Dear Editor,

A decade or so ago I heard some troubling things about the way the Board of County Commissioners was handling the Library System during its last budget crisis.  I don’t remember what my beef was, but I reacted by passive-aggressively canceling my account with a business owned by one commissioner who was particularly outspoken on the matter.  She called my cell and demanded to know why.  

My friend and erstwhile opponent in the 2018 Primary for Governor approached me a few days before election day and said, “Mark, I might actually beat you.” He had good reason to think that. It had been a hard campaign.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

I have talked about working on Capitol Hill when I was in my mid-twenties for a famous political analyst and two senators. I learned a lot about politics during those years and I guess if I had not gotten divorced and just wanted to get away from my life in Washington D.C., there is a chance I would have stayed in the political arena.

My last job in the city was working for the international director of the largest labor union in the world.

Dear Editor,

Hello everyone!

My opinions and comments expressed here are exclusively my own and do not represent the owners, publishers or staff of the Carbon County Comet Newspaper. Their gift of this column space is a privilege.

You are invited and encouraged to respond to my comments.  Call or text, Henry Nicolle, 307-321-4505 or email admin@smalltownopinion.com!

Your comments and opinions are important!  Let’s Talk! 

When Heaven Finally Shares

The cowboys and ranch hands stood

On the porch that day, 

Their coffee had gone cold. 

No one spoke much of yesterday, 

For the dust had all grown old.

The hay fields bowed their thirsty heads,

The creek forgot it’s song. 

The cattle searched for greener hope,

But hope seemed so far gone. 

Then somewhere high above the peaks,

As a kid, I never went to a fair.

While living in Houston, Texas, I got to go to a few rodeos.

I came into contact with husbandry because my father took us to family reunions in the small agricultural town he was raised in Virginia. I learned to milk cows, gather eggs and learned a few things about farm animals.

But I was a kid from the suburbs and I couldn’t wait to get back to my friends and the life I knew.

Let's Talk

By Henry Nicolle

Something to Chew On

By Virginia Parker

Every generation is convinced the world has become more dangerous than it was when they were children. Maybe kids just need to be taught to be aware of things, not afraid. 

The Carbon County Traveler

Mike Armstrong

I had a terrific experience interviewing a candidate that is running for Senate in the great state of Wyoming.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

It looks a bit bleak for the Carbon County residents who oppose the Seminoe Pumped-water Storage Hydroelectric Project, as it cleared hurdles when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued its environmental impact statement, basically saying the project was not a danger if done correctly.

Something to Chew On

Virginia Parker

Yesterday I watched a rancher backing a horse trailer into a parking spot while two dogs sat on the flatbed of his pickup. They weren’t barking. They weren’t pacing. They weren’t hanging over the side trying to catch flies. They simply watched, you know the look. 

The Carbon County Traveler

Mike Armstrong

My father was an avid gardener.

I always attributed this to his upbringing as a dairy farmer’s son.

His family had 200 acres and since my grandfather died of an infection from a corn splinter, I know they grew corn.

For five or six months, I have been writing essays complimentary of our small town virtues and unique qualities. I ask for conversations in every essay. I offer my telephone and email contact information, but crickets dominate my response channels. So, this issue of Let’s Talk will be more of the same, but different, in the hope that someone, anyone, will be inspired to respond.