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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Moorcroft will be celebrating the 56th Jubilee on July 9-11 and everyone’s invited! Friday The festivities start Friday evening at 5 p.m. with the Show and Shine Car Show at Robinson’s Park and the Ranch Rodeo at the arena next to the rest area west of town. Saturday For those who get up early, a prayer for America will be conducted around the flagpole on South Big Horn Avenue at 6:30 a.m. before everyone meets for a hardy chuckwagon breakfast at the West Texas Museum on Weston Street north of...
At a special meeting last Thursday night, the Moorcroft Council accepted Eric Henshaw’s resignation from the Moorcroft Police Department. Jake Miller, who has been in law enforcement as a sheriff’s deputy in Hot Springs County, Wyoming for a number of years, has been hired and will be taking up his duties before the end of the month, said Police Chief Bill Bryant. The chief said that he feels good about the former deputy having “a little more experience”, allowing him some time off in the future....
About a year ago, Moorcroft approved an ordinance mandating 10 p.m. early closure of all bars on Sundays as per the Wyoming Liquor Division recommendations. With the current relaxation on the early curfew by the state, Deere Haven recently sent a letter to the town’s governing body requesting a variance of said law, allowing them to stay open until 2 a.m. Recognizing the likelihood of Dewey’s Place following Deere Haven’s example and seeking exemption, the council is considering simply rescinding the ordinance. However, the governing body...
Moorcroft, Pine Haven and Sundance Volunteer Fire Departments responded to a fast moving grass fire along Strong Lane near Pine Ridge on the south side of the Old Sundance Road at 11:44 a.m, Saturday, June 12. According to Moorcroft Fire Chief Rusty Williams, a “live” power line was torn down by wind the previous evening and lay smoldering on the dangerously dry ground throughout the night before blazing to life Saturday morning. Ten units including tenders, command trucks and fire engines wit...
A question arose last week about the sheriff’s department’s authority to cite drivers for speeding on municipal streets. Deputy Joshua Throckmorton answered the query at the council meeting last Tuesday night, saying, “Deputies have the authority to enforce any statute within the county, whether it is federal land, municipalities or wherever it is”. This includes ticketing anyone traveling over the speed limit on any publicly traversed roadway. Councilwoman Karla Brandenburg asked Throckmorton about the procedure on streets within Pine Haven t...
Clerk Cheryl Schneider brought before the council on Monday a question from the Moorcroft Senior Citizens’ for the Jubilee committee to waive the vendor’s fee at Jubilee this summer, stating that they want to sell lemonade by donation only. The request instigated some debate among the governing body. The issue questioned was policing such a situation if, later, as was hypothesized by Paul Smoot, other vendors wanted to follow suit. After considering the possible implications of the seemingly innocuous request, Councilman Ben Glenn exp...
The Pine Haven Council has officially approved a municipal burn ban. This ban includes fire rings, fire pits (propane fire pits are allowed), fireworks in town limits, burn barrels and personal slash piles. All personal slash piles must be relocated to the appropriate burn pile owned and maintained by the town of Pine Haven, located south of the public works building near the water tower. The town has been advised by the fire department to allow absolutely NO wood fires in the community “in any way, shape or form”, said Councilwoman Karla Bra...
The Moorcroft Volunteer Fire Department responded to a vehicle fire last Friday at 5:25 p.m. immediately west of town on Highway 51. A locally owned semi tractor/trailer was traveling with a full cargo of gravel when a tire on the trailer caught fire. Police Chief Bill Bryant answered the page for assistance and reports that, “Basically, the page came out that there was a tire on fire on a trailer. They didn’t say anything else so I was going to run down and try to put it out quickly, [but] whe...
Moorcroft Chief of Police Bill Bryant has begun site-specific training of local resident Nick Curley to round out the department, which has been running a man short since the departure of Jory Tadlock in April of this year. The town council came together in a special meeting last Wednesday evening, immediately calling an executive session for the purpose of discussing Curley’s application. With the chief’s recommendation, the governing body came out of the closed part of the meeting to officiall...
As this school season drew to a close last week, kindergartners through fifth and sixth grade enjoyed a “field day” on the Wolves’ football field on Tuesday. The many youngsters spent the afternoon participating and competing in three legged races, tug-of-war and a plethora of other games. Parents watched from the sidelines as the kids wore off a school year’s worth of energy filling buckets with a sponge, playing tag as a snake, whipping each other with pool noodles and more. The smiles and lau...
The Crook County Council of County Services has closed the Moorcroft Food Pantry next to Sharon’s Home Health on North Little Horn Avenue until September 14. Council supervisor Jill Keller says the county-run pantry has seen a significant drop in the number of people coming in during the days open from between nine and 12 households biweekly to about three, of which two regularly have the needed supplies delivered. “Our board has made the decision to put it on hold for a little bit and see if things change after the summer,” Keller says. Crook...
In Pine Haven, the faulty pump on the town’s secondary well was lifted Tuesday morning to find out why it has not worked properly since its installation in 2019. The pump, which runs the secondary well for town residents on a revolving schedule, continues to “throw” an error code and stop working when the computer control starts it. The council has waited for a resolution of this problem for some time and asked town engineer Heath Turbiville of HDR Engineering to contact the construction compa...
As the town enters June, Moorcroft is relatively quiet, according to Mayor Dick Claar. However, he and Public Works Director Cory Allison report that several current projects are still ongoing. Lagoon The lagoon is essentially done, as per HDR Engineering’s Jeron Smith, “They’re just taking care of the little things.” The project should be complete by the end of the month. Landfill The town is not yet prepared to send the grant application into USDA as well as the subsequent loan applica...
The 2021 graduation of 33 seniors from Moorcroft High School on Sunday afternoon concluded all the hard work of four years. This celebration began with the awards presented to many students at the MHS Awards ceremony the previous week, where the scholarships were awarded as well as recognition of the Athletes of the Year, Tianna Fischbach and Lane Wood, as well as Mr. and Ms. MHS, Hunter Garoutte and Tianne Fischbach. Valedictorian Tianne Fischbach and Salutatorian Lynelle Wendling talked about...
Noonan Park is busier this week than residents have seen it for decades. The repurposing of the basketball court and the finishing touches to the new restroom facilities are joined with the installation of the new playground equipment. The work on the playground and restrooms is tentatively anticipated to reach completion by the end of June, according to Public Works Director Cory Allison, “If we don’t have anything else come up.” To finish construction of the parking lot and loop, Allis...
County resident Dorothy Baron spoke to the council at their regular meeting Monday night about the dust on town owned Carr Road, stating, “I want some type of dust control.” In approximately 2004, Crook County gave Carr Road to the town of Moorcroft, re-graveling the structured road base before turning it over. In the subsequent 17 years, there has been no more gravel installed and, according to Public Works Director Cory Allison, to administer magnesium chloride to mitigate the dust would be a waste of product and money as the “ge...
The Northeast Wyoming Walleye Association (NWWA) is hosting their annual Kids Fishing Derby June 5 with registration starting at 9 a.m. at The Reservoir in Pine Haven. Anyone big enough to hold a fishing pole and under 19 years old can enter. There are three age categories: big enough-9, 10-13 and 14-18. Contestants may fish from shore or boat and any fish caught from Keyhole Reservoir is eligible for measurement. All fish must be presented for measurement at The Reservoir Bar and Grill before 2 p.m. to be considered. Prizes for each category...
It’s been two years since Pine Haven’s new pump and well were installed and initiated. Since then, the pump has not performed correctly and the contractor has been unable to make the pump work without “tripping” an error code within the computerized program and failing operation. The council has become ever-more-frustrated with perceived DRM’s lack of attention to this ongoing issue. HDR Engineering’s Heath Turbiville, who has been in intermittent contact with the contractor, reported at last Tuesday’s meeting, “The last email I had was from...
The Pine Haven Beatification Alliance along with the recreation board and the senior citizen group hosted a community cleanup day Saturday morning. There were more than 30 volunteers who attended the job meeting and later walked or drove to their assigned areas. With said delegation, everyplace needing care received it, including cleaning up cans, bottles and paper debris along the roadways; checking the baseball field in anticipation of the summer games and the clean; and weed whacking at the...
Three derelict town-owned commercial buildings along the west side of North Big Horn Avenue in Moorcroft have been an ongoing issue for Moorcroft’s council. The town contracted with a local resident to tear them down a couple of years ago only to have the problem return when the agreement fell through. With the problem no closer to resolution, the governing body has chosen to fund the demolition of the buildings from the town’s reserve account, which will be repaid from the sale of the cle...
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) met with Moorcroft’s governing body Monday morning to discuss the town’s options for the future of the municipal landfill. Program Principal Craig McOmie and District #3 Supervisor Richard Lemm, both from the Casper office, brought insights and requirements for keeping the Moorcroft landfill open into the future. This meeting was the result of the town’s unsuccessful maintenance of the landfill. DEQ arrived on site a last year and strongly denounced the condition of the facility. Addin...
Gillette resident Jamie Riddle and family addressed the Moorcroft Council last Monday night to request “splitting the address” for the property they recently bought from former Mayor Steve Sproul on South Little Horn Avenue. “I went to the post office and they said I had to come here to get permission to split the address into “A” and “B” for the building versus the apartment,” said Riddle. This statement was received with silence as the governing body digested the larger issue: the necessity of either permitting or denying a variance allowi...
As the council gets closer to a final budget for the coming fiscal year of 2021/2022, they met a third time to further iron out details through the remaining 2020/2021 budget and the next that starts July 1. The last two meetings gave each department head an opportunity to advise the council where they are right now, where they considered a need for extra funds in the coming fiscal year and where they could possibly trim a bit. This meeting addressed capital expenditures, including a needed compactor at the landfill, another pickup for public...
As the budgeting process for the coming fiscal year began last week, a question of overtime expenditure for the Moorcroft Police Department of approximately $35,000 arose for this year. While the cost is higher than anticipated, no one had more favorable options because the crew ran shorthanded many months during the early part of the year, as well as currently. Schneider suggested the department’s budget may have enough money within certain lines to allow some recompense, but the entire amount will not be covered in this manner. Mayor Dick C...
With the clerk’s office and council having worked through their 2021/2022 budget a couple of weeks ago, the governing body came together with public works and police last Tuesday afternoon during a budget meeting to get a grip on the needs of these remaining departments. Public works Director Cory Allison spoke first for public works. With much of his budget for the coming year addressed at the last meeting, the group was able to go through his remaining adjustments quickly. The largest anticipa...
