tregomountainear

[tregomountainear]

Thinking of Keith Utter on Memorial Day

I’m thinking of a high school friend who didn’t make it back from Viet Nam.  Over fifty years ago, when I read the citation on his Silver Star, I thought that his sergeant did a good job of describing Keith Utter – and I moved from mildly supporting my country’s involvement in Viet Nam to supporting the soldiers and Marines who went there and opposing the politicians who sent them. But I write…

[tregomountainear]

Off the Board

May 19th, I left the school board, and my successor was installed. I’ve learned as I have moved from one job, one position to the next that you don’t have a replacement, you have a successor. It hasn’t been an easy six years – somehow a culture of conflict, best described through the Karpman drama triangle developed over the years, and overcoming it became a terrible challenge. In the Karpman…

[tregomountainear]

No Heroic Sacrifice Is Ever Wasted

On the morning of Memorial Day, I read a headline – “No Heroic Sacrifice Is Ever Wasted”.   I thought of Ukraine – a spot where the day before I was reading of drones being weaponized, where, according to the article, no one was safe from drones ten miles back from the front lines.  The article was describing Russian drones – but both sides have done a job of making drones lethal as hell. I…

[tregomountainear]

A New Family for a Little Goose

I was finishing lunch Friday when a knock came at the door.  It was Ethan, Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist – and he wanted to try to get a small gosling adopted into one of the flocks on the pond.  I had other things scheduled – but a small animal who needs assistance always goes to the head of the list. Several years ago I watched 3 little coots move in on Goose, Gander and their flock – so…

[tregomountainear]

Charts and Graphs for the End of May

[tregomountainear]

Messing with Tariffs Affected Me

The specific spot where the tariff changes got to me was antacid tablets – the best product for dealing with my GERD is produced in England, and I have been able to buy it through Amazon.  The de minimus exemption from tariffs – which exists because it would cost the government more to collect the tariff on my antacids than it would collect – coupled with the free shipping from Amazon Prime, made…

[tregomountainear]

Making eye contact and small talk with strangers is more than just being polite − the social benefits of psychological generosity

Eyes down, headphones on – what message are you sending? vm/E+ via Getty Images Linda R. Tropp, UMass Amherst How much do you engage with others when you’re out in public? Lots of people don’t actually engage with others much at all. Think of commuters on public transportation staring down at their phones with earbuds firmly in place. As a professor of social psychology, I see similar trends…

[tregomountainear]

Replace the Outlaw Board

I’ve had some questions brought up after I pointed out that the composition of the LCHS board has been in violation of state law for the past 37 years.  The first question, repeated several times is “How did it happen?”In 1988, there was an election to unify Lincoln County High School and Eureka Elementary.  It passed in Eureka and Rexford.  The County Superintendent replaced the LCHS Board with…

[tregomountainear]

What Happened Up North

I’m still operating on the premise that, while Canadians are malevolently well informed about US politics, we’re benevolently ignorant of how politics work in Canada.  I’m pretty sure it was Trev Edwards – an architecture student from Edmonton back in my undergrad days – that shared that observation with me.  That’s close to sixty years ago – and it was just this past month that I quizzed a…

[tregomountainear]

As I Leave the Board

It’s time.  It has been a challenging six years.  When I started, Trego was funded at 4 ANB – ANB is how the Office of Public Instruction abbreviates  “’average number belonging”.  Four  isn’t very many students.  Our first challenge was to change that downward trend.  The second challenge was the lack of a county superintendent of schools.  The commissioners listened and reinstated the position…

[tregomountainear]

I Lost a Few Hours Sunday

I spent a couple of hours Sunday on a task I didn’t want to do.  The decision to give me an unwanted task was made by someone saving time – driving a little too fast for the conditions, and leaving me with a badly injured doe in the middle of the trailer court. The task was complicated by someone calling the game warden.  Game warden didn’t get the call, so a deputy sheriff showed up to finish…

[tregomountainear]

Artificial Intelligence and Natural Stupidity

So I see a facebook posting that lists Murphy’s Law as ‘the more you fear something, the more likely it is to occur.’  Would have been a surprise to Murphy, who said “If anything can go wrong, it will.”  Sam sent me another AI generated theme that claimed “No person, no problem” came from the film The Lion King.  Pretty sure that phrase came from the great Soviet philosopher Joe Stalin.  Heck,…

[tregomountainear]

Canada has a Process for Secession

In the US, the Supreme Court ruled secession illegal in Texas v White (1869).  Admitted, this occurred after the Justice Department dropped the treason case against Jefferson Davis – for fear that a Virginia jury would have supported the idea that once Mississippi seceded, Davis was no longer a citizen of the United States, and could not have committed Treason. Despite the 1869 Supreme Court…

[tregomountainear]

School Districts vs Voting Precincts

These maps are taken from the county website, and I believe that they were drawn up in the county planner’s office.  I also believe that the school district map is in error – when the railroad relocation occurred, Trego school district boundaries were presented as shown in the voter precinct map: The next illustration shows the school district maps.  Notice how Eureka Elementary district now has…

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School Enrollment Over Time

In case anyone was wondering how many children are attending our local schools, we have some answers: ANB, which is a measurement of enrolled students, is done twice per school year, and is what determines a significant component of school funding. It is also publicly available on the OPI’s website. Overall, total enrollment between Trego, Fortine, Eureka, Yak, McCormick and Libby holds…

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School Transportation Budgets Over Time

Last week, we asked the question: Is it normal for school district transportation budgets to be constant from year to year? Looking again at the school budgets (public information- available for download here), we’ll check Trego’s transportation budget against Fortine and Olney-Bissell. TregoFortineOlney-Bissell24/25…

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Our School District is 80% Unified

 This article is excerpted from a report I made to Trego’s school board several years ago.  I don’t have an answer to what went on when Eureka Elementary and Lincoln County High Schools were unified by election in 1988 – the relevant board minutes were missing, and Joel and I were unable to find them.  I began looking for data when I read of Eureka’s Elementary district’s inability to pass a…