Sunday, August 5, 2012
Friday, August 3, 2012
The Casper Municipal Golf Course
Casper Wyoming has four golf courses, the Municipal course, the Paradise Valley course, Three Crowns, and the Country Club. Of those, two are private courses, those being the Paradise Valley course and the Country Club. The newest course is Three Crowns, which was put in where the old Standard Oil Refinery once was.
I'm not a golfer. I did learn how to golf when I was a kid, but for whatever reason, interest in the sport never took with me, and I was of junior high age when I quit. My mother was, at one time, a fairly avid golfer, and we have an old trophy she won here in town when she first moved here, from a Pan American Petroleum tournament. She taught me how to golf on the Municipal Course, which was fairly close to our house. Anyhow, in spite of having one parent who really loved golfing, I gave it up. The sad thing is that my mother basically gave it up at the same time as well. I'm not really sure why, but she did.
Anyhow, the City of Casper recently hired some consultants to look at golfing in Casper, as the Municipal Course is loosing money. The preferred option, according to the consultants, is to close the course.
I think this is a terrible option.
The theory behind this suggestion, as one city council-person put it, is that Casper is"over golfed". With four course, for a city of this side, it probably is. But only one of the courses is really cheap to golf at, and that's the city course. Of the four courses, moreover, only two are public. One of those, Three Crowns, borders on being a very end, and therefore expensive, course.
Additionally, it's constantly noted around here that Casper is "growing". If this is true, and for the time being it is, its foreseeable that a day will arrive when Casper is not "over golfed". This is particularly the case given that two of the four courses are owned by clubs, and while the club ownership is very longstanding, by nature private clubs are less long lasting than municipal clubs. There's no public interest, or ability, to keep a private course up and running, and since World War Two private organizations of any kind have had a history of diminishing interest. Moreover, both of the private courses are in areas which have seen a lot of real estate development in recent years which is wholly independent of their existence, and at some point you have to wonder if developers start looking at that acreage and start making offers.
And beyond that, while I'm not a golfer, golf courses make for nice open ground in urban areas, and this is particularly the case with the municipal course, which is between Casper College and Allendale, on the Mountain Road. It'd be a shame to fill that area with houses, which is what would occur should the ground be sold. Having some open areas, even in a region that has a lot of open country, makes for a nicer city.
Granted, the city is loosing $250,000 per year, which is bad. But that was perhaps inevitable when Three Crowns was built. That Tree Crowns was built was a good thing, given that the land was virtually incapable of any other use, but that this would cause a loss to an existing facility should have been expected, and is not really attributable to a fault with the older, Municipal Course. The city should keep it up and running, and I'm fairly certain that the residents of Casper will regret it if they do not.
I'm not a golfer. I did learn how to golf when I was a kid, but for whatever reason, interest in the sport never took with me, and I was of junior high age when I quit. My mother was, at one time, a fairly avid golfer, and we have an old trophy she won here in town when she first moved here, from a Pan American Petroleum tournament. She taught me how to golf on the Municipal Course, which was fairly close to our house. Anyhow, in spite of having one parent who really loved golfing, I gave it up. The sad thing is that my mother basically gave it up at the same time as well. I'm not really sure why, but she did.
Anyhow, the City of Casper recently hired some consultants to look at golfing in Casper, as the Municipal Course is loosing money. The preferred option, according to the consultants, is to close the course.
I think this is a terrible option.
The theory behind this suggestion, as one city council-person put it, is that Casper is"over golfed". With four course, for a city of this side, it probably is. But only one of the courses is really cheap to golf at, and that's the city course. Of the four courses, moreover, only two are public. One of those, Three Crowns, borders on being a very end, and therefore expensive, course.
Additionally, it's constantly noted around here that Casper is "growing". If this is true, and for the time being it is, its foreseeable that a day will arrive when Casper is not "over golfed". This is particularly the case given that two of the four courses are owned by clubs, and while the club ownership is very longstanding, by nature private clubs are less long lasting than municipal clubs. There's no public interest, or ability, to keep a private course up and running, and since World War Two private organizations of any kind have had a history of diminishing interest. Moreover, both of the private courses are in areas which have seen a lot of real estate development in recent years which is wholly independent of their existence, and at some point you have to wonder if developers start looking at that acreage and start making offers.
And beyond that, while I'm not a golfer, golf courses make for nice open ground in urban areas, and this is particularly the case with the municipal course, which is between Casper College and Allendale, on the Mountain Road. It'd be a shame to fill that area with houses, which is what would occur should the ground be sold. Having some open areas, even in a region that has a lot of open country, makes for a nicer city.
Granted, the city is loosing $250,000 per year, which is bad. But that was perhaps inevitable when Three Crowns was built. That Tree Crowns was built was a good thing, given that the land was virtually incapable of any other use, but that this would cause a loss to an existing facility should have been expected, and is not really attributable to a fault with the older, Municipal Course. The city should keep it up and running, and I'm fairly certain that the residents of Casper will regret it if they do not.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
The New Army Reading and Viewing List
The latest list of books, and now films, that the Army feels that officers ought to see:
Military themed literature:
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Fields of Fire by James Webb
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb
The Centurions by Jean Larteguy
The Winds of War/War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
The Thin Red Line by James Jones
Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
Fatherland by Robert Harris
The Regeneration Trilogy by Pat Barker
The Matthew Hervey series by Allan Mallinson
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Bomber by Len Deighton
The Sharpe Books by Bernard Cornwall
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Bream
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Bugles and a Tiger by John Masters
The Field Marshal's Memoirs by John Masters
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
Film List:
The Duellists (1977)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Hamburger hill (1987)
Arn the Templar (2007)
Capitaine Conan (1996)
Days of Glory (2006)
Intimate Enemies (2007)
Alatriste (2006)
Beneath Hill 60 (2010)
Zulu (1964)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Gettysburg (1993)
The Frontline (2011)
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
Battle for Haditha (2007)
Blood Diamond (2006)
World Trade Centre (2006)
United 93 (2006)
The Hurt Locker (2009)
Restrepo (2010)
Three Kings (1999)
The Kingdom (2007)
Body of Lies (2008)
Documentaries:
The Civil War (1990)
The War (2007)
The Great War (1964)
The World at War (1973)
The First World War (2003)
Culloden (1964)
Australians at War (2001)
The Sorrow and the Pity (1969)
Regarding the books, even though I read almost constantly, I've only read the following:
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Fields of Fire by James Webb
Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb, I haven’t read, but I’ve seen a film by that name, I presume to be based on it.
The Thin Red Line by James Jones, is a book I started to read many years ago, and didn’t finish, which is farely rare. Usually when I start them, I finish them, but I didn’t care for it much at the time.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
It occurs to me that I don't read novels all that often, which all of these are. Presumably there's a separate history text list.
I'm not sure what Catch 22 would actually teach an officer. Interestingly enough, in later years Heller stated that the novel is complete fiction, and that in actuality the officers he met in World War Two were remarkably competent. I liked the book when I read it, when I was in high school, but in some ways, the novel is probably uniquely suited for somebody actually in high school. Indeed, my high school guidance counselor seemed to be much like Major Major, in that you could only see him when he wasn't in.
Regarding the films, I’ve seen these.
The Duellists (1977). I like this movie, but I’m really surprised to see it here as I can’t quite figure what lesson it’s supposed to teach that’s applicable to modern soldiers. Don’t duel for decades?
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Hamburger hill (1987)
Zulu (1964)
Apocalypse Now (1979). Really? I liked this film when I saw it in the theater in 1979, but I don't think it stands up. Would the lesson be don't go into the jungle with Martin Sheen, or perhaps mumbling large men like Marlon Brando? Hmmm. . . .
Gettysburg (1993). This was based on the novel The Killer Angles, but I can't see any officer with actual duties watching it, as it's so long, it seems to be almost a minute by minute depiction of the actual battle.
United 93 (2006)
Three Kings (1999). Eh? I can't figure why this one is there.
The Civil War (1990).
The World at War (1973).
The First World War (2003)
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