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What's Inside ...
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Lady 'dogs sweep
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Speech team
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LOVELL, WYOMING • VOLUME 106, NUMBER 31 - THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2012 • 75¢
This adorable black
and tan puppy looks so
sad and confused at the
Lovell Animal Shelter.
PATH CARPENTER PHOTOS
This beautiful fluffy cat with Siamese-like markings
has been a pet before, and needs a new place to call
home.
anlm;
BY PATti CARPENTER
More than 200 dogs and
about 90 cats saw the in-
side of Lovell's animal shel-
ter last year. Fortunately,
many were recovered by
their" owners or received a
fresh start in life when a
new owner adopted them.
Sadly, an equal number
were euthanized because
the shelter is not big enough
to keep animals for a long
period of time.
The shelter has eight
kennels for dogs and 18 for
cats and other small ani-
mals like ferrets. Daily calls
to impound stray animals
fill those cages very quickly.
"Unfortunately, we
can't keep them forever,"
said Animal Control Offi-
cer Phil Angell. "We try to
keep them as long as pos-
sible, and to find them new
homes whenever we can."
Many of the animals
were picked up as strays
in the area and desperately
need to be adopted. Now.
Currently there are
several dogs and cats at the
shelter that would make
fine pets, including a beau-
tiful red and white Sibe-
rian husky with blue eyes
that would melt any heart.
There is also a pair of ap-
This very friendly mixed
breed dog is one of
Officer Angell's favorites
at the shelter.
proximately four-month-
old pups that appear to
have some herding breed
in them, who would love to
find a home on a local ranch
or with a family in town. A
lovely "all-American" breed
dogis looking for a special
person to love and a big
fluffy cat needs someone to
make him purr again.
"Some of these dogs and
cats are really nice, and I
hope we can find homes for
them soon," said Angell.
"Unfortunately, the shelter
is getting full and we need
to get them adopted out as
soon as possible."
Angell is an animal lover
himself who brings his own
dog with him everywhere he
goes. He interacts with the
animals as much as he can,
and cares for them as best as
he can during their stay at
the shelter.
"It breaks my heart to
see so many animals end up
in the shelter like this," he
said. 'Tney all deserve bet-
ter than this."
There is a fee to adopt
pets from the shelter, but the
adoptee is referred to a vet in
town who will vaccinate and
examine the adopted animal
for free.
According to local ordi-
nance, all dogs must be cur-
rent on their rabies vaccina-
tion and must wear a collar
and special license in town.
The license can be purchased
at the Police Dept. in Lovell
for a nominal fee of $2.50 for
dogs that are spayed/neu-
tered and $10 for intact an-
imals. Nearby towns have
similar ordinances.
For more information
about how to adopt animals
from the shelter, or to make
an appointment to view the
animals, contact the Lovell
Police Department at 548-
2215.
BY PATTI CARPENTER the holidays. It seems like the people are hi-
Law enforcement officials saw the ef- ways medicated or impaired when we arrive,
fects of a struggling economy and the arrival and I think it is the stress that they are feel-
of sophisticated computer technology, used ing in their lives that leads them to become
to both commit and combat crimes, on the
rise in the past year.
Lovell Police Chief Nick Lewis and Big
Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn both
noted an increase in domestic violence, espe-
cially during the recent holiday season. They
also noted an increase in Internet crime,
drug use, sexual crimes and property crimes.
"I think any increases in larceny, theft
and domestic abuse crimes we are seeing
right now go hand-in-hand with the econom-
ic times," said Blackburn. "People are feel-
ing the pressure, and in some cases are us-
ing drugs and alcohol, which compounds the
problem and leads people to make bad deci-
sions that get them in trouble."
"People are definitely a lot more stressed
these days," said Lewis. "We're seeing a lot
more domestic violence cases now than we
have in the past 10 years, especially during
impaired and then they will just fight about
whatever."
Blackburn expressed his concern about
increased drug use and sexual crimes, espe-
cially molestation crimes against children,
noting that every single deputy on his team
has had to investigate some sort of sex crime
at one time or another since they have been
with the department.
'Tee are making great strides in this
area," said Blackburn. %Ve have a great
team working together for the good of the
victims. This includes the crisis advocacy
group CARES, the County Attorney, Depart-
ment of Family Services and others."
He added that he is seeing more citizens,
especially third parties, having the confi-
dence to come forward to report suspicious
See RIMINAL ACTIVITY,' page 8
Y
BY DAVID PECK
A varied and interest-
ing life has led Dr. Debbie
Brackett to Lovell, where
she will practice what she
rural medicine in a
small community.
Dr. Brackett joined the
staffat North Big Horn Hos-
pital and the NBHH Clin-
ic and started work Jan. 3,
moving to Lovell from Big
Piney/Marbleton in western
Wyoming. She will practice
family medicine in Lovell,
with a special interest in
women's health and a love
for rural medicine.
"Being in rural medi-
cine, a lot of that is being
part of the community," she
said. "Otherwise, you don't
understand your patients.
I like being in a small town
and being part of the com-
munity. That's one of the
things that appealed to me
about Lovell."
Dr. Brackett and her
husband, Bob, have lived in
towns all across the USA,
and even in Iceland, first
following his military career
and now her medical ca-
reer. A longtime chiroprac-
tor, seeking new challenges
led her to a new career as a
medical doctor.
Born Deborah Barton
in Van Nuys, Calif., Deb-
bie moved with her fam-
ily often as her father fol-
lowed a number of career
paths that took the family to
North Carolina, Massachu-
setts twice, back to Califor-
nia twice and finally to Or-
egon. Her father worked as
a scientist, helping to design
the heat shield for the ear-
ly Mercury capsules, as the
science advisor to the gover-
nor of California, as a small
business owner, as a finan-
cial planner and finally as a
rancher in Oregon.
After graduating from
high school in Dallas, Ore.,
not to be confused with the
better-known The Dalles,
Ore., she said, Debbie Bar-
ton attended college at
Western Oregon State in
Monmouth, where she ma-
jored in art history, hoping
to become a history teacher
because her favorite teacher
in high school taught histo-
ry. Working two jobs to pay
for college, she eventually
quit and "floundered for a
couple of years," she said.
At the age of 22, she de-
cided to attend chiropractic
college, finishing her basics
at New College of Califor-
Deborah Brackett, M.D.
nia in San Francisco, then
entering the Palmer Col-
lege of Chiropractic in San
Jose. She earned her Doc-
tor of Chiropractic Degree
in 1990.
About a year before
earning her degree, she met
Bob Brackett, who worked
as a fraud investigator for
the Naval Intelligence Ser-
vice. The two fell in love and
were married three weeks
before her graduation.
After a brief stint in Al-
abama while Bob attend-
ed polygraph school, the
Bracketts returned to Cali-
fornia and Debbie opened
her first practice in Walnut
Creek. Their first son, Josh-
ua, was born in 1992.
After Joshua was born,
Bob was transferred to
Washington, D.C., and the
family lived in southern
Maryland. Debbie worked
for doctors in Waldorf and
La Plata, and two more sons
were born: Caleb in 1993
and Samuel in 1995.
Shortly after Samuel
was born, Bob was trans-
ferred to Iceland, starting a
new and interesting chapter
in the family's life.
"The kids and I land-
ed in a blizzard in Iceland
in December of 1995," she
said. "It was a military
flight. It was blowing so
hard that the Marines took
the kids off the flight and I
had to use a rope to stay up-
right while walking to the
terminal."
The Bracketts spent
two years in Iceland. Bob
worked as a liaison among
the NIS, the Icelandic De-
fense Force and NATO, and
the family lived in NATO
housing on a military base
with neighbors from Den-
mark, Canada and France.
Debbie was the first chi-
ropractor given permission
to practice on NATO base,
but she had to learn Icelan-
dic, working hard to learn
the language.
"I can yell at my kids in
Icelandic," she joked.
Given a choice of trans-
ferring to Washington or
North Korea in 1998, Bob
chose to retire, and the
Bracketts opened a chiro-
practic clinic in Charlottes-
ville, Vs., Bob running the
business side and Debbie
See 'DR. BRACKETI','
page8
f
