2022 Review: In Case You Missed It …
The Laramie Reporter takes a look at the past year, reflecting on the good, the bad and the ugly. Part three of three.
It was an eventful year for Laramie. In previous 2022 year-in-review stories, the Laramie Reporter recapped developments in local law enforcement and in the housing market. Below are the other stories that explored cultural, social and political life in Albany County.
January: Author of Drug Use for Grown-Ups talks freedom, empathy and ‘calling it as you see it’
In an interview for Wyoming Public Radio, neuroscientist and author Carl Hart opened up about his own drug use, the case for drug legalization, the hypocrisy of the War on Drugs and calling out oppressive, racist nonsense.
“Even before this book came out, with just the things I was saying, like, 'I'd rather have my kids interact with drugs than interact with police.' Well, they disinvited me from giving a talk,” Hart recounted. “So those kinds of things happened. But those kinds of repercussions, I'll live with that, because I live free and there is no price I'm not willing to pay for my freedom.”
February: How (and why) to recycle in Laramie
The Laramie Reporter dug into Laramie’s single-stream recycling system, how it works, and why you should participate in it — even if it won’t end global capitalism. Diverting even some trash from landfills is good for the environment, and research shows that taking action yourself will make you demand more of your government.
“Here you are with plastic and glass and cardboard, a monkey hell-bent on endless consumption, enraptured by the easy access to everything gifted you by global capitalism. Is it possible to be less wasteful? you wonder.”
March: The end of the pandemic?
It’s difficult to say when a pandemic is truly over. Infections continue, transmission ebbs and flows, but it’s possible that we’ve survived the worst of it. That’s good, but it also means public funding for managing this public health issue is drying up, and COVID prevention is now viewed as a matter of personal responsibility, endangering the poor, the disadvantaged and the uninsured.
“There could be a better tomorrow. At the very least, Albany County now has a brief respite, a free moment to reflect on the horrors witnessed and the lessons learned, and to consider our role as humans the next time we stare down a deadly pathogenic enemy.”
April: City council redraws Laramie’s political lines
The Laramie City Council redistricted the city’s three council wards in light of the 2020 U.S. Census results. The councilors split the city into north, south and east wards, cutting a line through West Laramie and the downtown area, dividing both neighborhoods.
“We believe West Laramie is a community of interest with overwhelmingly overlapping interests in representation,” then-Albany County Clerk Jackie Gonzales wrote in a letter to council decrying the splitting of West Laramie. “While we do appreciate and respect the idea of establishing a greater number of ties between West Laramie and city representatives, this does not necessarily increase the quality of these ties.”
May: The imminent overturn of Roe hits home in Albany County
As the country braced for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the Laramie Reporter spoke with Albany County residents who had gotten abortions about why they made the choice and what they fear about a future without abortion rights.
“I’m not willing to die for an unviable pregnancy,” said Elizabeth Hiatt, an Albany County resident and mother. “And as a parent, in particular, I’m really not willing to die even for a viable pregnancy because I have my entire family relying on me. So this absolutely changes how I feel about my plans for my life right now.”
June: Rising costs put the squeeze on Laramie’s poorest
The city’s social safety net organizations found themselves doing more with less when inflation drove up demand for their services and drove down donations.
“Donations have been all over the place,” said Ted Cramer, executive director of the Laramie Soup Kitchen. “As supply chains struggle, that leaves less food for people to purchase. When there’s a shortage of food on the shelves, everything is being purchased before the best-by date, so there just isn’t a surplus to donate.”
July: Crossover Campaigning
The Laramie Reporter looked at local instances of crossover campaigning — scenarios in which candidates switched parties in the pursuit of another party’s nomination. Two Democratic primary candidates for sheriff were registered Republican less than a month before filing to run. And the county assessor, appointed last year as a Democrat, ran in 2022 as a Republican.
“I hadn't intended to switch to Democrat,” said County Assessor Chelsie Mathews. “My predecessor, Grant Showacre, was a Democrat and he was going to retire at the end of his term. I was waiting for him to retire and then I was going to run as a Republican. But then he notified me — probably a year before he actually retired — that he was going to retire mid-term and advised me to switch so that I could be appointed to his position. So, that’s what I did.”
August: Albany County 2022 Primary Election
County residents went to the polls in August to cast primary ballots, narrowing the field for commission, sheriff, city council and legislative candidates. The five-candidate primary for the sheriff’s office was by far the most expensive. In the House District 45 race, a wife-husband pair swept both sides of the aisle.
“I was stunned — I did not see that coming,” said Rep. Karlee Provenza, who won the Democratic nomination opposite her husband in the Republican primary. “I mean we had heard rumblings about a possible write-in candidate and I knew that that was a possibility, but I really didn’t anticipate that.”
September: Precinct Committee Folks
Almost every race on a Wyoming ballot is gender neutral, but contests for “precinct committeewoman” and “precinct committeeman” are not. That puts nonbinary candidates for the position in a tight spot.
“Even if no one can remember why the law was passed, the letter of that law will continue to dictate what gets printed on the ballot. Laws remain laws until they are rewritten, eliminated or overturned by the courts, so they can easily outlive the memory of their origin — memes constituting the will of the state, replicated each time the statutes are written out, reproduced every time the ballots are printed. The law persists. It supersedes even the will of the people running elections or those populating the races.”
October: Albany County Sheriff candidates debate diversity and transparency
During a debate moderated by the Laramie Reporter, Sheriff Aaron Appelhans and his Republican challenger Joel Senior fielded questions about their track record and their philosophies.
“We've really turned things around in the sheriff's office," Appelhans said during the debate. “Everything we've done is to turn that around and really start to focus on de-escalation training, mental health crisis response, substance abuse programs in the jail so that when people get out of jail, they could stay out of jail, and then trying to reduce traffic fatalities.”
November: Conservative ‘slate’ fails to conquer school board
Albany County roundly rejected the opportunity to seat a right-wing school board. With seven of the board’s nine seats on the table this election cycle, a conservative coalition ran together as a ‘slate’ — promising to remove books from the school library and alter classroom curricula to remove “critical race theory” (something that is not taught in Albany County Schools, but which has formed the backbone of a national moral panic).
“(They) ran on these sensational, headline-grabbing issues of banning books and making it hard for transgender kids to go to the bathroom,” said Nate Martin, a progressive school board trustee who defeated his right-wing challenger in November. “The vast majority of people that we spoke to were like, ‘We have good schools here. We’re not interested in people coming in with their political agendas and trying to make radical changes, especially if they’re people who never cared about public education before Fox News started talking about it.’”
December: Anti-LGBT activist publicly targets specific UW student
A high-profile instance of bigoted harassment in the University of Wyoming student union was only the most visible recent attack on the local queer community. UW did not remove the offending church elder from campus the day of the harassment; he was allowed to remain in the union and table for hours after the incident. UW has now banned him from tabling in the student union for one year — although he is still allowed on campus and has already returned at least once to proselytize to students just outside the union.
“There is going to be another Matthew Shepard on this campus and we will have all seen it coming, we will have all been screaming about it,” said Tanner Ewalt, a queer student and ASUW senator. “And when it happens, the university will have the audacity to say, ‘Who could have seen this coming?’”
All the while: The war in Ukraine touched even Wyoming
Ukrainian University of Wyoming student Anastasiia Pereverten sprang into action when her homeland was invaded last winter. She has organized fundraisers and lectures, seeking to gain support for her country’s defense and educate Americans about Ukraine’s rich history and culture. Others have watched the war from afar, sending aid, supplies or even fighters. As the holidays begin, Ukrainians and their allies are hoping for a peaceful and free new year.
“Supporting Ukraine by either familiarizing yourself with its history or donating is a part of everybody's responsibility right now,” Pereverten said. “Because living in the outcomes of letting it slip will be way more horrific.”