Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
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Educational practitioner and researcher Dr. Rick DuFour coined the phrase “the genius of AND versus the tyranny of OR.” His theory can be applied to the current school funding crisis in Wyoming. Many times when we talk about a funding shortage for any fundamental service, we often utilize the “tyranny of OR” to defeat solutions to our problems. What I mean by that is that we often make the assumption that we must sacrifice one group of people, or one measure, to save another. We rationalize our position with the protection of one, at the exp...
Once a Bobcat, always a Bobcat. Whether you were born and raised in Hot Springs County or you have children participating in sports in the district, chances are you “bleed purple and gold” for the Thermopolis Bobcats. That’s why it is so disappointing that a simple act of support for our football team has resulted in someone being such a wet blanket they made enough phone calls to get the practice stopped. Fireworks for touchdowns. Our fire department is on the sidelines of each game, sounding off their sirens and flashing their lights every...
The time has finally come when the temperature drops enough to make me think about stepping outside with a jacket, and once again I’ll be stubborn enough to keep it hanging on the rack for just a few days more. I like the fall because it gives a nice reprieve between the heat of summer and the chill of winter, a time where the weather is just perfect in my opinion. I also remember fondly waiting for my folks and older brothers to rake up the leaves in the yard. As I was still a bit small to b...
As we celebrate National School Lunch week, I got to thinking back on growing up in Thermopolis and the wonderful lunch ladies we had and the delicious meals they used to make for us. You see, in those days, no one left campus to pop into a fast food joint for lunch, you ate in the lunchroom with everyone else. The lunch ladies were awesome. In my young mind they were all “grandmothers” who knew what they were doing in the kitchen. Everything we had was made from scratch, from the giant pan...
How ‘bout them Bobcats? The Thermopolis Middle School football team finished 7 and 0 this season. Wow what a season. I would like to thank all of the kids for their hard work and dedication for pulling together to make a winning team. The coaches did an amazing job with these kids throughout the season. The support that these kids got from family and friends was fantastic. When they were 4 and 0 and started playing on their home field, we decided we would show our support during the home games. We would fire a type of firework called a s...
Please walk your dog on a leash in parks in town that have signs that state “Dogs on leash.” Why? Why have a dog on a leash? Because some of us who are disabled and do not want dog problems can be at a city park too and have “peace” without dogs harassing us or scaring us, or stepping in dog “doo doo.” You get the picture! I recently went to a city park here in town. On three occasions we went, and dog owners did not have dogs on leash. We ended up leaving each time. When I asked “Why?’ to dog owners, the owners’ answers were: “I will whe...
Last week I shared about the idea that cuts mean different things to different people, and as long as your children/grandchildren are not affected, they may not bother you that much. This week, I want to touch on how we are all tied together. Roughly 85 percent of school budgets consist of staffing costs. In education it is simple, we need staff to educate our students. School funding cuts equals less people and fewer programs. Less staff also means less patronage to our local businesses and less tax base directly affecting our local economy....
Since the end of summer, it seems, there’s been a bombardment of “holiday fever” with decorations out for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day and, yes, even Christmas. But what you might not realize is we’re currently in the middle of a holiday week, as National Newspaper Week lands this year on Oct. 1-7. The week officially began in 1940, built off an effort for a Newspaper Appreciation Week from six years previous. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Real Newspapers . . . Real News” and could not be more fitting for the times we live...
I have some concerns about a couple of articles in the Sept. 21 edition of the paper. At the Town Council meeting discussion of the new taxpayer funded Memorial Hospital, the Board was asking for an additional $1.5 million as there were three “unforeseen expenses.” 1. Due to geotechnical investigation, the hospital addition will need a stronger foundation. We have the “largest mineral hot springs in the world,” and it surprises the engineers NOW that we need special foundations? 2. I think anyone with eyes and a year of college could see the...
Is there room for more cuts and efficiencies with schools? The answer depends on what is important to you. Big School/Small School: In small schools one certified staff member represents an entire elective program. Band, agriculture, art, and digital learning are just a few of the programs that are represented by only one or a partial teacher in HSCSD #1. Reducing a position can eliminate an entire program and student opportunity. Personal Importance: I learned long ago that every person’s passion may not be important to others, but that d...
There is a lot to be said for living in a small town in Wyoming. For instance, we don’t have to worry about football players taking a knee during the National Anthem as not only are their mothers watching, but every man, woman and child in the county is at the field, too, especially during Homecoming. We are fortunate to have young people in our schools who not only have a love for country, but are dyed-in-the-wool Bobcats. Generations of parents and grandparents still consider themselves Bobcats, no matter where they may have gone to c...
The 2018 Wyoming Legislature reconvenes on February 12, 2018 to begin the budget session. Many legislators have shared publicly they have no interest in addressing the shortfall in state education funding with additional revenue sources. My last column addressed the cuts that have taken place in HSCSD #1 since 2010, and that the legislature has a constitutional obligation to provide for education, and thirty-six other fundamental rights in Article I. The Wyoming Legislature could choose to ignore the shortfall in funding in the upcoming...
As the seasons change once again, another season comes into play as well — hunting. No doubt those looking to bag a deer, antelope or other game have their spots picked out and have already circled dates and times for when they’re going out. For the younger hunters, and those adults who have never been on a hunt, this experience is heightened by the prospect of bagging that first animal and the pride that comes from not only a successful hunt but being able to use the meat in recipes, the hide or fur in clothing or just to have a mount to dec...
What educational choices do we want for the children of our community? Last week I shared in regard to fundamental rights provided by the Wyoming Constitution with regard to education and the impact of the Wyoming Legislature’s choice to leave out the external cost adjustment component of the Wyoming school funding model since 2010 to our students’ education. This week I want to focus on reductions that have taken place since that time in HSCSD #1. Complete program eliminations include: the family consumer science (home economics) program tha...
Those of us who live in Hot Springs County appreciate our unique treasures and pride ourselves on being friendly to those who visit our community to enjoy those attractions. Receiving feedback from a visitor about their experiences while visiting Thermopolis is necessary to measure how we are doing. Last weekend a man from Tennessee travelled to Thermopolis to attend the WYO Quarter Horse Ranch Sale. While here, he stayed at a hotel, ate at restaurants, had drinks at a bar, enjoyed a dinosaur dig and more. To see this community through the...
It can take a significant event for us to remember where we were and exactly what we were doing at a given time. For those born in the early 2000's and before, that came in the form of planes crashed into the World Trade Center. For myself, I remember going about my normal routine in college until I passed by the television in the cafeteria and wondered at what I was seeing. It was a sentiment expressed by my classmates, friends, family who called, and personally the reality of it didn't really...
It starts with that nip in the morning air – we turn on the heater in the car to go to work and the AC when we come home. The water bill goes down and the heating bill starts going up. Then there’s that different smell in the air as the leaves turn red and yellow, cheering football fans, Oktobrewfest, bugling elk and then State Football and State Volleyball. Next thing you know the little goblins are running from house to house getting treats, grandma is roasting that perfect turkey for Tha...
I know the importance of the Hot Springs County Senior Citizens Center and its role in our community. We are in essence a retirement community and it’s because of resources like the Hot Springs County Senior Citizens Center that we are able to keep promoting healthy living and lifestyles for our much-respected aging population. Currently the senior citizens center provides many different activities including billiards, card games, Bingo, a library and even touring trips. In my humble opinion, even if all the center offered was an opportunity to...
In my last column, I touched on the significance of our forefathers providing education as a guaranteed fundamental right to the citizens of Wyoming. (Article I Section 23 provides for education). Article 7-1 of the Wyoming Constitution states: The legislature shall provide for the establishment and maintenance of a complete and uniform system of public instruction, embracing free elementary schools of every needed kind and grade, a university with such technical and professional departments as the public good may require and the means of the s...
This past weekend, all of our fall sports got into full swing as the Hot Springs County High School Football program had its opener against Shoshoni. It was great to come out of the starting gate with a win, as the Bobcats took down the Rangers 48-0. Our middle school players also kept Shoshoni out of the endzone in their 42-point victory. It was also a night for some amazing accomplishments by individual players as well. But, awesome as the victory is, there’s still a long way to go before those late October and early November, and, h...
We have been very fortunate this summer (knock wood) to have missed any kind of major fire in Hot Springs County. As we watch the devastation of Hurricane Harvey and wait for landfall of Hurricane Irma, let us not forget there are 44 fires burning in our neighboring Montana. Add to that fires burning across Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California and its no wonder our skies are smoky. As of last Friday, there were 106 new fires, including four new large fires. Fifty of those are nowhere close...
Another Labor Day has been here and we take a day off of work, we go to the lake, we have a picnic and no one knows what we are celebrating. Ask 100 people what Labor Day is about and you might get one or two right answers. No one under 30 has a clue. And I bet less than one in a thousand can name one Labor Leader, past or present (and Jimmy Hoffa doesn’t count). For those that don’t know, from late 1800 to mid-1900 the labor movement in the United States aimed at protecting the industrial workers (often women, children, and people of col...
As of this weekend, members of at least 16 teams – fully one-half of the NFL – have protested during the playing of the national anthem, by sitting, kneeling, eating, or raising a clenched fist. The respectful and patriotic practices of standing, covering your heart with your right hand or cap, and maybe even singing, were ignored by these “men.” It should be noted that these “men” collectively earn hundreds of millions of dollars each year playing a game, a game that is not played anywhere else professionally (as far as I know) except in Canad...
If not for change and man’s innate desire to keep moving, everyone west of the Mississippi would still be crammed, elbow to elbow in New York, Ellis Island would never have been built and the Statue of Liberty wouldn’t be gracing the harbor. Of course, with change comes some measure of inconvenience. Ironically, “convenience” plays into the most recent change to the Thermopolis landscape as we watch the demolition of Maverik, a “convenience” store. It’s sure to create some issues, missing one of our gas stations for several weeks, but be...
Greetings Hot Springs County Patrons, The new school year is off to a terrific start. Students and staff are settling into their classes, and parents and families are establishing their routines. There is a great deal of positive energy at the start of a new school year. For our seniors, they are experiencing their “last first-day”, and for our youngest students, it is the beginning of a journey that will literally change their lives. Having had the humbling privilege of serving children for more than two decades, I have had the great opp...
