Bill Sniffin writes: “The ghosts and/or spirits of Clarene Law, Leland Christensen, Hank Coe, and Jim Angell seem omnipresent when I think of the Wyoming Legislature.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Our first decade in Lander saw the brutal winters of 1972-73 when 216 inches of snow fell, and 1978-79 when the mercury spent most of winter below zero – really!”
Bill Sniffin writes: “The nation’s short-sighted view of using our vast (and clean) fossil fuel resources will provide blackouts and brownouts across the country.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “The second big news explosion was the weather bomb that buried Wyoming, and most of the country, just before Christmas.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “The people of Wyoming need to give thanks to first responder Tyeler Harris, 29, of Saratoga and to Safety Officer Bruce Lang, 68, of Pine Haven, who lost their lives trying to save others.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Most amazing thing he saw was the use of portable barbecue kits to warm up vehicle engines. Folks would fire them up and set them under their car engines, hoping to warm them up enough to get started.”
Bill Sniffin writes about his wife Nancy: “I never liked walking in the snow. Until I walked in the snow with you.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Some recent research credits a couple of old codger newspapermen as being responsible for coming up with the ‘Snow’ version of this name for this treacherous stretch of interstate highway.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “To me the biggest advantages of going downtown and shopping are both seeing the store employees and seeing my fellow townspeople buying locally.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “ Two and a half years ago, a horrific crash involving hundreds of big trucks and dozens of cars and pickups found themselves slamming into each other on Interstate 80. Four people were killed and dozens were injured. I-80 in the winter time is not to be dismissed.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “I recall seeing a Lander sportsman standing before a teller in a local bank, with his pistol on his hip, wearing a mask and making a withdrawal.”
Bill Sniffin: “In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “The answer is that with politics being as polarizing as it is, voters would vote for a cabbage if it was portrayed as being on their side.”
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “The House is now dominated by Republicans, which brings up the sad fact that Wyoming lost a golden opportunity for increased clout when Rep. Liz Cheney decided to vote to impeach President Trump.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “What a pair of great Wyoming gals. Two of my favorite people in my two chosen careers left us recently.”
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “Much like a terrified cartoon character whistling to himself as he walks through a cemetery at night, I was expecting at any second to be devoured by a monster grizzly bear.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “As a young editor-publisher in Lander back in 1976, I recall chatting with Gale McGee just before Election Day. McGee told me he was wrong about Vietnam.”
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “The last four months appear to have been a terrible time for our folks over 100 years of age in Wyoming – we have at least ten who have died.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Liz Cheney could very well have occupied the Speaker of the House post at an incredibly young age of 56. She could have been speaker for the next 20 years. What might have been?”
Bill Sniffin writes: “One of the unwritten golden rules of Wyoming is that you NEVER drive past a stranded motorist. Especially on cold, dark wintry days.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Seems that rattlesnakes love to move into dens created by other critters. When they crawled into these seemingly bottomless drill holes, they were never seen again.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “This day and place were extra special to my wife Nancy and me. It was right there in Sinks Canyon in September 1970 where she said: ‘Oh my God, Bill, I think I could live here in Wyoming!’”
Bill Sniffin writes: “On this day, Jimmy Orr, Dave Simpson, Dave Lerner, Rod Miller, and I honored the late Jim Angell at the new Cowboy State Daily offices. We had a great time telling Jim Angell stories and puffing away on his brand of favorite cigars on a perfect late afternoon.”
Bill Sniffin asks: “But getting back to the question at hand – what would be on such a list of Wyoming’s 7 greatest man-made wonders? What would qualify?”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Cheney’s argument might have been more effective had she put up a more impressive campaign but the result for her was ignominious. Her future bully pulpit is diminished by the size of her loss.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “For five years now, she’s believed that anything I told her was true. That all facts emanate from Dad. I’ve been her hero.”person
Bill Sniffin writes: “Cheney’s nonstop criticism of Trump made her a one trick pony – and Wyoming voters both did not like the trick nor did they enjoy seeing it played over and over again.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Lacock just missed the Drew Perkins-Bob Ide State Senate Race in Casper but guessed the total vote would be 180,000. The actual number was unofficially 171,000.”
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Bill Sniffin writes: “After crunching my estimated numbers of probable voters, it shows that Liz could win. If Liz can pull off the upset of the decade, it will be because of four factors.”
Okay folks, who is the smartest political prognosticator of them all? Take our quiz.
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Bill Sniffin writes: “The Liz Cheney-Harriet Hageman race for our lone U. S. Rep. seat in the GOP primary is being covered breathlessly by media and watched nonstop by political junkies from just about everywhere.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “When I reached out to my network of informed Wyoming citizens, I asked them about my theory that 15,000 Democrats and Independents might cross over. And is there a possibility that even a higher amount might cross over?”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Nobody in Wyoming has ever seen a campaign like this one where millions of dollars are being spent by the Cheney campaign to convince Democrats and Independents to vote for her.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Can you be more Democrat than former Gov. Mike Sullivan or former U.S. Senate candidate Rodger McDaniel? Both are now Republicans and voting for Cheney.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “In so many ways, this was a typical Wyoming trip for people in the Cowboy State. If you can figure out how to take a long trip and make it interesting, then the whole journey becomes a joy rather than a chore.”
Bill Sniffin writes when former Sen. Al Simpson, a Republican who is a harsh critic of current Wyoming GOP leadership, receives his Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday, he will say that he is an American who lives in Wyoming and will not be saying that he is a member of the Wyoming Republican Party.
Bill Sniffin writes: “Interestingly, I believe this debate did move the needle, but not by either Cheney or Hageman.”
Bill Sniffin writes “This column is about travel but I could not start it without writing about my favorite place – Yellowstone.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “What has happened to the park leaves me feeling very sad. Our old friend has taken one helluva beating.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Liz Cheney has become one of the most high-profile politicians in America. She is the darling of the mainstream media, which universally hates Trump.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “It was one hell of a speech. A one-of-a-kind speech. With barely a note Trump railed against his enemies and touted his successes.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “I worry a lot about this generation of graduates, that is, until I spend some time with them.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Now Aaron Million thinks he has figured out how to get the water. And he believes that Wyoming people will be happy to hear this newest version of his plan.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “I am literally one of a handful of people still alive who also attended the park’s centennial celebration in Cody in 1972.”
Bill Sniffin writes about the biggest political crowds in Wyoming: “Much to Republicans’ chagrin, up to now, the existing records for political turnouts in the state belong to Democrats.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “If a season could be schizophrenic it would be Wyoming’s spring.”
Because Wyoming is the home base to 150 sites of ICBM nuclear-tipped missiles around the F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, our state capital would be one of the main targets of Russian missiles.
Bill Sniffin writes: “It looks like my cell phone holster is toast. However, I am definitely not ready for a nose ring.
Bill Sniffin writes: “Some of the biggest animals that ever lived, both reptile and mammal, lived in Wyoming in earlier times.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “But for a few days in April of 2001, this might have been the most fun I have ever had on a golf course – and I wasn’t even playing.”
The biggest threat to Wyoming water has been posed by a Fort Collins entrepreneur, Aaron Million. He lusts after that water and has promoted plans upon plans to get it to the Front Range of Colorado.
Bill Sniffin writes about the Richest Man in the World: “It is well-known that Joe married ‘up,’ which means he found himself an ideal wife. People say his wife should not put up with all of Joe’s hobbies, but she accepts them with a smile, because she likes them, too.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Not sure any Wyoming outlaw endured what poor Big Nose George Parott, a train robber and confessed murderer, had to put up with as an angry mob put an end to his worthless life in Rawlins in 1881.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “As the old bumper sticker read: ‘Please God, give me one more boom. This time I promise not to piss it away.’”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Wyoming fans literally raised the roof Thursday afternoon as their UW Cowboys defeated UNLV, 59-56. And boy, were these fans ever having a lot of fun.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “What is the official coldest temperature ever? UW Historian Phil Roberts said, “I think the record is still -66 recorded Feb. 9, 1933 at Moran. I heard the temperature was actually colder, but the thermometers didn’t have the capacity to register a lower reading!'”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Visiting Cheyenne was a terrific experience. Only downside is that we did not have time to see everything. We plan to go back later this year. This place belongs to all Wyomingites and we are sure proud of how it has evolved over the years.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Today marks a big day in Wyoming history! On March 1, 1872, Yellowstone became the world’s first national park. It is one of the best ideas ever hatched.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “The way he said ‘I drive truck’ might have sounded odd to me back there in 1970, but I have heard it dozens of times since. It was always odd to me that the guys telling me this did not say ‘I drive A truck.’”
Bill Sniffin writes: “So why not build an Interstate 80 alternate route on the current route of US30? It would be good news for national economy.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Maybe this is how married couples can live a long life together. When one is weak and falling down, the other holds up its partner as long as he or she can.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Wyoming old-timers have lots of stories to tell about Frontier Airlines. It was the major airline for the Cowboy State for almost half a century.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Liz is everywhere. While her stock was rising nationally, her support back here in Wyoming was evaporating. Her battles with former President Donald Trump have reached legendary levels.”
Bill Sniffin writes: “Let’s see, in six weeks it will be March 15. Now that might be spring in most parts of America but here in Wyoming, that date often signifies our heaviest accumulations of snow.”
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Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “I thought I knew just about everything about my neighbor Bill Crump, but trying to imagine him stooped over in a submarine in World War II, well . . .”
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “Ten years ago, I felt, at the age of 65, my time might be running out.”
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: In my opinion, there is no better way to appreciate this land we call Wyoming than seeing it from the air.
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “As for 2022, I think it will be one hell of an exciting year. Let’s get out the old crystal ball and make a few predictions…”
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “I call 2021 the beginning of the ‘silly season’. Literally, it has been a time when every progressive professor has gotten to unleash his or her ‘silly’ scheme on the rest of the country.”
Publisher Bill Sniffin offers a memory: “Without thinking, I placed it vertically against a dead tree — how about that? Michael disagreed and not really realizing what we were doing, he insisted we lay it out horizontally, which we did. And it suddenly became a cross.”
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “Remember the three rules of shopping locally – first, it helps the economy; second, you will see all your friends; and third, you will be stunned to see the outstanding selection being carried by your local stores.”
Publisher Bill Sniffin says: “That tag Dead Duck may very well describe Ms. Cheney in about six months. Or sooner if Republicans continue to bail on her. Her actions on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol will continue to sour Wyoming voters, we predict.”
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “In recent years I have been hanging out with some folks who contend your most important goals in life should be finding truth, goodness, and beauty.”
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “We do not have to worry about supply chains or products being stranded off some California port – these gifts are available here in our own back yard.”
“We published a story in the our local newspaper about the great many broken wrists, arms, legs, and ankles from folks slipping on all the ice. That was how it used to be. Not so, today, at least not this year, yet.”
Publisher Sniffin writes: “It is the story about a young Marine from Dubois named Chance Phelps, who was killed on Good Friday, April 9, 2004, in Iraq. The movie is about Lt. Col. Mike Strobl’s journey in bringing the young man’s body home to Wyoming.”
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: like to divide our different weather cycles into 20 different seasons. I am not the first to do this, but after a lot of thought and half century of experience, these 20 seasons seem to make the most sense.
On Friday, Oct. 29, 2021, I looked northwest from the airport on a bluff overlooking Lander and could clearly see the Washakie Needles, almost 100 miles away.
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “No media in Wyoming has grown like this. And thanks to you, we continue to grow! Our motto is ‘Don’t just watch us grow – join us!'”
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: October is breast cancer awareness month and it is in that spirit that I write this.
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes “I love our small population and am not yearning for big increases. But it seems odd that somehow Wyoming has avoided developing that one major-sized city that would be an economic incubator for the state.”
Bill Sniffin writes: Those Wyoming mountains in my mind were looking mighty good about then. Wyoming’s low humidity and bright sunshine were only a distant memory — but in between shivers, it kept me going.
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes that three Lander friends, all of whom were vaccinated, recently had gotten sick from COVID. Although none died or were even hospitalized, this got our attention.
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “Like No Place on Earth” was the official slogan for Wyoming’s tourism division a few years ago. I liked the slogan but thought it referred more to Yellowstone National Park than anywhere else in the state.
Bill Sniffin writes: Alas, this year mid-September felt like July 4. If you are going you better be patient. And congratulations to the park service for installing those traffic-moving gals with the bullhorns as they were effective in moving traffic along.
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “This is shaping up to be a heavyweight title bout between two very smart and well-funded Wyoming woman candidates.”
Publisher Bill Sniffin writes: “A real old-fashioned football weekend at Laramie had not occurred for over two years. But this weekend was just so much fun – the tail-gating, the banquets, the pomp, the huge crowds, and it even culminated with a nail-biter of a football game victory.”
So, my first column item here is about a bear. Columnist Dave Simpson recently wrote about a beer-drinking bear. This story is better.
If you love Wyoming, mountains, wildlife, scenery, and images of the Cowboy State’s most beautiful places, you will love this book.
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Bill Sniffin writes: “Both 60 Minutes and USA Today were doing major pieces on Liz Cheney last week because of her continued bashing of former President Trump.”
