Sorted by date Results 1 - 22 of 22
By DAVID MARTIN Publisher The final chapter in the court case against former Green River Fire Department Chief Mike Nomis concluded Thursday after an argued sentencing hearing. Nomis plead guilty to felony theft and misdemeanor wrongful appropriation of public property during a change of plea hearing Sept. 8. He was sentenced to between three and seven years in the Wyoming Penitentiary for the felony charge, one year in jail to be served concurrently with the felony change for the misdemeanor...
CASPER – Leaders of Wyoming’s largest trona mines have banded together to launch a public health campaign for Sweetwater County to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and keep businesses open. Wyoming’s trona patch in the southwest part of the state employs upward of 2,300 workers across four mines. But the rapid spread of the virus throughout the county has complicated some operations. Back in early April, several mineral operators took steps to prevent the virus from entering the plants and mines. They required strict social dista...
Don’t let the white tents fool you. It’s still the place to get swabbed for COVID-19 in front of Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County. “The swabbing tents offer protection from the harsh weather, while still providing easy access to patients for testing,” said MHSC Lab Director Mary Fischer. The tents were recently purchased with the help of Cares Act money. MHSC purchased the tents knowing they would have to be built to withstand the wind, to some degree, said David Beltran, MHSC Emergency Manager. With the help of the Wyoming Nationa...
A week before Christmas, Mission at Castle Rock in Green River was burglarized, with gifts directed to the residents either damaged or stolen from the facility’s Angel Tree. “It was really disheartening ... I don’t know who would have done that,” Kari Facinelli, Mission at Castle Rock’s marketing specialist said. According to Det. Cpl. Karl Bode of the Green River Police Department, the theft occurred between the afternoon of Dec. 16 and the morning of Dec. 17. As of press time Bode said he wasn’t sure of how much was stolen and damaged in...
Samuel Blackie, 67, passed away on Friday, December 11, 2020 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a resident of Rock Springs, Wyoming for the past thirty years and former resident of Bryan, Wyoming and Granger, Wyoming. He was born in San Juan County, New Mexico on July 19, 1953; the son of Joe Blackie and Betty Lopez. Mr. Blackie attended schools in Tremonton, Utah and was a 1971 graduate of Bear River High School. He was involved in Cross Country and Basketball in High...
James "Jim" Allen Jones, 61 passed away on Friday, December 18, 2020 at his home in Rock Springs, Wyoming. He was a long-time resident of Rock Springs and former resident of Oceanside, California. Jim died surrounded by his loving family. He was born December 30, 1958 in Oceanside, California; the son of Brad Jones and Donna Jean Moore. Jim attended schools in California and Rock Springs, Wyoming. He was a a 1976 graduate of Rock Springs High School. He earned his mechanics degree in the...
James Perry Nelson Jr., 71, passed away Monday, December 14, 2020 at his home in Green River, Wyoming. He was a former resident of Keene, Texas. He was born on January 13, 1949 in Cleburne, Texas, the son of James Perry Nelson Sr. and Helen Arlene Henderson. James attended Keene Elementary school, and Cleburne Academy before graduating from Grand Prairie High School with the class of 1967. He served in the Army from 1967 to 1969. James was self employed doing paint and body work for 38 years...
We’re thankful to see the Green River Fire Department healing from the trial disgraced former fire chief Mike Nomis put it through. Part of that healing process involved firefighters, some of whom had known Nomis for decades, talking about how his actions impacted them on a professional and personal level. Each victim impact statement, either read to the court by Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe or given by firefighters themselves, told a larger story of how Nomis’ actions publicly alienated a group of men and women committed to ser...
(Editor’s note: Since Friday is Christmas Day, we thought we’d share what has become the most republished newspaper editorial in history which proves Santa Claus is real. The unsigned editorial, published Sept. 21, 1897 in New York’s Sun newspaper, was the work of Francis Pharcellus Church. According to the Newseum, the editorial has been republished countless times over the years in multiple languages and excerpts have appeared in books, plays, stamps, posters and other editorials.) Dear Editor, I am 8 years old. Some of my little frien...
The legislature’s budget and fiscal staff recently prepared a very novel one-page document that merits the attention of every Wyoming lawmaker and citizen. “Wyoming Estimated Tax Capacity” asks and answers a seemingly simple question: How much additional revenue could Wyoming raise if its tax rates equalled, on average, those of adjoining states? The question may be straightforward enough, but calculating an answer required an extensive review of tax policies in neighboring states and an equally rigorous comparison with Wyoming’s. Sales a...
Depending on where you live, it looks like we may not have a “picture perfect” white Christmas this year. It seems fitting given the many things about 2020 which were not what we imagined, let alone “perfect.” While the holidays can be a season of happiness and joy, for many they are accompanied by anger and sorrow. Missing loved ones from the past, remembering relationships that soured, thinking of hopes and dreams that never materialized can make customarily joyous Christmas carols sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. It can be hard to...
The Lady Wolves are riding high after a winning weekend at the Flaming Gorge Classic. The Lady Wolves beat back a late-game rally from Gillette High School Friday, earning a 44-42 win. Saturday afternoon, The Lady Wolves came away with a decisive victory over Kelly Walsh 57-37. Head girls basketball coach Rick Carroll said he was pleased with how the Lady Wolves played throughout the weekend. He was especially happy with how well the girls rebounded while taking on Gillette Friday night. "They...
The Wolves faced strong teams from Gillette and Kelly Walsh during the Flaming Gorge Classic tournament they hosted in Green River, with the boys coming up short against the team from Campbell County, but rebounding in their second game. Head coach Laurie Ivie said the Wolves dug themselves into a big deficit during the first half, with the Wolves trailing 29-42. The Wolves spent much of the third quarter closing on Gillette. “We brought it to within four, but ran out of steam,” Ivie said. The...
A long weekend of competition may have exhausted the Wolves swimming and diving team, but they continued to impress, qualifying four additional swimmers for the State meet. The qualifiers are Cole Gilmore, Levi Westburg, Braden Fry and Kayson Snow. In total, 17 of the team’s 20 members have qualified for events at State, which include the full roster of divers. Head coach Colleen Seiloff said the State competition rules allow for the five divers to compete, but only the top four will score p...
The last week may not have gone the way the Wolves wrestling team wanted, but they continue to make gains early in the season. The boys took on Mountain View Wednesday, winning the dual at the end the night. Members of the team then traveled to Gillette for a series of duals. The boys ended the weekend 2-4, though head coach Josh Wisniewski believes they were capable of finishing 4-2. “We could have wrestled better,” he said. He doesn’t think the boys overlooked their competition, saying the coaches continually remind wrestlers not to overl...
By DICK BLUST Sweetwater County Historical Museum While searching through its photo archives recently, the staff at the Sweetwater County Historical Museum in Green River came across a unique holiday image from over a century ago - Christmas Eve at the Rock Springs home of one of the most important, yet largely unrecognized, figures in Wyoming history. Ezra Lowman Emery - known as "Good Roads" Emery - was a groundbreaking civil engineer who mapped out an automobile roadway across southern Wyomin...
Western Wyoming Community College art student, Mae Sota, had her artwork was chosen to be wrapped on an electrical box in Bunning Park, in Downtown Rock Springs. Western is proud of students who are able to give back to their community. The Rock Springs Box Art committee and the Rock Springs International Day committee selected Sota’s “Japanese Culture” piece of art to be wrapped on a Rocky Mountain Power box in Bunning Park. Due to weather conditions, the box will not be wrapped until Spring of 2021. Mae Sota is the second Western art stude...
EVANSTON — Uinta County School District No. 1’s Rule CKA, which allows for approved staff to carry concealed firearms on district property, has again been ruled invalid, this time by the Wyoming Supreme Court. The history of the district’s rule is lengthy, contentious and complicated. Almost immediately after the Wyoming Legislature’s passage of W.S. 21-3-132 (the enabling statute) in 2017, UCSD No. 1 trustees expressed interest in adopting a policy to allow for concealed carry of firearms by authorized personnel as part of the distric...
CHEYENNE – State lawmakers, during a meeting Friday, narrowly advanced a measure to increase excise taxes on cigarettes and moist tobacco snuff, marking one of the only revenue-raising measures to be advanced by a legislative committee during interim meetings this year. The bill, if approved by the Legislature during its regular session next year, would raise the tax on cigarette packs from 60 cents to 84 cents, keeping with inflation since the last time a cigarette tax increase was passed in the state in 2003. It would also increase the tax o...
CHEYENNE — With Wyoming facing a structural revenue deficit worth hundreds of millions of dollars in its K-12 education fund, state lawmakers narrowly rejected a proposal to raise mill levies on properties to supplement education funding during a committee meeting last week. The proposal, which the Joint Revenue Committee turned down by a tied 7-7 vote Thursday, would have gradually added nine mill levies, meaning the amount that can be taxed based on a property’s assessed value, for real, personal and industrial properties. During the com...
