WTE offers thumbs up and down

Community Christmas, other programs offer brighter holidays

UP to organizers of the Laramie County Community Christmas program for distributing close to 1,000 grocery gift cards of $70 each to county residents in need before Christmas.

Funded by Bar Bucks and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s Empty Stocking Fund, this program continues to help local families have a hearty holiday meal.

In Cheyenne, residents who met income requirements were able to stop by American Legion Post 6 and get a card from volunteers from F.E. Warren Air Force Base’s 90th Logistics Readiness Squadron. That card could be used at a local store for items needed to provide a quality meal. In Pine Bluffs and Albin, gift cards were distributed for use at their local markets.

A couple of days later, the group known as We Got Your Back provided gifts to dozens of local residents at The Louise event venue downtown. Thanks to Angel Maldonado, owner of The Presidential barbershop, and many other volunteers and community donors, the event helped spread love, joy and happiness to children and adults alike.

These are just two of the many charitable activities held throughout Laramie County in the lead-up to the holidays. Many others were spotlighted through our Everyone gives, Everyone gains holiday list, which was published several times between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thank you to everyone for so generously sharing your blessings with others!

With Lummis leading the way, bald eagle gets long-overdue recognition

UP to U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., for successfully securing passage of a bill to designate the bald eagle as the national bird of the United States.

Some people were probably surprised that this hadn’t already been done. But even though it has been depicted as the national symbol of the U.S. since 1782, it wasn’t officially the national bird. Ms. Lummis teamed up with Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to co-sponsor this piece of legislation.

While it isn’t the most important issue Congress could have been dealing with, we’re glad to see President Joe Biden sign it into law to make it official.

Gray right to press for election integrity, wrong about drop boxes

UP to Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray for spotlighting the need for secure, trustworthy elections, but DOWN for continuing to press for a statewide ban on ballot drop boxes.

While we understand and support Mr. Gray’s desire to increase trust in Wyoming’s election process, we also believe that the Equality State has one of the most secure voting systems in the country. That doesn’t mean we should let our guard down, of course, and things like requiring proof of U.S. citizenship and Wyoming residency at voter registration and improving voter list maintenance statutes are worth the Legislature’s attention.

However, Mr. Gray has failed to provide any proof that ballot drop boxes have negatively impacted the integrity of Wyoming elections. And, as Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee has pointed out on multiple occasions, local voters say they appreciate the convenience the secure drop box outside the county courthouse provides, especially when they can’t make it to the courthouse during regular business hours. With multiple cameras monitoring it 24/7, the physical integrity of the box itself and the multi-step verification of the authenticity of absentee ballots placed inside, we believe this voting method is much more reliable than the U.S. Postal Service, which sent ballots to the wrong Wyoming counties on multiple occasions this past year.

Rather than using the wording of state statute to justify banning ballot drop boxes, we’d like to see Mr. Gray support this and other ways to encourage more people to vote.

Thank you, Governor, for reinforcing critical mental health message

UP to Gov. Mark Gordon for continuing to reinforce the message that it’s OK not to be OK, and it’s crucial for people suffering from loneliness, depression and other mental illnesses to ask for help.

The latest message consistent with the governor’s Wy We Care Mental Health Initiative came in the form of an episode of the podcast “One Minute Can Save a Life.” Recorded with psychologist-suicidologist Kent A. Corso during a joint visit to the University of Wyoming earlier this year, the episode features Mr. Gordon sharing some very personal reasons why this message resonates with him, and why we need to move away from the extreme self-reliance that has caused Wyoming to consistently have a high per-capita suicide rate.

For those who don’t know, the governor’s first wife, Sally, was struck and killed by a vehicle in 1993.

“When my first wife was hit on the way to town early one morning, my kids were 4 and 2 [years old]. The devastation was incredible to me … and I reached out immediately because I didn’t want my kids to have the trauma I was worried about,” Gov. Gordon said on the podcast. “Just knowing that someone was willing to listen — and understanding how much they cared — was super important to me.”

Anyone who feels overwhelmed can call or text 988 for immediate help from an understanding Wyoming-based caregiver.

These consistent reminders of the importance of being willing to seek help are significant, and we applaud Gov. Gordon for doing what he can to keep reinforcing the message.