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The Legislature’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration rarely makes headlines. Its meetings are lengthy, the subject matter is complex and tangible results are slow-developing. The vast majority of time during early committee meetings is spent listening to expert presentations. Yet, public-school-finance policy impacts every community in the state and we overlook its crafting at our peril. This year of vastly shrinking state revenues it holds added significance with potential changes to the funding model itself. Past state S...
With everything the year has thrown at us, it might feel difficult to be thankful during the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow. Yet, despite the ongoing pandemic and constant political turmoil as the nation shifts towards a new presidential administration, several things come to mind. The residents of Green River live in the best town in Wyoming. We have the opportunity to enjoy an ample amount of dedicated park land, trees and the river itself. The city’s parks and recreation department received a major award this year for excellence in parks a...
Dear Editor, I have lived in Wyoming for over 40 years and have seen many things that have interfered with our civil liberties. Mask mandating takes the cake! It is NOT my responsibility to “take care” of MY fellow neighbors, peers or coworkers’ health. I do not choose their doctors or pay their health costs. It is unconstitutional to “make” people wear masks. BREATHING through your nose and mouth is a RIGHT, unlike driving which is a privilege! It is not a form of PPE either! People working in the trona patch are MADE to wear masks while the...
Dear Editor, She didn’t try to escape from my arms, maybe because she felt safe with me. I could feel her heart beating right next to mine when I carried her from Norbest Turkey Processing Plant (slaughterhouse) to a farm sanctuary. The most beautiful 25 pounds I ever carried! Like most people, I had never seen a live turkey. I always thought turkeys were meant for Thanksgiving Day, but one cold winter evening in 2018 in Moroni, Utah changed my perspective about Thanksgiving turkeys forever. As a part of a mass rescue action I had the p...
With the celebration of one of our most important holidays fast approaching, and the recent explosion of a second wave of COVID-19 cases, I feel it is very important as your mayor to express my thoughts regarding the various issues involved. During a recent meeting, several of our local doctors and their various support staff from Memorial Hospital, Castle Rock Medical Center, and county health expressed their tremendous concern for the huge spike in new COVID-19 cases in our community, and discussed how it was overwhelming our health care...
As the largest employers in Southwest Wyoming we are growing increasingly alarmed with the steep increase in community spread positive COVID-19 cases. Since October 28th , the Sweetwater County positivity rate has spiked from less than 5% to over 31%, with cases doubling in less than 10 days. We fully support all efforts to ensure the health and safety of everyone in the community, including the use of masks and physical distancing measures in public situations. These efforts align with many of the steps we have taken at our businesses and...
A mask mandate will not work. Comments from Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe and Green River Police Chief Tom Jarvie last week indicate enforcement of a mask mandate is impossible. In an email to the Star, Erramouspe wrote, “we would not prosecute any violations, as I believe such an order is unenforceable.” The question is this: what do we do to get more people to follow recommendations to wear a mask while in public and to socially distance themselves from other people, especially when Thanksgiving is weeks away and we’re appro...
President-Elect Joe Biden said throughout his campaign: “I’m running as a proud Democrat, but I’ll govern as an American.” As one of those Americans who care more about the country than any political party, I wish him success, and suggest we give him a way to demonstrate he’s serious about that claim. Wyoming voted for Donald Trump by the largest margin of any state — with 70% of votes cast for the president, as opposed to 26.6% for Biden. Furthermore, there is almost nothing more contrary to the Democratic Party’s policies than helping coal ...
Dear Editor, I do not care how mystified or angry Kerry Drake is. Give me Liberty or Give me Death. P.S. Hey Kerry, It is not up to you. Hundreds of thousands die each year across the country with things like cancer, for example. Take cigarettes. Half a million people die. Cigarettes are still sold everyday. No lock downs or masks. You drank the Kool-Aid and you have no say over my life. Get on with yours. The message I sent to Green River Star was not meant to be a letter to editor. It was just to say take a breath you have no right to make...
Chronic, kush, ganja, cannabis, the devil’s lettuce or pot. Regardless of what you know it as, marijuana and the legalization of its use was a big winner during last week’s General Election. This push for legalization event took place for two of Wyoming’s conservative neighbors. South Dakota voters approved initiatives legalizing medicinal and recreational use of marijuana while Montana voters approved an initiative to establish 21 as a legal age to purchase, use and consume cannabis. A second question in Montana regarding the legal...
Dear Editor, I think the CEO of (Castle Rock Medical Center) has no business trying to dictate whether or not the public should or should not wear masks. Who elected her to represent the town? She is not our babysitter and I don’t appreciate her trying to be. No, I do not want to wear a mask. The city council should not try to push this on the GR citizens. If anything, the Star could do a poll around town and come up with the numbers. From going to the Dollar Store, I would say one out of 10 customers might be wearing masks. Let the citizens d...
By KERRY DRAKE Wyofile.com I don’t know what mystifies me more: Wyomingites who don’t care enough about their neighbors to wear a mask during a surging pandemic, or Gov. Mark Gordon not requiring people to cover their faces in public. Both, however, anger me. Enough with the endless hand-wringing and excuse-making, all in the name of pandering to those who think they have constitutional rights to selfishness and stupidity. Is that too blunt? Sorry, tell it to the daughter whose parent is dying alone on a ventilator because someone decided not...
When I met her, she was younger than I am now. I was responsible for admissions to our hospital that day, and the ER doctor called me about a woman with intractable bleeding. It had been going on for several months, but she was embarrassed and unsure. She hid the severity of her bleeding from her husband, until the day she passed out in the kitchen. Ultimately, we diagnosed her with cancer, and she started down a difficult road of surgery, chemo, radiation, and more surgery. But they faced many hurdles beyond her disease. She and her husband...
The coronavirus pandemic, at times, feels like a topic that has long-since been beaten to death. Everywhere a person turns, there’s a reminder of the pandemic -- from masks being worn in public to the idea of “contactless delivery” when ordering a meal to the home. Even the big, black letters making up this piece’s headline are a reminder of what we’re all going through. Sweetwater County is in a precarious situation when it comes to the pandemic. Yes, the positive infection numbers aren’t nearly as high as places like Natrona County or A...
By Mark Jenkins Resident Scholar Wyoming Humanities I have friends in Wyoming who will not vote for a president this November. They know their vote will not count toward the election, so, as an act of protest, they’re not voting at all. I utterly disagree with this repudiation of the most basic American right---in my opinion, it is the duty and privilege of every eligible American citizen to vote---but I understand the sentiment. The president and vice president of the United States are not elected by a plurality of the popular vote: they a...
As much as any of us hate to admit it, winter weather has arrived. Along with having to worry about shoveling driveways and sidewalks, many of Green River’s residents will also contend with slick roads and the possibility of driving during a nasty blizzard at some point during the next several months. We’ll keep our request short this week: Please drive carefully. The first storms of the year tend to result in a lot of vehicle collisions as people are not used to driving on snow and ice. While much of the weekend storm has melted off by the...
I don’t think I’m alone when I say this: I can’t wait for this election season to end. My reasons probably differ from most people -- through I can’t remember a previous presidential election being such a slog to experience. I blame social media for that feeling. But, the thing that I’m looking forward to most is this: President Donald Trump’s campaign team will stop blowing up my personal email’s inbox. The volume of email I’ve received from the Trump campaign has been absolutely jaw dropping to say the least. I’d say the word aggressive i...
Dear Editor Under a bill that went before the State Senate in February, an additional 3,000+ Wyoming resident hunters would have drawn an antelope tag this year. But, the bill, Senate File 94, failed on introduction. In fact, just one state senator, Larry Hicks of Carbon County, voted to introduce it. Sweetwater County (District 12) Senator, Liisa Anselmi-Dalton co-sponsored the bill, but then at vote time, she switched sides and voted against introduction! When it counted, Sen. Anselmi-Dalton sided with the greedy outfitters and entitled nonre...
We’re heading into the final days of the 2020 General Election. For many, the biggest question they want a voice in is if Joe Biden or Donald Trump will be the United States’ President in 2021. While that question will have some weight as to what our lives will be like in the next four years, the more important aspects of any ballot are the local elections. An oft-repeated quote about local government is that it’s “where the rubber meets the road.” The local city council, school board, county commissioners and state legislators are where the...
I am that person that always manages to “find” the shopping cart with the wonky wheel. I used to trade it out because it irritated me. The cart wobbled and sometimes made noise and it usually drove a little slower and pushed a little harder. However, in the last bit, I have stayed with whatever cart I get first. My reasoning is simple. Having this kind of cart is/has been teaching me a very important lesson: Just because SOMEONE is a little slower, or makes a little “noise” or is harder to deal with, doesn’t mean they don’t have value. We a...
The call is getting more common as I enter my mid-40s. It generally comes from a friend, about my age, who knows I work for AARP, and hopes I can help them navigate the services available in Wyoming to help a loved one stay at home as they age. Their question is simply, “how do I keep mom/dad out of a nursing home for as long as I can?” The best advice is to ask for help sooner than later. Develop a plan, figure out what supports are in your community. Emily Loos of LIV Health, a home services provider in southeast Wyoming, suggests a vis...
It’s a battle that’s been waged for a long time now and it doesn’t show any signs of letting up. There’s a movement amongst state legislators to have the legal notices published by municipal and county governments in their local newspapers instead published solely on their governmental websites. At a time when the state and its city and county governments have been hit hard by a sluggish minerals industry and the impacts of a pandemic, it makes sense to cut costs wherever they can be cut -- at least that’s the surface argument. There’s s...
Women often put the needs of their loved ones before their own. That may be truer than ever this year, as mothers juggle working from home, virtual learning and childcare along with the usual everyday responsibilities. As members of the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Congressional Families Cancer Prevention Program®, we encourage women to take this month to prioritize their health as we observe Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer and second-most common cause of cancer deaths among American wo...
Lumpy, a walking, talking lump of coal wearing a miner’s hat and gloves, serves as the Energy Policy Network’s mascot. “Affordable and plentiful, I keep America’s lights on and economy moving,” Lumpy says in a speech bubble on EPN’s website. To be charitable, I won’t offer what else Lumpy resembles. I will offer a rewrite of his speech, though. He should be saying, “Thanks for the handouts, Wyoming taxpayers!” Because while coal is still plentiful, it’s no longer affordable, either in economic or environmental terms. But that hasn’t stopped...
The coronavirus has made quite a surge in Wyoming over the past week and a half. Much of the infections have been in Albany County, home to the University of Wyoming, and have included 11 freshmen football players according to UW’s public relations office. Sweetwater County, while not experiencing the same large increase other counties have seen, hasn’t been spared either. As of Monday evening, the Wyoming Department of Health reported Sweetwater County had 31 active cases of COVID-19, up from 10 active cases reported Sept. 28. We’re seein...
