Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Mountain Town News


By ALLEN BEST - MTN TOWN NEWS SERVICE

Teton County assessed valuation tops $1 billion

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo.—The assessed valuation of Teton County, which is where Jackson Hole is located, has now topped $1 billion. This is nearly triple the value of 10 years ago. New construction is part of the story, officials tell the Jackson Hole News&Guide, but so are increasing values.

By way of Colorado comparisons, Eagle County (Vail) last year had an assessed valuation of $2.4 billion, followed by Pitkin (Aspen) $1.9 billion, and Summit (Breckenridge) $1.27 billion.

They were followed by the mere millionaires: Routt (Steamboat) at $813 million, San Miguel (Telluride) at $780 million, Grand (Winter Park) at $611 million, Gunnison (Crested Butte) at $540 million, and Chaffee (Salida) at $295 million. Also: Lake (Leadville) at $85 million and San Juan (Silverton) at $41 million.

Doctor studies effects of thin air on big boobs

FRISCO, Colo.—Did you know that women who have breast implants sometimes have uncomfortable sensations accompanied by swishing sounds in their chests when visiting higher elevations?

That was the discovery some years ago by Jim Bachman, a physician since 1981 in Frisco. In addition to delivering babies and other ministrations expected of a small-town doctor, he avidly studied effects of the thinner air found at 9,000 to 10,000 feet in elevation.

"Patients complained about the implants sloshing much like your potato chip bag," Dr. Bachman told the Summit Daily News. Pressurized impacts, he explained, expand with a decrease in air pressure, similar to shampoo bottles. He was the first to report on that phenomenon

Bachman also coined a new word while studying high-altitude medicine: bilanders. These are the people who live part-time at low elevations, particularly sea level, and part time at high elevations. Blood-pressure of these bilanders fluctuates up and down as they travel back and forth, he discovered.

Although continuing to live in Summit County, Bachman is giving up his medical practice there, because of his frustration of working with insurance companies. Instead, he'll be commuting about 70 miles to metropolitan Denver, where he will work in occupational medicine.

Presidential candidates panhandle in Park City

PARK CITY, Utah—Presidential candidates are getting to be a regular thing at Park City: Republican contender Mitt Romney owns a home there, and Rudy Giuliani was scheduled this week to press the flesh and solicit donations. One party activist predicted Mr. Giuliani would bank $500,000. Democrat Barak Obama was also scheduled to visit, says The Park Record.

Only clear-cuts would have stopped Tahoe fire

LAKE TAHOE, Calif.—Nothing short of a half-mile-wide clear-cut would have stopped the Angora fire from torching the homes near Lake Tahoe in late June, according to a Forest Service study released last week.

The report says fire danger conditions were some of the most severe experienced in the last 20 years, with the air dry and trees parched. Winds gusted to an estimated 40 mph.

But the Forest Service report does not suggest clear cutting as a way to tame wildfires, reports the Sacramento Bee. Instead, the report found that most thinning projects worked as intended, reducing the intensity of the blaze.

But thinning alone is not enough, said Matt Mathews, a Forest Service spokesman, and neither is creating defensible space around homes. "Either one by itself is not enough."

Durango looks to use water more efficiently

DURANGO, Colo.—Nowhere in the West is the story of water scarcity told with such drama as in Las Vegas. Despite the jungle waterfalls, Venetian-type canals and ooh-ahh Bellagio waterworks, the story in the suburbs is of bone-dry front yards and marginal grass even in the backyards. In fact, the water district has been paying homeowners to pull up their sod.

The situation is nowhere nearly as dramatic in Durango, but just the same, city officials hope to stretch existing supplies by 10 percent by mandating landscaping techniques that will use less water, reports the Durango Telegraph. Kentucky bluegrass won't be banned outright, but new developments will be encouraged to adopt the principles of xeriscaping, integrating more drought-tolerant plants into the landscape.

The city water-treatment plant is running at half capacity, but the population is projected to triple.

Bear breaks into house, shot underneath deck

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev.—A bear estimated to weigh 600 pounds was shot and killed after it broke into a home in the early morning. The family locked itself into a bedroom and called police. The arriving cop said the bear charged him, and he shot at it, but only grazed it. The bear fled, and after a search was found under a neighborhood balcony. It was killed, authorities tell the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

Bear activists report that fire, drought, and poor food crops have resulted in a large number of bears being killed in California this year. The old record of 20 will be doubled if current trends continue, they say.




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