Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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Rocky Mountain Power’s proposal to hike electric utility rates in Wyoming by an average of 29.2%, if approved, would put households and businesses in peril and only serve to line the pockets of the company’s shareholders and executives, which includes its parent company PacifiCorp’s owner, billionaire Warren Buffett. That was the consensus among about two dozen people who spoke at a public comment hearing held by the Wyoming Public Service Commission Thursday in Casper. “We’r...
Schools have opened here in Saratoga, and throughout Carbon County District 2. An exciting time really. New year, new teachers, new experiences, old friends, new friends. The kindergarten students are off on a new journey. The seniors are moving into the final days of this one and now just a few short months away from beginning the next. One thing that has been on my mind in recent weeks is that the schools here must be a very special place. I say that because twice in the...
Police raiding a newspaper and confiscating reporting material seems like something one would expect to find in a banana-republic, or in a scene from a dystopian novel. Yet, that is exactly what happened recently to the Marion County Record. The Record is a weekly newspaper in rural Kansas, serving a population of approximately 1,900 and known for its dogged reporting on various issues affecting the community. On August 11, the newspaper office was raided by the Marion Police...
With the internet readily available on your phone, computer, tablet, television and television screens invading your dining experience in many restaurants it isn’t surprising that readership of newspapers is declining. However, there are still many that do pick up the newspaper and spend a few minutes at least, perusing the printed page. Reading a newspaper is relaxing and easier on the eyes than looking at a screen. Studies also show that retention is better when reading p...
There’s a lot of us that owe a debt of gratitude to Gary and Cheryl Ervin. They generously and thoughtfully supply probably hundreds of people with FREE firewood. We are grateful and very appreciative. It’s a shame there are morons who almost ruined it for all of us by being lazy slobs and dumping their garbage in our FREE firewood area. We need to start policing ourselves and call others if we see someone pull in with bags of garbage, pay attention. We don’t carry garbage when we go after wood, why would anyone? And can w...
Jo Godwin once said, “A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.” This quote seems especially fitting now, considering the current political climate surrounding libraries and librarians. There is, it seems, a war on libraries as library boards have joined school boards as the newest front in America’s ongoing “culture war.” Wyoming hasn’t been shielded from this, but rather seems to be trying to make itself a leading voice. Take, for example, th...
I think it’s timely to review the results of the chemical poisoning of Saratoga Lake by the Game & Fish Department. First f all, I am confident the fisheries department mixed their chemical well and killed everything they wanted to (plus everything else). However there are some rather obvious side effects that are annoying for the lack of a better word. The large rafts of rotting, odorous, grass is one of them. They greatly hinder boats and fishermen. The delay in refilling the lake to capacity is another. The city was u...
Yes, 29.2%! That’s not a typo. Rocky Mountain Power is requesting that YOUR power bill be raised almost 30%, with 7.6% of that already in place on an “interim basis” – prior to any ruling by the State’s Public Service Commission, and prior to the People of Wyoming having a voice and the ability to weigh in on a crippling rate hike. A rate hike of this magnitude would devastate local WYOMING households and cripple local WYOMING businesses. Think of what adding 30% to your own power bill would do. Ask your employer what that...
POWELL — Sobering news resulting from a multi-year Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) surveillance program by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department between 2018 and 2022 shows significant increases in the fatal disease for the state’s prized mule deer and elk herds. In one herd, the prevalence rate is calculated at 65% in mule deer bucks, and there are concerning increases in infected elk, including hunt areas popular for Big Horn Basin hunters. The disease, which typically kills infected animals within two years after initial expo...
Hello Pickleball is something Barb and I wanted to learn to play. October of last year 2022 we went to Sarah the then Recreation Director and asked for permission to tape two courts at the gym. She got us permission, tape and two nets, paddles and balls. The three of us taped the two courts at the gym. We started playing and learning the rules as we went. Fern Clark soon joined our group Fern is the “Guru” for the rules and pickleball etiquette. It was funny we would try to play a game and question the rule have to go loo...
Research indicates that water has an impact on all five senses at the same time, immersing our psyche in a rest and digest response. It triggers a parasympathetic nervous response that lowers your heart rate and your blood pressure, stimulates your digestion and makes your body relax. If that all sounds too high falutin, just remember slowly wading into the pond and feeling that cool water sink into your pores. Not far to the south of my house is an irrigation pond that calls...
In the Platte Valley, where there is no shortage of colorful characters, there wasn’t anyone quite like John Lund. John, who lived to the age of 92, was proof that it was never too late to reinvent for someone to reinvent themselves again and again and again. In his lifetime, John was a veteran, a University of Wyoming graduate, a civil engineer, a mountaineer and an archeologist. He was also a philosopher, a writer and a dear friend. He had a style all his own, usually wearin...
This was my first Saratoga Days. Despite being a working day, covering the events from the Neal McCoy tour bus pulling in at about 7:30am to Neal’s performance, I did enjoy myself. Mostly though I ended the day impressed by the event, by everything. All three music acts were great; the bluegrass boys, West King String Band, That 80’s Band were a cover band of the highest quality, and then the headliner Neal McCoy. I felt that if you weren’t a Neal fan at the start of the show,...
SHERIDAN — Sheridan County School District 2 is offering staff a solution to the Sheridan housing shortage by renting out properties on the old Normative Services Academy, Inc. campus to incoming teachers. The district bought six housing units on the 227-acre NSI property, which is now owned by Community Impact LLC, earlier this year for a purchase price of $1,046,571 and is currently renting out those units to new faculty. Community Impact LLC, an entity of the Homer A. and Mildred S. Scott Foundation, also donated around $...
Editor, I just finished reading the article about Never Forget Park and would like to offer comments and a suggestion. You stated that “there are individuals who have wanted to donate funds to the park but are hesitant because of how long the project has languished in the planning stages.” Truer words have never been spoken! Personally, I think the amount of money invested in studies is abhorrent to most of us. How long must we study something and how much money must we spend? It sounds like there is a plan for Never For...
Thermopolis Independent Record, July 13 Scammers are targeting us all and they seem to be coming at us from every which way. There are lottery scams, package delivery scams, open enrollment for benefits scams, utility delinquency scams, identity theft scams and the list goes on and on. Several years ago, scammers primarily targeted senior citizens who they believed were the most vulnerable. They have advanced their scams to a point where each and every one of us is vulnerable. Their tactics have improved to a point where...
For weeks muddy conditions on the Bighorn National Forest have been the norm. Some roads have become impassable, exacerbated by irresponsible motorists. It has become all-too-familiar to witness or hear about travelers and recreationists stuck on muddy mountain roads, despite the warnings from the U.S. Forest Service. Repairs necessitated by these incidents can strain limited resources, resulting in longer closures that impact everyone’s access to the forest. Moreover, travelers risk damaging their equipment and personal p...
Dear Editor, Saratoga Forest Management has been pleased to offer free firewood to residents of the Valley (mostly Saratoga and Encampment) since 2012. Most of the residents appreciated the opportunity to get free firewood. However, the past few months, some people have been disposing of their garbage at the free firewood loading area at Saratoga Forest Management. Consequently, the area is now closed to the public for gathering free firewood. In a few weeks, we will open the area for people to get free firewood and will...
The fourth annual WyoGives virtual event, hosted by the Wyoming Nonprofit Network, will commence at midnight on Wednesday, July 12th, and will unfold over an exhilarating 24-hour period. With over 300 nonprofits participating, some of them local, this year’s event promises to be the most impactful yet. Through the website platform at WyoGives.org, individuals can easily contribute to their favorite causes and organizations. The website allows donors to search for nonprofits based on cause, location, or name. Each p...
“You just can’t see him from the road”, a line from one of my favorite Chris LeDoux songs is true of so many that live and work in this area we call home. Cradled in the arms of the Medicine Bow Mountains and the Sierra Madres the history of the North Platte Valley is brought to life with a spotlight on those we can’t see from the road. Summer events include Woodchoppers Jamboree, Grand Encampment’s Cowboy Gathering, Living History Days at Grand Encampment Museum and the S...
In the past year, I’ve discovered my inner chef and it’s something I’ve come to really enjoy. Of course, it isn’t something that happened right away. In fact, I’ve made periodic voyages into the culinary world in the past and learned a number of lessons along the way. To be honest, I’ve always been a fan of food, though it may not have appeared as such when I was a child. While I inhaled childhood favorites such as pizza, hamburgers and hotdogs I would struggle with foods like...
In a recent poll by Wall Street Journal it was found that the percentage of Americans that say patriotism is an important part of their lives has dropped from 70 percent to 38 percent. Religion also took a nose dive from 62 percent to 39 percent. Community involvement plummeted as an important part of life, from 47 percent to 27 percent, and having children went from 59 percent to 30 percent in importance. Are these statistics surprising? Not really. I hear it all the time...
