Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Sorted by date Results 1275 - 1299 of 1326
I am President of the Just Say No Political Action Committee (PAC). Some folks in town believe that we are opposed to a new hospital. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every member of our PAC thinks that our county needs adequate health care. We are opposed to a special use District; because the recent developments in Washakie and Fremont Counties demonstrate that there are other business models available to provide quality health care without taxation. We have a management model in place that has not worked, is not working now and will...
America has now reached a very dangerous crossroads, a time in history far more treacherous than during our civil war. For the very first time since the founding of this nation, we and our Constitution are betrayed by all three branches of our federal government: executive, legislative, and judicial. I write this as Kim Davis, a County Clerk in Kentucky, sits in a jail cell, imprisoned by our legal system when she should have been protected by it. She could very well be America’s first political prisoner, jailed for her beliefs. I sincerely hop...
8 has been interesting. We welcomed in the New Year with an ice jam which had the potential to create great damage and evacuations, but fortunately a temperature increase during the second night, to -15, reversed the growth of the jam and the day was saved. Memorial Day weekend it rained…and rained and rained. Flash Flood Warnings were issued from both sides of our county, and several occurred. The heavy rains which were seen here in Hot Springs County were also seen in the Wind River high country, soaking into the snowpack. Predictions for...
In the August 27, 2015, issue of the Independent Record there appeared a picture and article about the removal of the yellow rose bushes, expect for a few from the south end of the Bicentennial Park. These bushes have added beauty and protection of users of the park from dangers to which they were exposed to along the alley going next to the south end of the park. The park was established in honor of the Bicentennial of our Nation. It was and is for the enjoyment of adults and children alike. There is a children’s play park elsewhere. This p...
Each day comes bearing gifts. But not in the way you might think. I wake in anticipation of the presents they have left for me this time. “They” are not leprechauns or Santa’s elves. The gifts in question come from my kids. Yeah, I find it hard to believe myself. When I enter the kitchen each morning, I’m guaranteed at least one cardboard pizza round left over from the last night’s midnight feast. Pizza cardboard is much too valuable to toss in the trash, if they could locate the trash (which I’m not sure they could). They also leave me ch...
Back to school schedules are starting, families are getting back into a routine - but I am convinced that ranch kids have a somewhat different schedule than other kids. Instead of setting the alarm to simply wake up and get ready for school, their alarms are set several hours earlier to take care of ranch chores that must be done prior to school. Growing up, I remember having to be pulled out of bed to get my work done in the wee morning hours before the bus came. During high school years, I...
Earlier this year the House of Representatives passed legislation that’s supposed to fix once and for all the formula the government uses to pay doctors who treat Medicare patients. The Senate is expected to agree. The so-called doc fix legislation has been a political hot potato since the late 1990s when Congress tried to slow down healthcare costs by cutting doctor payments. The docs complained when Medicare tried to cut their payments, and 17 times Congress stopped the cuts. This time was different, though. Democrats and Republicans came tog...
When I first started a garden in the Thermopolis area many years ago, I eagerly planted my favorite perennials in the fall for spring blooming. All winter long I imagined a beautiful garden come spring, only to have my expectations dashed by the local deer population, which apparently loved my perennials as much as I did. So, I started looking around the area and questioning local residents to find out which perennials survive the local conditions. My surveys and in-garden experiments have resulted in a select group of local deer-resistant...
As technology relentlessly consumes low-end jobs, the skill-ladder has become a skill-pyramid, i.e., there is not room for everyone at the top. Whenever I can, I try to tell young people that they need to find a skill that cannot be outsourced, cannot be automated, and is still useful when our house-of-cards begins to collapse. The recent book, “Rise of the Robots,” by Martin Ford, speaks to this issue in ways that should scare us all. Jim Harvey, Salt Lake City, Utah Former Thermopolis resident...
For many rural families, summer climaxes at fair time. “Why?” you may ask. Well, it’s not a simple answer. Imagine acquiring (purchasing, being gifted, etc.) a steer calf. This calf is not a pet but rather livestock that will be sold in less than a year’s time for the purpose of slaughter. Your task is to, on a daily basis, nurture this animal, feed it, and handle it to best prepare it for show. You may have a young lifetime of experience working with cattle, but this steer is yours and it is y...
I am so glad I taught at the schools at the time when vocational education was looked upon with enthusiasm. Today at Hot Springs County schools we no longer have the courses for the world of work. Our business education is nil, family and consumer science is nil, industrial arts is not good and auto mechanics is good but should have a full day to meet the student’s needs. We used to have two full time industrial arts teachers and the person building your house, making changes in your house, roofing are all graduates of the high school p...
Fifteen years ago this week, the Kate’s Basin Fire was raging up on the divide between Hot Springs County and the Wind River Reservation. On August 11, 2000, in a place called Mexican Pass a firefighter lost his life in that fire. His name was James Alan Burnett. Mr. Burnett was 51 years old and though he lived in Hatfield, Arkansas, he worked for Oklahoma Forestry Services. He came to Wyoming as part of a five man team, first to battle the Enos Creek fire and then the enormous Kate’s Basin fire. Through the winds and flames some very bra...
Well, it seems there is at least one unhappy person in our community, someone who leads such a melancholy life that he/she can only attain satisfaction by spreading his/her misery to others, including our local businesses. This person sought to attack my employer by filing an anonymous (of course) complaint with the fire chief. This person hides behind the cloak of anonymity just as others have done recently through complaints on social media. Such brave people. The complaint was that my employer was creating the business’s main product u...
Color, smiles, sun, and art were the main themes from a newbie’s perspective of Thermopolis’ Pageant Days and Folk Festival weekend. This past weekend was my first, ever, Pageant Days and Folk Festival experience and although it went by like a blur, it was enjoyable on many levels. As a reporter, I hit just about every event the weekend had to offer. Saturday morning began with excited runners jogging in place and prepping their mindsets with energetic music at the 5K/10K Pageant Run in HSS...
After reading about the proposal about the park issue – it’s way redundant. There is no way a building like that wouldn’t affect the beauty of the park. Looking down at that end of the park is the most beautiful scene that you can ask for. A wooden structure, stone structure – what ever – it would be a distraction. The building, parking spaces, etc. would eliminate about one half of the park. And using the lack of parking as a reason for the project – it’s a park. A park is for walking and relaxing. As for the Starbuck’s style restaurant, a l...
“The best fly fishing in the country,” is what some are calling the short stretch of the Big Horn River from Wedding of the Waters through Thermopolis. Newspapers, magazines and television have been luring anglers from all parts of the country, as far as New York, Louisiana and Texas, giving the local economy a ‘shot in the arm.’ A history of other rivers, once considered, great fisheries, are fished out and only “so-so” today. The Big Horn is now the champion attraction. Along with the increase of fishermen and “tubers” comes empty cans, plast...
Every citizen able to vote should boycott any or all groups who want to keep us from hearing every Presidential candidates explanation of why they believe they are the best....
I've spent 36 years in the communications business and one thing I've learned from all that time is that communication breaks down. That lesson was brought home to me again this week as I watched the interaction between the Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department and the Hot Springs County Rural Fire District. If you've read the story on our front page, you have pretty much the gist of the idea, but the break down between these two entities was a long time coming and could have so easily been avoi...
Mid-summer is a time to enjoy the bounties of your beautiful gardens, but the enjoyment comes at a price. Lawns, trees, flowers and vegetables are well-established and blooming. The abundance of vegetables and fruits of the gardens is peaking, veggies are ripening daily. You might experiment with some new recipes or go to a Farmers’ Market to try different produce not in your garden. However, nothing good comes without some good old-fashioned elbow grease. Here are some mid-summer chores to keep your yard and gardens beautiful and p...
A blank page can be daunting. Especially first thing on a Monday morning, which is how I usually start my week. As a columnist, it’s my job to fill the page with something – or nothing. Yeah, nothing. You read that right. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Readers tell me they enjoy this column because I write about nothing, and they can relate to that. Most of us have a familiarity with nothing. We all have personal experience with the lack of something – which in essence is nothing – depending on your thesaurus. Because I write for...
I saw an interesting photo on the Internet today. It was a picture of a couple lying on a beach, holding margaritas, and watching the sun go down. The caption on the photo read, “This could be us … if we didn’t own livestock.” It made me laugh a little because I thought to myself, “How true.” Agriculture producer’s lives revolve around seasons: planting season, calving season, harvest season, hay season, breeding season … the list goes on and on. Vacation season always lands in the middle of o...
This weekend marks one of the busiest of the summer for Hot Springs County, bringing in alumni, history buffs, horses, golfers and even a parachutist. Things kick off with former Golden Knight and double amputee, Dana Bowman dropping in to the football field as part of the Hot Springs County Library’s “Superheroes” summer reading program. Bowman arrives on scene at 11 a.m. on Friday. Hot Springs County High School alumni will begin arriving on Friday, too, with a plethora of activities going...
Did you know our local Red Dirt Master Gardeners are not a garden club? The Master Gardeners are actually part of the University of Wyoming, Cooperative Extension Service (CES). The University of Wyoming (UW) is one of 106 land-grant colleges in the United States created by the Morrill Act of 1862. As a land-grant college, UW has three missions: teaching, research and extension. The CES was authorized by the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 in the states having landgrant colleges as a unique partnership among the U.S. Dept of Agriculture, the land-grant...
The overwhelming conclusion to be drawn is that Wyoming’s newspapers are still the No. 1 source for news and consumer information according to results from a Pulse Research survey. “Unfortunately, many businesses have the misperception that ‘print is dead,’ said an executive summary of the results written by John Marling of Pulse Research. “The research facts clearly show that newspapers are alive and can deliver the Wyoming market for all consumer shopping categories, public notices and election decision making. Wyoming’s publishers...
It may seem a little out of season to you that I am writing a branding column considering branding season is, for the most part, over; but for those lucky few that have been recently invited to a late-season branding I offer you a piece of advice. I somewhat recently attended a neighbor’s branding. For those of you who understand the seasons of cattle management, you know what I was getting into. For those of you who don’t, let me explain: Cattle have an average gestation length of 280 day...
