w~,~. LovellC h ron icle.com
February 25, 2010 ] The Lovell Chronicle I 7
Northwest Civic Orchestra presents
'Back to Bach' Saturday
The Northwest Civic Or-
chestra goes "Back to Bach"
for its Saturday, Feb. 27,
chamber concert in the Nel-
son Performing Arts Center
Auditorium. The music be-
gins at 7:30 p.m.
Under the baton of Mau-
rine Akin, the orchestra fo-
cuses on two large works by
J.S. Bach as well as music by
some of his contemporaries.
The earlier baroque period
is highlighted with Pachel-
bel's famous and enduringly
popular Canon in D.
High points of the pro-
gram include solo perfor-
mances by Akin and Claire
Beth Martinez on Bach's
Concerto for Two Violins,
known as "The Double."
Admission is $7; senior
citizens pay $5.
Continued from page 1
ment council plans to study
the Section 300 process dur-
ing the interim, hoping to
improve the budget public
hearing process.
Citing one example, Pe-
terson said one budget foot-
note would fund a distance
education center to com-
bine and coordinate the dis-
tance learning programs for
the University of Wyoming,
community colleges and
public schools. An appoint-
ed task force would report
back to the governor and the
Joint Appropriations Com-
mittee. The program carries
a $1 million appropriation,
Peterson said.
Such a footnote doesn't
receive the typical scrutiny
a stand-alone bill would get,
he said. He said there was
public testimony during the
pre-session budget hearings
but not as much scrutiny
as a separate bill would re-
ceive.
"Some senators feel it's
getting out of hand," Peter-
son said.
Another large footnote is
the school capital construc-
tion budget footnote, which
lays out and prioritizes how
capital construction would
proceed over the biennium.
Other footnotes include the
school finance recalibra-
tion, the local distribution
for cities, towns and coun-
ties, the Wyoming Pipeline
Authority, the UW athlet-
ic bridge loan, UW capital
construction, a weather su-
per computer to be built in
Cheyenne, Abandoned Mine
Lands funding, supreme
court and district court bud-
gets and state employee
benefits such as health in-
surance, life insurance and
retirement.
Peterson said he will
introduce a budget amend-
ment Thursday to tweak the
hardship formula for coun-
ties to add three more coun-
ties, including Big Horn, to
the six already funded un,
der the current formula.
He said the formula change
would mean some $200,000
in additional funding for Big
Horn County.
OTHER BILLS
After mostly budget
work Tuesday, the Senate
was expected to consider
House bills on the commit-
tee of the whole Wednesday,
Peterson said, with commit-
tee work kicking in to review
the House bills.
He said senators have
received hundreds of e-
mails from NRA members
in support of liB 95, the Wy-
oming Firearms Freedom
Act, and HB 113, Concealed
Weapons Authority. HB 95
would specify that firearms
manufactured, sold, pur-
chased, possessed and used
exclusively within Wyoming
would be exempt from feder-
al regulation including reg-
istration requirements. HB
113 would allow non-felons
to carry concealed weapons
under certain guidelines.
Peterson said legislators
have received so many out-
of-state e-mails in support
of the bills or opposing them
after amendments that a
spare blocker was added to
their server, which, in turn,
prohibited some Wyoming
citizens from getting mes-
sages through.
He added that some
bills coming over from the
House are "loosey-goosey"
and need to be scrutinized
better and cleaned up in the
Senate.
Bills that cleared the
Senate in recent days in-
clude SF 25, which would
tighten up Wyoming's lien
laws; SF 13, which would
enact a statewide economic
analysis for each county to
provide information on the
manufacturing base, agri-
culture base and how pub-
lic lands affect the economy;
and SF 75, which would al-
low school districts to par-
ticipate in the state employ-
ee health insurance plan.
Peterson said the Se-
lect Committee on Men-
tal Health and Substance
Abuse, of which he is a
member, and Rep. Debbie
Hammons (D-Worland) are
supporting a $400,000 bud-
get amendment to fund a re-
gional, four-bed facility for
involuntary commitments
in Worland - a kind of half-
way house for suspects/pa-
tients to stay during their
mental health assessment.
He said the facility
would be an interim step
between local incarceration
and a state mental health
or substance abuse facil-
ity. Washakie County has
donated a building - the
former Red Cross building
- for the facility, Peterson
said.
Continued from page I
He said residents of Bil-
lings sweep leaves into the
street and they are picked
up by the city. He said lar-
ge vacuum trucks for that
purpose are expensive, ho-
wever.
"We need to maximi-
ze access while minimizing
garbage," councilwoman
Jodi Lindsay said.
Morrison said residents
are going to have to ac-
cept the possibility that the
DEQ will no longe rallow
open burning in Lovell, alt-
hough he said he would talk
to agency officials again. He
said shortening the burning
period isn't the answer, no-
ting that the smoke in town
was "terrible" during the
compacted schedule last
fall.
"We need more of an
open attitude than we've
had in the past," he added.
"The DEQ said this might
be it."
"In a world that's going
green, composting is a great
idea," Lindsay noted.
Lindsay said she likes
the idea of forming a citi-
zens group to look into op-
tions in case burning is no
longer allowed, and Morri-
son said he would like to in-
vite the open burning advo-
cates to be involved in the
process.
"I think we need to pur-
sue it and not put it off any-
more," Morrison said. "May-
be we need to get on the
horn and start calling some
people. Maybe we can set up
the group and take some of
them to Riverton (.to study
composting). I'd like to meet
next month."
Allred said people for-
ming the composting gro-
up will need to realize that
the group is being formed to
find alternatives to burning
and that burning is not an
option that would be consi-
dered by the committee.
Morrison said other op-
tions could be considered,
as well. He said the Lovell
Tree Board helped the town
purchase a wood chipper a
few years ago that was in-
tended for public use, but
he said the town doesn't
have the staff to operate the
device for the public.
Town Administrator
Bart Grant warned that
true composting would re-
quire specialized equipment
and more employees to ma-
nage the program. He said
the costs would be passed
on to residents.
"We can't afford another
program and more employ-
ees," he said.
The council will discu-
ss the composting group at
the March 9 council meet-
ing and has tentatively set
a public meeting for Thurs-
day, March 18, at 7 p.m., at
the community center.
WATER REPORT
Don Richards of the
Shoshone Municipal Pipeli-
ne Joint Powers Board pre-
sented his semiannual re-
port to the council Monday
night. He ran the council
through a series of reports,
noting that Lovell's water
usage was at its lowest le-
vel in the history of the pi-
peline last year, in part be-
cause of a cool year in 2009.
He noted that leakage in
the Lovell system is still
"unbelievable - about 30
percent."
He also" said the cost
of chemicals for water tre-
atment is up significantly,
but he said the board does
not anticipate a water rate
increase.
Richards noted the qua-
lity of the water on the sys-
tem, recalling that water
hardness used to average
about 200 in Lovell and
would reach the 500 level
during the winter, but now
the hardness scale averaged
only 53 in 2009.
"What a fantastic buy
this is at the price you're
buying it," Richards told
the council. "It's the best
water in the state and the
surrounding states."
He added that the pi-
peline is "very solvent still"
even though there have
some setbacks in the project
to construct a pipeline adja-
cent to the Powell highway
east of Cody.
"We're producing a good
product," Richards said.
IN OTHER WORK
MEETING ACTION
MONDAY:
• Grant noted that the
county has informed the
town that it will be passing
along a half cent per pound
rate increase to municipali-
ties for the north Big Horn
County landfill. That in-
crease will be built into the
2010-11 budget and will
eventually result in a gar-
bage rate increase, Grant
said.
• The council discus-
sed a proposed ordinance to
assess a late fee for utility
bills not paid after 20 days
and that are, thus, conside-
red to be delinquent.
• The council worked
on updating the town em-
ployee personnel policy ma-
nual.
Grant told the coun-
cil that the town has recei-
ved proposals from DOWL/
HKM Engineering, Coffey
Engineering and The Com-
pany of Lander to re-plat
the back eight lots of the
Lovell Clay Subdivision so
the corner lots will have the
same building area while
maintaining required set-
backs.
Continued from page 1
one vote against it Thurs-
day. Harvey said .the bill
requires inmates to deposit
the money they earn in pris-
on (up to $1,000) into a sav-
ings account. The prisoners
are given the balance of the
account upon their release
from prison. Currently,
some released prisoners end
up homeless after they are
released because they are
only given a bus ticket and
enough money for one meal.
At the start of the ses-
sion on Feb. 8, a total of 224
bills were numbered for in-
troduction. With less than
two weeks remaining in this
year's session, 149 bills re-
main active.
Friday will be the last
day for bills to be reported
out of committee in the sec-
ond house and Monday will
mark the last day for Com-
mittee of the Whole on bills
in the second house. March
2 is the last day for second
reading on those bills and
March 3 will be the last day
for third reading on bills in
the second house. Lawmak-
ers hope to wrap up the
2010 Budget Session March
5.
Harvey said the House
would be working heavily
on the budget this week.
First reading was com-
pleted Monday and second
reading was Tuesday. On
Wednesday legislators were
to take a break from the
budget to prepare for third
reading today (Thursday).
The House will then begin
to consider Senate Files.
March 9 March 11
Greybull
Town Hall
8 pm
Lovell Annex
8 pm
Trapper spirit face painting, $2
Chili & cookie, $3 per person
Cabre Gym 5 pm game time
Alumni merchandise in lobby
~Enjoy the festivities as we honor our sophomoreTrappers before each game
Wyoming
Department
of Health
~t to y~t healS,
Schedule your mammogram and Pap test today!
Early detection is the key.
If you are a Wyoming resident, without health insurance, and
between the ages of 50-64 please call us at 1-800-264-1296.
You may qualify for free breast and cervical cancer screening
and diagnostic tests. Paid far by tobacco settlement funds.
Wyoming Breast & Cervical Cancer Early Detection Prod#am
Northwest College w v o M . G
.Saturday, February 27 is
Fan Appreciation Ni
Enjoy two games NWC vs. Casper College -- on us!
3 pm -Women's game • 5 pm - Men's Game
N6rth e
Trapper Booster Club
QUESTIONS?
Contact Robbi Welch 754.6034 or
Robbi. Welch @northwestcollege.edu.