The ties that bind are important.

For media outlets, that often means the local ties that bind are perhaps most important.

Which makes a story in the (Newcastle) News Letter Journal something to trumpet - especially for a town that numbers just over 3,000 individuals.

And so it is that Chris Field, a 1971 graduate of Newcastle High School was celebrated in the pages of the Jan. 31 News Letter Journal, sharing an honor with the likes of former vice president Al Gore. Field is a member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared a Nobel prize with Gore.

Field is a biological sciences professor at Stanford University.

By our proper names, please

Sticks and stones may break their bones, but names won't hurt the kids who are part of the City of Cody's After School Activities Program (ASAP).

You see, Friday began the first day of a "No Name Calling" month.

"For the entire month of February we as a group are going to try and not call anybody a name because we believe that is rude and disrespectful and not part of our Home Court Advantage," the students in the after-school program wrote in a memo distributed to The Whole Town's Talking.

Easier said than done? Hardly, according to the memo. These kids are serious.

They've even put a video together detailing just how not to call someone something other than their first name.

Bravo.

This man's got ice in his veins

There's a picture in the Jan. 29 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle that shows Brent Weigener's beard the same color as the ground he's just covered in his latest marathon.

Thing is, his last marathon was in one of the coldest places on Earth.

It was in Antarctica, during that continent's summer in December.

No, he didn't do it in a T-shirt and shorts. No, the place looked like Bondurant does in December, with thick snow and air so cold you can practically make smoke rings each time you exhale.

"The reasons for doing it ranged from wanting to visit Antarctica to wanting to do something considered extreme to people who were getting in the Guinness Book of World Records," said Weigener, a teacher at a junior high school in Cheyenne.

And get this. Weigener said he did the marathon with a man from Singapore, who was confined to a wheelchair.

"That was very cool," Weigener, who has run in 160 marathons, told the paper.

Cool. Yeah, we bet.

The marathon, Weigener told the paper, ranged in temperature from 15 degrees to minus-50 near the South Pole.

His next adventure? Running from the South Pole to the Antarctic coast, where we're sure he'll need plenty of sunblock and a Speedo to celebrate when he gets there.

An archer's dream come true

For anyone who's ever tried to hit a bullseye with a bow and arrow, Kemmerer resident Torin Boyd has achieved a feat of mythical proportions.

So mythical, it's called a "Robin Hood" shot.

The Kemmerer Gazette reported in its Jan. 24 edition of the exploits of Boyd, who was taking an archery lesson at the town rec center.

The shot is accomplished, the paper noted, when the shooter makes his target, followed by a second shot that lodges into the end of the first arrow.

"It took me until I was 18 to do that, and I've been shooting since I was eight," instructor Derrick Moe told the paper. "For someone Torin's age, it's pretty incredible."

Not exactly 'Dancing with the Stars,' but close

A Wheatland couple can claim they can dance with the best of them.

Joe and Linda Fabian were named world champions in the United Country Western Dance Championships in Nashville, the Platte County Record-Times reported in its Jan. 30 edition.

They placed first in seven dances, including cha-cha, waltz, two-step, East and West Coast swing.

The couple travels the country to various dance competitions, convincing people that all dancing - country and western - is worthwhile.

"And … Joe has had his share of wardrobe malfunctions," Linda told the paper.

The couple competed with more than 2,000 other dancers, representing the host United States from Wyoming … which means the judges ostensibly had to save the best for last.

Got an item or tip for this column? Contact night editor David Mirhadi at (307) 266-0616 or david.mirhadi@trib.com.