Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Sorted by date Results 1463 - 1487 of 1488
Dear Editor, Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) provides important information about the origin of the food we purchase for our families. ICOW (Independent Cattemen of Wyoming) applauds Wyoming Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso for joining a bipartisan group of 31 senators signing onto a bipartisan letter to USDA and the US Trade Representative to keep COOL (Country of Origin Labeling) requirements in place. Because Congress passed COOL, we now have a legal right to know the origin of our food. This makes good, common...
Editor, Town meetings have been the shining examples of democracy in action since colonial times. Towns the size of Saratoga are the perfect place for the ideal form of democracy to take root and flourish, as few representatives are actually needed for such small populations centers to function in a more democratic fashion. In a thriving democracy, town council members should be subject to and responsive to the will of the people. The more the people can directly vote or have their opinions heard on town matters, the more fre...
Editor, Paperman’s Recycling owner, Richard Hodges, is a local unsung hero for his promotion of recycling. I have been recycling for years, but Richard’s efforts combined with citizens that currently recycle kept seven semi-trailers full of recyclable material out of the land fill last year thus prolonging the life of the landfill in Saratoga. If you could take a minute to envision walking through a semi-trailer and the amount of recyclables fitting into just one semi-trailer then multiply that by seven, you can then see the...
Editor, I’m writing to sing the praises of a taken-for-granted safety feature … reflector posts! Last night I was driving home from Cheyenne on WYO 230 after dark and it began snowing as I climbed up out of Woods Landing. There was also a terrific head wind blowing snow straight into my windshield. I crawled along slowly, watching closely to keep my car to the left of the reflectors as I could not see the road surface. The most difficult road was the 17 mile section of Colorado. It appears maintaining their reflector posts ar...
Dear Editor, From following the discussion in your letters pages, it seems to me that some of our citizens have forgotten that a meeting of the Town Council (or School Board or Legislature) is just that, a meeting of the people elected to conduct the Town’s business. In accordance with Wyoming Statutes these meetings are held in public so that the citizens may hear the deliberations of their elected representatives. The people should have no expectation that they can enter the debate of the issues at hand, that is the r...
My husband and I are celebrating our 27th anniversary this month. We have been through thick and thin, humorless days and ones full of laughter. Communication is important in a good marriage. We tell each other “I love you” at least once a day. Beyond that, our communications have included a few humorous moments over the years. Jerry and I met in Germany when we were both in the Army. His post was in Neckarsulm and mine was in Heilbronn. The towns were in close proximity, but...
The Saratoga Town Council is in the second month of the new year and it is already facing criticism on how meetings are being conducted. The people want to be heard and that is understandable. During the election, voters shared their frustrations about not hearing discussion from the council before a decision is made. For important decisions, we feel the council should not only discuss matters, but also seek public comment whenever possible. It is not unlikely that a citizen may have a comment or idea that could be helpful...
The third vowel, and the sixth letter in the alphabet. Put them together and you have a word, IF. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary the word is a conjunction, putting two ideas together to create a single thought, but one that is dependent on a certain action. A boss of mine once told me “You can’t get anything done IF you don’t get out of bed.” A very correct statement. In the movie “Field of Dreams” the phrase ‘IF you build it, they will come’ kept being whispered...
Editor: To the Mayor and City Council: I have become quite concerned about the direction our city council has taken in not allowing the public to have any input at council meetings or has to be in written form a week ahead of the meeting. I remember campaign promises to have more open meetings and discussions. We all become very frustrated and angry when we are not allowed to question or discuss your decisions and wonder what are you trying to cover up? For honest and open government, Sincerely, Rosemary E...
Editor: I just wanted to add an amen to the letter to the editor on 1/30/13, “A standing ovation for the Clinic.” I feel the same way about the Saratoga Clinic, all the employees and especially, Doctor Dean! The way they treat people is the main reason we still doctor over there, even though we’ve lived in Rawlins for over 20 years now. Keep up the good work! Respectfully, Becky George, Rawlins...
Editor I would like to address the editorial in the Saratoga Sun dated Jan. 23, 2013. The editorial stated that it appeared that actions were being taken to limit public involvement in the meetings, this is totally untrue. Public comment has been, and always will be, welcomed at the meetings. The comment was made at the last meeting that it was in the town ordinance that we must allow items from the public. Ordinance 2.04.050 lists all of the items that are required to be on the agenda and items from the public is not a...
The other day someone on the radio said legals in the paper were no longer necessary. He argued legal notices could be “printed” for free on the internet and that no one noticed them in the newspaper anyway. I can’t prove he said that, I have no written transcript of what the gentleman actually said. I was even told these comments were edited for the later-in-the-day broadcast. As far as not being noticed in the paper ... Do you really think they would be MORE noticed on th...
Editor: I think we need a round of applause ... a standing ovation, for the whole staff at the medical clinic. Last week I was just sure I would have to get better to die, when a dear friend cleverly tricked me into going to get checked out. No miracle cure, it was the flu. From my bed and back, I was in and out of the Clinic within an hour. It does not matter if you are coming into this world, on your way home to your Creator or some point in between, you are met with genuine concern and willingness to go the distance to...
This weekend I attended my eighth Wyoming Press Association Convention. It seems hard to believe I have been working at the Saratoga Sun this long. Time flies when you are having fun. In November, the staff at the Saratoga Sun went through the newspapers from Nov. 1, 2011 through Oct. 31, 2012 and tried to decide which articles and photos are the best. We have a limit of 60 entries and we usually have twice that many when we finish with our first selection of articles,...
Recently, the Saratoga Town Council and the Saratoga Planning Commission have taken action that appears to seek to limit public involvement at their meetings. In both cases, the reason given for the changes was to generate more productivity among the board and council members and allow them to be more effective at their jobs. The Saratoga Town Council removed “Items from the Public” from its agenda and at its meeting Tuesday announced the agenda item would only be included if people submitted their topic of discussion by the...
Editor: Mr. President, do you think we are stupid? Do I think a criminal could break into my house to assault me or steal my possessions? Do I think a foreign power could invade my country to conquer, subjugate and eliminate my family, friends, and countrymen? Do I think my own country could turn our own military, National Guard or police force against us to enslave or exterminate me? Yes, history shows it all could happen. So why place a restriction on my gun? It’s simple. The President and others want control of us and o...
In celebration of our new website and its attractive new functionality and cool new features at the old site name (saratogasun.com – look at me towing the company line!). I thought I might delve into some fun tidbits about the web that I browsed across. Did I mention that we have a NEW website? We all know the main use of the internet (at least arguably) and GoOgle will get you there, but there are other handy uses for the web too. THE OTHER STUFF: Have you heard about this e...
Editor, Well, there is almost a cure for the common cold. I am writing this open letter to the community as a public service to pass on some good news about those pesky common colds. A recent review in 2011 that reviewed all of the current literature on the use of zinc supplementation did show that this product is useful to decrease the severity and length of the common cold. I have recommended this for years based on my personal experience but we now have evidence to back us up. Zinc lozenges (for example Cold-Eeze or Zicam...
This column was supposed to be about New Year’s resolutions, but it is probably going to end up going to the dogs. Either way, much has already been written about both subjects. I am disorganized when it comes to New Years’s resolutions. I’ve never started a positive change on Jan. 1 and stuck with it much longer than a week. Most of my positive initiatives have come at random points during the year, sparked by a challenge or an insightful conversation. I started runni...
“Hello folks, and welcome to another addition of American Sportsman. I’m your host Curt Gowdy, and today we will be fishing the Upper North Platte river with my guest and the new sports writer for the Saratoga Sun, Brian Trautwein.” Those were the words that started the show for the famous sports announcer and writer Wyoming cherished enough to name a state park after. I’m not saying I’ll ever have a state park named after me, but I would like to continue writing the sport...
Well, the world is still here. This development has caught me off guard and I had prepared nothing new in the way of “entertainment” for you to read. Fortunately for me this world- continuing thing has fallen squarely during the “week between Christmas” and it has been tradition for the two previous years now that I print my sad attempt at poetry. I think this year though I will try to break down or give some rationale to the events chronicled in this poem. The first part is,...
In 1642, John Donne wrote the following words: “No man is an island, entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main ... Each man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” Donne was familiar with death. He wrote the above words six years before the end of the Thirty Years War, a war between Catholics and Protestants which claimed 8,000,000 lives by combat and disease. In...
Apocalypses have been predicted pretty much since there have been civilizations to cower in fear of them. Since one of the “biggies” is just around the corner I thought this week timely to explore some earlier world-shattering (or not) prophesies.1 Rome’s End. The Romans thought the world would end in 634 B.C. because supernatural eagles told Romulus, Rome’s founder, his civilization would only last 120 years. Romans panicked as the city neared the eventually unevent...
For the last couple summers, my girlfriend, Sheila, and I have been putting up cyclists in our home thanks to a website called WarmShowers.org that connects people riding around the world with people who think that sounds like an amazing adventure. The cyclists we met came from every point on the globe - Brazil, Sweden, Ireland, Australia, Canada - and most of them came to the United States to tour the country via the TransAmerica route, which meanders coast to coast from Oregon to Virginia. For many cyclists, Saratoga is...
I was 16 years old before I could beat my grandmother in an arm wrestling match. We were at her kitchen counter, seated on opposite stools. It wasn’t a quick match, and afterwards I was confused. I expected to have to go gentle on her knuckles when I pinned her arm down. Instead, after two minutes of struggle, I just got them to touch the counter and claimed victory. It was a hollow victory. It was my grandmother, after all. In my defense, my grandmother hefted a lot of c...
