Madeleine Pickens

[naviga:h3]Suit alleges racial discrimination[/naviga:h3]

RENO, Nev. — Madeleine Pickens wanted the African-American chef she recruited from the country club she owns in Southern California to cook “black people food” — not “white people food” — at her rural Nevada dude ranch and wild horse sanctuary, according to a federal lawsuit accusing her of racial discrimination.

Armand Appling says the wealthy philanthropist and ex-wife of Oklahoma energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens told him fried chicken, BBQ ribs and corn bread would be perfect for the tourists who pay nearly $2,000 a night to stay in plush cottages, ride horses and take Wild West “safaris” on ATVs at her Mustang Monument Wild Horse Eco-Resort.

Appling alleges he was fired in 2014 in retaliation for complaining about a hostile work environment. He says Pickens’ stereotypical references were commonplace at the Elko County ranch stretching across 900 square miles on the edge of the Ruby Mountains about 50 miles west of the Utah line.

Among other things, he says Pickens, who is white, instructed him to terminate two other black kitchen staffers — one she referred to as her “bull” or “ox” and another who had “too much personality.” He says she told him they didn’t “look like people we have working at the country club” and didn’t “fit the image” of the staff she wanted at the ranch.

Pickens’ lawyers argue that even if all the allegations are true, none of her comments were racially motivated. At worst, Pickens’ remarks “reflect a non-racial personality conflict and amount to discourtesy, rudeness or lack of sensitivity,” they wrote in recent court filings.

U.S. District Judge Miranda Du said during a hearing in Reno last week that Appling’s lawyers have failed so far to prove the sort of racial hostility needed to win such a civil rights claim. She dismissed the original lawsuit that was filed in February but gave them until Jan. 13 to refile an amended complaint seeking unspecified damages from Pickens’ nonprofit, Save America’s Mustangs.

[naviga:h3]Visitors flocking to park in Utah[/naviga:h3]

SALT LAKE CITY — Officials at southern Utah’s Zion National Park say they’re being overrun by visitors, even during the usual winter lull.

Rangers have had to block tour buses and oversize vehicles from Zion Canyon to control the crowds during the holiday season and close the road, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Cars are sometimes rushed through the toll gate without the usual $30-per-vehicle charge as traffic backs up into neighboring Springdale.

Visitation is expected to top 4 million for 2016, a record. The number of visitors headed to see snow-covered red rock during the park’s offseason has jumped by the biggest margin, ticking up nearly 70 percent since 2010.

Winter used to be at quiet time at the park 160 miles from Las Vegas and about 300 miles from Salt Lake City. But that’s rapidly changing, park ranger John Marciano said.

Some Springdale residents, meanwhile, are calling on the state to tone down its “Mighty Five” tourism campaign focused on the state’s national parks.

“We are ruining our park with too many people. It has not been fun,” town councilman and park volunteer Lisa Zumpft said. “I would like to see our town protected because it is losing its character.”