October 10, 2024 |
Photo – Building sold to Albany County – Bigfoot99 file photo
Two months after selling a building to the Albany County School District, Carbon County is now filling in the hole that remains in Medicine Bow.
This past August, the Board of Carbon County Commissioners voted to sell an unneeded county-owned building to Albany County School District Number One. The modular building, formally located on the corner of Highway 487 and Beech Street in Medicine Bow, was purchased by Carbon County in 2019 using impact assistance money from the nearby TB Flats wind turbine construction project.
The plan was to house a sheriff’s deputy and county road and bridge employee in Medicine Bow. However, the building was never used and sat vacant for five years.
Meanwhile, in the tiny ranching town of Garrett, in Albany County, the Anderson family was in a legal battle with the school district. The Andersons demanded a schoolhouse for their rural community. However, the Albany County School District stated that the small population of the town did not warrant a dedicated school.
The Albany County school district told the parents they would have to send their two young children over 40 miles over dirt roads to the school in Rock River. Or they could homeschool them.
It was a classic showdown between Wyoming’s historic ranching culture and the liberal elitism of the present-day school system.
The Wyoming legislature took notice and allocated $300,000 toward the construction of a school in Garrett. Seeing a chance to use taxpayer money for a good cause, the Carbon County commissioners offered to sell the Medicine Bow building to Albany County for $80,000.
The purchase agreement required Albany County to pay to remove the building from Medicine Bow and transport it to Garrett, where it will be used as the Antelope Creek School. Carbon County agreed to take care of the hole where the schoolhouse once stood.
The building was removed from its concrete foundation in August and the hole was left open, surrounded by a fence that failed to keep local children from playing in the pit that remained.
Speaking to Bigfoot99 yesterday, Commission Chairwoman Sue Jones said in August, Buildings and Grounds Manager Jeff Askins requested quotes from local contractors to fill the hole. Askins only received one extremely high quote. Chairwoman Jones said the Board of Carbon County Commissioners requested additional quotes, but no reasonable bids were received.
While the county searched for a contractor to perform the work, the people of Medicine Bow began to complain about the unsafe hole.
Chairwoman Jones said the county Road and Bridge Department would need to step up if a contractor couldn’t be found. However, Road and Bridge Superintendent Kandis Fritz already had her crews working tirelessly to maintain the hundreds of miles of county roads. Jones acknowledged that the hole must be filled as soon as possible.
On Tuesday, county road crews began filling the hole with dirt purchased from the town of Medicine Bow. Chairwoman Jones said a concrete pad with a faucet will be left at the site to clean county-owned road equipment.
Chairwoman Jones said the hole in Medicine Bow should be filled in by this weekend.
