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I wish I could say, like one of my former coworkers, that my love for newspapers was fostered at a young age, but that simply wouldn’t be true. For me, my love of newspapers grew throughout my life and continues to grow. First, I must admit, I didn’t grow up reading the newspaper every day when I was a kid. However, I can recall looking through the newspaper around Christmas every year to see if my Christmas drawing or letter to Santa had made the paper. Each year, I was left with the same dis...
Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, England, had seven voters, none of whom lived there, and two seats in the House of Commons. No one had actually lived there for two centuries. Elections were held under a tree in the “Election Acre.” Old Sarum came to be known as a “rotten borough.” Manchester had 180,000 people, and not a single seat in parliament. It was the early 1800s, and this situation was not to be corrected till the Reform Act of 1832. So, what does this have to do with Wyoming? I’ll get to that. Complaining about Big Government has become a maj...
While city officials haven’t decided if they will privatize the solid waste department, the budget passed last month all but finalizes privatization. While city rates for solid waste management did increase, those rates were not increased to levels where the city can cover the costs associated with providing equipment needed in the transfer station. Even without those costs, the city’s solid waste rates would only allow the division to operate for roughly a year before the solid waste fund would become insolvent. The Green River City Cou...
Sweetwater County is home to over 130,000 annual airline passengers. Over 39,000 of those call Green River home. To ensure that reliable commercial air service is available to our community, the city of Green River has partnered with Sweetwater County, the city of Rock Springs, and Wyoming Department of Transportation Aeronautics as part of the State’s Air Service Enhancement Program (ASEP). Today’s increasingly global economy is placing significant demands on rural transportation systems. This requires more efficient intermodal systems, wit...
One thing I haven’t heard much in this latest healthcare debate is that the U.S. has the best health system in the world. That’s different from the last two times around. When the nation debated the Clinton health plan in 1994 and the Affordable Care Act in 2009-2010, a huge talking point for politicians and special business interests opposed to reform was, “The American system is so good, why change it?” It’s different this year. Maybe that’s because the public realizes America doesn’t have the best, and their own interactions with what Ame...
Last week, Sweetwater County Treasurer Robb Slaughter accused the Sweetwater County Commissioners of being disrespectful towards other elected officials near the end of the county’s budget process, and we’re inclined to agree with him. Specifically, Slaughter noted a June 20 meeting where Chairman Reid West prematurely closed comment during the session. Slaughter alleged commissioners did not allow elected officials to speak to them about their proposed budgets. West’s response to Slaughter was he did not indicate he had anything to say at th...
Dear Editor, While I am amused at your (Stephanie Thompson and David Martin) attempts to make a story out of a nothing event, it is misleading to some people. The public should not expect to wait 50-60 minutes in line to pay taxes at the Sweetwater County Courthouse. Unless you elect to wait until the last day of the month on a Friday, which has always been a wait beyond the normal. The staff prior and now will be able to respond well within reasonable wait times, because they know how to respond to the staff cut. So suck it up Star writers...
Dear Editor, As the Sweetwater County Fire Warden, I would first like to thank the great majority of our county residents who used caution and common sense in their use of fireworks in their celebrations of the founding of our great country on the evening of July 4. And to those who carelessly and without concern for the safety of your neighbors and community and the dozens of firefighters you put at an elevated risk due to your lighting of fireworks in and adjacent to dry grass and brush causing one of our worst wildland fire events for the ho...
Dear Editor, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and 52 Republican senators are about to kill the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) and strip 10 million people of their health insurance. Fifty two Republican senators screwing 10 million Americans out of their health care coverage. That’s either insanity or despotism as GOP politicians play to the Obamahaters in the Republican Party base. This petty move should correlate into 10 million votes against Republican politicians in the 2018 midterm elections. Ron Lowe Nevada City, Calif....
In response to mounting evidence that concussions have the potential to cause long-term damage and have a devastating effect on young brains, a major focus has been given to concussions in youth sports. Specifically, causes of concussions, how to prevent them, and what should be done when a child is suspected of suffering a concussion. A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that is caused by a blow to the head or body that jars or shakes the brain inside the skull. It is important to note that an athlete does not have to lose...
Yes, the Thompson family once again survived the long 18-hour drive to and from Minnesota. The trip itself was a blast, but the grueling hours spent in the car with a son who never stops talking is enough to try even the most patient parent. Every time you even thought of taking a nap, there was a kick on the back of the car seat or one of the boys needed something. I must admit here that I did nap more than anyone else in the car, but it was restless napping. No matter how much preparation I...
In what may seem schizophrenic from our editorial last week, we believe the city needs to be clear in how it handles fireworks-related issues. Last week, we advocated for a set area, the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport in our example, free of debris where people could light fireworks in a controlled setting with limited supervision by fire fighters and police officers. Anyone acting like a jackass with their fireworks would get a citation from the officer and the firefighters would be on hand to put out any fires that do start. We...
The Green River URA/Main Street Agency is excited about this summer. We kicked it off with a Movie in the Park. This event was hosted by the Parks and Recreation Department in the past and had to be cut due to budget restrictions, but we are thankful that we were able to bring it back as a free event for the public. Movies in the Park will be at Centennial Park on the second Friday of every month, through September. Be watching our Facebook page for the movie titles. We also hosted our first summer-time Downtown Rhythms and Rhymes. Many local...
This month’s artifact of the month is the first of a four-month series revolving around World War I and patriotic artifacts. The Sweetwater County Museum will host a traveling exhibit on World War I from mid-July to early October, to celebrate the war’s 100-year anniversary. We decided to design an accompanying exhibit as well as feature World War I artifacts for Artifact of the Month in conjunction of the traveling exhibit. For July, we are featuring a 48-star American flag from 1905. The flag has “GAR 1905” written on it. GAR stands for the...
The governing body passed the recent fiscal year 2017-2018 budget this last week as part of the June 20 council meeting. This year’s internal budget process was again focused on maintaining service levels with less funding. To get to this approval we as the city, the council, the finance committee, the department heads, and staff had to focus on the budget with a view of being able to reset, rethink, and refocus all areas of the city. While we are always looking at the budget throughout the year, and managing all of its elements, we zeroed in o...
Green River is sitting on a fantastic business opportunity. With Rock Springs canceling their July 4 fireworks show, Green River can capitalize and draw Rock Springs residents to the city for its own fireworks display. We’re not criticizing the Rock Springs municipal government for its decision to save money by cutting the yearly display. In fact, it’s a move which proves both how dire funding to Sweetwater County’s municipalities is, as well as the city’s commitment to not laying off its employees. However, there are more than a few Rock Sp...
Having attended legislative committee meetings, educator trainings, and community events these past several weeks, I felt it was time to update you on school funding and another topic I have been working on since being elected: School funding: Pick up a Wyoming newspaper these days and chances are good that you will read about the dire education funding crisis. We face a cumulative shortfall of over $1.5 billion in our school operations account and roughly $500 million in our school construction account through the year 2022. The legislature is...
We’ve heard a lot of talk in Green River about how Flaming Gorge Days will be different this year, with a few pessimistic voices claiming it won’t be good because the events have been relocated to Expedition Island. We think they’re dead wrong. Yes, Flaming Gorge Days will be different this year than those hosted previously, but that doesn’t mean the event isn’t worth attending. The schedule of events is, as always, jam packed with excitement. There is something for almost anyone to enjoy. The annual competitions, the three-on-three basketbal...
It seems like whenever you least expect it, life decides to hand you a bunch of lemons. For me, my turn to receive a handful of lemons was on Friday. The day started out with me waking up with a terrible sinus headache. I just took some Tylenol because I don’t like how regular allergy-sinus medications make me feel. Despite my smart thinking, I felt as though I had just taken a Benadryl. I made it to the office and there was a message about the band surprising Green River High School Band D...
Recently I heard from a woman in rural Nebraska who told me about her 76-year old father, who in late April had a lemon-size cancerous mass removed from his brain. The man chose to have his chemotherapy and radiation treatments at a hospital close to his home instead of at one of the larger hospitals farther away. Not surprisingly he wanted family nearby. Nearly two months later, in mid-June, his treatments finally began. Why the delay? His daughter told me the nearby hospital “had no record of two appointments they had made with my dad and r...
Last week, when the Green River City Council was supposed to discuss and deliberate on an increase to residents’ solid waste rates, anyone interested in listening to what individual Council representatives thought about the proposed increase was met with only one response. Total silence. According to Robert’s Rules of Order, when a piece of business to be introduced to a governing body fails to receive a motion to do so, it dies for a lack of motion and the governing body moves on to its next piece of business. However, allowing this to hap...
Run for your life. This phrase can have many meanings, but in the Green River Parks and Recreation Department, we are talking about health. More specifically we are talking about the benefits of running. Everyone knows that running is good for your health, but not everyone knows in what ways. Running is known to be one of the best aerobic exercises for your heart and lungs. It is a great way to get started if you are trying to lose weight as well. Running can also strengthen your immune system making you less likely to become sick. It is a...
Last month, Project for Public Spaces and the National Main Street Center, Inc., conducted training for communities statewide, “Cultivating Place in Main Street Communities” in Douglas. “Cultivating Place” is a series of intensive trainings designed to strengthen and expand Main Street’s capacity for implementing placemaking strategies and public space improvements. Wyoming was selected for this specialized placemaking training because of our unique challenges and innovative ways Main Street’s are beginning to create spaces where people want...
Driving along throughout Sweetwater County, it’s easy to become annoyed with one’s fellow motorist. I’m not annoyed too much with people who make a turn without using their signal or someone passing by me at 95 mph on Interstate 80. Those sorts of situations are understandable, even if the other driver is singing along to Taylor Swift’s latest breakup song on their way to karaoke. What I fail to grasp, and what never fails to annoy me, are the decorations and pieces of flair people sometim...
Green River’s residents stand to benefit from a potential affiliate agreement between Castle Rock Hospital District and Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County and we’re happy to see the two healthcare organizations taking the first steps in drafting a new agreement. The two had a previous agreement in place, but one of the last moves MHSC made under former CEO Jerry Klein was to pull out of the agreement, which blindsided Castle Rock. A new affiliate agreement between the two would mean an improved working relationship. In the past, MHSC had...
