A look back at the year in Hot Springs County

There were many memorable things that happened in Hot Springs County in 2020. The following is a look back at an important or unique story from each week in the first half of the year. The second half of the year will be featured in next week’s issue.

January

January 7, 2021

Gov. Mark Gordon has announced that he will soon lift public health orders that required Wyoming bars and restaurants to close at 10 p.m.

Effective January 9, updated health orders permit bars and restaurants to resume onsite consumption from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The updated orders also allow gyms to increase the number of participants in group fitness classes from 10 to 25.

Gordon also announced Saturday that the mask mandate he first issued in December will remain in effect until Jan. 25.

Gordon’s office shared three other health orders Saturday that are each on their 19th continuations — all signed by State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist.

January 14, 2021

Lopez, Inc. recently filed an application for a new Bar and Grill Liquor License in the office of the Clerk of the Town of Thermopolis. The application states it is for the building at 942 Shoshoni Street. The town council is set to take action on the application at their February 2 meeting.

A sign at the former Raptor’s location says Los Cabos coming soon. Reports are that this is the restaurant that was going to go into the Las Fuentes building which burned down in December of last year.

January 21, 2021

Recently at Hot Springs State Park’s Big Spring, Darrell Montz, a resident of Powell, took the time to explain all he knows about the various hot springs throughout the nation to some visiting tourists.

Yulia Bistrevsky, with Russian heritage, and Matt Brosvik from Spokane, Washington were on a road trip exploring the USA. Montz spent considerable time sharing with them his knowledge as they were eager to learn.

Bistrevsky and Brosivk said they were escaping Washington because of COVID and the government and they said, “We are hot spring fanatics. We want to explore.”

Hot Spring State Park was recently included as one of the nation’s top hot springs locations to visit. 

January 28, 2021

At a recent traffic stop, Thermopolis police officer Mike Mascarro made a major drug bust of a local distributor that captured around $1,000 of crystal meth. This is still an open investigation, and all allegations for those involved are still alleged.

On Friday night January 15, officer Mascarro was driving southbound on South 6th Street in the area of Family Dollar and he saw a van pull out of the Paint Brush motel. Mascarro had been aware of the van for several days already.

He saw that it didn’t have a front license plate on it and was occupied by three people. As the van passed him, he noticed there was no license plate on the rear either. Mascarro turned around and lit up his police car lights. 

February

February 4, 2021

The international best-selling writing team of W. Michael and Kathleen O’Neal Gear, formerly of Thermopolis and now of Cody, will receive the Western Writers of America (www.westernwriters.org) 2021 Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature.

The Gears, who are best known for their prehistory series of books, will also be inducted into the Western Writers Hall of Fame, housed outside the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.

“For more than three decades, Kathleen and Michael Gear have been bringing the past to vivid life with their books about the indigenous peoples. Both individually and as a writing team, their work stands out for its focus and readability,” said WWA President Chris Enss. “The Wister Award was created for such talent.” 

February 11, 2021

South Jackson Game Warden Kyle Lash has been named the 2020 Shikar-Safari Wildlife Officer of the Year for Wyoming. The award, given annually in every state and Canadian province by the Shikar-Safari Club International, honors a wildlife officer whose efforts during the year display outstanding performance and achievement.

“Kyle’s passion for managing and protecting Wyoming’s wildlife resources is undeniable and clearly evident to anyone who has met him,” said Rick King, Wyoming Game and Fish Department chief game warden. “He is a true spokesman for all wildlife and the community he serves. Kyle exemplifies all that we expect from our Wyoming game wardens.” 

February 18, 2021

Although Thermopolis was not included in a recent release by the National Weather Service of recent record breaking low temperatures, residents still know the bitter cold snap that hit Wyoming beginning last week did indeed include Hot Springs County.

According to local reports, the lowest daytime high temperature was recorded at -3 degrees on Friday, February 12.

The lowest nighttime low was recorded as -14 on Saturday night. These temperatures were recorded in town. Residents in other areas of the county reported slightly colder temperatures.

Historically, records have not been kept long enough for Thermopolis that NOAA includes us in the list of record cold temperatures.

February 25, 2021

Jana Oliver of Thermopolis Eye Care was recently awarded the Wyoming Paraoptometric of the Year Award.

Oliver is the office manager and as a para her job is to help the doctor do optician work, ordering glasses and contacts, or lab work.

The award is voted on by the doctors in Wyoming. Dr. Dana McDermott and a couple of doctors in Gillette optometric put Oliver in as a nomination three years ago and she received it this year.

The Paraoptometric Award qualifications are looking for people who worked in the optometric field for a significant amount of time and contribute to their patient and office care as well as their community.

March

March 4, 2021

At the March 2 Hot Springs County Commissioner meeting, Public Health Nurse Tricia McPhie gave her report of local COVID vaccinations and her goals of getting more doses available to the public. This would include more new people receiving their first doses and also having others receive their second dose. 

There are still people on the waiting list. Chairman Tom Ryan asked McPhie, “Do you think you have vaccinated the majority of people over 70 years old?” McPhie paused and then replied, “I don’t know. We have vaccinated a large number of those people. But there are still people on the 70 waiting list.”

March 11, 2021

Governor Mark Gordon announced Wyoming will remove its statewide mask requirement and allow bars, restaurants, theaters and gyms to resume normal operations on March 16.

Wyoming has seen a declining number of active COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and has seen significant success rolling out the vaccine, with the state’s most vulnerable residents having access to the vaccine.

The Governor continues to encourage Wyomingites to wear face coverings in indoor public spaces and to follow the best practices adopted by any business they visit to slow the spread of the virus.

The significant changes to the health orders will be released later this week, but the Governor wanted to make sure the public knew of this important change. 

March 18, 2021

The Bobcat Speech and Debate team became 1A/2A State Champions during the virtual state tournament last weekend.

“It has been so gratifying to watch students who have put in endless hours of work practicing, networking, doing research, writing and helping one another find success. This team takes pride in putting in the work to earn opportunities to succeed, and I am honored to get the chance to work with these students. This is a young team, too. It is so exciting to see freshmen win All-State Awards at this stage in their competitive careers. I think we will have some very competitive years ahead of us,” said head coach Lyle Wiley. 

March 25, 2021

The Hot Springs County School District will wait until after receiving the results of a survey of certified and classified staff on March 30 before its board of trustees votes on whether to apply for a mask variance from Wyoming Public Health.

Board Chair Jennifer Axtell opened the discussion on March 18 by noting the other districts who’d been granted such variance after applying for it, and both she and Board Trustee Will Farrell noted the amount of correspondence they’d received from the public on the issue, which had prompted Axtell to add it to the meeting’s agenda.

Farrell expressed concerns that inconsistent enforcement of masking standards was serving as a distraction to students while failing to accomplish its ostensible goal, as he cited certain students whose parents have signed letters exempting them from wearing masks, while other students’ parents have not, creating an additional complication for school staff to navigate.

April

April 1, 2021

Veteran Tobi Johansen of the local VFW Hall Post 2281 held a volunteer help day for our local veterans to commemorate the day.

Johansen said, “It’s based on one of the final battles in that war. It wasn’t officially over until another couple of years later, 1975. But in 1971 was one of the bigger battles. To commemorate that we wanted to start helping our veterans, some of the older folks that could use a helping hand, with whatever, yard work.

He added, “We’d like to get to a point where we can fix up a wheelchair ramp, things along those lines. This post wants to do this a couple of times a year, two or three times in the summer and a couple of times in the winter when it starts snowing. This is just a start to help those people. A lot of our veterans do need that help. Their service is appreciated.” 

April 8, 2021

During their Tuesday meeting, the Hot Springs County Commissioners voted to adopt a resolution making the county a Second Amendment Sanctuary.

Sheriff Jerimie Kraushaar presented the resolution to the commissioners and he said, “on an average week I probably have five to ten people ask me if we are coming for their guns.” Sheriff Kraushaar said his reply to them is he would never do that and they have the Second Amendment and the Wyoming Constitution to support them.

Kraushaar added that his busiest week with this question happened just after the Boulder, Colorado shooting where up to 25 people came to him and again asked if the county will come to take away their guns. He said, “They were legitimately scared.” Kraushaar said that they are buying into the mainstream media rhetoric.

April 15, 2021

Thermopolis FFA members, from both Hot Springs County High School and Thermopolis Middle School, recently competed at their State Convention coming home ranked as a three star chapter, the highest rating available.

Morgan Slover received gold in Proficiency Awards for Animal Systems Agriscience. Her application will now move on and National FFA will compile all golds, and pick three finalists to attend the National Convention in Indianapolis in the fall. This is the same process that Jessie Pennoyer went through a few years ago. Rebekah Johnson received bronze. 

April 22, 2021

Bobcat Golf and Track competitions were canceled last week due to weather. This week, the golf team is scheduled to compete in Powell on Friday and the track team is scheduled to compete in Lovell on Saturday.

Both teams have been keeping up on their practices. Golf coach Brandon Deromedi reported some comments on the team’s opener in Worland. “I was very happy with our performances from all of our golfers at the Worland invite. Conditions were sunny but the wind made it very chilly all day. The kids fought through the chilly temperatures and showed that golfing can be just like riding a bike. Even though many had not swung a club since last fall, their scores were impressive,” said Deromedi.

He added, “In the spring, we get to offer golf to our 8th graders and so this was their first tournament ever! I thought they showed great poise and learned a lot from their first tournament.” 

April 29, 2021

At the April 20 Hot Springs County Commissioners meeting, the commissioners held a discussion with County Health Nurse Tricia McPhie to discuss rescinding the Incident Command Team they created in March 2020, which was a response to the COVID situation and other aspects to the emergency situation. McPhie said, “I think we’ve learned a lot of stuff over the last year. We are not meeting like we did before. Efforts have obviously changed, too. Testing and vaccinating with a detailed plan, more than we were last year.”

Commissioner Jack Baird made a motion to rescind and said, “Back to normal life.” The commissioners voted to rescind the Incident Command Team.

May

May 6, 2021

Main Street Thermopolis is holding its annual Brewfest event on Saturday, June 5 from 4-8 p.m. between 4th and 5th street on Broadway downtown. It is their main fundraiser where the entire community and families can participate.

Adults 21 years and older can purchase a tasting mug for $25 and try out beer from six or more craft breweries from around the state. There will be a variety of food trucks, vendors with arts and crafts and local musicians, such as Eric Kay, Keith O’Brien and Harold Hutson. The music will be headlined by a band from Billings called Arterial Drive. They previously performed in 2019’s Brewfest and have an “eclectic but popular style.”

Families with kids and adults can draw or paint on a standing mural. 

May 13, 2021

During the May 4 Hot Springs County Commissioners meeting, Chairman Tom Ryan addressed an email from the Independent Record asking for comment on a solid waste district proposal and working with the Thermopolis Town Council.

Ryan said, “They (the town) were wanting the county to create a solid waste district or the residents of the town would have to pay a lot more money, which we are very aware of. We’re not really opposed to a solid waste district and when we had discussion with the Town, they thought that we could start a solid waste district just by a vote with the commissioners which is true but you can’t have funding for that organization without a vote of the people. So you can’t go out and get mills for a solid waste district without a vote of the people.” May 20, 2021

First Lady Jennie Gordon’s Wyoming Hunger Initiative is proud to partner with University of Wyoming Extension to launch a new program under the Food from the Farm and Ranch banner called Grow a Little Extra.

University of Wyoming Extension is doing work around the state with their Master Gardener program and Cent$ible Nutrition Program,” says First Lady Jennie Gordon.

She added “This Wyoming Hunger Initiative effort will leverage the work already being done and help increase access to local produce for a wide range of people in Wyoming.”

Anyone in the state of Wyoming who enjoys gardening is encouraged to grow an extra row or two and donate the produce to their local Cent$ible Nutrition Program, where it will be weighed and distributed to local anti-hunger organizations. 

May 27, 2021

The Hot Springs County School District Board of Trustees voted May 20 to approve the proposed fiscal year 2021-22 budget for the Central Wyoming College Board of Cooperative Higher Educational Services (CWC BOCHES), that enables prepared high school students to earn college credits through dual and concurrent enrollment programs.

Mathew Johnson, the concurrent and dual enrollment program director for CWC BOCHES, sent a letter on May 10 to the school district, explaining that Hot Springs County Assessor Dan Webber had estimated a decrease in county valuation of nearly 30%, or roughly $14,000.

As a result, Johnson requested that the district increase its mil levy amount from 3/10 to 4/10, to generate a difference of approximately $11,000, in order to offset most of the decrease in valuation.

“This will allow the partnership between CWC and (the Hot Springs County School District) to continue offering dual credit opportunities for HSCSD students without any limitations on participation,” Johnson wrote in the letter, while also noting that ratification of the budget requires seven of the nine participating represented school boards to approve. 

June

June 3, 2021

The Thermopolis Cowboy Rendezvous PRCA Rodeo is set for June 25-26, 2021 - Get Ready for the Re-ride, Buck Covid.

Friday night after the rodeo in front of One Eyed Buffalo, Chancey Williams will be performing a concert. Tickets are available online at Chancey Williams Facebook page or locally at OEB. Williams will be donating part of the proceeds to area first responders. Williams reached out to the rodeo committee because his last experience performing in Thermopolis was amazing so he wanted to perform here again.

Our local rodeo was one of many around the state and country that were canceled last year due to COVID-19 regulations. The rodeo committee has worked hard to make this year’s rodeo one of the best ever.

The rodeo committee wants the community to know they don’t do this for themselves, they do this for the community and this year they are brining two bands that both have record deals and more vendors than ever before. 

June 10, 2021

A Thermopolis Middle School teacher was recently named the Hot Springs County School District’s Teacher of the Year for 2021.

Thermopolis Middle School Principal Steven Soderstrom presented sixth-grade teacher Jacob Strenger to the Hot Springs County School District Board of Trustees as the Teacher of the Year during their May 20 meeting.

Soderstrom lamented that, as recently as two years ago, he had yet to witness Strenger teaching firsthand. “In my new position, I get to see and learn from him,” said Soderstrom, who lauded Strenger for living up to the dictum that students should always learn something they didn’t know the day before.

“If you watch Mr. Strenger teach, he refuses to let kids not learn. He’ll do whatever he has to ... I’ve seen him make them stand on the tables, and hold their pencils up, just to make sure they’re all locked in. He refuses to let them not grow,” said Soderstrom. 

June 17, 2021

Jase Longwell was named year end all around boy during the Wyoming High School Rodeo Finals held in Douglas last weekend.

Jase Longwell scored 54 in the first go in saddle bronc riding and 41 in the short go for 95 in the average on two. He also scored 12.19 in steer wrestling in the first go and 7.75 in the short go for third and 119.94 in the average on three. Jase teamed up with brother McCoy in the team roping and scored a 12.16 in the second go for a 27.47 for sixth in the average on two. They then scored 7.57 during the short go for second and 35.04 in the average on three for third.

Roedy Farrell scored a 70 in the first go in bareback riding and a 74 in the second go for 144 and second in the average on 2. He then scored 71 in the short go for second and an average of 215 on three.

Garrett Titmus (with partner Donald Quick) scored a 9.84 in the first go and a 7.47 in the second go for a 17.31 and first in the average on two. They then scored a 13.35 in the short go for fifth and second in the average on three with a 30.66. 

June 24, 2021

Wyoming Discovery Days (formerly Big Horn Basin Folk Festival) will be held Saturday and Sunday, August 7 and 8, in Hot Springs State Park.

This year’s theme – Wyoming Rails, Trails & Folk Tales - will celebrate Wyoming’s unique cultural heritage through stories, music, food, art, and demonstrations.

The festival showcases the creativity and handwork of Wyoming’s own storytellers, artists, craftsmen, and musicians.

It includes a Storytelling Circle, music at the Pavilion, Fine Art and Folk Art Show, Trading Post, Folk Master Craftsmen Tent, artisan and guild demonstrations, hands-on activities for families, and a Rocky Mountain Food Court.

During Wyoming Discovery Days festival goers will learn about the perils of highway construction through the Wind River Canyon in 1921, which put an end to the treacherous Birds Eye Pass stage route; find out why Thermopolis streets are wide enough to turn a sixteen team of mules and freight wagon; and why Highway U.S. 20 is still called the Yellowstone Highway.