Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
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As I report at the end of week four of the 67th General Session of the Wyoming Legislature, the Wyoming Senate is in the middle of third reading debate on SF0001, also known as the supplemental budget bill. Budget debate signals perhaps the Legislature’s most important responsibility: balancing our state’s checkbook and allocating taxpayers’ hard-earned money. Unlike many recent sessions, this year lawmakers start with the fortunate question of how to appropriate a nearly $2 billion surpl...
Your newspaper and newspapers across Wyoming are advocating in the state legislature to make government information more accessible to you. In Wyoming; state, county, city, school district and other governmental entities are legally directed to publish minutes of meetings, payroll information, changes in statutes and zoning, bid information and other particulars in local newspapers to notify the public of their actions. The Wyoming Press Association has brought a bill to the 67th Wyoming Legislature requiring the state’s newspapers to p...
As you may have seen on FOX News and other major media outlets, Wyoming experienced quite a week in the national news spotlight due to a resolution brought forward in the Senate. Senate Joint Resolution SJ0004 Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035 pushes back against bans on new sales of cars with internal combustion engines in states like California and New York. Although it's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement – and not an actual ban – I am pleased to see that this resolution str...
I’m sorry, but you can’t have my knife. I might be an American now, but that doesn’t mean I will – or even can – eat my meals using nothing but a fork. What lunacy is this, anyway? I’ve never been able to fathom why it would be considered a good idea to set aside half your available tools. Logically speaking, it’s much the same scenario as using a hammer without the bother of a nail. In both cases, the two things were designed to go together, so surely this is just a good way to make life 50%...
Dear Editor, Crook County’s State House Representative, Chip Neiman, in his new position of power in the legislature (Majority Floor Leader) has been given the ability to keep bills from coming to the floor for a vote. He is currently holding two bills that are critical to increasing healthcare access in Wyoming. House Bill 04 would expand Medicaid coverage as it currently exists for new mothers to 12 months after they give birth. Not passing this bill would decrease the time new mothers can access postpartum care through Medicaid to only 60 d...
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart (Heb. 6:9). Good. A sufficient and solid word that often gets lost in settling for less or demanding more. Humanity finds trouble in thinking God is holding out on them and begins searching for more, without realizing additions are not always better. It is finding through a relationship with God (discernment) when, where and how to be satisfied. That ability to see, balance and experience the goodness of God. Good started from the beginning...
Dear Editor, We need revenue for our counties’ bills. Medicaid expansion could help us. We have sixteen Critical Access Hospitals in Wyoming. Crook County has a crucial Critical Access Hospital. Medicaid expansion is not a freebie giveaway. Medicaid expansion could keep hospitals’ doors open by helping to pay hospitals’ uncollectible debt. Since Montana passed Medicaid expansion not one Critical Access Hospital has had to close. Our counties need revenue. House Bill 80 is commonly referred to as Medicaid expansion. Please ask your legis...
As you may have seen on FOX News and other major media outlets, Wyoming experienced quite a week in the national news spotlight due to a resolution brought forward in the Senate. Senate Joint Resolution SJ0004 Phasing out new electric vehicle sales by 2035 pushes back against bans on new sales of cars with internal combustion engines in states like California and New York. Although it’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement – and not an actual ban – I am pleased to see that this resolution struc...
Wasn’t that a fun bout of flu that’s been making its way round town? I’d almost forgotten about normal coughs and sneezes that don’t have anything to do with a pandemic but, as it turns out, I’d have been fine with them staying away. The only positive outcome of shivering under a blanket for the better part of a week was that I made an exciting new discovery. Well, it was new to me, at least. For the last decade, I’ve worn ear plugs to ensure I get a decent amount of sleep. Once I’m fully under,...
By Ogden Driskill Last week, the Wyoming Legislature gaveled in the start of the 67th Legislative Session. This year, I was elected by my colleagues to serve as Senate President, an honor I never imagined when I first stepped into the Capitol as a freshman senator more than a decade ago. In this role, I inherit a noble legacy of servant leadership – and a solemn charge to continue to build upon it. The first week of session is dedicated to legislative ceremonies, taking the oath of office and or...
Oh Harry, whatever are we all to do with you? And I do mean “we”, because the wayward second son of King Charles III is as much your problem these days as he is ours. If you’ve somehow managed to miss the latest installment of several years’ worth of family drama, Prince Harry (he’s still a prince, right? Even I can’t keep up) has vomited a lifetime of resentment towards his family and the paparazzi into the pages of his newly released memoir. It will come as little surprise to you that I cons...
Dear NP, The community has noticed an uptick in RSV cases. It may be helpful to talk about RSV, what it is, how it is treated and how it affects certain age groups more severely than others. Dear Reader, Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a respiratory illness that usually causes mild cold-like symptoms. Infections usually clear up in a week or two, but in infants and older adults, RSV can be severe. In these age groups, conditions like bronchiolitis (inflammation in the small airways) or...
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” – John 14:6 Truth. Not something we desire it to be or can fabricate on our own. It is the necessity of living from and for, yet many attempt to skirt, bend and circumvent (lie). In dealing with truth there is the realization of fullness, goodness and soundness. It is the standard of life, given by the Creator of the universe. It is one small word but contains the largeness for living. Definition from the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary: Truth...
I don’t suppose you noticed that it was a bit chilly over Christmas? I know I did because, in all my days, I have never experienced temperatures like it. But when I told my mother that it was 50 degrees warmer in my fridge than it was outside the door, she scoffed. When I complained that I’d had to put socks on inside the house, she wasn’t impressed, even though she knows full well that socks are my lifelong nemesis and I have the same relationship with keeping them on my feet as your average to...
Since I wrote my column about the architectural prowess of King Charles, a few people have told me that he isn’t quite the person they always thought he was. This didn’t surprise me – on this side of the pond, he’s mainly known as the man who broke Princess Diana’s heart. But while the tale of Diana is a sad one, it’s not what defines him. To be clear, I was a huge fan of the princess – I almost even met her, when she flew to my home town by helicopter and spent a great deal of time speaking...
Dear NP, My primary care provider has offered me the bivalent COVID booster. Should I get it if I have already had COVID and multiple COVID vaccines? Are there any different side effects than the original COVID booster? Does it work well? Dear Reader, We’d all hoped that COVID-19 infections would be a thing of the past by now, but the reality is that infections continue to occur. Older adults are at the highest risk of getting very sick from COVID-19, and there is a higher risk of death for t...
Nestled on the western border of Dorset is a place I’ve only just discovered. Somehow, I’ve gone decades without realizing that a town of almost 5000 people – with all the associated amenities – exists just a short drive from my own home town. Obviously this came as a surprise and caused some deep reflection on my observation skills, but then it turned out that Poundbury’s skill at playing hide-and-seek is not the most interesting thing about it. The more I delved into its history, the more...
“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” (Rev. 4:11) Existence. Life, reality, presence, subsistence, actuality. It is not something that is merely or non as the attaching of words before or after does not change it or you. It is who we are. The truth of the matter and all that matters in human life is that existence has always intended to mean something. It is from Someone, towards another for all. It’s the substance (not a shadow) of not only...
How do you kick back and enjoy your favorite sporting event when you know that people have suffered to make it happen? It’s a question that billions of us have been forced to ask ourselves over the last couple of weeks. The 2022 World Cup is now happening in Qatar, and there’s quite a few things wrong with that statement. First and foremost, it’s tough to appreciate the temporary soccer stadiums, made from recycled shipping containers that will then be dismantled and sent to under-developed coun...
Dear Editor, I’m finding it harder and harder to understand what has happened to the politics in this country and our county especially. I understand being passionate for a candidate or a cause but I don’t understand the hate for the opposing views that seems to come with it these days. I’ve never seen anyone win an argument by hating the other person the most. I understand the system is set up as Republicans versus Democrats. The “us versus them”, as they say. So, we became a state full of Republicans because we decided that was the closest p...
Dear Editor, I appreciate Buck Bock’s letter to the editor in last week’s Sundance Times. There are a few factual errors that perhaps need to be addressed. First, when Senator Driskill met with the Crook County Republican Central Committee on October 17, I was in the Sierra Madre mountains hunting elk. I left on the 14th and didn’t return till late Wednesday night on the 19th. So, I wasn’t even in the county for that meeting. Secondly, I am not currently a Crook County Central Committee member. So, I could not have cast a vote had I actuall...
Dear Editor, Recently, Hu Jintao was escorted from The Great Hall of the People during the Chinese Communist Party Congress for, apparently, speaking out against the Party. How sad for the 79-year-old to lose the support of the party he has belonged to his whole adult life for failure to toe the party line. I suspect Ogden Driskill and Liz Cheney can commiserate with Mr. Hu. Brad McKim Dear Editor, Once again, the will of the Republican voters is not being upheld by the Republican GOP committee members. As a Republican voter it upsets me that...
I write to you this week as a true American. Yes, I can guess what you're thinking, but it's true. I know I already pledged to the flag and took my tests and learned lots of new things, and I already hung my first flag. You're right, I've been living here and partaking of American traditions and lifestyle, and I was doing that even before I was granted my citizenship. But today, I did something that I have not been allowed to do for over a decade of living in this nation. I voted. I made my way...
Dear Editor, Once upon a time the Crook County Republican Party reflected the custom and culture of the citizens it represented. The Central Committee was made up of people with strong personalities, and the precinct people who represented their neighbors in their voting district knew where they stood. I sat at the Republican tent for a few days during the fair this year. There was a bin full of campaign materials from various candidates for us to put out for people to take. As I sat down, I was concerned that only certain candidates’ p...
Well, that was quick. Hot on the heels of losing the longest-reigning monarch in British history, we have a new record-holder for the shortest-serving prime minister and someone new in charge of the UK for the second time in two months – it’s enough to give you whiplash. Liz Truss was doomed from the start, but few could have predicted she’d only last 45 days in the job. George Canning, the man who held this dubious record before her, managed five months – and he didn’t really step down so m...
