JANUARY 24 2005

THE PLAINS TRUTH: Weekend papers included another one of those voguish "emptying Great Plains" articles. A worthwhile read, but add'l perspective and data are in order --- and available through the Great Plains Population and Environment project, run jointly by researchers from CSU and the University of Michigan. Also see the Great Plains Population Symposium's website, the International Institute for Sustainable Development's Great Plains page, and the Colorado Rural Development Council.

And while you're at it, check out Keith Cook’s "A Whiskey Train and a Doughnut a Day: Coming of Age on the Colorado Plains" in the Society’s Western Voices: 125 Years of Colorado Writing.

CLANNED OBSOLESCENCE: In case you missed Sunday’s Denver Post article, the wise fathers of County Meath, Ireland, have proposed a freeway through the historic Tara/Skryne Valley, aka "Valley of the Irish Kings." The construction would befoul a site of great mythic and spiritual value, with monuments dating back 5,000 years or so. Opponents are running a petition campaign to halt the project, and the Archaeological Institute of America is on the case. Also see recent BBC coverage, and an angry rant from a vexed Meather.

BILL ME LATER: Senator Wayne Allard will pick up the ball that Colorado Rep. Marilyn Musgrave dropped late last year, introducing a new bill to authorize Sand Creek National Historic Site. Long overdue, honorable ladies and gents; let's get on with it.

HAIL TO THE BEEF: Friday’s near-record auction bid for Flush, the 2005 National Western Stock Show Grand Champion Steer, and the beast’s subsequent appearance in the Brown Palace lobby call to mind the celebrated 1945 show, which drew prominent coverage in Time and Life magazines. That year future governor Dan Thornton sold two bulls for the stupendous sum of $50K per and showcased them the following day at the Brown Palace, inaugurating the hotel’s long-running tradition of champion steer exhibition. Rodney Preston, professor emeritus at Texas Tech University, details the ’45 show in the forthcoming Volume 11 of Colorado History. And the just-issued Winter 2005 edition of Colorado Heritage takes readers all the way back to the infamous stock show / barbecue / food fight of January 1898.