Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
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It is easy to feel good about Wyoming’s future when visiting the Big Horn Basin. In recent weeks, we have been to events in Worland, Cody and Powell and met with hundreds of optimistic, busy people. In Powell, long-time publisher Dave Bonner, hosted me at their Rotary Club and gave me a tour of his newspaper prior to the meeting. The quality of the Powell Tribune is jaw-dropping. Wyoming is famous for great community newspapers but Bonner has the best (and biggest) staff, per-capita, of any news...
Not sure what a writer from Torrington, Oscar nominations and Rudyard Kipling have in common, but that is what this column covers. Last week, movie nominations were announced for the annual Academy Awards and Wyoming was prominent in both the nominees and the passed over movies. But first, on a recent dark and cold night (-13), I was being forced to watch American Idol by my wife Nancy and, as is normal in our household, I was leafing through a magazine and checking items on my iPad. The latter...
For some reason, small town newspaper publisher-types get called upon often to speak at funerals. I have done it many times. Usually, these folks are capable speakers and often they can put into words those expressions of sorrow and loss that help family and friends cope with the departure of a person who was important to the community. The best I ever knew at this was the late Bob Peck, long-time publisher of the Riverton Ranger. He was extraordinary when called upon to do this job. So who did...
When you talk about Wyoming people or think about our wonderful state, are there specific universal truths and fundamental values that come to mind? Are they unique to our state and to our people here? I always thought so. It makes sense to talk about our truths and values in a column at the beginning of a new year. My quest to identify them started when I ran for state office back in 2002. It seemed like a good idea then if I could identify them. This quest became a much bigger task than I...
Oh no, not again. Or as the old bumper sticker read: “Please God, give me one more boom. This time I promise not to piddle it away” or words to that effect. Our governor and members of the Legislature are preparing for one of the more difficult budget sessions in memory as severance tax revenues are plummeting because of low oil and natural gas prices worldwide. Wyoming is a commodity state, which means that its economy booms or busts, based on the prices that are charged for energy in the for...
If my late father had a favorite winter day, it would have occurred on Dec. 22, 2015, this year. That was the day when the nights started getting shorter and the days started getting longer. As he got older and entered the long dark winter of his own lifetime, I think those ever-longer nights and ever-briefer days would remind him of his own life slipping away. He always looked forward to Dec. 22. He would have a spring in his step as he got up early to mark the fact that we had all made it...
Jerky, books, gadgets and all specific things about Wyoming were some of the ideas sent by friends when I asked them their recommendations as perfect last-minute stocking stuffers this Christmas. Kari Cooper in Jackson recommended a “Wyoming Staycation” where people go skiing, attend a UW sporting event or take part in a myriad of holiday activities all over the state. Historian John Davis of Worland likes the idea of giving gift certificates to local restaurants. He might be thinking about how...
Grrrr and Brrrr. I am sitting in my office in Lander staring out at a foot of snow and cold temperatures and unpleasant thoughts are going through my head. Whew, it is time to take a deep breath. Let’s re-examine and rethink this situation. Winter, what winter? The winter of 2015 has been pretty darned easy so far. For example, Wyoming just enjoyed the most spectacular 45-day October and first half of November in its history. It would have been impossible for the state to have any better w...
It is amazing the difference a year can make in Wyoming when it comes to the economy. In November 2014, I spent some quality time in Douglas, which was the hottest boomtown in the state at that time. Drilling rigs were all over the place and the RV parks were so full the city opened up the normally just summer-only RV sites at the State Fairgrounds to accommodate all the oil field workers. The oil boom, thanks to a technology called fracking, had arrived in Converse County with a bang. New...
It is an event that I call the “Annual Wyoming Reunion.” It occurs each November when 650 people from all corners of the state gather in Cheyenne to celebrate our state, renew old acquaintances and take some vital readings on the condition of business in Wyoming. Every other year the Wyoming Business Alliance/Heritage Society also inducts folks into the new Business Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees came from all over the state. They offer classic examples about what being a good Wyomi...
Sometimes, it is just fun to write about odd and crazy stuff. And there has been no shortage of that here in Wyoming over the past few months. UFOs from Wyoming were in the news recently in Australia. You can find this on Facebook where a photo went viral all over the world, especially down under. It proved to be a photo of a Jackson Hole lake that had a lampshade reflected in a window. Looked just like a UFO was floating out there in space. Someone went to Signal Mountain Lodge and duplicated...
My first chance to watch the late Clay James in action was when he was helping to preserve world peace from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 1989. James, the long-time general manager of the state’s second biggest lodging complex, was hosting U. S. Secretary of State James Baker and Eduard Shevardnadze, the minister of Foreign Affairs for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, for the world peace accords at the end of the Cold War. The location during a spectacular September period was Clay’s dom...
In Wyoming, we love our small towns. From Powell to Wheatland, from Pinedale to Pine Bluffs or from Kemmerer to Sundance, and all places in-between, folks in the Cowboy state love their hometowns. I have had the pleasure of visiting a bunch of them in the past six months promoting my books and it can be confidently stated Wyoming’s small towns are doing okay. Sure, we have a statewide economic setback looming, but for now the state looks healthy and its residents look even healthier. W...
In the past year, two odd stories have occurred, concerning women here in Wyoming that made national news. Both women were matriarchs of their families. First, here in Lander, we had the first confirmed death in the state’s history from rabies when Karen Farthing, 77, died Oct. 3 from complications from an encounter with a bat. Second, in Casper, a well-known businesswoman, Kris Richardson, 61, just vanished in thin air. Her family has posted an incredible reward of $250,000 for information a...
We had so many record rains this past spring that I thought Wyoming could not get more beautiful than it looked in May and June. Everywhere we went we saw green, green, green. Wyoming and the color green used in the same sentence? Really? Heck yes. This fall I have been on the road again and the state now is the more comforting brown, brown, brown. And could the sky be any bluer than it has been during September and October? With May being one of the wettest months in history, September could...
In the past six months, the energy economy in Wyoming has taken some serious hits leaving folks from Gillette to Rock Springs and Cheyenne to Cody nervous and pessimistic. Even Gov. Matt Mead has responded by saying he anticipates implementing $200 million in budget cuts now and during the upcoming legislative budget session. But all is not so dim when it comes to the state economy. In fact the one aspect of Wyoming’s economy that is bright is so bright, it is positively blinding. Tourism, t...
It might have been former U. S. Sen. Al Simpson who said all politics in Wyoming is personal. I would expand on that by claiming Wyoming is such a small state “everything is personal.” On a recent Monday we experienced events that might only happen in a small town. Two members of our community had died. Their families used different funeral homes. And, unfortunately, both funerals were scheduled the same time, Monday morning at 10. Luckily, Lander is a city of about 7,500 people with not ver...
It was always my intention to cause Wyoming’s 180 million year history to come alive in my newest coffee table book about the state. Called Wyoming at 125, Our Place in the West, we have attempted to show what Wyoming looked like over its long history. In every nook and cranny, in every city and town, on every mountain and deep in every valley – well, Wyoming is full of great historical stories. Genesis of this new coffee table book was from the state of Wyoming when a couple of state agencies a...
When I told my kids that I was going to write a column about their 24/7 workweeks, they looked at me like I was a Neanderthal. Most of them have been available by text, email, Facebook, Twitter, Messenger, cell or other means 24/7 from their bosses or colleagues for as long as they can remember. So why write about it now? Maybe it was because both Nancy and I recently attended our 50-year high school reunions and found most every one of these 68-year old people retired or is headed that way. I...
Jimmy Orr and Jon Downing of Cheyenne; Bill Novotny Buffalo; Jim Willox, Douglas; Rosie Berger Sheridan; Phil Nicholas, Noah Novogrodsky and Baend Buus, Laramie; Bill Cubin, Casper; John Brown and Kevin Roberts, Lander; and Brad Bonner of Powell are just a few of the names of possible future Wyoming political leaders that arrived at my desk when I asked my network of friends this question: “Over the next 20 years, who are some of the folks in your area that you think might consider running f...
As I write this, the beautiful view of the Wind River Mountains out of my window is obscured. It is so smoky we are leaving our windows shut because it smells like a brush fire a short distance away. In this case, that brush fire is 1,000 miles away. Northern California and parts of Oregon and Washington are burning up. This smoke is covering up towns all over Wyoming especially in the Big Horn Basin and Wind River Basin. It is hard to find a city or town from Cheyenne to Evanston or Powell to...
The center of my world is Wyoming. But Wyoming is often a long way from the political center of America. The center of the world when it comes to American Presidential politics right now is the state of Iowa. located in the middle of the country and smack during a time of what locals call “dog days,” those humid, sticky days in mid-August, the 20-plus candidates for president all come to the Hawkeye state. The middle of the state in the middle of the country is Des Moines, Iowa’s state capit...
August has to be just about the best month to be in Wyoming. Love the weather. Love the sights. Love traveling around. Unfortunately for us, most of our August travel in the state has seen Nancy and me traveling through the state on our way OUT of the state! We have been in Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa so far in August and are just wanting to be back in the Cowboy State. I am writing this from western Iowa where we are attending Nancy’s high school reunion and the wedding of a f...
Lincoln may soon lose his head as construction dominates our road trip. Of Wyoming’s four seasons, this one can be the longest and the butt of the most complaints. We are talking about “road construction,” one of the four seasons used to describe Wyoming by some grumpy curmudgeons. The other seasons? How about Almost Winter, Winter and Still Winter. I repeat this with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek. As someone who loves all things Wyoming (even that wind), this is a fun way to descr...
Some terrible crimes and some oddball happenings have been occurring here during the hottest time of our Wyoming summer. In many parts of the country, the hottest days of summer are referred to as “dog days” because canines cannot stand the heat and go crazy. And so do people. Horrible, incredible crimes occurred in Riverton and Cheyenne during the hottest days of Wyoming’s summer of 2015. In Riverton, a 13-year city employee walked into a detox facility and tried to kill two American India...
