2012 State Champions
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State wrestling champs crowned Saturday night were (l-r): Mark Grant, Brigham Hopkin and Dino Collins with Coach Daniel Robertson.
LOVELL
What's Inside ...
Romney tops
straw poll Page 3
MDU line
project begins Page 5
Dance and spirit
groups Page 6
Bulldog wrestlers
second at state __ Page 9
LOVELL, WYOMING • VOLUME 106, NUMBER 38 • THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012 • 75¢
Reward offered
for info about
poached
antelope
BY PATTI CARPENTER
Local game warden Jim
Hobbs is asking for help from
the public that will help the Wy-
oming Game and Fish Depart-
ment apprehend the individual
or individuals who illegally shot
an antelope outside of hunting
season on Sunday sometime be-
fore noon.
Hobbs reports that the ani-
mal was shot multiple times with
a 22-caliber weapon through
the chest and lungs and then
through the head on BLM land
near the junction of the road to
Georgia Pacific and Spence Oil
Field Road. The area is located
between Lovell and Greybull.
Hobbs described the killing as a
thrill kill.
"This normally doesn't hap-
pen just one time with a thrill
killing like this, so people need to
be extra vigilant and report any-
thing unusual they see going on
in the area," said Hobbs. "Once
something like this happens,
it's not unusual to see it happen
again in the same area."
The young buck was estimat-
ed to be around 3 years old. His
antlers were not fully developed.
His body was left to rot at the lo-
cation.
"Because of this act, other
hunters have lost their opportu-
nity to hunt this animal legally,"
said Hobbs. "We lost the oppor-
tunity to see this animal fully
mature."
Wyoming Game and Fish is
offering a reward up to $500 for
information leading to the ap-
prehension of the individual or
individuals responsible for kill-
ing the animal. Tips can be anon-
ymous, said Hobbs.
If convicted, the individu-
als found responsible could lose
hunting privileges in more than
30 states for a specified period of
time and can also be fined.
"If anyone saw anything out
of the ordinary on Sunday in the
area, they need to report it to us
as soon as they can," said Hobbs.
"This is all of our wildlife and we
need to protect it when we can."
Hobbs said that Game and
Fish has a slim chance of catch-
ing the person or persons respon-
sible for this act without help
from the public.
"This is especially sad in an
area like this where we don't
have a ton of antelope to hunt le-
gally like they do in some parts
See 'POACHED,' page 2
House hammers out budget
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The Wyoming House of Rep-
resentatives corapleted their
monumental task of reviewing
and revising the state's budget
bill this week. The 2,000-page bill
initiated by the Gov. Mead will
determine the state's expendi-
tures for the next two years. Now
the House and Senate will resolve
their differences in a conference
committee. The bill provides for
roughly $3.2 billion in spending.
"After the Governor turned in
his budget and the Joint Appro-
priations Committee worked it,
the bill went to both floors for dis-
cussion," explained Rep. Elaine
Harvey of Lovell. "On first read-
ing, we just discussed the agen-
cies and their needs. On second
reading, the House introduced 48
amendments, passed 23 and nine
were with-
drawn by the
sponsor."
On the
third read-
ing, which
took place on
Monday, 40
amendments
were intro-
Representative duced, 15
Elaine Harvey passed and
five were withdrawn by the spon-
sor. The largest topics for discus-
sion were about the university
and community colleges and what
and how they should be funded.
State employees were discussed,
education, Camp Gurnsey and
Dept. of Health funding."
Harvey explained that some
amendments can be dispensed
within a few minutes, but others
can take up to an hour to debate.
"Thursday is notoriously
known as one of the longest days
of the session because of the sec-
ond reading amendments," said
Harvey. "At the same time as
debate is ongoing with the bud-
get bill, regular non-budget bills
have until Friday to be heard in
Committee of the Whole. Those
bills that don't get heard by ad-
journment on Friday will die. So
there is a lot of pressure to move
forward, but to also move forward
with diligence and expeditiously."
The part of the budget bill
that will provide needed funds
for Lovell High School's remodel
passed the Senate and the House
this week. It will now go to the
conference committee, since there
are some minor changes to the
House version from the Senate
version. The changes do not affect
Representative Elaine Harvey: Harvey00@tctwest.net
Bill status hotline: 1-800-342-9570 • Voter hotline: 1-866-996-8682
House receptiOnist: 1,307777,7852
On the web: http://legisweb.state.wyius
the school's plan, which is a cost-
effective remodel that will cir-
cumvent the eventual expense of
having to build a new school.
"None of these changes affect
our LHS remodel project funds,"
said North Big Horn School Dis-
trict No. 1 Supt. Dan Coe. "Once
it passes conference committee, it
goes back the Senate and House
for approval then the Governor
for his signature. Since the legis-
lature is scheduled to end Thurs-
day March 8, this process is ex-
pected to take place by then.
"We are hoping it becomes
law next week and project we can
start planning for the remodel by
May or June. It is projected by
our architects that it will take up
to a year for the design phase of
the project prior to construction."
The House sent a number of
resolutions to Congress. One reso-
lution asked Congress to halt post
office closures while considering
alternatives that might prove to
be better business models.
"We asked them to quit clos-
ing post offices and to start talk-
ing about alternatives," said Har-
vey. "We asked them to amend
their business model to some-
thing that makes more sense
from a business perspective."
Another resolution sent to
Congress asked them not to pass
a law that could undermine par-
See 'HOUSE,' page 2
Budget bill worked in Senate,
compromise now needed
BY DAVID PECK
As a legislator, you win some
battles and you lose some battles.
That was the message from
Sen. Ray Peterson of Cowley Tues-
day as the 2012 Budget Session of
the Wyoming
Legislature
passed the
halfway point
early this
week.
Peter-
son said most
bills origi-
nating in the
House and
Senator Senate have
Ray Peterson
either passed
Senator Ray Peterson:
Bill
Senate receptionist: 1:307-777=7751
On the web: http://legisweb.state.wy.us
in their chamber of origin or have
been killed, with last Friday being
the cutoff date for bills to be con-
sidered in the Committee of the
Whole (first reading).
He said of 135 House bills
filed, 53 were not considered for
introduction, leaving 82 pieces
of legislation in the hopper - 73
House bills and nine joint resolu-
tions. Fifteen of the 82 have since
been killed or failed to be consid-
ered by the cutoff deadline.
In the Senate, out of 109 Sen-
ate files, 13 were not considered
for introduction, leaving 96 intro-
duced, and of those, 25 were killed
or ran out of time. That leaves 67
House bills and 72 Senate files
rpeterson@W ng.com
still in the works.
With Friday being the last
day for Committee of the Whole in
the house of origin, but with work
needed on third reading of the
budget bill (SF1), the Senate post-
poned third reading of the budget
bill until Monday and worked Sen-
ate files on the floor all day. That
work saved 32 Senate files, Peter-
son said, including his bill on Med-
icaid fraud.
"We were spending a lot of
time on the budget, with amend-
ments, so the Senate files were
being threatened," Peterson said.
"We postponed third reading of
the budget bill until Monday and
worked all day Friday in the Com-
mittee of the Whole. We worked
until 4:30 p.m."
As the budget was worked by
See 'SENATE,' page 8
House bill summary
Here is a summary of the bills
that passed the Wyoming House
of Representatives this week:
WEDNESD4,Y, FEB. 22
HB0005 Life and health in-
surance guarantee association
limitations. Relates to insurance,
increasing limits on annuity and
health insurance benefits liabil-
ity of life and health insurance
guarantee association.
HB0015 Insurance-surplus
lines. Relates to insurance, pro-
viding for regulation of surplus
lines, providing for independent-
ly procured insurance, imposing a
premium tax on such insurance,
providing definitions, repealing
inconsistent provisions.
I-IB0016 Insurance code-revi-
sions. Relates to insurance, modi-
fying provisions relating to main-
taining NAIC accreditation and
relating to financial solvency of
insurers, authorizing premium
rate adjustments by the commis-
sioner, providing for judicial re-
view of commissioner decisions,
providing for consideration of pro-
tection of creditors in suspension
or revocation of certificates of au-
thority, providing guidelines for
suspension and revocation of cer-
tificates of authority, adjusting
risk based capital requirements
for life, disability and health in-
surers and providing for an effec-
tive date.
HB0021 Exceeding speed
limit while passing. Authorizes
drivers of motor vehicles to ex-
ceed posted speed limits in order
to pass vehicles traveling under
the posted speed limit.
HB0022 Gold star license
plates-expanded eligibility. Re-
lates to specialty license plates,
in particular, expanding eligibil-
ity for the gold star license plate.
HB0027 Extension of energy
producing states coalition. Re-
lates to the legislature, extend-
ing the energy producing states
coalition as specified, requiring
a report, providing an appropria-
tion and providing for an effective
date.
HB0031 Obsolete laws. Re-
garding general revision of laws,
amending archaic and obsolete
provisions, correcting and updat-
ing references, conforming pro-
visions to previous enactments,
repealing provisions held to be
unconstitutional, repealing fully
executed and otherwise archaic
or obsolete provisions.
HB0041 Omnibus water
bill-planning. Relates to water
development projects, authoriz-
ing specified Level I and Level II
studies and providing appropria-
tions, requiring reports, provid-
See 'SUMMARY,' page 7
