Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
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WORLAND — Eleven students from Worland schools are out on quarantine this week, according to Business Manager Jack Stott. Stott emphasized that none of those quarantines were a result of school attendance. He noted that last week the district also had one staff member test positive for COVID-19. “They had been on site for 1-plus days when they might have been infectious. Contact tracing did not indicate that anyone needed to be quarantined, primarily because of proper social distancing and wearing masks where social distancing was not pos...
WORLAND - A break in a line to a fire hydrant resulted in a Worland couple's home being flooded and the home having to be demolished last weekend. Joe and Kristy Vigil have owned their home at 1215 South Lane for the past 10 years with no flooding issues until Aug. 11 of this year. Kristy Vigil said about 6 p.m., her husband Joe Vigil heard "the walls crack" with water coming into the basement. She said he shut off the water to the house but the water was still coming in so they called 911. A ci...
WORLAND —The City of Worland and University of Wyoming Extension have set up three Saturdays for residents to bring green waste for the city compost pile. Public Works Director Brian Burky said this year there will not be volunteers picking up green waste – leaves, branches and limbs up to three inches and grass clippings. People will be asked to bring their waste to the compost yard adjacent to Riverside Rotary Park between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, Saturday, Nov. 7 and Saturday, Nov. 21. They can be loose or bagged. If bagged, r...
It is Monday morning and I’m waiting for U.S. Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett to give her opening remarks, but first you have to get through the opening remarks from every Senator on the Judiciary Committee. OK, to be truthful I just watched I did not actually listen to them. According to the Supreme Court website, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes described the role of the court “As the final arbiter of the law, the Court is charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law and, thereby, als...
WORLAND — With this year’s Washakie County Fair fading into a memory, the Washakie County Fair Board turned its attention to the 2021 fair. The 2021 fair will be July 24-July 31. The board has already asked Daniel Kosel to handle the musical lineup for the fair. During Monday’s meeting, board member Tamara Drake noted that some people have complained about the music being the same time as the grandstand events. Beth Shaffer added that the music was hard to hear during the Monster Truck event. They discussed possibly having music on Wedne...
WORLAND - Last year's sugar beet harvest was hindered by three hard freezes that amounted to about 40% loss of sugar for Wyoming Sugar, according to Wyoming Sugar CEO Mike Greear. This year, they have to concern themselves about above average temperatures. In the 2019 harvest, Greear said they were able to process all but about 1,000 acres of beets. He added, however, that many of the beets harvested after the freezes lost a lot of sugar content. The freezes impacted about 70% of the beets in...
WORLAND - What began as a family outing to watch the giant pumpkin drop has turned into one teen's passion for plants, giant, carnivorous and everything in between. Dawson Utterback, a freshman at Worland High School this fall watched the giant pumpkin weigh-in and pumpkin drop and decided to try his hand at growing giant pumpkins. He attended a Washakie County Extension class on growing giant pumpkins taught by Jay Richard. "I watched the pumpkin drop and got hooked. I got my first seeds from...
WORLAND — In March the Wyoming State Legislature approved a bill, and Governor Mark Gordon signed it, that would keep Wyoming in Mountain Daylight Time year round if certain conditions are met. Those conditions have not been met and the bill’s sponsor said it could take years before they are met. Rep. Dan Laursen (R-Powell) brought the daylight saving time bill before the legislature for several years before finally getting it passed both Houses earlier this year. This year, he said, he thinks the difference was requiring at least four of sev...
WORLAND — The Worland City Council on an 8-1 vote approved a new four-year contract with Sagebrush Sports to manage the Green Hills Golf Course. Sagebrush Sports is completing its first year as the course management firm. Public Works Superintendent Brian Burky said the contract is for four years which will help reduce cost to the city over the period of the contract, while providing consistency in management at the golf course. Council member Mike Neufer said he had spoken to several golfers and all were in favor of a four-year contract and s...
WORLAND - Eastern Shoshone Indian Willie LeClair provided the keynote address and opened the annual Indigenous People's Day at Washakie Museum & Cultural Center Saturday in Worland. LeClair discussed the history of the tribe and the Indian culture. When asked toward the end of his presentation if he preferred Indian or Native American or another word to describe his ethnicity, he replied, "I was born an Indian and I will die an Indian," all the others, he said is political correctness for the...
WORLAND - Washakie County employee Fran Scranton thought maybe he had a head cold, not COVID-19, that is until a co-worker tested positive. Scranton, who is one of Washakie County's 107 lab-confirmed cases, was confirmed last month and spent the allocated 14 days under quarantine order. He spoke on his experience to the Northern Wyoming News and on why he feels it is important for everyone to be wearing a mask during this pandemic. On Aug. 10, Scranton went to work at the Washakie County...
WORLAND - When Lory August was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 doctors told her that with her comorbidities (cancer and diabetes) she likely would not survive. Her answer to them "Not today." She entered into her battle with COVID with a healthy mind and a definite healthy spirit with her faith in God and faith in and support of her family. After 16 days of being isolated at Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital, August was released on April 9 and allowed to come home. She was told to...
We need leadership in Washington, D.C. now more than ever but leadership is lacking from both of the country’s major political parties. While we can point to many examples, the most recent came after the sudden death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Sen. Charles Schumer’s first tweet upon learning of her death was not about Ginsburg or her legacy it was about politics. “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new p...
WORLAND - The 2020 Wyoming State Champion Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off and Pumpkin Drop will be this Saturday at DPS, 1082 North 10th Street in Worland. The change in venue from Big Horn Cooperative came about for a few reasons, the main reason was having a lot more room to spread out for the weigh-in and the drop, co-organizer Jay Richard said. Last year they weighed 17 giant pumpkins. This year's event begins at 9 a.m. with registration. There will also be a guess the weight contest and prettiest...
WORLAND — Washakie County 4-H Week begins Saturday with a breakfast of donuts and coffee from 9 to 11 a.m. in conjunction with the 2020 Wyoming State Champion Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off and Pumpkin Drop. Washakie County 4-H Educator Amber Armajo said they canceled the pancake breakfast due to COVID-19, looking for a less “hands-on” breakfast to provide the community. The past two years Washakie County 4-H moved their celebration of National 4-H Week to align with the giant pumpkin event. Youth in Washakie County are encouraged to parti...
In an effort to let all general election voters have a chance to be informed voters, the Northern Wyoming News will start a six-week series on candidate profiles starting with the Worland mayor’s race with this issue. We have on occasion printed a special section with all the profiles together. This year we opted to profile candidates on a weekly basis. There are two main reasons for this — economics and voter convenience. For years I have worked for weeklies who published special sections and they often do not pay for themselves with can...
After having to postpone last month’s Washakie County Fair Board meeting, the board met Monday to review the 2020 county fair and begin planning the 2021 fair by discussing changes that are needed. Board member Marty Cross began the discussion stating “in general I think everything went pretty good. I got very positive feedback. Everyone was glad to be out and about.” Beth Shaffer said the feedback she received was also positive. Regarding COVID protocols, Shaffer said she did have a complaint that the board was not forcing those in attendance...
WORLAND — The City of Worland is one of the only incorporated municipalities without indebtedness in the Big Horn Basin, according to certified public accountant James Seckman who submitted the city’s annual audit report to the city council Tuesday night. Seckman said the city received a clean or unqualified opinion for the 2019-20 fiscal year audit. He also reported that the city’s enterprise funds – water, wastewater and sanitation, all had healthy reserves. According to the audit report as presented by Seckman, the city had revenues of $8.8...
WORLAND - U.S. House of Representative Constitution Party candidate Jeff Haggit spent some time in Worland visiting with media and contacting party members in the community before eventually heading to Lander for the quarterly executive committee meeting. Haggit is the Wyoming Constitution Party chairman as well as serving as the chairman for the Uinta County Constitution Party. The Mountain View resident has lived in Wyoming since 1976, coming from Michigan. He said he fell in love with the...
Several months ago I explained how a woman's mind works and how we have many thoughts going through our minds at any one time. The Facebook meme says it best "My mind is like my internet browser, 19 tabs open (co-workers repeatedly tell me I have too many open), 3 of them are frozen and I have no idea where the music is coming from." Well the past few weeks that has been me more than ever. This is why I let our sports editor Alex Kuhn share his thoughts in this space last week, hoping that this week, one of the many random thoughts would catch...
WORLAND - Eastern Shoshone tribal member Scott Ratliff spoke to Worland seventh graders last Friday as part of the studies on indigenous peoples of Wyoming discussing misconceptions about Native Americans and differences between the tribes on the Wind River Reservation. In addressing the misconceptions the public may have regarding Native Americans or American Indians, Ratliff said, "First of all, that we are uniquely different. Some of you are Catholic, some are Episcopal, some may be Mormon,...
WORLAND — An inside mini storage unit will be coming to Worland soon, as soon as approval is granted from the Board of Adjustment and Planning Commission and Worland City Council. BAPC Board Member Dan Frederick approached the board at its regular meeting as a business owner seeking approval for an secure, inside storage unit facility. The facility would be located at 834 Big Horn across from city hall. Fredericks said the building he owns is now vacant after Wyoming Weatherization moved out of the facility. The need for approval is that s...
WORLAND - Record cold temperatures and record precipitation hit the Worland area Monday. According to the National Weather Service climate data from the station at the Worland Municipal Airport, Worland hit a record low temperature on Monday, Sept. 7 at 33 degrees, beating the old record of 34 degrees set in 2010. The average low temperature is 46 degrees. Last year the low temperature on Sept. 7 was 50 degrees. The high temperature was 63 degrees, a departure from the normal temp of 16 degrees....
WORLAND — City of Worland engineering representative Mike Donnell reported to the council that the Culbertson Street project is moving along well. He and Public Works Director Brian Burky said they are working with Wyoming Sugar to coordinate a schedule to use the street with early harvest scheduled to begin around Sept. 16. Donnell said the deadline for completion of Phase 1 from the old highway bridge west to the railroad tracks was to be completed by the end of the month, but all phases of the project should be completed by that date. D...
WORLAND – The Washakie County Republican Party is hosting the Wyoming Republican Party State Central Committee Meeting this Friday and Saturday at the Worland Community Center Complex. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. at the WCCC. This is the quarterly meeting for the State GOP. State Republican Party Chairman Frank Eathorne said there are 75 voting members elected from all 23 counties and all members are expected to be in attendance in person or by proxy. There will also be guests and e...