THERMOPOLIS — A crowd packed the city’s fire hall Monday night for what’s been a hot topic — the future of Hot Springs State Park — with the one guy who now knows the most about it.

Mark Begich, a former U.S. senator for Alaska, is the owner of Wyoming Hot Springs LLC, the company that the state has chosen to operate all of the park’s amenities.

His specific plans for the park depends on the outcome of a lawsuit between the state and Roland Luehne, the owner of the Star Plunge, the park’s popular hot-springs fed complex of indoor and outdoor pools. The two sides have been embroiled in a legal conflict over several thorny contractual issues.

Opinions during Monday night’s meeting ranged from hot to hopeful.

Begich didn’t bat an eyelash, regardless of which spectrum the questions came fr

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