Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My wife and I have lived in Sheridan since 2003. This is a very different town.We came from Denver to assist in the care of her mother. It, like most towns, has a facade and "good old boys".
It is approximately 67% that live at or below poverty, 25% are multi rich, and the rest are in between.
This town was the home of Peter Kewit, who founded Kewit Construction, which is an international construction company. I know that b/c my brother-in-law is a retired VP of the company.
The make-up the people who live here are very diverse. The Forbes family has lived here for many years, M&M owners recently move here, King Rope family has been here for a long time. They own King Ropes (specializing international rope manufacturingnfor National finals rodeo. Tommy Lee Jones is here, and many other high profile families.
There are more police per capita than any where in the US.
Homes can be very expensive. The talk is that billionaires are moving to Jackson Hole and pushing the millionaries to Sheridan. Limited affortable housing is almost not available. You can expect to by land at $30k or more w/o a home. We have our home on the market, purchased at $279,000 and listed at $ 399,000 which is market value.
The most difficult part of living here is that to shop you may have to go to Billings MT (125 mi. ) or Denver (450 mi. ) both one way.
There is high incident of drugs and alcohol related crimes here.
The major employer is the VA Psychiatric Hospital b/c of specializing in Post traumatic stress disorder. I know that b/c I worked for them for 4+ years.
I hope this is of some help.
Larry ccookelarry@live.com
I would have to agree with most everything you said. But I've obsevered a few things a little differently.
Peter Kiewit died 20+ years ago. His presence is no longer in town. There is a small operation down by Fort Rd and of course, Decker Coal. Peter had a ranch here. Kiewit's main office is in Omaha and always has been.
The VA is not "THE major employer. But it's up there as #3. It is ironic that every VA has a number. Our VA is the Mental end of things and it's number is 666.
As to Sheridan having that percentage of below poverty, as you mention, I think your number is a little high. When you say below poverty, by what standards are you matching that to? State or National? The reason I ask is that even if a wage is below National average, doesn't mean they are below poverty in Wyoming. Cost of living here is cheap, I don't care what anybody says. When you compare the fact that we can rent a 2 bedroom apartment in Sheridan for around $700 a month and most places in Montana are $900 for the same type unit it tells me the situation isn't so bad. To purchase land or a new home, yes, it's expensive.
Shopping is outstanding, by Wyoming standards. haha We may not have everything in Sheridan but we have anything you NEED. May not have what you want, but certainly anything you would need. Of course, if I can put jeans on my butt, food in my stomach, and have a decent selection of vehicles, I'm a happy camper.
I've lived in a lot of places in these United States and you are absolutely correct when you say Sheridan's "good ole boy network" is the worst you will encounter anywhere. Our city and county government is so far out of whack that it will never correct itself. Our city fathers have tied themselves into a network with outside companies that that web will never be broken. Sad, but true.
Sheridan is an outstanding place for a person to start a business and then have the City Gov put their thumb on you to control the growth of your company.
Something that doesn't make sense to me, and you'll probably agree is, "If we have the largest per capita police presence, why is there a drug and alcohol problem in Sheridan?" I've driven from one end of Sheridan to the other multiple times in one day. Never saw a cop. They're on shift, but darned if you'll see any of them.
I think you are a wee bit hard on this community. According to the US census (2009) 10.6% of the people in Sheridan County were below the poverty line. I'm not here for the shopping so I guess I don't have much of an opinion about that, only to say that I know a lot of people that don't shop out of town and they are not rich.
While there is a good ol boys mentality in some respects, I find it is much less so than other places. Public officials are accessable and if anyone is intersted in getting involved there thats how you get to meet the 'good ol boys' and can infulance things.
I have been on the planning and zoning commission since 2007 and have been free to vote on projects just the way i feel like it without much pressure from anyone, when the city over-ruled the commission on the rare occation, everybody knew about it and it did make a bit of a splash in the calm pond. They mayor just bearly got re-elected last time so this isn't exactly Chicago where everything is rigged and decided on in smokey back rooms.
And one more thing, about the police,
I am very dissapointed with what we get for the money we put into the PD. I know where at least some police cars are 24/7. I don't know why we pay insurance on a vehicle that doesnt move at all. On the rare event that some real crime occures in this town the local police wait for the Chayenne real cops to do their work. I think we could easily cut the force by 50% both for the City police department and the Sheriffs department.
I think you are a wee bit hard on this community. According to the US census (2009) 10.6% of the people in Sheridan County were below the poverty line. I'm not here for the shopping so I guess I don't have much of an opinion about that, only to say that I know a lot of people that don't shop out of town and they are not rich.
While there is a good ol boys mentality in some respects, I find it is much less so than other places. Public officials are accessable and if anyone is intersted in getting involved there thats how you get to meet the 'good ol boys' and can infulance things.
I have been on the planning and zoning commission since 2007 and have been free to vote on projects just the way i feel like it without much pressure from anyone, when the city over-ruled the commission on the rare occation, everybody knew about it and it did make a bit of a splash in the calm pond. They mayor just bearly got re-elected last time so this isn't exactly Chicago where everything is rigged and decided on in smokey back rooms.
You weren't here when growth was at a standstill in the early 90's. There were NO subdivision approvals due to "lack of water" was the excuse. Then all of a sudden, "Powder Horn" errupted." Money talks. Once the Powder Horn come about, there was no end to subdivisions being created. Old HS kept a tight rain on everything because he wanted Sheridan to be his Bedroom Community of retired folks.
Also, I suggest you look at the thread on Disability.
The new commercial park. We had a commercial park and they stopped growth on it. Would not allow expansion. Several times it was attempted. However, when a few of the shakers decide to build one, it's a go. But the commercial park is very thirsty. I understand they had to turn in an "Irrigation Plan". What are they going to irrigate?
Not to be too technical but Sheridan has gone through half of its 'tap equivalent' water rights supply. 8000 water tap equivalents with about 8000 taps to go. This account was one of the last things Mike Cole did before Gillette picked him up. The powderhorn is not in the city.
I don't think its fair to say that subdivisions were not done because the good ol boys didn't want them done. Almost per definition the developers which own large land tracts are 'the good ol boys' so if they didn't want to develope it there isn't much the community can do about it, its their property.
Suppose the city tried to force a landowner to annex his land into the city- that would not be 'the Wyoming way'
Back in the 80's or 90's a prominent landowner in the county wanted to sell the city reservoir water rights at a bargen price and the city was not interested. A few years ago there was an option to make developers who want to annex property into the city bring in water rights with the annexation, this was considered and rejected for now. I think everybody knows this will happen one day, it is the rule in Arizona and some other places in the west.
Not to be too technical but Sheridan has gone through half of its 'tap equivalent' water rights supply. 8000 water tap equivalents with about 8000 taps to go. This account was one of the last things Mike Cole did before Gillette picked him up. The powderhorn is not in the city.
I don't think its fair to say that subdivisions were not done because the good ol boys didn't want them done. Almost per definition the developers which own large land tracts are 'the good ol boys' so if they didn't want to develope it there isn't much the community can do about it, its their property.
Suppose the city tried to force a landowner to annex his land into the city- that would not be 'the Wyoming way'
Back in the 80's or 90's a prominent landowner in the county wanted to sell the city reservoir water rights at a bargen price and the city was not interested. A few years ago there was an option to make developers who want to annex property into the city bring in water rights with the annexation, this was considered and rejected for now. I think everybody knows this will happen one day, it is the rule in Arizona and some other places in the west.
In Sheridan County, subdivisions were held in check until the shakers made a major breakthrough and then all of them had subdivisions going.
Take a look at the "Loop" particular people want built around Sheridan to reduce traffic on main and coffeen. The business owners on Main and Coffeen aren't pushing for that. It's a few particular land owners. Low and behold, it's the land owners that will best benefit from a loop. Besides, what do we need a loop for? If I'm at one end of town and want to go to the other, there's a thing called the Interstate. Not much traffic on it.
I was a licensed contractor in the 90's have built a lot of buildings in this County and in Sheridan itself. At that time I saw what the good ole boys were doing. There were 1 or 2 good ole boys that dictated what everybody did in Sheridan City/County. It was very hard to get around or through those guys.
My wife and I have lived in Sheridan since 2003. This is a very different town.We came from Denver to assist in the care of her mother. It, like most towns, has a facade and "good old boys".
It is approximately 67% that live at or below poverty, 25% are multi rich, and the rest are in between.
This town was the home of Peter Kewit, who founded Kewit Construction, which is an international construction company. I know that b/c my brother-in-law is a retired VP of the company. The make-up the people who live here are very diverse. The Forbes family has lived here for many years, M&M owners recently move here, King Rope family has been here for a long time. They own King Ropes (specializing international rope manufacturingnfor National finals rodeo. Tommy Lee Jones is here, and many other high profile families. There are more police per capita than any where in the US.
Homes can be very expensive. The talk is that billionaires are moving to Jackson Hole and pushing the millionaries to Sheridan. Limited affortable housing is almost not available. You can expect to by land at $30k or more w/o a home. We have our home on the market, purchased at $279,000 and listed at $ 399,000 which is market value.
The most difficult part of living here is that to shop you may have to go to Billings MT (125 mi. ) or Denver (450 mi. ) both one way.
There is high incident of drugs and alcohol related crimes here.
The major employer is the VA Psychiatric Hospital b/c of specializing in Post traumatic stress disorder. I know that b/c I worked for them for 4+ years.
I hope this is of some help.
Larry ccookelarry@live.com
Poverty rate is only 10.6%
Full-time law enforcement employees in 2009, including police officers: 49 (27 officers).
Officers per 1,000 residents here: 1.56
US average: 3.00
"The most difficult part of living here is that to shop you may have to go to Billings MT (125 mi. ) or Denver (450 mi. ) both one way."
I don't understand this statement at all. I've lived here for a dozen years now and have never done ANY of my shopping in Denver, and the last time I went shopping in Billings was about 4 years ago for a wedding dress (we have a wedding shop here, I just didn't find what I wanted). I don't know what on earth you'd be buying that you'd need to do constant shopping trips in Billings or Denver. To list some of our shopping- quite nice for small town living... Wal-Mart, KMart, Walgreens, JCPennys, Maurices, Special Occasions, Men's Shop, Streetware, NAPA, O'Rileys, 3 tire dealers, 4-5 car dealerships, multiple oil-change places, Home Depot, 2 ACE Hardware stores, True Value, Big R, Sears, Aaron's, Carroll's Furniture, liquor stores, lots of specialty shops and services, lots of restraunts, for groceries- Albertson's, Safeway, Warehouse + several small shops that have organic foods and I believe we have two specialty meat shops now. I could keep going on, but really my point is- there is just about 0 need to drive out of state for regular shopping. If you want something you can't find in town (or if you want to try and find a better price on a large purchace) order online. Nothing could be easier than that.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
About the police
