Smith reflects on lo
‘ BY RYAN FITZMAURICE
It could be argued that fate
had a fair amount to do with Big
Horn County School District No.
l Superintendent Ben Smith both
beginning and ending his educa—
tion career in District One.
His grandpa, Russell Smith,
helped bring the logs down from
the Pryor Mountains to build the
Cowley log gym in the early 20th
century. Just a few miles away, his
grandfather on the other side, By-
ron Sessions, settled Byron, be—
coming its namesake. Smith’s fa—
ther went. to school in the same
building that Smith works in as
su erintendent now. Smith him-
se f grew up in Greybull, near Shell
Creek, but often found himself on
theother side of Big Horn County.
“I’ve been coming to Cowley
my whole life,” Smith said.
But more than fate, what’s
brou ht and kept Smith in Cowley
is a esire to serve both students
and community.
_j Ben Smith
“One of "the things I’ve tried to
be Cognizant of is to make a dif—
ference where you’re at,” Smith
said, “to leave where you go bet—
Lovell council kills
BY DAVID PECK
The chickens will not be
coming to roost in Lovell any
time soon with the defeat Tues—
day night of the now famous or-
dinance that would have allowed
the barnyard birds to be kept
within the Lovell town limits.
The council tabled the ordi-
nance on second reading in May
after passing it on first reading
in April, when a large number of
citizens weighed in on the top-
ic, both pro and con. It was also
Lake advocates eXplain concerns 0 Rep.
BY DAVID PECK
North Big Horn County’s lake
ambassadors last week took yet
another federal official on a tour
of the Bighorn Canyon~ Nation—
al Recreation Area to instruct her
about the issues concerning the
lake and recreation area.
Former Big Horn County com—
missioner Keith Grant, former
state representative Elaine Har-
vey, current commissioner Bruce
Jolley and local businessman Ken
Grant escorted Holly Kennedy,
U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney’s senior ag—
riculture policy advisor, through
the south district of Bighorn Can-
yon NRA by land and water Friday
evening, June 4.
Keith Grant, in an interview
Tuesday, said Rep. Cheney’s office
staff recommended the tour for
either Kennedy of Chief of Staff
Kara Ahern as arrangements were
bein made for Cheney’s visit to
Love 1 on May 27.
“The office suggested we get a
hold of them (Ahern and/or Ken—
nedy) about lake issues," Grant
said, noting that Kennedy, in a
May 28 email, stated, “An over—
view of the issues you are facing
would be helpful, as well as any-
thing you would like me to see.”
‘We got in contact with her
and provided information on the
sediment issue and the lake level
issue and invited her to come for a
boat ride,” Grant said. V
The group met at the visitor
center at 4 pm. Friday and drove
north to Barry’s Landing, visit—
ing the Devil’s Canyon overlook
in the process and discussing is-
sues, Grant said. The returned to
Horseshoe Bend an took a boat
trip north as far as Devil’s Canyon,
exploring the canyon and return—
ing to Horseshoe Bend.
' “We had a good visit with her,”
Grant‘said. “She wanted an over-
view of the issues we are facing,
so Elaine and I worked on the
most pressing issues as we felt
they are.” '
discussed during a May 25 forum
hosted by the Lovell Police Dept.
But the end came quietly and
quickly Tuesday with no further
public input and only a handful of
citizens in attendance.
After considering 10 other or-
dinances on the agenda Tuesday,
the council took up Ordinance
1001 — Allowance of Chickens. Af—
ter removing the ordinance from
the table, town attorney Sandra
Kitchen read the title and coun-
cilman Dan Anderson made 3
ng and varie
ter than how you found it. When
thinking of the influence that my
teachers and my coaches had on
me, if I can have that influence
and make that difference for kids,
that’s what I want to do.”
Despite a long and fruitful ca-
reer in education, it wasn’t easy
for Smith to get his foot in the
door. Smith graduated from BYU
in 1985 with a major. in physical
education and a minor in driver’s
‘ education with every intent to get
a job in education.
But when all his applications
ended up on a bottom of a stack,
Smith found himself taking a ca—
reer route he did not expect.
“I went into law enforcement,”
Smith said. “I spent three years
as a cop in Greybull from ’85 to
’88. As “part of that stint, I was the
active chief. That was quite the
experience.”
As Smith worked law enforce—
ment, a horse accident left his fa—
ther unable to carry all the re—
sponsibilities of the ranch back
home, so Smith took that on, as
well. He. was a police chief by night
and a ranch hand by day.
Finally, at the end of 1988, su-
perintendent Grant Sanders vis—
ited the ranch to offer Smith the
position of the health and physical
education teacher. Smith was up
,on the mountains pushing cattle,
so Sanders made the presentation
to his mother.
“It 'ust felt like the good Lord
opene up the doors at that point
in time,” Smith said. “I had applied
for teaching positions for three
years and things hadn’t happened.
I kind of decided, well, maybe I’m
staying in law enforcement. May—
be I’d become a ran er, or the FBI,
maybe run for sheri f.”
With Sanders’ offer, though,
the pieces finally fit, and Smith
began his educational career
SEE ‘SMITH REFLECTS 0N
EDUCATION CAREER’ page 7
chicken ordinance
motion to approve the ordinance
on second reading.
Mayor pro tem Carol Miller,
running the meeting in place of
the absent mayor Tom Newman,
called for a second and hearing
none from council members Bob
Mangus or Ray Messamer quickly
declared that the ordinance had
died for lack of a second. With no
second to the motion, there was
no public input taken.
The defeat of the ordinance
ends several months of research
"it
hey adyisgr
by the town staff and consider—
ation by the council after the or—
dinance was requested by a cit—
izen last year as a way to help
families during the COVID-19
pandemic. A number of advo—
cates came forward once the
council took up the ordinance
this spring, countered by others
who vehemently opposed allow—
ing chickens in town.
Several area communities al—
low chickens in the town limits
on a permit basis.
COURTESY PHOTO
Keith Grant chats with Rep. Liz Cheney’s senior agriculture policy
advisor, Holly Kennedy, at the Devil’s
Canyon overlook during a tour of the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation
Area Friday evening.
Grant and Harvey presented
a letter to Kennedy outlining the
lake issues in order of importance
after introductory paragraphs
spelling out the history of the rec—
reation area and the long-sought
Big Horn Canyon Parkway.
“Our most immediate need is
someone from the federal govern—
ment whose number one job is to
negotiate an agreement with the
Crow Tribe to allow completion
of the Trans Park/ Bad Pass road,”
the letter states. ‘Since 2005 NPS
at Bighorn Canyon has had fOur
superintendents. I believe the
longest term was two and a half
years, with as much as a year with
onl temporary superintendents
in etween. None of them were
interested in seeing completion of
the road.
“We have met with several
tribal chairmen and found all of
gr; ’ ‘* was
them interested in the benefits
to both the tribe and to Wyoming
opportunities, but we have no au—
thority to negotiate."
In short, Grant said in a fol—
low—up interview Tuesday, “We
need someone with the authority
and gumption and oomph to deal
with the Crow Tribe and get our
road built. We talked to her (Ken—
nedy) about the superintendents
we get and, at times, the lack of
superintendents. It seems like we
usually get older guys who are
ready to retire.”
Thus, as Grant pointed out,
the number one issue listed in the
letter was, “We must have a quali—
fied federal employee with the au—
thority and desire to negotiate an
agreement with the tribe.”
The number two issue is the
road project itself, with the let-
ter listing it as “Completion of the
Simply the best.
Trans Park/ Bad Pass Road; it was
approved by Congress and built as
far north as Barry’s Landing.”
The letter continues that the
right—of—way for full development
of the park through the Dryhead
country could be funded by the
federal Land and Water Conserva-
tion Program by purchasing prop—
erty originally planned for inclu-
sion in the park.
“There is a ranch for sale in
Dryhead," the letter states. “Most
of this ranch lies west of the pro—
posed park but is much better
grazing land than the property
east of the proposed park bound-
ary. It should be easy to swap
properties, thereby completing
the park boundaries as originally
proposed. Completion of the road
hinges on Crow Tribal approval."
SEE ‘LAKE CONCERNS’ page 8
Medical OncologylHematology 307.578.2000
Radiation Oncology 301573.21”
visit ManlomleMaw
LOVELL
Chronicle
LOVELL, WYOMING ' VOLUME 115, NUMBER 38 - JUNE 10, 2021 $1
d career in education Day of Goodwill a
this Saturday
After a one-year hiatus
caused by the COVID-19 pan—
demic and accompanying re-
strictions, the Lovell Commu-
nity Day of Goodwill will be
held once again this summer,
but in a different format. ,
Held in past years at the
LDS Gym on Shoshone Avenue
in Lovell, this year the popular
“freemarket” will be held out-
side at the Lovell Stake Center
parking lot on Saturday, June 12.
In case of inclement weather,
the event will move to June 19.
Any church or‘ community
organizations who would like
to help with donations are wel-
come to bring the items to the
parkinglot between 7 and 9 am.
the da of the event and help
place t em on the tables pro-
vided. Volunteer help throu h-
out the day is also welcome .
According to a Lovell Stake
Center Relief Society an—
nouncement, “The use of the
large parking lot will help us to
adhere to any COVID—19 rec—
ommendations and help us to
spread out for social distancing
and good health practices. We r
also hope that the early date
in June will help us as it should
not be too hot yet at that time
and will also not interfere with
the many community activities
coming up in June and July.”
Free shopping will be held‘
from 9 am. to 3 pm, with
cleanup from 3 to 4 pm.
Flag retirement
ceremony
Monday in Lovell
BY DAVID PECK
What was observed by
many to be a solemn and mov—
ing ceremony two years ago
will be conducted again Mon-
day evening.
Robert Boyd Stewart Amer—
ican Legion Post 11 will conduct
a flag retirement ceremony for
American flags Monday, June
14, at 6:30 pm. at the down—
town veterans park next to Val-
ley Flowers, post commander
Rich Fink announced this week.
During the, Flag Day cere-
mony, which has been ada ted
by the local Le ion post rom
a Boy Scouts 0 America pro—
gram, Fink said, the flags will
be burned, which is proper et—
iquette for the American flag,
when done properly.
The Legion members will
first retire a flag ceremonially,
carefully cuttin , removing and
burning each 0 the 13 stripes,
with each stripe representing
a different aspect of American
histor .
A ter the ceremony, other.
flags will be retired and burned,
collected by American Legion
members or given to members of
the post before the event. Fami—
lies can contact any post mem—
ber ahead of time or bring the
flag to the ceremony themselves.
Fink said the public is invited
and encouraged to attend.
“It’s a very touching ceremo—
ny to learn what all of that signi—
fies,” he said.
Fink said, after a quiet year
due to the COVID-19 pandem-
ic the Lovell Legion post could
use some new blood in the hon—
or guard, noting that a veter-
an need not.be a member of the
Legion post to participate.
If interested, contact Fink
at 272—1931 or stop by a Legion
post meeting. The post meets
every second Tuesday of the
month at 7 pm. at the fire hall
in Lovell.
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