Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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This summer will mark 13 years since Staff Sergeant Tyler Pickett lost his life to a suicide bomber in Iraq. Since then, the promise of a memorial park for the Saratoga High School graduate has gone unfulfilled. Hopefully, that will be changing soon. A member of the Class of 2000, Tyler Pickett was 28 years old when he was in Iraq on June 8, 2008. By all rights, he should have been home as he was originally supposed to be on leave at that time. However, his leave had been deferred. Pickett would end up being the first and only Carbon County... Full story
Columns sometimes come easy and sometimes they are a struggle. So I was pleased to be about three quarters into a column on “Spring” that was coming out pretty well a few weeks back. Then I got totally sidetracked from my train of thought. The phone rang and, the next thing I know, I am taking a survey about tobacco. It was a federally funded survey for Wyoming health and it seemed like a good thing to take a 15 minute time out to complete the survey. I figured it would be easy enough to jum... Full story
Today’s grads face one of the most uncertain times in history. I call it a merging of two seemingly mutually-exclusive ideas – they have a tail wind behind them PLUS a head wind facing them. The tail wind is the fact that there just are not enough workers for the jobs that are out there. If you have skills, a good resume showing success at previous jobs, and a good attitude, your future should look very, very bright. One of my mottoes is that someone is looking as hard for you as you are looking for them – you just have to knock on enoug...
Dear Editor, Our county is 20 years late to address some basic issues affecting quality of life for our citizens and visitors alike. We are about to get run-over by the big Green New Deal Electric Microbus. The lemmings following politically correct mandates threaten to change our lives forever. Wind turbines are industrial activity. They should be zoned that way. Carbon Power & Light directors should lead rural coops out of Tri-State Generation. I puke every time I hear their ads. Texas Deep Freeze is a perfect example of what lies in store...
Murphy’s Law posits “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. A lesser known fact is that Murphy’s Law almost always coincides with a Monday. This is a fundamental basis of our universe, alongside the truths that cats will always land on their feet and toast will always land butter-side down. This Monday, May 3, is by far probably one of the most frustrating I’ve had in quite some time. For the first time since our July 31, 2019 edition I really thought there wouldn’t be a newspaper r... Full story
My nervous “afraid of the dark” wife is amazed that her brave husband will get up in the middle of the night to check out all the strange noises she hears. This has been going on for more than half a century and, frankly, even I am impressed by my fearlessness. Patiently, during the entire time of our marriage, I have been awakened in the middle of deep slumber to a voice saying: “Honey, did you hear that?” I roll over and say, “What? I didn’t hear anything. Go back to sleep, it will be all right.” A few minutes later: “I can’t sleep. I...
Every year around this time, I start feeling the call of spring even though warm weather is still a bit of dream. understand why I get like this. Where I grew up in Maryland, by this time in April, daffodils have come and gone, cherry blossoms are blooming and even tulips are putting forth their color. It is just imprinted in me, mid-April means spring is here, much less late April. Since most other places I lived were tropical, with the exceptions of Shanghai and Suzhow, spring would come in...
There are literally millions of Americans who will be visiting Wyoming this summer seeking out those secret spots. I will be one of them. This column is my annual “Wyoming Bucket List” of those places that I have always wanted to visit. Some of them were featured in my three- volume trilogy of coffee table books about Wyoming but many were not. Either way, I am eager to go see them. Now readers need to know that Wyoming is full of many of the most scenic places in the world, such as Yellowstone National Park, Teton National Park, Devils Tow...
Dear Editor, Wind power in Carbon County has been much more contentious than what was covered in the Weickum article, History documentation is dependent on who tells the story. This paper (Sun) illustrates that with the old news excerpts of mining in the early 1900’s and the exaggerated claims of farming potential by newspapers of the 1880’s, many in the Territory of Wyoming. Terry Weickum is originally from Goshen County and started his Carbon County political career pushing against Agricultural land lot sizes in zoning amendments to the Car...
I really picked a heck of a week to reduce my caffeine consumption. Since I’ve been at the Saratoga Sun, it has not been uncommon for me to drink anywhere from three to five cups of coffee in a day. Often, if the pot is a day old and there’s still some coffee left, I’ll just reheat it and drink that. That’s not counting the two or three sodas I was drinking, either. Or the occasional double shot after a long meeting the night before. It’s not like I didn’t drink any coffee before this job, t... Full story
It’s not easy serving the public. This was made clear on April 6, when Bob Keel resigned his position from the Saratoga Town Council. Keel, in his resignation letter, stated that he was choosing his family over the council. The Saratoga Sun applauds him for making such a difficult decision and wishes him well in his new venture. There may be many in the community who are disappointed that Keel did not finish out his four year term. A look into Saratoga’s past, however, shows that it is not at all uncommon for people to take their leave at some... Full story
Okay, Sun editor, you asked for it and I’m ready to give it to you. (see “Against the Grain” by Josh Wood on page 4 of April 15, 2021 issue of the Saratoga Sun) Right off, I want to compliment you on last week’s column, it’s the best you’ve written. Short, concise, to the point, informative and best of all you ask for reader input. Here are some suggestions if I—Dick Perue, former editor, publisher, printer and janitor of “The Saratoga Sun”—was once again running the award-winning weekly newspaper. Go to tab-size paper with four pages of color... Full story
It is hard to believe that a year ago I was in quarantine for a virus that people were just learning about. I remember being told because I had symptoms to stay home and assume I had it by health officials. I was in quarantine for 27 days because I kept getting a fever and you had to be fever free for seven days. We have come so far in understanding the coronavirus since I got it a year ago. I can remember as we went into April all the spiking and how impossible it was for people to get the test...
If you’re reading a physical copy of this week’s Saratoga Sun and you’ve made it to page 4, you’ve likely noticed that things are a little different. Change, it is said, is the only constant in life and that adage holds true for newspapers. Of course, the Sun is no stranger to change as it has seen staff come and go over the many years it has served the Platte Valley. In just the past 18 months, this paper has seen a number of changes. And now, one more. For the past several years, the Sun had...
I will admit that there are times when I don’t want to recognize how much Saratoga has been growing in recent years. Part of me wants the sleepy little town I remember from middle school and high school to remain that way. Then I scroll through my social media feed and I see the posts that show growth is inevitable. “Looking for a two bedroom apartment, must accept dogs, can afford $800 a month.” “In search of an affordable house for rent. Single parent with three kids.” I’ve lost count of th... Full story
Dear Editor, For the past 20+ years, the Valley Service Organization and the Sorority in Encampment, (Xi Beta Delta), has hosted the yearly Wyoming Health Fair/Blood Draw. It is our pleasure to provide low cost services again this year. In 2020 we had to cancel because of Covid. We realize how important it is to have these tests so that each of us may stay abreast of our own health. We have welcomed everyone from Carbon County and even visitors from the different communities. The results of your tests are provided directly to you as well as...
Recently, I did a series of interviews with people that work on family ranches. The subject matter was interesting and I learned a lot. During several of the interviews I mentioned that I came from farming stock. Dairy farming stock to be exact. My father was raised on a 200 acre dairy farm in Virginia. I have no idea how many cows were on the farm, although I do have an old picture of the place framed and hanging in my bedroom. I have always liked this particular picture because the frame is ro...
I’ve been hearing that there’s some outrage about cancel culture and that we need to “cancel cancel culture” and, honestly, I couldn’t agree more. The disservice that was done to The Dixie Chicks (now The Chicks) in the early 2000s after they simply expressed their opinion is shameful. Whether or not you agreed with their comments, having their careers effectively ended for a decade and being blacklisted from country music was just wrong. Wait, we’re not talking about that? So we must be tal...