Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Sorted by date Results 925 - 949 of 1336
Folks are often disappointed when they come into our office after deadline with a classified ad and are told we cannot fit it in this week, but we’ll be happy to run it next week. We have firm deadlines for articles and advertising, but maybe we haven’t really explained why or the process we go through to get the paper in your hands on time every week. For example, the classifieds. Deadline for classifieds is noon on Tuesday. We put together the classified page on Tuesday afternoon, meaning we have all the ads and someone types them into a com...
The Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital administration, Medical Staff and Board of Directors are dedicated to caring for all residents of Hot Springs County and the surrounding area regardless of their diagnosis. There has been a misunderstanding surrounding our position of caring for Title 25 patients, which are patients who have been placed on a mandatory hold due to the fear they may pose a danger to themselves or others. We have always and will always continue to admit any patient to our Emergency Department for a medical screening exam. T...
Fake news, as a concept, has been around at least as long as we’ve had politicians. But we used to call it something else: propaganda. That our President was able to harness the term and continue to ride its wave, is disconcerting to people in the business of reporting news because it is so often an attack on media outlets which pride themselves on unbiased reporting. But the President’s attacks are not groundless which is why they resonate with so many Americans. Journalism schools have evolved over the past generation, in an attempt to equ...
For as long as I can remember, Halloween has been my favorite holiday. Yes, even more than Christmas when I was growing up. It was mainly due to the amount of festivity that came with it. Sure, Christmas had presents, Thanksgiving had plenty of food — and both meant visits and mischief with a multitude of cousins. Even Independence Day provided me with liberty to experiment with small, and sometimes not so legal in Nebraska or elsewhere, pyrotechnics. But, Halloween bested them all. I think it w...
I read with amusement Mr. Clothier’s recent column detailing many of the wonderful things that “idealistic progressives” have put upon the country. Some are good and were needed. I am the beneficiary of the Social Security and Medicare programs, having dutifully participated (since the law required it) by contributing parts of my paychecks since 1966 to those programs. He even admits that being an idealistic progressive “…probably describes me.” (quote from his column) Unfortunately, the dream worlds of the idealistic progressives of the past...
At the Thermopolis Independent Record, as with any newspaper, we’re tasked with bringing you information about your community, not just on a local level but when residents are also involved with statewide happenings or national incidents. For instance, in this week’s edition, you’ll read about the terrifying experience residents had during the infamous Las Vegas shootings. Stories like these help to reflect how these national tragedies connect to our corner of the world. However, it doesn’t take horrific events to connect us on the local level....
I absolutely love fall. Its like suddenly, you walk outside and there is a completely different scent in the air -- the scent of leaves getting ready to fall. Of course, that means pulling out the sweaters, but by three o'clock, you're so hot you wish you'd worn a t shirt instead. Folks are starting to fire up their wood stoves and fireplaces in the evenings, adding the scent of burning wood to air, too. Don't forget about pumpkin patches and the fun that can be had running through the field...
Wanted: One brave man or woman to help disperse the mob. Murder and mayhem is not new in our country. For fifty years after the Civil War, the KKK pulled blacks and non-Christian whites out of their beds and hung them. A lynching was a festive occasion, with lemonade stands and places for everyone to sit. Mark Twain said people supported such brutality because they wanted to belong. If they stayed at home, they would be ostracized from their friends and family, and that was much worse than watching the slaying of innocent people. He felt one...
A friend of mine writing for the state paper concluded a litany of experiences growing up in the early days of the 20th century including the outhouse, lack of running water, coal burning stoves etc. He concluded with a comment that idealistic progressives would certainly eventually do us in as a civilization. Because that probably describes me, I got to thinking about whether those idealistic progressives have really had that much to do with the current condition of our beloved country, and I concluded that he was absolutely correct. Some...
Educational practitioner and researcher Dr. Rick DuFour coined the phrase “the genius of AND versus the tyranny of OR.” His theory can be applied to the current school funding crisis in Wyoming. Many times when we talk about a funding shortage for any fundamental service, we often utilize the “tyranny of OR” to defeat solutions to our problems. What I mean by that is that we often make the assumption that we must sacrifice one group of people, or one measure, to save another. We rationalize our position with the protection of one, at the exp...
Once a Bobcat, always a Bobcat. Whether you were born and raised in Hot Springs County or you have children participating in sports in the district, chances are you “bleed purple and gold” for the Thermopolis Bobcats. That’s why it is so disappointing that a simple act of support for our football team has resulted in someone being such a wet blanket they made enough phone calls to get the practice stopped. Fireworks for touchdowns. Our fire department is on the sidelines of each game, sounding off their sirens and flashing their lights every...
The time has finally come when the temperature drops enough to make me think about stepping outside with a jacket, and once again I’ll be stubborn enough to keep it hanging on the rack for just a few days more. I like the fall because it gives a nice reprieve between the heat of summer and the chill of winter, a time where the weather is just perfect in my opinion. I also remember fondly waiting for my folks and older brothers to rake up the leaves in the yard. As I was still a bit small to b...
As we celebrate National School Lunch week, I got to thinking back on growing up in Thermopolis and the wonderful lunch ladies we had and the delicious meals they used to make for us. You see, in those days, no one left campus to pop into a fast food joint for lunch, you ate in the lunchroom with everyone else. The lunch ladies were awesome. In my young mind they were all “grandmothers” who knew what they were doing in the kitchen. Everything we had was made from scratch, from the giant pan...
How ‘bout them Bobcats? The Thermopolis Middle School football team finished 7 and 0 this season. Wow what a season. I would like to thank all of the kids for their hard work and dedication for pulling together to make a winning team. The coaches did an amazing job with these kids throughout the season. The support that these kids got from family and friends was fantastic. When they were 4 and 0 and started playing on their home field, we decided we would show our support during the home games. We would fire a type of firework called a s...
Please walk your dog on a leash in parks in town that have signs that state “Dogs on leash.” Why? Why have a dog on a leash? Because some of us who are disabled and do not want dog problems can be at a city park too and have “peace” without dogs harassing us or scaring us, or stepping in dog “doo doo.” You get the picture! I recently went to a city park here in town. On three occasions we went, and dog owners did not have dogs on leash. We ended up leaving each time. When I asked “Why?’ to dog owners, the owners’ answers were: “I will whe...
Last week I shared about the idea that cuts mean different things to different people, and as long as your children/grandchildren are not affected, they may not bother you that much. This week, I want to touch on how we are all tied together. Roughly 85 percent of school budgets consist of staffing costs. In education it is simple, we need staff to educate our students. School funding cuts equals less people and fewer programs. Less staff also means less patronage to our local businesses and less tax base directly affecting our local economy....
Since the end of summer, it seems, there’s been a bombardment of “holiday fever” with decorations out for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day and, yes, even Christmas. But what you might not realize is we’re currently in the middle of a holiday week, as National Newspaper Week lands this year on Oct. 1-7. The week officially began in 1940, built off an effort for a Newspaper Appreciation Week from six years previous. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Real Newspapers . . . Real News” and could not be more fitting for the times we live...
I have some concerns about a couple of articles in the Sept. 21 edition of the paper. At the Town Council meeting discussion of the new taxpayer funded Memorial Hospital, the Board was asking for an additional $1.5 million as there were three “unforeseen expenses.” 1. Due to geotechnical investigation, the hospital addition will need a stronger foundation. We have the “largest mineral hot springs in the world,” and it surprises the engineers NOW that we need special foundations? 2. I think anyone with eyes and a year of college could see the...
Is there room for more cuts and efficiencies with schools? The answer depends on what is important to you. Big School/Small School: In small schools one certified staff member represents an entire elective program. Band, agriculture, art, and digital learning are just a few of the programs that are represented by only one or a partial teacher in HSCSD #1. Reducing a position can eliminate an entire program and student opportunity. Personal Importance: I learned long ago that every person’s passion may not be important to others, but that d...
There is a lot to be said for living in a small town in Wyoming. For instance, we don’t have to worry about football players taking a knee during the National Anthem as not only are their mothers watching, but every man, woman and child in the county is at the field, too, especially during Homecoming. We are fortunate to have young people in our schools who not only have a love for country, but are dyed-in-the-wool Bobcats. Generations of parents and grandparents still consider themselves Bobcats, no matter where they may have gone to c...
The 2018 Wyoming Legislature reconvenes on February 12, 2018 to begin the budget session. Many legislators have shared publicly they have no interest in addressing the shortfall in state education funding with additional revenue sources. My last column addressed the cuts that have taken place in HSCSD #1 since 2010, and that the legislature has a constitutional obligation to provide for education, and thirty-six other fundamental rights in Article I. The Wyoming Legislature could choose to ignore the shortfall in funding in the upcoming...
As the seasons change once again, another season comes into play as well — hunting. No doubt those looking to bag a deer, antelope or other game have their spots picked out and have already circled dates and times for when they’re going out. For the younger hunters, and those adults who have never been on a hunt, this experience is heightened by the prospect of bagging that first animal and the pride that comes from not only a successful hunt but being able to use the meat in recipes, the hide or fur in clothing or just to have a mount to dec...
What educational choices do we want for the children of our community? Last week I shared in regard to fundamental rights provided by the Wyoming Constitution with regard to education and the impact of the Wyoming Legislature’s choice to leave out the external cost adjustment component of the Wyoming school funding model since 2010 to our students’ education. This week I want to focus on reductions that have taken place since that time in HSCSD #1. Complete program eliminations include: the family consumer science (home economics) program tha...
Those of us who live in Hot Springs County appreciate our unique treasures and pride ourselves on being friendly to those who visit our community to enjoy those attractions. Receiving feedback from a visitor about their experiences while visiting Thermopolis is necessary to measure how we are doing. Last weekend a man from Tennessee travelled to Thermopolis to attend the WYO Quarter Horse Ranch Sale. While here, he stayed at a hotel, ate at restaurants, had drinks at a bar, enjoyed a dinosaur dig and more. To see this community through the...
It can take a significant event for us to remember where we were and exactly what we were doing at a given time. For those born in the early 2000's and before, that came in the form of planes crashed into the World Trade Center. For myself, I remember going about my normal routine in college until I passed by the television in the cafeteria and wondered at what I was seeing. It was a sentiment expressed by my classmates, friends, family who called, and personally the reality of it didn't really...
