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 possibility of breaking ground on a rumored hotel looms on the horizon this year, Kathy Johnson, resident of Texas Trails Subdivision immediately east of the site in question, expressed her concerns regarding the potential for a rise in crime and inconvenience from interstate traffic to Moorcroft's town council Monday night. Johnson wants the town to mandate a fence, "for the privacy or safety of the residents out there. Is there any zoning or regulations for businesses being built in tow...
After three years as chief of the Moorcroft Volunteer Fire Department, Rusty Williamson has resigned. Williamson has been a volunteer firefighter for 22 years; during those years, he has served as a captain and an assistant chief as well as the chief of the department. In his resignation, Williamson commended the crew with whom he works. “It has been a great honor to serve this community and dept. I have seen remarkable commitment from the department, community, and city officials,” he wrote. “I couldn’t be prouder of what we were able to acco...
The 22-person Montana Conservation crew has split into two teams with one working in the classroom and the other on the ground in Pine Haven, clearing the area between the bigger trees. This is done so that ladder fuels won't carry the fire up the trunks of those trees to create "crown" fires at the top that can jump from crown to crown quickly and cannot be fought from the ground. These crown fires can only be conquered from the air. Residents could hear the chainsaws Monday morning as the...
Public works crewmen have been busy this month cleaning the pasture area surrounding Moorcroft's landfill, according to Public Works Director Cory Allison. "Cleaning it is a work in progress," he says. Stop signs The crew has also observed suggestions from Chief of Police Bill Bryant for an adjustment and increase of stop signs along North Belle Fourche Avenue. "They had [the yield signs] the other way and when it's slick on those hills, cars just can't stop so they wanted them switched," Alliso...
Director of Crook County Family Violence and Sexual Assault Services Sandy Stevens addressed Pine Haven’s council last Tuesday night, requesting and receiving the town’s annual $1200 contribution to this much-needed enterprise. During her presentation, she offered the council some disturbing information. Stevens shared that the entity assisted 56 victims of domestic violence throughout 2021 compared to 35 in the previous year and utilized twice as many individual services, from a little more than 900 in 2020 to almost 2000 in 2021. She and husb...
The Montana Conservation Corp has picked up where they left off clearing and cutting deadfall, low branches and other ladder fuel when the pandemic closed borders a couple of years ago. The group of 20-22 volunteers began work on Monday and will finish for the year on March 24. They are working on the Bureau of Land Reclamation land surrounding Pine Haven, cleaning and creating a buffer area, according to Fire Chief TJ Gideon. The group will begin just outside the state park boundary east of town and move south and east. Councilman Don Lancaste...
For an invigoratingly frigid good time and for a heartwarming good cause, join the crowd at Keyhole Marina on Saturday, March 26, at 11 a.m. to register and prepare before taking the plunge, literally, off the dock into ice free water a few yards from the beach at noon. This year, the theme is “Freezin’ for a reason”. Preregistration is also available, just go to give.sowy.org/ge/jjkeyhole. Participants may jump as a group or individually; wearing costumes, jeans or Speedos. Members are encouraged to bring blankets to wrap around thems...
The Pine Haven community is coming together again to help the town’s fire auxiliary and community center with a fundraiser hosted by the Over the Hill Gang. The Red, White and Blue fundraiser is in the form of a raffle with three very different prizes of similar value starting with a Devils Tower Golf Package, including eight rounds of golf and a gift certificate for other club amenities; second prize is an $800 gift card for Black Anchor Products LLC in Moorcroft; and the third prize is an $800 Visa gift card that can be spent anywhere Visa is...
Vanna and son Vince Waters, owners of the Keyhole Ranch including the range surrounding the township, visited Pine Haven’s council at the monthly work meeting last Tuesday morning with a proposition that, if completed, could benefit both parties. With Mayor Karla Brandenburg’s invitation, Vince Water spoke for the family, saying, “What we at Keyhole Ranch would be willing to propose to help the town… [is] to donate and acre or two…” for the proposed fire hall (northeast of Paradise Foods, backed by the landing strip). “It’s very important to us...
After the rather dismal audit report for Moorcroft a couple weeks ago, Cheryl Schneider, Moorcroft's Clerk/Treasurer, has spoken at length with auditor Deidre Budahl, of Casey Peterson and Associates about concerns regarding the timing and subsequent numbers with which the auditor was working. "I asked her where she came up with the figures because I couldn't come up with the same thing," she says. The first significant error, Schneider found, was the timing of deposits into and expenditures...
Deidre Budahl, auditor for Casey Peterson and Associates presented her findings from the 2021 audit of the town finances to the council Monday night with warnings and advice. “The town is, I would say, ok for right now, but, I think you guys need to make some major financial decisions in the next few years because you’re not going to be able to continue going at the rate you are,” she said. According to the auditor, Moorcroft’s general fund was over-expended by approximately $95000 last fiscal year and the general fund receipts are “stagna...
"We [council members] had some good conversation about it and the new appointee will be Dustin Petz." Moorcroft Mayor Ben Glenn opened the first piece of town business on Monday's agenda with a unanimous acceptance of Petz as a member of the council. Newly appointed Petz was subsequently sworn into office and took his seat amongst the governing body. Petz has been a familiar face at the Moorcroft High School as a counselor and well respected on the school sports field. He later shared this...
Moorcroft Mayor Ben Glenn and council members have been sorting and interviewing the six candidates who applied for the vacant seat on the municipal council and will be inviting one to swear in and sit down to business with the governing body at the next meeting, which is at 7 p.m., on Monday, February 28. Individuals who applied for the post with letters of interest included Rosalie Brimmer, Johnny Faye Claar, Nancy Feehan, Robert Trigg, Trent Conley and Dusty Petz. The seat became vacant the first part of February with the resignation of...
Moorcroft's police department head, Bill Bryant, requested a new cruiser several months ago to replace the 2012 Dodge Durango that has been suffering progressively worsening maintenance issues. "That's why," said Mayor Ben Glenn, "we chose to trade it." This new acquisition was paid for by funds specifically set aside for this purpose. The new vehicle was ordered in November, but the dealership warned at the time that it could be around 180 days before delivery. The mayor anticipates delivery...
Moorcroft Area Chamber of Commerce (MACC) member Elaine Buckmiller visited Moorcroft’s council Monday night to share a new event the group plans to initiate this summer. June 4 is the tentative date for Safety Day and the chamber has already contacted several entities including the fire and ambulance departments, utilities, police, forest service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), asking them to set up booths down town on that day. They hope to address first-time homeowners, too, Buckmiller told the governing body. People who sometimes do n...
The Moorcroft chapter of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and local coordinator Amy Anderson hosted a spaghetti dinner fundraiser Monday night in the new Moorcroft High School FFA barn. "To raise funds for state and national conferences," said member Kylee DeCoteau of the reason for the event. "FCCLA members sell Italian sodas at home games; organize Valentine's Day gift sales; and this year, a game night and spaghetti feed." The team also wants to raise awareness of...
With no visitors and reports from only a couple of departments over these slow winter months, the Pine Haven Council was able to finish the town business within an hour last Tuesday. There were, though, a couple of highlights of interest. Public Works Among other seasonal situations Public Works Director Sunny Schell is taking care of, she is following up on the council’s plan for mapping the town’s infrastructure to better serve residents. Through a Geographic Information System (GIF), every pipe, hydrant, valve, meter pit, etc. will be map...
Making some kind of headway in deciding on a realistic future for the Moorcroft Town Center (MTC) building was the subject visited by the MTC committee and the group who assisted in choosing the consulting company to conduct the study at last Wednesday night's special meeting of Moorcroft's town council. The meeting was also attended by several individuals who were interested in the outcome. Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Schneider explained the purpose of the gathering: "Our intent is just for the...
The Moorcroft High School auditorium was the place to be Saturday afternoon as guests were entertained by the fresh energy of a local cast of the production of The Emperor's New Clothes. This production was the most recent from the Missoula Children's Theatre, hosted by the MK-8 Parent Action Committee. Committee member Angie Peters expressed her pleasure in the efforts put forth by the Moorcroft area youth. "Everybody's done great. We auditioned on Monday and they got their parts Monday after...
Moorcroft Public Works has hired Dan Hart of Upton to move the large mounds of dirt at the municipal landfill nearer to the operating portion of the expansion. The dirt is needed to cover the open face often and to a certain depth to mitigate flying debris. "We're moving it from our over burden pile over to where we can cover it," department director Cory reasons. "We usually do it with a loader and trucks, but we just need to get a bunch of dirt over there so it's easier to access." The...
Moorcroft Mayor Dick Claar has resigned. Claar has been fighting health issues for several months and, according to a letter addressed to the council that read at Monday's meeting, he cited these issues as the reason for his departure from office and also voiced his gratitude. "Thank you for the opportunity to work with each of you. The town has some great goals to accomplish," stated his letter to fellow council members. After Clerk Cheryl Schneider finished reading the letter aloud, silence pr...
The Business Ready Grant with which Moorcroft budgeted for the recent feasibility study of the MTC as well as the community redevelopment analysis is in the form of reimbursement. However, by mandate, the funds will not be released to the town until the reformed master plan is formally adopted. This action entails approving either one of the three plans proposed by the study regarding the MTC building. Alternatively, the council is free to introduce their own option, but a decision must be made. The three options laid out by the study includes...
Pine Haven’s council faces tough choices as they begin enforcing the ordinance regarding inoperable vehicles on town streets. Mayor Karla Brandenburg opened the conversation at a recent workshop, “We just had a ticket issued and any time we issue any tickets… If we start issuing tickets, we start paying a judge and we pay a judge $125 an hour from the minute he leaves Gillette until the minute he gets back to Gillette. We’re going to have to come up with something on how to handle this and I think it’s going to have to be one-on-one type of c...
Work began within the C Bar Subdivision last Wednesday to confirm the accuracy of the 1978 schematics of the town-owned water lines. Mayor Karla Brandenburg was onsite following the schematics and watching as TJ Gideon, using equipment lent by the developers, dug in certain spots to the prescribed depth to ascertain their authenticity. "We worked together on this project; it was our waterline, but the new developer provided the equipment to help us out," she said. This waterline has been...
Last Tuesday’s meeting of the Pine Haven Council sat to a full house due to questions regarding the two incoming subdivisions, C Bar and Knotty Pine. Mayor Karla Brandenburg addressed these concerns shortly after the meeting convened. While acknowledging the accuracy of an article written in this paper in the December 9 issue, she expressed her concern over the public’s reception to the information, saying, “Everyone kind of joined everything together.” Three main issues discussed by the community on social media were addressed by Branden...
