Gillette histories

From the Sept. 29, 1932 News Record
Harry B. Weston, candidate for governor on the Republican ticket, and Congressman Vincent Carter, who seeks re-election on the GOP ticket next November 8th, will address a meeting which will be held at the Odd Fellows hall at eight o’clock tonight. The visit to Gillette of both Mr. Weston and Mr. Carter is the first to be made during the present campaign, neither of the two candidates having been in the county this year before the primary election. The two candidates who began their active campaign at Casper yesterday, are expected to arrive here shortly after noon today. H.J. Classell, candidate for the state legislature on the Republican ticket, will preside at the meeting and after introducing all candidates for county office, will present Mr. Weston and Mr. Carter. Music will be furnished by an orchestra during the evening and everyone is cordially invited to attend the meeting and hear the issues of the state and national campaign discussed.
From the Sept. 20, 1962 News Record
Plans were made Monday for the dedication ceremonies and official opening of Interstate 90 highway between Gillette and Buffalo on Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. it was announced this week. The bridge that crosses Powder River has been selected as the site for the ceremonies and E.W. Record of Gillette, former member of the Highway commission, has accepted the duties of master of ceremonies. Committees from both Gillette and Buffalo met on Monday with Ralph Perry heading the Buffalo delegation. With him were Richard Greene, Jack Rosenthal and Jim Hicks. Earl Dunlap, chairmanned the Gillette group with mayor D.J. Magel, R.E. Morrissey and William Heinbaugh making up the committee. Plans were begun immediately to invite a representative of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads and the governor of Wyoming. Invitations are also to be sent to other officials. The public is invited to attend the occasion. Plans for a free barbecue now have been changed, it was reported. It is now decided to hold a barbecue in June 1963. The date mentioned at the present time is Sunday, June 23, but this is tentative.
From the Sept. 2, 1986 News Record
Some of the best sunrises and sunsets in Gillette can be seen from atop the 50-foot control tower at the Gillette-Campbell County Airport. “Some of them are pretty breathtaking, real beauties,” says Frank Phillips, above one of three air traffic controllers who takes turns minding the takeoffs and landings 16 hours each day at the airport. Phillips is a refugee from the 1981 air traffic controllers strike that ended when President Ronald Reagan fired all union controllers en masse. After losing his job in the Seattle, Wash., area the ousted workers are banned from any Federal Aviation Administration controller job. Phillips did a number of things, even sold Tupperware. “But I really missed it,” he said. A year ago he was contacted by Midwest Air Traffic Control, a Kansas company that operates the local facility, asked him if he would like to work in Gillette. “I said, I’ll take it. Where’s Gillette?” The newest man in the tower is Jim Barnes, a refugee from the oil patch who started in May. Barnes, a Maryland native, learned air traffic control in the Air Force and worked for a private company in Pennsylvania for four years before transferring to Gillette, where he began working in the oil field in 1981. “When the price fell, so did I,” Barnes says of his reason to the control tower.