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A conditional use permit for a fireworks stand at the former Ted’s Supper Club building on Purple Sage Road is lighting tensions with other operators in the vicinity. The Sweetwater County Commissioners unanimously approved a one-year permit for Big Thunder, LLC to operate a fireworks stand out of the former restaurant. According to county documents, the stand would be open from May to September from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Documents state the company expects an average of 20 vehicles per day d...
A soldier, whose remains were found near Green River in the 1980s was finally put to rest last Wednesday. According to Dana L. Pertermann, Western Wyoming Community College associate professor of anthropology and geology, director of Center For Southwest Wyoming Archaeology and director of the Federal Artifact Repository, the soldier was excavated in the 1980s on the bluffs near Green River. This occurred when survey work was being conducted for the freeway. According to Philip Parnell, WWCC...
Many commissioners are still convinced the county building at 731 C Street in Rock Springs can be converted to a hospice facility. The building, which houses the circuit court in Rock Springs, was the subject of discussion Tuesday afternoon during the Sweetwater County Commissioners’ meeting. The county is building a justice center near the Sweetwater County Detention Center, which will combine the circuit courts in both cities. As such, the space occupied by the court in Rock Springs would b...
The former senior vice president of Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County has filed a claim against the hospital claiming she’s entitled to a previously agreed upon severance package. Keri Chorazewitz recently filed the complaint in the Third District Court of Judge Richard Lavery against MHSC and its board of trustees, including Richard Mathey, Taylor Jones, Barbara Sowoda, Edward F. Tardoni and Robert Scott. According to court documents, Chorazewitz began working for the MHSC in 2010 as t...
A county voucher approved to pay a company owned and operated by a Sweetwater County Commissioner illustrates how a politician’s personal business can get involved with the politician’s public office. Last week, the commissioners voted to approve a voucher submitted by Alpha Petroleum, a company owned and operated by Commissioner John Kolb, for $967.83. The voucher was approved with a 4-0 vote, with Kolb abstaining. Kolb’s company specializes in petroleum contracting work. According to Gene Lege...
With the Sweetwater County Commissioners asking county agencies to cut their budget requests by 10 percent, other means of keeping costs down during the next fiscal year are being investigated. One of those means is the initiation of a hiring freeze throughout the county. During Tuesday’s meeting, the commissioners decided an in-depth discussion about a hiring freeze is needed. Chairman Reid West said initiating a hiring freeze could either be across the county’s different departments, or the co...
The former CEO of Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County is suing the hospital and its board of trustees claiming he did not resign, but was terminated under an unlawful board. Gerald Klein filed the complaint in the Third District Court of Judge Richard Lavery on March 31. According to the complaint, on or about Feb. 7 or Feb. 9, 2017, the MHSC “without a lawfully constituted board, claims to have terminated Mr. Klein’s contract and voided the severance package it contains.” On March 21, 2017,...
Staff report Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County will open its new clinic in Rock Springs Monday, which will house physicians practicing family medicine and occupational medicine. The clinic is located at 3000 College Hill in Rock Springs. The new offices will be utilized by Dr. David Dansie, Dr. Michael Bowers, Dr. Jacob Johnson, Dr. Lawrence Lauridsen, Dr. Brytton Long, along with physician assistants Amy Dolce, Melissa Lehman and Mark Sanders. According to a press release from the hospital, the clinic’s location will be a one-stop m...
A Green River contractor was awarded a bid to build the new General Aviation Terminal at the Rock Springs-Sweetwater County Airport. A Pleasant Construction won the bid for the $5.84 million project, construction of which will start Monday. Devon Brubaker, airport manager, said the 75-year-old terminal’s roof started caving in recently, after the bid was opened. He said no local funding outside of what’s spent in furniture, fixtures and equipment will be used in the construction project. Bru...
The body of a fisherman who disappeared from the boat ramp at Cedar Springs Marina in Utah in late January has been discovered more than two months later. Wednesday morning, the Daggett County Sheriff’s Office issued a media release regarding the fisherman, who was identified as Phil Sabey, 59, of Manila, Utah. According to the sheriff’s office, Sabey’s body was spotted floating in the water by two fishermen near the Mustang Ridge area of the Flaming Gorge Reservoir Tuesday at about 3:20 p.m....
Almost three years after centerline cracks developed on both Interstate 80’s east and west lanes between Green River and Rock Springs, the Wyoming Department of Transportation is fixing the problem. Crews started sealing the lanes two weeks ago and work is expected to carry over into April. According to WYDOT resident engineer Clint Lockman, the splitting issue occurred when the sealant used over the concrete joints on the road surface started popping off at those seals. Lockman said the f...
Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Deputies, along with investigators from the Rawlins Police Department, determined a man who had driven himself to Wamsutter and reported he was shot had actually done it himself. According to a media release from the sheriff’s office, an unidentified 54-year-old Sweetwater County resident had shot himself with a handgun west of Wamsutter, then drove to the Wamsutter Town Hall and told a sheriff’s office process deputy he had been shot and needed help. The man was taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbon County in Rawli...
In the weeks following a major shakeup at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, the employees continue to work on solving problems regarding the hospital’s cash reserves, as well as maintaining patient care as their top priority. On Feb. 7, three members of the MHSC board of trustees verbally resigned after a tense meeting with the Sweetwater County Commissioners involving the hospital’s fiscal action plan to reverse declining cash reserves. The commissioners then voted to remove two oth...
Another 10 percent reduction is expected to occur for the 2017-2018 budget, but county officials are hopeful the worst is behind the county. “It is what it is,” Commissioner Don Van Matre, said. According to County Assessor Pat Drinkle, the county assessment is expected to be down $250 million from last year, and is estimated to drop between $2.05 billion and $2.1 billion. Last year, the assessment finalized at $2.298 billion. With each loss of $100 million in the valuation, the county’s budget...
It only takes a few snips of a scissors or passes with a clippers to make a big difference in one’s appearance. Last week, Green River and Rock Springs Head Start students received free hair cuts from local hair stylists. Angel Pope of Green River’s 307 Salon and Kaycee Thomas from Color Works in Rock Springs were on hand at the Rock Springs Head Start location to provide haircuts to any Head Start children who needed one. Erin Barbuto from Head Start said they came up with the idea from a pro...
Tourism spending in Sweetwater County has declined in from the past two years, but still brought in approximately $167.4 million in 2015 according to a report from the Sweetwater County Joint Travel and Tourism Board. The board promotes Sweetwater County as a destination for travelers to visit, spending much of its budget on marketing the county outside of the area. According to the report, the board spends 62 percent of its budget on various marketing attempts, including its mobile phone app,...
By DAVID MARTIN Editor A former Sublette County Sheriff was found guilty of four charges filed against him as a result of actions he took immediately following his election in 2014. According to the Pinedale Roundup, a jury found Stephen Haskell guilty of three felonies, which were obtaining property under false pretenses, unlawfully receiving property and making a false claim Friday afternoon. He was also found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of performing an official duty before qualified to...
Two more community members were appointed to serve on the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County’s Board. During the Sweetwater County Commissioners Tuesday morning meeting, the board appointed Robert H. Scott to fill the five-month term. This seat was left open by Artis Kalivas, who was removed from his position on the board by the commissioners two weeks ago. The county commissioners also appointed Edward F. Tardoni to the MHSC board to fill a 16-month term, which was left open when Joe M...
Divers helped recover the body of a Utah resident at Anvil Draw Sunday morning who died after falling through the ice. The incident occurred Saturday when 59-year-old Rebecca Weston of Plain City, Utah, fell through the ice while riding an ATV. According to a release from the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, Weston was part of a family group ice fishing at the Flaming Gorge. She was a passenger on the ATV with three other family members, all of whom escaped falling through. Due to limited daylight, the recovery dive did not take place u...
A financial plan designed to cut costs and reserve declining reserves at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County was met with severe criticism by the Sweetwater County Commissioners last week. The conflict between the county and hospital board came to a head and resulted in the resignations of three board members, the removal of two other members, as well as the resignation of the hospital’s CEO and the hospital’s chief legal counsel. The commissioners requested the hospital’s plan as a resul...
A telephone scam that was in circulation in Sweetwater County several years ago has now resurfaced, though with a new twist. Sheriff Mike Lowell said that swindlers are calling people and identifying themselves as either law enforcement officers or officials of a bogus “Sweetwater Civil Processing Unit.” The caller, who often has a thick accent, tells his intended victims that someone will be coming by with a warrant or other official paperwork. The callers are rude - even threatening - and eventually ask for a credit card or debit card num...
A Green River accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl pleaded innocent to several felony charges. Rhett T. Burge, 20, recently appeared in the Third District Court of Judge Nena James at an arraignment to four felony counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and two felony counts of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor. If found guilty of all six felonies, Burge could face a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison, and a maximum fine of $60,000. According to court documents, on Nov....
A conflict of interest is alleged at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, stemming from a business relationship between a member of the administration team and a local media company. Gary Collins, the marketing and public relations director at MHSC, is a part owner of SweetwaterNOW.com, a news website based out of Rock Springs. His ownership in the company has resulted in people questioning the ethics involved with his share in SweetwaterNOW and his job at MHSC. Those questioning Collins’ e...
A payment dispute between the Sweetwater County Commissioners and the Combined Communications Joint Powers Board has resulted in a lawsuit filed against the county. The board issued a statement from its attorney George Lemich, claiming the county did not fully pay its fair share of the costs of operating the joint dispatch center in Green River. The joint powers board was initially formed to consolidate emergency dispatch service amongst Green River, Rock Springs and the county. The joint...
Tuesday was a tumultuous day at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, but employees can breathe a sigh relief as staff layoffs will not occur. Rumors circulating amongst hospital staff had reached the Sweetwater County Commissioners’ ears involving the potential layoff of hospital employees. Discussion during the county commissioners’ meeting suggested 30 employees were to be terminated Wednesday. An email, allegedly outlining which employees would be laid off, was received by the com...
