Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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The first in a series of community meetings organized by the Carbon County Library System Board (CCLSB) will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Encampment Public Library. The CCLSB is grappling with county budget cuts of close to 30 percent, and is seeking patron input in order to help determine which library services are most important to residents. “Rather than close a library here and there, the board decided to try to cut back on hours and services (to deal with the budget cuts)” Bob... Full story
The Rob Roy Reservoir about six miles southwest of Centennial in Medicine Bow National Forest can hold 11 billion gallons of water. With higher than usual snowpack melting however, a press release from the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities (CBPU) says even that capacity will not be enough this year. A Natural Resource Conservation Survey report on snow water equivalent (SWE) in the Lower North Platte River basin listed the amount of precipitate in the mountains at 153 percent of baseline... Full story
Young mussels, or glochidia, “look like really vicious Pac Men,” according to Dr. Lusha Tronstad, lead invertebrate zoologist for the University of Wyoming at Laramie. Tronstad was in Saratoga May 19 to deliver a 45-minute talk on crustaceans and mollusks as part of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s (WGFD) Habitat Speaker Series of free public lectures. About 30 interested individuals, running the gamut from energetic toddlers to curious retirees, turned out to learn from the speci... Full story
They came from Washington state and Nebraska, as well as Colorado, Idaho and Utah. Their vehicles ranged from $700 junkers to $50,000 monuments to backyard engineering and gear head fantasies brought to life. There was even a snowmobile. Color, variety and a distinctive brand of manic fun were evident in every direction at the seventh annual Pig Digger Mud Rally May 28-29 at the Whistle Pig Saloon. The event has grown steadily in popularity since its inception in 2009, and this year 50 trucks... Full story
The town of Saratoga is under the imminent threat of flooding and significant river bank erosion,” mayor Ed Glode said at the May 17 Saratoga Town Council meeting. “Extensive damage could be caused to public and private property, (and) disruption of utility service and endangerment of the health and safety of the residents of the town of Saratoga (are possible),” Glode continued. With the river rising rapidly and more snowmelt likely on the way, Glode made a formal declaration of emerg... Full story
Of the 11 athletes Saratoga High School (SHS) sent to compete at the 2A State Track Meet in Casper, 10 got recognition at the award podium. Though she didn't place this year, coach Rex Hohnholt said that Shianne Baker excelled as well, marking "great times for a freshman (in her 100 and 200 meter dash races)." The May 19-21 Casper meet marked the last time the Panthers team will compete at the 2A level. Next year SHS athletes will be classified in the 1A division, meaning the Panthers will be... Full story
By Max Miller Since May 9, six Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) workers from Saratoga and a mechanic from Rawlins have been working 10 hour days in sub-freezing conditions to get the HWY 130 scenic byway ready for summer traffic. WYDOT workers on the Saratoga side of the pass include, Kevin Treat, Kirk Pantle, Billy Zeiger, John Rimmer, Ken O'Leary, Rawlins mechanic Tony Robidoux and crew boss Scott Kinniburgh. Kinniburgh said that particularly wet, heavy snow has made for slow... Full story
Access, availability, spot-zoning, and questions of protocol once again dominated discussion of Triple D Construction’s (“Triple D”) plan to develop a 6.7 acre lot on the western edge of Saratoga. In contrast to previous planning commission meetings, however, the developers emerged from the May 10 meeting with a solid way forward. Perhaps one difference from previous meetings was the presence of additional stakeholders during the discussion. In addition to Chuck Bartlett, who has repre... Full story
Joe Jones had some bad news for the Shively Field Airport Board. Jones was contacted by Saratoga to do an informal inspection to determine asbestos levels in the airport’s old terminal building, and his findings revealed significant levels of the carcinogen. Asbestos poses no risk if undisturbed, but when the material becomes airborne during demolition or construction it can lodge in the lungs and cause mesothelioma or other conditions. In the past, Jones said he was “accredited in all pha... Full story
Between 6 and 8 p.m. May 5, visitors to the commons area of the Saratoga Middle/High School (SM/HS) were transported to a different world. Soft, slinky selections such as “Isn’t She Lovely” and “Impressions” floated through the air courtesy of the school jazz band. Wafting alongside the grace notes was the smell of exotic appetizers prepared by the Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA). The creamy pesto pinwheels, strawberry bruschetta and herbed onion parmesan toasts were like... Full story
The May 12 meeting of the South Central Wyoming Emergency Medical Services (SCWEMS) Joint Powers Board (JPB) resulted in a mixed bag of piecemeal progress and stalemate on long term issues the service faces. With terms expiring for five of the seven JPB members on July 1, the current board will have one more chance to rectify these issues at what may be their last meeting together on June 6. In the words of JPB chair Ken Drain, “Some entities have screwed up – big time.” Drain was refer... Full story
Hundreds of science students from across the state flocked to Laramie this March to take part in the annual Wyoming State Science Fair. With 14 different categories of competition and junior and senior divisions for middle school and high school students, respectively, exhibitions at the fair offered a peek inside the minds of Wyoming’s best and brightest. Brightest was what Saratoga Middle School (SMS) seventh grader Campbell Grabow was concerned with. Her experiment, titled “The Effect of Dif... Full story
By Wednesday, May 11, the first shift will have started at the long-dormant Saratoga sawmill, according to Gary Ervin. Ervin, the managing partner of Saratoga Forest Management (SFM), is a 50 percent owner of the firm, and manages many of the lumber plant’s day-to-day operations. Production has been on hold at the mill since an early-morning fire disabled the facility in January. At full capacity, the mill employs about 140 people, with an additional 50 contract workers driving trucks or f... Full story
More investigations from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) may be forthcoming following an inspection conducted by two USACE officials May 6. The federal regulators were here to investigate if work done by the town in late April had violated the terms of a permit the agency issued Saratoga in December of 2012. Between April 19 and 22, Saratoga street workers “armored” an abutment securing a pedestrian bridge connecting Veteran... Full story
Between the May 3 town council meeting and the morning of May 9, the Saratoga town council reversed course on an issue that had previously drawn uniform praise from the body. “The plan is, we’ll get our river committee reformed,” Mayor Ed Glode told Jim States, president of the Valley’s Trout Unlimited Organization, at the April 19 town council meeting. States’ proposed advisory board was to issue recommendations to Saratoga about moving forward with a plan to address bank stabiliza... Full story
This tale took place during my Peace Corps service, when I took a two week trip to Ghana during my summer break from teaching at a school in Burkina Faso. This adventure begins in the least likely of places: a beach resort. Now, don’t get me wrong, beach resorts are wonderful locales to read on the sand, coax out a tan or savor a complicated cocktail. I did all of these things at the Green Turtle Lodge” on the southern tip of Ghana, and I enjoyed them greatly. Nevertheless, for the salty, wel... Full story
“I intend to do a pretty significant dredging project in September,” Saratoga Mayor Ed Glode announced at the May 3 Saratoga Town Council meeting. Though little was decided, contention again surrounded discussion of how to address the long-term health of the North Platte River through Saratoga. As a body, the council seemed reluctant to fund additional studies on the river, after an October 2015 bedrock survey came back without results. “I get real hesitant to spend another $100,000 of the t... Full story
It’s that time of year for the track team. “Unfortunately, for some, you know, this will be their last week, and others will be going onto the next level,” Saratoga High School (SHS) track coach Rex Hohnholt said. Hohnholt was talking about next weekend’s regional competitions in Torrington, where the top eight finishers in individual events and the top four relay teams will be chosen to advance to state competitions held in Casper May 19 to 21. For athletes who haven’t prequalified and don’t... Full story
Following reports from several area residents, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have launched an investigation into bridge work conducted by the town of Saratoga between April 19 and April 22. According to director of public works Jon Winter, the work in question involved reinforcing the abutments that secure the walking bridge connecting Veterans Island to the West bank of the Platte. The "armoring" – buttressing the bridge... Full story
People say Wyoming is blustery, but as about 35 people gathered at the community center learned May 2, it's nothing compared to Neptune and its 1,000 mph winds. Traveling astronomer Kevin Manning was making a swing through the Good Times Valley to share his love of the stars, and he sprinkled the two hour presentation he delivered Monday night with many such fun facts. Following a career spent scouring the skies with Brookhaven National Laboratories, as well as working on projects such as the... Full story
The Colorado country-inflected rockers Slopeside made good on the promise of their song "See You in Saratoga" Saturday night, April 30. The band was in town to play a three hour show at the Saratoga Resort and Spa, where a crowd of about 60 turned out to hear a wide-ranging, high-energy performance. "There are just really good people here – it brings us back every time," said keyboardist and guitarist Cody Culver about playing in the Valley. The band first toured in Saratoga five years ago a... Full story
“It’s just been one of those track years – you don’t have control over it,” Saratoga High School track coach Rex Hohnholt said, heaving a sigh. The meet that Saratoga was to host Saturday April 30 was canceled the night before, due to a winter storm. It was the third meet that was canceled this year because of weather, and particularly dismaying to the Panthers because it was the only meet to be hosted in Saratoga this year. There is not sufficient time to reschedule the competition. “It’s dis... Full story
Saratoga will not be clearing gravel bars from the North Platte River this spring, Saratoga Director of Public Works Jon Winter said at the April 19 town council meeting. According to Winter, the town has received all necessary permitting to do the clearing, but the timeframe stipulated by the Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t allow for work to be completed in the coming months. The permit doesn’t allow for large-scale river disturbance between March and May 15, to prevent disturbance of rai... Full story
April 12, Chuck Bartlett was back at the planning commission, hard hat in hand. Bartlett, the former Saratoga Town Engineer, was representing Triple D Construction at the commission meeting, as he had under similar circumstances a month ago at the commission’s March 8 meeting. Triple D is considering purchasing a lot from Swanson Brothers on the West side of town. Before going through with the transaction, however, Bartlett and his firm wanted to test the waters at the planning commission to s... Full story