Well, it was a close one this week folks, we almost didn’t have any news to print! As many of you know, the Cowboy State Daily was kind enough to point out to us (and the rest of the world) that Lusk not only has nothing newsworthy going on….but the Lusk Herald doesn’t even do a very good job covering what news there is. While the Herald is never mentioned directly in the article (more on that in a minute), according to the Daily, after a “thorough and painstaking search” they really didn’t find anything of note on “local news media” sites. One can only wonder then where they found not only the initial topic of their article regarding the opening of a new tire shop, but all the other topics they go on to list later in the article. They did interview local celebrity Sam Erlewine who has been one of our county news hounds for the last 20 years for his website www.luskwyoming.com but it would not appear that they researched any other websites such as the Chamber FB page, Lusk Herald website, school website or social media. Had they bothered to look at these pages they would have found a plethora of good things happening.

Admittedly, part of their point is how charming and safe our community is based on the fact that no news happens here. I suppose their point, “No bad news is good news” could be taken as a compliment to our small community. While life may be simpler in Lusk, the implication that the people here are “simple” is a thinly veiled insult driven home by the condescending tone of the article.

Ultimately they also ignore the fact the Lusk Herald is the state’s oldest weekly newspaper, having been continuously printed since 1883. For a community that has “no news” it is shocking we have managed to stay in business for so long. We hope the writer, editor and publisher of the Cowboy State Daily, clearly experts in journalism, would also recognize the irony of an article about a town that has no news…being the top news for a publication that covers the entire state.

The Herald is happy the new tire shop and several other notable projects have received state-wide attention, our business community is well-deserving of the interest. We just wish the Daily could have done it in a sincere and kind format rather than joining the rest of the world in making their point at the expense of our county. The small-town angle has been done and frankly, while we are absolutely proud of being “Small Town America” note the capital letters, we are tired of being the brunt of the “small town, simple mind America” that is implied.