Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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Whether you’ve been in the Valley for generations or have recently moved here, most everyone is familiar with the booming voice of Loren “Teense” Willford. Early Tuesday morning, that voice fell silent as Teense passed away. When we think of Teense, we see a larger than life man with an incredible sense of humor, the well-known resounding voice during parades and events, an entertainer, a veteran and a former legislator. How do you describe a man who had so many talents and touched so many lives? We will start with how the staff at the Sarat...
The new school year is now here and I would like to take this time to reach out to both students and parents about the importance of making a new friend. When I first moved to Wyoming, I was scared to make new changes in my life. I wanted to know if people would be kind to me or not. Then I discovered how kind and friendly the people in the Platte Valley are. Every morning when I go to work, some stranger would say good morning to me. Whenever I go shopping some people would say hello to me and...
There’s an old adage which says “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” We believe this applies to the unofficial slogan for Saratoga, “Where the trout leap in main street,” which has been in use for nearly a century. Borrowed from a 1927 article of the same name by Outdoor Living Magazine writer Billy O’Neil, it’s been a fitting slogan for our town, which is bisected by the North Platte River. For nearly a century, this slogan has been a source of community pride for Saratoga and for good reason. The North Platte River is a blue ribbon fishery an...
To the Editor: While I fully support more recreational facilities in Saratoga, I believe the destruction of a frequently used public park to construct a half million dollar Pickleball facility for 25 or so people would be a significant misuse of public resources. If public property is to be used to construct the facility, perhaps the now vacant property adjacent to the Community Garden would be a better location. Given the longterm failure of the Town to construct the Never Forget Park, no public funds should be expended to construct a...
Editor, The last thing the town of Saratoga needs is to throw away its nearly century old slogan of “Where the Trout Leap in Main Street” and start all over again! Read on and I’ll tell you why.—Dick Perue A news item in the March 4, 1927 issue of “The Wyoming Eagle” notes: “In an editorial, ‘The Saratoga Sun’ declares that the city now has a slogan, it being the title of a short story written about the city and its surrounding territory as a resort.” (Author's note--I selected this out-of-town article to show that the new 1927 motto drew sta...
Editor, As the festivities of yet another fun filled July 4th become a recent memory, we would like to commend those who do the work behind all the events that we have living in this wonderful little Saratoga town. Many come farther distances to enjoy the patriotism, friendliness and relaxed time that Saratoga offers. With that being said, the Kiwanis group has set up for its annual Bake Sale on the corner where our beloved Teense is set to officiate the parade as it turns the corner from Highway 130 to Bridge Avenue. This has been an easy...
Monday was the sixth “first day of school” for my son, Jareth, and possibly the final one in which I got to drive him. We sent Jareth to the preschool in Encampment and, when it came time to choose a school, we opted for Encampment K-12 as he already had a number of friends. Since kindergarten, it has been a tradition for me to drive Jareth to school and walk with him into the building. It is something I have tried not to take for granted, understanding that it won’t be long before he’d rather...
Now that an actual conversation has started regarding short term rentals in Saratoga at the August 13 meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission, we believe this conversation should continue. First, we commend the planning commission for holding a public hearing on the issue and getting feedback from the public. We also commend those residents who showed up to the meeting to make their voices heard, regardless of their viewpoints on potential short term rental regulations. Following the public hearing, there are some things we believe need to...
As a computer science major, one of my biggest pet peeves is the way people talk about and use artificial intelligence (AI). Here’s the deal: a lot of the messaging around AI is all hype. Major tech companies are exalting the immense power of AI as a tool because they want more people to buy into it, and therefore make their billions of dollars of investments into the technology worthwhile. This technology is not as powerful as you have been led to believe. First of all, what we call “artificial...
EAT CROW: to admit that one was wrong or accept that one has been defeated (Merriam Webster) Chicago Cubs 3rd baseman Robin Ventura charged the mound on an elder statesman of baseball, 46-year-old pitcher Nolan Ryan, on August 4, 1993. That lopsided fight can still be viewed on YouTube, and has millions of views. Nolan Ryan, 20 years older than Ventura, clearly teaches the young man a very public lesson in respecting his elders. With Ventura in a headlock Ryan’s powerful pitching arm landed six or seven unanswered blows before Rangers c...
Next Tuesday, Wyoming voters will take to the polls for the primary election which means that, starting next Wednesday everyone’s mailbox will be far less clogged with election mailers. Carbon County, it seems, has been mostly spared the divisive, politically charged mailers which have plagued other parts of the state. Perhaps that’s because, in House District 47, incumbent Bob Davis is running unopposed in the primary while House District 15 is seeing three new candidates without the incumbent—Don Burkhart, Jr.—running. Our county was not comp...
Potentially unpopular opinion: I loved the opening ceremony for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. I watched it with my family Friday night. I enjoyed seeing the boats full of athletes make their way down the Seine and watching the variety of performances and the artistic videos and storytelling. I literally cheered a few times, like during the scene featuring my favorite musical, “Les Miserables.” And I got emotional during the lighting of the innovative cauldron and again during the powerful performance from Celine Dion. I was so impressed that I p...
I am not native to the Platte Valley, but I have lived in Saratoga for over twenty years. I was born and raised in Texas and, as a kid, loved everything having to do with sports and competition. I was involved in swimming, gymnastics, softball and tennis. I never understood why my parents made me choose one sport, but I realize now that getting to and from multiple practices and competitions was... difficult. I concentrated my efforts into tennis and was lucky enough to be recruited to play at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado....
Next Tuesday, the Saratoga Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing on short term rentals in municipal limits. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, we believe it is important for Saratoga residents to attend and make their voices heard. For more than a year, the topic of short term rentals—or STRs—have been held in meetings of both the Saratoga Planning Commission and the Saratoga Town Council. A question often asked, at least in the planning commission meetings, is what the goal would be in instituting a short term ren...
The possibilities of the Office of the Presidency, the Framers of the Constitution knew, would depend in large measure on the character of its occupant. The Presidency was constrained by the terms of the Constitution and the doctrine of checks and balances, designed to temper the vaulting ambition of future chief executives who might imitate those in European countries that aggrandized power for their own interests. But the presidency was also empowered to perform the responsibilities of the...
Wyoming misunderstands Gillette. That was apparently clear when the task force in charge of picking a site for a state shooting complex opted against the more site-ready, cost-effective plan in Campbell County for what amounts to the predictable, and in the eyes of the ones in power, more quintessentially Wyoming location of Cody. Gillette has a site picked out, with ample space, local buy-in and available infrastructure to support it. Cody has natural beauty, and a lot of question marks. More importantly, Park County has task force members...
Our special this week is my delicious cheesecake bars, which are so sweet and creamy you won’t be able to eat just one. You might want to make a double, or triple, batch of these great treats so that they aren’t all gone in one sitting. Dee Dee’s Delicious Cheesecake Bars Ingredients Crust: - 2 tbsp. s melted Cheesecake Filling: - 16 oz. cream cheese, room temperature - 1 tsp lemon juice - 2 eggs - 1/2 c. sugar - 1/2 c. fresh blueberries - 1/2 c. fresh raspberries Directions Preheat the oven...
The current election season chaos continued in full force at the national stage as President Joe Biden announced he was ending his bid for reelection on July 21. The move, coming after weeks of calls to end his candidacy, was a huge upheaval for both parties. Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump quickly decried the move, saying the Republican party should be “reimbursed for fraud” for the money spent attacking Biden. For the Democrats, the party has been left with no primary can...
The News Letter Journal would like to applaud the Newcastle City Council for taking a step to ensure that the members of local boards possess the training and knowledge they need to appropriately spend taxpayer dollars and make decisions on behalf of the public. But we would be remiss if we didn’t share some concerns about the council’s decision at their July 1 meeting to require service providers and/or 501c (3) that receive funds from the city to complete the board training program that is now being required of many public boards across Wyo...
Editor, The unsung heroes in this Valley are the nurses and nurses aides at our hospital. What they do every hour of every day boggles my mind. They even have one ER nurse named Sam that could make a dead man smile. Then there is Laura Bucholz and her team that got this beautiful hospital built in this little ranch town in the first place. Beyond belief and timely for me. Thank you, Art Leys Saratoga, WY...
I have been fighting obesity off and on in my entire life and it is never easy. Staying in good health is a big challenge for many people. For those who are dealing with obesity or being overweight, understand it is not your fault. We think it is because people have a problem with overeating which causes excessive body weight. However, it goes way beyond controlling food portions. I have dealt with food addiction before and, at times, I felt helpless. Then I realized I was dealing with a...
The news coming out of Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday felt like a scene out of a movie or what one would find in history books. A former president—and current presidential candidate—the target of an attempted assassination just days ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. It didn’t take long for a photo of former president Donald Trump to circulate across the news and through social media. Surrounded by Secret Service agents, blood on his face and fist raised in the air before being whisked away. While the former presi...
The planners and designers of North Big Horn Hospital’s expanded state of the art emergency room surely had in mind a scenario like that which unfolded a week ago when four young men were involved in a horrific incident where fireworks went off inside a moving vehicle on the Fourth of July, severely burning all four. Perhaps some might have wondered if the large, multifaceted space was really needed. Was it overbuilt for a small hospital? Four young men and their families would answer that question emphatically: It was absolutely needed. The n...
14 years ago our founding fathers declared their independence. I think in this time as we celebrate with parades, rodeos, barbecues and fireworks we must take time to read the Declaration of Independence and fully appreciate what those 13 colonies did back in 1776. The Declaration of Independence is too long to republish here. It lists a lengthy set of grievances against the King of Great Britain. The founding fathers wrote in part, “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it b...
Saratoga, we really should hand it to ourselves. We know how to do Independence Day right. Why else would we be seeing more and more people coming to our small corner of Wyoming? The Saratoga Volunteer Fire Department pancake breakfast had a line snaking out of the firehall and down Spring Avenue. The 3rd Annual Independence Day 5K Run/Walk had nearly 150 participants this year, with many people signing up the day of the event. Finally, the Independence Day Parade was one of the largest I’ve s...