The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
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As the Moorcroft Lodge nears completion, project supervisor Jeff Holberg took a few minutes Monday morning to share the progress. The hotel and restaurant are approximately 50% complete with the roof, electric and plumbing finished and the dry wall hung throughout the second floor. According to the supervisor, "The lower floor will get drywall next and the restaurant will be finalized at the end." Holberg expressed his appreciation for DA Peterson Properties owner Doug Peterson's inclusion of...
By Grace Moore West Texas Trail Museum director Cindy Mosteller will be presenting the history of Moorcroft's start and how the confluence of the cattle drives from Texas influenced the area. Mosteller discusses how the cattle started north and the civil war's impact on the drive as well as the union of many of the trails with the Western Cattle Trail or the West Texas Cattle Trail as some call it. She will share her findings regarding the reasons for bringing cattle this far north and what...
Freedom Holdings’ Greg Cottrell, partner in the C-Bar Estates development, is asking again for a temporary Certificate of Occupancy (CO) before the infrastructure is complete. “At that point, the town will take it over with a warranty,” Pine Haven Mayor Karla Brandenburg explained at a recent workshop. “They want us to give one and keep asking us about that…They can’t sell any of those lots until they get a CO.” Due to the ongoing problems the town has faced with the company, she and the council have been careful not to allow any premature rel...
After years of discussions and planning, Pine Haven’s Boe Drive is scheduled to be addressed around mid-summer. The project begins soon after March 18 with eight town owned hydrants updated within the C-Bar development. “They have been there since the 80s,” Mayor Karla Brandenburg explained Monday. “Later this summer, Hot Iron will put a new waterline and new fire hydrants along Boe Drive.” Hot Iron Construction is the contractor who will be managing the project to completion and will be bringing the hydrants up to date before the town wate...
A resident moving into town from out of state recently requested a variance to install a commercial dog kennel, initiating an amendment to the existing ordinance governing animals and fowl withing Moorcroft town limits. Ordinance 1-2024 was approved on the third reading last week to the consternation of Councilman Dale Petersen, who said, “I’m still concerned; with this ordinance, they’re still able to put a dog kennel in town. I’m concerned about the impact and what that’s going to mean for those residents in that area.” The adjusted la...
Moorcroft Public Works Director Cory Allison reported a problem with the town-owned generator to the council after the January 25 grass fire that devoured around 1000 acres east of town. The department was providing water to the fire trucks as they were emptied on the site. “We lost power out there. We had the fire trucks trying to keep up so Dave [Elliott] and [I] had to come in and get all the town wells running,” he said. “We were at high capacity, trying to keep up with the fire trucks. We did keep up with them, but with our generator being...
The Pine Haven Council has become concerned that, throughout recent years, people who either do not understand how the town slash pile works or simply do not care have dumped items not allowed into the municipal slash pile when the public works shop is not attended. Pine Haven's fire chief, who manages the annual burning of the debris, explained, "The idea behind the slash pile is so residents can keep their property trimmed up and clear of pine needles. It wasn't meant for large tree, stump,...
After being approved for the purchase of the ARGO amphibian rescue vehicle at the February meeting, ten members of the Pine Haven Fire Department participated in their first ice water class, keeping their word to the council to learn how to operate in this cold environment with the new tool safely. According to Pine Haven Fire Chief TJ Gideon, several Crook County Search and rescue members participated, as well. The instruction, taught by an experienced, certified ice water teacher, took all...
Moorcroft’s council amended a number of job requirements for department heads at last week’s meeting, with differing reactions. Police Beginning with the police chief’s position, Bill Bryant will be required to be available for backup and administrative calls and will also be obliged to provide the governing body with a written schedule for his officers as well as himself once a month for perusal and approval. Councilman Dale Petersen lead this discussion with the example, “I would like to be able to sit down and say, ‘you know what, you’re pu...
New council member Tom Roberts and wife Emily have lived in Pine Haven for a few years and is in the process of selling his business, Pluggin' Along, in Gillette to fully retire. Roberts, who had always been active in his Gillette community as chair of the YES House and working diligently on committee, joined the cemetery board in town and took the reigns as chair/sexton after the death of Bruce Lang. Mayor Karla Brandenburg recognized him for his tireless efforts to complete projects at the...
After a year of avoiding the unpopular issue of individual meters for the apartment building on North Little Horn Avenue, the council has chosen to remove the six meters that had been set in place to eventually be plumbed into the building waterline, adding to the existing six to cover each unit. Currently, the town is unable to shut off an individual apartment as each meter serves two. The meters have not, as yet, been activated and have sat within the pits for almost a year. Because this work...
Lucas Lang, KO Construction's general foreman working on the C-Bar Estates after Swagger abandoned the site, describes the efforts KO are undertaking to correct previous work and put the project back on track. After C-Bar failed the pressure test on the waterlines recently, Lang hired Hot Iron Construction to work in tandem with the KO crew in replacing and repairing the lines throughout the site. Lang said that when his crew arrived onsite several months ago, the water and sewer lines were in...
Moorcroft’s Public Works Director Cory Allison, addressed an issue with the town owned garbage receptacles at last week’s meeting of the town council. “We’re running out of garbage cans,” Allison reported the dilemma. The town has purchased 60 extra dumpsters from Western Sanitation to subsidize for the time being, but the problem is more extensive than first appearance shows. The receptacles the town owns are old and broken, so, “We’ve been replacing them when we can.” But to replace the whole town, “you’re talking about $25,000-$30,000”. A...
At approximately 11 a.m. Saturday, February 3, a male visiting from Colorado fell through the ice on the north shore of Keyhole Reservoir. District Lieutenant Brad Purcell, who was in charge of the situation, explained that while the ice in the center of the lake is still resting at a depth of approximately 14 inches, the ice along the shoreline is much less safe due to the warmth radiating from rocks into the water. Apparently, unaware of this danger, Kannon Parks, who enjoys ice fishing in the...
Pine Haven is experiencing issues with the water lines feeding the in-development C-Bar Estates. Recently, the lines were reported to the town as safe to be tested and opened and Mayor Karla Brandenburg advised Public Works Director Sean Glasser to open the pipe that would not dump into the main water line. Duaine Fawcett of Water Guy LLC, who is Pine Haven’s licensed water system authority was then contacted and visited the site a couple days later to test water quality, pressure, etc. The mayor reported to her fellow council members at F...
Pine Haven Volunteer Fire Chief TJ Gideon discussed an addition to the town's rescue vehicles at Friday's council workshop. The department received an anonymous donation of $20,000 after the tragic accident a year ago that felled the community. These funds came with a codicil: "They said their only wish is they want this money to be used for something that will keep us safe and for rescue type stuff," the chief told those present. He explained that, in the winter, the volunteer fire fighters...
Pine Haven's fifth annual Carl Mirich Memorial Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament entertained 56 players this year with hosts Karla Brandenburg and husband Charlie Gulley and other volunteers adding two more tables to the floor in the Memorial room of the Community Center; 37 sat in on the game last year. Brandenburg, who is very happy with the event, said of the night, "Great turnout!" Above the 56 main players, another 30 guests attended a "wild game of Right-Left-Center in the front room and...
The Moorcroft Town Center (MTC) was the subject of discussion at a recent workshop between the council, HDR Engineering’s Heath Turbiville and Jeff Holberg. Holberg, who is the chief of the Moorcroft Volunteer Fire Department as well as building inspector for the municipality, has been given the responsibility of general contractor over the modifications to the area of the MTC building into which Town Hall is to be relocated. This talk was to provide him with an overall site plan and detailed thoughts for each room. After a walk through, Mayor...
On January 4, The Tin Cup opened their doors for the first time. Jamie Timberman and husband Jobee bought the building formerly known as Hopper's Bar with the intent to create a comfortable hometown sandwich and coffee spot. "Kind of a bright spot in town, a place where somebody can come in and have a meeting, the kids can come have study groups," according to Jamie. "I've lived in Moorcroft about 25 years," Jamie introduces herself and her family. "So kind of local, we raised our family here....
At a workshop last week, HDR Engineering's Heath Turbiville shared a computer-generated (CG) depiction of a potential design modification to the splash pad at Noonan Park upon which Moorcroft's council is currently focusing its attention. During a recent compaction test, Advanced Geo-Tech Solutions found the ground at Noonan Park to be unstable. The crew drilled approximately 16 feet to measure the potential density of the soil before planning the installation of pipes and concrete. With this...
Among several other contributions to Moorcroft's West Texas Trails Museum (WTTM) made by former rodeo bronc rider and rancher Fritz Rehbein, including the handsome speckled bull that hangs on the wall, is a complete rodeo buckle collection. Rehbein has been adding Hesston belt buckles to the collection for many years, donating the 2023 work of art last week. "It belongs here," he says. As WTTM director Cindy Mosteller began modifying the position of existing buckles to make room for the newest...
Moorcroft High School (MHS) senior Rebekah Anderson has been accepted to Dickinson College on a wrestling scholarship. Anderson is the second MHS female wrestler to receive a scholarship for this sport since girls wrestling was sanctioned in Wyoming in 2020. Charmayne DeLong took her dreams to Indiana Tech, according to long-time Wolves wrestling team writer Marci Allison. "I started wrestling in second grade," Anderson explains how she was introduced to the sport, "My brother had wrestled the y...
Considering the kennel laws within town limits, Moorcroft Police Chief Bill Bryant has begun condensing and clarifying the applicable ordinance for the council’s further attention. Tuesday morning, the chief took a moment to speak to the reason for his attention in this matter. “We’ve got the kennel that’s potentially coming in plus looking ahead if anybody else wanted to try later we might as well have something in place now. If they have a lot of dogs, obviously it just gives us a tool so if we do have that problem, we at least have something...
With the success of the third annual Just Slayin Outdoors Ice Fest fishing tournament, organizer Doug DeBoer Jr envisions a strong future for the sport and the community. This was the first year entrance to this competition involved a fee, but DeBoer's reasoning is not to make a profit, but to encourage growth and interest in the annual tournament. "The last two years, it's been a free event – no entry fees. You just pretty much show up and fish," DeBoer explains. "This year, we decided to m...
Pine Haven's Grande Vista Sanitary Sewer Extension Project is anticipated to be complete by the summer of 2025. To ensure compliance with municipal ordinance, the owners of the seven lots along the southeast end of Grande Vista Drive must connect to Pine Haven's water and sewer lines. At a recent public hearing in preparation for the project's local improvement district, the council met with property owners to go over associated costs and concerns about this endeavor. Mayor Karla Brandenburg urg...
