Dear editor:
Over the past few months, there has been a good deal of talk about the Star Plunge lawsuit against the State of Wyoming.
Most of that information has been presented from the one-sided view of the Wyoming State Parks.
In order to correct that one-sided view, I wish to state the following.
In 1975, my father, Wolfgang Luehne, acquired Star Plunge, purchasing all of the buildings, facilities, pools, equipment, and personal property.
The Wyoming LLC my parents set up retains ownership of all of the assets of the Star Plunge, except the land the business sits upon.
No one, including the State of Wyoming, disputes that I own the buildings and facilities that make up Star Plunge.
Since 1975, the Star Plunge has, gradually, evolved into the premier water park facility it is today. From the very beginning, my family has reinvested in the business, and we have made upgrades to the physical plant of the business, each and every year (mineral water creates a very harsh environment, and the pools need constant maintenance).
Star Plunge is not as lavish as Caesar's Palace or Disney World, but it is a valued resource for the people of Wyoming.
Last year, we had 1150 season ticket holders, and attracted over 90,000 swim visits to the Star Plunge.
Most of our visitors are Wyoming residents. To be fair, Star Plunge is not “world-class” – but the facility is “Wyoming-class," and I hope that it will always remain Wyoming-class: a safe, clean, and affordable place for family fun and recreation.
Under Wyoming law, when an existing concession is put out to bid, the bid documents are required to “state the minimum amount the winner will compensate the current Concessionaire, as determined by the value of the capital investment and the going concern of the business, less any value attributed to the land and location.” This is the exact language of the applicable Wyoming law.
In 2021, Wyoming tried to rebid our concession contract and followed the law and included that requirement listed above. When the State of Wyoming followed the law, we were the only bidders in the process.
This clearly was not the outcome the State of Wyoming wanted and the state immediately began to conspire to create a different outcome. Instead of offering reasonable terms for a contract to me, we ended up with a short-term contract and the State of Wyoming started the bidding process again in 2023.
Learning from their perceived failure in 2021, the State of Wyoming in the 2023 bid omitted the requirement that the winning bidder would be required to pay for the buildings that my family owned and constructed and had invested millions of dollars to create.
Instead, the State of Wyoming promised that they would give the buildings I own to the winning bidder for free.
The State of Wyoming contrived a plan to take millions of dollars of property that they admit that I own and give it to someone else without giving me a penny for my property.
The Star Plunge protested the second bid process, shortly after it was released, because it did not follow Wyoming law related to existing concessionaires. The State of Wyoming refused to consider the protest, and instead, proceeded to award the contract to an out-of-state entity with no connections to Hot Springs County.
That brings us to where we are today. The Star Plunge was forced to bring a lawsuit to compel the State of Wyoming to follow its own laws. That is all Star Plunge is asking. We ask the State of Wyoming to run a bid process that requires the bidders to pay the “value of the capital investment and the going concern of the business” as required by Wyoming law. It is a simple request and it is a fair request.
In this lawsuit, we first asked the court to not allow the State of Wyoming to give our property to this out of state entity for free until the court has a chance to decide the legal issue. An imminently reasonable and fair request. The court has granted that relief and the State of Wyoming is forbidden from given my property to someone else until the legal issues are decided.
In the meantime, during the course of the litigation, the existing operating agreement the Star Plunge had with the state expired. We have repeatedly requested that the State of Wyoming allow the Star Plunge to remain open during the litigation.
This is easily accomplished with a short-term operating agreement. This would be good for the Star Plunge employees, the town of Thermopolis, Hot Springs County and the State of Wyoming.
The state has refused to even enter into discussions on ways to keep the pool open. The only logic to keeping the Star Plunge closed is that the State of Wyoming wants to cause the maximum amount of pain to me personally to try to force me to give my property away to an out of state developer.
Contrary to claims made by representatives of the State of Wyoming, the closure of Star Plunge is not as a result of any court action. It is solely the Wyoming State Parks that required the closure of Star Plunge, and the Wyoming State Parks retains the authority to agree to reopen the business at any time!
The pool is only closed to cause the maximum amount of pain in an attempt to force me to give away my family legacy. There is simply no reason the State of Wyoming could not allow the pool to reopen today.
The closure of the Star Plunge is continuing to result in the suspension of health and wellness services, recreational activities, and spiritual family healing programs, which we provide to the local community.
The refusal of the Wyoming State Parks to allow the business to continue to operate, while the civil cases make their way through the court system, is causing significant economic harm to our community, including loss of revenue to local restaurants, hotels, and our entire tourism industry.
The unreasonable actions of the Wyoming State Parks negatively impacts all stakeholders, and is generating considerable public dissatisfaction with Wyoming's bureaucratic processes.
In February of this year, the Star Plunge sent several proposals to the State of Wyoming to attempt to resolve all of the issues that are in dispute in the civil actions.
We specifically offered to meet with an independent mediator, to try to work out a way to resolve all of the issues, but in particular to discuss the opening of the Star Plunge, while the civil actions proceed.
Those cases could take months, if not years, to be resolved by the court. In fact, that might be the point, the State of Wyoming knows they can drag this out in court and make things incredibly expensive for the Star Plunge to fight.
The State of Wyoming has simply refused to even respond to the offers to discuss settlement of the issues which are in dispute between the parties.
The state would rather take the life’s work from a Wyoming family business and give it away for free to an out of state developer than even take a couple of hours to talk about potential ways to resolve the dispute.
All we are asking is to redo the bidding process and follow the law. The state’s actions are all to the detriment of the Star Plunge, to Hot Springs State Park, to the Town of Thermopolis, to Hot Springs County, and to all of the local businesses, which benefit from people coming into our community as patrons of the Star Plunge.
I am not a well-connected former U.S. senator or some out of state real estate developer with deep pockets. What I am is a Thermopolis resident, who has reinvested in the Thermopolis community for years, and I am dedicated to the Star Plunge.
My family has always endeavored to make positive contributions to our businesses, to our community, to our state, and to our country. Therefore, I am diligently working to protect my family business.
It is unfortunate that the Wyoming State Parks have decided to destroy a family business and force the Star Plunge to resort to the courts just in an effort to get the state to follow the law.
Roland Luehne, The Star Plunge
Thermopolis
