Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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As the count of active cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to rise in Carbon County and across Wyoming, Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) recently announced three active cases among staff members. CCSD2 Superintendent Jim Copeland made the announcement on Sunday morning through the CCSD2 website. In the announcement, Copeland stated that the results of two positive results came due to ongoing random testing performed by the school district on all of... Full story
The Hanna Town Council met at 6:30 p.m. on October 13 at the Hanna Town Hall. The agenda was amended to have two new signatures for bank accounts and take off two people retiring. The agenda was approved as were the minutes from the town council meeting held on September 8. The next order of business was the board and department reports. Mayor Lois Buchanan said that the High Country Joint Powers Board (HCJPB) was reducing the acres allowed for the landfill. She said the town...
Governor Mark Gordon clarified that the role of the Wyoming National Guard in assisting with contact tracing is very limited. Due to the record number of new positive cases of COVID-19 the Department of Health and counties needed urgent assistance, but the Guard members’ role is limited to contacting individuals who may have been exposed to COVID-19 based on their contact with someone who has tested positive (contact tracing). The Governor emphasized that the agreement between the Wyoming National Guard and the Wyoming D...
The Wyoming Department of Transportation is working to bring additional winter semitruck parking and other safety improvements to Interstate 80, with a major project scheduled to begin this week. WYDOT’s I-80 Winter Freight project will bring nearly 100 new semitruck parking spaces to both the Fort Steele Rest Area about 7 miles east of Sinclair (mile marker 228) and at the Quealy Dome truck parking area 20 miles west of Laramie (mm 290) for a total of almost 200 new spaces. “If weather conditions are poor or I-80 is clo...
The Saratoga Planning Commission conducted business with three of their four members in attendance on October 13. While member Tom Westring was unable to attend, Mike Lamprecht joined the meeting via phone as the commission discussed a zoning amendment for Copperline Lodge. Since opening four years ago on Rochester Street, the Copperline Lodge has operated in RD 6000. As owner Dan Point prepares to undergo expansion of his property, he is going through the rezoning process to...
While the Town of Saratoga has been moving forward without a planning and zoning director, members of the Saratoga Town Council have been reviewing and approving building permits. Another aspect of that position, however, is performing building inspections and pressure checks. At the October 13 meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission, Councilmember D’Ron Campbell introduced Andrew Meyers, who has been contracted by the Town of Saratoga to perform building inspections. F...
The perennial discussion of Tyler Pickett Park was brought before the Saratoga Town Council during their October 6 meeting. The issue of the park, which has been discussed since 2009, was raised in a letter from James Olguin, Commander of Angus England American Legion Post 54. In addition to Tyler Pickett Park, the American Legion and Sons of the American Legion also requested permission to erect a flagpole near Veterans’ Island in memory of Keith McLendon. Tyler Pickett Park...
Yvonne Johnson, Carbon County Economic Development Corporation Director, was present at the October 8 Riverside Town Council meeting to introduce herself to the council and touch on topics on which she is currently working. Johnson said that her main goal is to bridge the Valley and Rawlins and to let the council know that if there is any need for funding, be it $10 or $10,000, she is there to help. Johnson has been busy, she said that she has already gone through two rolls...
The Upper Platte River Solid Waste District board met on October 7, 2020 at 7:00 pm to discuss several matters involving the landfill. The meeting opened and the minutes and bills were quickly approved. This was followed with correspondence from RNB State Bank and the state of Wyoming regarding the need for equal employment posters. Site reports were issued with a discussion about the disposal and shipping of cardboard following soon after. It was stated that the landfill is currently receiving around four bales of cardboard...
The Carbon County Visitor Council (CCVC) met at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Cotton Tree Inn in Rawlins. The approval of the agenda and the minutes from the regular meeting September 16 were done quickly. The next order of business was to listen to Angie Iacovetto for the grant application for the Pumpkin Patch and Harvest Festival being put on by the Rawlins Chamber. Iacovetto said that the pumpkins had been delivered on October 3 and that over 200 pumpkins have gone out in...
The vague and ambiguous language of Title 18 of the Saratoga Municipal Code took center stage during the October 6 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council. The definition of “adjacent” was also heavily discussed as Councilmember Jon Nelson defended his approval of a building permit for Memorial Hospital of Carbon County (MHCC). For more than a year, MHCC has pursued the construction of a clinic in Saratoga. Originally announced in July 2019, MHCC announced the purchase of pro...
As cold and flu season begin to reach Wyoming and Carbon County, the grip of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) can still be felt. With over 1,000 active cases in the state and 27 active cases in Carbon County, COVID doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. Of the active cases in Carbon County, 24 are local residents and three are non-local residents. This has brought Carbon County’s total since the pandemic began to 222 confirmed cases with 34 probable cases. In the pas...
While the Mullen Fire continued to see an increase in size within the past week, the arrival of cooler temperatures and some moisture have aided in both containment and limited growth in the past few days. Between October 5 and October 13, the Mullen Fire grew by nearly 25,000 acres. While still concerning, that increase is limited compared to the more than 10,000 acre daily runs the fire was taking since it started on September 17. As of October 13, the Mullen Fire was at 30...
The Encampment Town Council held a special meeting October 1, 2020 to decide which bid to accept for a new truck for Police Chief Kevin Shue. The meeting lasted less than 10 minutes. Shue said that he researched the company that had put in the bid for the trucks with the light kits already installed and was concerned because he could not find any information on the company prior to July of this year. The council agreed that since that company was also out of state and new,...
In just a week, the Mullen Fire has grown by over 50,000 acres and continues to burn in both Wyoming and Colorado. The fire, which had reached 151,711 acres in size on October 5, forced road closures and mandatory evacuations last week. On the night of September 29, the fire saw massive growth as it swelled from 82,649 acres to 96,757 acres between Tuesday and Wednesday. At the time, it had accounted for the second largest period of growth since the fire began. Both the Savage...
*The information in this article is up-to-date as of October 2 at 9:52 a.m.* Just two weeks since it began west of the Savage Run Wilderness, the Mullen Fire is now nearly 100,000 acres in size following massive growth Tuesday night. Despite cooler weather on Sunday and Monday, the return to warmer weather aided the blaze in its dramatic increase. Since starting on September 17, the Mullen Fire has burned through most of the Savage Run Wilderness and Platte River Wilderness... Full story
Summer 2020 is officially over and Carbon County, like the state of Wyoming, had to make adjustments as the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) was still impacting life for many residents. It was hoped back in April, and then May, that the virus would be under control with warm weather. That didn't happen. Cases started spiking in the West and South. The summer of COVID-19 started in June and people anxious to get out of lockdowns started to travel but not by public transportation...
Members of the Saratoga Town Council gathered in the Steve Wilcoxson Town Council Chambers on September 18 to discuss job descriptions for town employees and were joined by legal counsel Cathy MacPherson. While there was discussion surrounding descriptions for a few specific jobs within the Town of Saratoga, such as the recreation director and the planning and zoning officer, most of it centered around taking a top down approach. Additionally, three members of the governing...
Since starting on September 17, the Mullen Fire has grown to over 80,000 acres in size as it continues to threaten multiple communities while challenging fire crews. Additionally, the fire has decreased in containment from two percent to zero percent. In the past week, high winds and low humidity led the fire to grow from approximately 14,653 acres on Wednesday to 80,279 acres on Monday evening. As the fire grew, so too did the number of personnel on the fire. On the morning o...
The Carbon County Visitors Council (CCVC) met at 10 a.m. on September 16 at Firewater Public House in Saratoga. The agenda and minutes from the regularly scheduled meeting on August 19 were approved. A presentation was made by Leanna Jones, CEO of the Saratoga/Platte Valley Chamber of Commerce, for a visual guide on the businesses and special services in the Valley area. “It will have table of contents that help you key on what you are looking for,” Jones said. “I am hopin...
The September 9, 2020 Riverside Town Council meeting was short but industrious. The meeting opened with a Public Hearing for the transfer of liquor license for the Mangy Moose. Having submitted the proper paperwork and transfer fees the license was transferred in name from Joelle and Desi Vacher, owners of the Mangy Moose, to the Mangy Moose, LLC. There were no comments from the public so the hearing was adjourned. A motion was made and passed to transfer the liquor license. M...
Eight years ago, the Town of Saratoga passed Ordinance 809, which created regulations for specially permitted events within the town limits. At the September 15 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, Councilmember Jon Nelson proposed changes to Chapter 5.30 of the Saratoga Municipal Code. Since taking his seat on the council in January 2019, Nelson has been consistent in his ‘nay’ votes on special events applications that have not followed the current town code, spe...
Previous suggestions by Councilmember Jon Nelson to wait on an appointment to the vacancy for Saratoga mayor until after the general election appear to have been taken quite literally by Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Keel. During the September 15 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council, Keel had proposed rescheduling the first November meeting of the governing body from November 3 to November 4. “Looking ahead, the general election is the 3rd of November which is the night of our town counci...
A month into the 2020/2021 school year, Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) has its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The announcement of the positive case came from CCSD2 Superintendent Jim Copeland on Friday morning. Using the district eNotes service, Copeland informed parents that a CCSD2 staff member had not been in direct contact with students and had been home since the onset of symptoms. “The staff member will follow the Carbon County P...
High winds and warm temperatures over the weekend worked in favor of the recently established Mullen Fire, which had consumed much of the Savage Run Wilderness over the weekend and put several communities at risk. As of Monday morning, the fire had grown to 13,835 acres and was two percent contained. At approximately 3 p.m. on Thursday, local volunteer fire departments were called to respond to a fire east of the A-Bar-A Guest Ranch outside Encampment. While multiple fire engi...
