Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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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... Full story
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...
Steak is a wonderful thing. Done right it could be so good that you never forget it. We all have some story about the best steak that we ever had and those memories stick out in our mind. Steak has a very strong cultural identity in the United States and even more so Wyoming. A Wyoming steak is infamously known to be as rare as it gets. Everyone likes their steak a little different so it begs the question: who do you trust more in making your steak, a steakhouse or yourself? Steakhouses are typically hit and miss. Oftentimes, steaks are over co...
Our Special this week is so easy to make. Creamy Bruschetta Chicken Lets get started preparing and enjoying this delicious delight - 1 lb boneless chicken breast cubed - 1 package Knorr Creamy Chicken Flavor rice - 2 Tablespoons Olive oil - 2 Garlic cloves diced - 1 dozen whole cherry tomatoes - 2 Tablespoons Basil spice - I block of cream cheese - 1 bag of fresh spinach - Heat oil in skillet and cook chicken thoroughly, 4 minutes; adding garlic during last 30 seconds. Remove from skillet; set...
The Fourth of July is just around the corner, and we just can’t think of a better way to celebrate than to enjoy fireworks, whether it is a show hosted by professionals or a private show with your family and friends. Fireworks technicians that put on public pyrotechnics are extensively prepared, and it is important for the public to remember that caution and safety are essential to enjoying this truly American holiday favorite in an appropriate way. Firework injuries are prominent, and fires can start all too easily under the right c...
One of the recent resolutions from the Wyoming Association of Municipalities (WAM) would give “local governments the choice of how and where to publish the required memorialization and notice under Wyoming law.” I don’t think this implementation is a good idea, for several reasons. Firstly, this phrasing gives no minimum requirement for where memorialization and notice should be published. If the goal is to allow greater reach of notice by allowing local governments to post notice online this...
Cowboy Bill Wadsworth was an extraordinary man. He was a pillar of the community in the Valley and it is pretty rare to come across anyone who lives here who hasn’t at least interacted with him once. I really started getting to know him during my time working at the Bear Trap. He would always come down for a good soup night, get himself a bowl or two, and a quart of it to go. Every time I saw him, he had a smile on his face. I always loved it when he came in. He had a special way of making you feel like the most important person in the world wh...
Saratoga’s downtown can be a beautiful location as locals and visitors alike shop and eat among historic buildings under the backdrop of gorgeous mountain vistas. We say “can be” as there are times when littering detracts from that beauty. A prime example is the morning of June 21. We at the Saratoga Sun noticed a few beer cans thrown into the sewer drain and a lovely floral arrangement in front of Bridge Street Bargains destroyed. That morning, we grabbed a trash bag, dust pan and push broom and not only cleaned up this mess but walked along...