LOCAL NEWS, PUZZLES, & THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

April 29

 

1945: The Dachau concentration camp was liberated by U.S. troops. The HMS Goodall K479 became the last Royal Navy ship sunk by a Nazi submarine torpedo in World War II.

1967: Muhammad Ali was stripped of his boxing title one day after refusing induction into the U.S. Army for “religious reasons.”

2004: Oldsmobile built its final car, ending 107 years of production.

2011: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, married Kate Middleton in London. She became the Duchess of Cambridge.

 

April 30

 

1789: The first inaugural ball was held in New York for President George Washington.

1803: The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.

1812: The Territory of Orleans became the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.

1900: Hawaii became a territory of the United States with Sanford B. Dole as governor. Casey Jones died in a train wreck in Vaughn, Miss., while trying to make up time on the Cannonball Express.

1938: The animated cartoon short Porky’s Hare Hunt debuted in movie theaters, introducing Happy Rabbit, a prototype of Bugs Bunny.

 

May 1

 

1930: The dwarf planet Pluto was officially named.

1931: The Empire State Building in New York City was dedicated.

1978: Japan’s Naomi Uemura, travelling by dogsled, became the first person to reach the North Pole alone.

1999: The body of British climber George Mallory (“Because it’s there”) was found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.

2011: President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had been killed by U.S. special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. (Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.) Pope John Paul II was beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

 

May 2

 

1536: Anne Boleyn, Queen of England and the second wife of King Henry VIII, was arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.

1918: General Motors purchased Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.

1986: The city of Chernobyl, Ukraine, was evacuated six days after the nuclear power plant there exploded and melted down.

2000: President Bill Clinton announced that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.

 

May 3

 

1802: Washington, D.C., was incorporated as a city.

1921: West Virginia became the first state to legislate a sales tax.

1933: Born this day: James Brown, U.S. singer-songwriter, producer and actor (died 2006); Alex Cord, U.S. TV actor (Airwolf);

Steven Weinberg, U.S. physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.

1937: Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel Gone With The Wind.

1973: The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago became the world’s tallest building at 1,451 feet.

 

May 4

 

1776: Rhode Island became the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.

1959: The first Grammy Awards were held, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Born this day: Scott Armstrong, U.S. wrestler and WWE referee; Randy Travis, American singer-songwriter and actor; Bob Tway, American golfer.

1998: A federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., gave “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski of Lincoln, Mont., four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepted a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty

 

May 5

 

1925: John T. Scopes was arrested in Tennessee for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution.

The Land

Beyond All Roads”

Continued from

page 1

Deshazer also has owned and operated a couple of outfitting businesses, where he has taken many folks over the years deep into the wilderness to fish, hunt, or to photograph scenery, animals, and sometimes mountain flowers. This is most commonly accomplished with the use of horses and mules.

In his book, he writes with a strait up style from experience that is matter of fact, yet he leaves time and space for the reader to think about the weather, surroundings, situations, wild creatures, his pack string, and the unknown. His dad gave him his first Shetland pony when he was three years old. Deshazer describes Diesel, a half quarter horse and half Percheron. The Percheron is a breed of rugged draft horse that originated in the Perche region of France. They have also been used for forestry work, and are known to be well muscled, intelligent, willing to work, and sure footed. In his painted portrayal of this exceptional horse, he uses terms of endearment, beauty, respect, admiration, and love. Throughout the book, he uses these same terms for all that he loves.

Those who have hunted with Deshazer have good things to say about him. Four decades ago, a forester named Dennis, who lived up the Blue Slide Road between Trout Creek and Thompson Falls used to hunt with him. There was a drainage named after a furbearer that was semi-remote, steep country, and tough hunting. Plus, in those days the temperatures towards the end of the season averaged negative 38 degrees below zero, and often they were hunting in three to four feet of snow at the higher elevations. They would walk the horses in about five miles to the starting point of the hunt. It was better to walk the horses in than to ride, as the riders would get much colder sitting on the mounts. But it was elk winter range with good potential. Deshazer knew the ground well and taught his partner how to hunt the area efficiently. Dennis then continued to hunt the area with his horse Queenie and a forester buddy. Many times they would hunt eight to ten days strait if there was a lot of fresh elk sign. That forester buddy was me. And I harvested my first elk in there. Dennis and I continued to do fairly well in there for a few years afterward as well. So, indirectly, I owe Deshazer a debt of gratitude also.

As an author, DeShazer writes at times, in what used to be described as a tough and tender style. There is plenty of humor and resulting laughter in his book, as he humbles himself enough to laugh at his own mistakes; and there is depth too. In describing his thoughts about a concealed basin in the Scotchman Peaks, he writes, “I think the different feelings I had about Hidden Basin are similar to what the early Native Americans felt toward their hunting grounds. Like me, they loved their favorite hunting areas. The emotional attachment and connection to lakes, rivers, mountains, and valleys, to some, can be spiritual.” He continues his train of thought with, “The terminology most often used to describe these areas is sacred. I don’t think it’s so much that they believe in mountain gods. But I do believe that they think of the mountains as if the mountains have a soul.”

In the latter part of the book when he writes, “The wolf is gone in me.” Wolves figure prominently in the mythology of the Cherokee and nearly every Native American Tribe. In most Native cultures, wolf is considered a medicine being associated with courage, strength, loyalty, and success at hunting. With regard to the hunting success aspect of wolves, and his own hunting success and future pursuits, Jack DeShazer told The Montanian, “What I mean by the wolf is gone in me is that I no longer want to be responsible for any deer or elk not breathing again. I absolutely get no enjoyment out of an animal being dead because I am somehow thinking I am this great hunter. It just doesn’t produce any kind of joy in my life.”

His book, The Land Beyond All Roads is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Good News Christian Books, Libby Sports, and Homesteaders Ranch and Feed. The paperback is 324 pages long and it sells for a price of $16.99.