LOVELL. WYOMING VOLUME 109, NUMBER 52 THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2015 75c
BY PATrl CARPENTER
The students at Lovell Elemen-
tary School will not be getting a
new school, at least not in the near
future. That was the message de-
livered by School Facilities Depart-
ment Planning Supervisor Troy
Decker and Regional Project Man-
ager John Rexius to the Big Horn
County School District No. 2 Board
of Trustees on Monday night.
The two traveled from Chey-
enne to deliver the news in per-
son and to present other options
they hope will ultimately be rec-
ommended to the Wyoming Legis-
lature for funding at their next ses-
sion in early 2016.
"We had money to do a ca-
pacity study, while at the same
time, over at your elementary
school, there were some structur-
al concerns aboutyour food service highest enrollments in the state in
area," explained Decker. "So, we its special education program, ac-
teamed up withthe school district knowledging that those students
and did a structural analysis with
a structural engineer out of Casper
because we wanted to make sure
you had a safe school and a safe
environment.
"We also wanted to look at your
cafeteria and food service area in
terms of size and how it will serve
the students (in the entire district)
in a projected way."
Decker said the study used
a methodology that looked at ca-
pacity and projected future en-
rollments based on a mathemat-
ical formula used by the state to
determine the present and future
may have special needs that ideal-
ly should be addressed through a
restructuring of the building.
He went on to explain that the
SFD hired the architectural firm
MOA out of Casper to analyze and
come up with initial concepts to
address the structural problems
of the food service area and future
capacity issues. He noted that the
SFD's budget analyst recommend-
ed that one of those options under
consideration be to build an entire-
ly new school building.
"We needed to look at this op-
tion (new school) because state
needs of the school. He said the law tells us we need to look at the
study also took into consideratiort~ :: most host-effective remedy," said
that LES currently has one of tli~ ~ Decker.
Decker said after reviewing
all of the options, it appeared that
the top two options were to build
an entirely new school or to remod-
el the food service area and make
other modifications to the existing
structure.
He explained that in a fairly
recent Statewide survey, the LES
school building ranked well and,
when compared to other schools in
the state, actually ranked 188 out
of more than 400 buildings.
"The building structural-
ly-wise and condition-wise ranks
very well," he said.
He qualified that statement
adding that their decision was
based, for the most part, on the ca-
pacity study and not on the condi-
tion of the school building.
"When you voted (referring
to the board) you voted that, of
course, in an ideal world you would
want a new building," said Deck-
er. 'You based that vote not only
on your capacity needs but also on
your functionality and educational
delivery needs. We respect that as
an important part of your educa-
tion. We, however, cannot support
a recommendation of a new build-
ing as part of the School Facilities
Dept. Once again, you are 188 on
the list and we can't start address-
ing your condition needs or func-
tionality needs."
Decker said his group does not
recommend a new building, but
instead recommends what is now
referred to as "Option No. 3" or a
slightly modified version of that
SEE 'NO NEW SCHOOL' page 7
!
' - ~ " '!":? . PA'rI~ CARPENTER
Hundreds of motorcycle enthusiasts roiled into Lovell on saturday, June6, ~part of a
charitable run to benefit victims of cancer and their families. Here, participants enjoy a
free barbecue lunch provided by the 4 Corners Bar on Main Street.
un raises more
PATTI CARPENTER
Members of the Big Horn County Search and Rescue team
and others like (I-r) Cindy Allred, Keri Wilske, Shyann
Wilske and Shene'a Allred helped direct traffic to ensure the
safety of those passing through Lovell on Saturday during
the annual Cancer Run in Lovell.
Ninker, age 32, and his wife, Sa-
sha Louis Ninker, age 28, both
of Powell, sustained serious in-
juries as a result of the crash.
Brock was airlifted to Billings
and Sasha was taken by ground
ambulance to West Park Hospi-
tal. The extent of their injuries
as well as their current condi-
tion is unknown at the time the
release was issued.
The release stated that evi-
dence at the scene indicates that
the Ninkers were westbound on
County Road 3LE when they left
the road on the north side, trav-
eling over 440 feet before strik-
ing the dirt embankment and
crashing. Prior to being airlifted,
Brock reportedly admitted to go-
ing at least 65 miles per hour at
the time of the crash. The posted
speed limit is 55 miles per hour.
Preliminary findings indi-
cate the cause of the crash to be
speed and driver error; but, at
press time, no citations had been
issued due to the crash still be-
ing under investigation.
The Ninkers own Hansel
and Gretel's Bar and Restaurant
in Powell. They also own the
Cowtown restaurant in Cowley,
which they operated for a while.
Bay said she was also trav-
eling on that stretch of road
around the same time. She
noted that it can be a very dif-
ficult stretch of road for motor-
cyclists to maneuver with lots
of turns, gravel and slick condi-
tions when wet.
BY PA'rrl CARPENTER
More than 300 motorcy-
cles carrying at least 400 rid-
ers roared into Lovell on Satur-
day as part of the annual Cancer
Run fundraiser spearheaded by
Rick "Fly" Brod of Cody. This
year's event attracted slightly
more participants than last year
and generated $23,156 to sup-
port families in the Big Horn Ba-
sin who are dealing unexpected
expenses due to cancer.
The riders began their day-
long journey in Cody and passed
through Powell rolling into
Lovell at about 1 p.m. to enjoy
a barbecue lunch courtesy of the
4 Corners Bar. Bar owner Au-
drey Bay said she and her staff
prepared 200 pounds of meat,
60 pounds of potato salad, 40
pounds of macaroni salad and 30
pounds of Italian salad for the
Cancer Run participants. She
said due to the larger number of
participants, the 4 Corners actu-
ally ran out of food this year, but
was saved by a generous dona-
tion of hot dogs and water from
their neighboring business the
Maverik convenience store.
"We are so grateful to Mav-
erik for helping us out," said
Bay. "Because of their generous
donation, we were able to feed
another 80 people."
Things took a turn for the
worse for some of the motorcy-
clists who lost control of their
bikes, crashing on the roadway
near Meeteetse.
According to a press release
issued by the Park County Sher-
iffs Office, they received a re-
port of a motorcycle crash with
injuries on County Road 3LE
approximately one mile east of
Highway 120 north of Meetee-
tse. When the responding dep-
uty arrived on the scene he
discovered a green 1998 Kawa-
saki motorcycle lying on a dirt
embankment.
The driver, Brock Kyle
, snow
BY BOB RODRIGUEZ
Despite worries earlier this
year about a low water level at Big
Horn Lake due to a lack of rain
and snow, it's now obvious that the
lake is full and that it will remain
so through the summer because of
recent wet weather.
A report from Friends of the
Bighorn Lake states, "It looks like
all our rain dances have paid off.
The spring rains have been plenti-
ful, the upstream reservoirs have
increased releases, and Bighorn
Lake is full." To control the rate of
fill, the BOR beg~n increasing re-
leases from Yellowtail Dam. The
lake is now full due to significant
inflows. Noted Steve Keil, presi-
dent of the FOBHL Board of Direc-
tors, "We continue to have signifi-
cantly high inflows." Indications
are that 17,000 cubic feet per sec-
ond are in process and that similar
rates will continue. Keil said that
"thanks to Mother Nature" provid-
ing large amounts of precipitation
and snow, the latter is melting due
to warmer weather and area farm-
ers and recreation enthusiasts will
greatly benefit.
According to the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion, "Wyoming May precipitation
was around 200 percent of average
and current water year precipita-
tion is averaging 105-115 percent
of normal across the state. The
BY BOB RODRIGUEZ
After 11 years with the Lovell
Police Department and rising to
the rank of lieutenant, Noe Gar-
cia, who resigned on May 31 from
the Lovell force, began a new
post as the Town of Byron's lone
law enforcement officer on Mon-
day, June 8.
Garcia was hired Thurs-
day night, June 4, during a spe-
cial meeting of the Byron Town
Council in the Town Hall with
a 5-0 vote following a five-min-
ute executive session closed to
the press and public. Mayor Hei-
di Brightly said that the special
meeting was called by the council
after Garcia was interviewed on
Thursday, May 28. He was one of
three candidates.
He will be paid $20 per hour,
and the position also includes
benefits. Said the mayor after
the meeting, "He will be working
40 hours a week and his sched-
ule will be flexible to ensure un:
expected coverage. That will be
determined as we work together
to determine safety and enforce-
ment factors for the town. His
primary duty is traffic and crim-
inal law enforcement. He has ex-
tensive drug enforcement train-
ing and we look forward to his
expertise in that area. Noe will
II
mountain snow pack across Wyo-
ming increased to 95-105 percent
of average above 9,000 feet. The
agency continued that May pre-
cipitation totals across Wyoming
were around 200 percent of aver-
age. Precipitation numbers varied
from nearly 272 percent of average
over the Lower Green Drainage
(southern Wyoming) to near 120
percent of normal over the Upper
Yellowstone Watershed (extreme
N.W. Wyoming including the Big
Horn Basin).
NOAA reported that "Car-
ryover reservoir storage figures
across Wyoming continue to be
above average (greater than 125
percent) for June." In monitoring
Big Horn Lake and the dam, BOR
said that the lake's 3,621 eleva-
tion as of May i already was at 83
percent of being full and that the
843,148 acre-feet of storage then
represented 113 percent of aver-
age. "Hey, it's full now," Keil said
this week.
The FOBHL president added,
"It's all good news for the lake for
boaters, fishermen and others." He
said that what's known as the "log
boom" at Horseshoe Bend like-
ly will be repaired by NPS and in
place by mid- to late-June. It was
damaged by falling rock and once
installed again it will continue to
SEE 'BIG HORN LAKE' page 8
In
also be enforcing existing town
ordinances (such as violations in-
cluding abandoned vehicle and
weed nuisances) on an as-need-
ed basis.
"At this time, Noe will be com-
ing on board as police officer. We
look forward to his involvement
with law and ordinance enforce-
ment as well as working with
the citizens of Byron to make By-
ron a safe place to live." Bright-
ly added that, "He has previously
worked with the Town of Byron
under favorable terms and con-
ditions. His return and previous
orientation and involvement will
minimize the break-in period."
She was referring to the fact
that Garcia worked as an on-
call contract officer from 2004-
09 while with the Lovell depart-
ment. She also noted that he "has
a very good professional relation-
ship with Big Horn County Sher-
iff Ken Blackburn and other area
law enforcement people. We are
pleased to have him on our team."
Indications are that some-
where down the line, the new By-
ron officer, who lives in Cowley,
could be given the title of chief,
but that remains to be seen.
"There will be some emphasis
SEE 'BYRON POLICE OFFICER'
page7
. IIIUI[I!!IIjIII!I!!!!IIIII,
The Lovell Chronicle, 234 E. Main, Lovell, WY 8243 . Contact us at: 548-2217, www.lovellchronicle.com
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