Letter to the Editor: New residents upset with Cowley mayor and council

Dear Editor,

The City of Cowley held a supposedly open council meeting on the 20th of May for anyone to attend.

My husband and I went up there to talk about the party who closed off half of our easement road.

The mayor rudely cut us off several times. We moved out of Cody due to political issues, checked into smaller towns. Now we see Cowley is no different. They would not give us the time of day on this issue. 

It goes to show to favoritism. Money. We’re not mentioned names. But we don’t count.

In the State of Wyoming, it states if an easement road has been in place for over 10 years it has to stay open. This road has been here for 40. Now, we have people turning around in our driveway. Tractors. For they used it all the time.

But they now blocked it. The mayor wouldn’t give us a voice. So why have open meetings if local residents who just want to live in Cowley want to stand up for their rights, have a voice? Isn’t this America? Well, we’ve seen that the council meetings in Cowley aren’t run that way.

Our voice wasn’t heard. We don’t matter. We were treated like lowlifes, smirked at. Why? Because we don’t go to church? My husband has medical issues. That’s why we moved up here. He needed peace. He’s a disabled Vietnam veteran. He can’t handle crowds. We’ve had the ambulance at our home 10 times since moving here and had direct connection to the highway to our home with the easement.  Now we don’t. 

As we say, the good ol’ Mayor Peterson wouldn’t give us the time of day.

So, thank you city council of Cowley.

Guess my husband’s health doesn’t matter. Our voice doesn’t matter. What matters is who you know.

We are both veterans. Wyoming stands behinds its veterans. Maybe it’s time for us to find another place to move.

Olaf & Susan Aagard 

Cowley

Editor’s note: According to Mayor Peterson, the May 20 meeting was a called special meeting, and only the topic for which the meeting was called could be discussed at the meeting. He said Mr. and Mrs. Aagard would be welcome to bring the easement topic up at a future regular council meeting.