Nobody knows. That’s what lawmakers and experts said over and over again earlier this month when asked if a proposed voucher system that would use public funds to educate kids in private and religious schools violates the Wyoming Constitution. It’s an illogical question because the Wyoming Constitution specifically prohibits such uses. So why are we even talking about this? The plan’s blatant unconstitutionality is all we really need to know.

Veterans, your property taxes are coming up in September. This is a reminder to take care of your exemptions or you may pay more taxes.

The 3rd Annual Bridger Valley SWOT OHV Poker Run will be taking place on Saturday, Aug. 19. The poker run is a joint event sponsored by the Town of Mountain View, American Legion Fort Bridger Post 36 and Southwest Wyoming Off-road Trails (SWOT).

The summer after I graduated high school, my best friend gave me a book entitled “14,000 Things to be Happy About.” It’s a list of random things, most of them small and everyday, to … duh, be happy about. I developed a habit in the following months of picking it up, flipping it open, and marking all the things that made me happy. In the many years since, virtually every entry has been marked. I find myself thinking about that book this summer, when I am frequently reminded of all the things in the world there are to be unhappy about, yet, somehow, I’m generally happy. I therefore present a list of 14 things to be happy about — because 14,000 is just too many for this column.

There are lots of rumors out there that the Evanston Cowboy Days PRCA rodeo is not happening this year because of the construction. The Cowboy Days Committee wants to let everyone know that these rumors are not true.

When a hate group appears in a community, it usually sparks a local debate about the best way to confront it. Lander faced this question last month when white nationalists tried, and failed, to disrupt a drag show celebrating LGBTQ Pride Month. Photos of the anemic protest taken by Wind River Pride showed about 15 men standing on a bridge, hiding their faces, unfurling hateful banners and shouting offensive slogans. Fortunately, these cowardly bullies scurried off in less than 30 minutes without physical violence.

I want to thank Hayden Godfrey for his excellent reporting in the Uinta County Herald. I really liked your recent column, “A final word.” People always complain about the reporter if they don’t like a story. If they read a story they do like, they think the reporter is great, even if the story was poorly written.

John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, was in China eager to revive joint U.S.-China efforts to tackle climate change. Chalk this up as another episode in the Biden administration’s fumbling foreign policy to placate the Chinese Communist Party. China is playing Biden officials for suckers.

Monologues

ear Editor: July 16 marked one year since our nation transitioned to 988, the easy-to-remember, nationwide mental health crisis helpline. This number connects callers with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Congress designated 988 in 2020 and as a part of the federal government’s commitment to addressing the mental health crisis in America, unprecedented federal resources have been invested to scale up crisis centers in support of 988.

Editor: It’s been 247 years — happy birthday, America! America’s path has not been one without question — yet we have much to be thankful for. Our Founding Fathers, through spiritual guidance, came together to give us a document called the Constitution, and later the Bill of Rights, to give diversity of decisions to our various states. Our Founding Fathers and their families suffered many injustices in their endeavors to give America a constitution that gave us the freedoms we have today.

Letter to the editor from Cloey Wall

Letter to the editor from Patricia Bluemel

Editor: As we move forward with the favorable ruling from the Supreme Court, I would like to thank those constituents who backed the plaintiffs and supported the importance of the rule of law. As Americans, we should follow statutes and laws that have been a part of our history for years. We shouldn’t try to usurp what is clearly a part of those laws in the green books or do an “end around” to try to further personal pursuits.

My husband and I have a new baby. Not really. What we have is a new truck, or rather a gently used truck. But it may as well be a new baby the way we treat it. And by “we” I mean “he.” We see automobiles very differently. I admit that I’ve named mine. And that I talk to it and pat its dashboard when it’s done a good job. But when I’m not in it, I hardly give it a thought. As much as I like it, my car is just a way to get me places that are too far to walk to.

Michael Reagan column for Wednesday, June 14, 2023

I still mourn the loss of two pairs of my favorite jeans. There was the one I tore, along with the legs in them, while I was climbing over a barbed wire fence. And there was the one that someone spilled bleach on. I’m not saying who but it was someone I’m married to. You might think both pairs had fashion potential as distressed jeans, but these had gone way beyond distressed to distraught. So had I.

ditor: I want to join with Tim Beppler in calling for Dave Bennett to resign from the Uinta County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees.

First, our duties here wouldn’t be complete without thanking you for making the Uinta County Herald the place you trust for local news. We are proud the Herald stands out as the leading source of news in our region, continuing to win awards and being recognized as one of the top publications in the state in a time where journalism is often under fire. We are committed to local journalism, all local news, all the time in print and on the web.

As a multi-generational native Wyomingite, I grew up with tales of the hard-working folk who settled the American West. Not only were we regularly taught about these people at school, stories passed down through generations of those who came before us contributed to the legends of those rugged individuals. Rugged individualism. It’s a concept many of us grew up with, with a uniquely American idea of what it means. Railroaders, homesteaders, pioneers, revolutionaries. They crossed the American prairie in much the same way as their forebearers crossed the Atlantic, searching for a “new” world where a man could fashion a life with nothing but his own two hands. (Yes, I personally recognize the Americas were populated prior to European immigration and that not all of these people were men. That’s far more than I can get into in the confines of this column.)