MONTPELIER, Vt. - More than two decades after the country established a uniform drinking age of 21, a nascent movement is afoot to allow 18- to 20-year-olds to legally buy alcohol under some circumstances.

Proponents say the higher age hasn't kept young people from consuming alcohol and has instead driven underage consumption underground, particularly on college campuses.

From the description you posted, it sounds as though Joe Horn might have a problem, but only because this happened during daylight. In Texas, lethal force in defense of your, or another's, property is legal at night. For more information, see [link].

If I were on his jury, I'd find myself hard-pressed to convict, though. He did the burglars the courtesy of taking their actions as indicating that they, at least, believed the goods were worth their lives.

Also, the idea that, "Citizens have no such duty and would best let the LEOs do their job in these cases" is a very recent one. Historically, every citizen had a legal responsibility to both "raise a hue and cry" and assist in capturing felons.

Finally, I've been meaning to thank you for the information you so kindly provided last summer. We hit many of the places you recommended on our trip back from Yellowstone and found the trip nicer for the advice. The museum in Cody was a particularly good recommendation; I thought the Swiss matchlock in their collection was especially notable.

I thought I recalled that Texas was one of the places where you were allowed to shoot in defense of property. The 'only after dark' bit is an interesting wrinkle though. So if you're the proprietor of the jewelry store in the mall, do you post a chart of sunrise and sunset times so you know if it's legal to shoot the smash & grab guys? One of those laws that seems overly complicated. I bet it was written by lawyers.

You're right that citizens were once called on to assist in apprehending criminals as well as in 'raising the hue and cry' -- which I'd interpret nowadays as calling the cops -- but even back in the wild, wild west such citizens were usually formally deputized. I think that formal process served two purposes: to confer a degree of immunity to the citizens, and to give them a certain publicly recognized authority.

We had quite a few problems with vigilante groups, back in the late 1800's particularly. In fact, when you consider the Wiki definition of vigilante: "A vigilante is a person who ignores due process of law and enacts his/her own form of justice when they deem the response of the authorities to be insufficient." Horn would seem to fit the bill quite well.

I agree I'd have a hard time convicting the guy, but then I also agree that the "response of the authorities was insufficient" in this case. I'd probably have sympathized with the vigilantes in many cases back when too.

1. The acts would have to be outside the law, as in acting without court order or other lawful action. Legally, individuals may intervene to stop a crime in progress. But, where operating without authority was what Vigilante was all about, enforcing the law or responding in self-defense does have authority in the U.S.
2. The acts would have to be without a redeeming social purpose, i.e. cannot be a mistake, for instance.
3. The acts would have to be unrighteous, such as a wrong act fighting for a wrong cause. Keeping slavery alive would be one such example.
4. The acts would have to include a killing, and an unlawful killing at that.
5. The acts would have to be a conspiracy, or some sort of committee action which escalates the hasty, mob rule mentality with little restraint.

DenverPost -- More than one in 100 adult Americans are in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal government, according to a report released Thursday.

With more than 2.3 million people behind bars at the start of 2008, the United States leads the world in both the number and the percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving even far more populous China a distant second, noted the report by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.

The ballooning prison population is largely the result of tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s. Minorities have been hit particularly hard: One-ninth of black men age 20 to 34 are behind bars. For black women age 35 to 39, the figure is one in 100, compared with one in 355 white women in the same age group.

...

In addition, when it comes to preventing repeat offenses by nonviolent criminals — who make up about half of the incarcerated population — alternative punishments such as community supervision and mandatory drug counseling that are far less expensive may prove just as or more effective than jail time.

Florida, which nearly doubled its prison population over the past 15 years, has experienced a smaller drop in crime than New York, which, after a brief increase, reduced its number of inmates to below the 1993 level.

"There is no question that putting violent and chronic offenders behind bars lowers the crime rate and provides punishment that is well deserved," said Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Center's Public Safety Performance Project and one of the study's authors.

"On the other hand," Gelb said, "there are large numbers of people behind bars who could be supervised in the community safely and effectively at a much lower cost — while also paying taxes, paying restitution to their victims and paying child support."

BOISE, Idaho -- Federal officials are again seeking the latest in scientific data and public comment as they revisit whether to extend Endangered Species Act protection to the sage grouse.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the new review Tuesday, two months after a federal judge in Idaho condemned the agency for failing to use the best available science when it decided not to list the bird two years ago.

Casper -- The criminal killing of an elk underscores the need to restrict the use of loaded guns in national parks, Chief U.S. District Judge William Downes said Tuesday.

"You took a magnificent bull elk in a United States park, then engaged in acts to cover up your crime," Downes said before sentencing Michael David Belderrain to four years in prison.

"Your case represents a classic public policy answer to the question: 'Why do we not want to have people with indiscriminate access to firearms in a national park?'

...

Besides the 48 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and 12 months for the two game violations -- all to be served concurrently -- Downes ordered Belderrain to pay $6,000 in restitution to the Yellowstone National Park Service Restitution Fund, plus a $1,000 fine.

"According to a Gallup poll, only 5 percent of Americans would never vote for an African-American, while 11 percent claim they would never vote for a woman. [...] In the same Gallup poll, 42 percent claim they would not vote for a 72-year-old."

ANNE C. MULKERN reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C. - Visitors to Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes national parks in Colorado could soon be allowed to carry guns.

Under pressure from the gun lobby and 50 senators — including Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. — the Bush Administration is preparing to change the law banning guns in national parks.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has directed his department to rewrite the policy for the national parks, with the idea that federal regulations should “mirror” state laws on guns in parks. That would mean guns could be allowed in national parks in states where they are allowed in state parks.

...

“The concern here is that there is not an encroachment on the rights of law-abiding citizens to carry guns for hunting and recreational purposes,” Allard spokesman Steve Wymer said. Hunting is banned in the vast majority of national parks.

...

Some also argue that people camping in parks need to protect themselves from animal attacks.

Park rangers oppose the idea of guns in national parks, said George Durkee, board member with the U.S. Park Rangers Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police.

“People overact and shoot at the animals,” Durkee said. “We don’t need any scared kids with guns running around the woods.”

Conservation groups and park rangers said the review amounted to surrender to the NRA. The groups say current regulations requiring that visitors to national parks render their weapons inaccessible were working and have made national parks among the safest places in America.

WASHINGTON -- Permitting loaded firearms in national parks would be dangerous for visitors and wildlife and would alter the park experience, according to rangers, retirees and conservation groups.

"Parks have long been sanctuaries for both animals and people," said Butch Farabee, a former acting superintendent at Montana's Glacier National Park who is retired. "There need to be places in this country where people can feel secure without guns and know that the guy in the campground across the way does not have one."

But supporters of an Interior Department decision to reconsider a decades-old ban on bringing loaded firearms into national parks say ending the ban could make parks safer.

"If you're hiking in the backcountry and there is a problem with a criminal or an aggressive animal, there's no 911 box where you can call police and have a 60-second response time," said Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association. "Here in Montana, we are very used to being able to provide for our own personal protection."

In the history of civilized man, there was one period that stood out amongst all the rest: as a time of enlightenment, intelligence, and wisdom. It wasn't anytime recently.

More than 17 years after its discovery, researchers are still unsure why a rare flower is found only on a small patch of Wyoming badlands. But a federal land order announced last month has set aside 360 acres to protect the plant.

The desert yellowhead (yermo xanthocephalus) grows on only about 50 acres administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and is listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a threatened species.

LANDER -- Many critics of Wyoming's wolf management plan have predicted the imminent slaughter of up to two-thirds of the state's gray wolf population after the animal loses protection under the federal Endangered Species Act next month.

But state action might turn out to be quite a bit more tempered than many have envisioned, one official with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department indicated last week.

...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday it will remove wolves from federal protection at the end of this month, and following publication in the Federal Register there will be a 30-day waiting period before Wyoming, Idaho and Montana take over management of the wolf in the Northern Rockies.

Before the end of March, the Game and Fish Department intends to hire four new staff members to run the program, including wolf biologists and technicians, Rudd said. The department needs to put staff and procedures into place to allow it to respond to claims of livestock depredation by wolves within 48 hours of the reports.

Game and Fish also intends to complete a thorough review of all of the Fish and Wildlife Service research and management materials pertaining to wolves, and develop specific hunting and trapping regulations for the animals using that information.

And the department -- and by extension, taxpayers -- will have to pay for it all.

"We have a biennium budget request in the Legislature for $2.35 million to run that program," Rudd said. "That cost includes four permanent people, the purchase of radio collars, the cost of capturing wolves, the cost of monitoring wolves and dealing with depredation of livestock, and, of course, paying for the loss of livestock to wolves."

One morning Joe Thomas sat atop a hill with binoculars, scanning his pasture land, when he spotted two wolves coming down from the timberline.

They approached his 1,000 head of cows from two different directions, picked out a small group and started herding them around.

"The older ones were teaching the younger ones how to hunt," Thomas said. "They were working in a half circle, like a good set of stock dogs would. I got to witness the whole thing."

Over the years, wolves have killed about 20 calves on Thomas's ranch near the Greybull River, 20 miles west of Meeteetse. Last year the canines killed six.

They were standing at Soda Butte, overlooking the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, when there was suddenly a wolf, down below, in plain view.

In one direction, the group could see elk, and in the other, bison, and swans dotted the broad basin.

More wolves swiftly came into view and gave chase to the elk.

The canines failed to catch one, but as they were regrouping, they howled to one another. As the howls rose up from the valley floor, everybody in the tour group went silent.

Their guide, Meredith Taylor, watched as their faces slowly broke into awed smiles. Finally, one of them said, "Oh, my God."

"For many people, their greatest highlight is seeing and hearing wolves," Taylor said. "It's the call of the wild. I know it sounds parochial, but it's true. We should be celebrating the return of the wolves, not denigrating it."

Wolves are starting to ruin what used to be an elk-hunting paradise, according to the president of the Dubois Outfitters Association.

Fritz Meyer wishes more people would take note.

While many citizens and government officials celebrate the recovery of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, Meyer said he believes the mid-1990s federal reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park was a terrible mistake from the start.

Not only has it hurt his business, he said, but it has taken a serious toll on elk herds in the Upper Wind River Valley.

"The one thing that's really been sad to a lot of us is since the reintroduction of wolves, we've seen a steady decline in our elk and moose numbers," Meyer said. "Today somebody will come up and tell you when they see a moose. In the past we used to see them everywhere."

Now that gray wolves are back in Yellowstone National Park in force, the rest of the animals there are healthier.

So says Wyoming native Greg Falk, owner of Upstream Anglers and Outdoor Adventures, based in Jackson.

And after spending countless hours observing wolves in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, Falk believes that no animal is more misunderstood than the wolf, he said.

"I'm one of those that are tickled pink that the wolves are back, because he's an important part of the ecosystem," Falk said. "Now that the wolf is back, everybody's eating better in the park. A supreme being of power, higher than us, created that animal. And it's important that it be here."

Falk is an ex-bank president who has guided private wildlife safari trips into the two parks for the past 17 years. Since wolves have been reintroduced, he said, he has seen the greater Yellowstone ecosystem find a better balance.

LANDER -- The Popo Agie Ranch, just four miles south of town, has a 70-acre hay meadow which rises from an aspen- and cottonwood-sheltered river basin, rolling east and empty into the foot of Table Mountain.

The meadow, and the adjacent 4,000-acre pasture, was once used for a modest but profitable cow-calf operation.

Today, if visitors roll over the wooden platform bridge across the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River, they'll notice a few corralled llamas, a handful of horses, but no cows.

When wolves moved into the area, rancher Dave Vaughan got out of the cow-calf business, he said.

In his barn last week, on a bright and windless winter morning, Vaughan used a tin can to scoop grain for the horses, as he described the events that precipitated his decision to call it quits.

"As soon as we lost those calves, I said, 'I'm not going to do this anymore,"' he said.

Joe Horn was relaxing at his home outside of Houston, Texas when he heard glass breaking. He looked out the window and saw two men in broad daylight using a crowbar to break into his neighbor’s house.

Joe grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun and called 911. Here’s the exchange.

“Uh, I’ve got a shotgun … uh, do you want me to stop them?”

“Nope, don’t do that,” the dispatcher responded. “Ain’t no property worth shooting somebody over, OK?”

Joe Horn and the 911 dispatcher spoke for several minutes while Joe pleaded for the dispatcher to send out the police to stop the burglars from escaping. The dispatcher continued to urge Joe to stay inside. But Joe is a Texas boy.
“Don’t go outside the house,” the 911 dispatcher pleaded. “You’re going to get yourself shot if you go outside that house with a gun. I don’t care what you think.”

“You want to make a bet?” Joe answered. “I’m going to kill them.”

Shortly afterwards the burglars crawled back out the window. They were carrying a bag, which was later determined to contain a large amount of cash. The police had not yet arrived, and Joe yelled to the dispatcher, “Well, here it goes, buddy,” as a shell clicked into the chamber. “You hear the shotgun clicking, and I’m going.”

A few seconds passed.

“Move,” Joe can be heard saying on the tape. “Or you’re dead.”
Boom.
Click.
Boom.
Click.
Boom.
Apparently someone moved.

Joe picked up the receiver and said, “They came into my front yard so I shot one and he’s in the yard next door and the other one is running down the street.”

Both men died, each shot once at a range of about 15 feet. I am fairly certain Joe’s defense will be he feared for his life. Which may be hard to prove if the burglars have buckshot in their backs.

CONTACT LENSES WITH CIRCUITS AND LIGHTS. Is there something you'd like to see with your eyes other than what's really in front of you?

(2008-02-19) — As Cuban President Fidel Castro announced today he would end his half-century of totalitarian rule, sources close to Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama tried to tamp down speculation that they were on “the short list” of potential replacements for the ailing Communist dictator.

The successful U.S. missile strike against a failing spy satellite 133 miles above Earth on Wednesday bolstered the credibility of America's long-troubled missile-defense system, according to military experts.

U.S. military officials have sought to play down the strategic value of the operation, saying that it was solely intended to take out a malfunctioning satellite with a tank of toxic rocket fuel.

But the power and precision of the strike also provided a demonstration for North Korea and other potential adversaries that the United States has deployed a sea-based missile-defense system that can be adapted to multiple targets.

...

Addressing the diplomatic concerns, senior officials dismissed questions raised by the Chinese and Russians, and echoed by some arms-control analysts, about whether the episode was really a test of space weaponry. They pointed out that the missile used in the operation was designed to counter a limited ballistic missile attack and had to be completely reprogrammed for this unexpected task.

Hours after the missile was fired from the U.S. Navy cruiser Lake Erie positioned in the Pacific Ocean, officials at the Pentagon showed footage of a fireball created when the missile struck the satellite and expressed "high confidence" that the fuel tank was destroyed.

But don't wait for the photographs. Find a vantage point and gaze. Or howl. Or whatever one does for a total eclipse. Not howl. That's for the full moon.*

A girl from Wyoming and a girl from the east coast were seated side by side on an airplane. The girl from Wyoming, being friendly and all, said, "So, where ya from?"

The east coast girl said, "From a place where they know better than to use a preposition at the end of a sentence."

The girl from Wyoming, sat quietly for a few moments and then replied: "So, where ya from, bitch?"

A federal judge has thrown out the conviction of a Wyoming inmate sentenced to die nearly a decade ago for the killing of a correctional officer during an escape attempt.

U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer set aside the death sentence and ordered a new trial for James Martin Harlow, who'd been convicted of murdering Cpl. Wayne Martinez in 1997. Harlow was one of only two inmates on Wyoming's death row.

...

Brimmer found that Harlow's trial counsel failed to conduct a reasonable investigation into Harlow's background and character because of a "budget conscious head of the state public defender's office."

I fear unless we curb the warming soon, it may also claim the lives of Bigfoot and Elvis.

Remember how Ricky Ricardo always used to say in that exasperated voice, “Lucy, you got some ‘splainin to to!” after one of Lucy’s wild escapades? If RINOs wish to woo conservatives back — conservatives needed if they want to retain the White House and win (or just hang onto) seats in November — they’d better think about not just ‘splainin, but keeping the lines of communication wide open. While pragmatists and moderate conservatives are busy looking ahead, too many party stalwarts are mad as hell, and they may not be ready to take any more.

ABC News -- School shootings like the one at Northern Illinois University are usually linked to a mental disorder of the gunman, whose anger, social isolation or desire for attention bursts into violence, experts told the ABC News Law & Justice Unit.

Some of those experts recommend that schools make mental health a criterion for admissions, while others say steps as simple as locking classroom doors go a long way toward safer schools. And while media coverage no doubt prompts some "copycat" incidents, the experts say news coverage also provides important information that can make prevention possible.

Why Do School Shootings Happen?

A mental health problem is often involved, experts said. The NIU gunman, for example, reportedly stopped taking medication for an unspecified disorder and was allegedly behaving erratically in recent weeks. An inordinate drive for attention can lead shooters to create a spectacle, to copy incidents like the Virginia Tech shooting, which drew enormous publicity, says Katherine Newman, a professor at Princeton University. Randomly shooting strangers is more about crafting a dangerous image than about the victims, she said.

...

How Can They Be Prevented?

Stephens recommended that colleges and selective high schools evaluate students on their mental health as well as their academic and athletic talent. He acknowledged the legal obstacles to doing so — a slew of privacy and anti-discrimination laws — but sees an analogy in how employers ask prospective employees to sign releases that allow background checks and examination of confidential information. Stephens said he believe it's a serious enough problem to change the laws, if necessary.

...

What Role Does the Media Play?

Certainly the media draw attention to the gunmen and to some extent encourage copycats, experts said. The media can make shootings seem like "business as usual," Newman noted, and extensive news coverage may explain why shootings "tend to come in clusters," added Hill Walker, co-director of the Institution on Violence and Destructive Behavior at the University of Oregon. But if the media didn't alert its audiences to mass shootings, the public wouldn't know how to look for and interpret the warning signs of a potential shooter, Newman said.

"It's just better if everyone is informed," Stephens said. [emphasis added]

DenverPost -- Dry-winter forecasts were flat wrong this year for much of Colorado and the Southwest, and weather experts say they're struggling to understand why the snow just keeps falling.

Some forecasters blame climate change, and others point to the simple vicissitudes of weather. Regardless, almost everyone called for a dry-to-normal winter in Colorado and the Southwest — but today, the state's mountains are piled so thick with snow that state reservoirs could fill and floods could be widespread this spring.

"The polar jet stream has been on steroids. We don't understand this. It's pushing our limits, and it's humbling," said Klaus Wolter, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Kamikaze Republicans — those who say they'll never vote for John McCain because he isn't conservative enough — may get what they deserve.

The Clintons.

...

It isn't necessary to love everything McCain has done to vote for him should he be the nominee. But it isn't possible to argue that there's no difference between McCain and Clinton (or Barack Obama), as some Republicans insist.

A form of irrational conservatism has taken hold when being true to oneself or to the party is viewed as more important than, say, turning over the country to people who want to raise taxes and impose socialized health care. Principles shouldn't be so inflexible that strict adherence elevates a worse alternative.

Wyoming's bountiful mineral wealth has put billions of extra dollars at the disposal of Gov. Dave Freudenthal and the state Legislature -- and both have shown a willingness to spend it.

The state's general operating budget swelled from about $1.48 billion during the 2001-02 budget period to more than $3.58 billion in 2007-08.

That's a 140 percent increase in eight years, or an average annual increase of roughly 17.25 percent.

The number of full- and part-time state employees, meanwhile, has increased by about 1,000 since 2001 to more than 8,000 state workers.

Much of the increased spending has been directed to one-time capital construction or maintenance that was put off during the preceding bust years. But millions more have been spent on new programs, and “budget creep,” a term used to describe the inevitable increase in government spending over time.

The Clintons are nothing if not lucky, and Hillary must occasionally be enjoying a luxury-length cackle at the thought of being pitted against a 71-year old "maverick" whose record seems designed to antagonize just enough of the base into staying home on election day.

The northbound lanes erupted with water at the 58th Avenue exit about 3 p.m. Thursday when a 5-foot concrete conduit gave way, spilling more than 2 million gallons and opening a 40-by-40-foot sinkhole 16 feet deep.

After seven years of watching and fighting against Americans who wish to see the country suffer so that they can get at George Bush, the last thing I wanted or expected to see was conservatives saying they would rather see the country suffer than support John McCain over Clinton or Obama, so that they can "get the blame."

A retreat before victory is assured in Iraq cannot be undone in 2012. And mandatory, single-payer, universal health care, once established, will not EVER go away either.

I am not impugning anyone's motives. I believe I have a reasonable understanding of principled behavior. But if your goal is to see the country punished because---

You can stop right there. If your goal is to see America punished, and her people open to attack and/or ruined financially in order to prove a point for any reason, then you do not deserve politial power nor are you likely to achieve it. A party is a compact. It is, essentially, a pleage of mutual support. As a matter of fact, it's nothing more or less than a promise.

A political party is a series of personal compromises in order to achieve a goal unattainable by the perfect political party: one's own self. If McCain is the legal and lawfully selected nominee, and Republicans decide to walk away from their party in droves, what makes them think they will be able to count on those who, you know, actually went out and voted Republican either joyfully or through clenched teeth, in order to prevent The Deluge? [emphasis added]

Even with these possibilities, analyst David Mitchell Smith, a vice president at Gartner Inc., believes the biggest change from a Microsoft-Yahoo deal probably will be the one most Web surfers don't notice. That will come as the companies try to broaden their ability to deliver ads all over the Internet, wherever it reaches.

CHEYENNE -- The memory of Louisiana police confiscating guns from waterlogged citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina a few years ago has some Wyoming legislators anxious to make sure nothing similar ever happens here.

A bill would change Wyoming's Homeland Security laws to make sure that the governor and other officials wouldn't have authority to order the confiscation of guns from law-abiding citizens in the event of natural disasters or terrorist attacks.