Briefs

Boulder post office

Bob MacGill of the U.S. Postal Service in Denver reported that his agency has granted approval of a new postal facility in Boulder. MacGill said while the go-ahead has been given, his task is now finding a suitable location for the modular building to be located.

Ziegler disqualified

Sublette County Clerk and Elections Officer Mary Lankford said that she rejected Alan Ziegler's petition to appear on the general election ballot as an independent candidate for Sublette County Sheriff. Lankford said Ziegler's petition had 62 signatures, but 15 of those signatures had used their post office boxes instead of their physical resident addresses, so she disqualified these, making the petition seven signatures short of the required 50.

Freudenthal here

On Thursday, Sept. 12, at 5:30 p.m., Dave Freudenthal, Democratic candidate for governor, will be at the Chambers House Bed and Breakfast in Pinedale to visit with Sublette County residents. The Chambers House is located at 111 W. Magnolia in Pinedale.

No road refund

When William Belveal and fellow petitioners asked the Sublette County Commission to extend the New Fork/Willow Creek road across John Blatt's private property, the commission had the petitioners post $1,000 for expenses, noting that any funds left over could be returned to Belveal for distribution. But road view Brad Clingman submitted his $1,038 payment voucher to the commission this week, so no refund will be forthcoming.

The Lodge at Pinedale

Dave Bell, general manager of Gibraltar Holdings LLC, which owns the Lodge at Pinedale, reported that the facility is no longer a Super 8 franchise.

Bell said, "We had to make a real difficult business decision and we have chosen to discontinue our franchise with Super 8."

Bell said the holding company went into the franchise agreement after being assured that it would generate up to 30 percent of the business activity. Bell said that in reality, that number has turned out to be less than three percent, yet the holding company was paying eight percent of its gross revenue as the franchise fee.

"It's our opinion that our business will be fine," Bell said, without the franchise.

The motel has been open almost a year. While the Super 8 sign is gone, Bell said new signs have been ordered and will be up soon, as will the already famous message board. Look forward to The Lodge's grand re-opening later this month as well.