Johnson County Year-in-Review 2023: January-April

Today we look back at Johnson County’s top stories during the last year as we focus on January through April of 2023.

Buffalo’s City Council welcomed two new members, Mike Madden and Myra Camino at their first meeting in January of 2023.

The Johnson County Library announced in January they had a a new director.

Lindsey Belliveau was hired by the board of trustees on December 27 to assume her new duties January 23 when previous Library Director Steve Rzasa’s resignation was to be effective.

Buffalo Police Chief Sean Bissett said a drug bust happened in February after receiving a suspicious vehicle call from the Kum-N-Go on Main Street where a vehicle had been parked for 45 minutes at the gas pumps.

Bissett said more than 1,300 Fentanyl pills were recovered in the subsequent investigation along with 54 grams of marijuana, 2,000 milligrams of liquid THC, among other illegal items.

State Representative Barry Crago talked about property tax reform and the fact that the legislature passed only one bill of over 20 that were drafted to help taxpayers in the state.

He said he will be the first to admit that the legislature did not get a solution to the property tax problem for their constituents back home, addin he is at a loss to know what to do about that at this time or how to fix it moving forward, but said lawmakers need to get itdone.

State Senator Dave Kinskey was also frustrated that nothing was accomplished on property tax reform and said its not easy to get things done in the American political system by design, but that property tax relief for everyone should have been an easy fix.

Kinskey said the plan is for the Revenue Committee to work over the interim and bring back a bill that can get as many lawmakers as possible behind it for the next session in 2024.

Buffalo Police Chief Sean Bissett, in a report to the city council in March, said a suspect arrested in connection with burglaries in Sheridan has also been charged for crimes inBuffalo.

Johnson County’s Commissioners approved and accepted a settlement in the lawsuit pertaining to the boat ramp installed at Lake DeSmet on the old Texaco Lodge property by John Moreland, owner of Capital Reef Investments, LLC.

County Attorney Tucker Rubysaid the boat ramp would be exclusive to the property and will only be used by the owners.

The settlement was the best option for all parties involved, according to Ruby, based on the facts and the possible outcomes in the trial, and he believes this is a good settlement for thecounty.

A false school shooter incident at Buffalo High School was discussed by the Johnson County School Board with Superintendent Charles Auzqui explaining that BHS was one of many schools in Wyoming that was reported to have an active shooter on Monday, April 3.

The fortunate thing, he said, is that the district was on spring break so there weren’t a lot of kids in the building at the time of the incident.

He said, “we don’t ever want it to happen but we’re definitely stronger (now) than we were at 8 o’clock that morning.”