Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Sorted by date Results 1152 - 1176 of 1488
Dear Editor: I want to give a very sincere “thank you” to so many people in the Saratoga-Encampment area, and even beyond, for all the kindness and friendship extended to my parents, Ardyce and Maynard Hoem, over the many years they lived and worked in the valley. They are certainly missed by the family, and I am sure there is someone out there today who would enjoy just one more visit with “Buck” about some work horses or rainbow trout, or lone last cup of coffee with Ardyce while visiting about a new quilt, or maybe a...
Dear Editor, I attended the meeting hosted by the National Forest Service on 4/21/15 in Saratoga. I was given the chance to speak and gave my comments on several topics but unfortunately was given the “times-up” by the monitor so I appreciate the Saratoga Sun’s involvement to continue the dialog of the forest service planning of closing roads that are dear to many people, many of which could not attend this meeting. My son and I drove over from Laramie where we live. I grew up in Rawlins and Saratoga and still do most of my...
In the April 21 Travel Management Land meeting, a comment was made by a member of the audience that maybe the state of Wyoming should take over the public lands like the state of Utah is trying to do with the passing of legislation. While we all agree that we need more time to come up with alternatives for the Travel Management Project – we need to take a step back and look at the forces that started this process to begin with and what the consequences could be for rash reactions. The sale of federal public lands to the s...
Dear Editor; In response to Linda Huntley’s letter last week regarding handicap access to the Health Fair Blood Draws, we apologize for any inconvenience that our location may have caused Mrs. Huntley or anyone else. We moved the Health Fair to the Platte Valley Community Center several years ago in order to accommodate more individuals, offering more phlebotomy stations as well as data entry/cashiers, a food area, and health screening areas for blood pressure, bone density, etc. In prior years we were located at the S...
Dear Editor, We attended the public meeting on Tuesday regarding proposed road closures by the Forest Service. I would like to compliment the Forest Service and Melanie Fullman, District Ranger, on their professional conduct. Public employees are often accused of mismanagement of funds and also of having too many employees. This was brought up several times by some of the attendees. I am not sure where they obtain this information or was it just an assumption. I do know that budgets are being cut to many agencies both at the...
This newspaper is my 501st issue of the Saratoga Sun. I know this, because we were talking about it the other day and I decided to take the time to add it up. In 19 short weeks, I will have completed 10 years at the Saratoga Sun. I say “short weeks”, because since I started working at the Saratoga Sun, boy does time fly. My weekly joke is if I put out a perfect paper, I will retire. Well, as you can clearly see, retirement will have to wait. Earlier this month as I was taking...
Editor: I have a question for the politicians, federal government, and American people. From 1776 to 1976 (200 years) we did not have much of a problem with horses in the western states. In 1971 the federal government passed a law called “The Wild Horse & Burro Act” By 1976 the BLM had approximately 17,000 horses and 8,000 burros on hand to feed and take care of with a budget of $1 million. After 44 years of poor management, the American public now has 48,000 horses and burro in small pastures and pens also as of March 201...
Dear Mrs. Fullman: Thank you for the phone call yesterday morning. As a Saratoga resident and Snowy Range Forest user since 1936 when my father hauled logs to the R.R. Crow & Co. sawmill for many years, I must express my immediate hurry-up concerns to your proposal to close and reduce use on many Snowy Range Forest roads.The most immediate problem I have is that you dropped this road closure bomb on our area in the third month of the 10th and final year that Congress declared that the U.S. Forest Service administrators and...
This weekend my boyfriend, Keith, and I were planning on spending the entirety of the weekend in Denver. It was his birthday on Friday, I requested the day off, I bought tickets for his favorite band, the Drive-By Truckers for Sunday night. From the warmer weather that we have had lately, I obviously forgot that if it snows, you have to change plans. Maybe I was in denial, or delirious. Friday rolls around and along with that is the notice that I-80 is closed. If there were...
Most people who live in the Snowy Range area, as well as many visitors to it, have come in part because of the environmental amenities it offers. For many of us, access to the area is an important contributor to our quality of life, a major factor in our choice to live here, often forgoing opportunities for more lucrative lifestyles elsewhere. Any potentially significant change in our access to those resources, as may be the case with the U.S. Forest Service’s West Side Snowy Range Travel Management Notice of Proposed Action...
Much has been said about the shortened school week in this valley recently. Encampment has been historically opposed, although omnipotent school board members have again chosen to turn a blind eye and deaf ear to their Encampment constituents. The shortened week became more of a reality than ever before when my three grandsons came home after school to tell me their version of it. Their young minds could not grasp why they would be required to go to school less. They talked about how this did not make any sense to them....
It was with some concern that we, the board of directors for the Wyoming Press Association, read recently of the American Civil Liberties Union’s decision to close its Wyoming office. Over the years, the ACLU and its Wyoming staff have been crucial in the ongoing effort to maintain government transparency. Without the steadfast support of the ACLU, some of the advances made in Wyoming’s open meetings and public documents laws would never have occurred. The ACLU has been a true and loyal supporter of the cause of open gov...
When we at the Saratoga Sun found out there were going to be public meetings for the West Side Snowy Range Travel Management Notice of Proposed Action (NPA), we were excited. Giving the public a chance to speak their concerns is a vital component of the NEPA process. This project stirs up a lot of emotion. We have heard many of these perspectives from the public; folks that grew up camping, hunting and fishing in these regions. Seeing roads that have been driven on for decades on the chopping block upsets a lot of people....
Editor’s Note: This letter was addressed to Dennis Jaeger, Forest Supervisor, Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in Laramie. The Saratoga Sun requested permission from the author to print the letter. Mr. Jaeger: I am disappointed by your blatant effort to minimize public input into this plan. Your local ranger has stated there will be no open public meetings and it is her intent to issue a decision by June 1st with implementation this summer. There has been no effort to contact those citizens in Laramie and Cheyenne who a...
Editor: You may have read that the Forest Service plans to close 97 miles of roads this year. The actual numbers are much more dramatic. If you live in the valley because you enjoy hunting, fishing or camping, you should be concerned. The Forest Service has quietly announced that they intend to close nearly one third of the roads in the Snowy Range. Out of a total of about 600 miles of roads in the Snowy Range the USFS plans to change the following: Add to System as closed Road : 42 miles. Convert to closed Road : 82 miles. D...
Last week you may have read the Saratoga Sun piece on the proposed road decommissions. In the article, District Ranger Melanie Fullman was quoted as saying, “I just don’t find those big meetings, which tend to get out of control to be very useful, ... I’m trying to make the most of my time.” Perhaps you heard the subsequent interview the local radio station did with Fullman the following day. If you did, then you would have heard the apparent disdain Fullman has for public...
We were surprised to discover the District Ranger for the U.S. Forest Services does not plan to have a public meeting to discuss the road closures and decommissionings in the Medicine Bow Routt National Forest. In the March 25 edition of the Saratoga Sun, we ran an article about the local forest service planning to decommission 97 miles of road. The deadline to comment on the road closures is April 16, which is about one-and-one-half months before most of the roads in question are accessible because of snowpack. We...
If you have been wondering who is driving around town with the New York plates, you now have your answer. I have seen some very confused expressions. I'm sure you don't see many New Yorkers around here. I am not from the city (New York City), or anywhere close to it for that matter. I lived three-and-a-half hours upstate in Saratoga, N.Y.. That's quite a coincidence, I know. Trust me, I didn't plan that. The next question: Why are you here? Well, when my boyfriend found out...
Okay, so I stole a quote from Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth to talk about something as mundane as laundry. I’m not going to let a little theft “hamper” me. GUY LAUNDRY So I was doing laundry the other day. Guy Laundry. Guy Laundry is where you wait until you are down to at least the bottom half of all the clothes you own and finally decide “it’s time to do laundry”. Some guys will wait until they are down to holes with bits of shirt defining those holes and bathing-suits...
Leonard Nimoy, who famously played Spock in the original Star Trek, passed away last week at 83, then only a few days afterwards we almost lost Harrison Ford in a plane crash. I am at the age now when the heroes we grew up with start to leave us. We look around at the celebrities today and often wonder what there is to celebrate. Why should we be impressed with them when they get into drunken trouble on camera or strut around half naked on television? For the most part we are...
For the first time in several years, the Carbon Country School District No. 2 Speech Team competed at the Rawlins Speech meet rather than co-hosting it. Speech, like wrestling, is not an activity that the Saratoga Sun has the opportunity to take photos of because the meets and matches are located in a variety of places across the state that are rarely close to home. So when we learned the CCSD#2 students were competing in the Rawlins meet, we talked with coach Debbie Riker...
Ten years ago I attended my first E-Club Cake Auction. I had been told about the level of community support that would be shown but was still somewhat skeptical. Could a small community really live up to the reputation? Amazingly the answer year after year is a resounding yes. Over the years I have tried to explain the phenomenon that is the E-Club Cake Auction to family and friends from across the country. How do people really understand that members of the Encampment community will spend hours baking and decorating cakes,...
There were nine here to play bingo on Tuesday. Two-dollar winners were Madaline Forbes, Carl Kerbs, Betty Dean, Nadine Kerbs, and Grace Johnston. Berneil McCord and Sue Howe shared a $2 round. Berneil Mc- Cord won the $6 blackout round. There were five here for Duplicate Bridge Monday First place went to Sheila Johnson. . Second place went to Mary Sjoden. There were 11 people here to take the 55 Alive driving class last Wednesday. It really does save on your insurance. If there are two drivers in your house then it will only...
Wyoming recently passed House Bill 17 through The House. This bill was sponsered so that sexual assault victims can obtain an order to keep their attacker away. Currently, victims of domestic violence and stalking can get a Protection Order but not sexual assault victims ( unless the assault was part of domestic violence). Unfortunately HB 17 was amended recently. Originally the bill would allow orders to last a year. But now, The House amended it so that the order expires in 3 months if the perpetrator is not charged or...
Perhaps you remember the little dustup I had featuring my car and a wall a few months ago. I wrote about the harrowing 14-hour trip I completed and how I later decided to go soak in the hot pool to try and unwind. I penned (typewrote) the extreme amount of unwinded-ness I achieved when, on the way back to my house, I fainted and used a local establishment’s wall to turn my ride into modern art. I let you know that the local police and ambulance crews made the experience as p...