Tag Archives: Wyoming Tribune Eagle

Three towns you can buy right now

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Three towns you can buy right now – The Style Blog – The Washington Post.

IMHO, myself and all my readers should go in on the town in France! 19, count ‘em, 19 homes.  Spruce ‘em up, and we got vacation time shares on the Continent!  Sounds good to me, you?  :)

If you’ve ever wanted a little more space than your apartment or house provides, now is your time: Three towns — in Montana, Wyoming and France — are for sale. And they’re relatively affordable!


Buford resident Don Sammons stands in front of the population sign in a Jan. 1, 2011 photo. Sammons is the town’s sole resident and will sell the town by auction. (AP Photo/Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Michael Smith) (Michael Smith – AP)

Buford, Wyo.

Size: 10 acres

Price: An auction on April 5 will begin at $100,000.

Amenities: a three-bedroom home, a gas station, the Buford Trading Post, a 1900s cabin, a garage, and a schoolhouse built in 1905

History: Buford is for sale by its owner and lone resident, Don Sammons. According to Time, Buford is the second-oldest town in Wyoming, once bustling with 2,000 residents. It declined when a railroad re-routed, and though Sammons once lived there with his family, they’ve all since moved away and left him as the town’s sole resident. He’s selling the town because he’s ready to move on, he says.


Cars drive on Interstate 80 near Buford, Wy. in a Jan. 11, 2011 file photo. Buford resident Don Sammons is the town’s sole resident and will sell the town by auction. (Michael Smith – AP/Wyoming Tribune Eagle)

Pray, Montana

Size: Five acres of commercial property

Price: $1,400,000

Amenities: One new commercial building with a rental storefront and deluxe apartment, a post office and an old store that comes complete with “enough historical artifacts to create a small museum,” according to the listing. Yellowstone National Park and Chico Hot Springs Resort are nearby.

History: Pray is for sale by Barbara Walker, whose family has owned the town for 59 years, according to the Associated Press. The town was founded in 1907 by a man named Valentine Eggar, who wanted to name the town after himself. His name choice was not approved by the Postal Service because it was too similar to another town’s name, so he named it after Rep. Charles N. Pray, who was in charge of approving new post offices.

“It’s kind of a unique property,” Bart Miller, the realtor for Mason & Morse Ranch Co. in Colorado, which has listed the property, told the AP.

“It’s really meant for someone to come in with a vision and make a bed and breakfast or coffee shop or general store,” he said.


In this photo taken Feb. 28, the French village of Saint Nicolas Courbefy, in Limousin, a region in central France, is seen for sale. The entire hamlet carried an asking price of just 300,000 euro ($440,000), the cost of a studio apartment in Paris. (Sarah DiLorenzo – AP) Courbefy, France

Size: Stories about the town don’t specify, but it’s big enough to accommodate the 19 homes that are part of the deal.

Price: A deposit of 330,000 euro ($440,000) is required from interested buyers before a May 21 auction.

Amenities: Aside from those 19 homes, there’s a swimming pool and tennis courts. Everything is pretty run down, though, because the previous owners deserted the property years ago. A 12th century chapel is excluded from the sale.

History: Courbefy goes back to Gallo-Roman times, according to the AP — a road connecting nearby Limoges and Bordeaux passed through the town. No one has lived there since the 70s, after which the town passed through a series of hands, each intending to fix it up into a luxury resort or children’s camp or vacation property. Credit Agricole, which holds the mortgage, is selling the town.


In this photo taken Feb. 28, the swimming pool in the French village of Saint Nicolas Courbefy, in Limousin, a region in central France is seen. (Sarah DiLorenzo – AP)

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Wyoming Senate moves to restrict records access

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Wyoming Senate moves to restrict records access.

Our government is frustrating me more and more.  What happened to “Transparency?”  Sounds like they want to hide stuff to me and be unaccountable for their actions.  The “Good Ole’ Boys” at work again.   Helping each other out.  If passed, records will be sent to a quorum to see if they QUALIFY as public records.  More money being spent to categorize what should be public records from the get-go!

The Wyoming State Senate on Monday took a step toward restricting public access to information from state agencies and local governments.

Acting on a bill originally aimed at updating the state’s public records law, the Senate adopted an amendment proposed by Sen. Bruce Burns, R-Sheridan, to specify that state agencies, local governments and other political subdivisions of the state wouldn’t have to disclose the records and recommendations that public officials relied on in reaching final decisions.

Burns’ amendment also specified that materials must be sent to at least a quorum or majority of members on a public board or commission to qualify as public records. The Wyoming Association of Municipalities had pushed both elements of Burns’ amendment before an interim legislative committee last year.

The Senate approved Burns’ amendment by a voice vote. It later approved the bill on its first reading by a vote of 20 to 9. The bill needs two more readings in the Senate before it would head to the House.

Sen. Kit Jennings, R-Casper, applauded the amendments, noting that the Legislature already exempts its own records, including draft bills, from public review under the state’s open records law.

“Without this amendment, we’re telling all these other entities out there, `you can’t have that same thought process absent the influence and the pressure from the media to tell you how it should be,’” Jennings said. “I think without this amendment, this is a terrible bill. I might be able to stomach this bill with this amendment.”

Sen. Leland Christensen, R-Alta, responded that in addition to affecting the media, the amendment would prevent the public from getting critical information in instances such as when a county commission considering a zoning change retains experts to prepare studies in advance of a vote.

“Those are important documents. And that is important information for the public to have access to _ so that when they come to those final meetings, they have the same information in front of them and are able to make appropriate comments and input based on what’s being considered, as opposed to they’re working off yesterday’s newspaper,” Christensen said.

The Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee met repeatedly last year to consider possible changes to the state’s open records law.

The judiciary committee last year rejected requests from the Wyoming Association of Municipalities to recommend both elements of the amendment that Burns pushed through Monday. The Wyoming Press Association, of which The Associated Press is a member, opposed both proposals before the committee.

Mark Harris with the Wyoming Association of Municipalities said Monday he was surprised the Senate had endorsed both proposals. He said the association believes putting the deliberative process exemption into state law would be a good clarification.

The Wyoming Supreme Court in 2010 declined to say whether the deliberative process exception exists in state law.

Cheyenne Newspapers Inc., which publishes the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, sued former Gov. Dave Freudenthal after his administration refused to turn over draft state agency budget materials. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said that if the exemption existed, it still wouldn’t apply in that particular case.

“We wanted to see whether that clarification was warranted,” Harris said. “At least so far, it’s in there. We’ll see what happens.”

Jim Angell with the Wyoming Press Association said his group will oppose Burns’ amendment, saying it would create too much potential for abuse by public officials.

“When I watch my elected officials do something, often I want to know why,” Angell said. “Not just that they did something, but I want to know what their reasoning was, because maybe I don’t think it’s sound.”

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Higher ed officials get ready for budget cuts – Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online

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Higher ed officials get ready for budget cuts – Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online.

CHEYENNE — Administrators with both the Wyoming Community College Commission and University of Wyoming are drawing up drafts of possible budget cuts.

Plans include cuts of 2 percent, 5 percent and 8 percent, and are being done at the request of the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Interim Committee and the office of Gov. Matt Mead.

Depending on the level of the cuts, UW will determine if programs see small cutbacks or major cuts, Provost Myron Allen said.

“We might be able to do (a 2 percent cut) with some across-the-board reductions and cutting back,” he said. “A 5 percent cut is more serious. (We’d) probably have to take a hard look at specific activities and programs.”

Cuts at the university range from $3.7 million at 2 percent a year to $14.7 million at 8 percent, according to information from the university.

For some Community College Commission staff members, the request was expected, said Matt Petry, chief financial officer and deputy director. Some administrators at UW found it more of a surprise.

A 2 percent cut for the commission would be about $4.9 million, Petry said.

The cut would be split among the community colleges’ operating budgets based on how much they receive percentage-wise from the commission, he said.

The university has started seeking input from community members regarding places cuts could be made, Allen said.

The trimming process for the proposed budget cuts at UW is similar to efforts undertaken when former Gov. Dave Freudenthal was in office, he said.

The proposed cuts at the educational institutions are set to come from operating, or annual, budgets, officials said. One-time costs, like capital construction projects, likely won’t be affected.

The requests have come after concern by members of the Joint Appropriations Interim Committee regarding the increasing standard budget, said committee co-chairman Sen. Phil Nicholas, R-Laramie.

Requests for what budget cuts would look like have been given to all state agencies, he said.

“Our standard budget three years ago was about $2.7 billion, (so) we did a 10 percent reduction in the Freudenthal administration,” Nicholas said. “And as (a) result of bills and legislation, the standard budget has grown to $2.8 billion, so we have (lost) any saving from the 10 percent reduction.”

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