw the great
you could smell the flowers used Indy car driver A.J. Foyt win a
on the floats, the Macy's Thanks- 100-mile race and you could smell
giving Day Parade in New York the exhaust fumes and the burn-
City, the Saint Patrick's Day Pa- ing smell of tires.
rade in Chicago when the river I met Grace Kelly at a New
turns green and a presidential in- Jersey Shore beach party long be-
augural parade in Washington, fore she became a movie star. I at-
D.C. tended a live show featuring the
At sporting events I watched great comedian Bob Hope and
the great quarterback Johnny laughed for hours long before be-
Unitas of the Baltimore Colts coming a grumpy old man. I at-
complete pass after pass. I played tended live radio shows in 1949
in a touch football game with the when country western singer Bill
great running back Steve Van Bu- Haley was just starting out and
ren (his brother-in-law was a co- years later I sneaked into the
worker of mine) of the Philadel- Grey Rock Tavern (under age at
phia Eagles. the time), when he debuted his hit
In baseball I saw Mickey Man- song, "Rock around the Clock" be-
tle hit a tape measure home run fore it was recorded.
and I saw the greatest hitter in Yes, I have attended many
baseball, the great Ted Williams, events and on my bucket list are
strike out twice in one game and events like the Little League
he looked great striking out. I at- World Series, the Mardi Gras, the
tended a Philadelphia A's game Kentucky Derby and a Rose Bowl
during their 19-game winning game.
streak in the 1950s and saw an Big screen TV is fine and you
unassisted triple play and a pitch- can kick back in your recliner
er hit a grand slam home run. with pizza and a beer, but it will
In pro basketball I saw greats never replace the thrill and expe-
like Bill Russell and Wilt Cham- rience of live and in person, so if
berlain and was at the game you have the chance, go and you
when Dolph Schayes, of the old will have a lifetime of memories.
Syracuse Nationals, score the Jim Szlemko
High temperatures have been not-
ed lately in the Big Horn Basin, which is
why some people are happy that they can
sweat for a good reason.
Some hot-tempered people get hot un-
der the collar about most everything, in-
cluding the weather, which provides a
hotbed for discussion about whether it's
really hot or just too humid. Mark Twain
is quoted as saying, "Everyone talks about
the weather, but no one does anything
about it."
Sometimes it's so hot that it affects
our brains, which causes anecdotes and
legends to emerge. Just remember that
there's truth in such. Some, anyway. For example, in
one state (it is said with a straight face) that it was
the middle of corn season and the sunshine was so
hot that the corn popped and nearly caused a white-
out. Well, there was a herd of cows next to that field
and when they saw the popped corn coming down
they thought it was snow. What with cows not being
known for super intelligence they stood there and
froze to death.
During times of high temperatures a lot of peo-
ple (OK, me and a couple of others) get into discus-
sions about hot places and who has been in some and
endured the most heat. I'll go first. Here are a few
of the most uncomfortable locations I've been where
heat and humidity conspired to make me misera-
ble: Bakersfield, Baker, San Bernardino (the "Bern"
fits), Escondido, Palm Springs, Redding and E1 Cen-
tro, all in California. Notice that the first two sites
emphasize "bake." That's exactly correct. You feel
baked there
Then there's Arizona. The entire state includ-
ing Yuma, Tucson and Phoenix. To use another an-
ecdote, it's reported (dryly) that sometimes due to
lack of rain and an abundance of heat, the
trees start following dogs around. That
: might be a tall tale, but in fact, if you vis-
it the Yuma Territorial Prison Historic
State Park during summer, it seems im-
possible that those held there survived.
Or if you tour the ancient Casa Grande
Ruins National Park near Coolidge, ap-
proximately an hour's drive from Phoe-
: : .... nix, you realize that folks had to be real-
ly tough to live in such heat. I mean, it's
Bob hot! I've also encountered hot heat in E1
Rodriguez Paso, Texas; Sante Fe and Las Cruces,
N.M.; and Washington, D.C., although in
the latter locale the outrageous humidity
makes the conditions worse. You just drip perspi-
ration. (I know, TMI). And in E1 Paso it sometimes
got so hot that the asphalt roadways would melt a
bit and make the white markings wiggly. That's the
truth.
Besides being in some places made hot by the
sun, I've had the experience as a hotheaded, hot dog-
ging teen-ager of driving a hot rod (V-8 Olds engine
in a small Ford coupe); been accused of being full of
• hot air; been in the passenger seat of high-powered
police and sheriffs units in hot pursuits; and been in
hot water. Regarding that last: Not only while bath-
ing, but because of dumb actions or comments when
I was much younger. I'd rather not discuss them
right now because they could destroy my image as
a hotshot. Yes, sometimes my bosses made it hot for
me and afterward I didn't feel so hot.
As I hotfoot it away from the sizzling computer
keyboard to eat a platter ofhotcakes I remember the
quote hy "Kin" Hubbard, an American humorist who
died in 1930. He noted, "Don't knock the weather;
nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversa-
tion if it didn't change once in a while."
BY ROBERT J. STERNBERG
When people hear of my passion for intercolle-
giate athletics at the University of Wyoming, they
sometimes ask me why I care so much about athlet-
ics. After all, a university is essentially an academ-
ic institution, and so what does athletics have to do
with an academic institution? As it turns out, quite
a lot.
First, land-grant institutions like are ded-
icated to educating future ethical leaders who will
make a positive, meaningful and enduring difference
to the world. If you look at the characteristics of suc-
cessful leaders and you look at the characteristics of
successful athletes, they are pretty much the same
-- drive to succeed, good work ethic, sense of respon-
sibility, knowing how to win and how to lose, skill in
planning, understanding the rules of a game, treat-
ing others including competitors with respect, eth-
ical behavior toward others, knowing how to work
with teammates and so forth. When we educate ath-
letes at UW, we educate the future ethical leaders of
the state of Wyoming and our nation.
Second, athletics helps promote positive spirit
and passion toward the university, not only among
the athletes, but also among all the fans. It is one
of our greatest sources of "UW Pride." In the end,
most citizens of Wyoming do not know exactly how
strong one or another department is, but many of
them do know how our teams are doing, especially
in football and basketball. As a land-grant institu-
tion, we serve the state and want people in the state
to connect with and be enthusiastic about us. Ath-
letics is a major means of promoting connection and
enthusiasm.
Third, athletics promotes good health habits
among our students at UW. We hear about how peo-
ple who get out of shape suffer more illnesses and
live shorter lives. Collegiate athletics can promote
the kinds of good health habits that last a lifetime.
And athletics provides something constructive for
students at UW to do in their free time, rather than
some of the negative activities in which they might
otherwise engage during this time.
Fourth, athletics helps UW financially. When a
university has winning teams, donors are more like-
ly to give money, not only to athletics, but also to
other endeavors of the university. There is a saying
that "nothing breeds success like success," and this
saying applies to athletics. Many donors who start
off giving money to athletics end up giving money to
academic endeavors as well. So winning games not
only will help our athletics program, but also our en-:
tire university.
Finally, athletics helps promote the statewide
and national brand of the University of Wyoming.
I saw this as a provost and senior vice president at
Oklahoma State. When the football team excelled,
the university started getting free positive publicity
in national media, not only for football, but also for
other things. Moreover, applications for admission
skyrocketed. People who before hardly knew that
Oklahoma State existed now began to talk about the
university with enthusiasm. Athletics success helps
promote prominence. And let's face it: To get this
kind of prominence and attention, a university team
has to be Division I. For better or worse, people just
don't pay the same kind of attention to teams in Di-
visions II and III.
The core of a university is its academic mission.
But done right, athletics complements that aca-
demic mission rather than competing with it. (Done
wrong, athletics leads to scandals and bad press --
definitely not what we want for UW!)
So now you know why I'm passionate about in-
tercollegiate athletics, and about seeing our beloved
University of Wyoming win its games. I want you to
be passionate, too, so please come to our games. The
2013 home football schedule begins Sept. 7 against
the University of Idaho. Athletes play better when
they have big audiences to cheer them on. We need
you at our games.
Go Pokes!
Robert J. Sternberg is president of the
University of Wyoming.
Letter to the editor
s must come
MEMBER 2013
Dear Editor: presented to a president a plan
We note that Liz Cheney that would include how to fund
has hit the ground running forit. The president rejected it and
the U.S. Senate seat now held would use Medicare funds for
by Sen. Mike Enzi. Obamacare.
She has in hand a call to We approve Enzi's idea of of-
"stand up" for better ethics, fering 100 sheep rather than the
Nonetheless, her forefathers $1 million reward the U.S. offers
in politics have rejected Chris- Afghans to turn in terrorists.
tian questions regarding theirAs a term limits advocate, I
stand on who marries, am willing to stretch Sen. En-
Yes, their "private lives" arezi's term one more time. Why?
their own business until they Because splitting the Republican
become public figures and makevote over this "race" is a mis-
the laws which govern the resttake. Republicans need to come
of us. As we vote, we will choose together, get a (new) platform
him who will best maintain ourof ethics to promote media mo-
Christian ethics, rality and end PACs and ear-
This primary season, Repub- marks -- or face a third-party
licans need to explore the me-emergence.
dia myth that Republicans had Nora Marie Lewis
no health care plan. Sen. Enzi Basin
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Editor and Publisher:
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