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I'm fighting to stay in Teton Valley. I never imagined I’d be in this position—wondering if I can even afford to keep living in the county I’ve always called home. Teton County, Idaho, is where I grew up. It’s where I want to stay, build a life, and one day raise a family. But lately, that dream feels almost impossible. Like so many others here, I commute over Teton Pass every day to Jackson, Wyoming, just to earn a paycheck that will cover my bills. The jobs in Teton County don’t pay enough to live on, and the cost of housing has gotten so high that even renting feels like a constant struggle. Owning a home—or even a small piece of land—has become completely out of reach. What makes this even harder is knowing how we got here. The previous county commissioners—Cindy Riegel, Bob Heneage, and Mike Whitfield—passed a land use code that was supposed to protect the community and people like me. I supported them. I even supported the nonprofit Vard that backed the code. But instead of protecting locals, that code priced out young families, created a housing shortage, and made it nearly impossible for new businesses to get started here. The result? Many people who can afford homes are forced to rent them as vacation rentals just to cover their mortgages, which only makes the housing shortage worse. Meanwhile, the people who live and work here full-time are pushed further to the margins. It hurts to admit that I once believed the promises. I trusted that those commissioners were working for us. But the truth is, their decisions did nothing to protect the environment, nothing to protect long-time residents, and nothing to help young families stay here. Instead, they turned Teton County into what they openly called a “workforce community” for Jackson. But why should we accept that? Why can’t Teton County stand on its own? Why can’t we have good jobs, affordable housing, and thriving local businesses without depending on Jackson for everything? Thankfully, the new commissioners are beginning to undo the damage. They’re working to reverse and eliminate parts of the land use code that have strangled opportunity in this valley. For the first time in a long time, I feel a little hope that maybe things can change—that maybe people like me can have a future here. But the scars from those past decisions run deep. For too long, outside nonprofits and misguided leaders shaped this county for special interests instead of the people who live here. We are not a servant community to Jackson Hole. We are Teton County, Idaho. And we need leaders who will fight for us, not sell us out. All I want is the chance to stay in the home I love, to build a life here, to contribute to the community that raised me. I shouldn’t have to leave just because poor decisions made it unaffordable to live here. Teton County deserves better—and so do the people who call it home. Thank you for listening to Highway33.com
Facebook: A Playground for the Miserable Let’s stop sugarcoating it—Facebook and social media in general have turned into one of the worst things to ever happen to society. Not because of the platform itself, but because of the people who use it like a trash can for their own misery. Every day you see it: people posting nonsense about someone’s looks, their house, their car, their business—whatever they can find to pick at. Most of the time they don’t even know the facts. It’s just gossip, rumors, or “he said, she said.” And here’s the kicker: a lot of these people don’t even belong to the communities they’re trashing. They’re outsiders, trolls, or bitter souls with way too much time on their hands. Let’s be honest—if you’re spending your free time attacking strangers on the internet, that says way more about *you* than it does about them. Normal, happy, healthy people don’t waste hours writing hit pieces on their neighbors. The ones who do? They’re either drowning in their own jealousy, hiding from their own failures, or just flat-out dealing with mental issues they’ve never addressed. And yet, these adults—grown people who should know better—act like children in a schoolyard fight. They whine, they gossip, they name-call. The only difference is that now their immaturity is broadcast to the world, and the fallout is serious. Businesses get hurt. Reputations get destroyed. Families suffer. All because someone with nothing better to do decided to vomit their bitterness onto Facebook. Here’s the truth nobody wants to say: the real problem isn’t Facebook. The real problem is the people who use it to mask their own unhappiness by trying to drag others down to their level. They are the problem. And until they look in the mirror, deal with their own issues, and grow up, this cycle will never stop. If you’ve got nothing good to say, don’t say anything. If you’ve got personal demons to fight, go fight them—but don’t make your neighbors, friends, or strangers pay the price for your own misery. Facebook doesn’t need more gossip. It doesn’t need more negativity. And the rest of us don’t need your problems dumped on us. Bottom line: if you spend your time trashing others online, the problem isn’t them—it’s you. Fix yourself first. Thank you for listening to Hwy33 .com.
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