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Dear Editor, Last week there was a timely editorial about showing support for the Green Belt! A clean up of the Green Belt is already scheduled for Sept. 11. Since this is the 20th Anniversary of 9/11, it has been designated as A National Day of Service. Plans have been made with the City of Green River, the Parks and Recreation Department, the Greenbelt Taskforce, the Green River Chamber of Commerce and the citizens of Green River for the Greenbelt clean up. People are encouraged to do clean up on the 12 miles of trail anytime during the week...
The Greenbelt is something everyone in Green River can look at with pride. The pathway is used daily, even during the winter months, by people seeking to improve their health of enjoy a meditative stroll along the river. As the Greenbelt Task force prepares to update its master plan for the first time in 30 years, Green River’s residents should show their love for the Greenbelt. We would like to see the Greenbelt Task force receive the kind of support it deserves. We would like to see the city’s residents willing to step up and volunteer for...
On Jan. 27, President Joe Biden signed an executive order pausing new oil and gas leasing on federal lands. Like Chicken Little, Wyoming and other resource colony states went apoplectic, predicting destruction of their economies. Lawsuits were filed, biased “analyses” were publicized and Gov. Mark Gordon gained miles of press ink for “blasting Interior,” “standing up for oil and gas,” and whining before a Senate committee. A federal judge in Louisiana issued an injunction halting Biden’s lease sale “pause,” but the Department of the Interior c...
I recently saw a patient I hadn’t seen in more than 18 months. This patient had previously come to me somewhat routinely for arthritic knees. Together, we constructed a conservative treatment plan to help increase activity and prolong the life of those knees. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic put a dent in our plan. Prior to the pandemic, this patient had been a borderline diabetic with some other medical comorbidities. Upon their return, we found a lot had changed. The patient had gained 30 pounds, decreased activity, and could not move a...
Misinformation proliferates on social media like a plaque. Hundreds of posts and videos are solely designed to maximize their reach and spread fear amongst those who consume that media. As baseless claims start reaching public discourse, we all need to be ready to quash them as soon as possible. Something we recently heard was the possibility the vaccines created to fight the coronavirus may cause a cancer. While the term “Google University” is often derided because people can fall into rabbit holes of misinformation, factual and aut...
One thing that can be safely said about the Biden Administration is that when you think they could not become even more extreme, they make clear that you underestimate them at your peril. Take President Biden’s Executive Order 14008, entitled “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” Buried on page 9, is Section 216, with the heading, “Conserving Our Nation’s Lands and Waters,” the goal of which is to develop a plan to “conserve at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.” Known as the “30x30” program, the ultimate objective...
(Editor’s note: Jessica recently won an essay contest hosted by the Sweetwater County Historical Museum. The Star agreed to publish the winning essays) In the early 1900’s the City of Green River’s dynamic was much different. The entire population was far less than 2,000, and the railroad had quite recently made its debut in town. Green River did not yet have the expansive education system we have today, but rather hosted one small schoolhouse that did not produce a single high school graduate during its first 20 years. Public resources were...
Debasing myself politically, I’ve joined the Republican Party. I never thought I would do this. The first time that I could vote in a primary, in New Hampshire in 1980, I voted for Jerry Brown. At Winter Park, Colorado, about 1984, I registered as a socialist. The election official was shocked and became angry. She nearly had a heart attack. Later, she told me it was the altitude. I knew better. A few years later, in Durango, I registered as a Green. My vote for Ralph Nader put George H.W. Bush in the White House. For the next several d...
Having grown up in Sweetwater County, Wyoming’s Big Show has always been a big part of my summer. I’ve been going to the fair for as long as I can remember. As a kid, my favorite thing was going on the pony ride as many times as my parents would let me. I also loved visiting the petting zoo, going on rides at the carnival, watching the featured shows like magicians and stunt performers, and eating cotton candy. I still have a picture album from my childhood when I had a cheap film camera and...
Before last May, the idea of being county treasurer had never crossed my mind. While I have been politically involved - I served in the state legislature and have run for a seat on the county commission - this is not a position to which I have ever aspired to or thought of pursuing. So, as you might imagine, when Robb Slaughter, my predecessor, first approached me about the idea of seeking the appointment, I was shocked. First of all, Mr. Slaughter had served in that position for the bulk of my life and did a darn good job - it was hard to...
“Lawyers put their mistakes behind bars, doctors put their mistakes in the ground and we put our mistakes on the front page for all to see,” Mark Twain once observed about journalism. Over the years, we’ve taken our rightfully-earned lumps for typographical errors appearing in print. The English language can be a challenging beast at times and we understand the pain of proofreading something and finding a word with transposed letters or an issue where an article jumps to the wrong page only after the ink has dried. Publications of any size...
Dear Editor, I was gravely disappointed in the Sweetwater County Commissioners and their decision to cut Golden Hour Senior Center $68,000. Over 800 senior citizens depend on the many services they offer. One of the primary services is the program for meals. This program was started in Rock Springs at the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County by Rita Steinbeck, director of dietary services for Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County. Sweetwater County is not just Rock Springs, but made up of Green River and various smaller communities. Rock...
The pandemic never ended. It is not over in Japan, where the Olympic Games are being hosted in Tokyo, as an outbreak of COVID-19 infections is occurring. It is not over in the United States, where the seven-day average of new COVID-19 infections has quadrupled between July 1 and July 24. The pandemic is certainly not over in Wyoming, where the highly-contagious Delta variation of the COVID-19 coronavirus is the most prevalent strain. Wyoming won’t ever shut down as it did last year -- the p...
Imagine having to hire someone for a job and there is a selection of people vying for the position. One would expect everyone seeking the job would be interested in actually having the job, right? This wasn’t the situation the Sweetwater County Commissioners faced in choosing a candidate for Sweetwater County Treasurer Tuesday. Mike Masterson, one of the three candidates chosen by members of the Sweetwater County Democratic Party, told the Commissioners he wouldn’t accept the role if they chose him. This effectively left the Commissioners wit...
Life is all about stories. From fairy tales at bedtime, to conversations around the dinner table, to movies in the theater, to articles in the newspaper, we are all surrounded and shaped by stories. I’ve always loved stories and wanted to tell them. During my time growing up in Rock Springs, I wrote stories, (part of) a novel, and fanfiction. I graduated from Western Wyoming Community College with an Associate of Arts degree in English and a creative writing certificate. Then I transferred to Bo...
We are well aware the idea of any tax isn’t popular and we understand why. Any sales tax represents a few more dollars out of our pockets that would otherwise go to groceries, gas or the monthly streaming bill. However, we don’t see any other way out of another 1% sales tax. It is either that or no ambulance service. Ambulance funding has long been an issue for the county, with the Sweetwater County Commissioners opting not to continue paying subsidies for the service. This comes from declining revenue that has forced budget cuts thr...
A “hit piece” is an article, documentary, etc. that deliberately tries to make somebody/something look bad by presenting information about them that appears to be true and accurate but actually is not. -- Oxford Learners Dictionary On June 25, 2021 The New York Times published a hit piece that tried to make my good name look bad. The content was unfamiliar to me. Wyoming’s press reported “stun and dismay” as they ran with it; fury in social media turned up the volume. This attempted character assassination targeted me and also affected...
“Have you ever heard of a wish sandwich? A wish sandwich is when you have two slices of bread and you wish you had some meat.” That is from a song titled “Rubber Biscuit.” I’m reminded of that line after reading Susan Gore’s response to recent articles about her involvement in a espionage operation aimed at Democrats and other organizations in three states, including Wyoming. She refers to articles published by the New York Times and Wyofile.com as a “nothingburger,” saying it is all a disinf...
The Green River City Council decision to draw out the Union Wireless cell tower request was drawn out Tuesday night when the Council opted to table the issue as opposed to voting on it. The issue at hand: the belief the public hadn’t been adequately informed of the proposal to build an 80-foot lattice cell tower near Ace Hardware. This is a ludicrous proposition as several council members said they had been contacted by their constituents during the meeting. Both Gary Killpack and Sherry Bushman stated at the meeting they had heard from c...
Spies in Wyoming -- it has to be the ludicrous plot of a poorly-written novel, right? No dear reader, it isn’t. Proving truth to be stranger than fiction, the New York Times broke news last week that a spy ring had operated in Wyoming and focused on gathering information about political operations in the state. These spies mostly focused on Wyoming Democrats, the Wyoming Investor Network and Better Wyoming, a left-leaning group seeking to change the conservative narrative in Wyoming’s politics, as well as moderate Republicans. The Times als...
