Re: STAMP-STRAVAGANZA AND RELATED TOPICS

[dis@gj.net]

kmh wrote:
>  
> And boy was it an event --- in Grand Junction.  Jim Gurney was on hand
> to graciously admire the unveiling (and as anyone who knows him can
> attest, "gracious" is Gurney's middle name).  

        Quite a few of us were ticked that James Gurney was not asked to 
speak about the development of the stamp. It was a interesting story and 
Jim is a good speaker.

Jim Kirkland was there to
> lend his expert perspective, even if not on the "stage."  Dr. Bob
> (Bakker) was on hand to thrill and excite more than 300 elementary
> school kids, as Dr. Bob does so very well. And there was even a great
> Dave Thomas Utahraptor strapped to a trailer outside the building,
> though I haven't a clue why.  I didn't see Dave at the event.  Jim
> (Kirkland) tell me again WHY that Utahraptor was waiting in the parking
> lot?

Dave Thomas was on his way to Vernal, UT, where they were going to have 
it dedicated at the Dinosaur Gardens at the Vernal Field House of 
Natural History as part of their second day of issue celebration. I was 
not thrilled with it. A bit small with chunky claws. The first time I 
ever hunted dinosaurs was in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico with Dave 
Thomas and his son (in school with me) nearly 25 years ago. So I am not 
down on Dave, I'm just particular on how people dress up my baby.

        Just to list a couple of other notable people and organizations 
at the Dino Stamp first day of issue. Dr. George Callison (discover and 
PI of the Fruita Paleo Area), Dr. Brooks Britt (Mus. of West. Colo. and 
expert on theropods particularly their pneumatic resperatory system), 
Dr. Sue Ann Bilby (taphonomy of Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry), Robert Gaston 
(discoverer of Utahraptor site), Pete Mygatt (discoverer of the 
Mygatt-Moore Quarry), and others including a load of folks from the 
Vernal Field House, Garden Park Paleo, Soc., Western Int. Paleo. Soc., 
Uncompahgre Paleo. Soc., and of course the Dinamation Int.l Soc.

Also the same day the city of Fruita, CO announced that it had adopted 
Ceratosaurus n. sp. (Madsen and Wells, in press) from the Fruita Paleo. 
Area as its official dinosaur. I believe this is the first city to ever 
adopted an official dinosaur as its own. 

        Finally, my daughter Kelsey and I spent a day taking James 
Gurney and his son, Franklin around to see the real Jurassic Park. Can 
you believe this was only the second time he had ever been in the field. 
The first was with Jack Horner in Montana. By the way, Ken Carpenter and 
I were his consultants on the Jurassic sheet. Jack Horner was the 
consultant on the Cretaceous stamp sheet. I can lay claim to the 
Opisthias stamp. I thought he should include a sphenodontid as they are 
so common at the Fruita Paleo Area (3 taxa). It was not planned that it 
would be a stamp originally.

Jim K.