January 2, 2014 I The Lovell Chronicle I 9
I
Year tn
Revtew
January
Twelve post offices in Big Horn and
Park counties, all under the 824 zip
code exchange, will be seeing reduc-
es hours over the coming years, including
Byron, Frannie, Cowley and Deaver.
National news sources are reporting
increased gun sales in stores across the na-
tion following recent tragic events and po-
litical tough talk that threatens to increase
gun regulations. Like other gun stores
across the country, CodeRed Tactical in
Lovell is also seeing a "spike" in sales.
0 Wyoming's congressional del-
egation was divided in their
votes during the recent fiscal
cliff standoff with Rep. Cynthia Lummis
voting against the deal and both Senators
John Barrasso and Mike Enzi voting for it.
An interested group of Cowley resi-
dents Tuesday night questioned a U.S.
Postal Service proposal to reduce hours at
the Cowley Post Office as part of a nation-
wide effort to prevent post office closures
by reducing hours.
1 7 A controversial bill that would
greatly change the role and du-
ties of the Wyoming Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction was heavi-
ly debated in the Wyoming State Senate
this week and passed on third reading
Wednesday.
2 4 The Lovell Chronicle has been
judged the top small weekly
newspaper in Wyoming in the
latest annual contest sponsored by the
Wyoming Press Association.
It's full speed ahead for the Main
Street Phase of the Lovell Water and Sew-
er Infrastructure Project thanks to a deci-
sion by the Wyoming State Loan and In-
vestment Board Thursday to fully fund the
final stage of Lovell's long-running project.
1 Should teacher and students
be friends on Facebook? This
and other issues connected with
the use of social media, texting and other
computer related means of communication
used by teachers, coaches and other school
district staff to interact with students
was discussed at a special work meeting
attended by the board of directors, su-
perintendent of schools and principals of
Big Horn County School District No. 1 on
Tuesday night.
New council member Pam Hopkin-
son, a fourth-generation Byronite who was
seated Dec. 11, was appointed mayor of the
Town of Byron on a 3-1 vote during a spe-
cial meeting due to the resignation of Ma-
rie McCollam, who was appointed mayor
on Dec. 11.
Councilman Vance Peregoy was ap-
pointed mayor of the Town of Frannie
during the Jan. 7 council meeting to re-
place John R. "Jack" Cordner, who recent-
ly resigned.
February
There's hope for the future of the
Lovell Circuit Court thanks to a
footnote in the Wyoming Legisla-
ture's supplemental budget that would
fund the satellite court for one more year.
Some of Big Horn County's largest em-
ployers are reporting steady times in spite
DAVID PECK
A wildfire blackened some 1,500 acres of the Yellowtail Wildlife Habitat
Management Area on April 27. That fire, and other area fires, were driven by
high winds and kept the Lovell Volunteer Fire Dept. busy all weekend.
of a shaky national economy. As a result,
employment has been steady for many
workers in the area and small communities
aren't experiencing the high unemploy-
ment found in other parts of the country.
4 The median strip in downtown
Lovell is coming out with the
street and infrastructure proj-
ect of 2014, and it's not coming back. That
was the decision of the Lovell Town Coun-
cil following a public hearing prior to the
regular council meeting at town hall Tues-
day night.
Don't be fooled by all of that snow in
your yard and glistening in the mountains.
It's dry underneath that snow in most of
Wyoming's high country, and that could
result in a lower-than-average runoff this
spring and summer, Friends of Bighorn
Lake President Bob Croft said this week.
third place at the State Wrestling Tour-
nament over the weekend in Casper, and
while that placing is one step below their
finish of a year ago, the silver lining, well,
maybe the gold lining, is that the Bulldogs
brought home three individual champions.
Seniors Nathan Grant, Jacob Beck and
Dino Collins tore through their respective
brackets to win titles at 160, 170 and 182
pounds, respectively.
1 The Hyart Theatre "Go Digi-
tal or Go Dark" fundraising ef-
fort to keep the historic movie
theater open by funding a digital conver-
sion process has been a rousing success,
and that's a good thing because bids for
the equipment are coming in much high-
er than expected, Hyart Redevelopment
Corp. board president Mike Steenbak-
kers reported this week. As of this week
the local fundraising total has reached
$65,545.55, but the equipment estimate
has risen to around $155,000, depending
on an anticipated bid for electrical work.
Considering that they don't have the
overall depth of last year's squad, the
Lovell Bulldogs turned in a pretty remark-
able performance at the 2A West Regional
Wrestling Tournament Friday and Satur-
day at Hanna-Elk Mountain High School.
Lovell finished a strong second to Cokev-
ille, 202-163.5, beating 10 other schools in
the process.
8 The leaders of many federal-
ly funded organizations in the
area are on edge as they antic-
ipate budget cuts that could kick in if the
federal government sequester rears its
ugly head on Friday.
The Lovell Bulldogs placed a strong
New arrivals ...
More Lillian Richardson ...................... Dec. 31 2012 Maddox David Ward ........................................ July 9
Jex Bentley Salutregui ..................... Jan. 4 Stacie Jayne Tippetts . • ... ......... ,July 11
Zoe Isabel Zelier. ............................................ Jan. 8 Abigail Ella Bazemore ................... .......... i..L. july11
Gage Tyler Angetl ......................................... Jan. 17 Benjamin Darrin Robinson-Loveless ............... July 25
Chase Layton Severeide .............................. Jan. 24 Brett Gilbert Cordova .................................... Aug. 12
Aden Jay Spencer ....................................... Jan. 29 Taya Lynn Schatz ......................................... Aug. 23
Lauren Olivia Robertson ............................... Jan. 29 Zaylee June Rohmr ...................................... Aug. 19
Graysin Reece Jofley .................................... Jan. 31 Milo Lucian Lurid .......................................... Aug, 25
Olivia Rael .................................................... Feb. 27 Josie Jeannette Entel .................................... Aug. 30
James Dylan Btickenstaff ............ , ................. Febi 27 Camden Cooper Blain .................................. Aug. 30
Alia Rae Voelker ..........................................
Oakley Sue Abraham ................................ March
Kelsey Marie Pierce ................................... March 12 Lincoln,
Ethan Puentes ........................................... March 13
Addison Rae Green ................................... March 21 Robert Scott Dillon ................. '. 17
Landyn Kenneth Burnham ......................... March 24 Canyon Eli Weinand ................................... .Sept. 18
Gemma Leise/ Walker ............................... March 25 Roy Thatcher Eckerdt .................................. Sept. 21
Alexandria Lynn Harris .............................. March 25 A/exandra Marie Tones ................................ Sept. 25
Ash/ynn May Hitz ....... ...,,. ............... ............ March 28 Barry Porter VanLake Jo//ey...!....,;.,.........,:Sept, 30
Caison Michael Micke/son ....................... i.. March 29 Lorenzo Alden Silva .................................... ,.,.!Oct. 1
Kata/ina Arece/i Hetland ................................. April 8 = Darien Anthony Crosby,i,,.i.,,,,i..,..,..i:.:, Oct. 4
Clair Jeanette Mumford ................................ April 26 Owen E. James.,...: ...... ;....::...;:._.i...:.i.:L...'.!...Oct. 8
Kylle Lyne Nicholls... ...................................... May 6 Athena Jelena Rigby ..................................... Oct 26
KyZynn Ariing Welch .......... i ........................... May 8 Jasper Essex Eades ............. i ........................ Nov. 6
y 14 Zayde Richard Bowman ............................... Nov. 25
y 16 Pexton Troy Fink,.. ....................................... Nov. 29
Eva/ina Cami//a Garcia ..................... L...:.i.,i May 16 Mada/ynn Legerski.. ................... ,..:.....,:..Nov. 27
Paisley Ann Ma/son .................. :. ........... ..... May 20 Penelope Wambeke ....................................... Dec. 4
Alden Bret George ........................................ May 30 Lydia Nice/e Robertson..: .......... ..:.;... ............. Dec= 9
Drayken Duane Espinoza .............................. June 4 Elizabeth Dawn Pederson ................. :,.:,....Dec, 18
Alexis Kimbedie Clark. ................................... June 8 ReedA/exander Wiggins ............... .....i ........ Dec. 20
Liam Weston Twomey ................................. June 26 Brody Matthew Walker ................................. Dec. 23
Paige Asay ...................................................... July 5 Carter Cash Cozzens .................... :. ............. Dec. 23
Ma]fa Peari Parks ........................... :.: ......... .....Juiy 8
KARLA POMEROY
Jacob Adey and Kade Nicholls leap
for joy at the conclusion of Lovell's
46-35 win over Lusk for the Class 2A
state basketball championship on
March 2 at the Casper Events Center.
March
Members of the Bighorn Canyon
National Recreation Area manage-
ment team met on Tuesday after-
noon to formulate a plan that will comply
with the $176,000 in cuts mandated by the
federal government sequester that went
into effect on March 5.
One of the chief axioms in sports is
that defense wins championships, and
that was certainly the case with the Lovell
Bulldogs Saturday as they shut down the
Lusk Tigers 46-35 to win the state basket-
ball championship at the Casper Events
Center.
They did it again. The Lovell
High School Dance Team, un-
der first-year head coach Sara
Green, excelled in competition against
much larger schools at the Wyoming State
Spirit Competition last Wednesday, March
6, at the Casper Events Center. The LHS
Dance Team placed second in Class 3A
dance. The Rocky Mountain cheerleaders
placed third.
Annual Lovell Area Chamber of Com-
merce awards were presented Friday
night, including School District No. 1 Edu-
cator of the Year Judy Jessup, District No.
2 Educator of the Year Caleb Sanders and
outstanding citizen for 2013 Mike James-
on. Lovell Inc. awards included CodeRed
Tactical as Entrepreneur of the Year and
the Minchow family with the Trailblazer
award. State treasurer Mark Gordon was
the keynote speaker.
1 The Wyoming Dept. of Envi-
ronmental Quality has severely
restricted the Town of Lovell's
spring open burning program, at least un-
til school is out.
The Hyart Theatre will go dark this
weekend...but only this weekend, because
it's going digital. The long-awaited equip-
ment has arrived.
The Big Horn County School District
No. 2 board of trustees approved a proposal
to offer Doug Hazen a contract to take the
reins as principal of Lovell Middle School
at their regular board meeting held on
March 11. Hazen would replace long-time
principal Sheri Monk, who is retiring at the
end of the school year.
8 It's truly a movie palace. That's
how Mark Gulbrandsen and
Randy Barker describe the Hy-
art Theatre, which is both regal in its
history and cutting edge in its technolo-
gy thanks to the digital conversion under
way this week.
Big Horn Rural Electric Co. and Basin
Electric Power Cooperative Tuesday pre-
sented checks totaling $30,000 -- $15,000
each - to Hyart Redevelopment Corp. board
members Mike Steenbakkers and Ed Croft
following an extensive tour of the theater's
digital conversion project by Randy Bark-
er of General Theatrical Supply and Mark
Gulbrandsen of Cinema Service.
Local anglers and other interested par-
ties listened to a plan on Tuesday night
presented by Wyoming Game and Fish
Dept. biologist Mark Smith that is intend-
ed to restore the native Yellowstone Cut-
throat Trout population in the upper Por-
cupine Creek drainage area.
April
Earlier this month Gov. Matt Mead
signed the bill allowing Wyoming to
enter a multi-state lottery or start
a state lottery. The law creating a lottery
corporation goes into effect on July 1.
Members of the Wyoming Constitution
Party are sponsoring a visit by Cindy Hill,
embattled and demoted superintendent of
the public instruction, beginning at 6 p.m.
on Friday, April 5, in the Lovell Fire Hall.
1 The Big Horn County School
District No. 2 Board of Trustees
was treated to a simulated walk-
through of Lovell High School's upcom-
SEE 'YEAR IN REVIEW' page 10
!
DAVID PECK
Aaron and Jonathan Barker of General Theatrical Supply of Salt Lake City
stitch in the new, brighter screen at the Hyart Theatre in Lovell in late March.
The Hyart "Go Digital or Go Dark" fundraising process was a huge success,
raising more than $126,000 toward the $175,000 project.
