Cody

Just a small disagreement Great job by Christopher Reynolds ["Elk, Blowups and Cowboys," July 25]. He captured a lot of the essence of Cody, Wyo. Of course, our perspectives are slightly different. He thinks of Cody as "tiny," while I term it "my favorite city." Paul D. Butler Hyattville, Wyo. An airline fee what-if for fliers Regarding "A Fee Onslaught" [On the Spot, July 25]: What if nobody chose the seat-selection option ("Do you want to sit together?"

The competition to replace Matt Barkley as USC's starting quarterback will not end Saturday in the Trojans' final spring scrimmage at the Coliseum. But Max Wittek, Cody Kessler and Max Browne are looking forward to making lasting impressions. Trojans Coach Lane Kiffin has not classified them in any order - "They're all in there," he said - and no major change is expected when Kiffin releases a depth chart Monday. Still, the quarterbacks' performances will enable USC fans to begin forming opinions as the Trojans head into summer.

The best way to Yellowstone: From LAX, United and Delta offer connecting service (change of planes) to Yellowstone Regional Airport in Cody, Wyo. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $354. Cody is about 52 miles east of Yellowstone's eastern boundary. WHERE TO STAY Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel & Cabins, in the northern end of the park, (866) 439-7375 or (307) 344-7311, http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com . Open May 14-Oct. 11, then reopens late December-March.

Indiana 7-footer Cody Zeller and two point guards were among the latest standout underclassmen to make themselves available for the NBA draft. Joining Zeller were Syracuse's Michael Carter-Williams and Missouri's Phil Pressey. Zeller, a sophomore who led the Hoosiers in scoring (16.5 points) and rebounding (8.1), was a second-team All-American and is projected to be a top-10 pick in the June draft. He is the second Hoosiers star to leave school early. On Tuesday, junior swingman Victor Oladipo announced he, too, was declaring for the NBA draft.

Buffalo Bill Cody's last words were reportedly, "Let my show go on!" Just a couple hours' drive east of Yellowstone National Park is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, less a passing fancy of entertainment than a rich and detailed history lesson that plainly demonstrates that the show about the man — and the myth — is galloping and kicking up dust well into the 21st century. Like most Americans, I had heard of Buffalo Bill (his bright-lights name was even appropriated by the 1983-84 Dabney Coleman television show, plus that was the nickname for the serial killer in "The Silence of the Lambs."

For someone as Winnebago-wide and fearsome and scary as Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody, his most impressive numbers are height (6 feet 5) and weight (365 pounds, according to the team's website) over tackles (25) and sacks (zero). Cody is actually down from 410 pounds. During a high school game in Fort Myers, Fla., he once landed on tailback Noel Devine, now a star at West Virginia, prompting Devine to vomit. Cody can tell you funny big-man stories, such as trying to shimmy into an airplane lavatory.

At first, an Illinois chiropractor was miffed when he opened a shipment of supplies last week and noticed tufts of fur. Then he spotted a black-and-white cat that had hitched a ride from Texas. "My first reaction was, I didn't know what kind of animal he was, so I closed the box back up," said Brett St. Aubin, clinic director at Chiro One Wellness Center in Woodstock, Ill. The stowaway's collar identified him as Cody, 2. The cat had jumped unnoticed into the roughly 2-by-3-foot box as it was being packed, said Marie Webster of Dallas, whose daughter is Cody's owner.

WHEN I FIRST MEET HENRY GUILIANTE, I AM PLANNING to do a story on what happens to teenage mothers as they grow older. I plan to focus on Michelle Harig, Henry's girlfriend. Michelle had been physically and sexually abused, beginning when she was 9 years old. She had turned to alcohol, cocaine and, finally, heroin. Henry had returned embittered from a tour of duty in Vietnam.

Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 720 Sheridan Ave., Cody, Wyo.; (307) 587-4771, http://www.bbhc.org ; adult admission $15, ages 6-17 $10, 5 and younger free.

A 16-year-old who was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy Sunday in Compton was identified Monday as Avery Cody Jr. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Det. Steve Blagg said Cody had a loaded handgun when he was shot by a deputy on routine patrol. But an attorney for Cody's family said the teen did not brandish a weapon and posed "no threat" to deputies or anyone else. Attorney John E. Sweeney said Cody and a friend had just finished eating at a nearby McDonald's when they were stopped by officers in an unmarked vehicle near the intersection of Poinsettia Avenue and Alondra Boulevard in Compton.

THE BEST WAY TO CODY, WYO. From LAX, connecting service (change of plane) to Cody is offered on Delta and United. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $274. Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center, 1539 Road 19, Powell, Wyo.; (307) 754-8000, http://www.heartmountain.org . Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, Oct.15-May 31. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily June 1-Oct. 14. Admission $7 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, free for kids under 12. TO LEARN MORE Cody Trolley Tours ([307]

CODY, Wyo. - The drive east of Cody is through high desert, and the February weekend of my visit was bitterly cold. But I was wearing a heavy down coat, snow pants and boots, and riding in a cozy, warm SUV. That's not how nearly 14,000 earlier visitors had arrived in Cody. They came by train from California in late August, and they weren't wearing down or fleece, nor did they have a comfy hotel room awaiting them. They were among the 100,000 Japanese Americans relocated from the West Coast to the interior of the U.S. at the beginning of World War II, shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

If Simi Valley High baseball players ever get lazy or start complaining about something innocuous, such as who has to rake the mound, they are usually snapped back to reality by simply watching the determination of senior outfielder Cody Jones. "I have an inspirational story," Jones said, "Why not help out and brighten their day?" To understand the commitment and love of baseball exhibited by Jones, you must go back to when he was 6 years old and trying out for a youth team. He couldn't use his left hand because his left side had been weakened when oxygen was briefly cut off from his brain during a troubled childbirth, leaving him with cerebral palsy.

USC's quarterback competition could take a slight turn in the next week because of a knee injury suffered by Max Wittek. Wittek did not practice Tuesday because, he said, of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Wittek was injured Saturday during a drill before the Trojans' scrimmage at the Coliseum. On Tuesday, he wore a brace on his right leg and said he might sit out Thursday and Saturday before the Trojans break for a week. "If there's ever a time for this to happen, I guess it would be right now," said Wittek, who is competing against fellow third-year sophomore Cody Kessler and freshman Max Browne.

Quarterback Max Wittek sat on a table along the sideline, bags of ice wrapped around his right knee. Receiver Marqise Lee was held out after suffering a left knee injury. So evaluating USC after its first spring scrimmage at the Coliseum on Saturday was difficult. But this much appears evident after the first week of practice: •Third-year sophomore Cody Kessler will seize every opportunity to challenge Wittek for the starting quarterback job, and freshman Max Browne is improving every workout.

Cody Kessler's most noteworthy play for USC came last season after the quarterback was told by coaches to wear a different jersey number on special teams in the first half against Colorado. He was the backup to Max Wittek against Notre Dame and in the season-ending Sun Bowl loss to Georgia Tech, but he did not play. So the third-year sophomore spent the last two months doing what he has always done since arriving at USC: Preparing for his opportunity. On Tuesday, in the first official practice of the post-Matt Barkley era, Kessler, fellow sophomore Max Wittek and freshman Max Browne began a competition that could extend into training camp.

A woman who said she was sleeping when her ex-boyfriend violently abducted her children, Sarah, 11, and Cody, 9, was convicted of not doing anything to stop the deadly attack. Schwana Patterson, 37, could get up to 99 years in prison on each of the two counts of injury to a child by omission. Prosecutors claimed she ignored her children's screams as Bobby Wayne Woods abducted them from their bedroom in Granbury, Texas, in 1997. Sarah was found dead, her throat slashed. She had been raped.

Federal Arsenal and Cody won trotting championships, and Styling and Lake Hills Texas were crowned pacing champions Monday on the first day of the Illinois State Fair's five-day harness-racing meet. The start of Monday's 15-race card was delayed two hours by overnight rains. The track officially was listed as good, yet 11 of the 15 heats went in under 2:00.

Shortly after he settled into a patio chair outside USC's McKay Center on Wednesday, Max Browne was spied by a group of campus visitors who walked past. "Hi, new quarterback," one shouted, before another jogged over to shake Browne's hand and wish him luck. Browne, the Gatorade national high school player of the year, is the most high-profile player in USC's football recruiting class. And the recognition factor will begin to increase exponentially next week when the Trojans open spring practice.

WASHINGTON - Cody Keenan haunts the basement of the West Wing at all hours, laboring over the State of the Union address while cloaked in a black pullover that a friend jokes is his "good luck fleece. " So Keenan hopes. The pressure is on the ruddy, 32-year-old wordsmith - the nationally televised address Tuesday will be his first major effort since President Obama named him chief White House speechwriter. In the small club of past presidential speechwriters, the State of the Union is known as a notoriously miserable task.