Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
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Our opinion page allows for letters to the editor, which we enjoy receiving, because we consider them an important part of our paper. We want our readers to have a say on issues and happenings in our community. This week we have a letter to the editor in response to the Joint Powers Water District reorganization article that ran in last week’s edition. We thank the authors for keeping it civil as they express their opinion on this important issue. We also thank them for reading our paper. Our goal is to inform our readers on a variety of issues...
We’d like to respond to the 1-26-2023 article regarding the Hot Springs Joint Power Board reorganization and to provide additional information, background, and our opinion. There have been two studies done and sponsored by the Big Horn Region (BHR), not by Thermopolis or the county commissioners. One was in 2018 which included the town and provided options for a new groundwater source because the BHR does not have the capacity to service the town and the other Hot Spring County districts and needed redundancy. The town decided against p...
by Dave Bonner, Powell Tribune Here we go again. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen has advised Congress and the president that the debt ceiling —the amount of debt that the U.S. is authorized to take on — will need to be raised. Again. The current level of the federal government debt ceiling is $31.4 trillion, and the clock on the national debt is spinning so fast that the treasury secretary says that it will be exhausted within the month. If it seems like this is a repeat performance, that’s because it is. The debt ceiling was last raise...
by Kelly Evans-Hullinger, MD Frequently, my patients will come to a visit and bring up a major concern: “Doc, I think I might have dementia; my memory seems to be slipping.” They might give examples of having difficulty finding words, forgetting people’s names, or just feeling like their thinking is slower. Many of them know a family member who had dementia, and they are worried. My first response is to hear their concerns; of course, if a patient is showing early signs of dementia, we want to assess that and do our best to get to a diagnosis f...
I have wanted to write this letter to the editor for years. I started driving farm equipment here in the 60s, as did most of my classmates from the HSCHS Class of 68. We got our driver’s license at 15 years of age. I joined the Army at 17 where I drove 2.5 ton to 25 ton trucks. A year in Vietnam and 3 years in Germany with a couple of drivers’ academies. I crewed Hueys for the next 8 years, driving my car in Panama seeing how people drive in Central America – Honduras/El Salvador. After I retired from the Army, I drove 18 wheelers, 48 state...
Late last year, the governor’s Reimagining and Innovating the Delivery of Education advisory group delivered its final recommendations to Gov. Mark Gordon. Its recommendations aren’t policies or prescriptions, but guiding principles for elevating the state’s K-12 education system. Those recommendations came on the heels of the release of the state’s draft “Profile of a Graduate” — seven “competencies” drafted by the State Board of Education and meant to address what parents, educators and communities believe Wyoming students need to know to b...
by Bryan Golden It’s so easy to get into a rut yet difficult to get out. A rut is a regular habit, pattern, or expectation. There is a certain degree of comfort associated with being in a rut. It is consistent, familiar, and safe. We can fall into a rut unintentionally without realizing it. Although dwelling in a rut can induce feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction, not all people are unhappy being in one. There are those who are happy and satisfied with a regular, dependable pattern. If you are happy with your circumstances -- great. B...
When our society finds a better way to archive public records for the people, it will have the full support of this newspaper. Public notices (legals) are the surest way to let the citizens know how their tax dollars are being spent. They also create a permanent and secure record of the business of your government and they have run in these pages since this newspaper began. That won’t always be the case. Publishing on-line has been a boon to getting news into the hands of more people, and in getting government information to its citizens. B...
by Jill Pertler I went to many birthday parties when I was a kid. I don’t remember most of them. One I do remember, vividly, however, is the party to which I didn’t receive an invitation. It was in celebration of one of my good friend’s tenth birthdays. I was unaware of the occurrence of such a mega event, which happened on a Sunday afternoon, until Monday morning, when it was the talk of the entire fifth grade. My friend Elizabeth had been to my house many times, and I to hers. I thought we were very close. Turns out there were at least a doz...
by Jurri Schenck We have been here before and we are going to better places. It’s easy to take the black pill and only see the negative in our circumstances. Why not? We have inflation, a possible world war, a toxic political environment, etc, etc. What will you choose? To give you some hope and vision, it is important to remember that there have been situations like this in the past. There have always been turning points where the context looked extremely dire. A beautiful picture to illustrate this is watching a large flock of birds flying i...
What has N.A.T.O. done? It was formed after WWII to make sure that no country would ever be taken over by oppressors again. Ukraine has been completely destroyed - no heat, water, food or shelter is left. Putin is breaking rules of war everyday. He’s bombing hospitals, schools, refugee camps. He’s not targeting the military but the civilians. N.A.T.O. won’t use military force against him, but sanctions. Military force might cause a war, remember 1937? The war has already started. Now the world can see how weak the U.S. and N.A.T.O. reall...
As we welcome in 2023, residents of Thermopolis and Hot Springs County have much to be thankful for and some interesting changes in local government to look forward to. The first week of January, judges will be swearing in our local county and town government officials to serve their future terms. We have a new county commissioner who will be joining two on the commission who have served for several years. Other reelected county officials will also be swore in next week. For the Town of Thermopolis, we will have a new Mayor and a new Town...
by Joanie Holm, CNP Writing about grief is like writing about life—huge! Where does one start? It is like describing love: basically impossible. The comedian and late-night host Stephen Colbert lost his father and two older brothers in a tragic accident when he was young, and said, about grief, “It is a gift to exist, and with that gift comes suffering. If I am grateful for life, I must be grateful for all of it. I hope that grief stays with me because it is all the unexpressed love I didn’t get to tell you.” So even though grief may be difficu...
Our community has a lot to be thankful for this Christmas. We may have more than some and less than others, but ultimately we all make a choice to continue to live in, or care about, our little one stoplight town. Merry Christmas to each and every one of you, near and far, who are reading this. Thanks to those of you who are serving in the military and giving up your holidays, your years of living in Hot Springs County and Wyoming, to try to make the world a safer, better place. Thanks to the many volunteers who put in countless hours to put on...
Dear Rusty: I’m nearing 68 years old, have never signed up for Medicare but thinking that I should look into it. I’m currently covered by my wife’s health insurance through her employer. I would greatly appreciate some simple guidance regarding Medicare. I’ve tried watching some videos about the subject, but it was always so boring that I never finished watching. I get lost in all the Part This & Part That. I would just like some solid insight into the coverage that I truly need & the cost. Signed: Confused Dear Confused: Medicare is, indeed,...
by Stephen Dow Talk is cheap, as the saying goes. But when talk is not followed up by actions, it becomes quite costly. Such is the case of Wyoming’s property tax system. The good news is Wyoming’s state legislators have known for years that the current system is broken. The bad news is their efforts to fix the system haven’t gotten very far. Just this past session, legislators considered a bill that would have studied how the state could switch from the current market-value-system of determining property taxes to an acquisition-based syste...
A long time ago in the distant future, a cloud of gloom hovered beneath the North Pole. The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) went South for the Winter, reversing the Magnetic Poles and causing a chain reaction of bizarre circumstances. Suddenly, Mrs. Santa was on the twelfth day of menopause. Everything she baked fell flat or burnt. As she grew grumpier by the day, there were no decorations or festive aromas nor cheerful atmosphere. AS NOT ENOUGH – Rudolph was suffering with a serious head cold. He sneezed so hard that his nose popped off a...
Thermopolis and residents from surrounding areas have been working their way into the Christmas spirit. Lights and decorations are going up at houses and businesses, school Christmas concerts and programs are scheduled, special sales are going on at local businesses and craft fairs and more are being held. This Saturday, the annual Lighted Christmas Parade. Bundle up and line the streets to see some fabulous entries make their way through downtown beginning at 6 p.m. Following the parade, Santa Claus will be at Hazel-n-Pearls so be sure to...
On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the American naval facilities at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. According to History.com, the goal of this attack, which claimed the lives of more than 2,400 Americans, was to destroy the Pacific Fleet. Though the attack crippled or destroyed roughly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes, the Pacific Fleet was not destroyed. All of the Pacific Fleet’s aircraft carriers were elsewhere on December 7, 1941. Within a day of the attack, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on J...
by Dave Bonner, Powell Tribune Passage of Constitutional Amendment A by Wyoming voters in the Nov. 8 general election doesn’t put cities, towns and counties — and other political subdivisions of the state — on an overnight route to money in the bank. It does provide investment possibilities to local governments that haven’t existed before. That, in itself, is a big step forward. In fact, the heretofore limited earnings opportunities have been a vexing problem to local governments. The City of Powell’s experience with an endowment to provide f...
Each Thursday the IR arrives in the mail, and I typically go right to “On the Record” and the Obituaries to confirm I’m not mentioned in either. Lately, however, I’ve been focusing on the Record, aka the Police/Sheriff/Court blotter. I’m seeing a lot of family issues there, far too many for such a small community. And yet this trend now affects communities all across America. It includes domestic abuse, rebellious teens, drug use, alcohol abuse, and recently our little town had the threat of a teen brawl over drug paraphernalia. That’s a...
by Jill Pertler Lately I’ve been interested in happiness - scientifically speaking, of course. That sounds counterintuitive, oxymoronic even. How can the cut and dried factual-based world of science have anything to do with something as instinctive and emotional as happiness? Turns out they have more in common than I originally thought. Happiness causes physiological changes within us that science is able to use to identify, quantify and even predict happy. I’ve always thought of happiness as external – something that happens to me. Happi...
However you spend your Thanksgiving, take a moment to give thanks for someone or something. Be thankful for friends, family, fur babies, a roof over your head, food on your table, your job, etc. Even if all these do not apply, be thankful for the ones that do. As Friday rolls around, we enter the Christmas shopping season, full steam ahead. Locally we have our own Merry Christmas Market giveaway going on. Black Friday is Nov. 25 followed by Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26, a relatively new American tradition. While Black Friday has been an...
by Tom Emery Americans have endured some tough years of late, which is nothing new in our history. One example is 1918, when people found plenty of reason to celebrate Thanksgiving. Seventeen days before the holiday, the Armistice had been signed, ending World War I. But the nation was still in the throes of the influenza epidemic, which still lingered as Americans sat down to give thanks. The flu epidemic had shut down many American cities throughout the fall, with death tolls in alarming numbers. An estimated 195,000 fatalities from the...
Thermopolis has a full schedule of events coming up starting this Saturday with the Backpack Program Fundraiser and Holiday Affair Craft Show at the Thermopolis Middle School. Saturday night, 4-H Achievement night will be held at the fair building to celebrate the accomplishments of youths in the county. The Annual Christmas Bazzar will be Nov. 26 at the fair building. Nov. 25 is Black Friday and kicks off the Merry Christmas Market shopping. Shop Small Town Saturday is Nov. 26. Watch for ads from businesses in next week’s edition. The Ducks Un...
