Today In Wyoming's History: Wyoming History in the Making: United States Supr...

Today In Wyoming's History: Wyoming History in the Making: United States Supr...: The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Brandt v. United States. Supreme Court of the United States MARVIN M. BRA...

Interesting U.S. Supreme Court opinion, with potentially vast financial consequences.  And, while I haven't studied it yet, and haven't seen any commentary of this type, I wonder if it also will ultimately go on to be  present a basis for other arguments about the nature of Federal grants, which might have an even more vast, and entirely unintended, series of consequences.

The Moving Picture: Delivery truck and wagons. 1917

Sunday Stills-Barns in Black and White « Just Another Day On The Prairie

Sunday Stills-Barns in Black and White « Just Another Day On The Prairie

The Big Picture: Camp MacArthur, Texas, 1918.

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Women's Emergency Service Corps

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Women's Emergency Service Corps

Monday, March 9, 1914. Surprising news on Mexico.

Jesús Salgado, a lieutenant of Emiliano Zapata, surrounded Chilpancingo, the capital of Guerrero, with s force of 5,000 men.

Other news of the Mexican Revolution hit the front page of the Laramie Boomerang, including some surprising "facts" about Pancho Villa.

The story on the fire in St. Louis was tragically accurate.

Mexico figured in the headlines of the Cheyenne paper as well.

Prime Minister H. H. Asquith proposed to allow Ulster to vote on whether to join a Home Rule parliament in Dublin.

YMCA Convention, Salina Kansas:

Last Prior:

Sunday, March 8, 1914. International Women's Day, Berlin.

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Small Wars, Faraway Places

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Small Wars, Faraway Places

Sunday, March 8, 1914. International Women's Day, Berlin.

Last prior:

Sunday, March 2, 1914. Avalon Bay, Santa Catalina Island

World War One Draft Quotas, by county, for Wyoming.

1932199_710184512335271_1525969620_n.jpg (JPEG Image, 960 × 720 pixels) - Scaled (83%)

Finds in the Week: Vintage Poster on Food, 1917

Finds in the Week: Vintage Poster on Food, 1917

We've posted on this topic in the past, but here's one we haven't posted

This particular one is sort of oddly contemporary, combining the current points of folks like Michael Pallin, the paleo diet folks, and even Pope Francis, here and there.

Y Cross, UW, CSU, Donations, Money, and Lost Opportunity

About 14 years ago the Denver owners of the Albany County Y Cross ranch donated it to the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University.  A clause of the accepted donation was that the schools could sell it after 14 years.  They now intend to do so.

I don't know much about how the ranch was used in the 14 years the schools have owned it.  It was supposed to be used for the purpose of teaching agriculture, but from what I read, it wasn't used much.  The former owners now say that they regret donating it to the schools, and frankly they should regret it.

This is hard to understand.  A 50,000 acre ranch, situated near both schools, should have provided a variety of opportunities for both schools to both teach practical agriculture and, in this day and age, perhaps also experiment a bit with "sustainable" agriculture, a topic which has been hot in agricultural fields in recent years.  Now those opportunities will be lost, and the ranch will simply be sued to generate money.

On that both schools would be well advised to note the history of the results of ignoring the wishes of donors.  Potential donors to both schools are now on notice that the schools feel free to sell donated assets as quickly as they can.  Not all donations are suitable for long term keeping and preservation, of course, but if that is the wish of the donors, they now know that neither UW or CSU can be depended upon to do any more than accepting the donation requires.  That may give such potential donors pause, or at least put them on notice that a restrictive clause in any donation may be necessary.  For some it may mean no donation at all, something that at least UW, which is under orders to cut back financially, may wish to rethink

Postscript

This matter remains pending in Court.  But, with the new University of Wyoming President emphasizing the land grant nature of the institution, and with a huge amount of turnover going on at the upper levels of the school, I wonder if its too much to hope for that the decision to depart with the Y Cross might be reconsidered? .

Postscript II

This is the Y Cross which UW and CSU jointly own:  Y Cross Ranch | Wyoming Ranches for Sale

I've posted an earlier thread, well really a compliant, on the plan to sell this facility.  This listing, I suppose, shows why the universities are so tempted, or rather have yielded to the temptation, to sell the place.  Quite a nice location.

Well,  the answer to this question; "I wonder if its too much to hope for that the decision to depart with the Y Cross might be reconsidered?" appears to be "yes, too much to hope for."

The Wyoming Supreme Court issued its decision yesterday concluding:

The district court correctly concluded that the donation from the Davis Interests to the University Foundations was a gift, that the MOA did not create an implied trust, and that only the attorney general has standing to enforce the terms of a charitable gift. We thus affirm the court’s dismissal of the complaint and amended complaint for lack of standing.

I'm not surprised and I'm sure the Court is correct, but it's disappointing anyway.  That disappointment must be directed at UW however, which still has the opportunity to behave correctly here, along with CSU, but which probably isn't going to.

The Moving Picture: San Francisco after the 1906 Earthquake

Film from San Francisco, after the 1906 earthquake.

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - National Geographic: People of the Horse

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - National Geographic: People of the Horse

The Big Picture: Fort (then Camp) Dix, New Jersey

*Updated* A Roaring Twenties Buick Snowmobile Conversion | The Old Motor

*Updated* A Roaring Twenties Buick Snowmobile Conversion | The Old Motor

Sunday, March 2, 1914. Avalon Bay, Santa Catalina Island

 Avalon Bay, Santa Catalina Island

There's not an App for that. WYDOT

Dear Wyoming Department of  Transportation, you need an App.

There's nearly an App for everything, but not for Wyoming road conditions.  I know I can sign up for email alerts and the like, but an App is what I really want, and what you really need.

With an App, I could worry just the necessary amount, without  having to turn the email on, on my phone, and hear the "ding, ding, ding" stream of emails as every road in the state turned cruddy, save perhaps for the few I care about.

Come on WYDOT, give us an App.

Putting the Bond Issue in Prospective. Comparative costs.

Here's another Natrona County School District graphic that helps put the bond in prospective.

 

As this graphic nicely demonstrates, other Wyoming school districts have also had bond issues in recent years, and the proposed Natrona County one is the most conservative really.   Other districts, including Carbon and Albany Counties, are funding much more of their recent construction via bonds.  And in our case, the overall amount is naturally higher, as we have four schools, as opposed to just one.  Albany County's bond, as we can see, nearly rivals ours in amount, with a  much smaller population base and a single school.

The Wyoming Lawyer February 2014: Technology and the pace of practice

Just below, I have an item on Jack Speight's recent article in the The Wyoming Lawyer.  In that, I only addressed his comments on the dress code of the 1960s, which was no doubt much like the dress code for the entire history of the Wyoming State Bar at that time, but not so much now.  He also had a very interesting comment on technology and the pace of practice, which was:

One of the main differences between now and last century in problem solving is the pace of law practice. We have gone from manual typewriters, carbon paper, onionskin, Dictaphones and ditto machines, to the electronic revolution and the related social media platforms and unlimited websites. We are in the realm now of instant communication, instant crisis, and instant problem solving compared to the good ol’ days of reflection and analysis. Gone are the days of the black rotary phone on the edge of the desk and the IBM electric typewriters. Now we have handhelds of various sizes, shapes, and functions and apps from Smartphones to iPads to tablets. Regardless of how we communicate and represent our clients, our role as problem solvers has not changed in providing service to the clients obtaining satisfactory results and handling their problems successfully.

This is very much the case, and I'm frankly not too certain that the practice of law hasn't suffered as a result.

What the author notes about instant communications is very true.  I was an early adopter of computer technology and use it a great deal. Perhaps I shouldn't applaud myself on that, however, as the computer had just arrived when I started practicing law, with the internet arriving on the scene almost at the same time.  I'd been taught to use the new technology of Westlaw at law school, although we did did not concentrate on its use for research. When I was first practicing law, almost no firm had a Westlaw account and we went to the county law library in order to use their Westlaw terminal. We were always very careful about using it, and typically sought permission from a client to use it when we did, as it we were charged by the minute to use it.  Now, every lawyer everywhere has Westlaw access and younger attorneys can't imagine a world in which it isn't the first thing that a person turns to when researching the law.

I was slower to adopt smartphones, and I've only had one so far.   I went to a smartphone so that I could check my email anywhere, but like most busy lawyers, I even use text messaging in practice, albeit carefully. 

The revolution in technology certainly has changed this aspect of the practice of law.  It must have been the case that in earlier eras lawyers had more time to ponder, if you will, any one legal topic.  Chances are high that they call carried more of a variety of legal topics as well, so the list of things they pondered was probably fairly large.  But the need to respond within hours, or even minutes, was no doubt relatively rare.

Casper Star Tribune Editorial board: OK the school district bond

The Casper Star Tribune has changed its position (reluctantly, given the pools) and is now supporting the bond.
While I wish the Tribune would more fully endorse the pool, they finally see the wisdom of the bond and are arguing for it.  The paper is very much endorsing the CAP enhancements, and essentially indicates that prior to the recent hearings it didn't fully understand the bond proposals.  Indeed, it's indicating that its changed its position now that the proposal has been fully explained.  It deserves credit for being willing to continue to analyze and to change its opinion, something that takes some degree of courage, but something which deserves respect.

I have to say, I appreciate the Tribune's current editor, even when I disagree with him, much more than the former one.  He seems much more careful and thoughtful in his approach to things, and the overall quality of the newspaper has improved.