BY RYAN FI'IZMAURICE
Coming home to Lovell to lead
a district as superintendent for the
first time, Doug Hazen couldn’t
have picked a more complicated
moment.
As COVID—19 continues to be
a present reality in Wyoming, Ha-
zen’s first task comes with no easy
answers: What will education look
like in Lovell come fall?
“It’s been two days now (since I
started the job) and that’s all we’ve
discussed,” Hazen said. “It’s a dif-
ficult issue to tackle for sure. Bap—
tism b
one. T is is the real deal coming
in. Right off the bat.”
At least there’s this point of
solace, as Hazen begins his rook—
ie year as superintendent, when it
comes to a problem like this: years
of experience don’t always mean
that much.
“The superintendent I just
worked for retired this year. He
had between 44 and 47 years of ex-
perience. And his last words were
‘Doug, it wouldn’t matter if I had 47
or 77 years of experience, nothing
prepares you for something like
this,” Hazen recalled. “This is a
once in a lifetime issue.”
Hazen is a familiar sight with—
in Lovell school hallways. His ca-
PRISTINE STREAM
WW
fire. No softballs on this '
reer began at Lovell High School,
where current principal Scott
O’Tremba hired him as a math
teacher.
“You all remember me riding
Doug Hazen
LOVELL, WYOMING I VOLUME 114, NUMBER 48 ' JULY 9. 2020 $1
Coming o: aen begins as superintendent
up here with a bike and a backpack
looking just like a student 12 years
ago,” he told Lovell residents at a
March public forum earlier this
year.
It didn’t take long for him to
rise up through the ranks. When
he left the district to take a po-
sition as junior high principal in
Columbia Falls, Mont., just last
year, he left behind his post as the
Lovell Middle School Principal and
Special Education Director for the
district.
Hazen said he recognized
that there was still room for him
to rise Within the district when he
left last year, but leaving was nec-
essary, he said. He needed to ex—
perience something different if
he was going to be the leader he
yearned to be.
“This district is a huge part
of me, but there was a feeling last
year, I had spent my entire career
within the district. I take this job
as superintendent very serious
and I knew there was potential,
things had gone very well for me
within the district. But I just hadn’t
known anything else. I hadn’t seen
anything else.” Hazen said. “Would
I be prepared? I don’t know that
one year necessarily does that, but
it gave me a different perspective.”
COLUMBIA FALLS
At Columbia Falls Junior High,
SEE ‘HAZEN BEGINS
AS SD#2 SUPERINTENDENT’ page 6
DAVID PECK
The light of a summer morning paints a pretty picture of the South Tongue
River at the Tie Flume Campground in the Bighorn
National Forest.
BY DAVID PECK
A man with a long record of
service to his country and his
community has been selected as
the parade marshal for the Byron
Day Parade this Saturday.
Joe Mooney, a 40—year resi—
dent of Byron, is a veteran of the
Marine Corps, a retired contrac—
tor and small businessman, for-
mer town councilman, youth lead-
er and religious leader who has
served both the Gideons organi—
zation and a community church in
Burlington.
“It was a heck of a surprise to
me. They’re scraping the bottom
of the barrel,” Mooney joked about
his selection as parade marshal.
Mooney is a city boy who
made his way to small—town, rural
Wyoming in the 1970s. He grew up
on the southwest side of Chicago
White Sox territory — but was a
Future of local
BY RYAN FI'IZMAURICE
As the number of confirmed
COVID—19 cases in Big Horn County
continues to increase, the county is
beginning to grapple with what the
upcoming school year might look
like. The answers to those ques-
tions may significantly influence
health outcomes within Big Horn
County, according to county health
officer Dr. David Fairbanks.
Mooney named 2020 Byron Day parade maShal
The Lovell Chronicle, 234 E. Main, Lovell, WY 82431 Contact us at:
307—548—221 7 - www.love|lchronicle.com
closet Cubs fan, he said, because
his mother grew up on the north
side of the city, Cubs land.
He enlisted in the Marine
Corps in 1967 and served three
years of active duty and three
years in the reserves, serving six
months at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
with the 2nd battalion, 8th Marine
Regiment, a security detachment,
and the 2nd Reconnaissance Bat-
talion out of Camp Lejeune, North
Carolina.
He came home to the 1970s
protests that marked the Vietnam
War.
“It was a terrible time in Chi—
cago,” he said. “We (servicemen)
became the enemy of everyone,
called baby killers and momma
rapists. I had to put everything in
my foot locker — until 9/11. You put
your head down, go to work and
try to make a living.”
One positive thing that did
happen to Mooney was meeting
his wife and love of his life, Pam,
his second marriage, and they
made a decision together: “We
wanted to go where there were
more cows than people.”
So in 1975 the couple made a
slow, 15-day drive from Chicago to
Wyoming, getting to know plenty
of fishing holes along the way, and
arrived in Thermopolis.
“I really liked it there,” he said.
“That was our adventure, our
honeymoon, which has lasted 44
years.”
Mooney went to work for
the boys school in Worland,
then an insulation company.
Then he and Pam drove through
Lovell one day during the win-
ter and were surprised at the
lack of snow. He went to work as
a brick mason for Jay Wardell and
a Joe Mooney I
SEE ‘MOONEY PARADE MARSHAL’
page 6
Slimmed down
Byron Day set
for Saturday
BY DAVID PECK
It may not have as many events
as in past years, but the annual By-
ron Day celebration will take place
this Saturday, July 11.
Event coordinator Rebec-
ca Bates said the slimmed down
celebration will feature just four
events this year due to COVID-19
restrictions, all of them on Satur-
day. There will be no Friday ni ht
teen dance or family carnival t is
yean
Saturday’s activities will be-
gin with the Byron Days Fun Run
at 7 a.m. starting in front of Jones
Park. Organized once a ain by Ca-
leb and Lexi Sanders, t e fun run
features both a mile run and a 5K.
Registration begins at 6:30 a.m.
with a $5 fee for each runner. ‘
There will be a drawing for
prizes. Call 307-272—0469 or 307-
272-0923 for more information.
The Byron Days Parade is
scheduled for 10 a.m. and will be
a normal parade, Bates said, with
entries to gather at the east end of
Main Street. The parade will run
west and back east again on the
other side of the street. Gilbert
Cordova is again organizing the
parade. He may be reached at 307—
548-7543 or 307-272—8788.
“We are promoting social dis-
tancing and ask people to stay in
family groups,” Bates said.
Cordova said the theme will
be a salute to first responders,
2020 graduates and veterans, but
any and all entries are welcome.
Entries are asked to gather by 9:45
a.m., and Cordova would like to
have all entries by Thursday to set
the lineup.
He asks that if anyone plans
to throw candy during the parade,
they are asked to wear gloves.
The always popular volleyball
tournament is scheduled to be in
early again this year 11 a.m. — ue
to the expected large number of
teams competing and will be held
at Jones Park this year, rather than
the baseball park.
Teams can register ($60 each)
by calling coordinator Natalie Col-
lins at 307—760—1557.
There will be no water slides
or games in the park this year,
Bates said, due to the coronavirus,
but there may be a few food ven-
dors in the park for the volleyball
tournament or those simply en-
joying the park.
A Byron High School alumni
gathering will be held Saturday at
5 pm. at Town Hall, Bates said.
The annual fireworks show
will be held at dusk, provided by
Dustin Short, who also put on the
Mustang Days show this year.
Bates said the show will launch
from the baseball field this year,
and in order to promote social dis-
tancing, 24-by-24-foot boxes for
families with up to 30 people will
be sold for a $100 fee, with six feet
between each box. Boxes may be
reserved by calling Town Hall at
307—548-7490.
Purchasing a box uarantees
a place to watch the s ow, Bates
said, noting that once the park
reaches a certain capacity, “we’re
not allowed to let anybody else in.”
She added that there will be
room for people to be in their cars
around the baseball field, and some
bleachers will also be available.
“We want people to have a
good time within the limits the
planning committee has been giv-
en," Bates said. “We cannot open
the field until 7 pm, and we have
to count every person.
education discussed as COVlD-19 cases continue to climb
Three new cases were report—
ed this week, bringing the total
county case count to 21. The coun—
ty has also identified four proba-
ble cases. Due to the recent spike
in positive tests, the number of ac—
tive cases stands at half of the total
cases confirmed since the begin—
ning of the pandemic. The county
currently has identified 12 cases as
being active.
The 18th case was reported by
Big Horn County Public Health on
July 3, the release stating that the
case is an adult female and was re—
lated to domestic travel.
On July 4, a 19th case was con-
firmed. The release stated this
case is an adultmale, and that his
exposure to COVID—19 was work
related and occurred outside of Big
Horn County.
On the morning of July 7, the
county confirmed the 20th case,
an adult male. As of press time, no
further information was available
on how infection occurred.
In another update, Fairbanks
revealed in the July 6 COVID—19
Incident Command Team regular
meeting that a cluster of six cas-
es identified last week was related
to the operation of a daycare. The
daycare has since been closed, ac-
cording to Fairbanks.
“The state is working with the
owner. Everybod on the staff has
been tested, Fair anks said. “Those
results have been encouraging.”
The county has not confirmed
the location of the da care.
Statewide, as 0 July 7, the
SEE ‘COVlD-19 UPDATE’ page 7
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