Mountain Town News
By Allen Best
Hot wires deter pillaging bruins
LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Bears broke into the vacation home of John Cunningham four times in two years. Fed up, he began looking for ways to deter the bears at his cabin on the west shore of Lake Tahoe.
Although now $400 to $600 poorer, Cunningham believes he has hit on a way to keep the bears from pillaging in his pantry. He had wires electrified with 9,500 volts strung across his doors and windows, explains the Sierra Sun.
Doug McNair, who has a business specializing in installing bear-deterrent systems, said he has installed 17 such electrical systems so far, with complete success. “We’ve had zero bear break-ins with the wiring systems,” he said.
The voltage will not kill birds and squirrels, because the wire is not grounded. Small children who touch the wires will get a jolt they’ll likely not forget, but the charge shouldn’t be enough to cause injury.
Bears likewise aren’t likely to forget the jolt, which is why the contractor believes neighborhoods in which such electric wires protect doors and windows will train bears to avoid homes altogether.
Sundance clamps down
PARK CITY, Utah – Organizers of the Sundance Film Festival have traditionally allowed Utah residents to purchase passes and ticket packages at discounted rates. But the Park Record notes that many vacation-home owners have also purchased the discounted passes, using property-tax statements and utility bills. Not good enough anymore, says Sundance. Henceforth, it’ll take a Utah driver’s license.
Jackson needs roadside Tums
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Although it’s now two hours away from the closest interstate highway, Jackson Hole may be getting five lanes of its own. Some locals are none too happy about it.
State and federal highway officials want to widen a 2-lane highway for about 6 miles south of Jackson. They say the highway widening must be done to make it safer, and anything short of five lanes won’t be enough to accommodate growth traffic during the next 25 years.
The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports considerable heartburn. Teton County officials, for example, had proposed a more limited widening. Hank Phibbs, a county commissioner, said the local proposal was “more sensitive of the landscape, more acceptable to our community, and perfectly safe as a highway.”
Local environmentalists worry about creating an even greater barrier to wildlife. State and federal officials insist that won’t be the case, as there may be some wildlife underpasses.
But finally, the highway jars Jackson Hole’s self-image.
“We consider ourselves a rural community,” said Louis Lasley, public lands director for the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. “Even though they call it a rural five lane, I have a hard time imagining five lanes in the same context.”
North country expects snow
KETCHUM, Idaho – La Niña weather typically provides lots of snow for the more northerly resorts, such as Sun Valley, and drier and sunnier conditions for places like Telluride. This year probably will be no exception. Chris Hattings, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, tells the Idaho Mountain Express that this coming winter will likely be snowy and cloudy in Ketchum and other local towns.
Lamenting the loss of quiet
WHITEFISH, Mont. – If the economy has dulled the house building in mountain towns, there’s still a bitter taste in the mouth of one Montana resident.
Writing in the Whitefish Pilot, the resident laments the changing face of her neighborhood. First, a neighbor built a garage and put an apartment atop it, which is rented out to those who can look into her backyard.
“These visitors seem to have a propensity for parties and late-night music and drunken chatter,” she writes. “All this noise rolling into my windows with the cool evening breeze.”
Then there’s the new three-story house across the street. “This house stares at my house like some big eye, the sun reflecting from the windows like burning spotlights,” she says.
She wonders what happened to the small town in Montana that she loved.
Just guessing, but maybe others decided that they loved it, too.
Shoving match in Vail
VAIL, Colo. – Many visitors to ski towns see a homogeneity in the local population, but the reality is often very different. This is particularly true of the local towns and the ski area operator.
In Vail, one former town manager likened the relationship to two convicts handcuffed together and let loose in a jungle. They kind of have to come to terms with one another, but it’s never particularly easy.
This has been evident for the last decade in the parking situation. For several reasons, the existing parking garages – although large – have been inadequate during ski season, particularly weekends, holidays and powder days. Cars spill over onto frontage roads, creating what for some is an aesthetic issue and for others a safety concern.
Then comes real estate. Vail Resorts, the ski area operator, has a $1 billion project, called Ever Vail, now before the town. It will include a lot of parking. But enough?
The Vail Daily, in a recent dispatch, describes what sounds like a new round of shoving between the town and ski company.
Andy Daly, a former executive of the ski and development company, who now sits on the town council, says providing enough parking to prevent the frontage-road parking has become the town’s top priority. He’s adamant the solution must be delivered by 2012 – the 50th anniversary of the opening of the ski area.
Asked about the tension, Vail Mayor Dick Cleveland considers it natural, even healthy. The town government answers to taxpayers, while the company answers to stockholders, he said.
