Thunder Mountain Gold, Inc., a US-based exploration company focused on discovering and defining high-grade, high quality precious and base metal resources, today announced that Eric Jones, Chief Financial Officer, is scheduled to present an overview of the Company’s operations at the Wall Street Analyst Forum 21st Annual Analyst Conference on Thursday, November 11th at The University Club (1 West 54th Street) in New York City.

Thunder Mountain Gold’s presentation is scheduled for 12:50 p.m. EST (10:50 a.m. MST).  Investors are invited to attend in person or via a live webcast.  To register and to access the complete conference schedule, including the webcast, please visit www.analyst-conference.com.  For investors attending in person, The University Club adheres to a business attire only dress code.

The presentation will also available by webcast at http://www.thundermountaingold.com by going to the Investors page and looking under the Presentations tab and at http://www.wsw.com/webcast/wsaf17/thmg.  An archive of the webcast will also be available for 90 days.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Two more states have joined an effort in banning fake weed, widely known as “spice.” Elko has recently passed a measure to ban it, though it hasn’t caught on statewide. Recently, Oregon and Idaho have banned the synthetic pot, however Oregon intends to legalize it for medicinal purposes – a move that Nevada may share.

The pharmaceutical aspect may eliminate the wait needed by legislature to ban it, as they could regulate it and eliminate the need for further voting. That route has repercussions for possession and sale of it as well.

Nevada wants to hold off on making regulations for medicinal purposes until tests of the synthetic drug are conducted by the Washoe County Crime Lab. By doing this, upon seizing an illegally possessed spice, the lab can undoubtedly state that the drug has the synthetic properties and the city/state can prosecute accordingly. Tests are currently being worked out by state crime labs, using urine and blood tests that could determine whether or not probationers are cheating their tests.

The process will take time and is all about matchmaking. Matching synthetic cannabinoids with those being sold in shops and online stores could help criminalize those selling them after the tests are completed, especially since lists of ingredients don’t exactly come with the purchase.

Once all is said and done, the purpose will be to accurately describe what is being criminalized and will help the process along when lawmaking starts.

Popularity: 40% [?]

As of October 18, a federal judge has denied a plea agreement offered to Terry Jones Jr., the man charged with assault with a deadly weapon. In a rare instance of violence in the upper Elko Indian Colony, Jones stabbed another man repeatedly.

The next step is jury selection for his trial slated to take place this coming January.

In November of last year, Jones was involved in an incident in which his defense says the victim, Jared Conklin, started. At some point after exiting the altercation, Jones went back into his home and stabbed him multiple times. Under the circumstances,  the defense wants the assault charge replaced with a burglary charge as Jones admits to entering the home again without permission – the stabbing was allegedly in self-defense.

Jones’ defense also claims that the witnesses used to incriminate him are invalid.

The agreement pitched to the judge by Jones’ defense was that Jones would plead guilty to burglary and receive 18 months in prison, less the 11 months he’s already served in jail.

His trial will begin January 24 in Reno.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Halloween is just around the corner, and what would be a more fitting way to celebrate than touring a cemetery?

Historian Jan Petersen will be conducting the seventh annual Elko City Cemetery Tour on Halloween at 1 pm. The tour won’t be for spooks and frights, though. Petersen will be taking folks on an informative tour to enlighten them about many former residents that helped make Elko what it is today. They may reside in the cemetery now, but their contributions to the community live every day.

Those interested should meet Petersen at the Russell Mausoleum in the Masonic cemetery across from the former Elko HS gym. The tour will commence there, and all are invited to join in this stroll through time.

Popularity: 8% [?]

An angry Elko woman was arrested on battery and domestic violence charges after nailing her husband with a Jeep last Friday.

The husband got out of the car at a Maverick gas station to make a phone call on a pay phone. No sooner than he lifted the receiver, his wife, 27 year old Jennie Williams, got into the Jeep and tried to speed away. The husband ran back to the car as Williams proceeded to hit the accelerator and hit him, who was scooped up onto the hood.

The couple were separated at the time of the incident.

After hitting her husband, witnesses and the husband said Williams exited the station and ran into a parked truck. Williams went to the Louis Motel on Idaho Street, where police found her and took her into custody.

The man was not seriously hurt in the attack, however Williams claims hitting him was an accident. She was formally charged with battery with a deadly weapon relating to the use of the vehicle and second offense domestic violence. Police may tack on an extra charge of hit and run for swiping the parked truck as well.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Local band The Girlfriend Season is on the road and making a name for themselves.

Two of the members, Pat and Ryan Klekas, graduated from Elko High School. Members Colby and Garret Satterthwaite graduated from nearby Spring Creek High School. The guys say they are putting their lives on hold to pursue their dream.

They were all living in different cities when they unanimously decided that they needed to start touring. They eventually got together and recorded their first album last year in Fort Worth. They then got a manager and started playing some gigs and venues in the area – their first tour. The tour, which has stretched from New York City to Las Vegas, ends October 26.

The band is doing well at getting their name out there, as they were named number one recording artist by purevolume.com for three days, and had the top most downloaded song. The song, which was placed on the site for free, is entitled “Just For Tonight.”

The band hopes to come back to town and play a fundraiser show at Elko High School. They’ve been trying to book a gig in Elko, but everything has been booked full lately. For more information on the band, including a chance to listen to some of their music, visit their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/62613563/music/songs/66400538

The Girlfriend Season is: Patrick Klekas on guitar, Ryan Klekas as the lead singer, Travis Morrow on drums, Colby Satterthwaite on bass and vocals and Garret Satterthwaite on guitar.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Another drug bust to add to the litany of drug busts in the Elko area – this time, a local cop nabbed two for the price of one.

An Elko man was driving with the wrong person today – police pulled him over because the man he was with was wanted on a warrant.  Elko Officer Rich Genseal noticed the man in the car at 11:40 am in the area of South Ninth Street and pulled the car over. After arresting the fugitive, 30 year old Paul Cowles, he turned his sights on the driver, 25 year old Juan Jiminez.

He gave the officer permission to search him, thinking he wouldn’t find the 8.3 grams of methamphetamine in his pant leg.

He did.

Both men were booked, and Jiminez’ bail has been set at $50,000 for trafficking of a controlled substance.

Popularity: 37% [?]

The drug known as “spice” is one step closer to being banned in the city of Elko.

Elko City Council decided unanimously to ask the city attorney to make an ordinance to criminalize the sale and possession of spice. Spice is essentially a mix of herbs sprayed with a man made drug akin to marijuana – but claimed to be four to 100 times stronger than marijuana. The drug is currently a legal, marketable alternative to real weed, but the Council says the usage of spice has become an epidemic.

A major driving reason for the ban is the plethora of deaths attributed to spice, most occurring in the Midwest. Since the imitation weed is marketed to younger audiences, City Council essentially wants to protect the youth from the misuse of spice. Even more enticing is the high it gives, and the inability to detect it in drug tests.

If (and probably when) the draft of the ordinance is given at the next council meeting and no other hindrances occur, the ordinance will likely be law in December.

With the number of man made cannabinoids and imitation pot recipes on the streets, this bill may be futile. However, City Council has suggested changing the wording of the bill to put an outright ban on all cannabinoids to avoid loopholes.

Popularity: 42% [?]

A pair of Elko con men were arrested Wednesday after smashing out a truck’s windows. Interesting enough, but it gets better.

When Nathaniel Deleon and Taylor Miller, 18 and 19 respectively, were caught beating on another car down the street, police found the teens with bloodshot eyes and bags of meth-esque substances. After the mystery powders were tested, they were revealed as bags of sea salt by the young, upstart members of society. The tests obviously came back negative for meth.

Apparently the kids were selling the salt as meth to make money. What’s worse is they actually MADE money from the meth heads buying the stuff.

The dumb dealers were charged with minor in consumption, imitation of a controlled substance and malicious destruction of private property. Deleon spit on the arresting officer, who tacked on a propelling bodily fluids charge.

Popularity: 21% [?]

The 27th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, will take place January 24-29, 2011, in Elko, Nevada. As part of its ongoing effort to build understanding among herding cultures worldwide, the Gathering will welcome horsemen, musicians and craftsmen from the Hungarian puszta, the largest contiguous grasslands in Europe, home to the legendary Hungarian horsemen, csikos, who have tended and defended their herds of grey longhorn Hungarian cattle since the Magyars first crossed into the area from the Carpathians a thousand years ago. Renowned for their horsemanship and animal husbandry, they have much in common with the American cowboy.

“We will explore common ground and new ground between these two herding cultures,” explains Charlie Seemann, Executive Director of the Western Folklife Center, which produces the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. “Through panel discussions, performances of pastoral music and poetry, workshops and an exhibition about Hungarian csikos, we hope to build a bridge between cultures that may seem very different on the surface, but that share profound similarities.”

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is the nation’s largest annual celebration of cowboy culture. For six days the community of Elko will welcome thousands of cowboys and cowgirls, poets and musicians, artisans and scholars, rural and city people—all of whom share a love of the American West and the artistic traditions of ranching and cowboy culture. The Hungarians will join more than 60 poets and musicians from the U.S., Canada and Australia, who will perform on eight stages at five different venues throughout Elko. Highlights include a dinner theater production featuring Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, who will perform songs from his 2010 Grammy-award-winning recording of traditional blues music, and the youthful Marshall Ford Swing Band, featuring Emily Gimble (granddaughter of Texas fiddle legend Johnny Gimble). They will join many Gathering favorites, including Ian Tyson, Waddie Mitchell, Baxter Black, the Quebe Sisters, Wylie and the Wild West, Paul Zarzyski and Wallace McRae.

Tickets to the 27th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering can be purchased online at www.westernfolklife.org or by calling 775-738-7508 or toll-free at 888-880-5885. For more information about the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, visit www.westernfolklife.org.

Popularity: 7% [?]