Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
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Business out at the airport picked up considerably during January according to a report received by the Hot Springs County Commissioners from FBO Nate Messenger at their Tuesday meeting. According to Messenger, there were 216 total operations at the airport during January including seven twin engine turbo prop aircraft, six single engine turbo props, one twin engine piston aircraft and 94 single engine piston. Nine of those were air ambulances. Public Health Officer Tricia McPhie brought some...
After two failed attempts at relieving the State of Wyoming of the burden of the Wyoming Pioneer Home through privatization, the legislature is now making and end run at the facility by proposing to eliminate its annual state subsidy. A bill was referred to the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday morning, HB0295, sponsored by Republican Representative Donald Burkhart of Carbon County that would eliminate the state subsidy of $1.4 million per year to the Pioneer Home. They would continue to...
Another week is in the books with the 2019 State of Wyoming Legislature in Cheyenne. Several bills have moved quickly through the process, including Senate File 93, which references Grizzly Bear hunts in the state, sponsored by Wyatt Agar and co-sponsored by John Winter. “Wyatt (Agar) did an excellent job in presenting this bill to the committee,” Winter said. “I testified in the Senate Committee from the standpoint of an outfitter and as to the importance of the bill to outfitters and the resid...
The Wyoming Department of Education recently released statistics on the graduation rates for high school students across the state, showing an increase in graduating seniors for the fifth consecutive year. For the 2017-18 school year, Hot Springs County had an 80.4 percent graduation rate, down from the 87.3 percent graduation rate of the 2016-2017 school year. In 2017, 48 out of an expected 55 seniors graduated from Hot Springs County High School, while 45 out of an expected 56 graduated in...
The second Champion for Children in Hot Springs County School District #1 was chosen recently, Brandon Deromedi. Deromedi will join three other Champions this year for a chance to be named Teacher of the Year for the 2018-2019 school year. A member of the district's outstanding PE/Health Department, Deromedi is also the District's Activities Director, District Trainer and shares time at the high school and the middle school. A 2003 graduate of Worland High School, Deromedi received his...
They’re already out on the shelves, those big, heart shaped boxes of chocolates to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Sure, they would love candy and flowers, but what if there were something else you could do for your Valentine to ensure they’re around for a long time? February is National Heart Month, a time to make a few, simple changes to your lifestyle to get healthy and most of all, keep your heart healthy. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United State...
The possibility of there being drugs in our school system should be a worry for everyone in Hot Springs County. If we think back, at the same age, we thought we were “ten foot tall and bulletproof” and no one could touch us because we were smarter than the adults. We know better now. But I also want to say how very fortunate I am to get to coach some of the best kids in the district. I don’t want everyone to think all the kids are smoking and drinking and partying every weekend. It is liter...
As the partial government shutdown hit the 35 day mark, how it affected people across the country, including right here at home, becomes a big question. In Wyoming, there are approximately 5,000 federal workers, including 3,674 non-military employees. With most furloughed or working without pay, not only did the individual families suffer, Wyoming itself lost about $8.3 million to its economy due to the shutdown. Healthcare clinics on the Wind River Reservation were shut down. Drilling permits...
The Lady Cats basketball team hosted Buffalo and Big Piney last weekend, splitting the contests 1-1. On Friday night the girls lost to the second ranked team, Buffalo, by a final score of 64-41. They dug a very large hole early in the game as they struggled to take care of the ball, falling behind by 17-0 in the first quarter. After a sluggish start, the girls settled down and played better basketball the remainder of the game. The Lady Cats forced 24 turnovers, which coach Matt McPhie said is...
Students and staff were caught off guard last Friday morning when four K9 units were brought on the premises at Hot Springs County High School to do a sweep for illegal substances after some safety issues that arose the previous week with students vaping. Dogs from the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office, Johnson County Sheriff's Office, Lander Police Department and Fremont County Sheriff's Office worked the building for about an hour and a half of the two-hour lockdown. While there were a couple...
Representative John Winter checked in from Cheyenne this week after taking action on several bills, including the grizzly delisting resolution, shed antler legislation, regulation of hunting methods, lodging tax and Board of Outfitter and Guides civil penalties. All of the aforementioned bills passed the House on third reading and will now head to the Senate for consideration. One of the bills making the rounds this past week was HB0066, a statewide lodging tax bill. The bill calls for a 5...
The Hot Springs County Commissioners held a public hearing last week on a request for a land use change from Howard and Belenda Willson, asking for a 15-acre parcel of their property be changed from agricultural to industrial. Presented as the “Willson Third Land Use Change,” the acreage in question has been industrial previously, then changed back to agricultural, making this the third requested change for the same plot. In 2014, the Willsons were granted a 10-acre land use change from agr...
Hot Springs County School District Board of Trustees met last week for their January meeting and received the final presentation of the District’s financial audit from Koerwitz, Michel, Wright and Associates. The auditors didn’t find any glaring discrepancies with the annual audit that have not been present before, such as not enough separation between duties in the administrative side of things. This is typical with most businesses in the area since there simply aren’t enough employees to ke...
The 2019 session of the Wyoming State Legislature is well underway, and our Representative John Winter is in full swing. "This new role is very interesting, to say the least," Winter said, "and I am still on a learning curve. The bills are just starting to come out of committee for voting, so last week was just the beginning." Winter is a member of the Travel, Recreation and Wildlife (TRW) Committee as well as the Agricultural Committee in the house, so he will be voting on the various bills...
Employees of our local Shopko found out last Tuesday that the doors will soon be closing on our local store due the company filing voluntary petitions for a court-supervised financial restructuring under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. For a few months, Shopko had been releasing the locations of stores that were closing, but Thermopolis had not shown up on any of the lists until last week. The Worland Shopko will also be closing. Since December, the company has been selling off...
Just like water turns to ice, fingers, hands, toes, feet and even your ears and nose can freeze. The phenomenon is known as frostbite and can occur in as little as five minutes in severely frigid weather. Unfortunately, some folks don’t even realize they are getting frostbite until its too late since the area becomes numb. So what do you look for? In the early stages of frostbite the skin turns pale yellow or white and may itch, burn, sting or feel like pins and needles. Once it gets to the i...
The Hot Springs County Board of County Commissioners held their first meeting of the new year on Tuesday, starting things off with elections of chairman and vice chairman. Commissioner Tom Ryan retained his position as chairman with Phil Scheel remaining as vice chair for another year. An upcoming court case, State of Wyoming v. DeVries, is already causing an issue for newly elected County Attorney Jill Logan. Due to a conflict of interest with the case, Logan asked the commissioners for...
Carter Roy Enis arrived in Thermopolis on Jan. 3 at 1:15 p.m., making him the first baby of 2019 at Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital. Weighing in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. and measuring 21 inches, his parents, Will and Charlee Enis, couldn't be happier. Here the family looks over the nearly $1,000 worth of gifts for the New Year's baby. He is now at home with big brother Trenton, 6, big sister Rylee, 2 and his other big brother, Kade, 5. Grandparents are Mark and Jackie Wagstaff, Annie Thompson and...
The Hot Springs County Sheriff's Office and emergency personnel respond to an accident late Jan. 1. A juvenile male was driving a truck too quickly through the underpass leading into Hot Springs State Park, hit the south pillars and flipped the vehicle. The driver was transported to the hospital....
Hot Springs County High School’s Lady Bobcat basketball teams had nine games this past week- end, three for the varsity, three JV and three fresh- man games at the Pinedale Winter Classic and the Freshman Buffalo Tournament. The Varsity came out on top of Big Piney in the first round, 32-15, playing great defense and holding Big Piney to just one point in the first half. The Lady Cats forced 27 turnovers and played suffocating defense the entire game. Sesi Jensen lead the team with six r...
The State of Wyoming’s Department of Audit recently released the data on the costs of running the 23 counties in the state, showing everything each county has spent on agencies such as trash collection or landfill costs, road and bridge departments and others for the 2018 fiscal year. Hot Springs County is the fifth lowest in spend- ing for our board of County Commissioners; $94,190 for the year. Weston, Washakie, Platte and Niobrara Counties come in lower with the highest amount spent on C...
The calves were kicking up the dust on Saturday morning at the Hot Springs County Fairgrounds for team roping. Here, one of the participants from Fremont County just misses the mark....
A large crew assisted Steve's Plumbing and Heating as they jackhammered out the basement floor in the courthouse Saturday to replace the ancient pipe below the building. In addition to places where the pipes were completely blocked the pipes themselves were crumbling at the touch and many had large cracks due to age and deterioration....
The Hot Springs County Commissioners held an emergency meeting Friday afternoon to discuss issues with the plumbing at the Hot Springs County Court House. As part of the meeting, the commissioners went to the basement of the court house where some of the floor has been jackhammered out in order to examine the piping below the building. In some areas, the pipes, due to their age, are literally crumbling with a touch and in other areas, they are completely plugged. There is a toilet in the...
by Mark Dykes and Cindy Glasson The 65th Legislature for the State of Wyoming will convene on Tuesday, Jan. 8, and our Senior Legislator, Wyatt Agar, noted his move to the Appropriations Committee is a big one as it is the first time, to anyone’s recollection, a first term senator from the majority party has been placed on the committee. He further added it would be an interesting move, as senators typically wait two to three years to get on Appropriations, and he considers it a huge honor. Agar will focus on responsible use of tax dollars i...
