A lot of a reporter s time is spent following up on various tips, rumors and leads, with varying degrees of success.
Like a stretch at the blackjack table, there are times when a string of rumors turn out to be true, and end up being interesting stories for the newspaper. But there are also times when things don t end up being what they seem, and a lot of time is spent debunking bad information.

Over the last couple of weeks, there was a string of tips that ended up being non-stories:
A woman called The Gazette (and apparently several other newspapers) to report an encounter with wolves near Worland. It s certainly possible, although unlikely, but the caller was convinced and it warranted following up. But the U.

S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent an agent to investigate, and turned up no evidence of wolves. That doesn t mean they weren t there, it just means there was nothing to confirm the tip.

A couple of folks called with information that a relatively large and well-known Cody-based business was being sold. There was a lot of good detail behind the tips, and further digging showed the sale, as outlined by the tipsters, would make sense, and sounded credible. But the business owners flatly denied any plan or desire to sell, and gave some plausible scenarios for how and why the rumors may have come about.

Finally, there was the rumor that Vice President Dick Cheney was in Cody. I first heard the rumor as being that John Ashcroft was coming to town. (Not huge news that the former U.

S. Attorney General would be here, but interesting, I suppose.) Then, I heard the current Attorney General was coming, then, it was just a military general, presumably one who was not also an attorney.

Then, the final morphing of the rumor Cheney was in town and Air Force Two was sitting on the runway at Yellowstone Regional Airport. This rumor seems to have been propagated by some over-zealous neighbors of the airport who had spied a U.S.

Government plane parked at the end of the runway, near Beacon Hill Road.
I checked out the plane, and it was a similar color scheme to Air Force One, but much smaller, with only seven windows. Vice Presidents typically fly in a (the ).

Coupled with a distinct lack of security that would be typical for a Vice Presidential visit, the rumor seemed pretty unlikely.
So, strike three, with none of the rumors panning out.
But if you re wondering whether to call in your rumor, the answer is: YES!

Even though they often turn out to be false, rumors sometimes turn out to be true, and often the only way I learn things that later turn out to be newsworthy is by people sharing a rumor with me.
Gossip, however, is a different story. Rumors are unverified reports spread and shared through social networks in an attempt to determine their veracity.

The .
But gossip is usually a specific story about a particular person or institution that comes with an attached moral judgment. It s often spread with the goal of smearing a person or testing how the listener feels about the behavior covered by the gossip.

It might be a rumor, for instance, that a man s car broke down during a parade, but there could be a good deal of gossip about what a lousy job he did in maintaining the car over the last five years.
So even if they might be false, call me with your rumors. Just please leave out as much gossip as you can.

For those of you who have I Want To Believe posters hanging in your office, check out this photo sent in by Christine Houze of Cody.
Turns out it was just a funky cloud formation, but worth a double-take, especially if you re looking to rendezvous with E.T.

Or Alf. Or Chewbacca. The point of a blog is to solicit comments and ideas from readers.

Frankly, though, I was starting to worry about you guys, as I ve been blogging my guts out (OK, not really, but blogging with the semi-regular faithfulness of a friend who drops by every now and then to mooch beer or potato chips), only to get no comments from readers.
Turns out, some kind of super-secret, heretofore unknown switch had been flipped at the Global Blog Comment Command Headquarters in Billings. The switch has been flipped back, and comments are now working again.

So whatever you ve been dying to say, get busy and post those comments. I m expecting some profound and informed opinions.
Remember, too, that your comment may not appear immediately, as a moderator in Billings reviews them to make sure they don t run afoul of The Gazette s comment policy, and then clears them for posting.

In this photo released by Gov. Dave Freudenthal s office, the governor, right, and First Lady Nancy Freudenthal visit with Yellowstone National Park Ranger Mike Vandzura during a Yellowstone snowmobiling trip Feb. 5.

  During the tour, the Governor also met with Yellowstone Park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis and Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott on a variety of park issues.
I post the photo mainly because it proves what many of us have long known: virtually anyone who puts on a snowmobile suit and poses for a photograph runs the risk of looking like Kenny, from the TV show South Park.
So far, 2007 is shaping up to be a year of new beginnings in Cody.

The city is wrapping up its search for a new administrator, the Chamber of Commerce has narrowed the field in looking for a new director, and now word comes that the Buffalo Bill Historical Center will be .
Change is in the wind. The Western Design Conference, an event that has grown in importance over the years, has been sold and will move to Jackson.

The search is on to find someone to coordinate a .
A management review at the BBHC may yield changes to how that organization operates, including changes in personnel or the composition and function of the boards that govern the museum.
Forward Cody, a wide-reaching, is set to launch later this year.

A director will be hired for the Cody Economic Development Council who will spearhead the campaign, in connection with the Chamber.
Forget the it would seem the real danger for Cody is resisting change. New people and new ideas will undoubtedly bring about new ways of doing things, but is there really a viable option for and preserving it forever?

Change can be scary and unsettling, and usually involves lots of old dogs having to learn new tricks. It sometimes yields the opposite results from what everyone had hoped, costing money, time and aggravation in the process. But sometimes, something wonderful happens.

The typical explanation for why something is done a certain way starts with, Because that s how we ve always done it.
Sometimes that s a good enough reason, but many times, it s not. THERMOPOLIS - Construction of a new county fire hall has been delayed by a fire that damaged the unfinished building.

Thermopolis Police Chief Mark Nelson said the fire appears to have started Thursday morning while welders were working on the roof. Somehow, the insulation was ignited; the fire, and the water used to extinguish it, damaged the roof, insulation and some walls.
We re just disappointed,' said Nelson, who also is a volunteer firefighter.

We want to be in the new (fire hall).'
The estimated cost of the facility was $3.5 million.

Nelson said he didn t have an estimate of the damage costs, or of how long the fire will put back construction. A recently completed in the race between Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin and Democrat Gary Trauner yielded some interesting results.

The review showed that only six ballots had not been counted by electronic voting machines. Election officials say the ballots were ambiguously marked, and thus not counted by tabulators. It s likely human election judges would have ruled similarly, they said.

And while many might be quick to point out that fears expressed by those skeptical of electronic voting were groundless, there s a reason the hand recount was able to back up the machine count: paper ballots were used.
But don t expect future election questions to be settled by hand recounts. to be performed using the same machines as the initial count.

In most counties, this means running the paper ballots back through electronic tabulators. But in Goshen, Laramie and Carbon counties, there are no paper ballots to count. Or recount.

Those counties use Diebold touch-screen voting machines, and voters don t fill out a paper ballot, but instead touch the candidate of their choice on a video monitor.
I m neither a Diebold conspiracy theorist or a Cubin conspiracy theorist, and don t imagine the company or the candidate to be up to any odd dealings that we ought to be concerned about.
But I am a firm believer in the fallibility of computers, and it s nice perhaps imperative to have a paper hard copy of every ballot.

It would be even nicer if election law allowed people to recount those ballots, but I understand the reason it doesn t.
Recounting a paper ballot by using an optical scanner is a way to allow a machine to take the guesswork, or at least the wandering inconsistency, out of the human act of multiple individuals deciding what kind of mark constitutes a vote for which candidate.
The machine may be skewed, but at least it s consistently skewed, whereas people are likely to be all over the map.

(Anyone remember hanging chads?)
But in the best of all possible worlds, wouldn t it be great if all voting machines included paper ballots that could be saved and recounted by hand and machines? Wouldn t that be the most foolproof way to try and get to the bottom of any suspected irregularities?

Machines could still perform the official recount, but that could also be checked, as was the case recently in Sheridan County, against human counts. If the results are wildly inconsistent, then we d know there s a problem that merits further inquiry.
Of course, there s always the option I ve been considering for the next election: programming my own personal robot to go to the polls and touch a computer voting screen on my behalf.

Hello, I am sending this in regards to an article you wrote in March of last year. It was concerning a and his bunch of lies. I was just wondering what ever happened with this story?

My mother met a truck driver roughly 6 months ago. And let me tell you, it has been pure hell ever since. The man did not know how to tell the truth.

And it didn t bother him to lie to me, my mom or my young children.
Imagine my absolute shock when I was directed to your article and it is the very same Dan Madson we have been dealing with. I was shocked, but frankly not surprised!

! We have heard all about his family fortune, the private jet, the inheritence and honestly, way too many things to list.
My mom has been very blind and stupid in this whole mess.

But I pray after showing her your article, she will finally realize who and what she is dealing with.
I really wish there was something that could be legally done to him. Maybe if he was held accountable for his lies, he might stop hurting people.

If anyone around Greybull has further information I can share with this reader, please post it here or send it (rprevost@billingsgazette.com) to me. Mike Shay, with the Wyoming Arts Council, will be in the Bighorn Basin next week looking to meet with artists to show them the agency s new online grant application system.

If you re an artist looking for funds to help with your project, you might want to attend one of his three workshops.
I*m traveling to three sites in the Big Horn Basin next week * Jan.
22-24 * for grants training sessions.

Here*s a special invitation
Wyoming Arts Council*s new on-line granting system. It*s also an
opportunity for me to talk with performers and visual artists, people
IAPD grants in the performing arts and visual arts categories, along
with my ongoing responsibilities in literature. I*d also like to hear
to see at the WAC.

Cody, Northwest College Cody Center, Room CC2208, 1501 Stampede Ave., Monday, Jan. 22, 7-8:30 p.

m. Contact: Nancy Gilmore, 587-3376
Thermopolis, Hot Springs County High School, 331 Park, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 4-6 p.

m. Contact: Eric Kay, 864-6511
Worland, Worland Community Center, 1200 Culbertson Ave., Tuesday, Jan.

23, 7-9 p.m. Contact: Steve Hunt, 347-8616
from schools, arts groups, and community organizations.

No need for
advance registration. Just show up and I*ll take it from there.