Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
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After writing a few weeks ago about my music interests and how diverse they were I began thinking about my interests in other mediums, such as TV and movies and, of course, books. At first, I thought, well I’m pretty much mystery books all the time but at a closer glance I realized I have quite a variety of interests in reading as well. When it comes to fiction, yes, my first love is mysteries. I grew up on the Hardy Boys mysteries (no not Nancy Drew). I could read a book in about a day. I recently completed three books in the Detective Jen Gar...
Last Tuesday I attended the Chief Washakie FFA awards banquet, and, like other times I have attended the banquet I saw seniors talk about their respect, admiration and appreciation for advisor and ag teacher Grace Godfrey. Each time I witness this I think back to my own primary and secondary schooling and while I remember many of my teachers fondly, I never felt the type of closeness and admiration that was expressed Tuesday night toward Mrs. Godfrey. I had some favorite teachers in high school but for the most part I just wanted high school to...
Nothing like a gathering of 200 people to remind one’s self of why they love living in a small town. Friday night about 200 people gathered at the Washakie Museum & Cultural Center for a dinner, auction and awards ceremony. The event tripled in attendance from its just over 60 who attended the last awards evening. That’s a testament to the board and Executive Director Ruth Dugger and her assistant Liz Bankert. After a delicious meal and entertainment the awards began. I was busy taking notes and capturing photos of the honorees but it was not...
Hi folks. It’s been a while since last I touched base. A lot has happened, especially with my relationship with Tigger. Tigger started going on walks with us and Dad would make sure I stayed right with him so as not to be tempted to chase Tigger. That was so hard. I mean I am a dog and Tigger is, well, a cat. It is instinct. Tigger would not go on walks with Mom and us until just last week. I think he was leery since Mom lets me run all over chasing birds. I love spring, birds are everywhere. I still have not been able to catch any though. I d...
There has been much written about the Daniel man Cody Roberts and his mistreatment and killing of a wolf earlier this month. Reports state he ran the wolf over with his snowmobile, taped the mouth shut (later putting a muzzle and shock collar on it) and took it home and then to a bar in Daniel. Then, finally, hours later, with the wolf slowly dying from injuries sustained from being run over, he took the wolf out and killed it. He was fined $250 for having a live wild animal. Because wolves are considered predators in much of Wyoming the killin...
A situation in which a city employee tried, in the words of City Attorney Kent Richins, “everything in their power to try to get rid of department heads and council members” has prompted some proposed changes to the city’s chain of command policy. The council has discussed chain of command briefly in other meetings and has gone over the chain of command during a work session. Last Tuesday they spent 20 minutes discussing language in the proposed changes. Two main concerns have been voiced by council members, not being allowed to talk to city...
In case you have not heard, Beyoncé has released a new album, a country album if you will, but many are calling foul on it being categorized as country. I am a huge country music fan, but I am overall a music fan and my thought when Beyoncé came out with her country album “Cowboy Carter” was if Dolly Parton can do a rock album then Beyoncé can do a country album. And, by the way, Dolly’s “Rockstar” album is a must listen for music fans. I am not a Beyoncé music fan but curiosity got the better of me so I gave it a listen. What I found is I li...
Easter is on Sunday and while I was thinking of an Easter type column there is something else I just have to say first. Kudos to the Wyoming Legislature leadership, specifically Speak of the House Albert Sommers and Senate President Ogden Driskill for saying no to a special session. Many legislators, including our local legislators, are clamoring for a special session in light of recent vetoes by Governor Mark Gordon, specifically one on property tax and vetoing the bill that would have repealed gun free zones. First, special sessions should...
Last week, in the aftermath of Governor Gordon’s veto of Senate File 54, the Department of Revenue conveyed to us that the veto would effectively halt any additional legislative efforts toward property tax relief in 2024. However, on Monday, the Department of Revenue informed us that property owners could be notified of the exemption in their September tax bills, although it may lead to some confusion for the taxpayer. This information made us take a second look at whether we would recommend a special session. In the end, we think a special s...
It was about dusk the other night. I was taking a walk around the property with the dogs, and the cats, before it got too dark to see anything. Across our lane is some private property and then BLM. We see people driving all the time over there so seeing lights at this time of night was not unusual. I figured it was someone who had been enjoying a day in the badlands. But my eyes stayed in that direction as I'm always curious which direction people turn and I like to watch the dogs' reaction to make sure they don't always run to the fence to...
A big shout out to Kendra Ware and the Mental Fitness Fair Committee who put on a event on Saturday. There were great speakers covering a lot of topics, a wealth of information. There was a great crowd on hand to listen and learn. This was not a “fun” event but one for learning to help yourself and to help others who may struggle with mental fitness. (I like the phrase that Stan Flitner, one of the organizers of the Shell community fair that spiraled into the Worland fair. Mental fitness.) So often we get caught up in phrases like mental ill...
A few months ago, Mayor Jim Gill invited stakeholders to hear from organizers of the Shell mental health fair not knowing where it might lead. What it has led to is several interested persons, organizations and businesses working together for Washakie County’s own mental wellness fair this Saturday. The Mental Fitness Fair starts at 10 a.m. at the Worland Community Center. Committee chair Kendra Ware told the council March 5, “We all are just community members that want to help make a change. We want to be able to help end the stigma of men...
Some scams you can see coming and they are easy to avoid other newer scams seem to be catching people off guard and one of those has been running rampant on some local Facebook pages. Amazon may be hiring but they are not hiring here in Worland for work-at-home jobs. According to scam-detector.com, “Watch out for a plethora of fake Amazon jobs from home that have been inundated the employment boards. There is no secret that, in general, the Amazon scams have been perpetrating the most, but this type of fraud (job scams, that is) has been m...
I knew ahead of last Tuesday’s council meeting there would be a crowd, having received a bulk email about concerns over the proposed rate increases. I am always a bit nervous when there is a crowd at government meetings because you never know the atmosphere of the meeting, but I need not have worried about the Feb. 20 meeting, as the meeting was the epitome of great civil discourse. There was nearly standing room only, but there is not a lot of seating in the council chambers. Questions, comments from the audience were courteous, well thought o...
Today, Thursday, Feb. 22, is President George Washington’s Birthday. It was observed on Monday, a federal holiday. Most people observed this as Presidents’ Day. The official holiday, however is George Washington’s Birthday and was intended to honor one of our founding fathers, a decorated general and our nation’s first president. I began this research into his birthday and the February federal holiday after a discussion in the office about what is this holiday really? Because, let’s be honest, there have been some presidents that we would rea...
Leading up to Super Bowl LVIII, I kept seeing posts and headlines on how no one was going to watch this year’s Super Bowl as no one wanted to see a rematch from four years ago. Well perhaps “no one” watched but many did, in fact, according to Poynter senior editor Tom Jones in his Tuesday newsletter, a record number watched this year’s Super Bowl. Early indication is 123.4 million viewers watched the game across all platforms, meaning CBS Television Network, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Univision, CBS Sports and NFL digital properties, includi...
It’s that time of year when the Wyoming state legislators head to Cheyenne to conduct the state’s business and it is our job, as state citizens to pay attention and to give guidance to our local legislators on issues that are important to us and that will impact us. Too often we sit back and tell ourselves they are going to do what they want and that our opinion does not matter. Your opinion does matter. Does it mean that legislators will do exactly as you wish? No, but it means that you are letting your voice be heard, that you are inv...
Parental choice in education is guaranteed in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects the fundamental right of parents to direct the care, upbringing and education of their children. While parental choice in education may be a new concept to some, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized this right since the 1920s. What is new is the growing number of states developing school choice options for parents. In Wyoming, we have always valued individualism and freedom. So, it is no surprise that many Wyoming parents desire...
We were talking in the office about the show “Worst Cooks in America” and how some of the “cooks” did not know some of the basics, which brought to mind some of my first cooking experiences when I was a novice (not that I am an expert now but I know a lot more than I did in my teens). We had a small kitchen growing up so there was not a lot of room for mom to show us how to cook and she was not someone who used recipes a lot. She was a wonderful baker and known for her sugar cookies. She would give people her recipe and I would hear comment...
Last year in March I took my health fair results to my doctor. I figured things would have to change in my life based on my numbers. I was right. Numbers for liver, heart, cholesterol and A1C were all high, not surprising to me. We discussed all but the A1C first and came to the conclusion I could address all with diet and exercise. The A1C was 6.6, diabetic range. Her tone was serious so I knew it was nothing to mess around with. She asked if I wanted to deal with it through medicine or exercis...
The Northern Wyoming News won several awards over the weekend, which is exciting to our staff but should also be exciting to you, our readers. Your Northern Wyoming News, which was originally started as the weekly Worland Grit in 1905, then the daily Northern Wyoming Daily News in 1939 and back to a weekly as the Northern Wyoming News, in 2019, is striving every week to bring you a quality product filled with strong news, features, sports stories and opinion. This past weekend our peers in the industry judged us and found that to be true based...
One piece of proposed legislation in the upcoming 2024 Wyoming Budget Session is designed to increase public accessibility and participation. House Bill 49, also known as “By The People Act” adds to the current Wyoming public meeting law the following language, “To the extent practicable, public meetings shall provide live remote audio or video access to the meeting by members of the public.” We know through the COVID pandemic that this is possible as many public meetings provided remote access. Washakie County purchased a couple of Meeting...
Wyoming is one of the last rural states to be hit with the U.S. Postal Service’s inappropriately named “Delivering for America” plan to cut costs, regardless of the cost of doing some of the hair-brained schemes included in it. The current plan is to move the Cheyenne mail processing center duties to Denver this year, then in 2025 reduce the already understaffed and overworked Casper postal workforce by shifting that mail processing to Denver. Such money-saving moves elsewhere have not proven to save any money, and in fact the postal servi...
Tuesday was National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. Each year, the organization Concerns of Police Survivors and other organizations who support law enforcement, call the nation’s citizens to action in support of law enforcement. Per the C.O.P.S. website, “Those citizens who appreciate law enforcement and are discouraged about the negative attention being given to law enforcement are encouraged to take time … to show their support. In light of recent negativity directed toward law enforcement nationally, there is a need to show law enfor...
As a new year rolls in one of the common sayings is “out with the old, in with the new” and that is exactly what 2024 will be bringing to Washakie County. Ten Sleep School is moving forward and appears to be on schedule. Not only will the new school be a great asset for the community and the students but the construction has also been a great learning experience for students as they have been able to assist on various parts of the construction. Plans are for the new school to be ready by winter break this year. Last year ground broke for the...