Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
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by Zac Taylor, Powell Tribune If the state is already committed to building a massive state shooting complex, why not the Big Horn Basin? In the last legislative session, a bill was overwhelmingly passed to fund the first $10 million of what could end up being an over $20 million project to build a state shooting complex. Since then, business and government leaders in different regions of the state have been marshaling together groups to pitch their region as the optimum place for the complex. There’s a group forming in Park County too, led by...
This time marks the beginning of a new year for the students of our community, around the state and the country. Children come to school with butterflies in their stomachs, excited and trembling, and they wonder about what they will experience in their new grade. But isn’t it interesting that anyone can start new again at any time in their lives? A hero’s journey can cycle in someone’s life. You don’t have to repeat the same lesson over and over, you can grow and overcome. Can you be the hero of your story? Can you take on an adventure and pur...
Did you see the news recently? Did you pay attention to the attack on the First Amendment? It did not come from politicians or the government but rather from law enforcement. According to a story from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and more than 30 news media organizations are condemning last week’s police raid of Kansas’s Marion County Record during which law enforcement officers seized the newspaper’s electronic newsgathering equipment and reporting materials. The Repor...
The first day of school for many local students is Wednesday, August 23. Yes, it’s that time of year again for parents to get their children ready to head back to school. After purchasing new clothes, supplies, pencils, notebooks, and all the usual gear, students and their families prepare their hearts for the next level of education. The kids get to reconnect with their friends, make new ones, and meet new teachers. It’s an exciting time and can be stressful. If we can encourage the students that these new experiences can have great rew...
Ours is to question. Ink-stained wretches at weekly newspapers like this one, were at one time content to put out the best newspaper they muster, once a week. If something really big happened, like downtown burning to the ground, they’d put out a special edition, usually called an “Extra.” Our big city cousins, often faced with a cross-town rival, would do the same but for the most part, people who wanted to know the latest news, turned to their favorite radio station at the top of the hour. In the 1990s that all began to change with the spread...
The Hot Springs County Fair has been going on this week and there is still plenty of opportunity to fill the bleachers at some of the final events. Thursday, August 3 the day kicks off with the swine show beginning at 8 a.m. The breeding beef show will be at 4 p.m. and the beef show will start at 6 p.m., both in the multi-purpose building. While you are there, sample the delicious offerings at the Chili Cook off hosted buy the FFA Alumni. On Friday, the 4-H and FFA Round Robin Showmanship will begin at 10 a.m. At 1 p.m., the parade of champions...
by Dean Ridings, America’s Newspapers It’s no secret that recent years have been tough on small businesses and on newspapers. A bipartisan bill, the Community News & Small Business Support Act, that has been introduced in Congress would offer relief to both newspapers and local businesses. For too many newspapers, help can’t come soon enough. Economic challenges have resulted in too many communities seeing their local newspapers being forced to lay off staff, cut back on publication days or — worse yet — close. On average, two newspaper...
Scammers are targeting us all and they seem to be coming at us from every which way. There are lottery scams, package delivery scams, open enrollment for benefits scams, utility delinquency scams, identity theft scams and the list goes on and on. Several years ago, scammers primarily targeted senior citizens who they believed were the most vulnerable. They have advanced their scams to a point where each and every one of us is vulnerable. Their tactics have improved to a point where they are tricking people of every age and every walk of life....
The fourth annual WyoGives virtual event, hosted by the Wyoming Nonprofit Network, will commence at midnight on Wednesday, July 12th, and will unfold over an exhilarating 24-hour period. With over 300 nonprofits participating, some of them local, this year’s event promises to be the most impactful yet. Through the website platform at WyoGives.org, individuals can easily contribute to their favorite causes and organizations. The website allows donors to search for nonprofits based on cause, location, or name. Each participating nonprofit has a...
This issue of the Independent Record has three full pages of public notices. Here is some information about why you should take the time to read them. An important premise found in federal, state, and local governments is that information about government activities must be publicized for people to make well-informed decisions. Public notices provide this sort of transparency and accessibility to citizens who want to know more about government actions. Public notices provides the opportunity for the public to influence governing bodies and...
Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have lasting harmful effects on individuals, families and communities. There are many factors that contribute to suicide. It impacts people of all ages and backgrounds. Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. Reports state it was responsible for over 48,000 deaths in 2021. The same year, an estimated 12.3 million adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.5 million made a plan and 1.7 million attempted suicide. U.S. suicide rates are the highest they’ve been since World War I...
The article to the right appeared on the front page of the June 24, 1993, Independent Record. Now, 30 years later, Hot Springs County School Board meetings are being videoed and can be viewed live or afterward by anyone who has the time and wants to watch them. Part of the reason the 1993 school board voted to limit use of video cameras during board meetings was because “the policy encourages members of the public and the board to talk without being worried about how they will look on videotape.” In 2023, many argue that people should be awa...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
by David Peck, Lovell Chronicle Every now and then we human beings, as caretakers of the ecosystem around us, have a chance to do something truly special and long-lasting for the betterment of our corner of the world. Given a chance to be caretakers, it is vital that we do things right to preserve a species that might otherwise fade away. Such is the case with the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustangs. Sixty years ago, local ranchers and community members fought tooth and nail to preserve the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustangs, calling attention to plans by...
Saturday’s fundraiser cookie jar auction for Tommy Sullivan packed the Hot Springs County Fair Building with auction items and generous community members. The auction netted the largest amount brought in at one of these local fundraising auctions that continue to prove, over and over, just how caring and giving our community members can be. Despite the snow storm that again blanketed Hot Springs County, people came from far and near to show their support for Sullivan and his family. The history of the fundraising cookie jar auctions held in t...
by Stephen Dow, Cody Enterprise The Wyoming Legislature took some meaningful steps toward long-term reform of the state’s property tax system during its recently completed general session, but the immediate financial relief many Wyoming residents needed was in frustratingly short supply. Let’s start with the positives. The body approved a bill allocating $50,000 for a study on the changes necessary to convert the property tax system to an acquisition-based model, and another letting voters decide in 2024 whether they want to separate res...
Living in Wyoming requires an acceptance that simple tasks like driving to the store can be difficult or even dangerous during the winter months. We’re used to snow, ice, wind, polar temperatures and even the occasional blizzard. But by any measure, this winter has been especially brutal for travel. On March 3, Wyoming recorded its 31st crash death of 2023. At that time last year, only 12 people had died in crashes here. In 2021, that number was 18. Some of the carnage can be attributed to this winter’s severity. We’ve experienced more storm...
