4 I The Lovell Chronicle I April 15, 2010 www. LovellChronicle.com
S
A busy April keeps
everyone hopping
A little bit about this and that on a
sunny April day...
Is it just me, or has April become
one of our busiest months? It certainly
is busy for our schools. I think everyone
waits until after basketball season and
then piles on the activities during April
and May.
The busy schedule keeps us news-
paper types busy with track meets, golf David Peck
tournaments, concerts, school musicals,
proms and more. This Friday, for in-
stance, there's the Riverside Track Meet
during the day and the Rocky Mountain Prom that evening.
Saturday brings the Lovell Middle School track meet,
the Powell L.A. Kohnke high school track meet, the LHS
Golf Tournament and a USA swimming meet at the Lovell
pool. Oh, and there's the Ducks Unlimited banquet Saturday
night. There was a band concert Tuesday in Lovell and a
choir concert is set for tonight (Thursday).
Busy, busy, busy.
Next Saturday brings the LHS track meet, the Lovell USA
Wrestling tournament and Earth Day events at Great West-
ern Park. The Lovell Prom is April 30.
All of these events drive track and field coaches certifi-
ably batty. Whereas basketball, volleyball or football coaches
usually have a full squad to work with, track coaches seem-
ingly always are missing a few athletes on meet day, from
tired prom goers or ACT-takers to music festival partici-
pants.
The DEQ Air Quality Division has granted the Town of
Lovell a setback waiver for the spring open burning period
but is requiring the town to sit down and discuss possible
alternatives for the future. The DEQ also is holding the town
to certain conditions the town offered up when requesting
the waiver.
Folks who want to burn need to pay attention to the
conditions, the most important being that those wanting to
burn on a given day must contact the Lovell Dispatch Cen-
ter at 548-2215 to inform fire officials about their burning
plans. Also, the agreement stipulates that those living north
of Main Street may burn on even calendar dates and those
living south of Main may burn on odd calendar dates. The
south side can beginbuning today. ........ : ....
The good news :is that-he buring will be spread out:::
over a two-month perlod which should actually ease the ef-
fects on those with lung conditions, but here's hoping that
the town will continue to investigate a number of alterna-
tives to burning. It's too bad Big Horn County Solid Waste
will not allow free dumping of yard waste at the county
landfills.
Maybe it would be a better idea to spread burning out
over an even longer period of time. And perhaps there could
be limited burning permits issued on a first-come, first-
served basis, thereby limiting the concentration of smoke on
any given weekend.
I am not a fan of professional golf, but it did my heart
good to see a nice guy like Phil Mickelson win his third Mas-
ters Golf Tournament with his wife Amy - fighting breast
cancer - at his side as he finished the course en route to
receiving the famous Green Jacket. What a contrast it was
to see a family man win the tournament when all the me-
dia attention was focused on Tiger Woods and his return to
competition following multiple admitted dalliances.
Sometimes the good guys win after all. Hats off to Lefty.
2889 MEMSE8
2008 AWARD-WINNING NEWSPAPER
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Editor and Publisher: David Peck
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Letters to the editor
Old hospital land should be used for senior
citizens but not low.income housing
Editor,
I am writing to voice my opin-
ion on the recent proposal to re-
move the old hospital and replace
it with low-income housing.
I believe the Town of Lovell
would benefit far more from a
project directly related to senior
citizens: a new senior citizen cen-
ter, a transitional facility for se-
niors (no longer able to maintain
their own home but not ready to
enter a nursing home) or profes-
sional offices/facilities related to
healthcare.
Senior citizens (especially
people looking for an attractive
town to retire to) are good town
business. Retirees and senior
citizens do not cause problems
in a well established neighbor-
hood. However, once a housing or
apartment project is designated
"low-income," even if seniors have
initial priority, it opens the door
to an environment that will low-
er existing property values and
eventually chase retirees and se-
niors away.
Ron McClure
Enjoying our new life in Lovell
Dear Editor,
We've been in Wyoming
since near the end of 2009 after
relocating from S.W. Oregon, and
find the Town of Lovell to our lik-
ing, except for the lack of a fine
dinner restaurant. But we're not
:starving. ':':
The geology of this area is
amazing. I find myself compar-
ing it to many locales I've visited
or lived in. There is a strong re-
semblance in some places here
to Eastern Oregon, parts of San
Diego County, pieces of Arizona,
New Mexico and Texas, among
others.
One habit I've had to break
here is picking up empty cans and
bottles for the deposit, although
I sometimes pick them up because
of the Felix Unger (The Odd Cou-
ple) neatnik influence. Oregon has
its Bottle Bill (not a cowboy relat-
ed to Pecos Bill), and lots of folks,
including youth groups, make a
few bucks by collecting said con-
tainers. They're worth a nickel
each. Stores have machines that
accept them and print a receipt,
which is cashed inside the store.
Because of the Bottle Bill you will
not find many empty containers
along roadways or on vacant lots.
Of course, it's a pain for the
stores because the collection bins
inside the machines have to be
emptied periodically. And people
are rough with the machines, of-
ten damaging them. Before the
installation of the machines, the
empties were counted manual-
ly by store employees, and that
was quite messy. Sometimes it's
a pain for customers with a few
containers because of the people
who show up with the bed of their
pickup trucks full of cans and bot-
tles.
Overall, Lovell is well ... love-
ly, although like so many small
towns, it seems to be suffering
from the stumbling economy. And
I don't want to talk about the so-
called economic stimulus because
of my _heart condition. I see the
same ecnomlc situatio in the
city from which we moved, Cave
Junction...stores closed or elo-
ing, unemployment rising. It's not
a good situation.
We've noticed that people in
this part of the world are way
friendly. They smile, wave, say
"Howdy." It feels good. People up
here also are more independent
than the people we've encountered
in other locales, and we like that.
We wanted to live in a sparse-
ly populated red state, so here we
are. No complaints; just thinking
God, guns and grub. And remem-
ber, next year, these will be the
good old days.
Bob Rodriguez
Our hopes were dashed by animal shelter
Dear Editor,
We recently had an experience
with the animal shelter in Powell
that I wanted to share. We went
in to look for a new dog. We found
a shepherd mix that they had just
brought in and immediately fell
in love with him. We waited two
weeks to be able to pick him up
and bring him home. We visited
the shelter several times during
the weeks we were waiting with
our 4-year-old son. He would take
treats for him and named him Yu-
kon.
When we returned on the day
we were told we could pick him up
we were told that there was a mix-
up in the vet appointments and we
would need to wait another week.
At this time for the first time after
waiting two weeks and letting my
4-year-old son become attached
I was told that there were oth-
ers also interested in the puppy
and that they would need to talk
about it and decide who would get
him. This was the first time I was
told about this and had I known
this could happen and this shel-
ter did not run on a first-come ba-
sis and ran on a "we decide who
we like better or who knows who"
to decide who gets the pet I would
not have allowed my 4-year-old to
become attached to the puppy.
I also found being told he had
not been neutered odd as we had
been to the shelter earlier to see
him through the fence and was
certain it looked like he had been
neutered. I thought there was
something funny going on so I
called a friend to go to the shel-
ter and inquire about the dog. My
friend got to the shelter within an
hour of when we had been there
and our puppy was gone. He had
been given to someone else right
after we left and after we were
told we had to wait another week
so he could be neutered.
My 4-year-old son had already
become attached to the dog, had
named him and was planning on
bringing him home. My son cried
all the way back to Byron because
he could not have his Yukon.
When contacting the shelter
the next day the worker was still
not honest about anything and
so I contacted one of the shelters
board members. In the end we
were offered another dog of our
choice at no charge. But does giv-
ing us another dog really make up
for breaking the heart of a 4-year-
old little boy and the deceptive be-
havior of the shelter worker?
Upon talking to others it ap-
pears as though when you go to
the shelter the worker will sug-
gest a pet she thinks is right for
you, but if you choose another
then it appears as though you get
an attitude for picking your own
pet. A shelter is set up for people
to go and choose a new pet, not a
place for you to go and have your
pet chosen for you. It is also very
unfair to make a 4-year-old little
boy wait two weeks for a puppy he
was allowed to become attached
to, only to turn around and give
the puppy to someone else.
Is this really the way a shelter
trying to place pets should be run?
In my opinion there is something
wrong with the way things are be-
ing done and maybe this needs to
be evaluated and changes made
so that more people will visit the
shelter and perhaps more pets can
be placed. No one wants to be told
what pet they should have and
no one wants to get an attitude if
they make their own decision.
After thought--we are no lon-
ger in need of another pet as since
this incident we ended up rescu-
ing a severely abused German
shepherd from a rescue organiza-
tion in Billings. She has a great
new home and our son has a new
best friend.
Cheri Abraham
Byron
Editor's note: When contacted,
officials from the Powell ani-
mal shelter said that in many
cases there are more than one
person on an adoption list and
that Cheri was not first on the
list.
Letters to the editor
The Lovell Chronicle welcomes letters from its readers and will make every effort to print them. Letters
longer than 400 words may not be printed. Letters must be signed and include the address and telephone
number of the writer. Unsigned letters will be discarded. Writers are limited to two letters in any 30 day period.
.............. All letters must conform to the law of libel and be in good taste. They may be mailed to The Lovell
Chronicle, Box 787, Lovell, 82431, or delivered to our office at 234 E, Main St., Lovell. A strict 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday deadline wil:l be enforced .....
