Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Sorted by date Results 501 - 525 of 527
No matter where you were this weekend, you couldn’t escape the news: Two Police Officers Killed in Topeka; One Killed Outside Theater in San Antonio; Man Fires 50 Shots at Sacramento Mall; Man Goes on Stabbing Spree in China; Gunman Kills 26 in Newtown, Conn. How do you respond to this? The outcry from the public has been about gun control on one side and mental health reform on the other. So the question to myself is, “Where do I stand?” I think most people can tell I am not a staunch conservative. In fact, I tend to have Liberal leani...
So, what do you think? Will the earth end on Dec. 21st? For some of you, reading this will prove the earth does not follow the supposed end of earth supposedly predicted by the Mayan Calendar — after all you got the paper on the 21st or later and are reading it. For others who get the paper before the 21st … well, you may still be wondering what will happen on Friday. Just exactly when will the end come on the 21st? Will it happen at noon in each time zone? All at once all over? I have to tel...
Cody native Shelley Simonton, while volunteering as a Salvation Army bell ringer, makes this observation: “Those who appear to have the least, ALWAYS find spare change or a shaggy dollar to put in the bucket.” Her Facebook post caught my attention as I was doing research for my annual column about “the perfect Wyoming Christmas gift.” It sometimes takes a lot of years before people truly learn that “giving” makes you feel a lot better than “receiving.” An example: for the past two decades-plu...
When we tell a friend or provider something we really want, we whisper. We talk low when praying, we are often barely audible when we say I love you to loved ones for the first time or the umpteenth time, and children whisper to Santa their top gift choice for the the year. Wouldn’t you want to scream your longing to make sure they’re heard or in case someone else listening had the power to bestow? Who doesn’t like vocalizing their fancy? No man is an island, and sooner or later, we all need...
As Christmas edges ever closer and families scramble to finish their shopping, another annual occurrence is taking place. That being the annual Christmas parties. For some of us, this isn’t much, maybe a gathering with a few select friends. For others it is a full blown office soiree full of fun, holiday cheer and holiday spirits. It’s those holiday spirits that tend to get people in trouble. According to statistics gathered by www.dmv.org, Alcohol-related crashes are the top cause of death among people age 16-24. Approximately 25,000 are kille...
Yay! My favorite time of the year is here! I can finally play Christmas music without guilt or funny looks from others. I am a huge fan of Christmas music. I have a station dedicated to it on Pandora’s Internet music site, and I organized my CDs so all my Christmas music was in one spot and easy to find. I have tried to analyze why it is that I love this season, and I’m not sure I’ve really gotten to the heart of it all. But I have a fairly decent grip on it. I love winter. Summer is too hot.... Full story
We have a serious problem brewing in Eastern Laramie County, and if we are not careful someone will get hurt ... or worse. Of late, there have been several reports at Pine Bluffs and Burns concerning people driving around school buses stopped to let children off at the school. Even one instance is just inexcusable. We are sure you have heard of the woman in Ohio who drove up on the sidewalk multiple times at a school to avoid having to stop while a bus picked up children from school. The judge in the case provided an interesting sentence — t... Full story
Today is Saint Nicholas Day. A day when a few shoes in America and many more in Europe were filled with candy and coins, straw or coal. All this because of one faithful man many years ago did great things in little ways. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, thieves, children, pawnbrokers, and students in various countries. He is also know as Nicholas Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them...
There is something about the month of December that seems to bring families together. Sure, I know that Christmas is nigh and that could be weighing on it, but I think there is more to it. In December we seem more willing to accept those families members that we would otherwise try to avoid. And, instead of ignoring or avoiding them, we seem to engage in enjoyable conversation with them. I suppose December is a great month to celebrate family in all their glory or glorious faults, whatever the case may be. This weekend my family gathered at the...
I have had a Christmas tree of my very own for a few years. It was a long time coming. In the past someone else has been kind of in charge of the trees in my home. From kindergarten to middle school, my family lived in a home with a family room (translate TV room, pool room, Atari room, etc.) and a living room where mom and dad could visit with their adult friends while my brother and I played or watched TV in the family room. Having those two rooms meant we could have two Christmas trees. The... Full story
Thanksgiving is gone, Black Friday is gone, and we are now in the throws of Cyber Monday. I don’t know about you, but Cyber Monday doesn’t seem to have the appeal that Black Friday does. Perhaps it does. Perhaps because it is “cyber” everyone is locked away indoors huddled over computer screens in search of that one item they can’t live without and we, that are out and about, do see them. That’s probably it. I succumbed to neither day, thankfully. I did not get up in the cold November morning and trudge off to a store only to be blinded by the...
The day after Thanksgiving means limited sleep and excessive spending for some. Others might settle in for a serving of rivalry college football action. And yet, some find their way to the back of their storage room, garage, or tool shed and pull out totes and boxes of Christmas decorations. When I was a kid, my mom kept the Christmas decorations in the crawl space off one of the extra bedrooms in the basement. I was pretty small when I was little, smaller than most kids. So, it usually fell on... Full story
For some weird reason my thoughts have been on this children’s book “Push, Pull Empty, Full” the past couple days. I used to teach pre-school. That book by Tana Hoban was one I used to read to my “kids” to teach them opposites. I personally still have a problem with those concepts. I push on a door that clearly must be pulled open. I pull people who maybe need a little push in the right direction. I see my glass as half-empty, rather than half-full. Or I see my life as too full of stuff and...
Thanksgiving is upon us and, like so many people, I feel compelled to list the things that I am thankful for. First and foremost, I am thankful for my family. I have a wife that loves me and two boys that are simply amazing. I am thankful I have a good job, a roof over my head and friends to call on in my times of need. I know I could go on and on because, truthfully, I have a lot to be thankful for. I am truly blessed, I suppose. But instead I want to list some things that I think all of us should be thankful for. This past election has...
Today, we take time to relish, whip, scoop up and cut into all that we are thankful for. I know I am never thankful enough. It’s much easier to focus on what’s wrong than what’s right. The bad stuff is easier to believe sometimes, and more reliable it seems. It’s really simple to be thankful, just look around. Or even look down to the shoes on your feet, or just your feet. Our extended family has a tradition of speaking about what we are thankful for before eating our feast. Every year, when it...
Thanksgiving is upon us and, like so many people, I feel compelled to list the things that I am thankful for. First and foremost, I am thankful for my family. I have a wife that loves me and two boys that are simply amazing. I am thankful I have a good job, a roof over my head and friends to call on in my times of need. I know I could go on and on because, truthfully, I have a lot to be thankful for. I am truly blessed, I suppose. But instead I want to list some things that I think all of us should be thankful for. This past election has... Full story
The elections are over. It almost sounds like a death statement. “Doctor, we have no pulse. Election is dead.” This political season was a rough one. Granted we here in Wyoming didn’t get all the trash talking that those in battleground states got, but we did get our fair share. I wondered for a bit why it was we didn’t get the attack ads when it dawned on me, Wyoming is so Red, there is no point in trying. Sure, the Democrats have to throw a few ads at us to give the appearance that they haven’t forgotten about us, but they saw the writing o...
The elections are over. It almost sounds like a death statement. “Doctor, we have no pulse. Election is dead.” This political season was a rough one. Granted we here in Wyoming didn’t get all the trash talking that those in battleground states got, but we did get our fair share. I wondered for a bit why it was we didn’t get the attack ads when it dawned on me, Wyoming is so Red, there is no point in trying. Sure, the Democrats have to throw a few ads at us to give the appearance that they haven’t forgotten about us, but they saw the writing o...
Someone was sitting in our pew on Sunday. Just one man in a pew all to himself. Blaming life and lack of sleep, we haven’t been using our pew much in the past months. It’s good to know someone else is polishing the wood and it doesn’t go cold from lack of use. It might be a Lutheran thing, but I feel almost “entitled” to my seat at our small church. Not really assigned but it feels odd to sit somewhere else. I suppose we could have said hi, and asked him to scoot over. The poor guy probably...
The time change came later this year. A few years back, someone who gets paid to make decisions that change our lives decided it would fit better the first weekend in November. Arizona and Hawaii still think it doesn’t fit anywhere, so they stay on standard time all through the year. On November 4th, we turned our clocks back one hour, losing an hour each day. The simple reason for Daylight Savings Time is to take advantage of the daylight (sunlight) hours. For many people that work outside, thi...
This weekend, every town, in every state, will host some sort of celebration to honor the men and women of the United States Armed Services in honor of Veterans Day, this Sunday. Most of these men and women entered the services freely, some of them were drafted. It doesn’t matter. What matters is they all went. They went while you and I stayed home, went to college, got married and started a family. Some of them fought. Some of them never saw action. Some of them stayed back in support. Some of them never came home. Some never came home fully....
The time change came later this year. A few years back, someone who gets paid to make decisions that change our lives decided it would fit better the first weekend in November. Arizona and Hawaii still think it doesn’t fit anywhere, so they stay on standard time all through the year. On November 4th, we turned our clocks back one hour, losing an hour each day. The simple reason for Daylight Savings Time is to take advantage of the daylight (sunlight) hours. For many people that work outside, thi...
Maybe it’s just me and my old fashioned ways, but there is something very faithful about an old barn. Time and busy humans travel on by and seem to forget they are there. They stand through wind and rain, lean a bit more during road construction and absorb the exhaust of vehicles. Problems sometimes seem like stubborn old barns. The other night the tub was not draining. I did what every single-mother-wanna-be-plumber does. I found the longest flat head screw driver and shoved it down the d...
That phrase has been bandied about for most of this year as the voting public has been subjected to months of political ads on TV (thank goodness for DVR!) and in the mail (which goes in the circular file). The candidates are almost done trying to tickle our ear to earn our vote. Wouldn’t it be nice if true change were to occur and our ear wouldn’t get tickled, but instead we were told the truth? We all know the economy is not what we want and need it to be. We all know insurance is a mess, soc...
Election thoughts: • Tuesday’s presidential election sure feels similar to another one back in 1980. That election featured a weakened Democrat incumbent Jimmy Carter being contested by an aggressive Republican Ronald Reagan. And yes, turmoil in the Mideast was rampant and the economy at home was flat. Polls had the candidates close on election eve with Reagan slightly ahead. It ended up a near-landslide for Reagan. Self-described casino odds maker Wayne Root recently recalled that earlier elect...
