From the President

• Publication year: 2024
• Citation: Vol. 47 No. 5 Pg. 8
• Pages: 8

From the PresidentNo. Vol. 47 No. 5 Pg. 8Wyoming Bar JournalOctober, 2024

James T. Whiting

eFiling Motivation

James T. Whiting is a solo practice attorney, a Senior Assistant Public Defender and a CJA Panel Member from Lander, Wyoming.

I grew up in a valley at the base of the Wind River mountains. My senior year of high school I fell for a certain group of girls with whom I had just run a season of cross county. They convinced me I also wanted to join them on the cross-country ski team. I was not unfamiliar with the snow, growing up in a valley in the mountains. Sledding at the old Sinks Canyon ski area and snowmobiling with my father had all endeared me to this magical, crystalcold creation.

Additionally, from my pre-teens I had enjoyed downhill skiing with my family all around the Rocky Mountains but principally in the western mountains approximately three hours from my home.

The ladies "sold" the experience further by mentioning that practices were co-ed, bus rides for practice were nearly daily and lasted around an hour, and there were overnight ski meets every other week. Less persuasive but still enticing was their mention of other strange and ski-related rituals: singing on the bus, relays, classic, skating, kick wax, glide wax, corking. As a teenage boy who was captivated by this particular group of girls, my only thought was how could I have missed the previous three years of this? And so it was that I joined the Lander Valley ski team.

My first race was a 5k on Casper Mountain and as I recall I was the last skier off the course and approximately 25 plus minutes behind the first-place boy. Most of the race-related...