Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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There are several apparatuses (apparati?) around the home with which most folks contend. I have written on struggles with the washer/dryer and its attendant chores and fluids. I have praised the refrigerator and commented on the device’s various devious drawers. There is another gadget to mention … the microwave. From folks who complain any food cooked in the microwave is not really food to the “need it now junkies,” Americans have arrived at an almost universal love/hate relationship with ou... Full story
Dear Editor, I would like to share some serious concerns about the proposed annexation in front of the present Town Council and being discussed by the Saratoga Planning Commission. To begin with I would like to express my support for the annexation of the U.S. Forest Service because I believe that this will have a very minor effect on this community because the majority of the employees that work at this facility are residents of the town of Saratoga so are already part of the equation for factoring in the load on the waste treatment plant. My... Full story
Editor, Are you aware that the proposed federal budget calls for the elimination of the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP)? This is the program that keeps many Wyoming residents warm in the winter. Earlier this year, the State of Wyoming legislature eliminated its usual additional funding for this program. Between the federal and state budget cuts, this translates to zero help for people in need of winter home heating assistance. I recently spoke with Brenda Ilg about this issue. Ms. Ilg is the LIEAP program manager for the State of W... Full story
There are a large percentage of people in this area that do for others—with no desire to be recognized for it. That is indeed a very laudable attitude and should be commended on its own. You may have noticed the Saratoga Sun has been lucky enough to be able to bring you a few of these stories. They are good articles that especially need to be told during what are, at least, not the best of times. One of these stories was on area cattlemen who learned of fellow ranchers in Kansas who had lost their entire herd, their houses and much more to t... Full story
I was 5 or 6 when I saw Bambi for the first time and cried little boy tears at the injustice of his mother’s death. The days are long gone of me crying about a deer’s death, although Bambi was living in the forest and not destroying gardens in towns. I find absolutely no redeeming qualities about town deer—whether we are talking about the Valley or out in northern Carbon County. The first house I purchased was in Saratoga. The backyard had a 10 foot fence so I was protected from the Sarat... Full story
I have mentioned the “Wyoming Way” in a previous column. The way I described it was: “When someone asks you if you can do something, you say ‘yes’ and learn it as you go.” I think that’s true. Look at it like this: True pioneers who wanted a new, different and better life came to this country, colonized it and won the right to make a new life on it. For good or ill, it took a spirit—people with that genetic quality—to undertake that task and to take those risks. People who came out west wer... Full story
I put myself through the University of Maryland being a bartender. I was able to work on Capitol Hill for political organizations that paid meager wages because I could supplement my income. When I moved to work on my masters at the University of Hawaii my first job was making drinks for tourists. After I left Hawaii, I moved to Taiwan where my English teaching pay was added to by working at bars. I tell people I was destined to be a bartender because at the age of five, my father had me making... Full story
Well, I have been editor/publisher of the Saratoga Sun for just over a year now. It has been both a fun and harrowing ride. I still feel like a bit of a fraud though. You may know I was just the lowly graphic artist here for six years before I was quite abruptly offered the position. The “fraud” part comes in because, while I have an associates degree, it is not in English or even journalism. That degree is in advertising/commercial art. While I have edited several books over the years, mainly d... Full story
Last year at this time, I was living and working in the Washington, DC area. People would ask me where I was from and I would tell them Hanna, Wyoming. Eyes would get big with wonder as they heard the town I lived in was not even a 1000 people and not near any sizable city. I got the same reaction when I lived in Shanghai, Beijing, Taiwan and Australia. The eventual question was always, why? Certainly, one of my stock answers was it was a place where nature still won. Telling people of the herds of pronghorn and other wildlife that abounded... Full story
The Tuesday before last was Valentine’s Day. As is the tradition, a group of gregarious women from the Valley Service Organization visited businesses around town singing off-key tunes (hence the name “Sweetheart Squawkers”) until they are paid to leave. Normally I am receptive and amused by this gaggle of women’s antics. I am a known contributor to this valuable organization’s efforts at fundraising for good causes. But they showed up right at 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. This is really not a good... Full story
As many of you know (word travels fast here, I’ve learned), this is my last submission as a columnist for the Sun. I’ve accepted another reporting job with the Cody Enterprise, and my girlfriend Michelle and I will soon be heading onwards and outwards together, to explore the opposite corner of this exquisitely empty state. I’ve walked away from a lot of people and places over the course of my life, and it’s never been an easy thing. There’s always loss and pain; a last-second appreciat... Full story
The staff of the Saratoga Sun recently attended the Wyoming Press Association’s (WPA) annual convention held at the Little America Hotel and Convention Center in Cheyenne this year. This year the Sun competed once again in the “Small Weekly” category. This is the largest category of newspapers in Wyoming and has grown even larger since several papers that were in the “Large Weekly” category lost some circulation and were dropped into our category. So the competition just got that much harder. W... Full story
After my clothes had dried from the river and I'd eaten lunch, I remounted my bike and set off alone once again, the sound of strange birds riding a light breeze alongside me. Things started off well enough. This side of the river featured lots of prairie alongside the marsh and woods, and when I pedaled fast through the tall grass I felt like I was skimming the top of a green ocean. The little trails I followed were obviously seldom used, and though the monsoon-season flood waters kept me out... Full story
