News

Big Horn County communities fundraise to outfit law enforcement with body armor

Published by admin on Thu, 06/22/2023 - 11:28am

Law Enforcement from throughout Big Horn County received rifle-rated body armor last week after a successful community fundraising effort.

The effort was headed by the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Department and Shield 616, a non-profit organization out of Colorado Springs. 

Founder and president of Shield 616 Jake Skifstad met with law enforcement and community members Thursday evening to present the vests to officers and deputies and connect them with the community that fundraised for the equipment.  Along with the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Department, the Basin, Cowley, Greybull, Lovell and Manderson police departments also received vests to outfit their officers. 

The vests provided by Shield 616 provide front and back plates, which provide rifle protection for first responders.  According to information given in October, vests cost up to $2,400 each.  The cost presented in October to equip all of Big Horn County’s departments was $64,000.

Chamber office reopens

Published by admin on Thu, 06/15/2023 - 12:13pm

The Greybull Area Chamber of Commerce office reopened early last week, just in time for the annual Days of '49 celebration.

Carol Ebright, with more than 50 years of life experience in the Greybull-Basin area, was hired to staff the office approximately 20 hours per week through the end of October. 

Her official title is information specialist. Her primary tasks are to promote the area and its businesses — not only to visitors but also to community members and other businesses through the chamber's various forms of communication. 

Ebright's professional career has included stints with the Wyoming Department of Transportation (1995-1998), Big Horn County (1998-2009) and CARES, Inc. (2009-2023).   In her most recent role, she was a victim's advocate.

New CEO optimistic about hospital's future

Published by admin on Thu, 06/08/2023 - 11:49am

By Nathan Oster

It's been a tough year or so for Three Rivers Health, but its new chief executive officer believes brighter days are on the horizon.

PEAKS distributions topped $30k last year

Published by admin on Thu, 06/01/2023 - 2:50pm

Jade Smith of Shell would appear to have little in common with Denise and Tom Holbert of Powell.   Jade and her late husband Gil have deep roots in the Greybull and Shell area, while the Holberts were among the new arrivals who found their way to this area a few years ago, relocating from Tennessee.

At first, their common thread was a cancer diagnosis. Now it's their unabashed advocacy of PEAKS to Conga — an annual event in Shell that raises money to help cancer patients and their families with their non-medical financial needs while they undergo treatment.

PEAKS is an acronym for People Everywhere Are Kind and Sharing and Laurie (Parker) Stoelk is the longtime organizer of the fundraiser, which traces its roots to the Women Who Ride Conga motorcyclists who gathered in Shell to raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer.

Local author to hold book signing at grand reopening

Published by admin on Wed, 05/17/2023 - 2:21pm

Local author Scott C. Werbelow will promote his latest book and sign copies in an appearance at the grand reopening of the Greybull Public Library and Greybull Museum Thursday, May 18 from 5-8 p.m.

Werbelow, who resides in Meeteetse and serves as the game warden coordinator of the Cody region, released his second memoir “Son of a Poacher II: Blast From My Past” in August 2022. The book is a sequel to his first book “Son of a Poacher: Wyoming Warden in the Making,” which came out March 2021.

“The second book goes on to tell my journey as a Wyoming game warden and all the crazy twists and turns of my career,” Werbelow said in a Tuesday interview. “I actually kept a journal with my work since 1996, and I wrote down every day what I did for 30 years of being a game warden.”

Werbelow never imagined writing a book, but he said his unique upbringing felt like an experience he needed to share.

Community rallies support for local family

Published by admin on Thu, 05/11/2023 - 1:58pm

By Nathan Oster and Lisa Kunkel 

 

The true nature of small-town Wyoming was on display Friday night at the Elks in downtown Greybull as locals and out-of-towners alike came together to pour their generosity out to the family of T.J. Davis.

Group rallying in support of library xeriscape

Published by admin on Thu, 05/04/2023 - 3:45pm

The Greybull Town Council's decision to remove some of the bushes and shrubs around the library/museum and replace them with grass did not go over well with the volunteers who planted them in 2005.

At the time, their vision was a xeriscape, a form of landscaping that utilizes native, drought-resistant plants to reduce the amount of watering required. To help with the costs, they sought out and landed four grants totaling $17,000 from Pacific Power, National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Forest Service and the Wyoming Urban and Community Forest Council.

All are still listed as contributors on a Greybull Library and Museum Xeriscape Project sign outside the library/museum.  But the xeriscape everyone envisioned, and which is explained on the sign, no longer exists.

An Easter tradition returns

Published by admin on Thu, 04/13/2023 - 3:34pm

The Greybull Elks Lodge and American Legion Post 32 made up for lost time on Sunday, hosting the community's first Easter egg hunt since pre-COVID.  And what a hunt it was.

Taking over for the now defunct Greybull Lions, volunteers from the two organizations filled more than 1,200 eggs and another 2,000 to 2,500 plastic bags and scattered them from one end of the park to the other.

Instead of just a single hunt, they marked out areas and times for age-specific hunts. The plan was for kids 1-4 to go at 1 p.m., 5-7 to follow at 1:15 p.m. and 8-11 to finish up at 1:30 p.m.

Twenty-four golden eggs added to the excitement.  Hunters who found them received special prizes, which included six new bikes (two in each age group) and 18 gift baskets (six in each age group).

Sheri Wilkinson, one of the organizers, said there were a couple of mix ups — most notably among them, the 1:15 hunt began a bit prematurely.

Library, museum reopening soon

Published by admin on Thu, 04/06/2023 - 4:35pm

More than three months have passed since the frigid day in December when a broken water line flooded the building the houses Greybull's library and museum as well as one of its most frequently used meeting rooms.

While the impact of the building's closure has been felt by many, progress on its rehabilitation has come swiftly in recent days — to the point where patrons may be able to see the many improvements for themselves.

"Finally, we might see light at the end of the tunnel," said town administrator/finance director Carrie Hunt, who has been coordinating the project along with Public Works Director Jason Lampman and members of the town's public works crew, since the building is owned by the town.

Event shines light on Mental Health Awareness

Published by admin on Thu, 03/16/2023 - 2:56pm

Saturday’s Mental Health and Fitness Fair raised awareness for the importance of mental health and focused on the value of being a “Pick-Up Man” for others. Over 100 people attended the event at the Shell Community Hall. 

It was hosted through a collaboration of the Big Horn County Citizens for Economic Development (BCED), The WyomingLifeline, Big Horn County Prevention Alliance and Big Horn Basin Counseling Services. Plus partnership from from local community groups, service providers, churches, and organizations who presented multiple tables of resource information

“I’ve never been at an event where the audience was so attentive. It was very quiet,” said Stan Flitner, event organizer and member of the BCED board. “It was put together well. It was a huge success.”