Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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A housing needs report from the Wyoming Community Development Authority paints an ominous, but not surprising, picture of our community’s current housing situation. Housing issues have plagued Johnson County, northeastern Wyoming and the state over the past four years as population growth drove real estate prices and average rents to historic highs. While the housing market has cooled in recent months, advocates say the situation is still untenable for many residents. According to the report, anyone working for an average w...
The 2024 Wyoming Legislative session was February 12 to March 8, 2024, at the State Capitol in Cheyenne. With this being my first budget session, I learned a lot and have a new respect for the process and the work and time that is put into the state’s budget. We heard 350 bill and passed a $10.6 billion Biennium Budget. One of the big issues this session was to find tax relief for the people of Wyoming. We passed 4 new bills for tax relief - HB0045 Property tax exemption for residential structures. - HB0004 Property tax R...
I was startled when I started going through my email on Tuesday, and was getting ready to mark “receive death threats” off my journalism bingo card. I had to read the email a couple of times as I tried to understand it, and understand why I had received it. It said: “First of all you are morally and legally responsible for the action taken again [sic] innocent Earth life in your establishment. You will be closed in a year. I hope you and your family starve and get ripped apart by the species you seem to enjoy contr...
For several generations, the unofficial postal carrier motto was “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.” These days, the United States Postal Service motto – at least at the top level – seems to be “You’ll get it when you get it, and if you don’t like it, too bad.” Of course, as with all blanket overstatements, there are many exceptions to the rule. We know that there are many postal carriers who take pride in their work and still consider mail delivery to be...
Our special this week is my delectable Creamy Chicken and Noodles. This recipe will fill up your belly with healthy vegetables, too. Let’s get started preparing and enjoying this delicious delight. You will need the following ingredients: - I whole chicken or 4 large chicken breasts - 6 carrots sliced - I medium yellow onion diced - 4 Celery stalks sliced - I can Cream of Chicken soup - 1 can Cream of Celery soup - I bag of Wide Egg noodles - 1/4 stick butter In a 13 x 9 i...
Those unsure whether their elected representatives have enough flair for the dramatic need not worry. The day late, dollar short political posturing seen in the Cowboy State this week was fitting, and expected, coming from the same group of lawmakers who pushed the bounds of the state’s 20-day budget session, and only emerged successful in accomplishing their simple, utmost goal — passing a budget — by the skin of their teeth. Now they want a special session to run it all back. Apparently, these lawmakers didn’t get their f...
“Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring to your own life.” ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger. Last week, the Town of Saratoga began advertising for the vacancy on the Saratoga Town Council. The seat, previously held by Jacob Fluty, will be on the ballot as a two-year unexpired term this year. Whoever is appointed to the...
The Saratoga Planning Commission has its hands tied, for all intents and purposes and we at the Saratoga Sun believe it is a disservice to the planning commission itself and the residents of Saratoga. While it is an advisory board, the role of the planning commission is to not only interpret existing zoning code but improve upon it as well. Such is the case regarding short term rentals in residential zones, which culminated in an 18 month process of drafting a proposed short term rental permit. At the recommendation of Kylie... Full story
Newspapers from coast to coast last week celebrated Sunshine Week, a time to champion openness and transparency in government in issues from access to public records to open meetings. Ironically, Sunshine Week 2024 happened to coincide with an example of transparency worth celebrating right here in our neck of the woods. Thursday night, Big Horn County School District No. 2 held a public forum during which citizens were able to question three finalists to be the next principal of Lovell Elementary School. We’re not sure most...
Women’s basketball, both in high school and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), is on the rise. Believe it or not it is catching the attention of those who follow sports especially those in the sports journalism world. One of the many reasons is because of Iowa University Lady Hawkeyes point guard Caitin Clark, who has been taking the NCAA by storm. Clark has broken a record no one ever thought would ever be broken. She became the NCAA’s men’s and women...
Buffalo Bulletin, March 13 It has been said that Wyoming is one small town connected by very long streets. We are the least populated state in the union. There are 19 cities (municipalities with over 4,000 population) and 80 small towns. Despite the number of us who call a small town home, it’s no secret what the Wyoming Freedom Caucus thinks about the small towns in our state. Wyoming House Freedom Caucus Chairman John Bear, R-Gillette, made his disdain for small towns clear three weeks ago during debate of HB70, a bill d...
Often, we in the media get accused of having sacred cows we don’t cover or, alternatively, have targets of coverage. Neither is accurate, though some specific cases certainly can be made (fairly or unfairly). Whether the allegations are made based on favoritism or economics, the reality of our news coverage isn’t based on friendships or dollars and cents. It’s based on facts and how those stack up against the claims being made by those in charge. Sure, we read the rants on social media, but those aren’t facts. They are pri...
In the past week, I’ve talked with a few people—many of them longtime Valley or Carbon County locals—about the issues of bullying. It was even a major topic during the recent community forum with the candidates for Encampment K-12 School principal. I won’t reveal the names of the people I’ve talked to nor the exact nature of what they spoke with me about. These were personal conversations and the only reason I’m bringing them up is due to a similar comment through most of the...
Dear Editor, As I watch the big wind farm in Carbon County take shape it continues to sadden me. I know Phil Anschutz and am confident his organization will do as responsible a job in installing them according to the conditions the permits that the Federal agencies require as can be done. Hopefully it will provide some significant long term financial benefit to the state and county. It is certain that it will negatively impact the vista’s those of us in Wyoming have enjoyed generations. As I appreciate the dynamics of the p...
Dear Editor, I’m assuming you made or have you landscape plan. While some may have brand new yards to plant. But, for the majority, I’m assuming most of you can do some work in your yard, as weather allows. For, even though, snow drifts and snow showers are still part of our landscape, on warmer days spring clean up can begin. It is also the perfect time to prune bushes and trees. Some of you even may have a fruit tree to prune. Throughout the years, I have planted a number of fruit trees. While I wasn’t optimistic about...
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” There has never been a truer phrase. Living in a small community there is chatter on every street corner. We are close-knit neighbors here in Goshen County and more times than not, we chat. It isn’t the fact we stop and catch up from time to time in the grocery store. Sometimes we stand in the produce section, just chatting with our neighbors and our friends and that’s perfectly fine. Other shoppers will ju...
I knew ahead of last Tuesday’s council meeting there would be a crowd, having received a bulk email about concerns over the proposed rate increases. I am always a bit nervous when there is a crowd at government meetings because you never know the atmosphere of the meeting, but I need not have worried about the Feb. 20 meeting, as the meeting was the epitome of great civil discourse. There was nearly standing room only, but there is not a lot of seating in the council chambers. Questions, comments from the audience were courte...
The intriguing President’s Day news that President Abraham Lincoln granted a pardon 160 years ago to President Joe Biden’s great-great-grandfather revived Americans’ fascination with the purpose, concerns, scope and history of this sweeping executive power. Thanks to the good work of historian David J. Gerleman, we now know that President Lincoln pardoned Moises J. Robinette, a civilian hired as a veterinary surgeon for the Union army, who was court martialed on charges resulting from a brawl on the evening of March 21, 1...
We’re told to think of the children. That’s the refrain used in state legislatures across the country when it comes to the slew of anti-LGBTQ laws which are proposed or passed. Laws like the one in Oklahoma, which requires people to use the bathroom of the gender on their birth certificate. Yet, due to laws like this, it is likely that a child in Oklahoma has died. Nex Benedict was a non-binary 16 year old student at Owasso High School. On February 7, they were allegedly ass...
It should come as no surprise that Wyoming lawmakers would debate a bill like Senate File 130, “The equality state not equity state act.” After all, they have a long history of wasting time on the political hot-button issues of the day, as well as debating bills that provide “solutions” to things that aren’t a problem here. Yet we were all surprised that 22 state senators voted to introduce SF 130 during a budget session. The bill is described as “an act relating to the administration of government; prohibiting governmenta...
When the U.S. Supreme Court, in Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia (1980), in the words of Justice John Paul Stevens, “squarely held that the acquisition of newsworthy matter is entitled to constitutional protection,” it was protecting under the First Amendment’s Free Press Clause the essential foundation of our democracy. The conception of the press as a pillar of strength for a free people who mean to govern themselves is as old as the republic itself. In 1765, in his acclaimed treatise, “A Dissertation on the Canon and Feu...
Now, the healing begins. A funeral date is set for the celebration of a 33-year-old life taken too soon. Taken too soon from his wife and infant daughter. Taken from a family who saw their son battle an overseas war in Afghanistan and return, with scars, but returned full-bodied and ready for more service to a new community. Taken from a team of men and women serving the same purpose as him each day to protect the Sheridan community. Everyone mourns and heals in different ways, and the community of Sheridan — as has been shar...
There is a large range of opinions among various church bodies regarding the Church Year. A few churches refuse to celebrate any Christian holidays. The fact is, no one really knows when Jesus was born. A date was picked, and, according to some, it was picked to coincide with pagan observances. Although the date of Easter is much better known since it coincides with the Jewish Passover, the name, Easter comes from pagan sources. This being said, since Christmas and Easter has become secular holidays, celebrated in the...
Living in a small community like the Platte Valley, every loss seems to be felt far more acutely than in more urban areas. Running a newspaper in a small community, one of the hardest parts of the job is receiving the obituaries. It's even hard when it's someone who is not only close to your age, but who you knew. I didn't know Jacob Fluty as well as his friends and family, but you can't grow up in a small town with someone and not have some knowledge of who they are. When I...
The First Amendment’s Free Press Clause, which Thomas Jefferson declared indispensable to republicanism, has long been regarded as the “people’s right to know.” Without knowledge of governmental programs, policies and practices, the people would have little ability to hold government accountable. The press, as Jefferson and the founders recognized, could provide the crucial informing function that would make self-government possible. Historically speaking, protection of the informing function is precisely why the Supreme...