Reading the papers requires more time on Thursday.

Most days, I read that big paper from up north, then the “statewide” paper that comes up from Casper to find Wyoming stories that Montana group left out. Five days a week, I read the paper I delivered in Worland back in the ’50s. If there’s any time left in the morning, I scan a few national papers for good measure.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, of course, I read the Powell Tribune in between the Billings and Casper papers. Since this column usually appears on Thursday, I read it carefully to see if I missed any mistakes.

I’m still not finished on Thursday, because I am compelled to read the Greybull Standard, a compulsion rooted in the 33 years I lived in Greybull, not to mention the time I spent working for the Standard after I “retired.” I like to keep up with my old friends and neighbors.

Two weeks ago, that extra time came in handy, because the Standard’s Marlys Good told an amusing story in her column that led to this piece.

Marlys had traveled over the mountain to visit her daughter, and while she was there, she visited the middle-school science fair, where one of the displays caught her eye.

The purpose of this project, according the young scientist, was to determine whether boxelder bugs, those black insects with the racy red trim, can survive the winter. It was a nice display, with lots of photos, definitions and descriptions, and at the bottom of the display was the student’s conclusion:

“I should have chosen another project,” the student wrote, “because I couldn’t find any boxelder bugs.”

I decided to tuck the story into the file I maintain in my brain labeled “Things to write a column about,” and as I did so, I had a strange thought.

Somehow, this story made me think about the leadership of the Park County Republicans. I mulled that over a couple of days before I figured out why.

These Republicans are apparently conducting an experiment to see if Gov. Matt Mead can be destroyed. Their first experiment centered on the State Department of Education and former Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill. Though they had never indicated any support for Hill before, they attempted to vilify the governor for the Legislature’s attempt to remove her from office.

Well, despite a Wyoming Supreme Court decision overturning the Legislature’s action and returning Hill to office, Mead suffered no visible damage. He was reelected by a healthy margin and Hill’s attempt to defeat him in the Republican primary crashed and burned.

Now, the Park County GOP leadership is trying out a new issue aimed at the governor. They are condemning him for failing to appeal a federal judge’s decision that effectively legalized same-sex marriage. They claim that he has neglected his duty to the state by not kicking the feds out of the state, a power they believe he has.

Now, I’m sure the Republican leadership is honestly against same-sex marriage; even the judge who made the ruling is. But such an appeal would be fruitless, given rulings by higher courts and the absence of a ruling by the U.S.Supreme Court. Given that, I would think a group of “real conservatives” would rather not spend the pile of money such an appeal would cost, especially since it appears the Supreme Court may take up the issue.

As for their notion that Mead can simply disinvite the federal government, this ancient belief has never prevailed. Moreover, a good argument can be made that marriage is a protected civil right, regardless of gender, and if so, the state can’t take it away any more than it can take your Smith & Wesson away.

Consider Amendment IX, which indicates that the absence of other rights from the Bill of Rights does not mean those other rights don’t exist. It is quite reasonable to argue that one such right is the right to marry whoever you choose, as the Supreme Court ruled in Loving vs. Virginia many decades ago.

In addition, Article IV of the Constitution requires Wyoming to recognize public acts, one of which, presumably, is marriage, of every other state. If a couple marries in Massachusetts, one would assume their marriage is transferrable to any other state, Wyoming included.

Then, of course, there is the Supremacy Clause in Article VI, which … well, you can read that for yourself.

As for the notion that Wyoming can simply ignore the judge’s ruling and kick the federal government out of the state, several years ago, a group in a neighboring county demanded that the county challenge a federal action on those grounds.  The county refused to grant their demand, so the group hired a lawyer who claimed he had never lost such a case against the federal government.

I don’t think the Republican leadership should contact that guy, though. He took the money and disappeared without one word of argument before the court, and the federal government still enforces laws there.

In short, Mead is on pretty solid ground in this case, and the Park County committee’s experiment in governor bashing will probably fail. Unlike that unfortunate student to the east of us, though, they will no doubt try again, this time with another subject.