July 2, 2020 ‧ Basin Republican Rustler 5

I have a monster in my garden,

I am not sure what kind it is, I hav-en’t seen it, but it grabbed my boot and leg last week and wouldn’t let go. I think it might be related to a meadow vole, or a ground squir-rel of some kind, because I saw ev-idence of them around there last fall, but I can’t be sure.

We were watering said garden, which is part orchard, last week when I went out to make sure the water was going past a cluster of plum trees that has a hump of dirt around it. This hump at times has small holes in it like some kind of rodent lives there. Since we nev-er seem to manage to get the plums picked before they land on the ground, we just figured that some voles, chipmunks or mice had moved in to feed on the pits.

Whatever is liv-ing there I dangerous,

though. As I walked down through the rasp-berries I got to the plum trees and turned to go toward the toma-to plants… that is when I

stepped on some sort of trap door, or a trip latch or something, I am not sure what, but my foot started sinking very quickly and it didn’t stop until it was clear to my knee.

Now I am in a pickle. It is like I am kneeling on one leg, except said leg is buried to the knee in a mud hole. I can’t pull it out because something in that hole has a firm hold on my boot and leg. Try as I might I can’t get it to come loose. I wiggle my foot, okay there was some movement, maybe I can do this, so I start pull-ing. Nope. It won’t come loose. So I stop and take

stock of my situation. Well, I can leave my

boot in the hole. But the angle it is at, I can’t even get my foot out of the boot. I wiggle my foot some more, it gives, but only when I rock my foot forward over my toes. So I drop to my other knee, which changed the whole angle of the buried leg and the boot and foot came right out.

But now I am in mud half way to my hips. I start crawling to a dry spot and that is when I it comes to mind that my boots only come to mid-calf. The one that had been down the hole is already full of mud and water and I am scoop-ing water and mud with the other one with every movement.

I eventually manage to get back on my feet. I head back to the house, squishing with every step and ouching, because I didn’t bother to put socks on and that mud, water and small rocks is rubbing my feet with every step.

Yup I got away, but the monster is still there.

By Barbara Anne GreeneChamber Chat

Steva Dooley

Garlic butter Steak and Potatoes

1 tablespoon ol-ive oil

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 pound baby red potatoes

3-4 garlic cloves minced

2 teaspoons fresh chives

1½ pounds sirloin steak, cut into cubes

Salt and pepper to taste

Add olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to large skillet over medium high heat. Add potatoes and garlic season with salt and pepper, cook for 3 minutes, stir, and cook until potatoes are fork tender, re-move to a plate. Turn heat up and add re-maining butter. Sea-son steak with salt and pepper, add to pan and let sear for 1 minute, stir and cook until steak is browned and cooked to de-sired doneness. Add potatoes back to skil-let and stir. Top with parsley and chives.

CORNER

THE

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lummisforwyoming.com@LummisforWyoming

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D ay !Let Freedom Ring, Wyoming!

WELLNESS PROGRAMS

ARE BACKWellness Program Workouts Mon.-Fri. 6-8 am | Gottsche facilityKeep Moving Classes | Mon.-Thurs. 8:30-9:30 am | fairgroundsTai Chi | Tues. & Thurs. | 9:30-10:30 am | fairgrounds

Call 307-568-9399 or check Facebook for updates. Gottsche is making every possible

effort to ensure our facility is clean and sanitized daily for each individuals use. 406 S. 4TH ST., BASIN

WWW.GOTTSCHE.ORG

Got news?Call the Basin

Republican Rustler at

307-568-2458.

Big Horn County Weed and Pest Control District

NOTICE OF HEARINGBig Horn County Weed and Pest Control District

Notice is hereby given that a public hearing on the proposed budget for Big Horn County Weed and Pest Control District for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, which is now being considered by the Board of Big Horn County Weed and Pest Control District, will be held at Greybull, Wyoming on the 14th day of July, 2020, at 1:00 p.m., at which time any and all persons interested may appear and be heard respecting such budget. A summary of such proposed budget follows:

Summary of BudgetEstimated Total Cash

& RevenuesEstimated Total Budget Amount

Estimate of Tax Requirements

Amount Mill LevyGeneral Fund $844,703.00 $1,247,724.00 $403,021.00 $0.002

Details of the South Big Horn Senior Services District general fund requirements Tentative

Administration $251,349.00Operations $656,375.00Indirect Costs $237,000.00Capital Outlay $103,000.00Debt Service $0.00Provisions for Tax Shrinkage $3,100

Total Cash Requirements $1,247,724.00

Published: July 2, 2020

Blue Line tape available at chamber to show supportQuoting a wise doc-

tor today: “You’re either in the busi-

ness of saving lives OR mak-ing lives worth saving.”

On account of the crazy times the chamber is bring-ing back The Blue Line Proj-ect. Please put a stripe of blue on a window or door to show support for law enforcement. Blue paint-er’s tape works well. You can purchase it at cham-ber members Big Horn Coop or Valley Hardware. There are also rolls of tape in the foyer of the chamber. Feel free to take some to put up your blue line. We would also encourage those of you that like to paint rocks to paint some dedicated to law enforcement. The Helping Neighbors in 9’erville is working on some other projects for people to do to support these people. As I’m writing these, it hits me that some of the people that are doing the rock painting could also do some for any and/or all the essential workers. A rock that says thank you.

Can it really be time to plan for the Big Horn County Fair parade? Remember, your float will be judged based on how it ties in with the fair theme: “Country Pride. County Wide.” If you would like to be a judge this year that would be fabulous. Just let me know.

Do you have your Shop Smart, Shop Safe window cling yet? The chamber received 150 and any business can have one. Just let us know.

Welcome to two businesses as chamber members: Deanna’s Traveling Canvas and Beartooth Realty.Chamber member news:

• South Big Horn Senior Center: They are starting to serve meals in the dining room on July 1 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Chair yoga on Thursdays at 9:30 a.m.

• Waller Hall Research: Looking for a fluent Spanish interviewer. Pick up application at the office (behind the Overland in Greybull) or call 307-213-6168.

• The SHACK: Open 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday and Satur-day nights.

• Greybull Rec: Tie Dye Day, July 8. Bring a T-shirt or a tank top for a color transformation. $1 per clothing item. Ages: All (under 6 with an adult) 1 - 2pm. Ages 11 and up, 5-6 p.m. Karate Summer Camp is July 6-10, 4-12 year olds. Call 307-765-9575 to register.

• Basin Rec: Basketball and volleyball at Hender-son Park, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 6 to 8 p.m. Cornhole games at Basin football field on Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m. Monday-Thursdays at Henderson Park, flag football 9 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. for ages 3-6, 10-10:45 p.m. ages 7-12. Bas-ketball 1-1:45 p.m. ages 3-6. 2 - 2:45 p.m. ages 7-12.

If you got all the way to the bottom of this...GOOD JOB. Remember if you are a chamber member to send in the info you want in Chamber Chat on Sundays by 5 p.m.

The monster in my garden

Our office will be closed

Friday, July 3.

Ad deadline remains the same: Monday at 5 pm

BRR

COVID-19 TEAM continued from page one

finger on what is happening with the county commis-sioners. We have our public health nurse manager (Mul-ley). This is a public health emergency. We have all of the information we need to make decisions instanta-neously; she is right here at the table. We have our public health response coordina-tor (Lindsay) right here and available every day. We have municipal law enforcement (Kampbell) to represent at that level and the ability to run operations because he comes with that piece from the military background. Then, of course, with the sheriff being familiar with the whole county and having the law enforcement piece for that. It just brought us together,” Dobbs expressed.

Also a “piece” was her role as the emergency man-agement coordinator for the county. This gave the team a link to the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security. “We had all our pieces covered. We had the Wyoming De-partment of Health, the Wy-oming Commissioners As-sociation, Wyoming Sheriffs, the municipal law enforce-ment, and Wyoming Office of Homeland Security all at the table. We have repre-sentatives that have instant access to them. It wasn’t just an ICS team. It was bring-ing together the pieces from across the whole state to one table.”

Blackburn said one of the reasons for the success of this team was the con-tinued representation from each faction. He added that he had been on some state calls where some of the players on the call changed from week to week. Those same players didn’t have a

seat at the table; they just listened.

With the Big Horn County team, everyone has an equal voice, representa-tion from all over the county and from the different disci-plines. That is what gave this team the ability to get things done and to get things done quickly. The team also felt that having the county com-missioners’ backing 100% made a difference. Mul-ley said that is was the key piece. “That would have tak-en the longest to try to get their approval on every-thing,” she said.

Blackburn agreed and said it allowed the team to decide who the stakehold-ers were. He stated, “Rath-er than feeding information out, this is the way it is, in a dictatorial way, we involved local clergy, local business, school officials, law enforce-ment officials, health offi-cials. We were able to form specific groups and ques-tions for them. We were able to get our questions up the ladder and back down the ladder in real time. It wasn’t perfect because we were making up as we go but the reality is we were able to deal, as a coordinated team, with our county’s needs rap-idly. Getting real informa-tion to the citizens to make their own opinion and an-swers. “

Blackburn continued that there were times that Lindsay, Mulley and Dobbs would be discussing some-thing very important. During that talk a question might come up. With Smallwood and him right there, they could answer that question immediately.

He was also proud of the way the money that came

the counties way was spent. The slow spread of the vi-rus in Big Horn County at the beginning allowed the county to stock up on sup-plies early on.

Dobbs added that all of the models they had for how the virus would spread were wrong. When the coun-ty SNS (Strategic Nation-al Stockpile) came in, it was not what was needed. So the team contacted the hospi-tals, clinics, nursing homes, etc., to find out what their needs were for PPE (Per-sonal Protective Equipment) such as masks, gowns and caps.

Blackburn said a huge shout out needs to be giv-en for the volunteers in this county that took on the task of making PPE. Those in-cluded the Helping Neigh-bors in 9’erville Facebook group and volunteers orga-nized by Mellissa Cook and Buffy Crumrine.

“I won’t say that we were the first ones to start sewing masks but I will say we were the fastest to organize and had the largest response. Now people can argue all day whether they think these masks are valuable or not. The fact of the matter is, we didn’t wait around; it was done. Things happened with those volunteers,” ex-plained Blackburn.

Lindsay said of the team: “This group of individuals has been effective through a combination of hard work, expertise, respect, concern and love of this county and those that call it home. I am proud to be a member of this team and am humbled by these amazing individu-als and their professional-ism and concern for others regularly.”

He added the team “paired with communi-ty members that gave their time, talents and resources worked to ensure that ev-eryone had what they need-ed to be as safe as possible.”

Mulley said the county public health office took on helping with contact tracing and answering the COVID-19 informational line and email account set up by the coun-ty. She has taken an active role in planning for the sec-ond and third wave that is predicted to hit in the fall and next year. This includes restocking supplies. The of-fice is also starting prepara-tion for holding mass vacci-nation clinics in the event that there is a vaccine for COVID-19.

Each team member at the meeting expressed how proud she or he is to be a part of the team and noth-ing but respect for everyone on it.

Lindsay summed it up this way: “Here is something that I know to be true: God loves Wyoming, Big Horn County, and those who re-side here. Someone’s un-seen hands are guiding all these efforts. We are be-ing directed and strength-ened to do the things that need to be done to protect our neighbors all over Big Horn County. Faith-based partners are talking, meet-ing, and working togeth-er as I have not seen in the past. People are putting aside differences to do what He is directing all of us to do to help and protect one another. I have been moved to tears countless times by the kindness of others, and I would not want to live, work, and raise my family anywhere else.”