Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
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A concerned citizen, Sherman Skelton, attended the September meeting of the Travel and Tourism Board to present his thoughts about new developments in the Airbnb world. Skelton said, “I was reading through your minutes of your last meeting. A couple of your guests that were here last month have some proposals in front of the planning commission. I went to last month’s meeting. I am coming to you guys to see if there’s a way to find a collective voice within the county for anybody in hospi...
At the Bobcat Hall of Fame ceremony held at the Thermopolis Middle School, Shawna Farrell, Jack Kuiper and Tom Zupan were inducted. Additionally, members of the 2009 State Champion Football Team were also inducted. Those who attended included players Luke Casciato, Chris Ryan, Tanner Cornwell, William Enis and former assistant coach Matt Mason. Shawna Farrell is a 1998 graduate of Hot Springs County High School and received varsity letters in volleyball, basketball and track and field. She was...
Marie Britting is a local artist who has been painting a variety of images that include still life and plein air landscapes. Her work is currently being featured at the Three Sisters Gallery. During the Covid shutdowns and especially during the cold, snowy winter, Britting spent a majority of her time painting still lifes at her home studio. Britting said about her still life art, "I came to really love it." Britting expanded on her painting through the inspiration of other artists such as...
Newly appointed interim Thermopolis Chief of Police Pat Cornwell started his career in Park County at the Cody jail in 1994, where he worked for five years. Later he was promoted to deputy and then moved to Powell, where he received additional training. In Powell, where he worked for four years, Cornwell said, "We dealt with a lot. We had a lot of college kids living out of town. We did a lot of backing up the Powell Police Department, and they would back us up if we requested it." Later...
Karen Leyba, a speech pathologist at the Children's Resource Center, is celebrating her 30 years of work. Leyba performed speech services and said, "When I started out, I did babies through five-year-olds. And then we had Jenny Manning for a few years that helped, which took over the babies. And Jenny left two years ago now. And so now I'm back to doing all of them. Zero through five-year-olds." Regarding what it is like working with the children, Leyba said, "It's exciting. It's rewarding. To...
During their September 15, meeting, the Hot Springs County Land Use Planning Commission continued to review an application from Elyse Dufour. Dufour is requesting a land use change from the Residential category to the Commercial category to allow short-term rental of a duplex unit, two existing RV spaces and three tent campsites. The property is Lot 1 of the Kirby Creek Subdivision. During the meeting, a public hearing was held with a quorum that included Chairman Adam Estenson, Harvey Seidel...
Recently appointed Hot Springs County Clerk Becky Kersten said her background in accounting gave her the preparation to fulfill her new role. The county's previous Clerk Rose DeSeyn resigned this summer and the county commissioners appointed Kersten to fill the vacancy and finish DeSeyn's term. At that time, Kersten can run for the clerk's office in the election. Kersten's prior occupation was working at Korewitz, Michel,Wright and Associates as an accountant. For four of those years, she was a...
Sergeant Pat Cornwell was named as interim Thermopolis Chief of Police during the September 7 Thermopolis Town Council meeting. Mayor Mike Chimenti announced that Chief Julie Mathews retired on September 15 and said with the council’s approval he wanted to appoint Cornwell as chief beginning September 16 until January 1. Chimenti said that this period of time would be a probationary period and the appointment could become permanent or Cornwell could return to the position of sergeant on J...
The September 9 Chamber of Commerce board meeting was held via Zoom. During old business, they reviewed the Pageant Day Parade, which was held on August 7. Chamber president Howie Samelson said, “It was magnificent. From my standpoint, we, meaning director Meri Ann [Rush] outdid herself for a nonelection year parade.” Rush said there were approximately 26 entries. Rush added, “I think everybody had a nice time. The crowd enjoyed it.” The board made several comments on the new PA system, which e...
Hot Springs State Park (HSSP) Volunteers Kathy and Cliff Vellinga and Warren Wolf spent the past year enjoying their work in the park. The Vellingas volunteered in the park last year and due to the Covid pandemic; they ended up staying longer. Their family's home base is in Las Vegas but the Covid situation was not good there. So, they decided to spend the winter and work through 2021. The Vellingas skirted their trailer and winterized it. Cliff said they got to shovel snow, haul trash and do...
At the August 31, Hot Springs Health board meeting representatives of the hospital staff presented some statements during an Employee Listening Session about their concerns of a vaccination mandate from their employer. Several staff members were present and some spoke to the board. Staff comments One of those speaking was a Nurse who has worked at the hospital for the past three years in med-surgery, the emergency room and postpartum. She presented a statement that read, “The COVID-19 p...
Carol Dockery was awarded the Heart of Agriculture Award by the University of Wyoming at the state fair held in Douglas in August. Nominations were sought from women agricultural producers and agricultural organizations in each county to honor those for active involvement in the industry and engagement in bettering their communities. "We have been diving into the history of women producers in the state for about three years now, and it is a lot bigger than one might think," said University of...
Brett Klein and his girlfriend Shirley Willis have had a successful summer as the new owners of the White Horse Country Story which they bought from the Denton’s in April. Klein moved to Thermopolis from Cheyenne after selling his trucking business. As to how they came to Thermopolis, Klein said “It’s actually kind of a funny story. A good friend of mine and I, we were sitting having a beer and talking about stuff. I was getting sick of the wind in Cheyenne and the population was getting out o...
Justin and Amber Popp recently relocated to Thermopolis. They brought with them their flavored peanut butter business, called PB&J’s. They make and sell flavored peanut butter, a business they originally started in Cheyenne. The start of their company began when they visited various farmer’s markets. Popp said, “We saw a need at the farmer’s markets for flavored peanut butter. You always go and you find bread, you find honey, you find jelly, but you never find peanut butter. So, we decided...
The Wyoming Office of the Attorney General, Division of Victim Services (DVS) has decided to not renew their contract with Hot Springs County’s H.O.P.E. Agency, currently leaving the agency with no apparent source of funding. When asked why H.O.P.E. Agency’s contract was not renewed, Darryl Erickson, Deputy Director of DVS said, “The Division of Victim Services are the funders of victim service providers throughout the state and, of course, the money comes with some strings, some compl...
At the August 3 Thermopolis Town Council meeting Town Attorney Mike Messenger presented an emergency ordinance amending a town code section which changes the automation fee structure as required by Wyoming statutes. Messenger said, “the essence of this is that we have been collecting forty dollars for the state’s automation fee.” The town withdrew from that program on July 1. But they’ve been collecting the forty dollars and the administration wants to start collecting that money because...
At the August 3 Hot Springs County Commissioners meeting held at the Annex Building, the commissioners decided to table the Mike Stevens land use change request because they feel they do not have enough information to make a decision. They are waiting to see any potential changes in the next few weeks that may affect how they decide. The commissioners also tabled the approval of the Black Mountain Road Agreement until September 1, as they said things are not in place yet. Shane Rankin gave his...
Hot Springs County rancher Josh Longwell presented to the Hot Springs County Commissioners his concerns about grizzly bears killing his sheep on his private property. Longwell started off explaining that his ranch was bought in the mid 90s and he said, “At that point, there was not one grizzly bear, not one wolf on that ranch. So to clear this up, we were here first, they weren’t here first.” He said it was a false narrative that they were here first. Longwell continued and said his bigge...
The members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars here in Thermopolis will have their annual picnic at the Kiwanis Shelter in the Hot Springs State Park on Sunday, August 15 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. They plan to honor the three World War II veterans still living here in our town and hope they are able to attend. The veternas are Robert Poch, Ed Hausauer and John Dodge. Ed Hausauer Ed Hausauer is now 96 years old and his Navy service began when he enlisted in Bismarck, N.D. and went to boot camp in San... Full story
The Thermopolis Town Hall has a new bill payment system for the convenience of its residents. Town Treasurer / Clerk Tracey Van Heule and Assistant to the Mayor Fred Crosby invite residents to participate in their Direct Payment program. This program is not an internet-based system but for people who are interested they need to fill out a simple form and provide a canceled check to have their bank account automatically debited each month. This service allows customers to no longer need to write...
Former high school teacher, coach and athletic director, Kathy Taylor received the Distinguished Service Award from the Wyoming Coaches Association. The award comes from a nomination and there are three award winners for the year. Known to her students as "Coach T" she led athletes of volleyball teams, swimmers, basketball and even badminton for over 40 years. Thirty-two of those years she spent in Thermopolis where she eventually became the athletic director. Taylor's reputation with others is...
At the July 27 board meeting at Hot Springs Health, CEO Margie Molitor provided some training for the board from an online board education school called iProtean. Molitor and the board will continue their training at each month’s meeting and also offline. For the growth pillar report, Molitor said that the landscaping is well underway and hopefully will be done by the end of this week. Molitor said they had a very successful survey from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week. They came t...
At the July 20 Hot Springs County Commissioners meeting, Town Engineer Heath Overfield and members of the Thermopolis Town Council attended to give a transfer station project update at the request of the commissioners. Overfield reported that they had a work session at Town Hall in April going through the details and took the commissioners’ suggestions. Based on that work, Overfield updated some cost estimates and looked at the timelines on the town’s end of things for the transition from the la...
Kelly Puntney, who has family ties and residency in Thermopolis, has acquired a beautiful bobcat that was mounted by a taxidermist. Puntney is a landscape architect in Vancouver, Washington and was doing some work for a veterinarian there. This veterinarian had a taxidermied bobcat on display that caught Puntney's eye. The bobcat, while alive, was found with a broken leg or foot and was not able to be healed. Therefore, it was euthanized and stuffed. Puntney wanted to buy the bobcat from the...
At the July 20 Thermopolis Town Council meeting, council member Bill Malloy gave a report about his attendance at the WAM Convention. Malloy said he enjoyed it and that 167 people registered for it with many vendors in attendance. During the reception at the botanical gardens Malloy said about 300 people participated. Malloy commented that it was “a good visiting time.” Malloy discovered in his conversation about how many of the issues the town of Thermopolis faces are very similar to other jur...
