Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2008 12:00 am
From wire reports
Green River doctor runs for U.S. House
CHEYENNE - A doctor who says the government had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has quietly entered is seeking the Republican Party's nomination for Wyoming's seat in the U.S. House.
Dr. Michael Holland, a pathologist at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County in Rock Springs, hasn't publicly announced his campaign, isn't sure whether he's going to do much advertising, and doesn't plan to campaign anywhere he hasn't been invited.
Even so, Holland's a serious candidate who wants to help remake the Republican Party, he said in a phone interview from his home in Green River.
He hopes to be invited to debate with the other three Republicans who hope to replace the retiring Rep. Barbara Cubin, he said.
"I'm running because I listened and looked at the Web sites of some of the other people that have announced, Bill Winney and Cynthia Lummis, and I didn't get the sense that they were addressing some of the issues that I felt are most important," Holland said.
Most of the nation's problems result from programs like Medicare and Social Security, which he described as "huge welfare programs" and "benevolent associations."
Holland also said the government at least had foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Training exercises that day drew military jets away from the East Coast, he said. "Whether they let it happen or made it happen, you know, does it really matter?"
Holland moved to Green River from Phoenix in late 2006.
He holds a bachelor's degree in geophysics from University of Missouri-Rolla, worked 10 years in oil and gas exploration, then earned a medical degree from University of Texas in Galveston, according to his Web site.
The other three GOP U.S. House candidates are retired Navy officer Winney, former state treasurer Lummis, and Buffalo area rancher Mark Gordon.
Gary Trauner is the only Democrat running for his party's nomination so far.
Resort plans early opening
JACKSON - Jackson Hole Mountain Resort plans to open a week early this fall.
This year, the resort expects to open on Nov. 29, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and is scheduled to close on April 5, 2009.
The resort usually begins offering lift service on the first Saturday in December.
A new tram to replace the historic red tram at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is expected to begin operating in December.
Tribes can hunt bison on Elk Refuge
JACKSON - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is allowing two Idaho tribes to ceremonially hunt for bison on the National Elk Refuge in western Wyoming.
The Shoshone-Bannock tribes on the Fort Hall Reservation near Pocatello, Idaho, will be allowed to take five bison on the refuge. Those bison can be of either sex and of any age and can be killed at any time this year.
Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Kim Greenwood said the agency is requiring the tribes to work with refuge managers to coordinate the ceremonial hunt.
Refuge Manager Steve Kallin says the hunt is permitted under a Fish and Wildlife Service policy that provides access for American Indians to perform ceremonial activities.
Photographers focus on Upper Green
PINEDALE - Nature photographers from around the world are scheduled to photograph Wyoming's Upper Green River Valley this month to illustrate the challenges of conservation there in the face of intense gas development.
The International League of Conservation Photographers plans to conduct a three-day expedition in the valley this month. It's called a rapid assessment visual expedition, or RAVE.
A statement from the league said that although gas development there has diminished air and water resources, the landscape still contains much of high scenic and ecological value. There will be a public exhibition of the photographs at the National Museum of Wildlife Art later in Jackson Hole later this month.
Agency proposes continued grazing
KEMMERER - Federal officials want to continue sheep grazing in two large grazing areas in southwest Wyoming, according to U.S. Forest Service administrators.
Kemmerer District Ranger Tracy Hollingshead is considering authorizing continued permitted livestock grazing on the approximately 35,000-acre Smiths Fork grazing area - which includes the Smiths Fork, Buckskin Knoll and Lake Alice allotments - and the 7,100-acre Lower Salt Creek area.
All of the allotments are located on the southwestern end of the Salt Range in an area about 18 miles south of Afton and 25 miles north of Cokeville.
Officials said there are currently 2,405 permitted animal unit months on the allotments, which are mostly used for sheep.
The district is accepting public comments on the proposal through May 29.