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Show Close encounters of the Mammoth kind I Mammoth Lakes A 13-year-old Mammoth boy said he spotted a UFO flying over the area and snapped a photo of the object. ob-ject. Kurt Van Wagenen was peering through his telescope at 3 a.m. on a Saturday night, when he spotted a huge bright light with a bulge on the top. It sped in his direction at great speed until it stopped about a half mile from his house and , hovered some 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the ground. Van Wagenen grabbed his new Polaroid and took a photo of the object. The picture, pic-ture, published in the Mammoth Mam-moth Review, is a foggy night shot that shows the trees standing in silhouette against the bright light. He was only able to take one picture pic-ture before the UFO sped off. The boy said the object was shaped like an odd-shaped odd-shaped beer bottle and made a slight humming noise. Kurt said he would probably continue to watch the night skies. "But it might be a waste of my time, too." The Mammoth area received good economic news, as merchants reported improved sales in recent weeks, especially for a 1983 Labor Day weekend that topped all previous records. On the average, said the Review, business was ud 20 ticket buyers using cash. The ticket price in cash will be $20. Those paying via major credit cards will be charged $21. About a half-dozen Hell's Angels spent a quiet weekend in Mammoth. One Angel said the local deputies were nice, and the only hassle came from a few "drunk jerks" in the bars. "Our money is green, just like anyone else. We shave and shower every day, too," he said. Jackson Hole One of the three tourists gored by bison in Yellowstone Park this summer sum-mer has died in a Salt Lake hospital. French citizen Alain Jean-Jacques Dumont, 21, who was gored on July 31, died at the University of Utah Medical Center. Dumont was attacked when he approached within six feet of the buffalo to get a photo. Hospital spokesman said he died from complications com-plications resulting from his injuries - a torn colon, punctured punc-tured stomach, and severely damaged spleen. The operators for the Teton County dump gave up the job after refusing to pay a yearly fee proposed by the county commission. The dump managers, Pete and Lilly Belle Peters, also have raged, it attracted attention from the New York Times, USA Today, and NBC News. In their vote, the city placed three conditions on the private group. It must decide, before work begins, whether the group or the town owns the artwork. It must conduct an engineering and safety study. And it must pay the additional money needed to finish the work probably about $140,000 plus maintenance and insurance for the next five years. Aspen According to a 1983 survey, sur-vey, said the Aspen Times, a greater percentage of local employees is living in Aspen. This year, some 46 percent of employees live in town, compared to 39.5 in 1981. Employee income has risen, but so have costs for residences. The average rent is $613 a month for a unit, and the average cost for owning a home is $843 a month. A group of local residents resi-dents wants Aspenites to celebrate Sept. 24 as the International In-ternational Integrity day. Local realtor Greg Sherwin is directing the local effort, part of a worldwide campaign. cam-paign. The group also will hold a workshop on integrity and its benefits for the world and the individual. A worrisome decline in enrollment seems to have stabilized in recent years at the Aspen public schools. The count this Labor Day was 904 students, compared to 921 last year and 928 in 1981. In the 1970s, the student population dropped drastically drasti-cally from a 1975 high of of 1500. Ketchum Sun Valley The Sun Valley Company Com-pany has ruled that no one except its own ski school staff can teach on Bald Mountain, reported the Mountain Express. General manager Wally Huffman said otherwise the resort will lose money. The rule, which would bar offenders from Bald Mountain for up to two weeks, applies even to those who teach for free. Huffman said he didn't want to stop friends helping friends, but only those who continuously teach, supposedly for free. Skiers teaching for money could have their privileges lifted for the whole season, and might be taken to court. There was good news and bad news in Blaine County. The bad news was that the national slowdown in construction has hit the county. The dollar amount in building permits has decreased from $4.8 million in May to $3.6 million in July. But recently-released figures show the unemployment unem-ployment picture improved over the summer. The jobless rate dropped from 8.1 percent in June to 6.4 percent per-cent in July. A pair of newlyweds found their Sun Valley honeymoon turning into a cops-and-robbers misadventure misadven-ture when they were detained for unknowingly driving a stolen car. Brent and Joan Allen were given permission by a friend to drive his Jeep Cherokee, which he kept at a Boise gas station. When they arrived at the station, they found a Jeep Cherokee and loaded it up. The key they were given fit the car, and they drove off. Unfortunately, it was a lookA alike vehicle owned by another motorist, whose owner reported it stolen. The couple was pulled over by Ketchum police and arrested. But after the mistake was cleared up, they maintained a sense of humor about the mishap. The Aliens are keeping their mug shots as memeptos, said Ketchum Chief Cal I Nevland. percent from the same time a year ago. One store reported report-ed $8,000 in sales on the Saturday before Labor Day. Real estate improved too. Said one realtor, "The last two weeks have been better than the last eight months." On another front, Mammoth Mam-moth finished its five-week Sierra Summer Festival with promoters reporting around a $5,000 loss. This was considered good news, since last year's festival had lost about $50,000. Audiences also flocked to such recent Mammoth events as Airport Day, the Con-cours Con-cours D'Elegance auto show, and the Labor Day Arts and Crafts Festival. Ponch and John in the air? Yep. California Highway High-way Patrol officers, of CHiPs, conducted a recent blitzkrieg crackdown on speeders along U.S. 395. And they did it from the air. As the plane cruises at speeds over 55 mph, the officers of-ficers can spot the cars below that are keeping even with the plane's rate of speed - or maybe even pulling ahead. The plane radios down to CHiPs cars waiting at nearby intersections. intersec-tions. And then, "It's ticket time", said one officer. Mammoth Mountain resort announced it will offer a discount next season to lift a contract to collect garbage in Jackson, reported the Jackson Hole News. The county wants to impose im-pose an annual fee between $80,000 and $112,000 on the operator to cover the costs of running the dump for the next five years. The Peters said they would rather quit than pass on an additional charge to their customers to pay for the fee. Their contract con-tract with the county expires at the end of this month. Vail The governmental dispute dis-pute over Claes Oldenburg's 60-foot-tall fishing pole came to an end when the Vail Town Council voted 4-3 to place the matter in private hands. In recent months, the town has been divided over the huge abstract ab-stract sculpture proposed for the Lionshead commercial development. The council authorized a private group to begin construction, using a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, reported the Vail Trail. Councilwomen Gail Wahr-lich Wahr-lich voted for the sculpture, sculp-ture, saying the sculptor was sensitive to the environment. On the other side, Councilman Coun-cilman Hermann Staufer said it was sad some people thought the town needed "an orange fishing pole." While the controversy |
