Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
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Early Head Start is expanding in Crook County and looking for moms and dads who would be interested in some extra support during their little one’s first years. The program is provided through Wyoming Child and Family Development Inc, a nationally recognized program partnering with parents that is free of charge for pregnant women and children up to three years of age. It involves a weekly home visit focused on the child with the aim of promoting the parents’ ability to support their development. All children are welcome, including those wit...
If you would like to be able to apply pesticides to your property, Crook County Weed & Pest encourages you to attend this fall’s local Private Pesticide Applicator Program class, hosted by UW Extension. The class will be held from noon to 4 p.m. on November 13 in the community room of the Crook County Courthouse. It is tailored for people who want to be able to apply or supervise the application of restricted use pesticides on their own or leased properties, or to do so for other people for no charge or as an exchange of services (in other word...
Since the county commission echoed the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) new rules for small wastewater systems in 2018, domestic septage can only be land applied on the property at which it was generated. Over the last week, the question has been raised of where sludge is supposed to go in cases where it cannot be dumped on the same property. The rules also state, for example, that septic dumping must occur at least a thousand feet from adjacent properties and 300 feet from a private road, water body or stream. On being a...
The idea of bringing the whole county together in a single solution for solid waste disposal has been raised several times since the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) began its push to close unlined landfills, but has always failed to gain traction. With enough time under people’s belts to have seen the repercussions of no longer having a landfill in the county, Sundance Mayor Paul Brooks and Commissioner Fred Devish are hoping that, this time, it might be possible to get the question in front of voters. Brooks raised the q...
Two citizens received variances from the Sundance City Council last week that will allow them to keep living in RVs for now. Others who have been occupying campers for more than two weeks will meanwhile be receiving letters reminding them that they are not in compliance with the city’s ordinances. Continuing a conversation that has been ongoing for the last couple of months regarding people who appear to be living in RVs on the city streets and on private property around town, the council began by considering two variance requests at its r...
The City of Sundance has promised that a solution will be found for what Commissioner Fred Devish described as the “sad little orphan trees in the front of the courthouse”, all of which are “in various states of dying.” Replacing them, said Mayor Paul Brooks, “Is not just as simple as you think,” because it involves a contract for beautification with WYDOT. The question first arose in July, when Facilities Maintenance Supervisor Larry Schommer brought the question to the Sundance City Council after discovering that all four of the trees have...
The potential new owner of the Dog Pound Grill would like to build a detached residential unit behind the eatery. Granting a variance to make this possible is a decision more difficult for the Sundance City Council than it might seem. It’s unclear at this time whether the building would qualify as a tiny house, for which there are currently no rules, or a trailer house, for which approval is needed from the property owner’s neighbors. David Stone approached the council last week to share the details of his proposal and ask for the council to...
Crook County School District (CCSD) continues to fare well in meeting the state's performance expectations, including across-the-board proficiency results assessment that are higher than the average for the state in this year's WY-TOPP assessments. At the elementary and middle school level, Sundance Elementary and Moorcroft Elementary are both exceeding expectations this year, according to the latest Wyoming Department of Education data. Hulett School is meeting expectations. All three schools...
Hunting seasons this fall may be negatively affected by poor deer numbers, according to Sundance Game Warden Nate Holst, but elk and turkeys are doing just fine and should make for plentiful harvest opportunities. Deer The deer population in this county was hit by an outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) a couple of years ago, which affected both white-tailed deer and pronghorn antelope. Cases were identified across the east of the state, including in Crook County, in 2021. EHD is not...
A well-known style of scam in which a person claims to be a member of law enforcement and demands money for an outstanding fine or warrant is reported to have now taken place in Crook County. According to the Crook County Sheriff’s Office, a series of scam calls have been made recently to residents of the county. The call involves a male voice on the phone who claims he is Sheriff Jeff Hodge, badge number 387, and is calling about you having warrants, needing to come in and provide DNA sample or pay fines. The call ends with the statement t...
The last full moon of summer rose over Sundance on Wednesday evening. It not only marked the end of the season, but the last time a blue supermoon will grace the skies until the year 2037. This two-for-one event includes a pair of lunar phenomena, the blue moon and the supermoon. A blue moon is the uncommon occurrence of two full moons in a single calendar month. It gets its name from a 16th-century expression "the moon is blue", which meant something that was impossible. However, after...
In the light of recent cost-of-living increases and a nationwide period of high inflation, Crook County Medical Services District is seeking new ways to increase its liquidity. The Board of Trustees recently approved a rate increase for services and, last week, listened to a presentation from a local government investment pool called Wyoming CLASS. The name stands for “Wyoming Cooperative Liquid Assets Securities System”, a program organized in 2020 to provide public entities in this state with a competitive investment alternative. Par...
Newly announced congressional candidate Reid Rasner will be visiting Sundance during his weekly “town hall meetings” tour of Wyoming next month. Rasner will be present between 10 and 11 a.m. at the Crook County Library on September 16. The meetings are intended to kick off Rasner’s “We the People” tour as he campaigns to win U.S. Senator John Barrasso’s seat in 2024. Rasner describes himself as a proud fourth-generation Wyomingite. He has a diploma from Natrona County High School and a degree from the University of Wyoming and is now a wealt...
With the resignation of Trustee Ed Ray, the Board of Trustees for Crook County Medical Services District is seeking an appointee to fill out his term representing the Moorcroft area. “It is with great sadness that I hereby resign from my position as a member of the Board of Trustees,” wrote Ray in his resignation letter. “I am grateful for the time I served the residents of Crook County and enjoyed my time serving with my fellow trustees.” Candidates to fulfill Ray’s term are asked to contact the board. The trustee position represent...
The Crook County Commission has submitted comments on the Bureau of Land Management’s plans to revise its resource management plan (RMP) for northeast Wyoming. Pointing out that the county needs its natural resources to survive economically, the commission’s letter urges the federal agency to be mindful of the priorities laid out in the Crook County Natural Resource Management Plan (NRMP), which was adopted at the end of 2020. “Crook County’s economic viability is highly dependent on the availability and utilization of natural resourc...
Crook County is one of the focus areas for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) testing this year and hunters are asked for their help to collect lymph node samples. "Game and Fish is requesting samples from herds we've not addressed in a while, where we are trying to get a significant sample size so we can accurately determine what the CWD prevalence is in these herds," says Jessica Jennings-Gaines, Game and Fish Wildlife Health Laboratory supervisor. Deer hunt areas 1 through 6, all located in this...
Taking proactive measures to protect Wyoming’s elections was a major focus for the Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions committee at its interim meeting on Thursday in Douglas. From preventing non-Wyomingites from voting to making sure that private parties cannot fund the election administration process, a number of bills were moved forward – some for further consideration, but others directly to the floor of next year’s legislative session. Voter Residency The first bill on the table aimed to reduce the risk of non-r...
A Sundance native will be inducted into the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame at a ceremony coming up soon in Casper. Wallace Canfield has been named to the Class of 2023. The induction ceremony will be held on September 15 to 16 at the Ramkota and will begin with a Cowboy Social on the Friday evening, which will include a live auction. The next day, vendor areas will be available all day and the induction program itself will start at noon. This event will feature special recognition for each...
After last year returning to “normal” employment levels in the wake of the pandemic, Crook County’s statistics have improved a little more during the busiest season of 2023. According to the latest figures from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Crook County is still one of the most employed counties in the state. In July, just 2.1% of residents of this county were unemployed. This was a drop of 0.5% from June, when the unemployment rate was 2.6%. The unemployment rate was significantly lower than the overall Wyoming average of 3....
A mystery recently solved sets up a peculiar connection between your part of the world and mine. To be specific, between a school just down the road from where I grew up and a town in Colorado. The former is Sherborne School in Dorset, an all-boys private boarding establishment that has been in constant operation for 1300 years. In all that time, as you might imagine, it has boasted some illustrious alumni; in more recent days, it has educated students including Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis,...
Your annual opportunity to rid your home of difficult-to-dispose-of electronics is coming up in a couple of weeks. Crook County Natural Resource District (CCNRD) will be offering this year’s e-cycling events on September 9 and, as always, the first 100 lbs will be free. Properly e-cycling your electronics protects your own digital safety as well as groundwater and the environment. CCNRD utilizes ProTech Computing of Gillette to collect and transport items to MeTech Recycling in Denver, an R2-certified facility. At that point, the electronics a...
Active shooter training isn’t just about school safety. It’s for anyone and everyone who would like to know more about how to protect themselves in a dangerous situation. For this reason, Crook County Sheriff’s Office offers its Critical Incident Response Training to any interested member of the public and will be hosting sessions in each of the four municipalities in the coming weeks. The events are open to anyone and will begin in Sundance on September 12, starting at 4 p.m. and expected to last for between three and four hours. Dates for H...
Suicide continues to rise in the United States and Wyoming continues to top the list in the number of deaths per capita by suicide. “In 2022, Wyoming saw a drop in the number of people who died by suicide but, yet, per capita, we remain at the top nationally. We are experiencing an unprecedented mental health crisis in our country – and here in Crook County, we aren’t immune to it,” says Katie Allen, Crook County Prevention Specialist. “If anything, our residents are struggling in silence. Those that we’ve lost to suicide, and those that...
Crook County saw a 14.1% jump in wages between the first quarters of 2022 and 2023, according to the latest figures from the Wyoming Department of Revenue. The average weekly wage for Crook County employees rose from $898 to $1025 during that time, an increase of 14.1%. Growth was higher in state government at 16.4% and private industry at 16.1%. Wages grew less in federal government (13.7%) and local government (6.6%). The largest increases in the private sector were in professional and technical services at 27%, mining at 21.9%, real estate...
Julian Russell of Michigan has been charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of children after allegedly contacting a 14-year-old girl on social media and encouraging her to send him sexually explicit material. On May 13, a Crook County Sheriff’s Office deputy was dispatched to a Sundance address for a report of a 19-year-old male “messing around with” teenage girls. In his report, the deputy states that his investigation revealed that Russell had been speaking to a 14-year-old girl...
