"Nino" appears on 60 Minutes

Well Justice Antonin Scalia got his turn on 60 Minutes yesterday, to discuss his life and career, and his new book "Making your case: The Art of Persuading Judges." In my view he was treated a bit harsher than his colleague, Justice Clarence Thomas, when he appeared on 60 Minutes a couple of months ago. See one of my earlier posts for links to those video clips.

"Nino" as he is referred to by his friends, in stark contrast with the public perception of himself, has a collegial relationship with the other members of the High Court. One of his closest friends on the Court is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the liberal standard-bearers of the Court. The picture below of Justice Scalia and Justice Ginsburg together in India sits in Justice Ginsburg's office.

One of the interesting twists in the 60 Minutes piece is when commentator Lesly Stahl reveals that Justice Scalia has passed through some "down times" of quasi-depression on the court. She read excerpts from two letters that Scalia wrote to retired Justice Harry Blackmun in which he expressed frustration. Scalia looks visibly surprised...and notes that he had forgotten ever writing those letters. He then acknowledged growing tired of having to repeat himself in dissent after dissent.

Posted below are the two video segments from 60 Minutes.

Ward Talent Show - Miley the Diva & Mason as Elvis

Well last night our ward held its annual "Ward Talent Show." It featured the standard fare of piano, violin, clarinet, flute and guitar pieces. We also had some unique Elko talents...including a demonstration of Elk calling by Scott N. and his son Cody.

At one point during the show an older sister with a poodle skirt from the ward got up to play a Glen Miller piece on the piano. We were seated on the front row of metal chairs in the gym. Miley, being the little diva that she is, decided to go up and stand in front of the crowd and start dancing to the music. I think the crowd was more entertained by the dancing than the piano.



Some of you may not be aware of the fact that I a mean karaoke singer. I pride myself on belting out some pretty crazy Elvis, Willie Nelson, Billy Joel and Elton John tunes. During a lull in the performances it didn't take much coaxing from the MC to get me to jump into the mix. I sang the famous Elvis hit "In the Ghetto."

How do you think I compare with the "real deal"? I think if I had a jumpsuit, some gold chains, and bit more chest hair than I can boast...I would have been pretty close. (wink, wink)



The talent show closed with a performance by a band made up exclusively of members of our ward, with the exception of the lead singer being from another ward in the stake. The band was called "Beauty and the Beasts," although someone joked that maybe they should be called "Chip and the Stoners." The band featured Courtney W. on lead vocals, Greg B. on sax, Brandon S., Doug S. and Richard T. on guitars, Chip S. on drums and back-up vocals, and Chelsea N. on the keyboard. They were actually quite impressive. Richard's grandson, Spencer, came up and stood by his grandfather and played a toy guitar. Like grandfather, like grandson I guess...it was really cute.




On the night it was all a lot of clean family fun. Andy M. invited Roger S. from the Public Defender's Office to attend and he had a fun time goofing around with Andy's son Nikolas during the events. Bishop Esplin's neighbors also attended and I realized that his neighbor's wife is a student in my political science class at the college. Small world, especially in Elko. I guess my karaoke secret is out.

Aaron Fotheringham - Inspiration on Wheels

Some of you may, or may not, be aware of the fact that Mandy lived for a time with a family in Las Vegas by the name of the Fotheringham's. Steve Fotheringham is a professor at the LDS Institute of Religion in Las Vegas and Mandy spent about a year living with their family while she was a student at UNLV. Steve and Kaylene were unable to have children and have adopted several children, either from LDS Social Services or from the State. They also adopted a couple of children from Russia. Steve was my seminary teacher when I was a freshman at Las Vegas High School. Steve and Kaylene have a remarkable son by the name of Aaron. He was born with Spina Bifida and has spent his life either confined to using a wheelchair or crutches. Over the years his parents have transported him to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City for treatment (My aunt Peggy S. is one his nurse's at the Spina Bifida Clinic at Primary Children's).

Aaron's latest adventures have put a focus on his abilities, not his disabilities. He is truly an inspirational young man. Aaron's oldest brother used to like to go a local skate park and sometimes Aaron would tag along. One day his brother challenged Aaron to go down some of the cement ramps on his wheelchair. Being the brazen young man that he is...he took his brother up on it...and the rest is history.

I have posted some video clips that speak for themselves. Check them out below. You may want to have Kleenex handy...one of the clips is sort of tear-jerker (the ESPN clip).

Book Review - "My Grandfather's Son" by Justice Clarence Thomas

A couple of weeks ago I finished the first book that I have had the chance to sit down and read in quite some time. A few months ago when this book was first released I told myself that I really needed to read this book. I spoke to a friend of mine in DC about the book and it came highly recommended. Well I finally put my feet to the fire and read the book myself.

Let me just preface my comments by saying that I was already an admirer of Clarence Thomas, and already considered him to be one of my favorite Justices on the high court. However, after reading this book my esteem for him has increased, and I have come to view him in a much more informed light.

Clarence Thomas grew up in rural Georgia, born to a single mother, and ultimately raised for most of his life by his grandfather, Myers Anderson, and his step-grandmother. Myers taught Clarence discipline, hard-work, the value of education, and sheltered Clarence from the negative influences of urban Savannah. Myers also taught Clarence the value of a man's word, and held Clarence to his commitments - even kicking Clarence out of his home when he failed to follow through on his commitment to attend the seminary and become a priest.

The book details Clarence's journey from rural poverty and urban squalor to an eventual position on the high court. It also details his relationship with Anita Hill, a mediocre employee that Clarence had originally hired to work for him at the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, who had ridden the coattails of Clarence's rise in influence and followed him to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and then put the dagger in his back in a moment of opportunism.

I highly recommend this book to all - even those with no interest in the law or the courts. It details certain virtues that were once held as paramount in American life - and have fallen to almost mere afterthoughts, products of a bygone era.

There was also a neat piece that was released on 60 Minutes when the book was released. It talks about the book and has an extended interview with Justice Thomas. I highly recommend that you watch this piece as well. I have posted the three video segments below.

New pictures of the girls

Here is a look at the newest pictures of the girls. These were taken towards the end of March, 2008 and the beginning of April, 2008. Marley is about 6 weeks old and Miley is just under 2 and a half years old.

Hunting Buffalo in Beowawe

Well it is time to crack the whip and do my initial post on the new blog. I had a blog two or three years ago focused mainly on politics in the Las Vegas area...but it had only a post or two before it went the way of all the earth. So since blogs are all the rage at the moment...I decided to give it another go.

About two or three weeks ago I ran into one of the Juvenile Probation Officers in the hallway where I work. He told me that he was going on a buffalo hunt. My first response was, "Buffalo hunting in Nevada?" But it was actually true.

I immediately initiated efforts to figure out how I could get in on this gig too. It took two or three weeks of calling and leaving messages before I eventually got in touch with the people in the know.

About 40 miles west of Elko is a small community known as Beowawe, Nevada. Beowawe is a Paiute Native American word meaning "gate." Adjacent to that small community is a massive 55,000 acre ranch known as the Horseshoe Ranch. In July 2005 the Horseshoe Ranch was purchased by the Elko Land & Livestock Company, a subsidiary of the Newmont Mining Corporation. The original owners of the Horseshoe Ranch had apparently established a small herd of buffalo on the ranch. The buffalo had taken to roaming the ranch, and didn't much care for fences of any kind. Apparently ELLC got a little tired of dealing with this problem and decided to thin out the herd a bit. So the ELLC decided to allow some of the buffalo to "be purchased." They decided to allow people to purchase the buffalo at $400 a piece, and would allow the buffalo to be removed from the ranch "feet up or feet down." If you were unable to locate one of the buffalo then your check would not be cashed. Because buffalo are a non-game species in the state of Nevada...all of this business is technically not considered a hunt.

So I made arrangements for four buffalo permits. My friend from work lent me his 4x4 truck, and gave me some hints of where we might locate the buffalo. My uncle, Harold, my cousin, Scott, and two friends from my ward, Scott and Cody, decided to come along for the adventure.

We left on Saturday morning, April 12, 2008 at about 5:45 am from Elko. We arrived at the Beowawe exit at around 6:30 am. Our first stop was just off the freeway at a series of rolling hills to the west of the road where two buffalo had been killed just two weeks before. Our search of the area didn't turn up any buffalo or any signs of any buffalo.

We decided to move on to a burn area west of the town of Beowawe in an area known as the "Whirlwind Valley." The Tuscarora Mountains surround the valley, and a major wildfire had recently burnt much of the vegetation. We followed the Beowawe Power Plant road down into the valley, then along the power lines to the base of the rolling mountains.

We had brought along three 4-wheelers to help us cover the large area. Scott and Cody N. were on one, myself and my cousin, Scott S., on another, and my uncle, Harold S., on the third one. We split up to check out most of the mountains and hills to see if we could locate anything.

We went ballistic on the 4-wheelers traveling clear to the mountain peaks and looking down into the various little canyons and valleys to see if we could spot anything. This went on until nearly noon, at which point we had decided to make our way back towards the truck for lunch. At this point my uncle Harold was up a little bit ahead of us and we were following him down a trail on the mountain top. Just then we noticed that Harold had gotten off his 4-wheeler and was peering into a valley below. He turned around, looking excited, and motioned us to approach. We dismounted from the 4-wheeler and walked up to his position. He indicated that he had spotted a group of six buffalo grazing in the valley below.

At this point we put our heads together to come up with a plan. I volunteered to remain in position at the peak to watch the buffalo and remain on the radio. My uncle Harold would sneak down a ridge to the north of the herd, and Scott down a ridge to the south of the herd. Once both were in position about thirty or so minutes later, they would fire.

As they moved into position, the buffalo were at ease. Most of the time they were eating casually, and sometimes most of the group was laying down half asleep.

My uncle found a rock cropping about 50 yards above and to the north of the herd, and my cousin Scott found a rock cropping about 100 yards to the South and above the herd. When the shots rang out the big bull was the first to fall, tumbling five or six times down the hill. He was followed by the big female that was nearly as large as the bull.

Large Bull

Large Female Buffalo

I fully expected at this point that the remaining herd would take off full-speed out of the canyon. The remaining four younger buffalo stood there like deer in the headlights. Eventually, Harold shot one more of the younger females and then the rest of the herd went on their way up the canyon.

Yearling Female Buffalo

I attempted to radio the remainder of our hunting party, but they were unable to get to our position in time to pursue the other animals, not to mention the fact that I couldn't really describe where we were at either.

As you might imagine, the work was only beginning. We spent the next 8 hours gutting, skinning and quartering the buffalo and removing them from the canyon by 4-wheeler. The buffalo had fallen on a steep rocky hillside, making the work even more difficult.

Harold, Scott S. and Scott N. were the primary meat-cutters and earned their pay in gold.

We arrived at the residence of the local butcher at about 9:30 pm. We had a total of about 500 lbs. of meat that we are having processed into hamburger, steaks, roasts and a few specialty items (summer sausage, pepper sticks and jerky). It should all be finished in about a week or so.

Harold and Scott intend to head-mount the large bull, and Scott N. removed the capes from the two smaller buffalo.

There is a reason why they say that hunting buffalo is "once in a lifetime experience." That is because you are so exhausted afterwards that you only want to do it once.