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The Sweetwater County Clerk seeks his third term in office. Dale Davis, a Democrat, announced his intent to run for re-election Monday. "It has been an honor to serve Sweetwater County," Davis said. Davis said experience is essential to the office and has prided himself on bringing new technology to the office, as well as looking for way to improve services offered through the clerk's office. A new computer system installed in the clerks office has increased efficiency for the employees in the o...
Sweetwater County Treasurer Robb Slaughter will seek another term in office and plans to campaign for Sweetwater County Treasurer. Slaughter, a Democrat, issued a campaign announcement Wednesday morning. "The next few years will be a period of growth and change here in Sweetwater County, and I would like to continue as an integral part of it," Slaughter said in his announcement. "I am running based on the belief that I can continue to manage the office of treasurer in a professional manner and...
Like J.C. Penney, Hastings, K-Mart and Sports Authority before it, Herberger’s in Rock Springs will close its doors. Bon-Ton Stores Inc., which owns Herberger’s, announced on its website Tuesday that the company will wind down operations after a winning bid for the company’s assets was accepted. The company filed for a court supervised corporate restructuring Feb. 4. The Rock Springs store was not listed in a previously announced group of store closures issued by Bon-Ton Jan. 31. According to a press release on Bon-Ton’s investor relatio...
It’s up to Sweetwater County Sheriff Mike Lowell to balance his budget and determine if he needs to ask for a budget amendment. During the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning, the Commissioners discussed what happened at a meeting April 10 between members of the sheriff’s office, attorney’s office, human resources and county clerk’s office. The meeting was set to go over the projected shortfall in the sheriff office’s budget. “It does not appear that there’s anything we n...
What artwork placed on the walls at the new Sweetwater County Justice Center will be left up to the departments moving into it. During the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Wally Johnson started a discussion in regards to what type of artwork should be placed on the walls in the new justice center. Johnson said he knows some of the artwork from the 333 Broadway location will be moved into the new facility and placed on the walls in common areas of the center, but the artwork...
The Sweetwater Combined Communications Center lost its director Thursday. Robin Etienne resigned from his position at 8 a.m. Thursday. No reason was given for the resignation. The joint powers board overseeing the center, comprised of representatives of law enforcement and firefighters from Rock Springs, Green River and Sweetwater County, met in a special meeting Thursday morning at 9 a.m., prior to unanimously accepting Etienne’s resignation. The board convened the meeting then immediately vote...
Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Gary Trauner visited Sweetwater County earlier this week, his visit culminating in what he dubbed a "listening session" with residents to talk about their concerns. This isn't Trauner's first attempt at becoming a member of Wyoming's delegation. He initially ran for U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 against Republican Barbara Cubin, which he narrowly lost. A second try in 2008 against Republican Cynthia Lummis was a more decisive defeat, with Trauner...
During the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting, Sheriff Mike Lowell’s budget came under some scrutiny. The Commissioners are requesting a meeting with Sheriff Lowell to discuss the projected budget overage of $291,000. Chairman Reid West started the conversation by saying Sheriff Lowell is running out of time to get his budget back on track. He and the other county commissioners received a letter from Lowell informing the board that he is projecting a $291,000 shortfall. West said the b...
A media release sent from the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday evening disagrees with claims made by the Sweetwater County Commissioners. During their meeting Tuesday, the commissioners claimed the sheriff’s office was over budget by approximately $291,000 this year. However, Sheriff Mike Lowell disagrees with the commissioners’ assessment, saying the amount the office will be over budget is much less than what the commissioners claim. “There are many factors that come into play in a budget assessment such as this,” Lowell said, “an...
The future of the chief deputy positions at the county level is still up for discussion. The issue came up when the Sweetwater County Commissioners were discussing whether or not to approve a request to replace the chief deputy position in the County Assessor’s Office. After the Commissioner brought up several issues, a motion was made to table a request to replace the assessor’s office chief deputy position. Garry McLean, human resources director, said the position was left vacant after Dave Di...
Since October, the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office has accumulated a stockpile of drugs from 19 felony drug arrests made within the county. The stockpile, which consists of 1,138.44 pounds of marijuana, 3.56 pounds of methamphetamine, 302 grams of liquid THC, 115.69 grams of heroin and 49 grams of cocaine, will eventually be destroyed. According to Det. Dick Blust, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, said the stockpile has a street value of more than $5 million. He said the...
Sweetwater County Sheriff Mike Lowell is seeking a second term. The former Rock Springs police chief announced his candidacy in an email Friday afternoon. Lowell, a Democrat, was elected in 2014 after defeating then-Sheriff Rich Haskell. Lowell credited the sheriff’s office employees’ hard work and dedication as a team in helping him reorganize the office based on merit, as well as increasing patrols and services within the county. In 2017, the sheriff’s office logged more than 23,000 public service hours, a 20 percent increase from the previ...
Meagan Sheesley wants what most mothers want — happy, healthy children. Now in her second trimester, she also wants peace of mind. That can be difficult to obtain when your pregnancy is considered high risk. Tears came to her eyes Feb. 6 as she explained her previous pregnancies and medical history to Dr. Erin Clark, an OB/GYN at University of Utah Health who specializes in high-risk pregnancy. Sheesley is 22 weeks pregnant with her fourth daughter. She is a Type 1 diabetic, fully insulin dependent. She also is no stranger to preterm, h...
It was standing room only at the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning when residents and organizational leaders from across the state let the Commissioners know how they felt about U.S. Representative Liz Cheney’s proposed Wilderness Study Area bill. Before public comment started chairman Reid West explained the county is not the driving force behind this discussion, but Cheney’s proposed WSA bill was. West said the Commissioners were misinformed and were under the ass...
A public hearing Tuesday wasn’t the only opportunity for people to comment about how the county commissioners should address the 13 Wilderness Study Areas within Sweetwater County. During the past two weeks, the county has received dozens of online comments. Many of the comments came from people living outside of the county urging the commissioners to support continued management of the studies areas through the BLM. One comment from Colleen Cabot, a resident of San Jose, Calif., supports the a...
Comments are pouring in to the Sweetwater County Commissioners regarding what should be done with the Bureau of Land Management’s Wilderness Study Areas within the county. According to Mark Kot, the county’s public lands specialist, the county has received numerous comments from throughout the state. While the county has received some comments from county residents, a vast majority come from outside the area. Residents can send comments to the commissioners through the county’s web site, www.s...
After months of discussion between Sweetwater County Sheriff Mike Lowell and the Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners, the Sheriff’s Department will start the process of hiring three people. During a recent Commissioners meeting, the Commissioners voted unanimously to allow Sheriff Lowell to start the process for hiring two additional court security officers. As for the request for an additional detention officer, it was a 4-1 vote. Commissioner John Kolb was the only commissioner o...
David Divis will take over the Sweetwater County Assessor’s Office after a 4-1 vote Tuesday by the Sweetwater County Commissioners. John Kolb was the only dissenting vote. Divis takes over for Pat Drinkle, who retired Feb. 3. Divis worked in the assessor’s office for the past six years, serving as Drinkle’s chief deputy. He worked in the Sweetwater County Treasurer’s Office prior to that, beginning his employment in 1991. Following state statutes, the Sweetwater County Democratic Party forward...
A Utah man was found guilty last week of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder at a Rock Springs hotel in 2016. Bradley Ross Fairbourn, 20, of Draper, Utah, was found guilty Thursday afternoon after five hours of deliberation by a jury. The trial started Feb. 7 and wrapped up Feb. 14. According to Teresa Thybo, deputy Sweetwater County Attorney, sentencing will take place after a presentence investigation is completed. She said the investigation could take anywhere from 60 to 90...
The Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office had a busy week, headlined by two arrests. According to Dick Blust, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, the sheriff’s office helped arrest an armed fugitive Friday afternoon in Rock Springs. Jerry Joseph Romero, 41, of Salt Lake City, was arrested for an alleged probation violation on an original charge of felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, after he was tracked to a residence at Gateway Village in Rock Springs. A release Blust sent out states Det. Matt Wharton found Romer...
The Sweetwater County Democratic Party is now seeking applications for the County Assessor’s position. This position was left vacant after Pat Drinkle, a Democrat, announced her retirement. On Tuesday morning, the Sweetwater County Commissioners unanimously approved a letter notifying the Sweetwater County Democratic Party Central Committee of the vacancy. The Commissioners’ letter states the Democrat party must name three qualified residents to hold the assessor’s position and forward those...
Local members of the Wyoming House of Representatives are expecting a difficult legislative session. The budget session, which starts Monday, is expected to bring about debates regarding the state’s budget and education spending. John Freeman, D-Green River, said the state has to decide how it will utilize its “rainy day” fund, the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account. At current spending projections, Freeman said the LSRA should last eight years, but could get spent down sooner shoul...
Southwest Counseling Service will receive a 4,000-square foot building from Jonah Energy LLC. During the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning, the Commissioners voted unanimously to accept a donated modular building on behalf of SCS. The building will be used to house psychiatric and telahealth services. SCS CEO Linda Acker said months ago she spoke to the Commissioners about the possibility of receiving a modular building from Jonah Energy. She said employees of SCS went out...
Revenues from the county’s lodging tax declined by 11 percent during the 2016-17 fiscal year, according to a report from the Sweetwater County Joint Travel and Tourism Board. Jenissa Meredith, executive director for the board, said the decline was due to declines in the county’s workforce and economy. She said 65 percent of the county’s hotel occupancy is tied to the workforce in Sweetwater County and declines in jobs resulted in declines in hotel occupancy. During the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the...
