Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 1229
Tourist season has officially begun, here and around Wyoming. Nearly as soon as Yellowstone National Park (YNP) opened, reports began rolling in of encounters between visitors and the park’s buffalo. We are seeing some of this type of activity in our very own Hot Springs State Park (HSSP). Videos have circulated of a man wandering around among the herd and of people out of their vehicles taking pictures of the animals in close proximity. Signs, as seen to the right, are posted as your enter the HSSP buffalo pasture. Anyone who has been to Y...
by Bryan Golden Do you have problems, adversity, and obstacles in your life? If you said yes, then you are like everyone else. Even the most successful people are faced with challenges. What varies is how each person responds to their problems. Running away from problems is not only futile, it leads to a false sense of security. The erroneous premise is that your problems can be left behind by utilizing one or more strategies. The reality is, problems follow you until they are resolved. People attempt to run away in numerous ways. Although the...
Some of you may remember jamming out to School’s Out by Alice Cooper to celebrate the end of a school year and the long anticipated start of summer break. Most students, of any age, look forward to summer break like adults look forward to retirement. As community members, it is important we remember children will be out and about more often now than they have been, at all hours of the day. Be sure to watch for them playing, riding their bikes and walking/running to and fro. It is a great time for parents to give their children a reminder c...
On Monday, May 29, Memorial Day programs will be held at Monument Hill Cemetery, Riverside Cemetery and Park Street Bridge. The program at Monument Hill will begin at 11 a.m. and then they will travel to Riverside and then to the bridge. Memorial Day has its roots in Decoration Day, which dates back to the Civil War, when citizens placed flowers on the graves of those who had been killed in battle. After World War I, it came to be observed in honor of those who had died in all U.S. wars, and its name was changed. Memorial Day became an...
In last week’s Thermopolis Independent Record’s “On the record” section, there was a call regarding a profane flag flying but the deputy determined that it can remain up due to First Amendment protections. While the United States Constitution protects our freedom of speech, there are limits on obscene speech. The Wyoming Constitution also guarantees Wyomingites the right to free speech. However, obscenity is an exception. Wyoming Statute, WY Stat § 6-4-301, states “Obscene’ is material which the average person would find: (A) Applying contempor...
by Mark D. List, MD Is there something about your health you’d like to change? For most Americans, this question usually triggers a wide range of responses. In my practice, most responses usually center on wanting to lose weight, being more consistent with their exercise routine, or finally stopping smoking, drinking or vaping. What do these 3 lifestyle changes have in common? They are really, really hard to do. Behavioral modification of daily habits and routines is a very difficult process: humans tend to get stuck in our daily ruts and s...
The 2023 graduating class at Hot Springs County High School features 38 students with bright futures ahead of them. An insert in this paper is dedicated to them. On page 3 of this paper you will find ads congratulating some online and home schooled high school graduates. There may be some local students that are not featured on this page. We are unable to obtain a list of all local online and home schooled students so we had to rely on friends and family to place an ad to congratulate those students. We offer up a big congratulations to each an...
by Jill Kruse, DO The first successful organ transplant was a kidney transplant in 1954. The donor was the identical twin of the recipient. The new kidney worked for 11 months. This was long before any anti-rejection medications were available. Cyclosporine, the first anti-rejection medication, was approved for use in 1983. The use of anti-rejection medications has significantly increased how long transplanted organs will function. A transplanted kidney from a living donor will last on average 12-20 years. A kidney from a decease donor lasts...
by Amber Steinmetz, Cody Enterprise It’s that time of year once again. Last Friday, the East Entrance to Yellowstone Park opened for the season, signaling what we hope will be the start of a great tourist season. Last year was expected to be a banner one as the park celebrated its 150th anniversary, but the historic floods in June closed public access to the park and had many people changing their plans. Yellowstone had 3.3 million visits in 2022, down 32 % from 2021. All things considered, though, it went better than expected. On June 13, a...
by Andrew Ellsworth, MD Like a car racing along the interstate, exiting onto a highway, and finally reaching the family farm along a dusty gravel road, our blood circulates inside our bodies. There are the major blood vessels, such as the aorta running out of the heart, and there are the tiny capillaries allowing blood cells one at a time to carry oxygen and nutrients to all the cells in our bodies. The network of capillaries is so complex it is estimated there are over 40 billion in one person, and if stretched out in a single line they w...
I would like to say that Thermopolis has a Real Hometown hero in a gentle man who kept people coming to this small community year after year and telling their friends and family of the ‘Little Secret’ they discovered at the north end of the Wind River Canyon drive. (Another secret unto itself!) After being here for over 15 years and quietly watching him perform his daily duties, sometimes against extreme situations, dealing with weather, animals and yes, even other people, I would say he had a very stressful position for many years. When you ne...
Citizens in Thermopolis and Hot Springs county are not used to hearing or reading about shootings in our community and we find it shocking and scary when we do. Adding the words officer-involved shooting makes it even more shocking. As events unfolded last Friday, many community members were feeling just as we all at the IR were, a sense of disbelief that this could be happening here. As reality then set in for us all, concern for Thermopolis Police Sgt. Mike Mascorro, and all others involved, quickly became of the utmost importance for most of...
Gardening season is finally here! You may be envisioning all the herbs, flowers, and vegetables you’ll harvest at the end of the season. But you’ll need to put in hard work – not to mention money – to make your dream garden a reality. To make a success of your garden and stay on budget, Better Business Bureau (BBB) recommends the following tips: Make a Success of Your Garden Plan ahead. If you are starting a garden from scratch, think carefully about what kind of plants you want to cultivate and where they will thrive best in your yard. You may...
Scams we all need to be aware of. Wedding Anniversary Gift: A Sheridan citizen who owns a small business has been receiving similar emails every couple of months, asking for information about purchasing products for a gift for an anniversary, a new home, and similar themes. The email asks for some pictures and details about prices, but it’s the same message each time but from different sender addresses. Donation & Support: A Wyoming non-profit received an email supposedly from Hy-Vee Construction, offering a donation but only through wire t...
I am concerned with the teens in our county. It seems this suicide trend is just that, a trend toward destruction. This little note is worthy of publication. A pastor was asked to speak to an audience of 150 teens. He pulled out a crisp $20 bill and asked, “Who wants this $20 bill?” All 150 teens nodded. He said, “I am going to give this money to someone, but first....” He then proceeded to crumple up the bill and asked the crowd again if anyone wanted it. All 150 hands went up in the air. The pastor then dropped the money on the floor and sto...
We’d like to respond to and expound upon the article about the HSCRWJPB meeting on April 20th to clarify Owl Creek Water District’s (OCWD) position and provide some important information. We are also concerned that some of the language used, without providing this information, could make one think that OCWD’s level 2 study is a “bad thing” in conflict with the JPB’s effort to apply for the Lysite Wells. For example, the word “sabotage” used in the article could convey a negative perception. We can assure you that Owl Creek is not trying to sabo...
After several years and the efforts of a number of community members, chickens and selected other small animals, are now allowed to be raised within the town limits of Thermopolis. In a story that begins on page 1 of this issue of the Thermopolis Independent Record, you can read comments from the recent town council meeting where three ordinances regarding Limited Urban Agriculture Animals were passed. Mayor Adam Estenson said the ordinances will be reviewed in March of 2024 to determine their success. On page 11 of this issue, the legal...
Thank you to all the supporters of the Limited Urban Agriculture program. From the local 4H and FFA, the Wyoming University extension office and the individual members of the community who supported and gave wisdom toward this effort. We have partnered this proposal with the hope that people and organizations within this community would step up while lending their strengths to the effort, and they have. We’d also like to thank the city council and the mayor for their receptivity to this process. This plan was examined, scrutinized and a...
by Stephen Dow, Cody Enterprise Meeteetse, like many Wyoming small towns, is on the verge of disappearing. It isn’t hard to imagine a near future where the town — with a population of 313 in the 2020 census and a median age of 52.1 years — doesn’t exist. This uncertain future is what makes a recently proposed annexation of 390 acres from Flying River Ranch LLC so exciting. If approved, the annexation would expand the town’s borders by 70%. While there is no clear plan for the land yet, some of the ideas that have been bandied about by town c...
I’ve fact checked just three items Hageman had listed in her lengthy article, and each one is false. Although President Joe Biden tapped into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) he did NOT sell the oil to China. The SPR is a reserve of crude oil maintained by the United States government for emergency situations. The President CAN authorize the release of oil from the SPR to alleviate a supply shortage or price spike. The SPR has been tapped multiple times in the past by previous administrations for various reasons. Regarding selling SPR o...
by Sophie Two Hawk, MD; Arna Mora, MD; Carol Whitman, MD American Indians face some unique challenges when it comes to caring for their health. Culturally, we view health in a Holistic manner as a balance of our bodies, mind and spirit that allows for good health. Historically, the women would have knowledge of herbs and men would be spiritual healers. Healthcare was one of the items guaranteed under the treaties. Initially, healthcare was overseen by the Army and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Then Indian Health Service was formed in 1955 to...
Depression. Thoughts of suicide. Job loss. The unpaid role of being a family caregiver for a loved one living with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia comes with many risks and challenges, but it is one that increasing numbers of people are taking on as our population ages. More than 6.7 million people across the United States, including 10,000 Wyomingites, are living with an incurable disease: Alzheimer’s. Sharing the burden are the 11.5 million unpaid family caregivers (16,000 in Wyoming) who volunteer their time and resources and...
To say it has been a long winter would be considered an understatement by many. However, spring seems to have finally arrived and the weather was beautiful over the Easter weekend. Community members were able to get outside and release some long pent up spring fever. Even a typical winter can lead to stress, depression and other issues but the level of misery was raised a bit this year. The length and severity of winter temperatures and snow levels set records around the state. Last week, our community was shaken by the loss of a young life....
At the next city council meeting our new city council is poised to pass an ordinance to allow farm animals in town. Residents of Thermopolis your voices need to be heard. At my parents’ ranch we had all these animals and more. People that were acquainted with my mother (Ellen) knew she was to the ranch what Noah was to the Ark. She had chickens, goats, ducks, geese, pigs and whatever else she could coax in. During lambing and calving seasons, she would leave the ranch in her pickup and show back up with bum lambs and calves riding next to her....
I am constantly amazed at the unprofessional behavior of the Hot Springs County School Board. Most recently, the sarcastic remarks about a concerned citizen / accountant who has spent a large amount of her time the last three months trying to help the board find the half million plus dollars of taxpayer money they seemed to ‘misplace’. I believe that sum of money and the attitude of the board should be a concern to all taxpayers in our county. The auditor sarcastically berated her for 50 minutes before eventually agreeing with her findings but...
