Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011

Transcription

11511796.qxp
10/24/2011
11:03 PM
Page A1
Volume CXXXII - No. 250
www.rocketminer.com
AERIN CURTIS
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
CHEYENNE — While some
changes were expected when
new State Superintendent of
Public Instruction Cindy Hill
took office, some of the
specifics have come as a
shock, even for those who
worked in the department.
Hill, who has been in office
roughly 10 months, has already shuffled the Cheyenne
office space and prioritized
classroom skills.
However, the first big surprise was in closing a branch
office.
IDEOLOGY
Having state employees
work with students and restructuring staff positions
have been some of the specific
changes Hill has made since
taking office in January.
But her biggest change to
the department may be a little
less concrete.
She also has taken the
Wyoming Department of Education administration away
from its previous emphasis on
compliance with state and federal requirements.
Instead, her focus has been
on instruction and creating
partnerships between teachers
in different school districts.
These ideological changes
can be one of the hardest parts
of a new administration to
navigate, according to school
district superintendents.
Several said clarity on the
subject was the first thing they
wanted.
“You have to have consistency, because without it, it’s mayhem,” said Fremont County
School District 2 Superintendent Candis Whitlock-Bennett, who has worked with six
Department of Education administrations. “If you talk to
three different people on the
same day, and they give you
three different answers, you
have no direction.”
For the Hill administration,
this shift has included moving
from a focus on data collection
and compliance to instruction.
“When you’re compliance
(driven), it’s kind of a removed
experience from the classroom,” Hill said. “You’re ensuring that certain things are
done, and if they aren’t, there
are consequences, and our approach has been that of collaboration.”
The new focus puts a premium on establishing partnerships with districts and helping them work together to
solve common problems, Hill
said.
As an example, she said she
was bringing in teachers from
a high-performing district to
offer new ideas to teachers in a
district concerned about its
students’ reading scores.
“I want to grow every (student), and the only way you
can do it is (through) what
happens in the classroom,” Hill
said of the reason for the new
approach.
Similar partnerships have
led to the Teacher to Teacher
program, which pairs teachers
statewide to work on issues
like literacy and math.
Unlike some professional
development options, the
training sessions are planned
so teachers don’t miss classroom time, Hill said. Instead,
they’re set after school or on
the weekends.
Currently, the program is
running the 3 + 8 reading
workshop.
“We want our teachers
working alongside our kids so
our kids can get as much of
that quality instruction with
best practices (as possible),”
Hill said. “Substitutes are good
people, but they’re a substitute.”
The new focus also puts
members of the department
into direct interaction with students at times, something not
all members had done before,
Hill said.
“My people hadn’t been in
the classroom, and so instruction was unfamiliar to them in
the way I want it to be familiar,” Hill said of the new practices. “Some of our people now
are practicing — they’re actually working with kids, one
student or two students during
the day, and doing their other
work.”
However, there are some,
like former director of standards and assessment Alan
Moore, who question the focus
on members of the education
department being in the classroom.
“What’s the appropriate level of the state department?”
Moore asked.
For Hill, the focus on being
in the classroom was a lost
SEE FOCUS, PAGE 3A
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HOW CAN WE HELP STUDENTS? — PART 1
WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
New focus
leads to staff
turnover,
confusion
Shifting class times
could help schedules
More night, Friday
classes are expected
JOEL GALLOB
Rocket-Miner Staff Reporter
ROCK SPRINGS — Future classes at Western Wyoming Community College may feature some rescheduling designed to help students.
“Students think Thursday is the end of the
school week,” Western Wyoming Community
College Math and Science Department Chairman Bud Chew said. “You go to the kids’ area
on a Monday and there are 100 kids there. You
go there on Friday and see eight kids.”
He said this is going to change.
“We are changing our scheduling of classes
… to make them more accessible to the students,” Chew said.
Chew said the new scheduling committee at
the college is looking at ways to stretch classes that are bunched up. He said this is expected to involve more classes on Friday and at
night.
“We tend to ignore night,” he said.
Chew, who is the head of the committee,
said changes are expected to begin in January.
“By fall next year, we can put up scheduling
for the following fall, that is, for the class of
2013, but it will be available for viewing in
2012,” Chew said.
Chew said the college Web site will add a
four semester list of classes and include the
time of day and day of week, so students can
plan ahead. The site will not include the
teacher of the class.
WWCC Board of Trustees President Jim
Roth said the changes will help the college focus on students.
College President Karla Leach said the
process would make it easier for the college to
define the path for the student and help them
know if all the classes they need to graduate
are available in two years.
She also said the change will help students
stay at WWCC through graduation because
they should not have to transfer to get a specific course.
Nursing student Tylar Blossom studies math at Western Wyoming Community College. While
staff said many students concentrate on a Monday through Thursday schedule, a committee is
looking at changing course times to reduce class congestion and help students graduate on time.
“That should also impact our completion
rate, graduation or certificate,” Roth said. “It’s
one of the criteria that (colleges) get measured
on.”
Chew said the committee is working with
other components in the college to address undesirable consequences.
“We know it will affect the children’s center
if we have more night classes. We have to look
at how it may impact athletics. And we know
it will have an effect on lunch hours. As we get
to the nitty-gritty of it all, we want to have as
much buy-in as possible,” Chew said.
Board of Trustees member Chris Plant
asked if they are considering weekend classes.
Chew said some things do work well on
weekends, such as the online Advanced Placement program for long-distance learning students, but it does not fit everything.
“You will burn out your people quickly if you
require that all the time,” he said. “We have not
started addressing that yet. It’s not a big priority.”
Vice President for Student Learning Sandra
Caldwell said the college knows from community interactions that “that’s a very low priority” in the community.
Chew said, “Students are not clamoring for
night classes. But some classes are full because
of schedule issues.”
Chew also predicted the change to a wider,
longer schedule will be painful to some people.
He said a lot of people love teaching Monday
and Wednesday classes, and the committee is
looking at a rule requiring that departments offer classes on other days than those two most
popular ones.
“It will be very unpopular but it needs to be
done,” he said. “I’m going to get a lot of blowback on this.”
Wyoming lawmakers
I-80 speed limits
can change quickly consider changing
how coal is taxed
with new signs
ROCK SPRINGS — The new
variable speed limit signs — more
than three dozen in all — are controlled remotely from WYDOT’s
Transportation Management Center in Cheyenne.
As a result, the posted speed
limit can be changed almost immediately after a reduction is recommended by WYDOT maintenance
personnel or Wyoming Highway
Patrol troopers. I-80 climbs to a
high point of 8,610 feet at the
Summit Interchange (exit 323), at
the head of Telephone Canyon
about 10 miles east of Laramie.
Winter weather is typically severe
in the area and the Summit section
is well known for adverse driving
conditions during storms.
In all, the Laramie-Cheyenne
VSL section measures about 36
miles, from milepost 318 at the bottom of Telephone Canyon to milepost 354, which is about halfway
between Otto Road Interchange
and the west edge of Cheyenne.
The new signs allow the speed limit to be dropped incrementally to
as low as 30 or 35 mph, with the
ability to tailor the speed limit
changes to road sections as short
as two miles in length.
SEE SPEED, PAGE 3A
TODAY: A 40 percent chance of rain and
snow. Mostly cloudy with a high near
47. West winds between 6 and 11 mph.
CASPER (AP) — Wyoming
lawmakers are considering
changing the formula for taxing
coal, a proposal that could cost
the state millions of dollars.
Currently, coal producers pay
taxes on both the coal they extract and on mining costs, such
as new conveyor systems. That’s
led coal producers in the Powder River Basin to pay more in
severance taxes because they’ve
been spending more to mine
coal seams that are deeper underground as they follow the
seams to the west.
The Casper Star-Tribune reported Monday that members
of the state Legislature’s Joint
Revenue Committee are looking
at removing the mining costs
from the amount that’s taxed.
They’re scheduled to discuss the
proposal during a meeting Friday in Worland.
Under current projections for
TONIGHT: A 50 percent chance of precipitation. Cloudy with a low around 26.
School board approves new
building, improvement plan
Complete weather is on page 2A.
RYAN JAMES
Rocket-Miner Staff Reporter
Business
Classifieds
Comics
Courts
coal prices, the change would
cost the state an estimated $16
million over five years, said
Craig Grenvik, administrator of
the Wyoming Revenue Department’s Mineral Tax Division.
The Wyoming Mining Association supports the proposal. Executive director Marion Loomis
said the change will simplify tax
estimate calculations and prevent disputes between coal companies and the state.
State Rep. Pat Childers, RCody, thinks changing the formula may end up saving the
state money.
“To me it sounds like it provides consistency, makes it a lot
easier, removes a lot of audits
and reviews,” said Childers, a
member of the Joint Revenue
Committee.
Last year, coal companies
paid $265 million in severance
taxes.
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The map shows where new electronic speed limit signs are now in place
along I-80 between Laramie and Cheyenne and near Rock Springs and
Evanston. The signs use advanced technology making it possible to
change the speed limit on demand to match current road and weather
conditions.
ROCK SPRINGS — The
demolition of the Farson Eden
Middle and High School building was recommended by the
Sweetwater County School District No. 1 school board and Darcy Bath was recognized as the
2012 Teacher of the Year at the
board’s Oct. 24 meeting. Board
members also approved a district improvement plan.
District Superintendent Paul
Grube said he and board member Lenny Hay met with the
elected Farson-Eden advisory
board and attended a community meeting in June to discuss the
building issue with residents.
Grube said the School Facilities Department estimates the
new building would be about
72,000 square-feet, which
SEE SCHOOL, PAGE 3A
2A
rocketminer.com
LOCAL OBITUARIES
YOUR WEATHER
COLIN T. NORMINGTON
5-day
Localforecast
5-Day Forecast
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
10/25
10/26
10/27
10/28
10/29
45/21
38/22
47/27
52/32
57/35
A few rain
showers
early mixing
with snow
showers
later in the
day.
Partly
cloudy.
Highs in the
upper 30s
and lows in
the low 20s.
Mainly
sunny.
Highs in the
upper 40s
and lows in
the upper
20s.
Sunshine.
Highs in the
low 50s and
lows in the
low 30s.
Partly
cloudy.
Highs in the
upper 50s
and lows in
the mid 30s.
Sunrise:
7:40 AM
Sunset:
6:20 PM
Sunrise:
7:41 AM
Sunset:
6:19 PM
Sunrise:
7:42 AM
Sunset:
6:18 PM
Sunrise:
7:43 AM
Sunset:
6:16 PM
Sunrise:
7:44 AM
Sunset:
6:15 PM
Hi
45
48
41
40
44
38
41
45
42
46
41
40
46
41
45
Lo Cond.
18 pt sunny
15 cloudy
27 pt sunny
24 mixed
24 rain
23 mixed
25 cloudy
23 mixed
25 cloudy
16 rain
27 pt sunny
16 pt sunny
19 cloudy
25 cloudy
24 mixed
City
Lusk
Mountain View
Newcatsle
Pinedale
Powell
Rawlins
Reliance
Riverton
Rock Springs
Sheridan
Thermopolis
Torrington
Wheatland
Worland
Yellowstone NP
Hi
48
44
42
41
41
46
45
40
45
43
39
53
53
42
34
Lo Cond.
26 cloudy
24 rain
30 pt sunny
15 mixed
25 pt sunny
22 mixed
21 mixed
23 mixed
21 mixed
22 pt sunny
23 mixed
28 cloudy
29 cloudy
27 cloudy
10 pt sunny
City
Minneapolis
New York
Phoenix
San Francisco
Seattle
St. Louis
Washington, DC
Hi
51
62
87
68
54
83
67
Lo Cond.
41 rain
51 sunny
64 mst sunny
53 pt sunny
38 sunny
58 windy
51 sunny
National
Cities
National Cities
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
Hi
76
60
70
86
58
86
66
82
Lo Cond.
47 sunny
43 sunny
45 rain
64 sunny
30 cloudy
65 pt sunny
54 pt sunny
73 pt sunny
Moon
Phases
Moon Phases
Last
New
First
Full
Oct 26
Nov 2
Nov 10
LOUISE NORDSTROM
Associated Press
UV Index
Index
U.V.
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
10/25
10/26
10/27
10/28
10/29
3
4
4
4
4
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
Moderate
The UV Index is measured on a 0 - 11 number scale,
with a higher UV Index showing the need for greater
skin protection.
PUBLISHER
Michele
Depue
MANAGING
EDITOR
0
11
Rick Lee
Pam Haynes
GENERAL
MANAGER
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
How to reach us
362-3736 (1-888-443-3736 if out of Rock Springs Area) If your copy
hasn’t arrived by 7 a.m.
THE ROCKET-MINER (USPS
468-160) is published every
morning except Monday by
Rock Springs Newspapers,
Inc. at 215 D Street, Rock
Springs, Wyoming 82901.
Telephone (307) 362-3736,
ISSN: 0893-3650
Entered as a periodical
Nov. 29, 1907 at the post
office at Rock Springs,
Wyoming, 82901, by Rock
Springs Newspapers, Inc.,
under the act of Congress
of March 3, 1879 USPS No.
468-160, ISBN 0893-3650
ROCK SPRINGS — Nicole
Lynn Peterson, 20, died
Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. She
was a lifelong Rock Springs resident.
She was born Aug. 22,
1991, in Rock Springs, to
Kay and Dean Peterson.
She attended college
at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho.
Her interests included
spending time with family and friends, playing
the piano, gymnastics,
firefighting, riding her
dirt bike, lifting weights and running. She was a member of
ISU’s cross-country and track
team with a full-ride scholarship.
She was also a member of Fire
District No. 1, where she learned
the art of firefighting. Her plans
were to apply for pharmacy
school later this year.
She is survived by her mother,
Kay; sisters, Ashley, Lisa and
Alexis; niece, Daviney; grandparents, Suzanne and Paul Grasso
and Sally and Grant Peterson, all of Rock
Springs; and many
aunts,
uncles
and
cousins
of
Rock
Springs,
Kemmerer,
and St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
She was preceded in
death by her father,
Dean.
A rosary will be conducted at
5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, at
the SS. Cyril and Methodius
Catholic Church, 633 Bridger
Ave., Rock Springs. Funeral
services will be conducted at 1
p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011,
at the church.
Swedish dads swap
work for child care
Oct 20
Holly Dabb
Utah, Johnny D. of Fruit
Heights and Kebin W. of Salt
Lake City; six grandchildren;
and four great-grandchildren.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 26,
2011, at the St. Rose of
Lima Catholic Church,
210 Chapel St., Layton,
Utah. A visitation and
rosary will be conducted from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011, at
Russon Brothers Mortuary, 1941 N. Main St.,
Farmington, Utah. Condolences may be left at www.russonmortuary.com.
NICOLE LYNN PETERSON
Area
Cities
Area Cities
City
Afton
Big Piney
Buffalo
Casper
Cheyenne
Cody
Douglas
Evanston
Gillette
Green River
Greybull
Jackson
Kemmerer
Lander
Laramie
FARMINGTON, Utah — Colin T. Normington, 78, died Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011, after a
fight with dementia. He was
surrounded by his loved ones.
He was born in 1933.
He worked for the
Union Pacific Railroad
and was a veteran of
the Korean War.
He is survived by his
wife of 51 years, Loretta
Normington of Fruit
Heights, Utah; five children, Colin Jr. and wife
Debbie of Kaysville,
Utah, Ladonna and husband
Lloyd McNee of Sutherland,
Neb., Carson T. of Ogden,
POSTMASTER: Send
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Rocket-Miner, 215 D Street,
P.O. Box 98, Rock Springs,
WY 82902.
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UVU begins study on vending machine choices
OREM, Utah (AP) — A study
will begin Monday at Utah Valley University in Orem to determine what impact clearer nutritional and health information
on vending machine items has
on buyers’ food choices.
The Daily Herald of Provo reports that students, faculty and
staff will become part of the
study intended to help consumers make healthier choices.
Food items in five vending
machines around campus will
be marked with red, yellow or
green stickers for about three
weeks.
Green items are the healthiest selections, lower in fat and
calories. Yellow items have
moderate fat and saturated fat,
while red items are the highest
in fat and calories.
It’s a research project of students and faculty in the Public
and Community Health Department, who will collect information through November
and release final data this
spring.
USU professor leads school’s fledgling bagpipe band
LOGAN, Utah (AP) — An associate professor of biology at
Utah State University has taken
on a new role as leader of the
school’s fledgling bagpipe band.
The Herald Journal of Logan
reports that James Pitts is the
pipe major of the Scotsmen
Pipe and Drum Corps.
The 12-member band, which
features eight pipers and four
drummers, plays at commencement exercises, community
events, parades and concerts.
The band was formed a year
ago when Craig Jessop, dean of
USU’s Caine College of the Arts,
offered incoming freshman
Matt Earl a scholarship to attend USU and start the band.
STOCKHOLM (AP) — One of
Henrik Holgersson’s friends
laughed in his face when he told
him he was going to spend the
better part of 2011 as a stay-athome dad.
“What kind of a man are you?”
the friend asked Holgersson, who
works for an event management
company. But just about everyone
else was positive. His employer
and co-workers patted him on the
back and wished him luck.
Holgersson took out 240 days
of parental leave paid for by the
government while his girlfriend,
Jenny Karlsson, went back to her
job as a real estate agent, after
eight months at home with their
son Arvid.
“To take care of Arvid is a real
fatherly thing to do. I think that’s
very masculine,” said Holgersson,
34, gently rocking his 1-year-old
son’s stroller on a walk around the
block near his apartment in
southern Stockholm.
Holgersson’s experience isn’t
unusual here, largely because
Sweden encourages dads to stay
at home with their newborn
through a parental leave policy
that is among the most generous
in the world.
While more than a dozen countries now offer paid paternity
leave, usually for a couple of
weeks, Sweden subsidizes such
leave for up to 14 months.
In Sweden, men pushing
strollers — sometimes in twos or
threes — have become part of the
landscape. Baby changing stations are typically found in both
men’s and women’s restrooms.
Brawny men with Viking tattoos
can be overheard discussing their
“pappaledighet,” Swedish for daddy leave, over a pint in the pub.
Parents share 480 days of paid
parental leave for each child, courtesy of the government. The benefits amount to 80 percent of the
stay-at-home parent’s salary for
the first 390 days, but no more
than 910 kronor ($135) a day.
Thereafter the amount drops to
180 kronor ($30) a day for the remaining period.
Mothers are still taking more
leave than fathers, but things are
changing. In 2000, Swedish men
took out only 12.4 percent of the
parental leave; by last year their
share had nearly doubled to 23.1
percent, according to government
statistics.
Though there is widespread
agreement that the gap should
close even more, Swedes so far
have resisted calls by women’s
rights activists for a compulsory
50-50 split.
However, Sweden has introduced incentives and rules to encourage men to take more time
off with their babies.
To qualify for the maximum
benefits, couples must split the
parental leave so that one of them
takes at least 60 days. (Single parents — male or female — can take
out the full 480 days on their
own.)
In addition, the government
awards an “equality bonus” in the
form of tax breaks that are proportional to how evenly couples
split the parental leave. A household with a 50-50 division qualifies for a maximum deduction of
13,500 kronor ($2,000).
Even at a time when Europe’s
debt crisis is leading to painful
austerity cuts across the continent, Sweden’s parental leave
benefits appear safe. The economy is in relatively good shape, the
budget is balanced and the government would commit political
suicide if it scaled back on a program embraced by Swedes across
all income brackets.
Foreigners often grow to appreciate it, too.
“I think it’s great, I’m a huge
fan of it. Here is the Swedish state
subsidizing it for both parents. It’s
almost too good to be true,” said
Joel Sherwood, a 35-year-old
American living in Sweden.
He took more than six months
off work to stay home with his
daughter, Mary Lee. When he told
his friends back home, they were
flabbergasted that his employer
was OK with it, and that the government would foot the bill.
“The more you get into the details of it, the more floored they
get,” Sherwood said.
In the U.S. there is no nationwide policy for government-subsidized parental leave. Some
states, including California and
New Jersey, have begun adopting
such policies, but most parents
are instead offered 12 weeks of
unpaid leave. Some companies
offer paid leave to their employees.
When state-subsidized parental
leave was introduced in Sweden
in 1974, women took nearly all of
the parental leave. Men would
wash dishes and fold the laundry,
but child-rearing was considered
a female domain.
Four years later, the government launched an advertising
campaign featuring national
weightlifting champion Lennart
Dahlgren to convince fathers you
could stay home with a child and
still be a real man. The poster of a
smiling Dahlgren cradling a baby
in his muscular arms remains an
iconic image in Sweden.
A milestone was crossed in
1995 when the government started earmarking one month of
parental leave benefits for each
parent. Seven years later it was increased to two months. Then
came the equality bonus that further encouraged men to take daddy leave.
Panetta: U.S. at ‘turning
point’ to refocus on Asia
ROBERT BURNS
AP National Security Writer
TOKYO (AP) — The winding
down of wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan marks a pivot point
for the U.S. military, which must
now focus on looming threats
such as the rising military might of
China, Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta said Monday.
Panetta used his first visit to
Japan as Pentagon chief to sound
an emerging theme of the Obama
administration: America will remain a global economic and military power despite coming budget
reductions, and the Asia-Pacific region will be central to U.S. national security strategy.
In a question-and-answer session with U.S. and Japanese troops
at Yokota Air Base, Panetta ticked
off a list of threats that he said demand more U.S. attention as it
completes its departure from Iraq
this year and targets 2014 for the
withdrawal of combat forces from
Afghanistan. He mentioned cyberattacks, the nuclear ambitions of
Iran and North Korea, Mideast
turmoil and “rising powers” — an
allusion to China.
“Today we are at a turning point
after a decade of war,” Panetta
said. Al-Qaida is among a range of
concerns that will keep the military busy, but as a traditional Pacific power the United States
needs to invest more effort in
building a wider and deeper network of alliances and partnerships.in this region, he said.
“Most importantly, we have the
opportunity to strengthen our
presence in the Pacific — and we
will,” he said.
He did not elaborate on whether
that would mean adding ships or
other forces, but he emphatically
said budget cuts would not be a
factor.
“We are not anticipating any
cutbacks in this region,” he said.
In an opinion piece published
Monday in a Japanese newspaper,
Panetta accused North Korea of
“reckless and provocative” acts
and criticized China for a secretive
expansion of its military power.
He wrote that Washington and
Japan share common challenges in
Asia and the Pacific.
“China is rapidly modernizing
its military,” he wrote, “but with a
troubling lack of transparency,
coupled with increasingly assertive activity in the East and
South China Seas.”
China’s military budget of $95
billion this year is the world’s second-highest after Washington’s
planned $650 billion. Beijing is developing weapons such as the
“carrier killer” DF 21D missile that
analysts say might threaten U.S.
warships and alter the regional balance of power.
Panetta wrote that Japan and
the U.S. would work together to
“encourage China to play a responsible role in the international
community.”
A day earlier, in Bali, Indonesia,
Panetta offered more positive remarks about China. He told reporters that Beijing deserved
praise for a relatively mild response to a $5.8 billion U.S. arms
sale to Taiwan announced in September.
Panetta is not visiting China on
this trip, but the Obama administration has worked to improve his-
torically weak military ties with
China. Panetta’s predecessor,
Robert Gates, argued that both
sides needed to better understand
one another’s capabilities and motives, the better to prevent miscalculations or misunderstandings.
U.S. Navy ships have had run-ins
with Chinese ships in disputed waters, for example, but China insists
its military rise is peaceful and
poses no threat to the U.S.
Panetta is focusing more directly during this trip on the threat
posed by North Korea, which he
said in his opinion piece “continues to engage in reckless and
provocative behavior and is developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which pose a threat
not just to Japan but to the entire
region.”
The problem of North Korea involves not only the historical
weight of Japan’s occupation of
Korea from 1910 to the end of
World War II, but also China’s support for communist North Korea.
China fought U.S. forces as a
North Korean ally during the 195053 Korean War, which remains an
unsettled issue.
Panetta’s strong language coincided with the start of talks in
Geneva between U.S. and North
Korean officials in what Washington calls at effort to determine
whether Pyongyang is serious
about returning to nuclear disarmament talks. Japan also worries
about North Korea and is one of
five countries that have jointly
tried to persuade the North Koreans to cap and reverse their nuclear arms program. The other
four are the U.S., China, Russia
and South Korea.
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rocketminer.com
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
FOCUS
facet of the state department that
she wanted to replace.
“There’s a lot of work to be
done. I don’t want to hear people
say that’s not our job — we’re going to try to do it all,” Hill said.
“When it comes to kids, we all
need to be responsible.”
THE LARAMIE OFFICE
One of Hill’s first decisions was
to close the department’s district
office in Laramie.
The office of about 30 people
predominately handled assessment.
While some looked into moving to Cheyenne or started making the commute, others started
looking for new jobs, Hill said.
“In the end, I think we have
three or four people who are here,
and the rest have moved on to
other things,” Hill said.
Closing the office was prompted, Hill said, by a lack of communication between the employees
and the main office.
“I wanted to make certain that
at least I was being listened to,”
she said. “If they’re still locked
into the old mission, I can’t
change their thinking. They have
to make those decisions for
themselves.”
Additionally, closing the office
reportedly saved $138,000 a year
in rent.
However, the decision came
Jan. 5, after Hill had been in office
just two days.
“I had not heard that was part
of the platform, though it happened instantly,” Moore said of
the decision.
SUPERS’ VIEWS
While much of the department’s instructional focus deals
with putting teachers back in the
classroom and supporting them,
another piece of that relationship
is between school district superintendents and the state depart-
ment.
Some district superintendents
said changes in the state administration tend to have a delayed
effect on individual districts. Others said some changes were already apparent.
The change in state administrators can leave district officials
trying to gather support for projects or programs started during
earlier administrations and not
yet finished.
“I’d like to see their attention
turned to districts and district
needs, or projects that haven’t
been completed that can’t or
shouldn’t be dropped,” said
Campbell County School District
No. 1 Superintendent Richard
Strahorn, who has worked with
four state administrations.
Other early desires include
help in understanding the administration’s expectations or direction, especially in regards to the
changes that came from the legislative session earlier this year.
“I’ve found you don’t know
what to expect. You can assume
there are going to be new hoops
and things are going to change,
like testing and body of evidence,
but you really don’t know what
the expectations are until they let
you know,” said Whitlock-Bennett.
Some district superintendents
said they’ve had more communication with Hill than with any
previous administration.
“We just added a school … and
a big part of that was Cindy’s encouragement,” said Converse
County School District 1 Superintendent
Dan
Espeland.
“They’ve been very helpful so far.”
Others asked for more clarity
regarding issues surrounding the
16 students to one teacher ratio
and common core standards.
“There’s been some confusion
with common core standards,”
said Fremont County School Dis-
SPEED
The Summit becomes the
fourth section of I-80 in
Wyoming where VSL technology is in place.
The other VSL sections are a
19-mile
stretch
between
Evanston and Fort Bridger over
hilly terrain known locally as the
“Three Sisters,” a 22-mile hightraffic section through Green
River and Rock Springs, and a
52-mile stretch in high country
in the vicinity of Elk Mountain
and Arlington between Rawlins
and Laramie. In total, 128 miles
of I-80 are now subject to VSL
use.
The first VSL signs in
Wyoming were activated along
the Elk Mountain-Arlington
section of I-80 during the winter of 2008-09. Statistics from
the first two winters indicate using VSLs, combined with other
improvements in maintenance
strategies, provided a positive
return on investment in terms
of fewer crashes and road closures.
trict No. 24 Superintendent Tammy Cox, who has worked with
two state administrations and for
former State Superintendent
Trent Blankenship. “For a lot of
us, we were so far out of the gate,
and we weren’t going back, and
(when Hill) said, ‘We’re not there
yet,’ — that’s nerve-wracking because we’ve invested so much
time.”
Some
superintendents
stressed that their main goal is to
keep the district running and not
let the change be felt by teachers
or students.
“(You) just get the job done.
You don’t worry about what’s going on in Cheyenne,” said Cox.
“You do what you have to for
your district and the kids (and
are) always looking for that balance.”
However, most superintendents said the first thing they hope
for with new administrations is
communication.
That desire has started creating a problem for some districts
— officials no longer know who
to call.
While superintendents said
they expected to see some shuffling in staff, the number of people who’ve left has become an issue.
“There’s been such a turnover
in staff, you’re not sure who to
call,” said Converse County
School District No. 2 Superintendent Kirk Hughes, who has
worked with four administrations. “They may not have all the
background you need, because
you have different interpretations, and now this person has a
new interpretation that could be
completely different.”
STAFFING CHANGES
Including those who quit from
the Laramie office, 44 employees
have left the department since
January. Originally employing
about 140 staffers, 22 vacancies
remain, including positions in assessments and accreditation.
The education level of employees who leave or are hired is not
tracked, said department personnel director John Shumway.
There also has been a rearrangement of the office structure.
Prior to Hill’s administration,
there were nine program directors and a deputy superintendent. These positions have been
altered to allow for three instructional leaders, though some still
refer to them as deputies.
The three cover instruction
and learning, operations, and career and technical learning. However, the career and technical instructional leader position remains unfilled.
Many of the resignations have
stemmed from the difference in
focus between previous State Superintendent Jim McBride and
herself, Hill said.
“Some of them were really interested and were engaging (with
the new work),” Hill said. “And
some of them, you could tell,
were thinking, ‘This isn’t my
work. This isn’t my job. This isn’t
what I’m all about,’ and some of
those folks have gone other
places.”
However, some former employees cite reasons like a toxic
work environment and office intimidation as the reasons they
left.
“My job would be hiring new
people, and I didn’t look forward
to it,” said Moore. “I just couldn’t
see working with the new administration, as I didn’t see their direction as the right (one), and it
was a hostile environment.”
The changes brought to the department, including the staff
turnover, have all been part of the
process of changing the culture
of the department, Hill said.
SCHOOL
The number of winter-time
crashes on the section (mileposts 238-290) decreased two
consecutive years, with only
half as many crashes occurring
during the 2009-10 cold-weather season, compared to the
same period of 2007-08, just
prior to the VSLs being implemented. Concurrently, the number of closures dropped 36 percent.
Long-term experience shows
that unsafe speed is a factor in
more than 70 percent of wintertime crashes, and WYDOT and
WHP administrators are not
surprised by safety improvements resulting from the use of
VSLs. WYDOT supplements
the use of VSLs with its “Ice
and snow? — Take it slow!” information theme.
Decisions about where to implement VSLs are based on traffic volumes, crash histories and
frequency of severe weather
along a particular highway section.
would be 6,000 square-feet bigger than the current building.
The facilities department conducted two studies and recommended the construction of a
new building. The advisory board
strongly supports the project,
Grube said.
Farson-Eden School Principal
Charles Cook said teachers
unanimously support demolishing the building.
“We’re looking forward to this
whole process,” Cook said. “The
teachers are excited about this
opportunity to have a new building.”
The school board voted to recommend the demolition. Lenny
Hay, Robert Ramsey, Justin
Spicer, Brady Baldwin, Tonette
West and Robert Parton voted in
favor. Lu Sweet and Melinda
Hixon were not present at Monday’s meeting.
There was an increase in the
percentage of students proficient
in math in every grade level, according to district statistics.
The increases ranged from 51.2
percent math proficiency among
11th-grade students to 89.3 percent of students proficient in
third grade.
District Director of Curriculum
Ron Kalicki said the state’s goal
is to have an 80 percent graduation rate. While working on the
improvement plan, the district’s
graduation rate rose from 67.01
percent to 76.85 percent, or an
increase of 9.84 percent.
Board members Hay, Ramsey,
Spicer, Baldwin, Parton and West
voted in favor of approving the
district improvement plan.
Wyo. group seeks to reopen
Antelope Butte Ski Area
BRETT FRENCH
Billings Gazette
Mark Weitz is facing an uphill
battle to revitalize a shuttered
downhill ski resort in Wyoming.
Weitz, a Sheridan engineer, is
chairman of the Antelope Butte
Foundation, a newly organized
nonprofit group hoping to raise
enough money to resurrect the
ski area by the same name.
“We just feel like skiing is a
lifetime activity that brings
friends and family together and
we don’t want to lose it,” Weitz
said.
The group will hold an informational meeting on Wednesday at the Black Tooth Brewery
to inform the public about what
they’ve been up to, answer any
questions and try to rally support. The meeting will be in a
back room, away from the brewery, so families are welcome.
“America was started in a tavern house, so we’re following a
good model there,” Weitz joked.
Antelope Butte Ski Area is located on roughly 500 acres
about an hour southwest of
Sheridan in the Bighorn Mountains, just off Highway 14.
The name comes from a nearby landmark.
The mountain’s two chairlifts,
tow rope, lodge, maintenance
building and garage have been
unused since the ski area’s permit was terminated in 2005.
The mountain gave skiers and
snowboarders access to 1,000
feet of vertical drop and 19 runs.
Dayton resident Emerson
Scott operated the ski area from
1986 until 2004. He closed it after several years of poor snowfall, according to the Billings
Gazette.
The Forest Service, which authorizes and oversees the permit for the ski hill, had two
groups consider revitalizing the
mountain in 2008 and 2009,
but nothing happened, said
Gayle Laurent, lands and special-uses program manager for
the Bighorn National Forest.
“So right now, we are looking
at eliminating the facility,” she
said.
Weitz and his fellow skiers
were spurred on by the possibility that the ski equipment would
be sold for salvage. They talked
the Forest Service into delaying
release of the salvage proposal
for bid while the nonprofit tries
to craft a business plan and raise
money.
They have until mid-January
to submit an application showing they are technically and financially capable of operating
and maintaining the facility,
Laurent said. Members of the
nonprofit group have examined
the facilities and Weitz said it
will cost $1 million or more to
get everything up and running.
He said that once people get
fired up about the idea, raising
money won’t be so difficult.
Ryan James/Rocket-Miner
Darcy Bath, a teacher at Rock Springs High School who was awarded
2012 Teacher of the Year, receives congratulations from Sweetwater
County School District No. 1 board member Robert Ramsey. Bath
teaches health and physical education and is the high school’s department chair.
3A
Healing Waters
helps veterans
PATRICK MURPHY
The Sheridan Press
FORT SMITH, Mont. (AP) —
It was sunny, a bit breezy, but all
the more relaxing on a recent
Monday for the four military
veterans who participated in a
day of fly-fishing on the Bighorn
River.
The float and fish was part of
the Sheridan Healing Waters
program, coordinated locally by
Gordon Rose — a longtime
Bighorn River guide who
opened his own fly shop, Quill
Gordon Fly Fishers, in 1987 in
Fort Smith, Mont.
Rose, with his wife, June (coowners of Quill Gordon Fly
Fishers), sold the business in
2000 and moved to Sheridan
with their son, Tyler.
“I initially decided to do this
because there was clearly a need
for it in Sheridan, and I could
bring my 20 years of instructional experience in fly-fishing
to the table. Who else better to
jump in and help out?” Rose
said.
“Once the program got going,
and I could so clearly see the
positive impact it was having on
our war veterans, I was hooked.”
Project Healing Waters Fly
Fishing, Inc. states it is “dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled
active military service personnel
and veterans through fly fishing
and fly tying education and outings.”
Headquartered in La Plata,
Md., each project is headed by a
project leader, who typically affiliates with a local chapter of
Trout Unlimited and/or Federation of Fly Fishers to obtain volunteers. The program was formalized locally with Rose as the
project leader. It began with his
teaching weekly fly tying classes at the Sheridan VA Medical
Center in March.
“There were 11 initial participants in the program (in
March), with mostly vets from
the Afghan and Iraq wars, a couple from the Vietnam War, and
one from the conflict in Somalia,” Rose said.
U.S. appeals court
upholds roadless
rule in forests
STEVEN K. PAULSON
Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — A federal
appeals court on Friday upheld
a law prohibiting roads on nearly 50 million acres of land in national forests across the United
States, a ruling hailed by environmentalists as one of the
most significant in decades.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals backed the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule after lawyers for the state of
Wyoming and the Colorado
Mining Association contended
it was a violation of the law.
The ruling affects hunters,
fishermen, hikers and campers,
giving them confidence that
many of the outdoor refuges
they have enjoyed will remain in
the future. It also protects water
quality and wildlife habitat for
grizzly bears, lynx and Pacific
salmon.
“Without the roadless rule,
protection of these national
forests would be left to a patchwork management system that
in the past resulted in millions
of acres lost to logging, drilling
and other industrial development,” said Jane Danowitz, director of the Pew Environment
Group’s U.S. public lands program.
“The public forests we’ve
fought so hard to protect are
now safe,” added Tim Preso, an
Earthjustice attorney representing the conservation groups.
The U.S. Forest Service currently manages more than 190
million acres of land used for
multiple purposes that must
comply with strict rules on land
use changes spelled out in the
federal Wilderness Act and National Environmental Policy
Act.
Renny MacKay, spokesman
for GOP Wyoming Gov. Matt
Mead, said the state has not decided whether to appeal the ruling made Friday.
“This is a lengthy and significant decision and Gov. Mead
will be evaluating the options for
Wyoming over the coming
weeks,” MacKay said.
Colorado Mining Association
President Stuart Sanderson said
his organization is also studying
the 120-page ruling and has not
decided whether to appeal.
Wyoming and the Colorado
Mining Association argued the
rule violates the 1964 Wilderness Act.
Wyoming attorneys also argued the definition of roadless
lands is synonymous with
wilderness lands. The 1964
Wilderness Act states only Congress can designate wilderness
lands.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and environmental
groups said there are differences
between the designations.
Roadless areas allow for some
mineral development and more
recreational activities, such as
bicycles and ATVs, which the
wilderness category forbids,
they said.
Conflicting federal court rulings have upheld and overturned the road-building ban.
The California-based 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals threw
out a 2005 Bush administration
policy that opened some of the
roadless areas to potential development.
Two other legal actions to
protect roadless areas are pending, including a lawsuit contesting application of the Roadless
Area Conservation Rule to national forests in Alaska, and a
suit challenging a separate, less
protective rule that applies only
to areas of Idaho. The Obama
administration has said it will
defend the federal rule.
LIFESTYLES
rocketminer.com
COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD
Tiny Tots Pinups
HAPPY KID: Cambry Costanti-
no celebrated her 2nd birthday on Oct. 23, 2011. She is the
daughter of Zack and Kari
Costantino of Rock Springs.
Her grandparents are Lennie
and Sherri Kaumo and Becky
Costantino, all of Rock Springs,
and the late Dick Costantino.
Her great-grandparents are
Leola Kaumo and Lee Druce,
both of Rock Springs. She has
one sibling, Parker Costantino,
4.
FABULOUS FOUR:
Brooke
Rhya East celebrates her 4th
birthday on Oct. 25, 2011. She
is the daughter of Lance and
Erica East of Rock Springs. Her
grandparents are Ronald and
Cheryl East and Cory and
Janae Gale, all of Rock Springs.
Her great-grandparents are
Helen East and Darline Gratner, both of Santa Maria,
Calif., and Sharron Peterson of
Great Falls, Mont. She has a
brother, Tyden East, 1.
AROUND SWEETWATER COUNTY
Republicans to meet
on Tuesday
ROCK SPRINGS — Members of the Sweetwater
County Republican Party will
gather for their monthly
meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 25 at
the Sweetwater County Library, 300 N. First E., Green
River.
The group’s next breakfast
will begin at 7 a.m. Nov. 9 at
Cowboy Donuts, 1573 Dewar
Drive, Rock Springs.
UW student reflects
on Libya after Gadhafi
PETER BAUMANN
Laramie Boomerang
LARAMIE — Even thousands
of miles away, Nour Abuagila
knew something had changed in
the air of his home country.
It was 2 a.m. Friday when
University of Wyoming graduate
student Abuagila first heard
about the death of Moammar
Gadhafi in his home country of
Libya online.
“I read that but it was unconfirmed, and I stayed up until 8 in
the morning,” reading news,
Abuagila, who studies communications and journalism at UW,
said.
The demise of Libya’s former
dictator of more than 40 years
gave a sense of finality to the end
of oppression and opening of
possibility in his homeland,
Abuagila said.
“I think from this moment,
life has begun,” he said. “And
from this moment, all Libyans
can breathe their freedom
deeply. From this moment also,
the air in Libya is full of freedom.
This is an important thing.”
But while he joined with most
Libyans in celebrating the newfound possibility of freedom and
democracy in the North African
country, what happened to Gadhafi — pictures and video have
circulated online showing the
former dictator seemingly
bloodied and pleading for
clemency — at the end of his life
made Abuagila feel frustrated
and angry.
“Frustrated, because, you
know, what they did was exactly like what he had always done
to us,” he said. “This kind of
treatment here might be a sign
for the future. And the transitional council (Libya’s interim
government), based on what
happened with Gadhafi, I think,
don’t have much control over
some groups.”
Before
Gadhafi’s
death,
Abuagila said everyone in Libya
was united in one common goal:
the overthrow of a dictator. Now
that Gadhafi is dead, Abuagila
said he’s concerned about how
hard-line religious groups could
affect Libya’s future.
“We have some extremely religious groups over there, and all
of them right now are armed,
each one of them has guns,”
Abuagila said. “When Gadhafi
was in power, there was just one
goal. And all the groups over
there, with different background,
meaning had that one goal. But
now we don’t know. Maybe
‘I think from this
moment, life has
begun. And from
this moment, all
Libyans can
breathe their
freedom deeply.’
University of Wyoming
graduate student Nour
Abuagila
everyone or every group has its
own agenda.”
While concerned, Abuagila
said he’s also hopeful. He said
the brutality of Gadhafi’s regime
is something Libyans won’t forget overnight.
“I think in general everything
will be OK because I think all
Libyans understood the lesson
clearly. They would not be beaten in the same way twice,” he
said. “If they feel that another
dictator would come, they would
act in the same way.”
Once he graduates in December of 2012, Abuagila said he
plans to return to Libya and engage his fellow citizens with
what he called a “Western perspective.”
“What I like in this perspective
is the diversity, each one can respect others,” he said. “I know
the law plays a big role in (the
United States) in this matter, but
also I see how people think
about this, and they respect it.
Some of them think they are
right a lot, but they still respect
others.”
In Libya, Abuagila said there
are some who are intolerant of
opinions or religions other than
their own. While Abuagila said
he does not expect to change
minds, he hopes to bring his educational experience back with
him to show that other opinions
and cultures are valid.
“I’d like to bring balance between my culture and this perspective. I try to benefit from
this perspective, it’s an important thing. I am sure I can’t
change people or force them to
believe or be like other people.
That’s crazy. But I’d like to just
share with others this perspective,” he said. “After 42 years (of
rule under Gadhafi), they think
there’s just one belief, one opinion, one voice. We need to teach
them to hear that there’s different people, there’s many voices.”
Your local news source since 1881
NEWS TIPS: Call the news department with your local news ideas,
events and organizational updates 362-3736
Page 4A
Colter Herreid of Troop 312 is
awarded the rank of Eagle Scout
GREEN RIVER — Colter
Moran Herreid of BSA Troop 312
in Green River was awarded the
rank of Eagle Scout in a ceremony held on Oct. 22, 2011.
The ceremony took place at
Green River United Methodist
Church, Troop 312’s chartering
organization.
The ceremony began with a
prayer offered by the Rev. Martha
Atkins of Mount of Olives
Lutheran Church in Rock
Springs. Flags were presented by
a color guard from Troop 312, led
by Senior Patrol Leader Alex Leo.
Troop 312 Scoutmaster Dennis
Freeman offered remarks about
Herreid’s growth as a Scout and
as a young man. He praised Herreid for his maturity and kindness
as Troop Guide, the older Scout
responsible for the troop’s
youngest members. Green River
High School band director Jerrid
Washburn spoke about Herreid’s
character and relationships with
others.
Members of the audience then
offered congratulations and
memories of Herreid’s Scouting
career. Former 312 Scoutmaster
and current Assistant Scoutmaster John Fuller offered some final
comments on Herreid as a leader
and friend to other Scouts.
Members of Troop 312 Eric
Dahlgren, Zane Summers, Eric
Vance, Kyle Shares, Reese Clingenpeel and Geoffrey Gunter presented a ceremony focused on
the badges of Scouting, lighting a
candle for each rank from Tenderfoot to Eagle. An “Eagles
Nest” of those Eagle Scouts present was then formed. Herreid escorted his parents, Todd and
Becky Herreid, to the front.
The presentation of the Eagle
Scout medal was made by Alex
Leo, Troop 312 Senior Patrol
Leader. Following the presentation of the medal and neckerchief,
the new Eagle offered thanks to
those who had helped him and
been brothers on the trail to Eagle. He awarded Eagle Mentor
pins to his father, to Dennis Freeman, and to his sister, Judith Herreid. Atkins offered a closing
prayer. Flags were retired by the
312 Color Guard. Fellowship and
refreshments followed.
Herreid has been a member of
Troop 312 since 2004. He has
Colter Herreid of Boy Scout Troop 312 stands with his parents, Todd and Becky Herreid. Colter was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout on Oct. 22.
served in a number of leadership
positions,
including
Patrol
Leader and Troop Guide. He is
also a member of the Order of the
Arrow, the honor society of
Scouting. Along with Geoffrey
Gunter, he attended the 2011
World Scout Jamboree in Scandinavia. Herreid was also very active in Farmer’s Union youth activities, serving as a camp counselor at the organization’s summer camp. Herreid is a cum laude
graduate of Green River High
School with the class of 2011,
where he was also very active in
band and speech and debate. He
will attend the University of
Wyoming.
In addition to Herreid, four
other members of his age group
earned Eagle Scout rank in Troop
312. Zane Bodin, Geoffrey
Gunter, Spencer Lane and Austin
Leo all earned the rank, and all of
them were active with the troop
until their 18th birthdays. All are
recent graduates of Green River
High School.
Colter Herreid has been a member of Boy Scout Troop 312 since 2004.
Guard looks to honor Korean War units
TREVOR BROWN
CHEYENNE — More than 60
years after the Korean War, the National Guard is continuing to find
units that were overlooked for federal recognition.
Col. Tim Sheppard, the National Guard’s U.S. property and fiscal
officer for Wyoming, said his new
research shows eight units from
across the country that did not receive the honors they deserved.
Last year, officials presented the
Wyoming Army National Guard’s
300th Armored Field Artillery Battalion with the Navy and Marine
Corps Presidential Unit Citation
for their heroism in support of the
1st Marine Division.
The unit deployed for Korea in
January 1951 and spent more than
800 days in combat.
However, Sheppard said it is just
one of many units that were left off
the list to collect the citation after
the conflict, which commonly is referred to as the “Forgotten War.”
Sheppard, who is based in
Cheyenne, said during and after
his research of the Wyoming unit,
he discovered eight more units
that did not receive the citation,
even though they should have.
“The best we can figure out, it is
just due to an administrative error,”
he said. “The Army didn’t even
present (the citations) until six
years after the campaign was over,
and it looks like, in many cases,
they got it wrong.”
Sheppard said the units that
should’ve received the presidential
citation are:
• 15th Field Artillery Battalion
• 92nd Armored Field Artillery
Battalion
• 213rd Field Artillery Battalion
• 503rd Field Artillery Battalion
• 987th Armored Field Artillery
Battalion
Sheppard said he spent “many,
many hours” at the National
Archives looking through old
Army records and cross-referencing documents to discover the irregularities.
He said even though all this time
has passed, it remains important
to honor the veterans for their
service.
“I think it is important we get
history right,” he said. “And you
would be amazed how important it
is for the veterans, and even for the
family members of the veterans
who are no longer with us.”
Because of the research, the Veterans of Foreign Wars recently
sent a letter to Secretary of the
Navy Ray Mabus asking that the
units be recognized.
rocketminer.com
5A
Mental fitness hard to judge
Wyoming statutes favor the release of mentally ill or deficient
individuals over commitment to the state hospital
LINDSEY ERIN KROSKOB
CHEYENNE — How is it possible that a man could be accused of
burning down his elderly neighbor’s home and in less than a year
be walking free, with the charges
against him dropped?
In a state that favors release of
mentally ill or deficient individuals
over commitment to a mental hospital, this scenario is far from impossible, even if it isn’t all that
common.
Last week, Laramie County
District Judge Thomas Campbell
dismissed first-degree arson
charges against John Williamson
Jr., 29, after an evaluator found
that Williamson was incompetent
to stand trial and unlikely to regain
competency.
But getting to that point was the
result of hours of evaluations,
hearings and paperwork.
According to state statutes, if at
any stage in the criminal proceeding there is reasonable cause to believe that the defendant has a
mental illness or deficiency, the
proceedings are suspended for a
fitness-to-proceed evaluation.
During this evaluation, a designated examiner will determine if
the accused suffers from a mental
illness or deficiency, render an
opinion about whether the defendant can understand and participate in his own defense, and make
a recommendation as to whether
he should be held pending the outcome of the court’s fitness-to-proceed hearings.
Attorneys involved on either
side of the process also can ask
that the defendant be seen by an
independent evaluator.
If the examiner determines that
the person should be held in a facility until the outcome of the
hearings, the court may order the
involuntary administration of antipsychotic medications to those accused of a serious crime to render
the defendant competent to stand
trial.
If the defendant is found incompetent but likely to regain competency, they can be held at the
Wyoming State Hospital in
Evanston and undergo regular
evaluations. They also may be able
to receive treatment from mental
health professionals in other areas
throughout the state, if the court
agrees.
Once they regain competency,
the court can move forward with
trial proceedings.
If the evaluator determines that
the individual is unlikely to regain
their competency, the hospital determines whether the defendant is
a danger to themselves or others.
If so, they are detained until the
finding is no longer valid and regularly re-evaluated. If they are not
a danger, the individual is released.
If a person is found fit to proceed, but still wishes to assert that
they suffered from a mental illness
at the time they committed the
criminal act, they can plead not
guilty by reason of mental illness
or deficiency.
At that point, they undergo a
second evaluation to determine
their state of mind at the time of
the offense.
The “not guilty by reason of
mental illness or deficiency” defense may become a question for a
jury to decide at trial.
According to statutes, a person
is not responsible for criminal conduct if, at the time of the act, as a
result of mental illness or deficiency, they lacked substantial capacity to either appreciate the wrongfulness of their actions or conform
their conduct to the requirements
of the law.
It specifically states that mental
illness or deficiency means “only
those severely abnormal mental
conditions that grossly and
demonstrably impair a person’s
perception or understanding of reality. These cannot be attributed to
self-induced intoxication or repeated criminal or antisocial conduct.”
If the defendant is found not
guilty by reason of mental illness
or deficiency, and is no longer
deemed a threat to themselves or
others, they are to be released
from custody. If they are still a substantial risk, but it can be controlled with proper care, they can
be released under supervision.
However, if the court finds that
the person is a substantial risk and
not a candidate for supervision,
the court can commit them to the
Wyoming State Hospital.
Once that person is found to no
longer be affected by their mental
illness or deficiency, they are to be
released.
Laramie County District Attorney Scott Homar said his office
sees quite a few defendants claim
that they are not guilty by reason
of mental illness or deficiency.
However, the evaluator rarely finds
that they are unfit to proceed or
mentally ill.
Homar
said
cases
like
Williamson’s, where the judge dismissed the charges, are rare.
And although there are a few
cases where mental illness plays a
role in criminal acts, it’s more often played out in guardianships
and temporary commitment.
Laramie County Attorney Mark
Voss said his office has handled
more than 100 cases involving involuntary commitment hearings
since the beginning of 2011.
This involves committing someone who is, for any period of time,
a danger to themselves or others,
although they haven’t committed
any criminal act up to that point.
Voss said the most common
reason for involuntary commitment is suicide attempt.
Law enforcement officers and
mental health examiners can detain individuals who they believe
fall under this category.
The individual goes through
several hearings and evaluations
to assess the state of their mental
health.
“It is not a crime to be mentally
ill,” Voss said. “Just because a person is mentally ill doesn’t mean
that they need to be confined in
any manner.”
Voss said his office works with
the individual and their legal representative to find the most therapeutic and least restrictive option
for getting help.
“Our intent is to help folks, get
them better and get them back
into the community, rather than
send them to the State Hospital,”
he said.
Ready to Play
Trace Bevell, men’s basketball coach for Western Wyoming Community College, on the
left, and Ken Swartz, women’s basketball coach, right, spoke recently at the Rock Springs Kiwanis Club’s
weekly meeting. A certificate of appreciation is being presented by Cliff Topp, club president.
ROCK SPRINGS:
Fireflies
: Members of the Rock Springs Soccer Association U5 girls’ division Fireflies team include,
front from left, Larissa Panzer, Ellie Hunsaker and Stevie Bolton; and, in back, Kaylynn Shellman,
Tatyana Sweets, Eva Asper and coach Brooke Hunsaker.
ROCK SPRINGS
Forest of Hope shining for children in need
BECKY ORR
CHEYENNE — On a frosty October evening, Gary Kelley walks in
a forest of light.
Bright colors of reds, greens and
blues reflect on his eyeglasses. He
drapes a strand of Christmas lights
on the bristly branches of an Austrian black pine.
“Isn’t this neat?” he asks and
smiles as he studies the four acres
at the home he shares with his
wife, Nancy, and two Boston terriers.
The Kelleys and their dedicated
volunteers have strung 82,000
Christmas lights on 542 trees at
the property northeast of
Cheyenne.
Apple, pine, honey locust and
boxelder trees are bathed in light.
Kelley created the Hemi Lighted
Forest of Hope last year for children across the world who have
had a brain surgery called a hemispherectomy. The surgery removes
half of a person’s brain to eliminate
their seizures.
He lit the forest last year in honor of his 9-year-old granddaughter,
Jessi, who lives in Texas with her
parents and brothers.
Jessi had encephalitis, and, in its
aftermath, suffered months of uncontrollable seizures. She had a
hemispherectomy and three other
surgeries.
She is now free from seizures.
“She is an A and B student,” Kelley
said. She attends school and is involved in activities.
Jessi and her family plan to visit
the Kelleys at Christmas this year.
Jessi will see the forest, whose trees
range from 2 feet to 12 feet high.
The lights are up earlier this year
and will stay up through February.
That way, more people can enjoy
them, Kelley said.
Several employees from High
West Energy — an area utility cooperative — donated their time to
help string lights. They brought
bucket trucks, which made it possible to decorate areas not done
last year.
“I couldn’t have done it without
them,” he said.
Kelley has added many features
to his forest. He turned one section
of his property into a special landscaped refuge.
The refuge includes the lighted
trees and four waterfalls. The area
has been landscaped to create
brooks and creeks.
Kelley also designed and built
two miniature train tracks here.
The trains cross steel trestles he
made.
The trains include engines bearing the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe brands.
One train track goes by a tree
the Kelleys dedicated to Eric Suzuki, 17, of Pennsylvania. He died
May 9 during brain surgery.
His mother, Kelli, contacted the
Kelleys and said her son always
wanted to put Christmas lights up
early. He would have loved the
Hemi Forest, she said.
Kelley put a finely crafted stone
plaque near the tree. The plaque
features Eric’s picture.
Eric’s mom said his family
hopes to come to Cheyenne
around Thanksgiving to see the
plaque and Eric’s tree and meet the
Kelleys.
“We’ve never met, but I have to
think they are some of the kindest
people,” Kelli Suzuki said.
People across the world are responding to the forest. Dana
Thomas of Cincinnati, Ohio, has a
son who had a hemispherectomy
at age 6.
“It raises my spirits that there
are such wonderful people in the
world doing such amazing things
to make awareness” of the surgery,
she wrote in an e-mail.
Breast Cancer Awareness
The city of Green River declared October 2011 as Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Oct.
21 as Mammography Day at the Oct. 18 Green River City Council meeting. Taking part in the presentation, from left, are Mayor Hank Castillon, radiology/mammography technologist Bobbi Tuckee, radiology technologist Darchell Paoli, lead mammography technologist Merilee Antonino, head radiologist Dr.
Frederick Matti, and radiology department head Tracie Soller.
GREEN RIVER:
Connie Wilcox-Timar/Rocket-Miner
Do You Know When To Call 911?
: Firefighter Levi Gil, left, watches as Sydney Legerski demonstrates how to make a 911
call. The firefighters discussed when it would be appropriate for children to make an emergency call.
Firefighters made similar presentations at multiple schools in Sweetwater County School District No. 1.
ROCK SPRINGS
SPORTS
rocketminer.com
NEWS TIPS: Call the news department with your local news ideas,
events and organizational updates 362-3736
WWCC sophomores finish
home career with sweep
ROBERT MORGAN
Rocket-Miner Sports Reporter
ROCK SPRINGS — There was a dozen reasons why Rushmore Gymnasium was filled
with emotions Monday as 12 sophomores
who finished their careers at Western
Wyoming Community College with a twoyear 21-1 at home record, stepped on the floor
for the last time.
After a lengthy, teary-eyed final introduction of the graduating class who was showered with gifts from the team, the Lady Mustangs had to regroup in time to face nine-time
national champion Southern Idaho. They collected themselves quickly as they wiped their
tears with the Golden Eagles in a tightly-contested, three-game sweep over the eighthranked team in the country, 25-23, 25-22, 2519.
“It was a great match. The team showed
their fight to get back in sets one and two
when CSI was executing really well,” WWCC
head coach Rick Reynolds said. “I liked how
we made adjustments throughout the match
Robert Morgan/Rocket-Miner
Sophomore setter Makayla Keck, right, shares
a hug with freshman teammate Alise Larsen
during an emotional pre-game ceremony.
The sophomores finished their home careers
with a 21-home game winning streak.
to what they were doing.”
The sophomores, who are now 71-8 in two
years at WWCC, are now 31-2 for the season
and 12-0 in regional play. WWCC will close
the regular season with a 7 p.m. match Thursday at Casper.
Southern Idaho, which slipped to 18-9 for
the season, was solid from the opening serve.
Thanks to three WWCC hitting errors and a
spectacular performance at the net by middle
blocker Beth Carey, the Golden Eagles flew
out to their biggest lead of the night at 15-8.
However, WWCC sophomore Arielle Allen
stopped the run when she slammed back-toback kills to steal the momentum away from
the visitors.
The Lady Mustangs, which fired away
against a solid CSI front line that chalked up
more than a dozen blocks, kept control behind consecutive kills from sophomores Susan Lindley and Jocelyn Ostermiller. Southern Idaho answered with a couple big defensive plays, but WWCC fired right back with
kills from sophomores Viktorija Teivane and
Olivera Medic to tie the game at 20-20.
WWCC took its first lead of the game at 2120 behind a CSI hitting error. After an exchange of hits, WWCC went on its winning
run courtesy of a kill from Allen and two dinks
via sophomore Makayla Keck.
The Golden Eagles were tough from the
start of game two as well. An ace from freshman Taila Gnass and kills by sophomore Taylor Wilkinson led to a 9-5 lead.
Nevertheless, WWCC answered every
Southern Idaho run with a bigger one of its
own. Behind the defensive work of sophomores Cori Perrault and Kortnie Christiansen, the host team was able to corral CSI’s
heavy hitters to tie, 11-11.
Carey, which gave WWCC troubles all
night, worked her way back to the front row
and made it known immediately. She chalked
up two kills, a stuff and one block, to help extend the CSI lead to 14-11.
Ostermiller and Medic provided a 1-2 offensive punch to fuel WWCC’s next run. Combined with a dink from Keck and a pair of
blocks by Allen, the Lady Mustangs managed
to tie things up at 16-16.
The teams traded blows as the game was
tied on four more occasions. The Lady Mustangs, which took the final lead at 22-21
thanks to a kill by Lindley, scored on threestraight defensive plays by Allen and Medic to
seal the deal and move one game away from
a sweep.
Robert Morgan/Rocket-Miner
Viktorija Teivane was one of many weapons
to thwart a stubborn Southern Idaho team on
Oct. 24. The Lady Mustangs trailed in the first
two games but back to sweep the Gold Eagles.
Unlike the first two games, WWCC took the
first lead of the game thanks to a kill by
Teivane and never let it go. CSI managed to
even the score on five occasions but was denied the lead on every attempt.
Teivane slammed her seventh kill of the
match to give the Lady Mustangs the lead for
good at 13-12. The sophomore dominated the
rest of the way as Ostermiller, Medic, Allen
and Teivane blasted kills from every direction
to soften up the CSI defense.
WWCC put the match in the books when
Ostermiller and Teivane had back-to-back
stuffs and Allen had the final say with a
match-ending kill to send the home crowd
into a frenzy and a standing ovation to send
the sophomores off the court for the final
time.
RODEO RESULTS
RAM MOUNTAIN STATES CIRCUIT
FINALS RODEO
ROCK SPRINGS, WYO., OCT. 20-22
All-around cowboy
Josh Peek, $4,097, steer wrestling and
tie-down roping.
BAREBACK RIDING
First round
1. Micky Downare, 82 points on Harry
Vold Rodeo’s Betty White, $1,001;
2. Seth Hardwick, 80, $758;
3. Tyler Scales, 77, $546;
4. (tie) Casey Colletti and David Streweler, 74, $288 each;
6. Jace Daly, 72, $152.
Second round
1. Micky Downare, 75 points on Southwick’s Rocky Mountain Rodeo Company’s Flea Bit, $1,001;
2. Tyler Scales, 73, $758;
3. Jace Daly, 72, $546;
4. Larry Carter, 71, $364;
5. (tie) Seth Hardwick and Casey Colletti,
70, $182 each.
Third round
1. (tie) Casey Colletti, on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Vitalix Baby Doll, and
David Browder, on Burns Rodeo Company’s Agustus, 81 points,
3. $880 each; 3. Shane Stevens, 78, $546;
4. (tie) Micky Downare and David
Streweler, 76, $288 each;
6. Jace Daly, 69, $152.
Overall
1. Micky Downare, 233 points on three
head, $1,501;
2. Casey Colletti, 225, $1,137;
3. (tie) Seth Hardwick and David Browder, 218, $682 each;
5. David Streweler, 214, $318;
6. Jace Daly, 213, $227.
STEER WRESTLING
First round
1. Josh Peek, 4.0 seconds, $893;
2. Tony Larsen, 4.1, $739;
3. Jesse Jolly, 4.5, $585;
4. Clayton Morrison, 4.7, $431;
5. Brian Snell, 5.1, $277;
6. (tie) Kyle Broce and Seth Brockman,
5.2, $77 each.
Second round
1. Seth Brockman, 3.4 seconds, $893;
2. Jason Miller, 3.7, $739;
3. Clayton Morrison, 4.5, $585;
4. Josh Peek, 4.6, $431;
5. Jesse Jolly, 9.5, $277;
6. Wyatt Johnson, 14.9, $154.
Third round
1. (tie) Clayton Morrison and Wyatt Johnson, 3.5 seconds, $816 each;
3. Tony Larsen, 4.0, $585;
4. (tie) Josh Peek and Wade Sumpter, 5.4,
$354 each;
6. Brian Snell, 6.6, $154.
Average
1. Clayton Morrison, 12.7 seconds on
three head, $1,340;
2. Josh Peek, 14.0, $1,109;
3. Jesse Jolly, 21.6, $878;
4. Tony Larsen, 8.1 on two head, $647;
5. Seth Brockman, 8.6, $416;
6. Brian Snell, 11.7, $231.
TEAM ROPING
First round
1. Lee Hagler/Jason Furnival, 5.2 seconds, $893 each;
2. Pat Grieve/Jesse Echtler, 6.2, $739;
3. Garrett Tonozzi/J.W. Borrego, 6.9, $585;
4. Tyler Schnaufer/Cole Cooper, 7.0, $431;
5. Ty Blasingame/Jhett Johnson, 10.8,
$277;
6. Jake Day/Lance Allen, 11.5, $154.
Second round
1. Jake Wager/Shay Carroll, 5.0 seconds,
$893 each;
2. C.J. Scheller/Justin Johnson, 5.4, $739;
3. (tie) Lee Hagler/Jason Furnival and Ty
Blasingame/Jhett Johnson, 5.5, $508
each;
5. Garrett Tonozzi/J.W. Borrego, 5.9, $277;
6. Tyler Schnaufer/Cole Cooper, 6.2, $154.
Third round:
1. Tyler Schnaufer/Cole Cooper, 5.3, $893
each;
2. Shawn Hagler/Tory Shaffer, 5.7, $739;
3. Jake Wager/Shay Carroll, 6.2, $585;
4. Ty Blasingame/Jhett Johnson, 8.5, $431;
5. Lee Hagler/Jason Furnival, 9.7, $277;
6. Jake Day/Lance Allen, 10.1, $154.
Average
1. Tyler Schnaufer/Cole Cooper, 18.5 seconds on three head, $1,340 each;
2. Lee Hagler/Jason Furnival, 20.4, $1,109;
3. Ty Blasingame/Jhett Johnson, 24.8,
$878;
4. Jake Wager/Shay Carroll, 26.7, $647;
5. Garrett Tonozzi/J.W. Borrego, 12.8 on
two head, $416;
6. Shawn Hagler/Tory Shaffer, 15.5, $231.
SADDLE BRONC RIDING
First round
1. Merritt Smith, 80 points on D&H Cattle’s Rose Party, $1,017;
2. Wace Snook, 79, $770;
3. Brandon Munn, 75, $554;
4. Lyle Welling, 74, $370;
5. Britt Jessop, 71, $216;
6. Blaze Hamaker, 69, $154.
Second round
1. Lyle Welling, 77 points on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Hustlin Harry, $1,017;
2. Ray Tom Meiers, 72, $770;
3. (tie) Travis Darling and Jake Griffin, 70,
$462 each;
6. Garet Groshans, 61, $154.
Third round
1. Wace Snook, 78 points on Harry Vold
Rodeo’s Spring Board, $1,017;
3. Lyle Welling, 75, $554;
4. (tie) Merritt Smith and Ray Tom
Meiers, 71, $293 each;
6. Britt Jessop, 67, $154.
Average
1. Lyle Welling, 226 points on three head,
$1,525;
2. Brandon Munn, 213, $1,155;
3. Ray Tom Meiers, 211, $832;
4. Wace Snook, 157 on two head, $554;
5. Merritt Smith, 151, $323;
6. Britt Jessop, 138, $231.
TIE-DOWN ROPING
First round
1. K.C. Jones, 9.3 seconds, $893;
2. Wes Borders, 10.9, $739;
3. Trevor Thiel, 11.1, $585;
4. Jake Hamilton, 11.6, $431;
5. Brice Ingo, 12.0, $277;
6. Darnell Johnson, 12.2, $154.
Second round
1. Mike Johnson, 10.0 seconds, $893;
2. Jake Hamilton, 10.6, $739;
3. Jayce Johnson, 10.9, $585;
4. Wes Borders, 11.6, $431;
5. Brice Ingo, 11.9, $277;
6. K.C. Jones, 12.3, $154.
Third round
1. Josh Peek, 9.3 seconds, $893;
2. K.C. Jones, 9.4, $739;
Page 6A
Napoli, Rangers move one
win from World Series crown
BEN WALKER
AP Baseball Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) —
A long drive by Mike Napoli, a
lucky bounce near the mound
and suddenly the Texas
Rangers were on the brink of
their first World Series championship.
Napoli delivered the biggest
hit of his charmed season, lining
a tiebreaking two-run double in
the eighth inning that sent the
Rangers past the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Monday night for
a 3-2 edge.
The slugging catcher then
capped off his night of double
duty, throwing out a would-be
base stealer in the ninth as Albert Pujols struck out.
“Pujols is going to put it in
play, he’s a good contact hitter,”
Napoli said, “and they were just
starting the runner, 3-2. As soon
as I got it, I just got rid of it and
put it on the bag.”
Texas will try to wrap it up in
Game 6 on Wednesday night in
St. Louis.
If the Rangers eventually do
win that elusive crown, the
Texas fans who stood and
chanted Napoli’s name may forever remember his two-run hit.
“Just trying to get something
to the outfield, you know, get a
sac fly, get that run across the
board,” Napoli said. “I was trying to stay short and I got a
pitch I could handle over the
middle of the plate and put it in
the gap.”
If the Cardinals lose, there’s
no doubt which play will stick
with manager Tony La Russa
for a long, long time.
It was 2-all when Texas put
runners on first and second with
one out in the eighth, and reliever Marc Rzepczynski was summoned. David Murphy followed
with a bouncer back to the
mound, a possible inning-ending double play in the making.
But the ball appeared to
glance off Rzepczynski’s knee
and trickled harmlessly away for
a single that loaded the bases. In
the dugout, La Russa immediately threw his hands to his
head, a true “Oh, no!” moment.
La Russa elected to let his
lefty stay in to face the righthanded Napoli, and it didn’t
work.
Napoli, who came close to a
three-run homer in his previous
at-bat, sent a drive up the alley
against the pitcher with the
nickname “Scrabble.” The double off Rzepczynski sure spelled
good things for Texas, with excitable manager Ron Washing-
ton waving the runners around
from the dugout.
Darren Oliver earned the win
and Neftali Feliz closed for his
second save of the Series and
sixth of the postseason.
After a travel day, the Series
will resume at Busch Stadium
with Colby Lewis facing Cardinals lefty Jaime Garcia. The
weather forecast in St. Louis is
daunting, calling for rain and
temperatures around 50.
Adrian Beltre and Mitch
Moreland hit solo home runs off
Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter,
helping Texas come back from
an early 2-0 deficit.
Later, it became a battle of the
bullpens and Texas prevailed.
Octavio Dotel gave up a leadoff double to Michael Young in
the eighth, struck out Beltre and
intentionally walked Nelson
Cruz. That left it up to
Rzepczynski, and the game
quickly slipped away.
La Russa appeared stunned
by the turnaround. Later in the
eighth, he brought in reliever
Lance Lynn and had him issue
an intentional walk to the only
batter he faced. Jason Motte
eventually ended the inning, but
it was too late.
Fittingly, Napoli had a role in
the final play. Lance Berkman
struck out and the ball hit
Napoli’s shin guard and trickled
up the first base line, where the
catcher picked it up and tossed
to first base to end the game.
Pujols drew three intentional
walks, including a pass with two
outs and none on in the seventh.
The St. Louis slugger then nearly used his legs to put his team
ahead.
Pujols was running hard on a
3-2 pitch that Matt Holliday hit
for a single to left-center. Pujols
chugged around the bags and
third base coach Jose Oquendo
initially waved him home, only
to put up a late stop sign.
Would Pujols have been safe
on shortstop Elvis Andrus’ wide
throw to the plate? Maybe. But
it became moot when Lance
Berkman was intentionally
walked to load the bases and
David Freese flied out against
Alexi Ogando.
Beltre’s homer made it 2-all
with two outs in the sixth. He
dropped to one knee after following through on a meaty cut.
He connected on a big curve
from Carpenter, who had easily
handled Josh Hamilton and
Young to start the inning.
Beltre’s other homers this October came in a bunch. He hit
three in a first-round playoff
game at Tampa Bay.
Jaguars shut down Ravens, win 12-7
MARK LONG
AP Sports Writer
Testing The Best
Carlo Harryman/Rocket-Miner
ROCK SPRINGS: Bareback bronc rider David Browder tests his skills
during the second night of the Mountain States Circuit Pro Rodeo at
the Sweetwater County Events Complex.
3. Trevor Thiel, 10.7, $585;
4. Brice Ingo, 11.0, $431;
5. Mike Johnson, 11.4, $277;
6. Jake Hamilton, 12.7, $154.
Average
1. K.C. Jones, 31.0 seconds on three head,
$1,340;
2. (tie) Jake Hamilton and Brice Ingo,
34.9, $993 each;
4. Trevor Thiel, 37.3, $647;
5. Josh Peek, 39.8, $416;
6. Jayce Johnson, 41.9, $231.
BARREL RACING
First round
1. Kim Schulze, 15.40 seconds, $893;
2. Megan Zion, 15.66, $739;
3. Sherrylynn Johnson, 15.71, $585;
4. Annie Campbell, 15.75, $431;
5. Kelly Yates, 15.77, $277;
6. Amanda Welsh, 15.85, $154.
Second round
1. Amanda Welsh, 15.62 seconds, $893;
2. Megan Zion, 15.70, $739;
3. Annie Campbell, 15.70, $585;
4. Wendy McKee, 15.85, $431;
5. (tie) Lexi Bath and Kelly Yates, 15.86,
$216 each.
Third round
1. Annie Campbell, 15.52 seconds, $893;
2. Lexi Bath, 15.60, $739;
3. Amanda Welsh, 15.67, $585;
4. Megan Zion, 15.70, $431;
5. (tie) Wendy McKee and Pat Spratt,
15.73, $216 each.
Average
1. Annie Campbell, 47.02 seconds on
three runs, $1,340;
2. Megan Zion, 47.06, $1,109;
3. Amanda Welsh, 47.14, $878;
4. Lexi Bath, 47.38, $647;
5. Sherrylynn Johnson, 47.44, $416;
6. Kelly Yates, 47.54, $231.
BULL RIDING
First round
1. Tyler Willis, 84 points on Burns Rodeo
Company’s Conspiracy Theory, $1,017;
2. Bobby Welsh, 80, $770;
3. Jason Blasdel, 77, $554;
4. Will Farrell, 75, $370;
5. Seth Glause, 72, $216;
6. Brady Menge, 27, $154.
Second round
1. Patrick Geipel, 83 points on Burns
Rodeo Company’s Smokin Suspect,
$1,017;
2. Bobby Welsh, 79, $770;
3. Cody Samora, 76, $554;
4. Tyler Willis, 75, $370;
5. Clayton Savage, 71, $216;
no other qualified rides.
Third round
1. Dillon Tyner, 88 points on Burns Rodeo
Company’s Kid Twist, $1,017;
2. Will Farrell, 71, $770; no other qualified
rides.
Average
1. (tie) Bobby Welsh and Tyler Willis, 159
points on two head, $1,340 each;
3. Will Farrell, 146, $832;
4. Dillon Tyner, 88 on one head, $554;
5. Patrick Geipel, 83, $323;
6. Jason Blasdel, 77, $231.
Total payoff: $110,680.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)
— On one night, on one big
stage, the Jacksonville Jaguars
did everything better than the
Baltimore Ravens.
Maurice Jones-Drew ran for
105 yards against the NFL’s best
run defense, Josh Scobee kicked
four field goals and the Jaguars
snapped a five-game slide with
a 12-7 victory over the Ravens
on Monday night.
Stepping into the national
spotlight for a few hours, the
Jaguars used their best defensive effort in five years to slow
down Ray Rice, Joe Flacco and
Co.
Jacksonville (2-5) didn’t allow
a first down until the 5:26 mark
of the third quarter, a mix of
stout defense and inept offense.
Flacco finally got the Ravens (42) on the scoreboard with a little more than two minutes remaining. He capped a 90-yard
drive with a 5-yard touchdown
pass to Anquan Boldin.
The Ravens failed to recover
an onside kick when the ball
bounced inches short of going
the required 10 yards. Scobee
followed with his third field goal
of at least 50 yards.
Baltimore had a final possession, but in fitting fashion, Jacksonville’s defense came up big.
Drew Coleman stepped in front
of Ed Dickson and intercepted
Flacco’s final pass.
The Ravens finished with 146
total yards. The Jaguars had
205.
rocketminer.com
Bowyer beats Burton to
give RCR 100th victory
JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) —
Teamwork meant very little in
the closing laps at Talladega Superspeedway.
Unless, of course, you were
driving a Ford.
Clint Bowyer bailed on teammate Jeff Burton on the last lap of
Sunday’s race, pulling around
him when the checkered flag was
in sight to pick up his first win of
the season and the 100th in the
Sprint Cup Series for Richard
Childress Racing.
“You hate that it comes down
to that; it is what it is,” shrugged
Bowyer. “You owe it to your team,
to your sponsors to go out and
win the race. Unfortunately, it
came down to that situation.”
Burton and the RCR bunch understood that’s how the game is
played.
The grumbling was far behind
the leaders, where Daytona 500
winner Trevor Bayne ditched Jeff
Gordon because Bayne was part
of a pact made by Ford drivers to
only push fellow Ford drivers in
an effort to help Roush Fenway
Racing drivers Carl Edwards and
Matt Kenseth in the championship race.
Gordon was seventh on the final restart and thought Bayne
was committed to pushing him
over the last two laps. Instead,
Bayne backed off, and Gordon,
with no help, faded to 27th. An
animated Bayne went immediately to Gordon’s car after the race,
then posted his thoughts on
Twitter.
“I’m not happy about what this
has become,” he posted on Twitter in reference to Talladega’s
two-car drafting style and the reliance on partners.
“It’s too premeditated. We
should be able to go with whoever is around us. I would have
rather pulled over and finished
last than tell (Gordon) I would
work with him and then be
strong-armed into bailing.”
Gordon said he was deceived.
“The Fords made it very clear
about what they were doing in
working with one another,” Gordon said. “So I didn’t expect him
to commit to me on the radio. I
expected him to say, ‘Man, I’m
sorry, I can’t.’ And when he said,
‘Yeah, I’m pushing you, we’re
good,’ I believed him. I think they
had a different plan.”
The race at NASCAR’s biggest
and fastest track finished roughly 30 minutes after the memorial
service for two-time Indianapolis
500 winner Dan Wheldon ended
in Indianapolis. Wheldon was
killed in the IndyCar season finale a week ago at Las Vegas, and
NASCAR honored him with decals on all the cars and a moment
of silence before the start of the
race.
The Wheldon death made for
some poignant moments during
pre-race, as Kevin Harvick clung
tightly to wife, Delana, and many
drivers were seen giving long embraces to loved ones.
And as expected, the race heated up in the closing laps.
Drivers jockeyed for position
and partners in the new two-car
drafting system. Although the
race was not marred by “the big
one,” there was a series of accidents, and the last, with eight
laps remaining, was a hard hit by
Regan Smith that required repairs to the SAFER barrier.
It made for a shake-up in the
Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. Harvick and
Kyle Busch were both in accidents, and five-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson
finished 26th as he and partner
Dale Earnhardt Jr. never made
their charge to the front.
Edwards, who came into the
race up five points over Harvick,
finished 11th and saw his lead
swell to 14 points over Roush
Fenway Racing teammate Matt
Kenseth.
There were hard feelings after
the race as drivers were upset at
etiquette in the closing laps. Tony
Stewart had been working with
RCR driver Paul Menard during
the second half of the race, but
Menard wasn’t able to push him
to the win when the race restarted after Smith’s accident with
two laps to go.
Instead of contending for the
win, Stewart finished seventh.
But team owner Richard Childress said Menard was there to
help Stewart, a fellow Chevrolet
driver.
“I went on Paul’s radio and told
him go up there and push Tony
and try to win the race,” Childress
said. “I wanted him to win the
race, but I also wanted him to
push Tony. That was just the way
it was.”
If Stewart had been a Ford
driver?
“We were going to help Chevy
try to win,” Childress said. “I’ve
been Chevy all my life. It’s kind of
hard to change an old dog.”
That’s what made Bowyer’s
move easier to swallow for Burton. When the two of them pulled
away from the pack, and it became clear the race to the win
was only between the two of
them, Burton knew he was going
to be challenged on the last lap.
“I knew he was going to make
a move,” Burton said. “He was
supposed to make a move. He
ain’t expected to push me to the
win.”
It was redemption for Bowyer,
too. He lost the spring race here
when Earnhardt pushed Johnson
past the Bowyer-Burton tandem
and Bowyer settled for second. At
New Hampshire last month, he
led late but ran out of gas in the
closing laps as Stewart took the
victory.
Bowyer, the defending race
winner, snapped a 34-race losing
streak and thanked Burton from
Victory Lane.
“We just were really good together. We thought about it, we
talked about it a lot before the
race and things really did play out
just how we planned,” said
Bowyer, who is moving to
Michael Waltrip Racing at the
end of the season.
“It was a pretty calm day, to be
honest, kind of methodical. We
wanted to stay up front. I told
him we needed to stay up front,
that way when the time comes,
we’re ready for it and we can race
the way we should race. I was trying to figure out where to pass
him, and said ‘I’m at least going
to give a shot at it.’ And I knew it
was going to be a drag race.”
Kurt Busch, who was involved
in an accident with Bobby
Labonte, also griped about the
tandem racing after his 36thplace finish. Busch ran directly
into Labonte, partly because he
was pushing another car and didn’t have any time to see Labonte
spinning ahead.
“Our championship hopes are
done just because of this two-car
Talladega draft,” said Busch, who
is sixth in the standings, 50
points behind Edwards.
Burton finished second, his
best finish in what was supposed
to be a terrific season but turned
south when his engine blew in the
season-opening Daytona 500.
Dave Blaney worked with Brad
Keselowski the entire race, and
they finished third and fourth.
Keselowski, who drives for top
IndyCar owner Roger Penske,
had “In Memory of Dan” across
his back bumper.
“I’m very proud of the effort,
proud to have a good day and
very fortunate to have missed all
the wrecks,” Keselowski said. “It
must have had something to do
with (Wheldon) on the back of
the car. It was a great day for us,
and I just want to say a shout-out
to him and his family.”
Racing community pays tribute to Wheldon in Indy
MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Dan
Wheldon’s friends shed a few
tears and shared lots of laughs
Sunday.
Some couldn’t even bear to say
goodbye a week after the two-time
Indianapolis 500 winner was
killed in a fiery crash at Las Vegas.
The 87-minute memorial service was a fitting tribute to Wheldon’s life, with former teammates
and bosses providing dozens of
stories about the roles Wheldon
played — fierce competitor on the
track, comedian off of it and loving father and husband.
“At first Dan was pretty much
the little brother we didn’t want,”
four-time IndyCar champ Dario
Franchitti said drawing laughter
before pausing to collect his
thoughts. “And now we’d do anything to have him back. We’ll miss
you D.W.”
With an estimated crowd of
2,000 to 3,000 filling Conseco
Fieldhouse, it was a shared sentiment on yet another dark day in
the racing world.
Hundreds of fans signed two
large banners that will be given to
Wheldon’s wife, Susie, who attended the ceremony but did not
speak.
Some of the community’s most
prominent organizations — the
Colts, Pacers, Indianapolis 500
Festival and Indiana General Assembly Motorsports Caucus —
sent floral arrangements. A few
fans wore Wheldon No. 4 shirts
from his days with Panther Racing, and others delivered flowers,
contributed to the family trust
fund or dropped off personal mementos.
“Thank you for the many wonderful memories,” Rebecca Nix
wrote on a folded flag with a photo of Wheldon pinned to it.
The day was full of emotion —
from the moment of silence or-
ganizers observed in honor of MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli, who
was killed Sunday in a crash at
Malaysia, right down to Garth
Brooks’ final song, “The Dance.”
But after touching eulogies
from IndyCar CEO Randy
Bernard and Indianapolis Motor
Speedway President and CEO Jeff
Belskus, most speakers interspersed lighthearted moments
from Wheldon’s life with somber
farewells because they said that’s
how Wheldon would have wanted
it.
Tony Kanaan, the 2004 series
champion and one of Wheldon’s
closest friends, recounted the
pranks he, Franchitti and Bryan
Herta pulled on Wheldon when
the four were teammates with
Michael Andretti’s team. He remembered stealing the left shoe
from each of Wheldon’s pairs in
Japan and shipping them back to
the U.S., the time they threw
everything out of the self-proclaimed neat-freak’s tidy locker
and then had to help him clean it
up and the countless times they
joked about Wheldon’s “tight”
racing suit.
From his supply of hair products to his boy-band looks, the
teammates teased Wheldon mercilessly.
And everybody had some sort
of funny story.
Panther Racing’s Mike Kitchel
recalled the “phone-stealing”
game often played with the public
relations staff. Wheldon would
take the staff’s cell phones and
send messages to someone from
the contact list, setting up meetings, lunches or worse.
Business manager Mickey
Ryan called Wheldon the Imelda
Marcos of race-car drivers.
But in the end, everyone was
emotional.
“Our time together is not over.
We have our friends, we have our
memories, and one day we’ll be
together again,” Kanaan said. “It
is for this reason that I’m not saying goodbye because goodbye is
final. So today, I say see you later.”
Some of the sport’s biggest
names attended the service.
In addition to Franchitti,
Kanaan and Herta were current
drivers Marco Andretti, Ryan
Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal;
former IndyCar star Sam Hornish
Jr. and three-time Indy winner
Johnny Rutherford. Team owners
John Barnes, Sarah Fisher and
Roger Penske and speedway
chairwoman
Mari
Hulman
George also were in the crowd.
So were a handful of National
Guard members, the people Wheldon represented while driving for
Barnes’ Panther Racing team.
None of them spoke during a
service that included a photo collage of Wheldon’s greatest moments in racing — from his racing
days as a child to the moment he
kissed Indy’s famed yard of bricks
as his 2-year-old Sebastian sat
next to him.
Wheldon’s father and Wheldon’s siblings also sent a videotaped message thanking fans for
their support. Country music star
Reba McEntire and The Band
Perry also performed during the
service.
The stage was decorated with a
Borg-Warner Trophy and a winner’s wreath from the 500, two
bottles of milk, symbolic of his
two Indy wins, and Wheldon’s
2005 points championship trophy.
Mike Hull, managing director
for Target Chip Ganassi, brought
his own prop — a pair of sunglasses to mimic Wheldon’s trademark
look around the track. Everybody
laughed.
“This guy was in the middle of
everything we were doing at Chip
Ganassi Racing,” said Hull, Wheldon’s boss when he left Andretti’s
team. “I had never, up to that
point, been around someone like
Dan Wheldon.”
7A
College athletes press NCAA reform
ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
Associated Press
More than 300 major college
football and men’s basketball
players are telling the NCAA and
college presidents they want a
cut of ever-increasing TV sports
revenue to fatten scholarships
and cover all the costs of getting
a degree, with athletes picking up
still more grant money when
they graduate.
The players from Arizona,
Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Purdue
and UCLA have signed a petition
asking the NCAA to “realize its
mission to educate and protect
us with integrity.” The National
College Players Association, an
athletes’ advocacy group, provided The Associated Press with
copies of the document for release Monday. Players started
sending the petition to the
NCAA last week.
The document urges the
NCAA and college presidents to
set aside an unspecified amount
of money from what it estimates
is $775 million in recently acquired TV revenues in an “educational lock box” for football and
men’s basketball players. Players
could tap those funds to help
cover educational costs if they
exhaust their athletic eligibility
before they graduate. And they
could receive what’s left of the
money allocated to them with no
strings attached upon graduating
— a step that would undoubtedly be seen by some as professionalizing college sports.
The issue of whether to pay
college athletes has been getting
increased attention at a time
when athletic programs from Miami to Ohio State have endured
a series of scandals involving impermissible benefits to players.
At the same time, athletic conferences have made lucrative, new
television deals.
The NCAA opposes paying
athletes, but players whose talents enable colleges and coaches
to reap millions have been largely silent in the debate until now.
“I really want to voice my
opinions,” said Georgia Tech defensive end Denzel McCoy, a redshirt freshman. “The things we
go through, the hours we put in,
what our bodies go through, we
deserve some sort of (results).
College football is a billion dollar
industry.”
McCoy was one of 55 Yellow
Jackets who signed the NCPA
petition for “education, integrity
and basic protections.” He had
little difficulty convincing the
other players to take a public
stance.
“They signed it with ease,” McCoy said.
At UCLA, Bruins kicker and
NFL prospect Jeff Locke enlisted
70 football players and 17 men’s
basketball players — the entire
roster— to sign the petition.
Locke, who like McCoy is a
member of an NCPA council of
active players that advises the
group, emphasized that he does
not see the locked box idea as
paying players — the money
would only go to players after
their collegiate athletic careers
were over; there would be no
salary. The players did not put a
dollar figure on what they want
for the locked-box grants.
The idea is opposed by NCAA
President Mark Emmert and
others who cite the amateurism
ideal as the backbone of college
sports. Locke, however, is
adamant that players must also
benefit from the skyrocketing
profits schools now see from
renegotiated television deals,
noting the Pac-12’s joint 12-year
agreement with ESPN and Fox is
worth $3 billion, the richest in
college sports.
The petition drive comes as
the NCAA Division I Board of
Directors meets later this week in
Indianapolis. Among the discussion topics is a proposal to allow
conferences to increase the value
of athletic scholarships, reducing
the gap between those awards
and the actual cost of going to
school.
A 2010 study by Ithaca College researchers and the players’
association found that the average Division I athlete on a “full
scholarship” winds up having to
pay $2,951 annually in school-related expenses not covered by
grants-in-aid. The shortfall represents the difference between educational expenses such as tuition, student fees, room and
board and other costs not covered by scholarships, from campus parking fees to calculators
and computer disks required for
classes.
On Monday, Emmert told the
Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics in Washington
that he will recommend an increase of up to $2,000 to cover
the scholarship shortfall. The
NCPA petition urges a $3,200 increase and a mandatory effort,
not optional as Emmert suggests.
In a written statement, NCAA
spokesman Bob Williams said
the NCAA “redirects nearly all of
its revenue to support studentathletes.”
“Of its approximately $775
million in annual revenues, the
NCAA invests 96 percent, or 96
cents of every dollar, in studentathletes through direct distributions to individual campuses and
conferences; the funding and administration of national championships; and other direct support, such as the Student Assistance and Academic Enhancement funds in Division I.”
Williams noted that the Division I Board of Directors will also
consider whether to endorse a
shift to multiyear scholarships
for student-athletes, as opposed
to the one-year renewable scholarships now in place.
That change is one of five
sought in the athletes’ petition.
They also want to prevent permanently injured players from
losing their scholarships while
requiring schools to pay all the
costs of athletes’ sports-related
medical expenses.
McCoy, who is sitting out this
season with a severe knee injury,
said the assurance of sports-related medical coverage is particularly important to him.
“Yeah, we’re going to school
for free, but when I’m 40 years
old, I’ve got a good degree and
everything, but if I can’t walk up
a flight of stairs, what did I get
out of it besides a few bowl
games, some rings, things like
that?” he said.
Ramogi Huma, a former
UCLA linebacker who founded
the NCPA after his playing career ended more than a decade
ago, said the decision to enlist
current athletes to lobby for
NCAA reform was intended to
put pressure on schools that
have resisted other efforts.
Huma says the group has more
than 14,000 members — about
half of whom are currently enrolled.
“The colleges haven’t signaled
any kind of investment in the issues we’re talking about,” he said
“There’s no reason to think that
all of this money won’t go to the
same spots unless there is some
intervention.”
The current initiative was limited to a handful of schools with
some of the most outspoken
players in order to submit the petition before this week’s NCAA
meeting, Huma said. He expects
many more players from other
schools to join while also lobbying state and federal lawmakers.
“This is the beginning of this
strategy, not the end,” he said.
Self tempering Jayhawks’ expectations this season
DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Bill
Self usually thinks coaches have a
better idea of what’s going on in
college basketball than the media.
After all, the coaches are the
ones who spend the summer recruiting. They’re the ones who
watch hours of game film, sweat
inside hot gyms during early
morning practices and scream
until their voice gives out on the
sideline during a crucial conference game.
Then the Big 12 preseason
rankings came out, the ones that
are voted on by the coaches, and
for the first time in quite a while
Self wasn’t so sure they knew
what they were talking about.
The Jayhawks were made the
co-favorites to win their eighth
consecutive league championship
along with Texas A&M, despite
losing the Morris twins, Josh Selby, Tyrel Reed and a bunch of other contributors from last season’s
team. Incidentally, the coaches
picked that team to finish third in
the league last year, and it went
14-2 in the conference and 35-3
overall.
“I’m surprised,” Self said. “You
know, I always say the coaches
know more than the media. I’m
not sure that’s the case in our
league right now.”
Marcus and Markieff Morris
were both first-round draft picks
after their junior seasons, though
the NBA lockout is preventing
them from getting a start on their
pro careers. Selby left after his
freshman season, and Reed
joined Brady Morningstar and
Mario Little as graduates.
All told, Kansas lost nearly
three-quarters of its scoring and
two-thirds of its rebounding.
Self knew that he would have to
reload, and he landed another
highly regarded recruiting class,
but the NCAA has already whittled it down to just three players.
Six-foot-8 forward Braeden Anderson was not approved to play
because of the Big 12’s policy on
partial qualifiers, and five-star
shooting guard Ben McLemore
and forward Jamari Traylor were
deemed ineligible because of
questions surrounding their transcripts.
That left the Jayhawks short on
depth before practice had even
begun.
“We’ve kind of gone into the
season with tempered expectations, to be honest with you, and
I’ve tried to do that with our fans
a little bit,” Self said. “It’s fine.
We’re kind of used to being in the
situation where people expect us
to be decent, and we won’t shy
away from that.”
That’s what happens when you
win seven-straight Big 12 titles.
“It’s crazy, you know, because
we have a group that just left like
last year, basically our starting five
and important role players off the
bench,” junior guard Elijah Johnson said. “And you still say we’re
going to win? With a team half full
of freshmen? That says a lot.”
That’s not to say the Jayhawks
don’t have plenty of firepower
coming back.
Thomas Robinson showed
signs last year that he could be the
next great big man at Kansas, following in the footsteps of Cole
Aldrich and others before him.
Robinson toiled in the shadows of
the Morris twins last season, but
he knows that won’t be possible
anymore.
“It’s my turn to step up and
produce more for my team,” he
said. “It’s obvious that I’ll see
more double teams. I can’t just
sneak on the floor and score
points without teams noticing
me.”
Nor can Tyshawn Taylor, who
has overcome a rocky start to his
college career to become one of
the Jayhawks’ best players and a
potential NBA lottery pick.
Taylor missed several weeks
with a dislocated thumb his sophomore season after getting into a
fight with members of the football
team.
8A
rocketminer.com
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Tebow rallies Broncos to
18-15 OT win over Miami
The Associated Press
Tim Tebow was being shut out
in his first start of the season.
What happened next was why
all those Broncos fans clamored
for the former Florida star. Denver stunned the winless Miami
Dolphins by rallying for an 18-15
victory in overtime.
The Broncos (2-4) appeared
beaten when they trailed 15-0
with 5:23 left and took over at
their 20. At that point Tebow was
4 for 14 for 40 yards.
In the frantic final minutes of
the fourth quarter, Tebow led TD
drives of 80 and 56 yards sandwiched around a successful onside kick. He scored a 2-point
conversion standing up with 17
seconds left to tie the score.
In overtime, Denver’s D.J.
Williams sacked Matt Moore to
force a fumble and recovered it at
the Miami 36. Three plays later,
Matt Prater hit the winning 52yard field goal.
“It was my fault we were in that
position,” Tebow said. “Silly
things kept happening. On the
sidelines, we were still believing.
We wanted it, and they believed
in me for more than 60 minutes.”
Miami (0-6) extended the
NFL’s longest losing streak to
nine games, leaving the status of
embattled coach Tony Sparano
even more tenuous.
The St. Louis Rams (0-6) also
remained winless after Dallas
rookie DeMarco Murray ran for a
franchise-record 253 yards in the
Cowboys’ 34-7 win.
On the other side of the standings, the Green Bay Packers (7-0)
extended their winning streak to
13 games with a 33-27 win over
the Minnesota Vikings.
The Oakland Raiders’ quarterback experiment went far worse
than the Broncos’, with Kyle
Boller and newly acquired Carson
Palmer throwing three interceptions each in place of the injured
Jason Campbell in a 28-0 loss to
the Chiefs.
BEARS 24, BUCS 18
At Wembley, England, Matt
Forte ran for 145 yards and a
touchdown and Chicago held on
for the win.
Jay Cutler threw for 226 yards
and a touchdown and the Bears
(4-3) intercepted Josh Freeman
four times to win their second
game in a row.
The Buccaneers (4-3) lost for
the second time in three years in
London.
Tampa Bay scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to
pull within three points. But after
a 25-yard field goal by Chicago’s
Robbie Gould, Freeman was
picked off with 37 seconds left by
D.J. Moore.
PANTHERS 33, REDSKINS 20
At Charlotte, N.C., Cam Newton ran for a touchdown and
threw for another in the second
half to help Carolina.
Jonathan Stewart also ran for a
third-quarter touchdown for the
Panthers (2-5), who found themselves playing with the lead almost the entire way for the first
time all year.
Newton threw for 256 yards
and ran for 59. He scored his seventh touchdown on a 16-yard
keeper in the third quarter, tying
a record for most TDs rushing by
a rookie quarterback since the
1970 NFL-AFL merger.
In the fourth, he had an easy
touchdown toss to Brandon
LaFell that blew the game open.
Washington’s John Beck threw
for 279 yards and scored on a
short keeper in his first start in
four years. But he didn’t get the
Redskins (3-3) back to the end
zone again until they were down
30-13.
CHIEFS 28, RAIDERS 0
At Oakland, Calif., Kendrick
Lewis and Brandon Flowers returned interceptions for touchdowns and Kansas City took advantage of rusty quarterback play
from the Raiders’ Kyle Boller and
Carson Palmer.
Boller became the first Raiders
quarterback in 13 years to throw
three interceptions in the first
half, including Lewis’ 59-yard
score on the first drive of the
game for Oakland (4-3). Palmer
relieved in the second half and
threw three more interceptions,
including one that Flowers returned 58 yards to give the Chiefs
a 28-0 lead early in the fourth
quarter.
Javier Arenas and Le’Ron McClain each added touchdown
runs for the Chiefs (3-3) on a day
the Kansas City offense didn’t
have to do much at all.
PACKERS 33, VIKINGS 27
At
Minneapolis,
Aaron
Rodgers kept Green Bay unbeaten with three touchdowns and
335 yards passing, holding off
plucky Christian Ponder in the
rookie’s first start.
Rodgers finished 24 for 30, another near-unstoppable afternoon
for him. Ponder was picked off
twice in the third quarter by
Charles Woodson, who almost
grabbed a couple more, but he
kept the Vikings in it the whole
game after a 71-yard completion
on his first play.
Adrian Peterson rushed 24
times for 175 yards and a touchdown for the Vikings (1-6), but
James Starks put the game away
with two big gains for first downs
before the 2-minute warning and
finished with 75 yards on 13 carries.
Mason Crosby had four field
goals for the Packers (7-0), including a franchise record 58yarder.
COWBOYS 34, RAMS 7
At Arlington, Texas, DeMarco
Murray ran for a franchise-record
253 yards, including a 91-yard
touchdown that’s the secondlongest in club history, to lead
Dallas.
In the start of a football-baseball doubleheader between teams
from Dallas-Fort Worth and St.
Louis, the Cowboys (3-3) emphatically ended their stretch of
11 straight games decided by four
points or fewer.
The Rams (0-6) were without
quarterback Sam Bradford and
were averaging the fewest points
in the league even with him. They
also had by far the worst run defense in the NFL, allowing 163
yards per game.
Quarterback A.J. Feeley was
mediocre in his first start since
2007 and Steven Jackson ran for
70 yards and a TD.
SAINTS 62, COLTS 7
At New Orleans, Drew Brees
completed 31 of 35 passes for 325
yards and five touchdowns, and
the Saints set a franchise record
for points and victory margin
against the hapless Colts.
For the first time as a head
coach, Sean Payton spent the
game up in the coaches’ booth,
where he could sit comfortably
with his broken left leg propped
up. He had to like what he saw
from his new vantage point.
Brees had two touchdown
passes to Marques Colston and
one to Darren Sproles in the first
quarter. His fourth and fifth
touchdown tosses went to second-year tight end Jimmy Graham in the third quarter.
It seemed the Saints could do
whatever they wanted, also rushing for 236 yards.
STEELERS 32, CARDINALS 20
At Glendale, Ariz., Ben Roethlisberger threw 95 yards to Mike
Wallace for the longest pass play
in Steelers history and Pittsburgh
handed Arizona its fifth consecutive loss.
Roethlisberger, 26 of 39 for 361
yards, also had TD passes of 12
yards to Heath Miller and 4 yards
to Emmanuel Sanders in the first
game between the teams since
Pittsburgh’s 27-23 thriller over
the Cardinals in the 2009 Super
Bowl.
Kevin Kolb threw a pair of
touchdown passes for the Cardinals (1-5), his first in three games,
but he missed several open receivers and, with a blitzing
LaMarr Woodley in his face, drew
an intentional grounding call in
the Cardinals’ end zone for a safety.
Pittsburgh (5-2) won its third
straight and improved to 2-2 on
the road.
BROWNS 6, SEAHAWKS 3
At Cleveland, Phil Dawson
converted two field goals more
than 50 yards and had two others
blocked, but it was enough for
Cleveland.
Seattle came in missing starting quarterback Tarvaris Jackson
and lost running back Marshawn
Lynch to a back injury during
pregame warmups.
The Browns (3-3) didn’t reach
the end zone, but Dawson bailed
them out with kicks of 52 and 53
yards, his first career game with
two makes of more than 50.
The Seahawks (2-4) managed
137 yards of offense, and had the
ball for only 17:04. Quarterback
Charlie Whitehurst, filling in for
Jackson, completed 12 of 30 passes for 97 yards.
JETS 27, CHARGERS 21
At East Rutherford, N.J., Plaxico Burress caught three touchdown passes, including the goahead score that was set up by an
interception by Darrelle Revis,
and the Jets stormed back for the
win.
Leading 21-17, the Chargers (42) appeared to be driving for a
possible game-sealing score
when Philip Rivers threw toward
Vincent Jackson. The ball tipped
off the receiver’s hands and right
to Revis, who returned the interception 64 yards to the Chargers
19.
After a few runs by Shonn
Greene and a defensive holding
call — the Chargers’ 11th penalty
in the game — Mark Sanchez
found Burress on a slant for a 3yard touchdown to give the Jets
(4-3) their first lead midway
through the fourth quarter. It was
the second time in his career Burress caught three touchdowns,
and first since 2007 while with
the Giants.
TEXANS 41, TITANS 7
At Nashville, Tenn., Arian Foster ran for 115 yards and two
touchdowns and added 119 more
receiving with a 78-yard TD as
Houston moved back into first
place in the AFC South.
The Texans (4-3) snapped a
two-game skid even with Pro
Bowl receiver Andre Johnson
missing his third straight game
and fullback James Casey his second due to injuries. Matt Schaub
threw for 296 yards and two TDs.
Tennessee (3-3) has lost two
straight. Chris Johnson had 18
yards on 10 carries and was
booed by the hometown fans,
many of whom began leaving early in the fourth quarter.
FALCONS 23, LIONS 16
At Detroit, Matt Ryan ran and
threw for touchdowns to give Atlanta a double-digit lead in the
first half, and the Falcons held on
for the win.
On Detroit’s final drive, a passinterference penalty against Atlanta was overturned because instant replay showed defensive
tackle Corey Peters had tipped
the ball. Lions quarterback
Matthew Stafford appeared to injure his right ankle on the play.
He then throw incomplete on
fourth down from the Atlanta 41
and limped off the field.
The Falcons (4-3) ran out the
clock with a first down to win
consecutive games for the first
time this year. The Lions (5-2)
have lost two straight after their
perfect start.
Ryan’s 17-yard pass to Roddy
White put Atlanta ahead 17-6 at
halftime.
Dolphins coach worried about job security, and no wonder
DAVIE, Fla. (AP) — Miami
Dolphins coach Tony Sparano
could sense a seemingly insurmountable lead slipping away,
and after calling a timeout, he implored two officials to review a
touchdown just scored by the
Denver Broncos.
“If I don’t call a timeout, I’m
(sunk) and now I’m getting fired,
OK?” he screamed while pointing
toward the team owner’s skybox.
The desperation in Sparano’s
demeanor was understandable,
but his plea for sympathy — captured by a CBS Miami camera —
went unheeded. The touchdown
was upheld on review, accelerating the Broncos’ astounding
comeback for an 18-15 overtime
victory Sunday.
Miami’s collapse after being up
15-0 was epic in scale — the first
time since at least 1983 that a
team had blown a lead of more
than 14 points with three minutes
to go, according to STATS LLC.
The defeat left the Dolphins 0-6,
which is why their coach is worried about his job security.
A nine-game losing streak, the
NFL’s longest, has transformed
Sparano into a virtual lame duck
who seems certain to be fired at
season’s end, if not before. Owner Stephen Ross courted Jim Harbaugh last January before sticking with Sparano, and there’s
speculation Ross will pursue another big name, such as Bill
Cowher, Jon Gruden or Steve
Fisher.
Tebow’s moxie takes over late in game
PAT GRAHAM
AP Sports Writer
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) —
Although Tim Tebow’s mechanics are far from polished and his
passes far from pretty, his moxie
appears to be in perfect working
order.
When the game’s on the line,
the Denver Broncos’ charismatic quarterback finds a way to rally his team, happy feet in the
pocket and all.
Tebow, in his first start of the
season, pulled off an improbable
comeback Sunday, bringing the
Broncos back from a 15-0 deficit
in the waning minutes of regulation for an 18-15 overtime win
over winless Miami.
With this implausible victory,
the popularity of Tebow is only
going to skyrocket — as if it
weren’t sky high already.
Many fans have long wanted
Tebow as their starter, even going so far as to put up billboards
begging coach John Fox to insert
the former Heisman Trophy
winner from Florida.
They got their wish against
San Diego two weeks ago when
Fox yanked Kyle Orton in favor
of Tebow, who almost rallied the
Broncos to a win in the fourth
quarter.
This time, Tebow succeeded.
And with a comeback for the
ages, too.
The Broncos said it’s the
largest deficit overcome in a win
with less than 3 minutes since
the 1970 NFL merger, citing the
Elias Sports Bureau.
“He’s a guy who’s going to
continue to fight, continue to
scrap and use his arm, his legs or
whatever to get the job done,”
safety Brian Dawkins said after
the game.
That’s the thing about Tebow:
He may not always look pretty
and perfect, but he can find a
way to get the job done. It’s a
quality that just may be his
strongest.
He also wears his emotions on
his sleeve, even if his left arm
doesn’t always deliver the most
accurate of passes. He’s been
scrutinized and chastised by
skeptics since he was drafted by
the Broncos with the 25th pick in
2010. Not because of his work
ethic — that’s never questioned
— but because of his unorthodox
style.
But what he lacks in smoothness he tries to make up for in
leadership.
“There’s one thing you can say
about this team is that we have
a lot of heart. We have a lot of
courage. We’re going to fight until the end and continue to believe,” Tebow said. “It’s my fault
that we were in that position in
the first place. I just have to play
better in the first three quarters
so we don’t have to make that
comeback in the fourth.”
Fox certainly wouldn’t mind
that.
Tebow was having a lackluster
day until midway through the
fourth quarter. He was missing
backs on simple screens and
overthrowing wide open receivers down the field. Tebow
was 4 of 14 for a paltry 40 yards
before finding his touch late with
5:23 remaining.
“I liked the last 5 minutes better than first 55,” Fox said, chuckling. “We feel like he’ll improve.”
Asked if he’s the starter from
here on, Fox danced around a direct response.
“I can’t predict the future,” he
said. “He’s the starter right now.”
Once burned, twice shy. After
all, Fox has had his own words
come back to bite him before.
Leading into the season, he said
over and over that Orton gives
the team the best chance to win.
And now Tebow has taken
over.
So, does he give them the best
chance?
“I’ll probably never use that
statement again,” Fox said. “It
does get thrown back at me quite
a bit.”
Hard to argue with the result.
But Tebow had plenty of help,
starting with receiver Demaryius
Thomas, who made a sprawling
catch for the first score with 2:44
left.
Later, after the Broncos recovered an onside kick, tight end
Daniel Fells hauled in a diving
catch near the goal line to set up
another score in which Fells
caught a 3-yard TD toss. Tebow
took it from there as he ran in the
2-point conversion to tie the
game with 17 seconds remaining.
Once in overtime, Denver’s
D.J. Williams sacked Matt Moore
to force a fumble and recovered
it at the Miami 36. Matt Prater
clinched the win with a 52-yard
field goal after missing two earlier in the game.
It was only fitting since this
was Tebow’s day at the stadium.
Technically, the ceremony was to
honor the 2008 national champion Florida squad, but it
seemed like Tebow’s moment
anyway.
“He’s an incredible guy, for
sure,” Fox said. “I think he does
have great intangibles.”
Tebow’s spunk overrides his
wobbly spirals. He’s rallied teams
before — high school, college
and now in the NFL — so his belief never wavers, no matter how
much time is left or the size of
the deficit.
“That’s something as a football player and as an athlete —
you can’t lose confidence in
yourself. If you do, you’ve lost already,” Tebow said. “I kept believing in the people around me
and that eventually we were going to be able to start to get
things going and eventually we
did.
“I think what really helps is
when you believe in the people
around you and the guy next to
you.”
This was against a winless
team, though.
It could be a different story
next weekend against Detroit, a
team that’s dropped two straight
after starting 5-0.
“I need to get a lot better,”
Tebow said. “That’s my job as
the quarterback to correct it. I
believe we’ll put in the work to
do that.”
NOTES
Leading rusher Willis McGahee is expected to have surgery
later this week for a broken finger on his right hand and will not
play against Detroit. McGahee
didn’t return after hurting the
finger in the third quarter of the
overtime win over the Dolphins.
He finished with 76 yards on 18
attempts.
Defensive ends Robert Ayers
(knee) and Elvis Dumervil (ankle) also were banged up against
the Dolphins. Fox said Monday
that more information on their
status would be available later in
the week.
LEGAL NEWS 9A
Obama offers mortgage Judge threatens to seize
relief on Western trip Denver police records
rocketminer.com
JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — President
Barack Obama offered mortgage
relief on Monday to hundreds of
thousands of Americans, his latest attempt to ease the economic
and political fallout of a housing
crisis that has bedeviled him as
he seeks a second term.
“I’m here to say that we can’t
wait for an increasingly dysfunctional Congress to do its job,” the
president declared outside a family home in Las Vegas, the epicenter of foreclosures and joblessness. “Where they won’t act, I
will.”
Making a case for his policies
and a new effort to circumvent
roadblocks put up by Republican
lawmakers, Obama also laid out a
theme for his re-election, saying
that there’s “no excuse for all the
games and the gridlock that
we’ve been seeing in Washington.”
“People out here don’t have a
lot of time or a lot of patience for
some of that nonsense that’s been
going on in Washington,” he said.
The new rules for federally
guaranteed loans represent a
recognition that measures the administration has taken so far on
housing have not worked as well
as expected.
His jobs bill struggling in Congress, Obama tried a new catchphrase — “We can’t wait” — to
highlight his administrative initiatives and to shift blame to congressional Republicans for lack of
action to boost employment and
stimulate an economic recovery.
Later in the week, Obama
plans to announce measures to
make it easier for college graduates to pay back federal loans.
Such executive action allows Obama to address economic ills and
other domestic challenges in
spite of Republican opposition to
most of his proposals.
While Obama has proposed
prodding the economy with payroll tax cuts and increased spending on public works and aid to
states, he has yet to offer a wholesale overhaul of the nation’s housing programs. Economists point
to the burst housing bubble as the
main culprit behind the 2008 financial crisis. Meanwhile, the
combination of unemployment,
depressed wages and mortgages
that exceed house values has continued to put a strain on the economy.
While the White House tried to
avoid predicting how many
homeowners would benefit from
the revamped refinancing program, the Federal Housing Finance Agency estimated an additional 1 million people would
qualify. Moody’s Analytics say the
figure could be as high as 1.6 million.
Under Obama’s proposal,
homeowners who are still current
on their mortgages would be able
to refinance no matter how much
their home value has dropped below what they still owe.
“Now, over the past two years,
we’ve already taken some steps to
help folks refinance their mortgages,” Obama said, listing a series of measures. “But we can do
more.”
At the same time, Obama acknowledged that his latest proposal will not do all that’s not
needed to get the housing market
back on its feet. “Given the magnitude of the housing bubble, and
the huge inventory of unsold
homes in places like Nevada, it
will take time to solve these challenges,” he said.
In spelling out the plan to
homeowners in a diverse, working-class Las Vegas neighborhood, Obama chose a state that
provides the starkest example of
the toll the housing crisis has exacted from Americans. One in
every 118 homes in the state of
Nevada received a foreclosure notice in September, the highest ratio in the country, according to
the foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac.
Obama visited the home of
Jose and Lissette Bonilla, two
grocery store workers whose
house was refurbished under a
program paid for by the original
2009 economic stimulus plan.
The program was designed to stabilize communities hit by foreclosures or abandonment. Lissette
Bonilla said she told the president
that without his stimulus plan,
the five members of her family
would still be living in a one-bedroom apartment.
Presidential spokesman Jay
Carney criticized Republican
presidential candidate Mitt Romney for proposing last week while
in Las Vegas that the government
not interfere with foreclosures.
“Don’t try to stop the foreclosure
process,” Romney told the Las
Vegas Review-Journal. “Let it run
its course and hit the bottom.”
“That is not a solution,” Carney
told reporters on Air Force One.
He said Romney would tell homeowners, “You’re on your own,
tough luck.”
The president also was using
his visit to Las Vegas to promote
a $15 billion neighborhood revitalization plan contained in his current jobs proposal that would
help redevelop abandoned and
foreclosed properties and stabilize affected neighborhoods.
The Nevada stop was the first
leg of a three-day tour of Western
states, blending his pitch for
boosting the economy with an aggressive hunt for campaign cash.
From Nevada, Obama will head
for the glamor of Hollywood and
the homes of movie stars Melanie
Griffith and Antonio Banderas
and producer James Lassiter for
some high-dollar fundraising. On
Tuesday, he will tape an appear-
ance on “The Tonight Show”
with Jay Leno. He will also raise
money in San Francisco and in
Denver.
Before the president addressed
his mortgage refinancing plan, he
attended a fundraiser at the luxurious Bellagio hotel, offering a
sharp contrast between well-todo who are fueling his campaign
and the struggling homeowners
hoping to benefit from his policies.
The mortgage assistance plan
by the Federal Housing Finance
Agency will help borrowers with
little or no equity in their homes,
many of whom are stuck with 6
or 7 percent mortgage rates, to
seek refinancing and take advantage of lower rates. The FHFA
plans to remove caps that had allowed homeowners to refinance
only if they owed up to 25 percent
more than their homes are worth.
The refinancing program is being extended until the end of
2013. It was originally scheduled
to end in June 2012.
The administration’s incremental steps to help homeowners
have prompted even the president’s allies to demand more aggressive action.
Rep. Dennis Cardoza, a moderate Democrat from California,
gave voice to Democratic frustration on the housing front last
week when he announced his decision not to seek re-election,
blaming the Obama administration directly for not addressing
the crisis.
“I am dismayed by the administration’s failure to understand
and effectively address the current housing foreclosure crisis,”
Cardoza said in a statement that
drew widespread attention.
“Home foreclosures are destroying communities and crushing
our economy, and the administration’s inaction is infuriating.”
Obama’s new “We can’t wait”
slogan is his latest in a string of
stump-speech refrains he hopes
will pressure Republicans who
oppose his $447 billion jobs package. He initially exhorted Congress to “Pass this bill!” then demanded “I want it back,” all in the
face of unanimous Republican
opposition in the Senate, though
even some Democrats were unhappy with the plan.
Obama has now agreed to
break the proposal into its component parts and seek congressional approval one measure at a
time. The overall proposal would
increase taxes on millionaires,
lower payroll taxes on workers
and businesses for a year, pay for
bridge, road and school construction projects, and help states and
local governments retain teachers
and emergency workers.
The proposals with the best
chance of passage are the payroll
tax cuts and extensions in jobless
insurance to the long-term unemployed.
Judge blocks Fla.’s new
welfare drug testing law
MIKE SCHNEIDER
AND KELLI KENNEDY
Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A
federal
judge
temporarily
blocked Florida’s new law that
requires welfare applicants to
pass a drug test before receiving
the benefits on Monday, saying
it may violate the Constitution’s
ban on unreasonable searches
and seizures.
Judge Mary Scriven’s ruling is
in response to a lawsuit filed on
behalf of a 35-year-old Navy veteran and single father who
sought the benefits while finishing his college degree, but refused to take the test.
The judge said there was a
good chance plaintiff Luis Lebron would succeed in his challenge to the law based on the
Fourth Amendment protection
against unreasonable searches.
The drug test can reveal a host
of private medical facts about
the individual, Scriven wrote,
adding that she found it “troubling” that the drug tests are not
kept confidential like medical
records. The results can also be
shared with law enforcement officers and a drug abuse hot line.
“This potential interception of
positive drug tests by law en-
forcement implicates a ‘far more
substantial’ invasion of privacy
than in ordinary civil drug testing cases,” Scriven said.
The law’s proponents include
Gov. Rick Scott, who said during
his campaign the measure would
save $77 million. It’s unclear
how he arrived at those figures.
“Drug testing welfare recipients is just a common-sense way
to ensure that welfare dollars are
used to help children and get
parents back to work,” said Jackie Schutz, a spokeswoman for
Scott. “The governor obviously
disagrees with the decision and
he will evaluate his options regarding when to appeal.”
Earlier this year, Scott also ordered drug testing of new state
workers and spot-checks of existing state employees under
him. But testing was suspended
after the American Civil Liberties Union also challenged that
policy in a separate lawsuit.
Nearly 1,600 applicants have
refused to take the test since
testing began in mid-July, but
they aren’t required to say why.
Thirty-two applicants failed the
test and more than 7,000 have
passed, according to the Department of Children and Families.
The majority of positives were
for marijuana.
Supporters say applicants
skipped the test because they
knew they would have tested
positive for drugs. Applicants
must pay $25 to $35 for the test
and are reimbursed by the state
if they pass. It’s unclear if the
state has saved money.
Under the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families program, the state gives $180 a
month for one person or $364
for a family of four.
Those who test positive for
drugs are ineligible for the cash
assistance for one year, though
passing a drug course can cut
that period in half. If they fail a
second time, they are ineligible
for three years.
Lebron, who is the sole caretaker of his 4-year-old son, said
he’s “happy that the judge stood
up for me and my rights and
said the state can’t act without a
reason or suspicion.”
The ACLU says Florida was
the first to enact such a law since
Michigan tried more than a
decade ago. Michigan’s random
drug testing program for welfare
recipients lasted five weeks in
1999 before it was halted by a
judge, kicking off a four-year legal battle that ended with an appeals court ruling it unconstitutional.
DENVER (AP) — A U.S. District Court judge is threatening
to send U.S. marshals into Denver city offices to seize records
sought in an excessive-force lawsuit filed against Denver police.
The Denver Post reports that
Senior U.S. District Court Judge
John L. Kane Friday told a city
attorney that he is demanding
the city comply with the law like
any other defendant. At issue are
some 300,000 pages of excessive-force complaints lodged
against the city.
James D. Moore claims he was
wrongfully arrested and beaten
in March 2008 by two Denver
policemen. His attorneys say
they need the records to prove
the city tolerates a pattern of
abuse by its officers. Kane previously ordered the city to turn the
records over.
“We are demanding the city
and county of Denver comply
with the law like any other defendant,” Kane said. “I once had
the marshals seize all the records
in the Internal Affairs Bureau,
and if I have to do this again in
this case, I will.”
Assistant
City
Attorney
Thomas Bigler said it’s a “huge
undertaking” that has required
six full-time employees and two
part-timers combing through
the records to redact names of
victims, confidential informants
and private information about
officers.
“I do not envy you in your position to herd the cats over there
(at the city) but I won’t tolerate
it,” Kane told Bigler. “Maybe
they can use this case to put
their files in order so people can
understand them.”
Kane said blacking out the
names is not necessary because
he plans to seal the records.
Moore’s attorney Darold
Killmer said Bigler turned over a
flash drive containing documents just before Friday’s hearing and has asked Killmer’s firm
to pay copying fees. Kane told
Bigler to keep track of the city’s
expenses and seek to recover the
costs if it prevails in the lawsuit.
The next hearing is scheduled
for Nov. 10.
Eight Denver police officers
were fired between March and
August during interim Mayor
Guillermo Vidal’s tenure. Two of
those officers have been reinstated to their jobs, though the city
is appealing that decision. The
union representing police officers said all the firings are being
appealed.
SWEETWATER COUNTY LEGAL NEWS
MARRIAGE LICENSES
Phillip Alex Murillo, 30, to
Calla Rae Turningheart, 24, both
of Rock Springs.
Jace Frederick Tatum, 22, of
Aurora, Utah, to Danielle Sher
Olsen, 23, of Salina, Utah.
Rodney Royce Jackson, 27, to
Kaela Louise Allvin, 28, both of
Rock Springs.
Christopher Charles Kirts, 28,
to Chelsie Diane Brady, 22, both
of Rock Springs.
Antonio Charles Maciel, 18, to
Josette Marie Harvey, 17, both of
Rock Springs.
Rod J. Merrell, 54, to Darlene
Frances Phelan, 53, both of Rock
Springs.
Benjamin Wayne Spillman,
26, to Marcia Katherine Chavez,
27, both of Green River.
DIVORCES
Deborah Ann Foster, vs.
James Ray Foster, divorce decree.
Tenadore Wayne Anderson,
vs. Stacie Danielle Anderson, divorce decree.
Jimmy Lee Vaughn Jr., vs.
Amanda Marie Vaughn, divorce
decree.
Linda Jean Martin, vs. James
Richard Martin, divorce decree.
JUDGMENTS
State of Wyoming, vs. Monica Ann Fisher, amended judgment and sentence. The defendant pleaded no contest to accessory before the fact to burglary.
Fisher received a two- to fouryear prison term and was ordered
to pay $2,766 in fees and restitution.
Discover Bank, vs. Shellie
Meyer, order denying exemption.
Shane A. Schieve, vs. Naomi
King, order to dismiss without
prejudice.
Portfolio Recovery Systems,
vs. Cherie Manyi, order of dismissal.
Infinity Power and Controls,
vs. Anthony Warpness, order to
dismiss.
Evelyn Denise Aaron, vs.
Wesley John Ryan Aaron, qualified domestic relations order.
Amber Jean Kammerer, vs.
Danny Russell Witten Jr., order
establishing paternity, custody,
visitation and support. Witten
was ordered to pay $50 per
month support.
Matthew Mark Stephenson,
vs. Kimberly Mitchell, stipulated
order modifying and terminating
child support.
In the matter of the change of
name of Brittney Alison Miller
to Bert Kaden Miller, petitioner’s
request was granted.
Robert Ray Roswell, vs. Katrina Maria Roswell, order nunc
pro tunc.
Richard Daniel Currier, vs.
Michelle Jean Currier, order
nunc pro tunc.
State of Wyoming, D.F.S., vs.
Amanda Tacke and Joshua Grilley, income withholding order.
Gina Overy and Casey Carson,
order vacating hearing and dismissing action.
Kayce Degraw and Eric Hrejsa,
judgment and order establishing
paternity and support. Hrejsa was
adjudged to be the natural father
of the minor child. He was ordered to pay $1,996 in back support and fees.
Lori McInerney, vs. Paul Massett Jr., order vacating hearing
and dismissing action.
Jessica Watson and Michael
Scott, order vacating hearing and
dismissing action.
William Mitchelson, vs. Brandi Lynn Mitchelson, order vacating hearing and dismissing action.
Samantha Kern and Oscar Cid
Juarez, order vacating hearing
and dismissing action.
State of Wyoming, vs.
Alexandria Lachelle Dietsche,
order suspending proceedings
pursuant to Wyoming statute.
The defendant pleaded guilty to
larceny. Dietsche received three
years of supervised probation and
was ordered to pay $2,645 in fees
and restitution.
State of Wyoming, vs. Misty
Dawn Cosme, order of revocation of probation. The defendant’s probation was revoked.
Cosme was ordered to serve a
three- to five-year prison term
with credit for 119 days served.
State of Wyoming, vs. Marcelo Alvarez, order of revocation of
probation. The defendant’s probation was revoked. Alvarez was
ordered to serve a 51-day jail term.
State of Wyoming, vs. Lyle
Kenneth Bishop, order of revocation of probation. The defendant’s probation was revoked.
Bishop was ordered to serve a
three- to five-year prison term
with credit for 110 days served.
State of Wyoming, vs. Juan
Carlos Del Villar-Hernandez,
judgment and sentence. The defendant pleaded guilty to thirddegree sexual abuse of a minor.
He received a four- to five-year
prison term and was ordered to
pay $550 in fees.
Darryl Anthony, an employee
of S. Sanders Construction LLC,
vs. Wyoming Worker’s Compensation Division, order affirming decision of the office of
administrative hearings.
WARRANTY DEEDS
A & T Land Development,
LLC to Kyle C. Damori, Etal, Lot
118, Stonebrook Estates Phase 3.
TRR Enterprises LLC
to
Gene R. V. Smith, Jr., portions of
Lots 13-16, Block 6, Original
RS.
John M. Hafner to Lawrence
A. Dickson, Jr., Etux, Lot 5, Block
13, UP Coal Co. 4th Add.
Sweetwater Development
Group to Daniel J. Zimmer, Etal,
Lot 9, Morningside at RS, Phase
1.
John R. Mullen, Etal to Kyle E.
Golding, Etux, Lot 15, Block 1,
Century West 1st.
Carl A. Polson, Trustee to
Yidelka Lopez, Etux, Lot 6, Sunrise 1st Addition.
Kimball J. Tervort to Kaylie
Louise Peckler, Lot 178, Windriver Add. 2nd w/exception.
William A. Kuehl, Etux to
Michael Joseph Ollis, Etal, Lot
13, Block 4, Edgewater Addition.
Jeremy L. Hill to Brandilyn A.
Bryant, Etvir, Lot 102, Clearview
Estates Phase 2.
Finance All LLC to All Finance
LLC
SW/4NW4, Sec 3, T-22N, R-97-W.
Paul Fernandez to Cheryl A.
Packham, Etvir, Lot 6, Block 12,
Liberty Addition.
James D. West to Dawn M.
Gaensslen, Lot 11, Country Club
Villas.
Group to Sean C. Faris , Lot 12,
Morningside at RS Phase 1.
Rodney L. Tomison to David
B. Brinkerhoff, Lot 7, Block 9,
Mountainaire 5th.
Group to John Cusulos, Lot 10,
Morningside at RS Phase 1.
Tom Fossen, Etux to Daniel J.
Pacheco, Lot 1, Block 3, Century
West 1st
Group to Kevin Scott Nosich,
Lot 36, Morningside at RS Phase
1.
Four Whatever Inc to Palmer
Construction Inc., Lot 43, Fairway Estates Phase 4.
John Clayton Zinn to Richard
W. Rowland, Etux, Lot 114,
Clearview Estates 2nd Addition.
Group to Aaron L. Glodsberry
, Lot 6, Morningside at RS Phase
1.
A & T Land Development LLC
to Robert F. Cordova, Lot 45,
Fairway Estates Phase 4.
Stonecrest Construction RS
LLC to Calvin C. Naylor, Etux,
Lot 85, Stonebrook Estates
Phase 2.
Sonia Guadalupe Ortiz to
Wallick & Volk Inc., Lot 17, Block
12, Pilot Butte Addition.
SWC Child Development
Center to Sweetwater County,
Part NW/4 Sec 27, T-19-N, R-105W.
Canyon Homes Inc to Mainline Construction Inc., Lot 11,
Pronghorn Subdivision.
Skyview Development LLC
to Timothy B. Kerrigan, Lot 6,
Skyview Estates 8th Addition.
Barbara B. Heater to Dwight
N. Heater, Etal, Lot 6, Block 3,
Pioneer Addition 2nd
Timothy B. Kerrigan to Factory Homes Outlet, Lot 6, Skyview
Estates 8th Addition.
Offenbacher Investments
LLC to Melisa A. Boodleman,
Lot 22, Block 6, Hutton Heights
3rd
James S. McEvoy, Etux to
Michael S. Wilde, Etux, Lot 11,
Block 5, Hutton Heights 8th
Jewel WY Properties LLC to
Jill Welton, Etal, Lot 9, Block 3,
Apache Hills PUD.
Christopher T. Arrants,
Trustees to Karen Gallas, Lot 4,
Block 5, Colony Coal Addition.
Wyoming Ranch Co. LLC to
Demetrick A. Pourkaldani,
Etux, A Parcel S/2S/2 Sec 34-35,
T-21-N, R-91-W (South of I-80).
A & T Land Development LLC
to Timothy Babbitt, Etal, Lot
122, Umbria Addition Phase 6.
Pamela McGarvey, Etal to
Pamela L. McGarvey, Lot 6,
Block 2, Hospital Addition.
Steven M. McKeehan, Etux
David Orr, Etux, Lot 20, Block 1,
Dutch John Addition.
Bradley J. Wilson, Etux to
Steve M. McKeehan, Etux, Lot
12, Block 5, Hutton Heights 8th
Darrold F. Stefan, Etux to
Bernadette Wilson, Etvir, Lot
36, Sweetwater Downs Phase 1.
Vindy L, Miner, Trustees to
Gregg Fitzgerald, Lot 2, Block
13, UPRR 1st RS.
Mary Porter, Etal to Bitter
Creek Home Inspections LLC,
Lot 5, Block 9, UP Coal 4th Addition.
Jorita Lockwood, Etvir to
Rickie L. Maynard, Part Lots 1112, Block 6, UPRR 2nd GR.
Marilyn
May
Casteel,
Trustees to Richard E. Patton,
Lot 3, Block 3, Trona Heights
Plat A.
Jolene M. Kirk, Etal to PRH
Investments LLC, Part Lot 2,
Block 11, Clark Addition.
Jolene M. Kirk, Etal to PRH
Investments LLC, Lot 22, Block
2, Brooks Addition.
Johathan Heiner, Etal to
Dustin L. Egbert, Etal, Lot 118,
Umbria Addition Phase 6.
Nathan A. Southam, Etux to
David P. Cervantes, Etux, Lot 15,
Block 3, Laramie Addition.
11511024.qxp
10/24/2011
5:17 PM
Page 10
OPINIONS
rocketminer.com
“I disapprove of what you say, but will defend
to the death your right to say it.” – VO LTA I R E
GET INVOLVED: Send your signed opinions to P.O. Box 98
Rock Springs, WY 82902
Page 10A
Nothing’s fair
President Barack Obama and the De- genie grants him one wish. As it turns
mocratic Party have led increasingly suc- out, Boris has a goat, but Ivan doesn’t.
cessful efforts to pit Americans
Ivan’s wish is for Boris’ goat to
against one another through the
die. That vision reflects the feelpolitics of hate and envy. Attackings of too many Americans. If
ing CEO salaries, the president
all CEOs worked for nothing, it
— last year during his Midwest
would mean absolutely little or
tour — said, “I do think at a cernothing to the average Ameritain point you’ve made enough
can’s bottom line.
money.”
For politicians, it’s another
Let’s look at CEO salaries, but
story: Demonize people whose
before doing so, let’s look at othpower you want to usurp. That’s
er salary disparities between
the typical way totalitarians gain
those at the bottom and those at
power. They give the masses
the top. According to Forbes’
someone to hate. In 18th-centuCelebrity 100 list for 2010,
ry France, it was Maximilien
Oprah Winfrey earned $290 mil- WALTER
Robespierre’s promoting hatred
lion. Even if her makeup person
of the aristocracy that was the
WILLIAMS
or cameraman earned $100,000,
key to his acquiring more dictashe earned thousands of times
torial power than the aristocracy
more than that. Is that fair?
had ever had. In the 20th centuAmong other celebrities earning hun- ry, the communists gained power by prodreds or thousands of times more than moting public hatred of the czars and
the people who work with them are Tyler capitalists. In Germany, Adolf Hitler
Perry ($130 million), Jerry Bruckheimer gained power by promoting hatred of
($113 million), Lady Gaga ($90 million) Jews and Bolsheviks. In each case, the
and Howard Stern ($76 million). Accord- power gained led to greater misery and
ing to Forbes, the top-10 celebrities, ex- bloodshed than anything the old regime
cluding athletes, earned an average salary could have done.
Let me be clear: I’m not equating
of a little more than $100 million in 2010.
According to The Wall Street Journal America’s liberals with Robespierre, Josef
Survey of CEO Compensation (Novem- Stalin and Hitler. I am saying that prober 2010), Gregory Maffei, CEO of Lib- moting jealousy, fear and hate is an effecerty Media, earned $87 million, Oracle’s tive strategy for politicians and their libLawrence Ellison ($68 million) and eral followers to control and micromanrounding out the top 10 CEOs was age businesses.
It’s not about the amount of money
McKesson’s John Hammergren, earning
$24 million. It turns out that the top-10 people earn. If it were, politicians and
CEOs have an average salary of $43 mil- leftists would be promoting jealousy, fear
lion, which pales in comparison with and hate toward multimillionaire HollyAmerica’s top 10 celebrities, who earn an wood and celebrities and sports stars,
such as LeBron James ($48 million),
average salary of $100 million.
When you recognize that celebrities Tiger Woods ($75 million) and Peyton
earn salaries that are some multiples of Manning ($38 million). But there is no
CEO salaries, you have to ask: Why is it way that politicians could take over the
that rich CEOs are demonized and not roles of Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga and
celebrities? A clue might be found if you LeBron James. That means celebrities
asked: Who’s doing the demonizing? It can make any amount of money they
turns out that the demonizing is led by want and it matters not one iota politicalpoliticians and leftists with the help of the ly.
The Occupy Wall Street crowd shouldnews media, and like sheep, the public ofn’t focus its anger at wealthy CEOs. A far
ten goes along.
Why demonize CEOs? My colleague more appropriate target would be the
Dr. Thomas Sowell explained it in his U.S. Congress.
brand-new book, “The Thomas Sowell
Reader.” One of his readings, titled “Ivan Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George
and Boris — and Us,” starts off with a fa- Mason University. To find out more about Walter E.
ble of two poor Russian peasants. Ivan Williams, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at
finds a magic lamp and rubs it, and the www.creators.com.
Views
Let them eat Keller
ROBERT SCHEER
Funny, he doesn’t look like Marie
Antoinette. But when former New York
Times Executive Editor Bill Keller asks
his readers if they are “bored by the
soggy sleep-ins and warmed-over anarchism of Occupy Wall Street,” it displays
the arrogance of disoriented royal privilege.
Perhaps his contempt for anti-corporate protesters was honed by the example
of his father, once the chairman of
Chevron. In any case, it is revealing, given the cheerleading support that the
Times gave to the radical deregulation of
Wall Street that occurred when Keller
was the managing editor of the newspaper.
As the Times reported on its news
pages in 1998, heralding the merger that
created Citigroup as the world’s largest financial conglomerate: “In a single day,
with a bold merger, pending legislation in
Congress to sweep away Depression-era
restrictions on the financial services industry has been given a sudden, and unexpected, new chance of passage.”
The report all too breathlessly continued, “Indeed, within 24 hours of the
deal’s announcement, lobbyists for insurers, banks and Wall Street firms were
huddling with congressional banking
committee staff members to fine-tune a
measure that would update the 1933
Glass-Steagall Act separating commercial banking from Wall Street and insurance.”
The “fine-tuned” law, combined with
another one similarly drafted by congressional Republicans and also signed by
Democratic President Bill Clinton, exempted trading in collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps from
government regulation. That was the
very action that enabled the banking crisis that has brought the nation’s economy to its knees and protesters to Wall
Street.
Citigroup, where Clinton’s treasury
secretary and deregulation advocate
Robert Rubin ended up as chairman, specialized in what proved to be toxic mortgage-backed securities and had to be
bailed out with massive taxpayer credits.
One would think that the failure of The
New York Times to cover this sorry tale
as it was unfolding would leave Keller
with some humble understanding of why
protesters, undeterred by rain, should be
celebrated rather than scorned. But such
accountability has hardly been a hallmark
of those in the media or in business and
political circles, who with few exceptions
got it so wrong.
Just how wrong was laid out in the
Tuesday night Republican debate by Ron
Paul, whose consistent libertarian critique has been refreshing throughout the
banking meltdown. Other presidential
candidates stumbled over their earlier
support of the TARP banking bailout,
and one of them, Herman Cain, responding to a question about Occupy Wall
Street, stuck by his statement: “Don’t
blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big
banks; if you don’t have a job, you’re not
rich, blame yourself.”
Paul took him on with a clarity that
plainly endorsed the main point of the
Wall Street demonstrators: “Well, I think
that Mr. Cain has blamed the victims.”
Paul pointed to the true culprits, those on
Wall Street and their partners in crime in
the government and the Federal Reserve,
who bailed out the banks but not the people they victimized.
“The bailouts came from both parties,”
Paul observed, adding, “Guess who they
bailed out? The big corporations, the
people who were ripping off the people in
the derivatives market. ... But who got
stuck? The middle class got stuck ... they
lost their jobs, and they lost their houses.
If you had to give money out, you should
have given it to the people who were losing it in their mortgages, not to the
banks.”
It was heartening that many in the Republican crowd cheered Paul’s statement,
as it was earlier this week when the respected Quinnipiac poll found that “By a
67-23 percent margin, New York City voters agree with the views of the Wall Street
protesters.”
Despite the inconvenience of the
protests to New Yorkers, the poll showed
that by a 72-24 percent margin, voters of
that city say the protesters should be allowed to stay at their Wall Street location
“as long as they wish.”
That’s an admirable sentiment on the
part of New Yorkers, and it was echoed
by Times readers who directed a torrent
of criticism at Keller.
He pointed out on his blog that they
took issue with what he referred to as
“my slightly snarky reference to Occupy
Wall Street. Okay, maybe not ‘slightly.’”
He now claims he didn’t intend to show
contempt for the protesters, but that is
exactly what he did.
Robert Scheer is editor of TruthDig.com, where this column originally appeared. Email him at
[email protected].
Heartbreak in the heartland;
this is the home of Methland
Shortly after the turn of the 21st century and up to now, the people of
Wyoming have struggled against a
scourge that ruins people’s lives all
across the state.
That scourge is the drug methamphetamine. It gives abusers unprecedented highs. It also allows them to perform hard work in harsh environments unlike a normal human being.
As Wyoming boomed, young
men (and their girlfriends and
wives, too) embraced this new
drug and found themselves addicted to something so perverse, it was almost unbeatable.
From 2004 to 2007, an ad
agency that I founded handled
the national award-winning
anti-meth campaign for the BILL
state. Remember those Meth SNIFFIN
Makeover billboards?
During that time we met
with many meth addicts who
were in recovery as part of our
Wyoming Faces Meth campaign, which
sought to put a local face on the problem.
I remember a young gal from Powell
who lived in Casper who worked for a
TV station. She told me she tried meth
once, quit her job and then left her husband and kids and moved in with the
meth dealer. The drug was so powerful
it ruined her life immediately.
A Rock Springs man from Evanston
spent Christmas sleeping under a
bridge two miles from where his wife
and kids were, so overpowering was the
drug’s hold on him.
Yes, meth is a problem in Wyoming
and it is also a problem in other parts of
the country, too.
From 1997 to 2008, the town most
recognized as being ruined the most by
the ravages of methamphetamine was
Oelwein, Iowa, where I have been staying this past week.
Oelwein is 18 miles from my hometown of Wadena and one of my first
jobs was delivering its daily newspaper.
In 2009, a best-selling book called
“Methland” identified Oelwein
as the epicenter of the country’s meth epidemic, which was
prominent in small town America.
Wyoming, with its open
spaces and small towns, has
endured a similar epidemic.
Luckily, it did not quite get as
devastating as what the book
“Methland” says about Oelwein.
So meth is something that I
had been observing closely
over the years. And during my
occasional trips to Iowa, it was
obvious that this scourge was
having its way with a lot of
small towns.
The book, though, tries to find out
“why” places like Oelwein were hit so
hard.
Ironically, meth is described as a
“workingman’s drug,” rather than a
recreational drug.
Iowa was going through a farm crisis
plus good union jobs at railroads and
meatpacking plants were eliminated.
Many of the men profiled in this book
were being paid $18 per hour plus benefits at a union job in 1992. Their
unions were dismantled and their pay
dropped to $5.60 per hour. Oelwein,
whose population dropped by 8,000 to
6,000, also used to be a big union railroad center, but that was shut down
about this time, too.
Men who wanted to work had to do
Views
double shifts at the new wages to make
ends meet. Plus they felt bad about
themselves.
Meth solved both of those issues.
They could work nonstop for days on
end and the meth made them feel good.
Too bad this “devil’s drug” also provides long-term devastating physical,
mental and social costs in response to
its few short-term perceived benefits.
Over a four-year period, investigative
reporter Nick Reding studied meth
manufacture and distribution to addicts
in Oelwein. Once a thriving agricultural community where union work and
small businesses were plentiful, Oelwein is struggling through a transition
to low-wage employment. These conditions, Reding shows, made the town
susceptible to methamphetamine.
A Washington Post book reviewer,
David Liss, said the following about
Reding’s book:
“There is no more horrifying example of the drug’s ravages than Roland
Jarvis, who began using meth as a way
to keep up his energy through double
shifts at a local meat-processing plant.
“When the plant where Jarvis worked
was de-unionized and his wages slashed
by two-thirds, Jarvis went from an occasional meth user to a habitual user and
then a manufacturer. One night, in a fit
of drug-induced paranoia, he attempted, disastrously, to dispose of his cooking chemicals. In the ensuing fire, he
was so horribly burned that paramedics
could only watch while the flesh literally melted from his body and Jarvis
begged the police to kill him. Reding’s
description of Jarvis now, using his fingerless hands to lift a meth pipe to his
noseless face, is among the most haunting images in the book.”
Check out Bill Sniffin’s columns and blogs at www.billsniffin.com.
ABOUT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Rocket-Miner welcomes letters
to the editor on subjects of interest to
our readers. Letters selected for publication do not necessarily reflect the
editorial policies or beliefs of the Daily
Rocket-Miner, however.
Short letters are most likely to be
chosen for publication, but the use of
any material is at the discretion of the
editor.
All letters must be legibly handwritten or typed with double spacing and
on one side of the paper only. Editing
may be necessary for space or clarity
or to avoid obscenity, libel or invasion
of privacy, but ideas will not be altered.
All letters must bear the handwritten
signature of the writer and include correct name, address and telephone
number(s) for verification purposes.
DOONESBURY By Garry Trudeau
The address and phone numbers will
not be printed.
Anonymous letters will not be considered.
As of Aug. 1, 2007, people will be limited to having one letter to the editor
published during a six-week period.
rocketminer.com
DEAR ABBY
WONDERWORD By
David Ouellet
MOMMA by Mel Lazarus
By Abigail Van Buren
DEAR ABBY: I read with interest your excellent advice to
“Nowhere and Everywhere” (Aug.
17), who asked about letting family members know about her
polyamorous relationship. As a
counselor, nurse and consulting
hypnotist in private practice, I
counsel people every day in developing healthy, happy, open relationships. Polyamory and other
forms of non-monogamous relationships are becoming more
widely practiced and accepted, as
many individuals and couples find
the limits of traditional marriage
do not meet their needs.
It is not realistic to expect family members to immediately accept this lifestyle if they were
raised with different beliefs about
sexual exclusivity in marriage. I
advise couples to “test the waters”
first with the most open-minded
family member by bringing up the
subject of a “friend” who is in an
open relationship. If the relative
reacts in a neutral or positive way,
it may be safe to disclose the
truth. Ask this person how the
rest of the family might respond
to the news. Couples should carefully assess whether their relationship is strong enough to withstand potential rejection.
There is a price to pay for being
open, and one for staying secretive. The latter requires lying to
family members and excluding
one partner from family events,
causing pain for everyone. (The
cornerstone of polyamorous relationships is HONESTY.)
Families do become more accepting over time if they see that
the couple’s marriage is not
threatened by the polyamory and
that everyone seems happy. I advise couples to expect drama and
disapproval at first, but to be patient and keep reaching out to
family members to give them time
to get used to this new situation.
— KATHY IN BERKELEY
DEAR KATHY: Thank you for
writing. Responses to that controversial letter were passionate and
numerous. My newspaper reader’s comment:
DEAR ABBY: In response to “N
and E’s” request for a tip on how
to let her boyfriend’s conservative
family know about their illicit, immoral polyamorous relationship,
my advice is to say nothing.
If she’s asked directly, only then
should she defer to the boyfriend
to explain their unorthodox
lifestyle to his parents. Why does
she feel the need to flaunt her private sexual relations?
If she loves the two men, her
actions will speak for themselves
without having to offend the family’s ingrained sensibilities. — ON
HIGHER GROUND IN SALEM,
MASS.
GARFIELD by Jim Davis
DOG EAT DOUG by Ryan Anderson
BECKER BRIDGE Famous Hand — Part 2
AGNES by Morrie Turner
ZACK HILL by J. Deering and J. Macintosh
JANRIC CLASSIC SUDOKU
BLONDIE by Dean Young and Dennis Lebrun
HOROSCOPE
By Holiday
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2011
ARIES (March 21-April 19) There’s no way
around it. No matter how attractive and
aligned with the universe you are, at some
point getting what you want will require effort. That point comes today, and you
couldn’t be more ready for it.
ONE BIG HAPPY... by Rick Detorie
CROSSWORD By
Thomas Joseph
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You no longer
feel the need to put in your two cents
about another person’s life. You can tell
that this person is going to work things out
in his or her own unique way, and you’re
content to quietly watch.
GEMINI (May 21-June 21) The truth packs a
powerful punch. Like a strong drink, it
takes some getting used to. Not everyone
can handle a full glass of it. Add more sugar to the mix, and it will go down easier.
CANCER (June 22-July 22) Increasing your
self-reliance will not push a loved one
away. It will, in fact, make your relationship
stronger. You are growing toward a less
dependent but more bonded arrangement
with a loved one.
FLO AND FRIENDS by John Gibel and Jenny
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Whereas many
around you seem dissatisfied, you tune in
to your environment and notice much that
is good in it. You can be a quiet leader in
this regard, influencing others with nothing more than your manner of being.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Out of these
snatches of things seen, heard or otherwise perceived, you form some rather
unique conclusions. Your point of view is a
rare one, and with a little creativity, you
can turn it into great art.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Punctuality is important to you, though today you may find
it stressful to accomplish. One way not to
be late is to have nowhere to be. Consider
clearing your schedule for a few days.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) Everyone can
benefit from objective feedback. But not
everyone can take it. You’ll be among the
emotionally strong ones. With great maturity, you will learn all you need to know to
move to the next level.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) You’ll be
emotionally resilient and strong. You will
find out what people think about you, and
you’ll use the information to hone your image and work to create a maximum effect.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) You’re a
friendly person who realizes that not
everyone can be as outgoing as you. A
happy-go-lucky mood makes it easier for
you to put yourself out there.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You will be an
excellent negotiator because you won’t get
caught up in matters of pride. There’s little
that would hurt your feelings about the
deal anyhow; it’s just business. Seeing
things like this gives you an advantage.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Your creed is:
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You enter into new situations, ready to think on
your feet. Don’t pressure yourself to take
things too far, though. It’s probably enough
just to smile and say hello.
CRYPTOQUOTE
STRANGE BREW
11A
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10/24/2011
7:22 PM
Page A12
BUSINESS
rocketminer.com
Feeling better?
UPS looks ahead
Consumer Confidence Index
The stock market’s better performance this month may have
helped ease some of consumers’ anxiety about the economy.
The forecasts for the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for October have
edged higher the past few
days. The reading is expected
to show that consumers remain
pessimistic about the future.
But retail sales reports have
shown that anxiety hasn’t
stopped people from spending.
est.
47
40
A M J
J
$80
It’s the future, not the past, that
investors will be most interested
in when UPS releases its thirdquarter earnings report. The
shipping company gives its forecast for the global economy, and
investors want to know if it has
changed since UPS said in midSeptember that the rest of the
year will bring a “bumpy ride.”
The company also warned then
that 2012 would also be difficult.
But the company has stood by its
earnings forecast.
60
50
A S O
Source: The Conference Board
UPS
$69.59
70
’11
60
Operating
EPS
52-WK RANGE CLOSE
YTD 1YR
VOL
LO
HI
CLOSE CHG %CHG WK MO QTR %CHG %RTN (Thous) P/E
TICKER
DIV
28.88
-.25
-0.9
t
s
s
-1.7
+8.9
23932
15
1.72
8.45
3
18.47
10.58
+.35
+3.4
s
s
s
-31.3
-19.0
36458
11
0.12
APC
57.11
8
85.50
79.19
+.15
+0.2
s
s
s
+4.0
+35.1
4447
47
0.36
BP
33.62
6
49.50
41.84
-.51
-1.2
t
s
s
-5.3
+7.3
9206
16
1.68
BakrHu
BHI
41.91
4
81.00
56.51 +2.02
+3.7
s
s
s
-1.2
+22.2
4530
18
0.60
BkofAm
BAC
5.13
2
15.31
6.72
+.26
+4.0
s
s
s
-49.6
-42.8
209636
dd
0.04
Chevron
CVX
80.41
9 109.94
106.27
+.74
+0.7
s
s
s
+16.5
+28.8
7763
9
3.12
ChurchD s
CHD
32.00
9
46.29
44.45
-.37
-0.8
t
s
s
+28.8
+33.3
792
23
0.68
Cisco
CSCO
13.30
4
24.60
17.54
+.16
+0.9
s
s
s
-13.3
-24.5
36811
15
0.24
Citigrp rs
C
21.40
4
51.50
31.60 +1.30
+4.3
s
s
s
-33.2
-25.5
56273
8
0.04
Dell Inc
DELL
12.99
6
17.60
15.70
+.46
+3.0
s
s
s
+15.9
+4.4
30811
8
...
ElPasoCp
EP
12.51
0
25.15
25.35
+.36
+1.4
s
s
s
+84.2
+89.6
16306
34
0.04
ExxonMbl
XOM
65.09
7
88.23
80.17
+.04
...
r
s
s
+9.6
+23.6
19477
11
1.88
FMC Corp
FMC
63.81
5
93.00
78.21 +2.31
+3.0
s
s
s
-2.1
+8.8
538
25
0.60
FordM
F
9.05
4
18.97
12.51
+.25
+2.0
s
s
s
-25.5
-11.2
66735
6
...
FMCG s
FCX
28.85
4
61.35
39.50 +2.92
+8.0
s
s
s
-34.2
-20.0
30071
7
1.00a
GenElec
GE
14.02
4
21.65
16.45
+.14
+0.9
s
s
s
-10.1
+4.9
65734
13
0.60
Hallibrtn
HAL
27.21
3
57.77
35.32 +1.82
+5.4
s
s
s
-13.5
+0.4
20158
13
0.36
HonwllIntl
HON
41.22
6
62.28
51.77
+1.0
s
s
s
-2.6
+12.7
6270
13
1.33
Intel
INTC
19.16
0
24.50
24.59
+.56
+2.3
s
s
s
+16.9
+25.3
129767
11
0.84
IBM
IBM
138.53
9 190.53
182.25
+.62
+0.3
s
s
s
+24.2
+31.9
5773
14
3.00
JPMorgCh
JPM
27.85
4
48.36
34.57 +1.15
+3.4
s
s
s
-18.5
-9.2
44147
7
1.00
MGM Rsts
MGM
7.40
4
16.94
10.91
+.68
+6.6
s
s
s
-26.5
-7.0
26492
dd
...
MicronT
MU
3.97
3
11.95
5.66
+.20
+3.7
s
t
s
-29.4
-27.2
33088
38
...
Microsoft
MSFT
23.65
7
29.46
27.19
+.03
+0.1
s
s
s
-2.6
+9.4
56316
10
0.80f
Oracle
ORCL
24.72
7
36.50
32.87
+.75
+2.3
s
s
s
+5.0
+12.2
27503
19
0.24
Pfizer
PFE
16.25
6
21.45
19.36
+.30
+1.6
s
s
s
+10.6
+12.5
35507
13
0.80
PulteGrp
PHM
3.29
4
8.69
5.21
+.31
+6.3
s
s
s
-30.7
-39.4
16064
dd
...
Questar
STR
16.36
0
19.68
19.65
-.03
-0.2
t
s
s
+12.9
+18.6
1725
17
0.61
RegionsFn
RF
2.82
3
8.09
3.90
+.12
+3.2
s
s
s
-44.3
-47.5
25835
dd
0.04
Saks
SKS
7.67
6
12.97
10.78
+.58
+5.7
s
s
s
+0.7
-3.9
4941
22
...
Schlmbrg
SLB
54.79
4
95.64
69.88 +2.50
SiriusXM
SIRI
1.27
5
2.44
SprintNex
S
2.10
2
UnionPac
UNP
77.73
WellsFargo
WFC
22.58
4
WmsCos
WMB
20.20
8
Xerox
XRX
6.55
3
12.08
8.00
Yahoo
YHOO
11.09
8
18.84
16.71
AA
Anadarko
BP PLC
+.49
+3.7
s
s
s
-16.3
+6.3
11036
21
1.00
1.84
+.07
+3.7
s
s
s
+12.9
+36.8
41821
61
...
6.45
2.69
-.08
-2.9
t
t
t
-36.4
-41.8
71997
dd
...
7 107.89
97.41
+.45
+0.5
s
s
s
+5.1
+15.7
3145
15
1.90
34.25
26.52
+.21
+0.8
s
s
s
-14.4
+2.7
36330
10
0.48
33.47
30.50
+.34
+1.1
s
s
s
+23.4
+45.4
8838
22
1.00f
+.17
+2.2
s
s
s
-30.6
-28.6
13871
15
0.17
+.59
+3.7
s
s
s
+0.5
+0.9
27800
20
...
Dividend Footnotes: a - Extra dividends were paid, but are not included. b - Annual rate plus stock. c - Liquidating dividend. e - Amount declared or paid in last 12 months. f
- Current annual rate, which was increased by most recent dividend announcement. i - Sum of dividends paid after stock split, no regular rate. j - Sum of dividends paid this
year. Most recent dividend was omitted or deferred. k - Declared or paid this year, a cumulative issue with dividends in arrears. m - Current annual rate, which was decreased
by most recent dividend announcement. p - Initial dividend, annual rate not known, yield not shown. r - Declared or paid in preceding 12 months plus stock dividend. t - Paid in
stock, approximate cash value on ex-distribution date. PE Footnotes: q - Stock is a closed-end fund - no P/E ratio shown. cc - P/E exceeds 99. dd - Loss in last 12 months.
Commodities
FUELS
CLOSE
Crude Oil (bbl)
91.27
Ethanol (gal)
2.68
Heating Oil (gal)
3.05
Natural Gas (mm btu) 3.60
Unleaded Gas (gal)
2.69
Precious metal
prices rose Monday on expectations that European finance
ministers would
implement a
bailout package
worth more than
$1 trillion. Gold
rose 1 percent to
$1,652 an
ounce.
METALS
Gold (oz)
Silver (oz)
Platinum (oz)
Copper (lb)
Palladium (oz)
PVS.
85.30
2.66
3.02
3.63
2.68
%CHG %YTD
+4.54
-0.1
+0.19 +12.7
+1.23 +20.1
-0.69 -18.2
+0.16
+9.6
CLOSE
PVS.
1651.50 1635.10
31.62
31.17
1538.70 1503.70
3.45
3.22
638.10
617.75
%CHG %YTD
+1.00 +16.2
+1.43
+2.3
+2.33 -13.2
+7.08 -22.4
+3.29 -20.6
AGRICULTURE
CLOSE
PVS.
Cattle (lb)
1.23
Coffee (lb)
2.51
Corn (bu)
6.51
Cotton (lb)
0.98
Lumber (1,000 bd ft) 223.50
Orange Juice (lb)
1.81
Soybeans (bu)
12.27
Wheat (bu)
6.43
%CHG %YTD
1.22
2.45
6.49
0.97
220.00
1.76
12.12
6.32
+0.84
+2.43
+0.27
+0.87
+1.59
+2.99
+1.20
+1.66
+14.0
+4.3
+3.5
-32.4
-26.0
+5.1
-12.0
-19.1
Stocks Recap
1,280
S&P 500
2,720
Nasdaq composite
1,220
Close: 1,254.19
Change: 15.94 (1.3%)
2,620
Close: 2,699.44
Change: 61.98 (2.3%)
1,160
2,520
10 DAYS
1,440
2,900
1,360
2,800
10 DAYS
2,700
1,280
2,600
1,200
2,500
1,120
1,040
2,400
M
J
J
A
S
O
2,300
M
J
J
A
S
O
Question of the Day
Which country’s government
debt problem do you
worry about?
A.
B.
C.
D.
U.S.
Greece
Italy
Spain
Quick click your answers at
YES TERD AY ’S P OLL
Which market indicator
do you follow?
Dow
67%
Nasdaq
0%
Results do not reflect a scientific poll.
They show only how readers responded. Figures may not total 100 due to rounding.
18
Source: FactSet
31.94
Alcoa
3Q ’11
Dividend: $2.08 Div. Yield: 2.9%
4
T
$1.05
3Q ’10
based on past 12 months’ results
27.20
AT&T Inc
est.
$0.93
Price-to-earnings ratio:
Local Stocks
NAME
$70.87
S&P 500
33%
Russell
1000
0%
Page 12A
Report from Richmond
The Richmond Federal Reserve Bank releases its report
on how manufacturing has fared during October in its
region, which includes Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas,
Washington D.C. and part
of West Virginia. The
reports by the regional
Fed banks can affect the
markets, especially
because manufacturing
had been a big driver of
the economic recovery –
and because it has contributed to the slowing of
the economy this year.
S&P 500
1,254.19
DOW
11,913.62
CRUDE OIL
$91.27
30-YR T-BONDS
3.27%
p
p
p
p
+15.94
NASDAQ
2,699.44
+104.83
GOLD
$1,651.50
+5.97
EURO
$1.3951
+.01
6-MO T-BILLS
.05%
p
p
p
p
+61.98
+16.40
+.0087
+.01
Stocks reach highest
level since August
NEW YORK (AP) — Stock indexes
closed Monday at the highest point
since the U.S. debt limit showdown in
August. The market was driven higher
by a round of big corporate takeovers
and reports that Europe’s bailout fund
will be larger than originally thought.
The Nasdaq composite turned positive
for the year.
Netflix Inc. plunged 26 percent in after-hours trading after the DVD-bymail and video streaming company
forecast a sharp drop in fourth-quarter
profits.
Investors are still waiting for a resolution to Europe’s debt problems. European leaders said they made
progress at a weekend summit and
plan to unveil concrete plans for containing the crisis by Wednesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average
was up about 40 points in the first
hour of trading but moved steadily
higher through midday following reports that Europe’s takeover fund will
be greatly expanded. It finished with
a gain of 104.83 points, or 0.9 percent,
at 11,913.62.
“The market is expecting that there
will be some kind of deal worked out
Wednesday,” when European financial
ministers are scheduled to meet, said
Uri Landesman, president of Platinum
Partners. “If there’s not a deal by then,
the market is going down significantly.”
Even with concerns about Europe,
U.S. companies are still reporting bigger profits. “Although there is a good
deal of economic and political uncertainty in the world, we are not seeing it
much in our business at this point,”
Caterpillar Chief Executive Doug
Oberhelman said.
The maker of construction equipment reported a 44 percent surge in
income, more than Wall Street analysts
were expecting, thanks to strong
growth in exports. The company said
it expected the global economy to continue recovering, albeit slowly. Caterpillar jumped 5 percent, the most of
the 30 companies in the Dow.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index
rose to 1,254.19. That is just 3.45
points, or 0.3 percent, below where it
started the year. It’s the highest close
for the S&P 500 since Aug. 3, just as
Washington was resolving a showdown over raising the country’s borrowing limit. If the S&P 500 finishes
the year with a gain, it will be its
biggest turnaround since 1984.
A guide to
GOP pitching
Obama’s new
transportation
bill
mortgage
refinancing plan as jobs program
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two big questions
loom over the Obama administration’s latest bid
to help troubled homeowners: Will it work? And
who would benefit?
By easing eligibility rules, the administration
hopes 1 million more homeowners will qualify for
its refinancing program and lower their mortgage payments — twice the number who have already. The program has helped only a fraction of
the number the administration had envisioned.
In part, that’s because many homeowners who
would like to refinance can’t because they owe
more on their mortgage than their home is
worth.
But it’s also because banks are under no obligation to refinance a mortgage they hold — a limitation that won’t change under the new plan.
Here are some of the major questions and answers about the administration’s initiative:
Q: What is the program?
A: The Home Affordable Refinance Program,
or HARP, was started in 2009. It lets homeowners refinance their mortgages at lower rates. Borrowers can bypass the usual requirement of having at least 20 percent equity in their home. But
few people have signed up. Many “underwater”
borrowers — those who owe more than their
homes are worth — couldn’t qualify under the
program. Roughly 22.5 percent of U.S. homeowners, about 11 million, are underwater, according to CoreLogic, a real estate data firm. As of
Aug. 31, fewer than 900,000 homeowners, and
just 72,000 underwater homeowners, have refinanced through the administration’s program.
The administration had estimated that the program would help 4 million to 5 million homeowners.
Q: Why did so few benefit?
A : Mainly because those who’d lost the most
in their homes weren’t eligible. Participation was
limited to those whose home values were no
more than 25 percent below what they owed their
lender. That excluded roughly 10 percent of borrowers, CoreLogic says. In some hard-hit areas,
borrowers have lost nearly 50 percent of their
home’s value. Another problem: Homeowners
must pay thousands in closing costs and appraisal fees to refinance. Typically, that adds up to 1
percent of the loan’s value — $2,000 in fees on
a $200,000 loan. Sinking home prices also left
many fearful that prices had yet to bottom. They
didn’t want to throw good money after a depreciating asset. Or their credit scores were too low.
Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan acknowledged that the program has “not reached the
scale we had hoped.”
Q: What changes is the administration making?
A: Homeowners’ eligibility won’t be affected
by how far their home’s value has fallen. And
some fees for closing, title insurance and lien
processing will be eliminated. So refinancing will
be cheaper. The number of homeowners who
need an appraisal will be reduced, saving more
money. Some fees for those who refinance into a
shorter-term mortgage will also be waived.
Banks won’t have to buy back the mortgages
from Fannie or Freddie, as they previously had
to when dealing with some risky loans. That
change will free many lenders to offer refinance
loans. The program will also be extended 18
months, through 2013.
WASHINGTON (AP) —
House Republicans are pitching
a six-year transportation construction plan as a major jobs
bill that can win bipartisan approval before next year’s election, a key GOP lawmaker said
Monday.
Even while prospects for enacting President Barack Obama’s jobs plan have dimmed,
Republican backing has grown
for a long-term transportation
bill to boost employment.
Transportation and road-building industries, especially the beleaguered construction industry, are also pressuring lawmakers to make a multiyear commitment of federal funds. Without that, it becomes difficult for
states and private investors to
finance large infrastructure projects.
The most significant obstacle
to passing the bill was eliminated when GOP leaders recently
agreed to keep spending on
highway programs at current
levels even though gas tax revenues are declining, said Rep.
John Mica, chairman of the
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The GOP bill would spend
about $285 billion over the six
years, but would spur far greater
investment in roads, bridges,
and transit systems through
federal loans and loan guarantees, Mica said at a media briefing.
“This is what we hope will be
the core of not just a Republican, but a congressional jobs ef-
fort,” Mica, R-Fla., told reporters.
Still unclear is where Republicans will find the funds to
make up as much as a $100 million shortfall between gas tax
and other transportation tax
revenues and what they are proposing to spend. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, suggested last month that royalties
from expanding oil and gas development might be one way to
find the money, but any proposal along those lines is likely to
draw strong opposition from
Democrats on environmental
grounds.
GOP leaders are exploring a
variety of possible funding
sources, Mica said.
“We haven’t come up with a
solution, but we will find a way
to fund at least current (spending) levels,” he said.
He said his target for passing
the bill is March 31, when current authority for highway programs expires.
Last month, Obama announced a $447 billion jobs plan
that included new spending on
infrastructure, education and
aid to state and local governments paid for in part by tax increases on the wealthy. He also
asked for $50 billion to immediately put Americans to work
building roads, bridges, airport
runways and other projects. But
efforts to pass the full measure
were blocked by Senate Republicans, who see the president’s
proposal as a second economic
stimulus.
11511811.qxp
10/24/2011
5:14 PM
Page B1
rocketminer.com
1B
CLASSIFIED
rocketminer.com
ROCKET- MINER
GIVE US A CALL TO GET STARTED
307-362-3736 • 1-888-443-3736
[email protected]
*AVON*
Call Sherry at
362-3534, to buy products
or sign up to sell.
- Ads are per line per day consecutive days
- Add one-time $1.00 for a
mandatory web site charge
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$3.10
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5.20
6.25
7.30
8.35
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12.40
15.25
18.10
20.95
$11.20
16.30
21.40
26.50
31.60
36.70
Box numbers: An additional charge of $5.00 is required on
all Rocket-Miner Box Numbers. $10.00, if mailed.
Non-local rate: $1.05 Per Line Per Day Flat. Non-local rates
apply to advertisements of firms outside of Southwestern
Wyoming. Add $1.00 for web site charge.
Classified Display Ad Rates, Deadlines: Per Inch: $9.55.
Advertisements accepted daily until 12 noon for following
morning’s Rocket-Miner. Cancellations and corrections
accepted until 12 noon.
PICK YOUR FORMAT
Choose what works best for your ad. We also offer centering of text and Garage Sale Kits. Call for details.
WITHIN
ROCK SPRINGS,
1992 three bed, two bath, with
swamp cooler, fenced yard.
$850/month, $850/ de-posit,
lot rent included. FREE water,
garbage, sewer. One year
lease, no pets. 555-5555,
555-5555.
1
Good.
Simple,
multi-line ad.
2
WITHIN ROCK SPRINGS,
1992 three bed, two bath,
with swamp cooler, fenced
yard. $850 /month, $850/ deposit, lot rent included.
FREE water, garbage, sewer. One year lease, no pets.
555-5555, 555-5555.
Better. Add
an icon or an
attention getter.
KELLY’S Convenience
Center is looking for experienced Clerks. You must be
21, honest, dependable and
drug free. Apply in person
at 1652 9th Street, 1900 Yellowstone Road, or 1645
Sunset Drive.
Best.
Customize your
ad! Upgrade to
a display ad.
Add photos,
borders or logos
for maximum
impact.
Cars, Trucks,
Semi’s, Machinery. Also
private property towing.
Call 389-9225.
has
an opening for a Yard Associate that will perform a
variety of yard duties and
preventative maintenance
functions to help keep
equipment and yard/facility in good condition. General working knowledge of
hand tools, perform general labor duties. Must possess a valid driver’s license. Email or fax resumes to:
[email protected].
307-382-5981.
Equal employment opportunity, male, female, disabled, veteran.
building needs, large or
small. Call 307-362-2247.
Dakota, Wyoming areas.
Call 389-2843, 389-9385.
CUSTOM DRAPERIES
Western Wyoming
Windows (307) 350-6579
EXPERIENCED AUTO
DETAILING, licensed and insured, will accept all major
credit, debit cards and purchase orders. 382-4440,
389-1844, leave message.
PROFESSIONAL RESUMES
TOWING:
362-9068
ELECTRICIANS ON CALL
24 hours
Tarpon Energy, 382-2709
CALL MONTE
Vista Construction for all your roofing needs. 382-0767.
INTERIOR and EXTERIOR
Painting/Texturing. Locally
Owned, excellent references. Pablo and Picasso
Painting, 362-4589, 371-2002
*SOLAR*
Stand alone systems, solar
well pumping, rural homes
and cabins, design-layoutsales. (307) 354-6446.
MONTE VISTA Construction
is doing estimates for interior remodel work. Bathrooms, vinyl siding, windows and basements. Call
307-382-0767.
CASTLE ROCK
Convalescent Center has openings
for Certified Nursing Assistants. These employees
would be responsible for
giving personal care and
assistance to the residents
as well as observing
changes in the resident’s
condition and communicating these changes to the
charge nurse. We offer a
very competitive wage, a
sign-on bonus, and many
excellent benefits. Applicants must have their current CNA certification or a
test date to apply. Employment
applications
are
available at 1400 Uinta
Drive, Green River. For inquiries, please call the Human Resource Department,
307-872-4510.
Service.
Licensed. Call 307-922-3298.
KINDEL PAINTING -
Serving
Sweetwater County over 30
years.
Free
estimates.
362-7679 or 350-9369.
CUSTOM CARPENTRY
and
tile, new and remodel construction. Call for free estimate, Rocky, 307-389-5473.
LOOKING FOR a contractor
that does his own work?
HOLP CONSTRUCTION has
your on-the-job contractor.
Now doing estimates for
fall remodeling projects:
additions, basement, kitchens and baths. Call Terry,
362-6680.
www.holp
-construction.com.
FOR ALL
opening new ac-
hiring for Bar Managers,
Bartenders, and Cocktail
Waitresses. Taking applications Monday through
Wednesday, 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
at 95 E. Railroad Ave.,
Green River.
and yards
cleaned? Call 362-7635.
QUICK, CLEAN Home cleaning, 354-6391.
JUNK CLEANUP/REMOVAL
307-371-5147
ALTERATIONS AND all your
sewing needs. Will pick up
and deliver, 362-5959.
NEED A
Babysitter with
years of experience? Can
start immediately. References
available.
Near
schools in Rock Springs.
Call Betty at 503-997-4057.
STAPLES IS
now hiring for
all positions, full and part
time. Please apply at
staples.com
EXPERIENCED AUTO
Parts
Sales. Competitive wages,
401k, paid vacation, and
health insurance. Apply in
person, City Auto Sales, 960
Elk Street, Rock Springs,
WY 82901.
EXPERIENCED SAND Hauler
needed.
Text
435-659-5119.
or
call
Page 2B
THE CITY of Rock Springs
has an immediate opening
for a Part-Time Theater
Coordinator, Range 38,
$18.18/hour. Under direction will perform technical
and administrative work in
the operation of The Broadway Theater; including
scheduling of events, acting as point-of-contact for
entertainment groups and
groups interested in using
the theater, movie/film
companies,
interacting
with personnel knowledgeable in stage lighting
and camera use, ordering/
stocking the concession
stand, and working with
City maintenance personnel to ensure upkeep/
cleanliness of the theater.
Reports
to
URA/Main
Street Manager, and works
with The Broadway Theater
Board to implement goals
and business strategies of
the Theater. Two to four
years related experience
with theater operation
and/or scheduling/booking
of events. Any combination of pertinent education/experience will be
considered. Public relations experience would be
desirable. Complete job description and application
available at Mayor’s Office
212 D Street, Rock Springs,
WY. Return with resume by
Closing Date November 2,
2011 at 5 p.m.
JOB OPENING
The Rock Springs Municipal
Court has an immediate
opening for a
Work Restitution Coordinator/Court
Clerk, Range 38, $3151 per
month with benefits. Under
direction, to schedule and
supervise persons working
as assigned community
service projects to satisfy
fines levied by Municipal
Court; to maintain complete records of all persons
in the program; to coordinate jobs and projects with
other City departments for
the program; and to perform responsible clerical
duties in support of the
Rock Springs Municipal
Court. Two years of experience in working with the
general public and equivalent to a high school diploma. Possession of, or
ability to obtain, an appropriate, valid driver’s license and possession of
CPR and First Aid Certificates. Application and
complete job description
available at Mayor’s Office,
City Hall, 212 D Street, Rock
Springs, WY 82901. Equal
Opportunity Employer. Return application with resume to Mayor’s Office.
(307) 352-1510, FAX (307)
352-1516.
by
Closing Date NoTHE OT Sports Bar is now vember 2, 2011 5 p.m.
NEED WEEDS
BY DAVE COVERLY
counts
TARUFELLI DEVELOPMENT RIG WELDER with truck to
CORPORATION for your work on drilling rigs. North
your winterization
needs. Sprinkler blow out,
air condition, pipes. Call
High Plain, 871-9338.
SPEED BUMP
SALES/ROUTE DELIVERY
Respond First Aid Systems
of Wyoming is seeking a
Sales/Route Service person.
Qualifications
required are a good driving
record, able to meet and
work with all types of people, a self-starter, can work
independently and have
good time management
skills. This position requires
and restocking our
existing customers in the
SOUTHWEST part of Wyoming. This job does require
overnight travel one - two
times a month. Potential
employee will be subject to
a background check and
drug screening prior to hiring. Please fax resume to
877-720-7002.
UNITED SITE Services
BRE’S CLEANING
3
acres
for sale. For inquiries and
appointments
call
TARUFELLI DEVELOPMENT
CORPORATION. 362-2247,
(307) 389-5380.
and
Party Supplies, 123 BroadRock
Springs,
way,
922-2771. We now have
Boutonnieres and Corsages
made from wooden roses,
made to order. Check Us
Out.
* prices include $1.00 web site charge
Figure four average-length words per
line, but give us a call for exact info.
Deadlines: Line ads accepted daily until 2 p.m. for following morning’s Rocket-Miner. Cancellations and corrections will be accepted until 2 p.m. Deadline for Saturday
and Sunday papers is 2 p.m. Friday.
Check your ad: The Rocket-Miner will not be responsible
for errors appearing in ads after first publication.
HEAVY INDUSTRIAL
SHOTGUN WEDDNG
CLASSIFIED RULES, RATES
$1.05 1 or 2 days
.95¢ 3 to 5 days
.85¢ 6 or more days
EXPERIENCED OILFIELD
Driver, must have Class A
CDL with X endorsement
and good driving record.
Apply in person at 16 Second St., Reliance, WY, or
send resume to PO Box
1974, Rock Springs, WY
82902, or email:
[email protected].
Great company offers benefits and competitive pay,
based on experience.
rocketminer.com
BEAUTIFUL THREE
bed, 2.5
bath
townhome,
Rock
Springs. Small pets okay
with deposit. $1500/month,
$1500 security deposit.
Available Nov. 1, 2011. Call
Jeremiah 307-371-9462.
PROFESSIONAL
HORSESHOEING
Call Shane, (480) 381-9910
OUTDOOR PORTABLE
THREE BED, two bath, north
of Rock Springs, tenant
pays gas and electric, one
year
lease,
no
pets
allowed, 389-1077, 871-1351,
http://landlrentals.weebly.c
om
basketball hoop, backboard
and stand, $50. For information call, 389-8135.
GREEN RIVER
- basement,
two bedroom furnished,
utilities paid, $800 rent,
$500 deposit. 871-5102.
GREEN RIVER one bedroom
$495/month, $300 deposit.
Most utilities paid. No Pets
870- 4163.
NEWLY REMODELED
two
bedroom, one bath, $750
per month plus electric, no
pets, 8x15 storage on site.
350-0128, 382-6542.
ROCK SPRINGS,
two bedroom, one bath basement,
kitchen. Newly remodeled,
$900/month, includes utilities, cable, Wi-Fi. 382-1092,
382-9717.
215 THOMAS
- Two Bedroom, one bath. Rent
$1000/Month. No Smoking,
Pet Friendly. Call Southwest Real Estate, (307)
382-9180 or visit:
southwestwyoming.com
Equal Housing.
326 DAYTONA - Three Bedroom, two bath. Rent is
Pet Friendly. Call Southwest Real Estate, (307)
382-9180 or visit:
Equal Housing.
BUYER POSITIONS
available. Oil and gas experience
required. Send resume to
Blind Box 276, care of
Rocket-Miner, PO Box 98,
Rock Springs, WY 82902.
421 POWELL - Two bed, one
bath apartment. Rent $850
per month includes some
utilities. No Smoking, Pet
Friendly. Fenced yard. Call
Southwest Real Estate,
307-382-9180.
GREEN RIVER - Monroe
Apartments. Two bed, 1.5
bath. Rent starts at $675
per month. No smoking.
Call Southwest Real Estate,
(307) 382-9180, or visit:
Equal
Housing.
Broker
Owned.
GREEN RIVER
studio, $500
per month, no pets, all utilities paid. 875-5036.
TWO BEDROOM - 1415 E.
Teton, Green River. $675
rent and deposit, plus electric and water. Lease required. No pets. Call
389-0078 or 870-6112.
HOT TUB,
four-to-six man,
$1200. 870-4064, 875-0163.
STAND ALONE Deep Freeze,
Magic Chef, 3 years old.
Moving and trying to
downsize, $100/best. Charity, 907-250-8372.
TAN COUCH
and loveseat.
Southwestern pattern. Like
new condition. $500 or best
offer. (307) 707-4747.
OUTDOOR PORTABLE
basketball hoop, backboard
and stand, $50. For information call, 389-8135.
EXQUISITE FALL 2011. Casablanca Couture ivory wedding gown, size 4, brand
new, never worn. Asking
$1700
or
best
offer.
922-6203.
TOTALLY FURNISHED
four
bedroom, two bath, garage,
RV parking, six month
lease. No smoking, no pets.
Credit check. Available November 1st. $1500/month
plus deposit. 389-7629.
large two
bedroom townhome. No
pets. $900 per month. (307)
875-5036.
for rent; two bedroom, one
bath for only $725, deposit
$350. Pet friendly, first two
months free pet rent. Best
deal in town. Call 382-6281.
TRUCK CHAINS, two sets,
new, $125. Antique desk,
$300. Men’s shearling coat,
size 44, $200. Cedar chest,
$225. 389-7629.
3912 HARRIER – Three Bed
GREEN RIVER,
UPCOMING APARTMENTS
back for Winter? Have your
hubby rent Hot Rod Shop
for $10 a day. Cell, (307)
870-6511.
BOWLFEX BLAZE home
gym with power rods,
workout bench and leg extensions,
$750,
(307)
349-2965.
2.5 bath house. Rent is
Pet Friendly. Unfenced
Yard. Call Southwest Real
Estate, 307-382-9180 or
visit:
Equal Housing.
BEAUTIFUL THREE
bed, 2.5
bath
Townhome,
Rock
Springs. Small pets okay
with deposit. $1500/month,
$1500 security deposit.
Available Nov. 1, 2011. Call
Jeremiah 307-371-9462.
SEVERAL RENTAL
ROLLING GREEN
Country
Club membership, $600.
307-297-1383.
LIKE NEW
gas fireplace,
wooden, with hearth and
mantle, $800 or best offer.
382-9076, Mary.
SELMER TENOR
saxophone
with case, like new, $650.
For more information, call
389-8135.
WE BUY Trucks, SUV’s, Motorcycles, ATV’s, Campers.
Wolf Auto - 362-1555.
units
available. Turnkey Properties, 871-2772.
TWO BEDROOM,
one bath,
$1000 a month, $1000
deposit, call 382-6309, leave
message.
DUPLEX IN Green River, two
bed, one bath, no smokers,
no pets, $775/month plus
$775 deposit. Call 875-3857.
THREE BEDROOM
town
house, close to schools,
very clean, must be willing
to maintain yard. Year
lease, no pets, $1250 per
month,
$1000
deposit.
362-9419, leave message.
TWO LARGE cul-de-sac lots
for sale. 362-2929.
2 MONTH
617 RAMPART
- three bed,
2.5 bath, double garage,
fenced yard. No smoking or
pets. $1500/month plus deposit ($1400 if paid on the
1st). 389-5530.
****Call Penny Tripp****
Brokerage Southwest
601 Broadway
Rock Springs
389-4736
run like new again. (307)
466-0069. Inexpensive and
worth it! Free anti-virus!
LADIES! WANT your garage
POM-A-POOS - MALES,
Females, $250. (307) 856-3400.
FIVE ENGLISH
Springer
Spaniel puppies. Available
October 28. Contact at
[email protected]
TEACUP CHIHUAHUA,
fe-
male. 307 871 1081.
CORRAL/BARN AT CMS cor-
rals, Scotts Bottom in
Green River. (307) 899-0989
FOUR BEDROOM, two bath,
W.
Main Road. Custom built
four bed, three bath, triple
car garage, 80 irrigated acres.
•REDUCED - $225,0000. 83
Eden Rye Patch Road.
Clean four bedroom, two
bath, huge garage plus.
*I can show you*
*any listed property*
REPAIR OR TUNE UP YOUR
PC! Make your computer
old upright
freezer, $550. New - never
used - 6000 watt diesel generator, $3500. 4000 watt
diesel generator, $2500 both have electric start.
Diesel air compressor,
electric start, $2000, selling
price is 50 percent of original value. 1979 Mazda RX-7,
rotary engine, needs work.
$350/best. Call 362-4306.
car garage, big back yard,
by elementary school.
307-252-0306.
**EDEN**
•MUST SEE - 101 Eden
***NEW LUXURY CONDO***
***FREE RENT***
duplex,
all new interior, two bedroom, 1.5 bath, washer and
dryer. No pets, no smoking.
Available November 1st.
Lease. 389-7629.
FIVE BEDROOM house, one
St.
Two bed, one bath, single
car garage.
•$165,000 - 1322 Kimberly.
Great Starter Home.
•REDUCED - $215,000. 500
Arrowhead Way.
OFFICE SHARE with professional at premium location
on Dewar. Call 307-679-0309
FULLY FURNISHED
townhome in Garbett’s new
Morningside community.
Starting price, $164,900.
Call Craig Knudsen, Garbett
Realty, (307) 922-3822.
CALL PENNY TRIPP,
389-4736 TO SEE.....
**ROCK SPRINGS**
•$105,000 - 1204 10th
retail store
front. High traffic street.
Cell (307) 870-6511.
Three bedroom, two bath.
Tile, granite counter tops,
air conditioning, garages.
Must see! First, last, plus
deposit. One year lease.
New, behind Smith’s, Green
River. (801) 368-8660
BEAUTIFUL 1700-plus sq. ft.
big yard, 916 Garfield Lane,
(307) 389-6180.
OFFICE OR
PART-TIME Crown Bolt
Merchandiser
in
Rock
Springs Home Depot. Position is eight hours/week,
Wednesday 6 a.m. - 2:30
p.m., stocking hardware on
shelves, create new orders,
etc. Must lift up to 50
pounds. (949) 643-4772 or
apply online at: www.
hdsupply.com/careers Req
#68929 (Do Not Search by
State, only Req #).
3B
1980 14X70
two bed, two
bath,
$11,000,
contact
Kayla, 871-8280.
GREAT BUYS IN
GREEN RIVER
$159,900 - 700 Shoshone
#47 - Like new two story.
Owner/Agent. Priced below
recent appraisal!
$249,900 - 295 Powell. Four
bed, 2.5 bath, remodeled upgraded. MUST SEE FOR
THIS PRICE!! Corner lot.
$269,000 - 1395 Cliffview.
Six bed, three plus bath
brick ranch style. Over 3200
sq. ft. Exceptional for this
price!
$275,000 - 2095 E. Teton.
Modern tri-level with many
upgrades. Four bed, 2.25
bath. Huge Lot. Awesome
Views!
Call ALL BROKER REALTY,
875-9985 TO SEE THESE OR
ANY LISTED ON MLS IN
GREEN RIVER OR ROCK
SPRINGS.
R. Scott Hamel,
Broker/ Owner 870-5809
or
Linda Failoni 870-4361
Or stop by 64 Uinta Dr.,
Suite A, Green River
(across from Maverik)
2005 THREE bed, two bath,
16x80 Schult, set up and
ready to move in. Fenced-in
yard, shed is included, tenant must have approval before move in. $35,000, call
(307) 371-3557 for details or
set up a private tour! Great
starter home!
2007 FREEDOM
18x80. Air
conditioning, storage shed
and owner financing available. Call 307-875-8469.
CANYON COURT -
Friendship Built 16x80 three bed,
two bath, sunken kitchen,
central
air.
No
pets,
$44,500. Tony, 871-4239.
1995 CROWN Victoria, runs
great, low miles, $2000 or
best offer. 389-3673.
1995
MERCEDES
E320,
$3500. 307-256-7331.
1999 FORD
Taurus, 128,000
miles, $1500 or best offer,
Ryan, 382-4128.
2003 CADILLAC
DeVille.
$7,000. 382-9029 or 252-1066.
4B
rocketminer.com
WANT TO SELL 1992 Fleetwood Bounder 34’ Class A
motorhome OR Trade for
mobile home in Rock
Springs. 389-3010 anytime.
2008 DRAGON 800, 155 inch
track, after-market wide
SLP pipe and can, reeds,
Power control module, 447
miles, $6500. 307-260-8558.
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1995 Toyota Corolla, vin
#1NXAE04BXSZ305143 will be
auctioned on November 1, 2011 at
11 a.m. at 654 I-80 Service Road,
Rock Springs, WY. The amount
due for storage, costs & expenses
is $545.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1996 Ford Ranger, vin
#1FTCR10A4TUB20267 will be
11 a.m. at 654 I-80 Service Road,
is $1115.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
2007 CHEVY
Monte Carlo
two door. Cash Price $7998.
Standard Motor, 362-4341.
2007 CHEVY
Malibu four
door - Cash Price $9898.
2008 CADILLAC
CTS V6 Sedan. Direct inject all wheel
drive. Excellent condition
26,000 miles, $31,500. Call
362-2929.
2008 CHEVY
Cobalt four
door - Cash Price $8498.
2008 CHEVY
Impala four
door - Cash Price $10,698.
SPORTY LUXURY
and low
mileage (less than 33,000).
2007 Lincoln MKZ, black
with tan leather, heated
and cooled seats, THX
sound. Excellent condition!
$17,500. (731) 819-4300
1981 CHEVROLET,
one ton,
454, $1000, 875-8007.
2007 JEEP Wrangler X two
door. 21,000 miles, new
condition, $17,500. Call
389-9565.
CAR DOLLY
$750 or best
371-5147
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 2000 Volkswagen Passat,
Vin: WVWNA23BXYE384573
will be auctioned on October 31,
2011 at 11:00 a.m. at 654 I-80
Service Road, Rock Springs, WY.
The amount due for storage, costs
and expenses is $465.00.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
SWEETWATER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1
NOTICE TO CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL TESTING AND
INSPECTION SERVICES COMPANIES REQUEST FOR
PROPOSALS
Notice is hereby given that the Sweetwater County School District No.
1, 3550 Foothill Boulevard, Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901 has issued a
Request for Proposal (“RFP”) from firms/individuals for construction
material testing and inspection services in connection with 5/6 Grade
Building on East Junior High Site (“the Project”).
Sweetwater County School District No. 1 hereby invites interested persons to submit sealed proposals for construction material testing and
inspection services for the Project.
THE RFP MATERIALS, THE CONTRACT DOCUMENTS AND
OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION WILL BE AVAILABLE
UPON REQUEST TO CURTIS BARKER, DIRECTOR OF BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS AT (307) 352-3400.
All submitted proposals shall be sealed and must be received at the
Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Administrative Offices located
at 3550 Foothill Boulevard, Rock Springs, Wyoming at 2 p.m on October 26, 2011. Proposals may be delivered in person, via United States
Mail or parcel service. Proposals will not be received by facsimile transmission, email, or any other electronic or telephonic means. Only proposals that have been received by the Sweetwater County School District
No. 1 Administrative Offices, at the address, time and date listed above,
will be considered. Submitted proposals will be immediately and simultaneously opened and read aloud in public at 2 p.m. on October 26,
2011.
Sweetwater County School District No. 1 reserves the right to reject any
and all proposals received that are not deemed to be in the best interests
of the School District. The School District further reserves the right to
cancel or amend the RFP materials at any time and will notify all persons requesting proposal documents accordingly.
SWEETWATER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1
By Brady Baldwin, Clerk
Oct. 4, 11, 18, 25___________________________________________
JEEP 22575R16
wheels and
tires. Five tires, four at
25,000 miles, one brand
new Stock 5x5 bolt pattern.
Steel with tire press sensors. Moving, must sell,
$400/best. 907-250-8372.
2009 SPYDER,
990 Rotex
motor. 2,122 miles. Red and
black. Two KBC helmets,
extra large. New juice box
chip, after-market exhaust
pipe. $11,500. (307) 260-8558
2007 KAWASAKI Prairie 360,
2x4 and 4x4 option. Manual
posi-lock, reverse safety
cut-off with override, good
tires. $3000, firm. (307)
760-2903, (307) 460-0311.
2011 RAZOR,
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1970 GMC pickup, vin
#CE134ZZ66479 will be auctioned on November 1, 2011 at 11
a.m. at 654 I-80 Service Road,
due for storage, costs and expenses is $1090.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
low miles,
871-2691.
2005 SPORTMASTER
19.5
foot, excellent condition.
Asking $7000. 871-2691.
2008 KEYSTONE Hideout 27
foot, excellent condition,
$9000 or best offer. Ryan,
(307) 382-4128.
2010 KEYSTONE Sprinter, 29
foot. Quad bunkhouse,
slide out, like new, $18,000.
362-3693.
DON’S RV AND REPAIR
Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5
p.m. 362-7646, 1901 Foothill
Boulevard, Rock Springs.
HUNTERS SPECIAL!
1977
Komfort 18 ft. camper, self
contained, new tires, new
black water tank, inside remodeled, shower, refrigerator, stove, sinks, everything works. A MUST SEE!
$3000/best. 970-381-6531.
NOTICE OF POSTPONEMENT OF SALE
City of Rock Springs
County of Sweetwater
State of Wyoming
)
)
)
City Council met in regular session on October 18, 2011. Mayor
Demshar called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Members present included Councilors David Tate, Glennise Wendorf, David Halter, Glenn
Sugano, Chad Banks, Billy Shalata, Joyce Corcoran, and Rob Zotti. Department heads present included Mike Lowell, Vess Walker, Dave
Lansang, Paul Kauchich, Lyle Armstrong, and Lisa Tarufelli. Assistant
City Attorney Rick Beckwith was also present. The pledge of allegiance
was recited.
Moved by Councilor Zotti, seconded by Councilor Shalata to approve
the City Council Meeting minutes of October 4, 2011, and the City
Council Workshop minutes of October 11, 2011. Motion carried unanimously.
APPOINTMENTS
URA/Main Street Commission - Moved by Councilor Corcoran, seconded by Councilor Banks to appoint Richard Leach to a first term on
the URA/Main Street Commission. Upon roll call the following voted in
favor: Councilors Sugano, Zotti, Halter, Tate, Wendorf, Banks, Corcoran, and Shalata. Motion carried unanimously.
Moved by Councilor Banks, seconded by Councilor Zotti to appoint
Stacy Jones to finish Rennard Jensen’s second term on the URA/Main
Street Commission. Upon roll call the following voted in favor: Councilors Sugano, Zotti, Halter, Tate, Wendorf, Banks, Corcoran, and
Shalata. Motion carried unanimously.
Moved by Councilor Wendorf, seconded by Councilor Shalata to appoint Vickie Bostick as an ex-officio member on the URA/Main Street
Commission. Upon roll call the following voted in favor: Councilors
Sugano, Zotti, Halter, Tate, Wendorf, Banks, Corcoran, and Shalata.
Motion carried unanimously.
Moved by Councilor Halter, seconded by Councilor Banks to appoint
Kathy Tacke as an ex-officio member on the URA/Main Street Commission. Upon roll call the following voted in favor: Councilors Sugano,
Zotti, Halter, Tate, Wendorf, Banks, Corcoran, and Shalata. Motion carried unanimously.
Building Code Appeals Board - Moved by Councilor Sugano, seconded
by Councilor Shalata to appoint George Wisniewski to a 2nd term on the
Building Code Appeals Board. Upon roll call the following voted in favor: Councilors Sugano, Zotti, Tate, Wendorf, Banks, Halter, Corcoran,
and Shalata. Motion carried unanimously.
Rock Springs Theater Board - Moved by Councilor Corcoran, seconded
by Councilor Wendorf, to appoint David Tate and David Halter as
Council Liaisons on the Rock Springs Theater Board. Upon roll call the
following voted in favor: Councilors Sugano, Zotti, Wendorf, Banks,
Corcoran, and Shalata. Motion carried with Councilors Halter and Tate
abstaining.
COMMENDATIONS
Rock Springs Police Department Employee of the Quarter - Mayor
Demshar recognized Anthony “Tony” Hall as the Police Department’s
Sworn Employee of the 2nd Quarter of 2011. He commended him for
outstanding work as a patrol officer, a K-9 handler, and a field training
officer. Along with his K-9 partner, Athos, Officer Hall was involved in
several investigations that resulted in numerous arrests and summons.
Mayor Demshar thanked him for his dedicated service to the city.
At this time, Mayor Demshar requested that the governing body address
Resolution 2011-161 which will allow Officer Hall to keep Athos in his
home, as Athos is retiring due to cancer.
RESOLUTION
Resolution 2011-161 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING AND APPROVING A SALES AGREEMENT WITH ANTHONY HALL,
AND AUTHORIZING CARL R. DEMSHAR, JR., AS MAYOR OF
THE CITY OF ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMNG, TO EXECUTE SAID
AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE CITY, was read by title. Moved
by Councilor Wendorf, seconded by Councilor Shalata to approve Resolution 2011-161. Upon roll call the following voted in favor: Councilors Halter, Banks, Sugano, Tate, Wendorf, Zotti, Shalata, Corcoran, and
Mayor Demshar. Motion carried unanimously.
PRESENTATIONS AND PROCLAMATIONS
Sweetwater County Events Complex – Mountain States Rodeo - Samantha Sheble, Sweetwater County Events Complex, stated that this is
the first time since 2000 that Rock Springs has hosted the Mountain
States Rodeo for Wyoming and Colorado cowboys. There will be 96
competitors at the event, being held October 20-22. She thanked the
governing body for their support and encouraged them to attend a Business After Hours Reception at the Events Complex on Wednesday, October 19, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
To: Tanya Hays and Trevor Hays
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to WYO. STAT. §§ 34-4-101
through 34-4-113, that a certain Mortgage dated April 26, 2006, which
was executed and delivered by TANYA HAYS AND TREVOR HAYS,
Mortgagors, to ARGENT MORTGAGE COMPANY, LLC, Mortgagee,
will be foreclosed by a sale to the highest bidder at a public auction of
the premises described pursuant to a power of sale contained in the
Mortgage. If you wish to contest said sale, then you must challenge said
sale by filing a lawsuit in a court of competent jurisdiction.
PETITIONS
The Mortgage was filed for record on April 27, 2006, as Entry No.
1470388, in the office of the Recorder of Deeds, SWEETWATER
County, State of Wyoming.
OFFICER AND STAFF REPORTS
The premises that are described in the Mortgage are as follows:
LOT NUMBERED THIRTY-THREE (33) OF THE HITCHING
POST HEIGHTS ADDITION TO THE CITY OF GREEN RIVER,
SWEETWATER COUNTY, WYOMING.
More commonly known as:
375 Stage Place
Green River, Wyoming 82935
The legal notice advertising said postponement of sale will be published
for two (2) consecutive weeks, at least once a week, in the Rocket Miner
on October 25, 2011 and November 1, 2011. The above sale will be
conducted by the Sheriff or the Sheriff’s deputy at the front door of the
Sweetwater County Courthouse located at 80 W. Flaming Gorge Way,
Green River, Wyoming at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday November 2,
2011.
In the event that a representative from NORTHERN TITLE COMPANY
OF WYOMING, INC. is not present at the sale, the sale will be postponed until a later date.
TANYA HAYS AND TREVOR HAYS defaulted on the terms of the
Note and Mortgage, and as of April 6, 2011 the undersigned claims an
outstanding balance of $179,110.27. Interest continues to accrue on the
unpaid balance.
The property being foreclosed upon may be subject to other liens
and encumbrances that will not be extinguished at the sale and any
prospective purchaser should research the status of title before submitting a bid.
DATED:
September 26, 2011
DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS
TRUSTEE FOR ARGENT SECURITIES INC., ASSETBACKED PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES
2006-M1
By: JAMES H. WOODALL
ATTORNEY FOR MORTGAGEEE
10808 RIVER FRONT PARKWAY, SUITE 175
SOUTH JORDAN, UTAH 84095
(801) 254-9450
Oct. 25 Nov. 1_____________________________________________
Sharon Richards voiced her concern about the dangers at the intersection
of Foothill Blvd. and Stagecoach. She asked the governing body to consider installing a traffic signal. Councilor Zotti stated that the governing
body recently discussed the possibility of extending Stagecoach through
to Sweetwater Drive. When that occurs, a traffic signal will be addressed. Mayor Demshar stated that the governing body would work for
a resolution to the problem.
Health Insurance Fund Recap—September 2011; Financial Report
Summary—September 2011; Animal Control Report—September
2011 - Moved by Councilor Tate, seconded by Councilor Halter to approve the reports and place them on file. Motion carried unanimously.
COUNCIL COMMITTEE AND BOARD REPORTS
Councilor Banks invited everyone to attend the Top Hats and Tiaras
event on December 31, 2011. This is a fundraiser for the Rock Springs
Main Street/URA. Tickets are available at the URA office.
CORRESPONDENCE
The following correspondence was received: (1) Request from Treatment Court of Sweetwater County for allocated funds (included in the
bill list); (2) Letter from Parks and Recreation Department to Women’s
Club of Rock Springs thanking them for monetary donation for beautification project; (3) Letter from Parks and Recreation Department to
WYDOT thanking them for funding to improve the I-80 east interchange; and (4) Letter from Parks and Recreation Department to
Boxelder Tree Farms thanking them for tree donations. Moved by
Councilor Zotti, seconded by Councilor Corcoran to accept the correspondence and place it on file. Motion carried unanimously.
BILLS AND CLAIMS
Bills & Claims for October 18, 2011 - A-G Plumbing, Equipment,
1,778.00; Ace Hardware, Blanket order, 4,974.23; Advanced Force Tactics, Inc., Services, 2,670.00; Advanced Tele Systems, Telephone, 40.00;
Alsco-American Linen, Uniforms, mats, 2,527.27; Alta Construction,
Refund, 1,312.12; American Planning Assoc., Subscription, 415.00;
Amundsen Construction, Refund, 15.03; Anson, Jason, Reimbursement,
85.00; Asphalt Services, Services, 2,520.00; Atwood, Freida, Refund,
56.00; Auto Parts Unlimited, Blanket order, 1,437.04; Autozone, Maintenance, 162.99; Babbitt, Timothy, Refund, 11.11; Battery Systems,
Maintenance, 95.52; Becker Arena Products, Inc., Supplies, 1,182.00;
Bennett Paint & Glass, Blanket order, 437.56; Big Signs.com, Banners,
5,680.00; Blanchard, Sandra, Refund, 726.02; Blanksvard, Carl, Reimbursement, 106.72; Bloedorn Lumber Company, Blanket order, 169.17;
Bottomline Technologies, Computers, 3,386.39; Boxelder Tree Farms
LLC, Supplies, 5,140.00; C.E.M. Aquatics, Hoses, 165.37; Callaway
Golf, Equipment, 850.45; Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc., Services,
59,808.00; Carrington Pointe Apartments, Housing assistance, 467.00;
Casper Star Tribune, Services, 1,245.84; CDW Government, Computers,
343.88; Century Equipment Company, Inc., Blanket order, 791.37;
Choice Engineering Services, Inc., Services, 27,438.85; City Auto Rock
Springs, Blanket order, 1,065.11; CJ Signs, Services, 240.00; CK Construction Corp., Telecommunication, 75,505.00; Codale Electric Supply,
Inc., Equipment, 461.79; Coldwell Banker Carrier Realty, Refund,
35.05; Coldwell Banker Carrier Realty, Refund, 13.29; Condor Printing,
Inc., Printing, 175.00; Cook, Amanda, Refund, 75.15; Copier & Supply
Co., Inc., Maintenance, 172.94; Cowboy’s Against Cancer, Sponsor,
750.00; CPS Distributors, Inc., Equipment, 730.00; Crum Electric Supply Co., Inc., Blanket order, 521.92; CSUS Foundation, Inc., Services,
108.00; Culligan Soft & Bottled Water, Water, 101.00; DeBernardi Construction, Inc., Services, 260,865.30; Dell, Computers, 8,305.66;
DeLong, Mark, Materials, 29,318.00; Desert View Animal Hospital,
Supplies, 104.00; DJ’s Glass Plus, Supplies, 2,590.00; Family Vision
Clinic, Services, 102.00; Farquharson, Melissa, Refund, 38.00; Fastenal
Company, Blanket order, 141.32; Fedex, Shipping, 38.15; Flaim, Guido,
Rental assistance, 500.00; Flexshare Benefits, Administration, 193.50;
Fossen, Tom, Refund, 13.29; FSH Communications, LLC, Telephone,
70.00; Generation X, Inc., Services, 4,451.00; GR-RS-SWCO JPWB,
Services, 255,085.53; Grainger, Inc., Hardware, 152.08; Great Western
Autoplex, Blanket order, 261.32; Green, Clayton, Refund, 186.80;
Greenline Equipment, Blanket order, 3,587.60; Guest Services, Meals,
234.48; Gunderman, Bill, Reimbursement, 24.72; Gutierrez, Vanessa,
Services, 35.00; Hampton Inn, Services, -7.92; Hasler, Inc., Office machines, 55.00; High Desert Polaris, Equipment, 39.98; High Security
Lock & Alarm, Blanket order, 191.93; Homax Oil Sales, Inc., Fuel,
27,286.03; Home Depot Credit Services, Blanket order, 3,010.21; Hood,
Laurie, Reimbursement, 19.45; Hose & Rubber Supply, Blanket order,
154.45; Hughes General Contractors, Refund, 1,444.49; Hummingbird
Glass Repair, Maintenance, 35.00; ICOP, Telecommunication, 147.00;
Inter-Mountain Laboratories, Equipment, 1,144.50; Intermountain Lock
& Security, Supplies, 243.41; James, William, Refund, 10.34; Jim’s Upholstery, Maintenance, 540.00; JM Electrical Services, Services, 358.98;
Job, Rae Lynn, Refund, 21.11; Joint Powers Telecom Board, Computers,
1,980.00; Joint Powers Water Board, Water, 372,546.67; Kaman Industrial Technologies, Blanket order, 8,080.22; Kopy Korner, Blanket
order, 601.68; L & S Fencing, Fencing, 2,142.50; Lell, Kelly, Refund,
38.00; Lewis & Lewis, Inc., Blanket order, 92,015.20; Lexisnexis, Services, 141.00; Lexisnexis Risk Solutions, Inc., Services, 290.00; Life
Assist, Inc., Equipment, 193.68; Lison, Jennifer, Refund, 22.72; Longview Fibre Paper & Packaging, Equipment, 1,534.31; Lynn Peavey
Company, Equipment, 788.95; Macy’s Truck Repair, Inc., Blanket order, 159.93; Mantek, Fuel, 2,338.90; Martin, Sam, Reimbursement,
40.00; MC Concrete, Inc., Services, 26,224.75; McGee, Hearne & Paiz,
LLP, Services, 35,000.00; Memorial Hospital of SWC, Services, 507.00;
Merrill, Inc., Refund, 1,432.33; MES, Rocky Mountain, Equipment,
1,229.05; Mish, Joseph, Refund, 17.81; Morcon Specialty, Inc., Blanket
order, 539.49; Mountainaire Animal Clinic, Services, 204.89; Mullen,
John , Refund, 42.01; National Fire Codes Subscription, Subscription,
1,615.50; Nelson Engineering, Services, 5,267.50; Nike USA, Inc.,
Equipment, 175.55; Nu-Life Auto Glass, LLC, Maintenance, 172.83;
O’Reilly Auto Parts, Blanket order, 510.16; Office of State Lands & Investment, Services, 95,784.35; Office Products Dealer, Supplies, 390.31;
Olson Landscape & Recreation, Inc., Playground, 6,794.25; Oriental
Trading Company, Inc., Projects, 1,252.92; Pacific Steel & Recycling,
Blanket order, 661.08; Paraben Corporation, Services, 299.00; Parr,
Monnetta, Refund, 515.10; Paulson, Scott, Reimbursement, 60.15; Ping,
Inc., Equipment, 1,512.57; Pioneer Gasket of Wyoming, Inc., Supplies,
15.00; Plan One/Architects, Services, 47.56; Platinum Fitness Equipment, Equipment, 5,245.00; Polson, Carl, Refund, 57.84; Porchas, Lyric,
Refund, 38.00; Postmaster, Shipping, 3,030.07; Printers’ Alley, Printing,
191.86; Priority Research, Supplies, 862.80; Promotional Concepts,
Inc., Badges, 1,480.92; Pyrotechs, Inc., Maintenance, 270.00; Quester
Gas, Utilities, .20; Qwest Corporation, Utilities, 2,346.43; Radioshack
Corporation, Equipment, 2.19; Real Kleen, Inc., Supplies, 103.95; Reed,
Lori, Refund, 52.00; Reis Environmental, Maintenance, 998.15; Respond First Aid Systems, Blanket order, 471.17; RMT Equipment, Blanket order, 383.32; RS Chamber of Commerce, Services, 3,285.00; RS
Municipal Utility, Utilities, 72,003.83; Rock Springs Newspapers, Communications, 748.68; Rock Springs Recycling Center, Rental, 1,375.00;
Rock Springs Winlectric, Blanket order, 254.84; Rock Springs
Winnelson Co., Blanket order, 14,670.67; Rocky Mountain Power, Utilities, 76,321.97; Rocky Mountain Service Bureau, Services, 62.00;
Rocky Mountain Survey, Inc., Services, 8,535.00; Ron’s Ace Rental &
Equipment, Blanket order, 972.92; Rossy, Luz, Refund, 31.00; Rost,
Marlene, Refund, 74.00; RS Refrigeration, Air conditioning, 159.69;
Sherwin Williams, Blanket order, 6,052.65; Shoshone Distributing, Inc.,
Supplies, 915.02; Sierra Industries, Clothing, 503.66; Simplot Partners,
Fertilizers, 4,867.50; Six States Distributors, Maintenance, 118.90;
Skaarland, Jeff, Refund, 41.78; Skaggs Public Safety Uniforms, Clothing, 163.80; Skips Tire, Blanket order, 358.00; Southwest Doors, Maintenance, 105.00; Southwest WY Wool Warehouse, Blanket order,
290.57; Spa World, Maintenance, 113.90; SST Testing +, Inc., Services,
1,078.00; Stansell, Amber, Refund, 52.00; Staples Advantage, Blanket
order, 668.58; Star Transit, Expenses, 8,600.00; Stevens Engineers, Inc.,
Services, 315.00; Stewart, Michael, Reimbursement, 85.00; Stonecrest
Construction, Refund, 5.35; Stonecrest Construction, Refund, 10.76;
Storm, Corrine, Refund, 31.00; Strafford Publications, Inc., Services,
531.50; Sun Mountain Sports, Equipment, 1,385.96; Swank Motion Pictures, Services, 336.00; Sweetwater County Events Complex, Services,
-5,680.00; Sweetwater County Treasurer, Services, 719.71; Sweetwater
Plumbing & Heating, LLC, Equipment, 196.95; Sweetwater Trophies,
Supplies, 68.00; Sweetwater TV Co., Inc., Services, 173.65; Taylor
Made Golf Co., Inc., Equipment, 1,124.07; Team Laboratory Chemical
Corp., Materials, 955.00; Thatcher, Donald, Refund, 31.12; The UPS
Store, Shipping, 32.82; Tip-Top Cleaners & Embroidery, Clothing,
33.00; Titleist, Equipment, 1,675.10; Treatment Court of Sweetwater
County, Expenses, 6,000.00; Turf Equipment & Irrigation, Blanket order, 1,286.11; Union Telephone, Telephone, 2,314.20; United Site Services, Buildings, 41.88; UPS, Services, 125.13; V-1 Propane, Fuel,
21.16; Vista Solutions Corporation, Services, 125.00; Wamco Lab, Inc.,
Equipment, 2,500.00; Waxie, Supplies, 477.97; Wells Fargo Card Services, Inc., Expenses, 1,101.99; West Group Payment Center, Services,
1,863.20; West, James, Refund, 36.55; West James, Refund, 48.34;
Western Relief, LLC, Restrooms, 378.00; White Fencing, Fencing,
7,682.00; Williams, Chantell, Refund, 31.00; WY Dept. of Revenue &
Tax, Sept. 2011 sales tax, 2,034.75; WY Dept. of Transportation, Materials, 9,393.87; WY Assoc. of Fire Marshalls, Dues, 35.00; Wyoming
Medical Center, Inc., Equipment, 95.00; Wyoming State Bar, Services,
1,220.00; Wyoming State Fire Marshal, Services, 654.14; Wyoming Stationery, Supplies, 13.90; Wyoming Waste Systems, Services, 4,875.87;
Wyoming Work Warehouse, Blanket order, 402.27; Wyoming.com,
Computers, 111.95; Young-at-Heart Sr. Citizens Center, Art projects,
450.55; Zampedri, Raychelle, Refund, 15.00; Zanetti Prestige Collision,
Services, 2,957.00; Zep Mfg., Inc., Supplies, 1,350.00; Total,
$1,737,798.49. Report Checks for October 7, 2011 - AFLAC Insurance,
Employee premiums, 1,053.70; Sun Life Assurance Co., Employee premiums, 1,593.60; Equitable Life, Employee deferred, 275.00; ICMA Retirement Corp., Employee deferred, 8,422.12; Great-West Life & Annuity, Employee deferred, 10,648.50; Nationwide Retirement Solutions,
Employee deferred, 665.00; Waddell & Reed Financial Services, Employee deferred, 1,450.00; Colonial Life & Accident, Employee premiums, 88.72; WY Child Support Enforcement, Child support payments,
6,388.29; State of Idaho Child Support, Child support payments, 426.50;
Washington State Support Registry, Child support payments, 108.00; RS
Firefighter Assn. #1499, Employee dues & loans, 2,120.50; Sweetwater
Co. Circuit Court, Employee garnishments, 721.00; General Revenue
Corp, Employee student loan, 280.05; RS City Treasurer, Employee
BCBS reimburse, 32,690.46; Flexshare-BCBS, Employee BCBS
flexshare, 3,814.58; 496 & 872-NCPERS Group Life, Group life employee deduct, 896.00; New York Life Insurance, Employee premiums,
17.00; RS Police Protective Association, Employee dues, 570.00;
UMWA/OAW Local #4893, Employee dues, 2,130.70; United Way of
SW Wyoming, Employee deductions, 1,116.79; Waddell & Reed Financial Services, Section 529 Plan, 1,330.00; Wyoming Retirement System,
Fire benefit city/emply, 43,152.01; Wyoming Workers Comp, Employee
benefits, 28,127.75; Wyoming Workers Comp, Work restitution workers, 39.60; Wyoming Retirement System, Employee benefits, 93,965.12;
Wyoming Retirement System, Law enforcement, 55,027.40; Sweetwater
Federal Credit Union, Employee deductions, 23,772.41; Internal Revenue Service, Electronic fund transfer, 178,446.52, Total, $499,337.32.
Moved by Councilor Wendorf, seconded by Councilor Corcoran to approve the bills and claims for October 18, 2011. Motion carried unanimously.
Salaries for October 7, 2011: $837,819.31 - Moved by Councilor
Wendorf, seconded by Councilor Banks to approve the salaries for October 7, 2011. Motion carried with Councilor Shalata abstaining.
At this time, Mayor Demshar requested that Resolutions 2011-158 and
2011-159 be addressed, as two items under new business require Resolution approval first.
RESOLUTIONS
Resolution 2011-158 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING AND APPROVING THE SALARY RANGE FOR THE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER OF THE CITY OF ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING, was read by title. Moved by Councilor Corcoran, seconded by
rocketminer.com
5B
NATIONAL
Councilor Shalata to approve Resolution 2011-158. Upon roll call the
following voted in favor: Councilors Sugano, Zotti, Halter, Tate,
Wendorf, Corcoran, Banks, Shalata, and Mayor Demshar. Motion carried unanimously.
Resolution 2011-159 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING AND APPROVING A JOB DESCRIPTION AND SALARY RANGE FOR A
THEATER COORDINATOR FOR THE CITY OF ROCK SPRINGS,
WYOMING, was read by title. Moved by Councilor Wendorf, seconded
by Councilor Halter to approve Resolution 2011-159. Upon roll call the
following voted in favor: Councilors Sugano, Zotti, Halter, Tate,
Wendorf, Corcoran, Banks, Shalata, and Mayor Demshar. Motion carried unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS
Request from Judge Nelson for permission to fill the position of Court
Clerk/Work Restitution Coordinator in the Municipal Court - Moved
by Councilor Corcoran, seconded by Councilor Zotti to approve the request. Motion carried unanimously.
Request from Public Services for permission to advertise and fill the
Theater Coordinator position for the Broadway Theater - Moved by
Councilor Wendorf, seconded by Councilor Tate to approve the request.
Request from Mayor Demshar for permission to advertise and fill the
Human Resources Manager position - Moved by Councilor Tate, seconded by Councilor Shalata to approve the request. Motion carried
unanimously.
Request from Santa Fe Trail, Inc. for a liquor catering permit for a
Chamber Mixer on October 27, 2011, from 5:30 p.m. – 11 p.m. at
Rocky Mountain Bank, 2515 Foothill Blvd. - Moved by Councilor
Banks, seconded by Councilor Zotti to approve the request. Motion carried unanimously.
Request from Lews, Inc. for a liquor catering permit for Cowboys
Against Cancer on November 5, 2011, from 2 p.m. – midnight at the
Sweetwater Events Complex - Moved by Councilor Wendorf, seconded
by Councilor Shalata to approve the request. Motion carried unanimously.
Request from Cowboys Against Cancer for a malt beverage permit for
Cowboys Against Cancer on November 5, 2011, from 3 p.m. – midnight at the Sweetwater Events Complex - Moved by Councilor Tate,
seconded by Councilor Halter to approve the request. Motion carried
unanimously.
Request from Black Rock, Inc. for a liquor catering permit for the
Garcia Wedding Reception on November 5, 2011, from 4 p.m. – midnight at the Old Legion Hall, 543 Broadway - Moved by Councilor
Banks, seconded by Councilor Shalata to approve the request. Motion
carried unanimously.
Request from Black Rock, Inc. for a liquor catering permit for Chariot
Races on November 26, 2011, from noon – 5 p.m. at the Sweetwater
Events Complex Outdoor Arena - Moved by Councilor Shalata, seconded by Councilor Wendorf to approve the request. Motion carried
unanimously.
Chariot Racing Banquet on November 26, 2011, from 6 p.m. – midnight at the Sweetwater Events Complex - Moved by Councilor Tate,
seconded by Councilor Shalata to approve the request. Motion carried
unanimously.
Lewis & Lewis Christmas Party on December 17, 2011, from 5 p.m. –
midnight at the Old Legion Hall, 543 Broadway - Moved by Councilor
Wendorf, seconded by Councilor Banks to approve the request. Motion
RESOLUTIONS
Resolution 2011-160 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING AND APPROVING A CONTRACT WITH INTERMOUNTAIN GOLF
CARS, 9115 SOUTH 700 EAST, SANDY, UTAH 84070, IN THE
AMOUNT OF $167,218.00 AND AUTHORIZING CARL R.
DEMSHAR, JR., AS MAYOR, AND LISA M. TARUFELLI, AS CITY
CLERK, TO EXECUTE SAID CONTRACT ON BEHALF OF THE
CITY OF ROCK SPRINGS, was read by title. Moved by Councilor
Banks, seconded by Councilor Zotti to approve Resolution 2011-160.
Upon roll call the following voted in favor: Councilors Halter, Banks,
Sugano, Tate, Wendorf, Shalata, Corcoran, Zotti, and Mayor Demshar.
Resolution 2011-162 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING AND APPROVING A DEDICATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE
CITY OF ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING, AND KUM & GO, L.C.,
AND AUTHORIZING CARL R. DEMSHAR, JR., AS MAYOR OF
THE CITY OF ROCK SPRINGS, WYOMING, AND LISA M.
TARUFELLI, AS CITY CLERK OF THE CITY OF ROCK SPRINGS,
WYOMING, TO EXECUTE SAID DEDICATION AGREEMENT ON
BEHALF OF SAID CITY, was read by title. Moved by Councilor Zotti,
seconded by Councilor Halter to approve Resolution 2011-162. Upon
roll call the following voted in favor: Councilors Halter, Banks, Sugano,
Tate, Wendorf, Shalata, Corcoran, Zotti, and Mayor Demshar. Motion
ORDINANCES
Tabled 10-4-11 Ordinance 2011-11 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ARTICLE 13-8 OF THE ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF ROCK
SPRINGS, WYOMING, ENTITLED, “ZONE DISTRICT REGULATIONS.” Mayor Demshar asked that Ordinance 2011-11 remain tabled
to allow staff time to draw up an amended ordinance.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.
By:
ATTEST:
Lisa M. Tarufelli
City Clerk
David M. Tate
Council President
Carl R. Demshar, Jr.
Mayor
Oct. 25___________________________________________________
IN THE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE THIRD JUDICIAL DISTRICT WITHIN AND FOR SWEETWATER COUNTY
In The Matter of the
Change of Name of
Morgan Rachelle Deal,
an adult
}
:
}
Civil No. C-11-735-J
NOTICE
To: All Interested Persons
Notice is hereby given that a Petition has been filed in the District Court
of the Third Judicial District of Wyoming, within and for the County of
Sweetwater, by Morgan Rachelle Deal, an adult person, the object and
prayer of which is to obtain a change of name for Morgan Rachelle Deal,
an adult. If the court finds that said change is not detrimental to the interests of others, an order shall be entered changing said adult person’s
name to Morgan Rachelle Pettit. Any objection to said Petition for
Change of Name must be made on or before thirty (30) days from the
last date of publication of this notice. If no objection is made, said Petition for Change of Name may be granted.
DATED this 23rd day of September, 2011
Donna Lee Bobak,
Clerk of District Court
By: S. Sutherland
Deputy Clerk
Oct. 4, 11, 18, 25___________________________________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1999 Honda Accord, Vin:
JHMCG555XXC023934 will be
11:00 a.m. at 654 I-80 Service
Road, Rock springs, WY. The
amount due for storage, cost and
expenses is $470.00.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 2003 Honda CB550, Vin:
JH2PC0908DM005901, will be
auctioned on October 31, 2011, at
Road, Rock Springs, WY. The
amount due for storage, costs and
Oct 18, 25___________________
TAKE
NOTICE
that
an
abandoned 1989 Chevy Camaro,
Vin: 1G1FP21E1KL133727, will
be auctioned on October 31, 2011
at 11:00 a.m. at 654 I-80 Service
expenses is $460.00
Oct. 18, 25_________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 2001 Pontiac Grand AM,
Vin: 1G2NF52E51M625325 will
Oct 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 2001 Nissan Pathfinder,
Vin: JN8DR09XX1W572767 will
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1997 Toyota Corolla, Vin:
1NXBR12E3WZ000133 will be
auctioned on October 31, 2011 at
Oct 18, 25___________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 2001 Chrysler Sebring,
VIN: 4C3AG52HX1E090331 will
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1999 Dodge Intrepid, vin
#2B3HD46R0XH795725 will be
11 a.m. at 1700 Swanson Dr. #48,
is $865.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE
NOTICE
that
an
abandoned 1995 Mitsubishi GS,
vin #4A3AK44Y4SE091220 will
be auctioned on November 1,
2011 at 11 a.m. at 1700 Swanson
Dr. #48, Rock Springs, WY. The
amount due for storage, costs &
expenses is $865.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE
NOTICE
that
an
abandoned 1991 Toyota Tacoma,
vin #JT4VN13G6M5061268 will
be auctioned on November 1,
2011 at 11 a.m. at 654 I-80 Service Road, Rock Springs, WY. The
amount due for storage, costs &
expenses is $470.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1990 Subaru Legacy, Vin:
JF2BJ65C4LH926968 will be
expenses is $465.00
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE
NOTICE
that
an
abandoned 1989 Ford F-350, Vin:
2FTJW35G1KCA97442 will be
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1988 blue GMC Sierra, license
plate
4-31583,
vin
#1GTDC14K9JZ533195 will be
12 p.m. at Alexi’s Auto, 605
Rahonce Drive, Rock Springs,
WY. The amount due is $2400.
Questions call 382-0084.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 2006 white Isuzu NPR, vin
#JALE5B16X67901445 will be
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 2000 green Ford Explorer,
vin
#1FMYU60E8YUA56158
will be auctioned on November 4,
2011 at 12 p.m. at Alexi’s Auto,
605 Rahonce Drive, Rock Springs,
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1997 white Ford F150, vin
#1FTDF1768VNA84188 will be
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1978 white International
Loadstar, license plate 4-423, vin
#D0522HHB18035 will be auctioned on November 4, 2011 at 12
p.m. at Alexi’s Auto, 605
Rahonce, Rock Springs, WY. The
amount due is $3200. Questions
call 382-0084.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 2003 black Chevrolet Avalanche,
vin
#3GNEK13T
23G131482 will be auctioned on
November 4, 2011 at 12 p.m. at
Alexi’s Auto, 605 Rahonce Drive,
due is $1500. Questions call
382-0084.
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 2000 red Chevrolet Cavalier, license plate 050-MAM, vin
#1G1JC5247Y7289866 will be
Oct. 18, 25__________________
TAKE NOTICE that an abandoned 1974 yellow MG Midget,
vin #GAN5UE145663G will be
Oct. 18, 25__________________
Legal Notice
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN
that the Sweetwater County District Board of Health will conduct
their regular October meeting on
Wednesday, October 26, 2011at
7:15 a.m. at the Sweetwater
County Nursing office, 731 C
Street, Rock Springs, WY. Please
use the entrance on the West side
of the building.
Oct. 22, 25, 26_______________
Legal Notice
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN
that the Sweetwater County District Board of Health will conduct
a special meeting on October 25,
2011 at 7:15 a.m. at the Sweetwater County Nursing office, 731 C
Street, Rock Springs, WY. This
meeting will be in executive session discussing legal and personnel issues. Please use the entrance
on the West side of the building.
Oct. 22, 25__________________
N.Y. man’s
possible
Michelangelo
on display
in Rome
CAROLYN THOMPSON
Associated Press
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) —
A possible 16th-century
Michelangelo painting that
hung for years in a local
family’s home is being displayed in Rome as part of
an exhibit of Renaissance
art, a development its owner calls a major milestone
as he works to have it accepted by the art world.
Scholars disagree on
whether “La Pieta With
Two Angels” was painted
by Michelangelo or by one
of his collaborators.
For now, the 19-by-25inch work is described as
“Michelangelesque” in a
show sponsored by the
philanthropic Rome Foundation, which transported
the painting from the Buffalo area to Rome and
funded its restoration over
the past six months. It will
be one of 170 pieces on display from Tuesday through
Feb. 12 as part of “The Renaissance in Rome: A Token to Michelangelo and
Raphael.”
The circa 1545 painting,
which shows Mary with
her arms open over the
body of Jesus, whose arms
are held by angels, has
been restored “to near its
original splendor,” said
owner Martin Kober, who
was in Italy for the opening.
“It’s a major milestone
for the painting to be included in an exhibit of this
caliber and hang beside
generally acknowledged
works by Michelangelo,
Raphael and other major
Renaissance
painters,”
Kober said.
The painting was the
subject of a book, “The
Lost Pieta,” by Italian art
historian Antonio Forcellino, who’s convinced it’s a
Michelangelo. The book
was published last year,
around the time Kober
went public with the family heirloom and his efforts
to see it take its place in art
history.
Nevada moves caucus
to Feb. 4 after backlash
STEVE PEOPLES
AND CRISTINA SILVA
Associated Press
MANCHESTER, N.H.
(AP) — Nevada Republicans have shifted their
presidential caucuses to
early February, a move that
ends an increasingly bitter
standoff among rival states
and for the first time clarifies the path to the Republican presidential nomination.
There will be no voting
before Christmas. That’s
despite warnings from New
Hampshire’s top election
official that Nevada’s initial
insistence to host its contest in mid-January could
force the Granite State to
schedule the nation’s first
Republican primary election in roughly six weeks.
But
facing
boycott
threats from campaigns, incentive offers from the Republican National Committee, and the private blessing
of the Mitt Romney campaign, Nevada Republicans
voted Saturday to set their
caucuses for Feb. 4. It will
be the West’s first stop in
the race for the Republican
presidential nomination
and the fifth contest overall,
after Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and
Florida.
“The candidates are anxious to come here and campaign and don’t want to
have the heat put on them
by New Hampshire to stay
away,” former Nevada Gov.
Bob List, a national Republican committeeman, said
before Saturday’s vote. “We
have to eat a little crow perhaps in some people’s
minds, but I think in the
end it’s a win-win.”
The calendar scramble
had consumed Republican
officials in early voting
states and complicated candidates’ decisions about
travel, the timing of televi-
sion advertisements and
the distribution of limited
resources. But with New
Hampshire now free to settle on its preferred date of
Jan. 10, the final puzzle
pieces appear to have fallen
into place.
The Republican presidential contenders are free
to shift their campaigns
into high gear with the first
stop on the road to the
GOP nomination set for
Iowa in just 10 weeks.
“Now you’ll see the campaigns ramp up very quickly,” said Michael Dennehy, a
New Hampshire Republican operative who led Sen.
John McCain’s political operation four years ago and
was a central player in the
Granite State’s boycott
push in recent weeks.
Nevada’s shift ensures
the state won’t suffer penalties expected for states that
violated national party
rules by skipping ahead to
boost their political influence. Nevada Republicans
also stand to earn some
perks at the party’s national convention in Florida
next August. As part of negotiations in recent days,
the Republican National
Committee
promised
Nevada delegates they
could sit on the floor “in the
best positions,” and would
have prime hotel space if
they made the change, according to Nevada GOP
Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian.
“This will be well worth
it,” she said. “We will be the
good guys in the end because we don’t need to be
New Hampshire’s piata.”
The RNC would not
comment on its specific
role in the discussions, but
Chairman Reince Priebus,
who had called for a compromise, praised Nevada’s
decision.
“This change ensures
that Nevada retains its
prominent national role as
the first contest in the
West,”
Priebus
said.
“Nevadans should be proud
of their Republican leaders.
They have restored their
state’s key role in the nomination process and in the
2012 presidential election.”
The Romney campaign
also played an active, but
private, role in the flap.
Campaign officials initially encouraged Nevada to
schedule its caucuses before Florida, hoping that
Romney’s popularity in
Nevada would fuel a victory there and create momentum heading into the
critical Florida contest. But
sensing a political backlash
in New Hampshire, Romney representatives in recent days encouraged key
Nevada Republicans to settle on a later date.
The Romney campaign
would not discuss its actions publicly when asked
Saturday, but did not dispute its role.
New Hampshire officials
were clearly happy.
“It’s a win for the process
and it’s certainly a win for
New Hampshire,” said
Phyllis Woods, a RNC
member from the Granite
State. “Going forward, we
really want to have Nevada
as an ally. We really don’t
want to have enemies as we
go into the next primary
calendar.”
Also Saturday, Nevada
Democrats said they would
hold their caucuses on Jan.
21.
Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid, who helped obtain the state’s third-in-thenation status in 2008, decried the GOP’s move.
“I’m deeply disappointed
that the Nevada Republican
Party has caved to the will
of the Republican National
Committee
and
New
Hampshire,” he said in a
statement.
Dayton, Ohio, welcomes
immigrants as policy point
DAN SEWELL
Associated Press
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) —
On the same afternoon
thousands of Hispanics in
Alabama took the day off
to protest the state’s strict
new immigration law, Mexican-born Francisco Mejia
was ringing up diners’ bills
and handing containers
piled with carnitas to drivethru customers on the east
side of Dayton.
His family’s Taqueria
Mixteca is thriving on a
street pockmarked with
run-down buildings and vacant storefronts. It gets
packed with a diverse
lunchtime clientele of Hispanic laborers, white men
in suits and other customers, white and black.
“Business is very good,”
Mejia said, smiling broadly
between orders.
It’s the kind of success
story that leaders in Dayton think offers hope for an
entire city. It has adopted a
plan not only to encourage
immigrants to come and
feel welcome here, but also
to use them to help pull out
of an economic tailspin.
Dayton officials, who
adopted the “Welcome
Dayton” plan unanimously
Oct. 5, say they aren’t condoning illegal immigration;
those who come here illicitly will continue to be subject to U.S. laws.
While states including
Alabama, Georgia and Arizona, as well as some
cities, have passed laws in
recent years cracking down
on illegal immigrants, Dayton officials say they will
leave that to federal authorities and focus instead
on how to attract and assimilate those who come
legally.
Other cities, including
nearby Columbus and Indianapolis, have programs
to help immigrants get
government and commu-
nity help, but Dayton’s effort has a broader, and
more urgent, feel.
Mayor Gary Leitzell told
the city commission before
the vote that immigrants
bring “new ideas, new perspectives and new talent to
our work force. ... To reverse the decades-long
trend of economic decline
in this city, we need to
think globally.”
Hard-hit for years by the
struggles of U.S. manufacturing, particularly in the
auto industry, the recession
pounded Dayton, which as
the
Wright
Brothers’
hometown calls itself “the
birthplace of aviation.”
Thousands of jobs were
lost with the crippling
2009 exodus to Georgia of
NCR (formerly National
Cash Register), one of
Dayton’s signature corporations, after 125 years, and
by the 2008 shutdown of a
General Motors plant in
suburban Moraine.
Dayton’s unemployment
is nearly 11 percent, 2 percent higher than the national average, while population has fallen below
142,000, down 15 percent
from 2000. Meanwhile, the
city’s official foreign-born
population rose 57 percent,
to 5,102, from 2000 to
2010, according to census
figures.
City leaders aiming to
turn Dayton around started
examining the immigrant
population: Indian doctors
in hospitals; foreign-born
professors and graduate
students at the region’s
universities; and owners of
new small businesses such
as a Turkish family’s New
York Pizzeria on the city’s
east side and Hispanic-run
car lots, repair shops and
small markets. They say
immigrants have revitalized some run-down housing, moving into and fixing
up what had been vacant
homes.
“This area has been in a
terrible recession, but it
would be even worse without them,” said Theo Majka, a University of Dayton
sociology professor who,
with his sociologist wife
Linda Majka, has studied
and advocated for Dayton’s
immigrants. “Here we have
this underutilized resource.”
Dayton officials say their
plan still needs funding
and volunteers to help put
it in place; they hope by the
end of the year. Its key
tenets include increasing
information and access to
government, social services and housing issues; language education and help
with identification cards,
and grants and marketing
help for immigrant entrepreneurs to help build the
East Third Street section.
“We will be more diverse,
we will grow, we will have
more restaurants, more
small businesses,” said
Tom Wahlrab, the city’s human relations council director, who helped lead the
plan’s development.
Besides thousands of
Hispanics, there are communities in Dayton of Iraqi
refugees, Vietnamese and
other Asians, Africans
from several countries, and
Russians and Turks who,
officials say, are already living here quietly and industriously.
“Immigrants are hard
workers with a propensity
to create jobs, and this will
invigorate the economy,”
said Festus Nyiwo, an attorney in his home country
of Nigeria who has been a
small-business entrepreneur since coming to Dayton about eight years ago.
Around the country, the
bad economy has helped
inspire new laws targeting
illegal immigrants, seen as
taking scarce jobs and
overburdening schools, police and services.
6B
REGIONAL
Historic Routt County
schoolhouse gets face-lift
SCOTT FRANZ
Steamboat Pilot & Today
STEAMBOAT
SPRINGS,
Colo. (AP) — Enthusiasm never
fades from Linda Long’s voice
when she talks about a building
that for decades has stood empty
near a coal mine west of Steamboat, a building mostly remembered in the pages of old, dusty
newspapers and in family anecdotes.
The white paint on the wooden
walls of the Foidel Canyon
Schoolhouse started to peel off
years ago, and its foundation continues to sag and flood with rainwater. Once in a while, a tour bus
from Oak Creek’s Tracks and
Trails Museum will drive by.
But the historic building still
looks about the same as it did
when it closed its doors and dismissed students for the last time
in the early 1960s, Long said.
Four years ago, the longtime
South Routt resident asked for a
bucket of paint and some windows to make sure the schoolhouse didn’t fade further into the
landscape.
Long got more than she asked
for on Oct. 8 when 20 volunteers,
armed with weed whackers and
fresh plates of glass, arrived at
the historic building to give it
new life before winter.
“It’s a historical landmark that
has been there for a lot of people,”
Long said. “You don’t want to see
a building and a story like this
disappear.”
Historic Routt County, which
just completed restoration of
Steamboat’s Yock Cabin with the
help of Rocky Mountain Youth
Corps, is taking on the restoration of the Foidel Canyon Schoolhouse as its next major renovation project.
Historic Routt County Executive Director Meg Tully said that
the schoolhouse’s restoration will
cost $55,000 with funding being
provided by Peabody Energy,
which owns the land that the
schoolhouse sits on near Twentymile Mine, as well as Yampa
Valley Community Foundation
and other grant sources still being sought.
Tully, Long and the other volunteers recently repaired several
of the schoolhouse’s windows,
improved drainage around its
foundation and cleaned out its interior as they completed the first
phase of the restoration efforts
that will continue in summer
2012.
“You might think this is just a
rural, old schoolhouse with no
importance,” Tully said. “But it
was a hub between South Routt,
West Routt and Steamboat
Springs. Even today, it helps to
tell a story of all of Routt County.”
And it’s a story Long knows
well.
“My husband’s grandfather
helped to build that school in
1926,” Long said, adding that it
served several early homesteading families in Routt County. “It’s really important we keep
it alive and well not just for our
families that have ties there, but
for the whole community as well.”
Long and Tully said the building serves as a reminder of Routt
County’s heritage that includes
strong ties to agriculture and
mining as well as rural schoolhouses like Foidel Canyon that
were necessary to educate students before bus routes allowed
them to attend larger schools in
Steamboat, Hayden and Oak
Creek.
Many of the rural schoolhouses closed after schools in Routt
County were consolidated in the
late 1950s, Long said.
As a longtime South Routt
School Board member and educator, she said the Foidel Canyon
restoration project is something
she’s worked on for years to
make a reality.
“The school bell went missing
years ago, but everything else is
the same,” Long said after she
helped button up the site’s
schoolhouse, teacherage and coal
shed for winter.
She said before the old bell on
top of the building stopped dismissing about 20 children of all
ages from classes each day, the
schoolhouse also hosted traveling
pastors, farmers union meetings
and nurses who made bandages
and supplies for the Red Cross
during the height of World War
II.
“It’s really important we keep
this building alive,” Long said.
“Just like everything else, it needs
some tender, loving care.”
Senator talks about education law
IVAN MORENO
Associated Press
WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. (AP) —
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said
Monday that the proposed reauthorization of No Child Left Behind is not perfect, but that the
law in its current form is flawed.
Bennet, a Democrat who was
previously the superintendent of
Denver Public Schools, made the
comments after visiting with students and teachers at a middle
school in suburban Wheat Ridge.
Bennet has included a provision in the reauthorization of the
Bush-era law that focuses on
training and recruiting principals,
which he called “a critical ingredient to driving school reform
and phenomenal teachers.”
A Senate committee gave preliminary approval last week to a
proposal that essentially guts No
Child Left Behind and gives
states more control over school
accountability. The proposed bill
would also alter some of the law’s
proficiency requirements.
The Senate is expected to vote
on the bill later this year.
Bennet said he shares concerns
from groups and the Obama administration that the proposed
reauthorization doesn’t go far
enough to ensure school accountability.
“Having said that, I really came
to believe when I was a school superintendent that there really is a
limit to what Washington can do
here,” he said. “This is really
about our communities coming
together, about the leadership of
the school district, our teachers
and our principals and the entire
community coming together to
say, ‘We’re not doing well enough
by our kids.’”
The Obama administration has
also expressed disappointment of
Congress’ inability to agree on
changes to No Child Left Behind.
As a result, states are being allowed to seek waivers from some
of the law’s requirements if they
meet certain criteria. The majority of the states, including Colorado, have said they would seek
waivers, which could be issued as
early as next year.
“No Child Left Behind did a
huge disservice,” Bennet said.
“One of the most important
things it did well was is it showed
us the enormous gaps that exist
in our country between kids living in poverty and more affluent
kids.”
“But the measuring stick was
all screwed up because it was asking an irrelevant question,” Bennet continued. “Which is how did
this year’s fourth-graders do compared to last year’s fourthgraders.”
Bennet visited students Monday while they were in classes, including one where sixth-graders
were discussing how a bill becomes a law. Bennet compared
being in Congress to the bickering that happens in middle
schools and one student asked if
it gave the senator a headache to
hear people arguing all the time.
After some laughter in the classroom, Bennet replied, “Yes, yes it
does.”
New condo building destroyed in fire
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP)
— Firefighters in Fort Collins are
investigating a fire early Monday
that destroyed a condominium
building under construction and
heavily damaged a neighboring
building that also contains condos.
The fire was reported just after
3:30 a.m. in a four-story condo
building being built downtown.
The fire destroyed that wooden building, which hadn’t been
covered by sheetrock yet, and
spread to the Penny Flats build-
ing next door, which has businesses on the ground floor and
condos upstairs. Fire Capt.
Patrick Love said the occupied
building’s sprinkler system
helped suppress the fire enough
so that residents were able to
evacuate.
No one was injured.
The top floor and roof of that
building was damaged by the fire
and smoke and the lower floors
suffered heavy water damage.
Debris from the buildings littered
the streets near the buildings.
rocketminer.com
Officials worried about proposed ski lifts
JOSH LOFTIN
Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A
proposal to link two Utah ski resorts with a series of ski lifts that
cross the spine of the Wasatch
Mountains has drawn criticism
from environmental groups and
Salt Lake City officials concerned
about the impacts on the watershed.
The proposal to build either
chairlifts or a tram would run
contrary to the 25 years of planning that have been used to balance the recreational uses and
watershed protections within the
Wasatch-Cache National Forest,
said Jeff Niermeyer, director of
the city’s Public Utilities Department.
“We anticipate the new ski area
developments would have significant direct and cumulative impacts on public lands and our watersheds,”
Niermeyer
said.
“These watersheds currently provide a high-quality, sustainable
drinking water supply because of
protective policies and regulations.”
The project is being proposed
by Talisker Corp., which owns
The Canyons resort near Park
City. That resort is currently the
largest ski area in the state.
Partnering with Talisker on the
project is Solitude Mountain Resort, located in Big Cottonwood
Canyon east of Salt Lake City.
The plan is still in its nascent
stages, with resort officials pitching the idea to local groups.
As the proposal progresses, extensive studies will be done and
all environmental regulations will
be followed, said Mike Goar,
managing director for The
Canyons.
“Best management practices
for design and construction
would be employed to maintain
and protect water quality in the
watershed,” Goar said in a statement.
Ted Wilson, the government
relations director for Talisker, has
said connecting the resorts would
allow skiers to park their cars in
one place and ski at both resorts
in one day. Doing so might mean
the reduction of thousands of
cars on busy weekends in the
busy canyon leading to Solitude.
Environmental group Save Our
Canyons is opposed to the plan,
and described it as a “ruse to sell
lift tickets” at The Canyons on
their Web site. The group is skeptical of the projected reduction in
canyon traffic, and said even if
the lifts don’t open more backcountry terrain the impacts from
building the towers would be significant.
Laura Briefer, project manager
for Salt Lake City Public Utilities,
echoed those concerns.
“The commercial ski areas in
our watersheds are nationally
renowned ... We understand that
these businesses plan for growth
and improvement,” Briefer said.
“However, the new ski area expansion plans are in addition to
the opportunities that ski areas
currently have approved for significant growth within their permitted boundaries, adding to
concern of cumulative negative
watershed impacts.”
Teton National Park has set a
record for the amount of money
spent on conducting major
searches and rescues this past
fiscal year.
While the final tabulations are
not in for two rescues at the end
of September, the park has already exceeded its all-time high
in expenses with more than
$219,000.
Grand Teton National Park
spokeswoman Jenny AnzelmoSarles says park staff completed
33 major searches and rescues
during the fiscal year, which runs
Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Twelve of
those happened between October and March. A major search
and rescue is anything that costs
more than $500.
The Casper Star-Tribune reports that before this year, the
most expensive year was in 2003,
when rescue costs totaled
$159,000.
demeanor use of marijuana.
Prosecutors say Sniffin was
under the influence of marijuana
and possibly prescription narcotics at the time of the crash.
District Judge Norman E.
Young set Sniffin’s jury trial for
Jan. 17.
erty by false pretenses.
Prosecutors had argued Maycock falsely claimed that she was
married from 1993 to 1999 to obtain a family rate on insurance
premiums from the cemetery district. Maycock and her husband
had divorced in 1971 and remarried in 1999.
The Supreme Court ruled
there was no proof that the cemetery board had relied on Maycock’s misrepresentation of her
marital status in deciding to
grant insurance coverage to her
former husband.
STATE BRIEFS
Wyo. redistricting
still undecided
CHEYENNE (AP) — Redistricting boundaries of Wyoming’s
eastern third remain undecided
in the latest tentative plan approved by a legislative panel.
The Casper Star-Tribune reports that the 13-member Joint
Corporations, Election and Political Subdivisions Committee approved a draft plan Friday for
most of the state. Significant
changes include Dubois and Jeffery City in the same legislative
district and a new district almost
entirely within Jackson city limits.
Natrona County and Sheridan
County would see few significant
changes under the draft plan.
The committee will meet again
Dec. 4-6. Members are examining changes to Campbell County,
which will get an extra state representative because of population
increases between 2000 and
2010. The concern is that the extra state representative comes at
the expense of other, smaller
northeastern Wyoming counties.
Legislators targeting
shell companies
CHEYENNE (AP) — Firms
and registered agents may see
new restrictions on how secretly
they can set up “shell companies”
and
other
businesses
in
Wyoming.
The Wyoming Legislature’s
Joint Corporations, Elections and
Political Subdivisions Interim
Committee voted to sponsor a
pair of bills to help the state crack
down on fraudulent businesses.
One bill would give the secretary of state authority to issue
new cease-and-desist orders to
punish repeat offenders of the
state’s laws involving incorporation services.
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle
reports that a second bill would
fine registered agents who abuse
a loophole in the system.
Several registered agents said
the
bills
would
tighten
Wyoming’s regulations, but not
to the extent where the new laws
would severely hurt business.
Both proposals would need the
approval of the entire state Legislature.
Ur-Energy: Wyo.
permits Lost Cabin
uranium site
RAWLINS (AP) — A company
that wants to mine uranium in
southern Wyoming says it has
won approval from state regulators.
Ur-Energy said Monday that
the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has issued a
mining permit for its Lost Cabin
uranium site in Sweetwater
County.
It’s located in the Great Divide
Basin about 40 miles northwest
of Rawlins.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has licensed the project
but the company still needs approval from the U.S. Bureau of
Land Management before it can
start mining.
Ur-Energy said it has completed engineering for Lost Cabin’s
processing facility and that mine
planning is well under way.
The company is headquartered
in Littleton, Colo. and explores
for and mines uranium in both
the United States in Canada.
Grand Teton spends
record amount on
rescues
LANDER
(AP)
—
Grand
Fish tagged in Wyo.
ends up in Montana
CHEYENNE (AP) — The
Wyoming Game and Fish Department says it has documented
a 415-mile journey by a channel
catfish.
The agency tagged the catfish
in June 2007 just below the
Kendrick Diversion Dam on
Clear Creek east of Sheridan.
That same fish ended up on
the hook of an angler recently on
the Yellowstone River near Pompey’s Pillar, Mont.
Game and Fish believes it may
be the longest documented fish
movement in Wyoming fish tagging history.
The fish likely traveled down
the Powder River into Montana
and then turned upstream in the
Yellowstone.
The fish had to negotiate four
irrigation diversions on its journey. It’s believed high water may
have allowed it to get by most of
the obstacles.
Woman charged in
alleged magic
show scam
Laramie gets
federal grant for
police officers
LARAMIE (AP) — The
Laramie City Council voted to
accept a federal grant to allow the
Laramie Police Department to
hire two more officers.
The Laramie Boomerang reports Saturday that the grant the
council members approved this
week is part of the Department of
Justice Community Oriented Police Services program.
Laramie Police Chief Dale
Stalder says the department has
49 officers and getting two new
officers will put the city at about
the FBI’s recommended staffing
level for mountain states.
The $386,000 federal grant
pays for two officers’ salaries for
three years but Laramie is required to pay for the fourth year.
Hope in Jackson for
ski season bookings
JACKSON (AP) — It’s still early, but travel industry officials in
Jackson Hole are reporting an increase in people reserving rooms
for the upcoming ski season.
The most recent data released
by the Mountain Travel Research
Program indicates that skiers
and snowboarders are continuing
to book for the coming season at
a steady pace.
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
President Jerry Blann says his
company and Jackson Hole Central Reservations have seen a 5
percent increase in bookings over
this time last year.
But Blann tells the Jackson
Hole News & Guide that the increase is based on just a few customers reserving rooms.
He says he’s hesitant to be very
optimistic until the snow starts to
fall and phones start to ring at the
resort.
GILLETTE (AP) — The wife
of a Colorado man convicted of
conning
more
than
100
Wyoming residents out of money
he said would be used to send
disabled children to a magic
show has turned herself in.
The Gillette News Record reports 50-year-old Debra Sue
Magnus of Las Vegas turned herself in Wednesday and has been
charged with conspiracy to obtain property by false pretenses,
a felony. Her husband, 45-yearold man Larry Edward Magnus
of Fort Collins, Colo., was convicted last month on the same
charge.
Court documents say at least
50 people in Gillette and 53 in
Casper gave him donations that
totaled more than $1,000.
Debra Magnus is accused of
calling businesses beginning in
January and asking for donations
for the May show.
JACKSON (AP) — Jackson is
close to bringing a new water
tank into service.
The tank can hold up to 1.3 million gallons of water.
The 28-foot high tank currently sits exposed at the top of a hill
that overlooks the National Elk
Refuge. However, it was designed
to be buried so that only about a
foot of the tank will remain exposed above ground.
Jackson town engineer Shawn
O’Malley tells the Jackson Hole
News & Guide that the new tank
is expected to last 60 years and
will provide water for an expanding population in years to come.
Man enters plea in
death of bicyclist
Money to be repaid
to former trustee
LANDER (AP) — A 30-yearold Lander man has pleaded innocent to vehicular homicide,
manslaughter and other charges
related to a crash that killed a cyclist in Riverton.
Michael William Sniffin is accused of driving a car that hit and
killed 50-year-old Todd Richard
Scofield of Riverton on Aug. 16.
The Riverton Ranger reports
that Sniffin also faces charges of
driving under the influence resulting in serious injury and mis-
GILLETTE (AP) — A former
Campbell County cemetery supervisor whose fraud conviction
was overturned is getting money
she paid in fines and restitution
returned to her.
The Gillette News Record reports that a judge issued an order
saying $20,733 should be repaid
to Christina Maycock after the
Wyoming Supreme Court overturned her conviction in July.
A jury convicted Maycock of a
felony charge of obtaining prop-
Huge water tank to
meet Jackson’s
future needs
Cheyenne’s Archer
Complex costs rise
CHEYENNE (AP) — Costs for
a $40 million Laramie County
complex that will include a government building have increased
but officials say the project is still
under budget.
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle
reports that the officials have approved about $1.12 million in unforeseen expenses. County planner Gary Kranse says it’s normal
to have unanticipated costs for
large construction projects.
The Archer Complex east of
Cheyenne will include a general
government building, a public
works building, a juvenile services center and a shooting range.
Phase 1 of the construction project began in September and it’s
expected to be completed in December. Kranse says he doesn’t
anticipate additional unforeseen
expenses.
Company moving
to new locale
LARAMIE
(AP)
—
A
Wyoming company that provides
technology services for health
care providers says it’s moving to
a new location because it’s expanding.
Medicine Bow Technologies
says
it’s
relocating
from
Wyoming Technology Business
Center to Laramie’s Turner Tract
because the company has grown
in recent years. The company
employs 17 people and CEO
Luke Schneider says he doesn’t
want to lose momentum “due to
lack of work space.”
Ivinson Memorial Hospital
created Medicine Bow Technologies in 2006. The Casper StarTribune reports that the company’s growth has been spurred by
its implementation of an electronic medical record and practice management software.
TIC Wyoming to
pay $135,000 to
settle lawsuit
CHEYENNE (AP) — A construction company in Wyoming
has agreed to pay $135,000 as
part of a settlement of a discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission.
The commission said Monday
that TIC The Industrial Company Wyoming Inc. also agreed,
among other things, to provide
employees with training on the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
The agency had alleged the
Casper, Wyo.-based company
fired millwright Matthew Gilkey
in 2006 because of his physical
impairments, which included a
leg amputation. It alleged TIC
Wyoming wouldn’t let Gilkey return to work unless he provided
medical documentation that he
could perform his job without
medical restrictions, and that the
company failed to engage Gilkey
in good-faith discussions about
accommodations he had requested.
rocketminer.com
WORLD
7B
Libyan leader seeks to
Turks weep as survivors,
calm West on Sharia fears bodies pulled from rubble
HAMZA HENDAWI
AND KIM GAMEL
Associated Press
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — After
giving a speech that emphasized
the Islamization of Libya, the head
of the transitional government on
Monday tried to reassure the
Western powers who helped topple Moammar Gadhafi that the
country’s new leaders are moderate Muslims.
Just as in neighboring Tunisia
and Egypt, Islamists have
emerged from yet another Arab
Spring uprising as the most powerful group in the country. How far
they will go will be decided at the
ballot box — in Tunisia this week,
in Egypt in November and in
Libya within eight months.
National Transitional Council
leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said
Sunday that Islamic Sharia law
would be the main source of legislation, that laws contradicting its
tenets would be nullified, and that
polygamy would be legalized.
“I would like to assure the international community that we as
Libyans are moderate Muslims,”
said Abdul-Jalil, who added that he
was dismayed by the focus abroad
on his comments Sunday on
polygamy. A State Department
spokeswoman said the U.S. was
encouraged that he had clarified
his earlier statement.
The stir created by Abdul-Jalil’s
address in Benghazi, the eastern
Libyan city where the anti-Gadhafi
uprising was born in mid-February, came as international pressure
mounted on him to investigate the
circumstances of Gadhafi’s death.
Abdul-Jalil ordered an inquiry to
establish whether the deposed
Libyan leader was killed in an execution-style slaying after being
captured alive Thursday by fighters in his hometown of Sirte or
whether he died in the crossfire as
government officials have suggested.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated
U.S. support for a full investigation
but said “it’s now time for Libya to
move on.” She endorsed the NTC’s
proposed timeline for next steps in
the democratic transition, and said
Libyans “with no blood on their
hands” must be ensured “a place
in the new Libya, and that they are
safe and they are included.”
She also called a Human Rights
Watch report that dozens of Gadhafi supporters were found dead
with bullet wounds in the back of
the head and their hands tied, “extremely disturbing.” She said U.S.
Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz
raised Washington’s concerns with
the council and asked them to conduct another investigation.
Gadhafi’s body has been on public display since Friday in a commercial refrigerator in the port city
of Misrata, where residents have
been lining up to see it.
Several videos have emerged
showing Gadhafi was alive when
he was captured and taunted and
beaten by revolutionary fighters in
Sirte. The Boston-based international news site GlobalPost posted
a video showing Gadhafi’s captors
ramming a stick into his buttocks
through his pants.
Ibrahim
Beit
al-Mal,
a
spokesman for the fighters, said he
expected that the bodies of Gadhafi, his slain son Muatassim and
former Defense Minister Abu Bakr
Younis will be buried Tuesday in
an unmarked grave in a secret location.
That could not be confirmed,
and Abdul-Jalil said earlier that the
transitional government has established a committee to determine
what to do with Gadhafi’s body,
adding that the decision will be
governed by a religious edict by
the head of the Islamic Fatwa society.
Guma al-Gamaty, a Londonbased spokesman for the National
Transitional Council, said AbdulJalil had an obligation at the dawn
of a new era to assure Libyans that
Islam will be respected.
“This doesn’t mean that Libya
will become a theocracy. There is
no chance of that whatsoever.
Libya will be a civic state, a democratic state and, in principle, its
laws will not contradict democracy,” he said.
It is the kind of assurance Western powers that supported the
anti-Gadhafi
fighters
with
airstrikes and diplomatic backing
may have been looking for.
In Washington, Nuland stressed
the importance of creating “a
democracy that meets international human rights standards, that
provides a place for all Libyans
and that serves to unify the country.”
She said the U.S. was encouraged that Abdul-Jalil clarified his
earlier statements on the topic, but
hedged on an overall U.S. assessment of systems based on Sharia.
“We’ve seen various Islamicbased democracies wrestle with
the issue of establishing rule of law
within an appropriate cultural context,” Nuland said. “But the No. 1
thing is that universal human
rights, rights for women, rights for
minorities, right to due process,
right to transparency be fully respected.”
French
Foreign
Ministry
spokesman Bernard Valero played
down the comments.
“We have confidence that the
Libyan people, who have courageously freed themselves from 42
years of dictatorship, will build a
lawful state, in conformity with the
principles and universal values
shared by the international community,” Valero said in an online
briefing Monday.
Many Libyans welcomed AbdulJalil’s comments as a chance to
overturn Gadhafi’s rulings as he
cracked down on Islamists in his
later years. Others were critical,
saying it was the wrong time to
raise the issue.
Hana el-Gallal, a human rights
activist, said she was not against
the implementation of Sharia law
but only if done correctly.
“For me, the speech was not up
to the historical moment we are
going through. We know the
Quran and we know the basics of
our religion. We are not against
polygamy but it is better to regulate it,” she said.
“Maybe he is trying to make
sure that we are not going to be a
Westernized country. I don’t know
what kind of threat he faces,” she
added.
Libya is a deeply conservative
Muslim nation, with most women
wearing headscarves or the all-encompassing niqab. Islamists were
heavily repressed under Gadhafi
and are eager to have their say,
raising the prospect of a battle for
influence between hard-line and
moderate Muslims. Already several attacks have occurred on shrines
in and around Tripoli belonging to
Muslim sects whose practices are
seen as sacrilegious.
Abdul-Jalil singled out banks
charging interest as something
that will be abolished to conform
with Sharia laws that equate bank
interest with usury. He also said
that a Gadhafi-era law that sets
conditions on Libyan men wishing
to take a second wife, including the
written approval of the first wife,
will have to be nullified since the
Quran allows men to take up to
four wives.
“If we follow Islamic principles,
then Islam does ban interest. This
is an Islamic rule that can’t be negotiated. Some banks are following the Islamic way, which is sharing losses or profits. ... Quran is the
higher constitution for all Muslims,” Abdul-Jalil said on Monday.
Implementing Sharia in Libya
may not necessarily mean the
North African nation will turn into
regimes like clergy-ruled Iran or
Afghanistan under the Taliban.
The extent of how far Sharia law
can be applied depends in large
part on the interpretation of a large
body of Quranic verses and sayings and deeds of Muhammad, Islam’s seventh century prophet.
Sharia law is enshrined in the
constitution of a number of Middle
Eastern countries with Muslim
majorities, but the role it plays in
society varies according to interpretations. Some nations, such as
Iran and Saudi Arabia, follow a
stricter interpretation that mandates cutting off the hands of
thieves, the heads of murderers
and stoning adulterers to death.
Those who drink alcohol are publicly flogged. Others, such as
Egypt, state that Sharia is a main
source of legislation but have largely secular laws.
“It may not be quite be the country that NATO thought it was
fighting for (when Sharia is implemented in Libya),” said David
Hartwell, a British-based Libya expert. “But the huge amounts of oil
and gas in Libya will make everyone learn how to reconcile themselves with the new Libya.”
Gadhafi’s approach to Islam has
changed through his nearly 42
years as leader. On coming to power in 1969, he pushed for an interpretation of Islam that encouraged
the fight against European colonial
powers in Libya and across the
globe. He banned alcohol in line
with the faith’s teachings and
turned against liberals and leftists
during his early years in power.
In later years, however, Gadhafi
saw militants as a threat to his authoritarian rule. He jailed and put
to death many of them while sending agents of his powerful security organs to monitor and, in some
cases, arrest Libyans showing
signs of piety, such as frequenting
mosques to offer dawn prayers.
Islamists are a small minority
among Libya’s population of 6 million, but they were by far the
largest and most powerful faction
among the fighters who battled
pro-Gadhafi forces in eight
months of civil war. Abdul-Jalil, analysts said, was likely to have given his address an Islamic slant as
a nod to those fighters who were
united with other factions by the
common goal of ousting Gadhafi
but now are jockeying to fill the political vacuum left by his ouster.
U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks start in Geneva
FRANK JORDANS
AND JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — The top U.S.
envoy on North Korea has reported some progress after the first
day of talks over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, the second direct
encounter between both sides in
less than three months.
Speaking to reporters and TV
cameras Monday night as he reentered his lakeside hotel after
their first meeting at the United
States’ U.N. mission in Geneva,
Stephen Bosworth called himself
“neither optimistic nor pessimistic.”
“We have had a good day of
talks. I think we’re moving in a
positive direction. We have narrowed some differences, but we
still have differences that we have
to resolve,” he said in brief remarks in the lobby of the hotel
where the two sides are staying,
either by design or coincidence.
He was accompanied by Glyn
Davies, the U.S. ambassador to
the International Atomic Energy
Agency, who is taking over the negotiating brief in future talks.
Bosworth said the United
States and North Korea were
“conducting very intensive discussions” and would continue to
try to narrow their differences, but
did not provide more specifics.
Asked by The Associated Press
whether they had touched on other long-standing issues — such as
food aid to the chronically impoverished North, reuniting separated families on the Korean peninsula, and recovering the remains
of troops missing in action —
Bosworth replied affirmatively.
“Everything,” he answered,
without elaborating.
The parties met for two hours
Monday morning before breaking
to have lunch separately. After a
three-hour halt the talks resumed
for a few hours in the afternoon.
The Koreans then returned at
night for dinner at the U.S. mission.
“As you know, our goal is to try
to find a solid foundation on
which to launch a resumption of
discussions both bilateral and
multilateral, and we will continue
to work hard to bring that about,”
Bosworth said. “We have made
some progress, we have issues
still to resolve and we will work
hard to do that.”
Their opposite on North Korea’s delegation is First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan.
The two sides are scheduled to
reconvene at North Korea’s mission on Tuesday.
U.S. diplomats have previously
said they want North Korea to adhere to a 2005 agreement it reneged on requiring verifiable denuclearization in exchange for
better relations with its Asian
neighbors.
China, North Korea’s closest
ally, urged Pyongyang to improve
its strained ties with United States
and South Korea, China’s official
Xinhua News Agency reported
Monday.
Beijing wants to revive the
stalled six-nation disarmament
negotiations, which also include
South Korea, Japan and Russia.
North Korea walked out on the
talks in 2009 — and exploded a
second nuclear-test device — but
now wants to re-engage. Last
year, Pyongyang also was blamed
for two military attacks on South
Korea that heightened tensions
on the peninsula.
SELCAN HACAOGLU
AND SUZAN FRASER
Associated Press
ERCIS, Turkey (AP) — Distraught
Turkish
families
mourned outside a mosque or
sought to identify loved ones
among rows of bodies Monday
as rescue workers scoured debris
for survivors after a 7.2-magnitude quake that killed at least 279
people.
Rescue teams with generatorpowered floodlights worked into
the night in the worst-hit city of
Ercis, where running water and
electricity were cut by the quake
that rocked eastern Turkey on
Sunday. Unnerved by over 200
aftershocks, many residents slept
outside their homes, making
campfires to ward off the cold, as
aid organizations rushed to erect
tents for the homeless.
Victims were trapped in
mounds of concrete, twisted steel
and construction debris after
over a hundred buildings in two
cities and mud-brick homes in
nearby villages pancaked or partially collapsed in Sunday’s earthquake. About 80 multistory
buildings collapsed in Ercis, a
city of 75,000 close to the Iranian
border that lies in one of Turkey’s
most earthquake-prone zones.
Cranes and other heavy equipment lifted slabs of concrete, allowing residents to dig for the
missing with shovels.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent
Arinc said the quake killed 279
people and injured 1,300, though
search-and-rescue efforts could
end as early as Tuesday. Authorities said 10 of the dead were students learning about the Quran at
a religious school that collapsed.
Grieving families cried outside
an Ercis mosque.
“My nephew, his wife and their
child, all three dead. May God
protect us from this kind of grief,”
resident Kursat Lap said.
Bodies were still being pulled
from the rubble late Monday.
Dozens were placed in body bags
or covered by blankets, laid in
rows so people could search for
their missing relatives.
“It’s my grandson’s wife. She
was stuck underneath rubble,”
said Mehmet Emin Umac.
Several other men carried a
child’s body wrapped in a white
cloth as weeping family members
followed behind.
Still, there were some joyful
moments. Yalcin Akay was dug
out from a collapsed six-story
building with a leg injury after he
called an emergency line on his
cell phone and told the operator
where he was, Turkey’s Anatolia
news agency reported. Three others, including two children, were
also rescued from the same
building in Ercis 20 hours after
the quake struck.
Two other survivors were
trapped for over 27 hours.
Abdurrahman Antakyali, 20,
was brought out of a crumbled
Internet cafe after an eight-hourlong joint rescue effort by Turkish and Azerbaijani teams. His father and brother wept with joy as
he emerged, Anatolia reported.
Tugba Altinkaynak, 21, had
been at a family lunch with 12
other relatives when the temblor
hit. Four relatives were pulled out
alive earlier but her mother and
the others were still missing late
Monday. Altinkaynak, who was
conscious and covered in dust,
was brought out on a stretcher
and rushed to an ambulance.
Aid groups scrambled to set up
tents, field hospitals and kitchens
to help the thousands left homeless or too afraid to re-enter their
homes. Many exhausted residents spent a second night outside.
“We stayed outdoors all night,
I could not sleep at all, my children, especially the little one, was
terrified,” said Serpil Bilici of her
6-year-old daughter, Rabia. “I
grabbed her and rushed out
when the quake hit. We were all
screaming.”
The bustling, larger city of Van,
about 55 miles (90 kilometers)
south of Ercis, also sustained
substantial damage. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who
inspected the area, said “close to
all” the mud-brick homes in surrounding villages had collapsed
in the temblor that also rattled
parts of Iran and Armenia.
Leaders around the world, including President Barack Obama, conveyed their condolences
and offered assistance, but Erdogan said Turkey was able to cope
for now. Azerbaijan, Iran and Bulgaria still sent aid, he said.
Among those offering help
were Israel, Greece and Armenia,
who all have had issues in their
relations with Turkey.
The offer from Israel came despite a rift in relations following a
2010 Israeli navy raid on a Gazabound aid flotilla that left nine
Turks dead. Greece, which has a
deep dispute with Turkey over
the divided island of Cyprus, also
offered to send a special earthquake rescue team.
Turkey and Armenia have no
diplomatic ties due to tensions
over the Ottoman-era mass
killings of Armenians and the
conflict in the separatist region of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkey lies in one of the
world’s most active seismic
zones and is crossed by numerous fault lines. In 1999, two
earthquakes with a magnitude of
more than 7 struck northwestern
Turkey, killing about 18,000 people.
Istanbul, the country’s largest
city with more than 12 million
people, lies in northwestern
Turkey near a major fault line,
and experts say tens of thousands could be killed if a major
quake struck there.
Tunisia’s Islamist party claims election victory
PAUL SCHEMM
Associated Press
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A
moderate Islamist party claimed
victory Monday in Tunisia’s
landmark elections as preliminary results indicated it had won
the biggest share of votes, assuring it will have a strong say in
the future constitution of the
country whose popular revolution led to the Arab Spring.
The Ennahda party’s success
could boost other Islamist parties in North Africa and the Middle East, although Ennahda insists its approach to sharia, or
Islamic law, is consistent with
Tunisia’s progressive traditions,
especially in regards to women’s
rights.
Party officials estimated Ennahda had taken at least 30 percent of the 217-seat assembly
charged with writing a new constitution for the country. Other
estimates put the party’s share
from Sunday’s vote closer to 50
percent. Official results are expected Tuesday.
International observers lauded the election as free and fair
while emphasizing that the parties in the new government
must work together and safeguard the rights of women.
There were no official announcements of domestic results Monday, but Tunisian media outlets posted tallies from
individual polling stations, making it clear that Ennahda or Renaissance Party was now the
dominant political force in the
country, coming in first in nearly every constituency.
Ennahda did take half of the
18 seats reserved for Tunisians
living abroad in official preliminary results released Monday.
Two center-left parties took seven other seats between them —
a distributon of seats expected
to replicated domestically.
“Ennahda has taken first
place on the national level and at
the level of the constituencies,”
said Abdel Hamid Jelassi, the
party’s campaign manager at a
triumphant press conference
outside its headquarters amid
cheering supporters.
In the half century since its
1956
independence
from
France, Tunisia has been practically a one-party state until
Tunisians kicked out President
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January after a monthlong popular
uprising. Nine months of unrest, further demonstrations
and political wrangling in the
country of 10 million preceded
Sunday’s vote, which saw a huge
turnout.
The constituent assembly
elected will have an incredibly
important role in building
Tunisia’s new democracy. It will
not only appoint a new interim
government but write the constitution that will determine
how the country will function.
Tunisia’s elections coincided
with declarations in neighboring
Libya by its new leaders that the
country has been liberated from
the yoke of longtime dictator
Moammar Gadhafi. Libya’s new
leaders also announced plans
with a sharply Islamist tone that
could rattle their Western backers.
Ennahda says it wants Islamic law to be the source of the
country’s legislation, but also insists that the country’s progressive personal status code is
compatible with its ideals and
that it respects all religions and
creeds. The party’s ability to
gain votes by moderating its
message in a country with a progressive social history could be
a model for Islamist parties elsewhere.
“Islamist groups are learning
to play politics in the sense of
moderating their message and
moving to the center,” said
Philip Howard, a professor at
the University of Washington
and the director of the Project
on Information Technology and
Political Islam. “They start out
fundamentalist but then become
content to participate in party
politics and move to the center,
giving up some of their radical
politics.”
Habib Bourguiba, who led
Tunisia to independence, was a
staunch secularist, and helped
shape what was outwardly one
of the more Westernized societies in the region, with a progressive personal status code
for women — and harsh repression for Islamists.
When asked why they voted
for Ennahda, Tunisians cited
everything from protection of
Islam to the hope that the party
could deliver jobs, to the fact
that it was once severely repressed by the government.
“Ennahda was never with Ben
Ali,” said Mohammed Husseini,
a taxi driver in Tunis. “All the
other politicians benefited from
him in one way or another.”
The election was widely
praised by the different teams of
international observers who
came to watch the contests, who
described as fair with only a few
minor violations that had no effect on the outcome.
“This election to me was
hands down the best, most
promising election I have ever
witnessed, including those I
have seen in the United States,”
said Jane Harman, a former
nine-term congresswomen from
California with the National Democratic Institute’s delegation
of observers.
She
congratulated
the
Tunisians, then cautioned the
apparent winners not to roll
back the country’s famous
achievements for women.
“The world is watching to
make certain that the government that emerges respects the
rights of women, continues to
uphold the family status law in
Tunisia — as all the parties
pledge to do — and that women
play a very meaningful role in
the future of the country,” she
said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton also encouraged the
election’s winners to work together and protect human
rights.
“We encourage the Constituent Assembly to operate in
a transparent and inclusive
manner as they undertake this
new democratic responsibility
and fulfill the Tunisian people’s
aspirations for accountability,
wider economic opportunity
and respect for universal human
rights,” she said in a statement.
The one party that was most
vociferous in its commitment to
protect the status of women
from Ennahda did suprisingly
poorly in the polls.
The Progressive Democratic
Party was one of the only legal
opposition parties under Ben
Ali. It appears to have faded during the campaign and in a
downcast press conference, party officials said they appeared to
have come in fourth place.
Party leader Maya Jribi said
the PDP still had faith in its center-left ideology and would work
in the opposition.
“We are in a democracy, and
the minority plays the role of the
opposition, and we will do this
role in the right way and we will
ask the assembly to meet the
needs of Tunisians,” she said.
“We will play a role in the new
constitution and assure it has a
separation between religion and
state.”
8B
NATIONAL
rocketminer.com
NASA launching new
Earth-observing satellite
ALICIA CHANG
AP Science Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — After
a five-year delay, an Earth-observing satellite will be launched
to test new technologies aimed
at improving weather forecasts
and monitoring climate change.
The $1.5 billion NASA mission
comes in a year of weather extremes from the Midwest tornado outbreak to the Southwest
wildfires to hurricane-caused
flooding in New England.
“We’ve already had 10 separate weather events, each inflicting at least $1 billion in damages,” said Louis Uccellini of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The satellite will lift off before
dawn Friday from Vandenberg
Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a
Delta 2 rocket that will boost it
into an orbit some 500 miles
high.
The space agency already has
a fleet of satellites circling the
Earth, taking measurements of
the atmosphere, clouds and
oceans. But many are aging and
need replacement.
The latest — about the size of
a small school bus — is more sophisticated. It carries five different types of instruments to collect environmental data, including four that never before have
flown into space.
One of the satellite’s main jobs
is to test key technologies that
will be used by next-generation
satellites set to launch in a few
years.
NOAA meteorologists plan to
feed the observations into their
weather models to better anticipate and track hurricanes, tornadoes and other extreme
weather.
The information will “help us
understand what tomorrow will
bring,” whether it’s the next-day
DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer
Photo courtesy of NASA and the Vandenberg Air Force Base
An AJ10 engine for the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is hoisted up in the service tower at NASA’s Space Launch Complex 2. The
rocket will carry NASA’s National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project satellite into space.
Photo courtesy of Ball Aerospace
Technicians perform final testing on NASA’s National Polar-orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project satellite in a clean room at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
forecast or long-term climate
change, said Andrew Carson,
the mission’s program executive
at NASA headquarters.
The satellite is part of a bigger
program with a troubled history.
Originally envisioned as a joint
civil-military weather satellite
project, ballooning costs and
schedule delays caused the
White House last year to dissolve the partnership.
Under the restructuring, the
Defense Department is building
its own military satellites while
NASA is developing a new generation of research satellites for
NOAA. Friday’s launch is considered the first step toward that
goal.
The satellite was supposed to
fly in 2006, but problems during
the development of several in-
struments forced a delay. NASA
invested about $895 million in
the mission while NOAA and the
Air Force contributed $677 million.
For the launch, NASA invited
20 of its Twitter followers to
Vandenberg, where they will receive front-row seats to view the
liftoff.
Once in orbit, the satellite,
built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo.,
will spend the next five years circling the Earth from pole to pole
about a dozen times a day. Data
will be transmitted to a ground
station in Norway and routed to
the United States via fiber optic
cable. NASA will manage the
mission for the first three
months before turning it over to
NOAA.
Marine Corps to teach story of first black Marines
JULIE WATSON
Associated Press
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Oscar Culp does not like to remember. His mind has erased the
harshest details. But the pain still
stings for the 87-year-old World
War II veteran, who endured boot
camp in a snake-infested North
Carolina swampland as one of the
first blacks admitted to the Marine
Corps.
He wipes a tear. Black Marines
were barred from being stationed
with whites at nearby Camp Lejeune. But what hurt worse, he says,
was returning from the battlefield
to a homeland that ordered him to
sit at the back of the bus and drink
out of separate fountains from the
white Americans he had just put
his life on the line to protect.
“Excuse me,” he says, pulling out
a handkerchief. “Sometimes we
get a little emotional about it.”
The story of the first black
Marines is a part of history few
Americans — and even few
Marines — have learned. Unlike
the Army’s Buffalo Soldiers or the
Army Air Corps’ Tuskegee Airmen, the Montford Point Marines
have never been featured in popular songs or Hollywood films, or
recognized nationally.
The Corps’ new commandant
intends to change that.
Nearly 70 years after the Marine
Corps became the last military
branch to accept blacks under orders from President Franklin D.
Roosevelt in 1941, Congress will
vote Tuesday on whether to grant
the Montford Point Marines the
Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
The Corps up until now has not
actively broadcast the painful
chapter in the 235-year-old history
of an institution that still is largely
white, especially in the higher
ranks where less than 5 percent of
officers are black.
But Commandant Gen. James
Amos — whose own 2010 appointment made him the first Marine
aviator named to the Corps’ top
job — has made diversifying the
staunchly traditional branch a top
priority. Amos has ordered commanders to be more aggressive in
recommending qualified black
Marines for officer positions. The
Corps this summer named the first
black general, Maj. Gen. Ronald
Bailey, to lead its storied 1st Marine
Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
The Marine Corps also plans to
teach all Marines next year about
Montford Point, the base near the
coastal town of Jacksonville, N.C.,
that the Corps set up for blacks to
keep them separate from white
Marines. It operated from 1942 to
1949.
“Every Marine — from private to
general — will know the history of
those men who crossed the threshold to fight not only the enemy
they were soon to know overseas,
but the enemy of racism and segregation in their own country,”
Amos said.
Amos has spent the year lobbying Congress to grant Montford
Point Marines the civilian medal,
which was given to the Tuskegee
Airmen in 2006. “It’s long overdue,” Amos recently told the last
remaining
Montford
Point
Marines.
Most of the 19,000 Montford
Point Marines have died, their fellow Marines say.
“For the most part, we lost our
history purposely,” said Culp, who
has only a few black-and-white
photographs from those days.
“They didn’t want the world to
know our history.”
Unlike the Tuskegee pilots —
featured in the upcoming Hollywood film “Red Tails” to be released in January — the Montford
Point Marines were not officers in
the war. The Corps gave those promotions to whites, said University
of North Carolina historian Melton
McLaurin, whose book “The
Marines of Montford Point” is being considered by Amos for his
must-read list for Marines.
“The Corps did not want these
guys,” McLaurin said. “The commandant of the Corps at the time
said if he had a choice between
250,000 African-Americans — he
used the term Negroes — and
5,000 whites, he would rather have
the whites.”
Culp had just graduated from
high school in Charlotte, N.C. at 18
when he volunteered to join in 1943
at the height of WWII.
“The Marine Corps was advertised as the most elite military organization, and I wanted to be part
of the best to prove, given the
chance, that we can do whatever
anybody else can do,” he said.
He was bused with the other
Report details
inequities for kids
of gay parents
black recruits and dropped at a
small shed with a guard who led
them into the woods to huts that
would serve as their barracks.
The white drill instructors let it
be known they did not agree with
the new policy forced on the
Corps, with some calling it a disgrace.
The Montford Point recruits
were not allowed to enter Camp
Lejeune unless accompanied by a
white officer. The few times they
went for a training exercise they
had to wait to eat until the white
Marines had finished.
“Montford Point was hell really,”
Culp said. “The water was bad.
The barracks were made out of
some kind of cardboard. It was
cold in the winter. There was ice on
the deck where we would sleep.”
He saw drill instructors beat
those who did not march correctly.
“You just had to take it, take a rifle snapped across your head or be
kicked. It didn’t happen to me but
I saw it happen to other people,”
Culp said. “I really try to forget
about the worst things that happened.”
He was sent to the Pacific where
his all-black ammunition company
dodged gunfire as they ferried supplies to the front lines and carried
back the dead and wounded. He
oversaw the care of white Marines
in the brig.
Montford Point Marines participated in the seizure of Okinawa
and came under heavy fire at Iwo
Jima, winning praise from some
white officers for their actions.
They were sent to Japan to clean
up the ash after the atomic bomb
was dropped over Nagasaki.
But after the war, the Corps discharged all but 1,500 of them.
Culp remained, driven by the injustice that “they wanted us to get
out.”
“Even after the war they wanted
it to be lily white again,” he said.
“They did certain things to try to
get the African-Americans out and
show they were not needed anymore. But we had proven that we
could do anything the whites could
do and sometimes even better.”
Carrel Reavis, 88, was among
those who were discharged. But he
took a bus from Camp Pendleton
across country to Baltimore, Md.,
where he signed up again.
The Corps continued to resist
desegregation even after President
Harry S. Truman’s 1948 order, historians say. It wasn’t until the Korean War that black Marines
fought alongside their white counterparts.
Moving up the ranks remained
difficult. Reavis stayed the same
rank for 10 years while he watched
the Corps promote white corporals
over him to staff sergeant in a couple of months. “We resented things
like that and that’s what happened
to us,” he said, “but who could we
go to correct it or stop it? Nobody.”
Montford Point Marines pushed
each other. Those with college degrees taught the ones without education how to read and write.
“The perseverance we had was
all the same,” said Reavis, who
stayed in the Corps for 21 years
and whose oldest son fought as a
Marine in Vietnam, losing his left
leg. “We were like a brotherhood.”
Reavis, who served in Korea,
said they formed their own organization in 1965, the Montford Point
Marine Association, to preserve
their legacy.
Culp left in 1966 as a master
gunnery sergeant at Camp Pendleton. He settled in Oceanside, a Pacific coast military town bordering
the base, where he opened a furniture store with another Montford
Point Marine. Their business card
reads: “Two people you can trust.”
According to her dads, life is
good for Carrigan Starling-Littlefield, a spunky 5-year-old being raised by two gay men in
South Carolina, which doesn’t
recognize their out-of-state marriage.
“We’ve found that being a
family has created a lot of common ground with other families.
We’ve not had many issues at
all,” said Tommy Starling, a partner in a food brokerage.
Yet he and his husband, Jeff
Littlefield, who became parents
through a California-based surrogacy program, remain wary as
they contemplate Carrigan
growing older and confronting
challenges beyond their supportive community in Pawley’s Island, S.C.
“We’re cautious about where
we go, because we don’t want
our daughter to see any negativity,” said Starling, 39. “We have
some longer-term apprehensions that she’ll face issues as
she gets older, and we’re trying
to prepare her for that ... I feel
she’s the type of person who will
stand up for her family.”
Carrigan is among a growing
multitude of American children
— possibly more than 1.2 million
of them — being raised by gay
and lesbian parents, often without all the legal protections afforded to mom-and-dad households.
Increasingly, the welfare of
these children will be a core part
of gay-rights strategies, as evidenced by a comprehensive report being released Tuesday.
Compiled by an alliance of advocacy and child-welfare groups, it
summarizes how laws and social
stigma create distinctive challenges for gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender families.
“There are myriad ways that
our families are discounted by
government at all levels, and
children are hurt the most,” said
Jennifer Chrisler of the Family
Equality Council, one of the
three groups authoring the report.
The other groups are the liberal Center for American Progress
and the Movement Advancement Project, a gay-rights think
tank. Among other participants
in the project were the National
Association of Social Workers
and the Child Welfare League of
America.
The U.S. census does not attempt to count the number of
children being raised by gays
and lesbians. Demographer
Gary Gates of the UCLA School
of Law’s Williams Institute, who
has been a consultant to the
Census Bureau, estimates the
number at 1.2 million, while the
new report uses the figure of 2
million, including children with
bisexual and transgender parents.
Whatever their numbers, the
families are striking for their diversity — encompassing many
low-income and minority households, and spread across about
96 percent of America’s counties, according to data compiled
by Gates and others.
Among the barriers and inequities they face, as detailed in
the report:
• Many government safety
net programs use definitions of
family tied to marital status
which may exclude same-sex
partners.
• Because of lack of legal
recognition for their unions, gay
and lesbian parents can face
heavier tax burdens, higher costs
for health insurance, and diminished financial protections in the
event of death or disability.
• When same-sex parents separate, one parent may lose custody or visitation rights, even in
cases where he or she had been
a child’s primary caregiver.
Overshadowing all these problems is pervasive social stigma,
according to the report.
“Many of the challenges
LGBT families face stem from a
society that assumes that everyone is heterosexual and comes
from a family with two married
heterosexual parents,” it says.
For opponents of same-sex
marriage, the issue of children
can prompt nuanced responses.
“Certainly children in any
household arrangement need to
be protected — need full support
and love,” said Mary Ellen Russell, executive director of the
Catholic Conference of Maryland. But she said such protections should be provided without redefining the traditional
concept of marriage as between
a man and woman.
Many of the obstacles and inequities outlined in the new report would be addressed if
same-sex marriage — now legal
in six states and Washington,
D.C. — were legalized nationwide and recognized by the federal government. However, the
report includes numerous recommendations for less sweeping changes that would benefit
children with gay parents, such
as:
• Broadening the definition of
“family” to allow LGBT families
to benefit fully from government
safety-net programs, and revise
the tax code to provide equitable
treatment for these families. At
present, even legally married
same-sex couples who can file
joint state tax returns must file
separate federal returns.
• Enacting state-level parental
recognition laws that would allow joint adoption by LGBT parents. Even with about 110,000
children in foster care who are
eligible for adoption, some states
and agencies refuse to place children with same-sex couples.
• Ensuring that LGBT families have access to health insurance on equal terms with heterosexual families, and eliminate inequitable taxation of these benefits.
• Ensuring that hospital visitation and medical decisionmaking policies are inclusive of
LGBT families.
• Expanding education and
training about LGBT families for
social workers, health care
providers and other professionals.
Jeff Krehely, director of the
Center for American Progress’s
LGBT research and communications project, said the report is
part of an effort to counter arguments that same-sex marriage is
a threat to children.
“People who oppose marriage
equality have used and exploited
children in a very scare-mongering way,” said Krehely, who
hopes the report will increase
public understanding and empathy.
The report, titled “All Children
Matter: How Legal and Social
Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families,” is being presented Tuesday
at event in Washington drawing
some high-level government officials.

Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011

Transcription

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