Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community
Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community
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The Crook County Medical Foundation presented portable AED defibrillators to representatives from the county's volunteer firefighter departments last week. The foundation purchased the AEDs after hearing there was a need for them on the trucks, said member Judy Hutchinson. Portable AEDs can be used to revive a person after a sudden cardiac arrest. Firefighters are regularly called to the scene of vehicle accidents and other emergencies during which having such a piece of equipment available...
Crook County Natural Resource District has teamed up with Keyhole State Park to purchase and install signage that will educate the public about the dangers of harmful cyanotoxins caused by cyanobacteria algae blooms. The signs were delivered to the park's superintendent, Greg Deveraux, last week – a timely moment to install them, as it turns out, because the bloom advisory changed to a toxin advisory on October 27. According to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, advisories are i...
A portion of the trails in the Bearlodge that are popularly used by recreationists during the snowy months of the year will be closed this winter due to a timber stand improvement project. The U.S. Forest Service has announced that certain trails north and west of Warren Peak will be closed to snowmobiles to make way for the Woods Timber Stand Improvement project, which will involve thinning of certain pine stands to improve the growth of the remaining trees, diversify habitat and reduce fire...
The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) is warning that this year’s flu season could be an active one. After a couple of years of much less flu than usual, the contagious virus is expected to be back in full circulation this winter. “Largely due to widespread personal precautions related to COVID-19, reported flu activity was unusually low over the past two flu seasons in Wyoming and across the country. There are indications that may not be the case again,” said Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer. “Unfortunately, we may be back to normal...
Historically speaking, political parties tend to support their winning candidates from a primary election as they move forward to the general. Not this time, though, according to Senator Ogden Driskill, who is accusing the central committee for the Crook County Republican Party of going against its own bylaws in an effort to tacitly support his write-in opponent. At this time, the central committee has not officially endorsed anyone for Senate District 1. Driskill, however, argues that the party’s failure to support his candidacy is de facto s...
Numerous seats will be filled on the county’s various boards at November’s general election. While many seats are uncontested, two boards in particular will see high levels of competition. To assist voters in making their choice for these contested positions, we asked every candidate for Crook County School District and Crook County Medical Services District to provide a brief bio and answer the question: what was the driving force behind your decision to run for this seat? Hospital Board: At Large (2 seats) Brent Fowler My name is Brent Fow...
Fire restrictions are no longer in place across Crook County. As of Saturday, Fire Warden Doug Leis and the Crook County Commissioners have rescinded the open burn restrictions that have been in place for the last several months. Crook County Fire continues to warn residents that caution is necessary when doing outdoor building and it remains each individual’s responsibility to make sure a fire doesn’t get away from them and make sure to monitor any fire that’s started carefully. Individuals can still be held liable for damages and suppr...
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has announced that an open house public meeting will take place on November 2 in Lusk to solicit early public involvement in the revision of the Newcastle Resource Management Plan (RMP). This process will ultimately create an updated version of the document that defines how the BLM approaches management of everything from livestock grazing and fire management to air quality and minerals on the lands it governs within northeast Wyoming. It’s the first time since 1999 that the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for...
Crook County's two new game wardens introduced themselves to the county commissioners last week and provided information on the rights of citizens if they find themselves face to face with a dangerous predator. Nate Holst has joined the Wyoming Game & Fish department (WGF) as the Sundance Game Warden, while Mitchell Kern will be his counterpart in Moorcroft. The two men asked to be added to October's agenda after receiving a letter from the commission requesting a more proactive approach to...
A matter of weeks after approving new regulations that give the county a say in the large development projects going on around the county, the Crook County Commissioners heard last week that developers have already found a way to circumvent them. According to Planning Administrator Tim Lyons, the developer on at least one project has assigned each plot on a large acreage to individual LLCs, ensuring that it does not qualify as a subdivision. The conversation cropped up when local landowner Jim Geis approached the commission to request...
According to this year’s accountability scores, all of Crook County’s schools are at least partially meeting the state’s expectations and have not seen a significant drop in performance scores, despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19. Accountability measures have not been determined since the 2018-19 school year, a two-year pause caused by the pandemic. The Wyoming Department of Education reports that half of traditional schools in this state were able to maintain their level of school performance and 20% actually increased their ratin...
Much can change between now and March 20. However, if the case continues to progress along its current schedule, Crook County native Ed Svoboda is expected to stand trial for murder in the first degree on that date. Svoboda has pled not guilty to the charge by reason of mental illness. An August, 2022 date was originally set for his trial, which has experienced delays due to the necessity for an examination of his mental condition at the Wyoming State Hospital. Svoboda has been charged with murder in the first degree following an incident on...
Rare Element Resources (RER) announced this week that its demonstration plant project is advancing towards final detailed engineering while the location for the plant in Upton is prepared for construction. According to a statement from the company, the project has just passed the 60% design milestone and the final detailed engineering is scheduled for completion this year. Permitting and licensing activities are underway, while equipment and services with a long lead time are being made now in order to minimize the effects of inflation and...
If you will need to travel this winter on roads that may be closed due to weather, the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) is inviting you to sign up for two programs that will allow you to do so. Collectively known as the Wyoming Travel Authorization Program (W-TAP), the Wyoming Authorized Travel and Rolling Closure Authorization programs allow drivers to apply for authorization to travel on sections of closed roadways when the department has deemed it is safe enough. The Wyoming Authorized Travel application is open to all drivers, b...
It will be around three months before the county’s new rules for large subdivisions kick in, but the wording of the regulations ensure that any development started before that time will still have to meet the appropriate standards. The Crook County Commissioners convened in a special meeting last week to discuss the large acreage subdivision regulations, consider the public comments received and ultimately adopt the new rules via resolution. According to that resolution, the commission felt it necessary to create the regulations because the c...
At the request of Commissioner Kelly Dennis – himself acting on behalf of a “concerned citizen” in Hulett – a letter has been sent to the Wyoming Game & Fish Commission to request a new approach to a predator problem in the area. Dennis told his fellow commissioners that there is currently an issue with lions around Hulett, and the concerned citizen on whose behalf he was raising the issue does not feel that the game warden’s approach of “avoid it and it will go away” is sufficient. He requested that the county write and submit a letter asking...
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has begun the long process of revising the document that defines how it approaches management of everything from livestock grazing and fire management to air quality and minerals on the lands it governs within northeast Wyoming. It’s the first time this century that the Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the tri-county region of Crook, Weston and Niobrara counties will be revisited. “The last time we went through this process for the Newcastle Field Office was in the 1990s,” says Tyson Finnicum, public affai...
Considering that it was standing room only for a public hearing on the proposed new regulations for large-acre subdivisions within Crook County, there was a surprising lack of resistance to the overall idea of imposing rules. Though many in the audience attended just to listen, a number of people did choose to comment, whether orally or in writing. However, the objections were largely limited to procedural items and none opposed the overall idea of regulations. "This process has been going...
A federal infrastructure bill has partly plugged the funding gap that the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) has been reporting for many years – but the agency is still in a several-hundred million dollar deficit. Scott Taylor, District Engineer for District 4, outlined WYDOT’s funding situation last week during the agency’s annual presentation about upcoming projects and priorities. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), he said, included $91.2 million in extra funds, mostly for surface transportation. This $72.3 milli...
The number of registered voters in Crook County took a significant leap upwards this year, according to the official tallies from August’s primary election. Crook County had 4103 registered voters in total at the 2018 primary, a number that grew only modestly to 4143 by the 2020 general election. This year, on the other hand, 4558 people were registered to vote in the county on election day – an increase of 415 people, or 10%. On election day itself, Crook County gained 205 new voters. Unsurprisingly, the number of ballots that were cast for...
Almost every district-level seat set to appear on the ballot at the upcoming general election will be contested. This November, voters will be asked to make their choices for the school, medical services, natural resource, museum and senior citizen service districts. All district seats are non-partisan. Candidate sign-up closed on Monday. For Crook County School District, four trustee seats will be elected at the general and almost three times that number of candidates have put their names forward. All trustees will serve four-year terms....
With a couple of seats on district boards lacking candidates for the general election, County Clerk Melissa Jones would like to ensure voters are aware that write-ins work differently to the primary election, but are still a valid way to make your choices known. Jones says she was prompted to give voters a reminder after she was asked how many write-in votes a potential board member would need at the general election. “For the museum district, for example, there are only two people running and there are three spots,” she says. The answer, she...
No longer willing to struggle with an electronic medical records (EMR) system that Crook County Medical Services District (CCMSD) employees have precious little liking for, the district has undertaken an extensive vetting process to replace it. It’s all in the name of patient safety and efficiency, according to Wesley Davis, DNP, who led the EMR selection steering committee. Davis gave a presentation to the board of trustees last week after a ten-month process during which the committee was able to whittle its options down to a single f...
Crook County Natural Resource District is looking for landowners to participate in a new conservation project developed in partnership with its counterpart in Weston County. The aim of the Northeast Wyoming Habitat Improvement Partnership is to, "Enhance and conserve wildlife habitats by addressing conifer encroachment and selectively thinning woodland areas to reduce raptor predation in core sage-grouse areas, to promote quality forage for mule deer, to improve elk habitat and to deter another...
The results of last week’s primary election have been verified and confirmed by the county canvassing board, according to County Clerk Melissa Jones. No recounts were necessary and no issues emerged during the process. “We had no automatic recounts and we had no provisional ballots that we had to go through,” says Jones. “Everything went smoothly for us.” It wasn’t that the primary didn’t have some very close races – the two candidates for Pine Haven’s mayor, for example, received exactly the same number of votes at 113 each. However, for nonp...
