Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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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...
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 ame...
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 Nat...
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,...
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...
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 t...
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...
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...
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 peo...
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...
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....
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 beca...
Even though the idea of Wyoming spending a billion dollars on a gigantic swath of land had some of us scratching our heads about one year ago – well, at least you had to give the project (and Govenor Mark Gordon) high marks for bold imagination. That deal went away when a company outbid Wyoming. But thinking back about that, it makes me wonder if Wyoming should be just a little brash. Be a little bold. Just a bit? Our leaders sometimes act like the proverbial guy who was up to his waist in alligators and forgot all about d...
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?...
When government fails, it’s the rare public official who says, “Oops. My fault.” That’s human nature, particularly for officials in the public eye who may have to run for office again. No one wants to be held directly responsible for letting the public down. Case in point is the recent catastrophe in Texas, when unexpected winter storms left 4 million homes without power, ruptured pipes and tainted the water supply for many. Texas’ energy grid essentially collapsed. While Texas Governor Greg Abbott was quick to blame fro...
A little over a week ago, I was getting out of the shower and I saw something that unsettled me; a dime sized black patch on my back. I had never noticed it before and, because it was the size it was, I was surprised I hadn’t seen it before. I have a few moles on my body but, honestly, there aren’t that many. I had noticed a few skin tags popping up around my neck but I knew them to be fairly harmless, so I paid them scant attention. I couldn’t say the same thing about this...
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Saratoga needs traffic lights. I’ll wait for you to calm down from that statement before I continue. Take a couple deep breaths, maybe look at this week’s editorial cartoon and take a sip of coffee. Better? Ok. Saratoga needs traffic lights. Look, I hate writing that probably as much as you hate reading it, but I think it’s a hard truth that needs to be heard. Since moving back into town limits a little over a year ago, I’ve discovere...