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Like anything, a 40-year-old building shows signs of wear. Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County is no exception. Sweetwater Memorial has a list of projects on its maintenance list. One of those at the top of that list is a project to upgrade the hospital’s heating and cooling system at a cost of approximately $3.25 million. Cooling towers, chillers, pumps and the steam system all must be upgraded. To help resolve those issues, the Sweetwater County Commission recently set aside $1 million to help cover the costs. Commissioners Wally J...
Changes are coming to the Green River Star, and we’re definitely excited about what the future holds. The change readers will likely notice this week is new titles given to Stephanie Thompson and myself. Starting this week, I will now serve as the Green River Star’s publisher, while Stephanie will be the newspaper’s chief editor. It brings me great joy to announce Thompson as the Star’s new editor and to see her climb as my own career progresses. She has always been a wealth of informa...
It’s that time of the year where a lot of Green River’s residents think about warmer climates and avoid any mention of the four-letter word referring to cold, fluffy white stuff. While it goes without saying that the county’s motorists should exercise caution while driving on the ice and snow covered roads, we think it’s equally important for everyone to spare a thought for the people responsible for maintaining clear roads when the snow starts to fall. Plow drivers can have it rough. The Wyoming Department of Transportation maintains Interst...
A lot of blood, sweat and years went into the fight to remove state sales taxes from groceries in Wyoming. It finally happened in 2006. Former State Rep. Ann Robinson (D-Casper) spent eight years bringing bill after bill to the Wyoming House before finally seeing the food tax exemption pass as a state budget amendment. This session, though, the exemption faces its first serious threat in 13 years, and she’s not happy about it. “It’s a bad idea,” she said, correctly in my view. “It doesn’t speak well of the Legislature that they would even...
As the 2019 legislative session approaches, a major discussion topic in state government from 2018 moves to action. That topic is “government efficiency.” You’ve likely heard it mentioned on the campaign trail from candidates, in news coverage, and throughout your communities when discussing our state’s affairs. As a statewide elected official, this topic has been a top priority for me for the past four years. I thought I would take an opportunity to provide some insight into government efficiency as it relates to education. “Govern...
If you are like me, you worry a little about stretching the dollar during the holidays. Of course, as has always been the case no matter where I have worked in education, my December paycheck has arrived the last day before vacation in December. This is great, for Christmas shopping of course, but then the extra week on the other end seems like a small eternity until payday at the end of January. It is what is it though and over the years I am becoming much better at planning ahead for this. So let’s talk about the concept of pay for a bit i...
The sixth penny improvement tax is almost certain be on the 2020 ballot. Both cities, as well as the county’s outlying towns, will need infrastructure improvements beyond what they can provide from their budgets. For Green River specifically, the city will need to start securing funding for its wastewater treatment plant and the improvement projects tax would make for an excellent source to receive some of that money. Beyond improvements, one idea that has come to our attention is the p...
Editor’s note: What follows is a email conversation between Spencer Riggs, on-site general manager at the Little America west of Green River and the Star’s editor, David Martin. In order to provide Riggs’ comments the best context, we decided to publish the conversation in full regarding Riggs’ concerns on the reporting of the zoning change in Jamestown and what it could mean for the area if a truck stop is built in the area. Some portions of the exchange have been edited to enhance clarity. Spencer Riggs: I don’t like how your news is portra...
One day without the internet doesn’t seem like that big of a deal until it happens to you. Last Thursday, as my coworkers and I tried to go about getting our work done, we quickly realized just how much we rely on the internet to do our jobs. Just simple things such as typing up the community calendar, getting a graphic for an ad or obtaining information via email, all require the use of a working internet connection. Even while typing up this column, I realized I need the internet to look up m...
I had the chance to visit Japan last month. The only thought I’ve had on my mind since returning is how much I’d like to venture away and see world. I’ve always been fascinated with Japan. Its culture, its history, its myths and traditions. I can’t even remember when this fascination first took hold of me. Maybe it was watching old Godzilla movies late at night with my mother. Perhaps it was having played video games for so long, that the more Japanese-influenced titles took hold on me. All I kn...
Overall, we think 2018 was a good year for Green River and Sweetwater County. Green River celebrated its 150th birthday to a celebration worthy of something that occurs once every 150 years. The city has made strides in work on the UP Depot building, accomplishing enough to fulfill the conditions of the city’s original five-year lease, opening up a 99-year lease for the building. Work continues on the Tomahawk building and its owners hope to bring businesses into the historic structure when the elevator and other essentials are in place. B...
I live many miles from Green River, but I remember visiting you town back in 2013. I enjoyed the motel and the food up near the interstate. The HR299 bill, which Senator Enzi objected to, was not a new expenditure. It was simply a return of benefits that were taken from the Blue Water Navy back in 2002. For 16 years, we have been exiled from the thousands of Vietnam veterans whose claims come on the VA acknowledging that the veteran has illnesses that may have come from Agent Orange. These veterans who served what is referred to as in-country...
With the attorney general’s decision that skill games terminals are illegal and playing those machines is considered gambling under state law, residents who enjoyed playing those machines are likely out of a means to enjoy those games. Of course, a person could travel to Riverton or Lander and enjoy a traditional slot machine at a reservation casino. Residents could also decide to play one of the historic horse racing terminals, which look a lot like slot machines, available nearby as the attorney general’s opinion does not impact historic hor...
We owe our veterans, who have sacrificed for their country, our careful consideration of legislation that would affect them so much. The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act is no exception. Yet the Veterans Administration continues to have serious concerns. This could impact veterans across the board. We need to carefully increase benefits. As Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee tasked with oversight and enforcing rules on government spending, I have to be concerned that the bill would cost far more than originally estimated. More than...
The other day came a lengthy report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announcing worrisome findings for anyone with a Medicare Advantage plan and anyone thinking about buying one in the future. The findings are also relevant to anyone buying any kind of health insurance this year. The ominous takeaway? The information given to consumers in the provider directories is deeply flawed, often misleading, inaccurate, and says CMS, “can create a barrier to care.” Imagine choosing a plan based on the information that your doctor...
Anyone stopping at the Green River Post Office Tuesday afternoon would have seen the support our community has for our servicemen. A trailer packed with priority boxes was brought to the post office by members of the VFW, sending them to soldiers stationed overseas. The fact a community the size of Green River can manage to donate enough care packages to fill a truck trailer is impressive at any stretch of the imagination and speaks to Green River residents’ dedication to those serving in the armed forces. Unfortunately for Wyoming, U.S. S...
Over 100 years ago Abner Luman created the Green River Drift, a grazing system where he moved his cows more than 100 miles each way from near La Barge to the upper Green River near Union Pass, and then back again. The cows grazed slowly up the Green as the grass greened up in the spring, spent the summer in high meadows, and grazed slowly back down to La Barge in the fall. The grazing during the trip, both up and down, was a crucial portion of the annual feed for his herd. The Green River Drift is still in place today, though not quite as long....
Ah. Yes. It’s the case of the missing library books: part two. During this past month, my sons, Matthew, 8, and John, 6, have managed to misplace three library books. Even though I check their backpacks every day when they get home, things still wind up disappearing. The one book Matthew had checked out I never saw him bring home. This led to an even bigger question. Where did the book go between our house and the school? I asked him about the missing book that I can’t seem to remember the tit...
I read an article by Drs. Srini Pillay and David R. McDuff in the Nov./Dec. 2018 issue of Coach and AD, where they discussed how student-athletes can sharpen their minds by actually intentionally “un-focusing.” I really enjoyed this article and I am going to try to instill some of their tips and reminders into my own life. After all, who couldn’t stand to sharpen their mind a bit? So, I’ll share with you! The authors point out that no matter how hard we try to concentrate on tasks, our minds do wander. I know mine does and in the past, I have...
The area west of Green River, past Jamestown, is poised to explode with development in the next few years. A Love’s Travel Stop is going through the permitting process and should that project come to fruition, it wouldn’t be hard to see other developments like a restaurant or some other business built to attract people off of Interstate 80. With that realization, it seems like the vision of past mayors to see expansion west of Green River was the correct course for the city to take and unfortunately, failed to navigate to completion. Past pro...
No one can argue that safety is a priority concern when a school has an active shooter on its grounds. One university is pioneering a rather unique approach to helping students and faculty remain safe and fight back against an assailant. Oakland University, near Detroit, recently purchased 2,500 hockey pucks to distribute to students and faculty. The university has a no weapons policy and Mark Gordon, the university’s police chief, initially suggested using a puck to distract a shooter. ...
Running for an elective office is something I had never pictured myself doing. I’ve even looked down on politicians as somewhat less than human. Then one day I read something written by the Sweetwater County Conservation District (SWCCD), in March, 2018. This could not stand. Something had to be done. It was so utterly wrong and misleading, even using as a supporting document RS2477, written in 1866, then repealed in 1976, that I was shocked and almost vomited. I was mortified at the low level to which a government advisory committee would s...
What will happen to the Carnegie Library building in Green River? Right now, it’s safe to say no one really knows what the future holds for one of Green River’s landmark buildings. However, we believe if the building can be saved, it should be. The most important reason for preserving the building is its historical and aesthetic value it gives the city. Generations of residents remember going to Sweetwater County Library when it was housed in the building, while others attest to the building housing the most beautiful courtroom in Wyoming whe...
Remember when we used to have Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas on separate days? I do too. It used to be the holidays were more separated. Now, it seems like the commercialism of it all has completely taken over. I thought it was bad enough when Christmas items were out before Thanksgiving, but this year some stores had Halloween and Christmas items on sale in the same aisle. To me that’s just nuts. The only time Christmas items should ever be in the same aisle as Halloween is if it’s a S...
The Food and Drug Administration just announced it would once again try to regulate tobacco products. This time the target of the agency’s regulatory hand is what it believes is the growing menace of flavored e-cigarettes and other tobacco products used by young people who’ve turned to vaping and smoking. The FDA said about 3.6 million kids under age 18 now admit they use e-cigarettes. That’s an alarming number and is worrisome because FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb has noted that almost all current smokers started when they were kids....
