Sorted by date Results 1201 - 1225 of 1683
Editor’s note: Due to the length of this column, we will print it as a series. The second portion will run next week. As a member of the Green River Historic Preservation Commission, it is my turn to write our monthly article on some aspect of Green River’s past. Usually we are allowed to write on whatever subject that is of personal or general interest, which is later published in the current issue of the bound series Echoes from the Bluffs. However, Brie Blasi asked me to address growing up in Green River in the mid 40s and 50s. Wow, what exa...
Local knitters and crocheters are invited to participate in a "knit in public" event June 18, in Rock Springs. This is the eighth year a World Wide Knit in Public Day event will be held locally. More than a dozen knitters and crocheters participate each year, sharing their projects with each other, teaching new techniques and just having fun. Since they knit at local coffee shops, outside near a busy street corner, or in a restaurant enjoying lunch, many passersby stop to find out why the group...
Is energy the only thing Wyoming has going for it? Why must we focus solely on mineral extraction as a means of making money for the state government? In Sweetwater County, minerals are our specialty since we have trona, coal, natural gas, oil and uranium sitting beneath our feet. We’ve even got lithium, used in those lithium-ion batteries in almost every high-tech gadget and toy on the market, though it may be decades before that resource can be tapped. As we’ve seen countless times however, when times are good, our communities are bustling, w...
Have you been to Sweetwater Trophies and Gifts in downtown Green River on Flaming Gorge Way? Did you know that in addition to providing custom trophies and awards they also offer UPS services, custom framing, and have an extensive gift shop with many unique items? They even sell some items from local artisans on consignment which gives you a chance to find distinctive gifts and home décor and supports our local art community. Mike Frink has lived in Green River for about 41 years and has owned Sweetwater Trophies & Gifts for 14 years. Mike...
An Indiana couple who wrote to me a few weeks ago has experienced the ups and downs of Obamacare, and they wanted me to know about one downside they now face---a monthly premium of $836. “No one should have to pay those high premiums unless you’re considered high class, and we aren’t,” the woman said. The couple-she is 59 and he is 62-are self-employed, and their income fluctuates. At first the Affordable Care Act was, a “godsend,” the woman told me. Before they signed up for Obamacare, they were paying almost $1,000 a month for insurance c...
Watching state legislators debate Medicaid expansion during the budget session was like seeing a driver head full-speed toward a cliff and refuse to hit the brakes. The fully anticipated plunge adds to the financial pressures faced by many Wyoming hospitals and played a role in Wyoming Medical Center laying off 58 employees in Casper last week. During the past four years literally everyone who testified before the Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee told the panel what would happen if lawmakers did not expand Medicaid. If they...
I was listening to the radio on my way to work this morning and heard the song “Wish I Didn’t Know Now” by Toby Keith. If you haven’t heard it, some of the lyrics are “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then. I wish I could start this whole thing over again.” I started thinking about how many times I get stuck in this kind of mindset…the mindset involving hindsight. Hindsight is when you understand a situation or event better only after is happens. I’m sure you’ve also heard the saying, “Hindsight is 20/20.” by Billy Wilder. I starte...
We think there’s a fairly easy solution to the problem developing between some residents and the Rock Springs Grazing Association. A camper came in last week and expressed concern about suddenly seeing a no trespass sign posted at a camp site he has used for decades. We’ve attempted to contact the RSGA about this but kept reaching an answering machine. We’ll continue our attempts at reaching out to them. We realize the land in question is owned by the RSGA and they have every right to close off sections of land under their ownership and remov...
What are your priorities? Most people would say their family is at the very top of their priority list. If that’s true for you, how about trying a new quality activity to bring your family closer? Studies show that a family that plays together stays together. Becoming active as a family and making physical activities a part of your everyday life can form positive lifelong habits for you and your children. If parents encourage outside play before dinner time or suggest a bike ride after dinner, it becomes the active norm in the family. This c...
There comes a time when a person realizes things can’t continue the way they have. For me, that realization involves a need to become more physically active. I work at a job that, for the most part, is bound to my desk. I do go out for assignments, but the physical activity involved in what I do is fairly limited. Last Thursday drove that point home. The first thought that I need to change my lifestyle came during a discussion I had with Pete Rust. Rust had stopped by to talk about a sports a...
The pages of my mom's cookbook from the 1970s are soft and well worn with the stain of age and buttery fingers. The spine and faded green cover are taped together to keep the book intact. The many well-used recipes are scribbled on in my mom's cursive handwriting, with adjustments, suggestions, notes of who and when the recipe was made and whether it was a good or bad recipe. Like many of my mom's frequently used and well-loved recipes, the 'Chocolate Scotcheroos' have the word "good"...
We all know the all too familiar graduation song “Pomp and Circumstance.” In fact, just the mention of the song will send one into humming it. I had only heard it played at high school graduations I attended or kindergarten graduations I covered for this newspaper. However this year was different. This time I was watching my oldest son, Matthew, so small and young, walk across the stage at his kindergarten graduation as this music was played. He was having a hard time keeping the graduation hat...
With the continued 24-hour coverage of the final presidential primaries, it’s easy to lose sight of the issues impacting residents on a county wide or state-wide scale. It’s not easy to see why either, as Donald Trump has surprised many by earning the delegates needed to be the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee while Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders continue to battle into the final contests prior to the Democratic National Convention July 25. But, what can the President of the United States do about local issues impacting us on a daily...
On your Mark, Get Set, Read! Summer is here and we are ready at the Sweetwater County Library to beat the summer slide. The Summer Reading Program is designed to keep kids reading throughout the summer and to help avoid the summer slide, which is the loss of academic knowledge over the summer break. Along with tracking their reading, the libraries also have educational and fun programs throughout the summer. Youth finishing fourth grade and younger are invited to sign-up for the Youth Summer Reading Program at all the Sweetwater County Library...
Who protects consumers of healthcare? Two recent emails from readers got me thinking about that question. I don’t mean consumers in their role as patients whose medical well-being is looked after by state medical boards and health departments that police doctors and hospitals. Those organizations don’t always do a perfect job protecting patients from harm, but at least they are in place. But who protects patients when things go wrong on healthcare’s financial side? What happens when you receive a bill you didn’t expect and can’t afford to...
With summer fast approaching, our desire to see public lands remain under the jurisdiction of the federal government only grows. Some would have us believe Wyoming’s legislative body would have the best interests in managing the land, saying the state should “take back” the land as the state government is the one closest to the lands in question. We disagree because doing so would take away one of the basic rights Wyomingites have. Placing all federal lands under the state’s jurisdiction would essentially be Wyoming selling its soul. The ide...
At least now we have something to do with the rainy-day fund, and some people may need orange jump suits. It just seemed like a big hole in the ground, and how could that be bad out on the empty prairie. It was four decades ago. Cities like Gillette, Wyoming, wouldn’t even be there now, maybe it would be a town, like a prairie-dog town, but not much in human economic terms. All these big coal mining companies came in, like Arch and Alpha and Peabody. They promised thousands of jobs and infrastructure and a great source of tax money. They a...
Who protects consumers of healthcare? Two recent emails from readers got me thinking about that question. I don’t mean consumers in their role as patients whose medical well-being is looked after by state medical boards and health departments that police doctors and hospitals. Those organizations don’t always do a perfect job protecting patients from harm, but at least they are in place. But who protects patients when things go wrong on healthcare’s financial side? What happens when you receive a bill you didn’t expect and can’t afford to...
When someone thinks of salad, most think about a huge mass of lettuce, along with a mix of some other vegetables. The lettuce is the star, despite the fact that the most common type used, iceberg lettuce, is a tasteless substance that cries out for dressing because it’s so bland. Because it’s so common, it’s nearly impossible to find a salad that doesn’t use lettuce as a base. Go to the store and check out the bagged salad section. Easily 95 percent of the offerings use lettuce as the major i...
Attending the Western Wyoming Karate Tournament this weekend was a familiar sight to me. I even donned my 2005 tournament T-shirt for the occasion. It has been many years since I laid eyes on the hustle and bustle of the tournament. People were everywhere. My involvement in Jim Dean’s studio of Pineda’s Kenpo karate started while I was a student at Green River High School. I even remember Jim Dean and his family attending my high school graduation party just shy of a decade ago. Many of the fac...
In Wyoming, if someone has a question about where their tax money is being spent or how much is spent on their county libraries, they can ask to look at the public documents containing that information. However, there are people who think local governments should be able to charge their constituents a fee simply because they want to look at a list of employee salaries or a yearly budget. We think they’re wrong. A proposed rule change in Wyoming would allow local governments to charge “reasonable costs” for producing and building a copy of an...
Being a lifelong Wyoming resident, I can’t help but get upset every time I read about someone doing something stupid at Yellowstone National Park. Stupid is the only real word here, as I’m sure anyone reading this has the sense to not walk up to a bison and pet it, purposefully walk over the Grand Prismatic Springs or take a bison calf to a ranger station because it looks cold. Yet, each of those situations I just described has actually happened. The worst of the bunch is the Grand Pri...
The school year is almost over already; and I can hardly believe it. With only a couple of weeks left, my boy’s schedules are packed. John, my four-year-old going on 18, will have his last day of preschool Thursday, while Matthew, my six-year-old kindergartener will have his last day June 2. Where did the year go? It seems like yesterday I was literally chasing the bus down the street to make sure he got off of it; and now he will be attending his kindergarten graduation. With picnics, class p...
If you need a risky, complicated surgery, would you go to a hospital or surgeon who had performed the procedure only a time or two before? Most people would say no, but the evidence indicates otherwise. Patients do go to doctors and hospitals that have seldom performed the procedures they need. Yet, for almost 40 years, study after study has shown that patients’ death rates were significantly lower for surgeries done at hospitals that were experienced in the procedure. The same is true for physicians. In March, for example, a large study of p...
If Wyoming wants to break out of its boom and bust economy, the state has to liberate itself from worshiping the minerals and energy industries. In Sweetwater County, many of us know all too well the cycles of the boom and bust economies. When times are good, money is everywhere, from the state’s coffers to the wallets of residents working in those booming industries. When times are bad, all one needs to do is look at the stories we’ve published about funding woes local governments face to see the impact. The problem is, the cycle will lik...
