No hand-wringing
here
Dear
HCN,
I read with some dismay your front-page
article by Paul Krza (HCN, 7/7/97). I feel that this was a very
negative slant on our state. Mr. Krza is a very negative
third-generation Wyomingite. I am also a third-generation
Wyomingite, with both of my grandfathers in Wyoming before the turn
of the century. I am, along with most of my peers, a very
optimistic Wyomingite.
We are portrayed in the
article as somewhat slow-witted citizens doing the bidding of
multinational extractive minerals corporations. I see hard-working,
very independent people, trying to raise their families in a state
with a great lifestyle. Most of our people have a very strong land
ethic, and longtime residents are here for that reason, even if
they could leave the state for more money.
I do
believe your newspaper serves a valuable function as a forum for
the exchange of ideas on our Western lands and the heritage and
lifestyle of our Western communities. Your founder, Tom Bell, was
in fact one of my elementary schoolteachers. The major reason for
my running for the Wyoming State Legislature after retirement from
a career in public land management was to help keep Wyoming the
great place it has always been. If things were as bad as depicted
in your article, one may have been tempted to shoot himself as a
better option to living in Wyoming.
The article
also explores failings in our Wyoming school system. My wife, Rita,
and I have raised four daughters who are products of Rock Springs
public schools. They have proven our schools provide the background
to compete anywhere in the world. Our schools were just one of many
reasons keeping us in Rock Springs when out-of-state opportunities
beckoned. Wyoming, like all states, has its problems, but we are
determined to face them squarely and not indulge ourselves in
hand-wringing negativism.
Jack
Steinbrech
Rock Springs,
Wyoming
The writer represents
Sweetwater County, House District 48, in Wyoming’s House of
Representatives.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline No hand-wringing here.
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