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More than a month after starting near the Savage Run Wilderness, the Mullen Fire is over 50 percent contained and has burned over 170,000 acres. As fall brings cooler weather and more precipitation, that containment is expected to grow as the number of personnel on the fire is reduced. Having started east of Encampment, near the A-Bar-A Ranch, on September 17, the Mullen Fire grew rapidly as it consumed windblown and beetle-killed timber in the Savage Run Wilderness. Within a matter of days,...
The vacant mayor position, a divisive council and the need for a planning and zoning director were the major points of discussion for the four Saratoga Town Council candidates during a forum held on October 12 at the Platte Valley Community Center (PVCC). The forum, held in the Great Hall of the PVCC, was hosted by the Valley Service Organization (VSO) and livestreamed on Facebook by the Saratoga Sun. Tasha Worthington, Ben Spaulding, Danny Burau and Creed James spent approximately an hour...
The Hanna Agricultural Resource Team (HART) met at 5:30 p.m. on October 15 at the Hanna Market. This will be last meeting for the group until spring. Chairman Perry Goodrich wanted to make sure budget and purchases needed for the winter were in sync. “We have to leave money in for the 2020-2021 scholarship,” Goodrich said. “I hope we can get the kids involved the way we did when we first founded it. Last year was a little disappointing.” There were few applications for the 2020-2021 scholarship....
While the Town of Saratoga has been moving forward without a planning and zoning director, members of the Saratoga Town Council have been reviewing and approving building permits. Another aspect of that position, however, is performing building inspections and pressure checks. At the October 13 meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission, Councilmember D’Ron Campbell introduced Andrew Meyers, who has been contracted by the Town of Saratoga to perform building inspections. Following his i...
The Saratoga Planning Commission conducted business with three of their four members in attendance on October 13. While member Tom Westring was unable to attend, Mike Lamprecht joined the meeting via phone as the commission discussed a zoning amendment for Copperline Lodge. Since opening four years ago on Rochester Street, the Copperline Lodge has operated in RD 6000. As owner Dan Point prepares to undergo expansion of his property, he is going through the rezoning process to bring his business...
Wyoming legislators, under the guise of “cost saving measures” for local governments, are again attempting to remove vital legal notices from the pages of your local newspaper. Though the Wyoming Legislature is not in session and many legislators will not return to the capitol in January following primary defeats, they are still working on interim topics. One of those topics, approved on a 10-3 vote by the Joint Corporations Committee on September 11, would remove the requirement for municipal and county governments to publish meeting min... Full story
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Editor, The ongoing restrictions regarding indoor attendance numbers mandated by Governor Gordon, on the advice of Dr. Alexia Harrist-WY State Health Officer, obviously affects state-wide public school sporting events. These mandates are adopted by the Wyoming High School Activities Association which, in turn, local school districts are required to abide by if they want to participate in sports. The correlation between unlawful mandates–meaning they were never legislated by a governing body elected by the people–and using our youth to make us...
Republican Jerry Paxton and Libertarian Lela Konecny, the two general election candidates for House District 47, met at the Platte Valley Community Center (PVCC) on October 12 to participate in a forum hosted by the Valley Service Organization (VSO). The current budget shortfall was the biggest subject of the night, but the candidates also answered questions about Governor Mark Gordon’s response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and their thoughts on past bills. Budget Revenues While the S...
The Wyoming Department of Transportation is working to bring additional winter semitruck parking and other safety improvements to Interstate 80, with a major project scheduled to begin this week. WYDOT’s I-80 Winter Freight project will bring nearly 100 new semitruck parking spaces to both the Fort Steele Rest Area about 7 miles east of Sinclair (mile marker 228) and at the Quealy Dome truck parking area 20 miles west of Laramie (mm 290) for a total of almost 200 new spaces. “If weather conditions are poor or I-80 is closed, the new truck par...
The Hanna Town Council met at 6:30 p.m. on October 13 at the Hanna Town Hall. The agenda was amended to have two new signatures for bank accounts and take off two people retiring. The agenda was approved as were the minutes from the town council meeting held on September 8. The next order of business was the board and department reports. Mayor Lois Buchanan said that the High Country Joint Powers Board (HCJPB) was reducing the acres allowed for the landfill. She said the town was having a...
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The Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Lady Miners played two games this week and came out victors in both encounters. The two wins have the Lady Miners 16-2 overall and 8-0 in conference play. Rock River On October 15. HEM hosted Rock River Lady Longhorns. In the 1st set, the Lady Miners came out and took control very quickly against Rock River. They won it handily, 25-10, but their coach felt there was room for improvement. "I feel the girls come out and do their job," Jackie Jones, head...
The Saratoga Panthers gave their homecoming audience something to cheer about as they walloped the Wright Panther football team on Friday evening. There was some disappointment however that the game ball couldn't be delivered by Flight for Life due to the winds that were gusting to over 50 mph. Saratoga started out by taking control of the game in the 1st quarter and never relinquished their hold against the Wright Panthers. The Saratoga Panthers scored with just a few minutes off the clock....
The score was not what the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners would like to have ended up with but there were still some bright spots in the loss to Hulett. The Miners traveled to Hulett on Saturday to face the Red Devils. The score end with the Miners losing 13-54, but the Red Devils are No. 2 in the conference and had a strong game. Miner Devon Grosstick completed 15 out of 22 attempts for 267 yards. He connected twice to Taylor Kennedy for two touchdowns. Kennedy caught six...
As the regular volleyball season begins to come to a close, the Saratoga Lady Panthers hosted two conference rivals as part of their homecoming week and went 1-1. On Thursday, the Lady Panthers hosted the Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Lady Rattlers (7-7, 2-4) for a win across five sets. Saratoga then hosted the Cokeville Lady Panthers (11-7-1, 7-0) on Saturday for a homecoming heartbreaker as they went 0-3. Lady Panthers vs. Lady Rattlers The Lady Panthers hosted the No. 4 ranked LSRV on...
As the Encampment Tigers approach the end of their regular season, they added yet another conference win to their record while on the road. Following the cancellation of an away game against the Ten Sleep Pioneers on October 10, the Tigers were eager to hit the gridiron as they were hosted by the Dubois Rams on October 17. In their first varsity season, the Tigers have only had two losses with the most recent being against the Meeteetse Longhorns on October 3. While in Dubois, Encampment dealt...
This weekend, Saratoga Cross Country brings their season to an end as they run-off to the 2A State Championship. Last year, Saratoga returned home as back-to-back 2A Boys State Champions with Saratoga’s Grant and Grady Bartlett as State Champion and State Runner-up. This year, the Bartlett twins have seen some competition as they have run against higher conference schools. Head Coach Rex Hohnholt, however, has high hopes for his teams. “You don’t want them to think of anything less than winni...
With the regional tournament little more than a week away, the Encampment Lady Tiger are still on the search for another conference win. Their placing in the 1A Southwest Conference has become even more important following this weekend's game as they hosted the Farson-Eden Lady Pronghorns (7-7, 3-3) on Friday and the Cokeville Lady Panthers (11-7-1, 7-0) on Saturday. Lady Tigers vs. Lady Pronghorns When Farson-Eden hosted the Lady Tigers earlier in the season, the Lady Pronghorns evaded Encampme...
Long-term care facilities — especially those in rural areas — have struggled for some time because they often have trouble attracting workers. Although vital to many rural communities, stand-alone long-term care facilities are rarely profitable, and a global pandemic has only made things worse. In a recent letter to the Platte Valley Healthcare Project (PVHP), John and Phyllis Smith of Encampment included a donation to the hospital noting they felt that future promotion should focus on the “benefits that will come to the residents of the Valle...
Governor Mark Gordon clarified that the role of the Wyoming National Guard in assisting with contact tracing is very limited. Due to the record number of new positive cases of COVID-19 the Department of Health and counties needed urgent assistance, but the Guard members’ role is limited to contacting individuals who may have been exposed to COVID-19 based on their contact with someone who has tested positive (contact tracing). The Governor emphasized that the agreement between the Wyoming National Guard and the Wyoming Department of Health (...
A young Bill Cody (Buffalo Bill) could be seen walking around the grounds of the Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) on October 9. In actuality, it was not Wild Bill, but actor Thad Turner. He is working in a movie that the Western Writers of America (WWA) are producing for educational purposes. Candy Moulton, Executive Director for WWA, explained what was being filmed at GEM. "We are working on a program called 'Packing the West', Moulton said. "It has been four years in development and now we are...
Yvonne Johnson, the new director for the Carbon County Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC), was born in Carbon County and grew up in Rawlins. When she left Rawlins, she worked in Saratoga. She worked in hospitality for some years but the job many in the Valley may remember her for was as the Saratoga Museum director. Johnson left the museum to move to Florida, but got side tracked when she was asked to be a short term director for the Chamber of Commerce in Rawlins. Johnson said when her...
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