Thumbs up to the Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede and the Fourth of July festivities. Parades, rodeos and a veterans memorial ceremony were held last weekend with massive turnouts from the public. Although there were no official fireworks shows or events in Powell, there was plenty to do in the Big Horn Basin to celebrate our nation’s independence — so to everyone involved in keeping those traditions alive, we give a very big thumbs up. 

Thumbs down to cutting county funding for local non-profits. 

Park County’s preliminary budget for fiscal year 2015-16 set aside about $14,800 fewer dollars — or 4 percent less — for other governments and private entities that range from a drug treatment program to the Cody Shooting Complex.

For most of the organizations, it’s the second time in three years that their county funding has been cut by 4 percent.

Although they were spared from budget cuts two years ago, the county’s senior centers are joining the rest in tightening their budgets.

Shrinking budgets often mean lower-quality services, and ultimately a lower quality of life, for Park County residents. 

However, we give a thumbs up to fiscal responsibility and not spending money we don’t have as a county. 

Thumbs up to the fundraising efforts to help local professional bull rider Kanin Asay with the estimated $50,000 in pending medical bills. 

Asay’s ear was nearly ripped off while competing in a rodeo in Reno, Nevada, in late June, and he had to get 200 stitches to reattach his ear.

Unlike most professional athletes, members of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association are basically on their own for medical expenses. However, the Big Horn Basin and the rodeo community are like a tight-knit family, and they proved it last week when they collectively raised $7,500 in a single night to help Asay with his upcoming medical bills. 

We also give a thumbs up to wearing helmets in rodeos. Asay credited his helmet for saving his life, and we encourage everyone who participates in potentially dangerous sports to wear helmets. 

Thumbs down to wildfire smoke from Canada and Alaska blowing down here. On Sunday, Powell’s skies were filled with smoke, not leftover from the previous night’s fireworks, but from wildfires in northern Canada and Alaska. Dozens of fires are burning in the northwest and Alaska is experiencing a record fire season so far, according to meteorologist Paul Skrbac of the National Weather Service office in Riverton.  

Blocking out the sun and providing some relief from the heat was a nice change of pace, but we like our outdoors like we like our restaurants — smoke-free. 

Thumbs up to adding exterior cameras to Wyoming’s school buses. 

Last year, the Wyoming Legislature approved $5 million to fund outside cameras for buses and we believe that is money well-spent since it improves the safety for Wyoming’s kids.

An 11-year-old girl was struck and killed by a driver illegally passing a school bus in Fremont County in 2011. This type of tragedy is completely preventable if drivers just follow the law and stop for school buses.

A second thumbs up goes to the Powell school district for being among the first in the state to install outside cameras on all of its school buses. These cameras record what’s going on at all times, and when a vehicle passes illegally, the bus driver can simply push a button to mark when on the video the violation occurred so the offender can be ticketed or warned. 

So far, around 60 percent of the buses in Wyoming have these cameras and they seem to be working. 

A one-day count of fly-by drivers clocked in 297 offenses in 2011-12, and that number dropped to 99 earlier this year, according to David Koskelowski, education consultant for pupil transportation with the Wyoming Department of Education. 

Of course, even one of these fly-by drives is too many since it poses a risk to kids crossing the street. 

Thumbs down to the recent drop in oil prices. Oil is a big revenue source for the state and Park County, and dropping from last year’s price of more than $100 per barrel during the summer to the current price of about $50 per barrel will have major impacts to local and statewide finances in the future. 

Until the lag between assessed valuations and fiscal-year budgets catches up with the ongoing low price of oil, the full impact won’t be known. 

However, cut-backs on production mean our neighbors will go without work for an unknown amount of time. Most methods of oil extraction in Wyoming, and across the country, are only profitable when oil is above $70 per barrel, and so far we have not been above that amount all year. 

Earlier this week, oil dropped from about $60 per barrel to almost $50, and that’s cause for concern since even those not working in the oil industry will feel an impact. Oil workers live, work, and recreate here, and if they’re gone then so is their contribution to the local economy.