Lovell, Wyoming 82431
Price 75¢
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Volume 105, Number 10
Banned
until
further
notice
Court ruling
states GM beets
can stay in the
ground, but can't
be planted next
spring
BY BRAD DEVEREAUX
A ruling issued Fri-
day, Aug. 13, could cause
chaos among beet grow-
ers throughout the Unit-
ed States next spring, as
they will be forced to tem-
porarily switch from wide-
ly used genetically modi-
fied Roundup Ready beet
seeds to non genetically-
modified seed.
The request for an in-
junction and reevaluation
of GM beet seed was filed by
the Center for Food Safety.
Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Vilsack is listed as
the defendant in the case
in the United States Dis-
trict Court for the north-
ern district of California.
The plaintiff states in the
complaint that the USDA
failed to complete an En-
vironmental Impact State-
ment (EIS) when approv-
ing the use of genetically
modified beet seeds.
The decision signed
by United States District
Judge Jeffery White will
force the USDA's Animal
and Plant Inspection Ser-
vice to perform an EIS be-
fore the genetically modi-
fied seed can be cleared for
use. Completing an EIS
includes mandatory pub-
lic comment periods and
usually takes two or three
years.
The decision denies
the Center for Food Safe-
ty's request for a perma-
nent injunction banning
the use of GM beet seed.
But with RR seed mak-
ing up about 95 percent of
total planted acreage last
year, growers could have
trouble finding enough
seed to go around for next
season. With sugar beet
growers supplying rough-
ly half of the world sug-
ar supply (the other half
coming from sugarcane),
the decision could have an
affect on sugar prices and
the sugar industry.
The decision also af-
fects Monsanto Co., the
manufacturers of Round-
up Ready sugar beet seed
and other GM plant seed.
Farmers have widely ad-
opted the GM seed be-
cause it is resistant to the
Roundup herbicide and
saves them time and la-
bor. Inquiries for com-
ments from Monsanto
were not responded to by
press time.
The decision included
a ban on planting of any
genetically modified sug-
ar beets after Friday, Aug.
13, the date of the ruling.
The decision in no way af-
fects GM beets planted be-
fore Aug. 13, and any beets
already planted may be
harvested, stored and sold
as sugar, according to the
decision.
Plaintiffs listed along
with the Center for Food
Safety are the Organic
Seed Alliance, Sierra Club
and High Mowing Organic
Seeds.
Along with Vilsack,
other defendants listed
include the Western Sug-
See 'BEETS,' page 8
DAVID PECK PHOTOS
Mike Jones and Susan Green write results on the results chart at the Bank of
Lovell during the Primary Election Party Tuesday night.
Gerald Brinkerhoff
places his ballot in
the ballot reader
as election judge
Caryl Turner
assists at the Lovell
polling place - the
National Guard
Armory - during
Tuesday's Primary
Election.
Burns wins back
County Attorney
BY KARLA POMEROY
MicheUe McColloch
Burns of Greybull was re-
elected as County Attorney
-- afar a four-year absence.
After being defeated in
the 2006 election by Geor-
gia Antley Hunt, Burns de-
feated Hunt in a tight race,
1,849 to 1,527, according to
unofficial results from the
Big Horn County Clerk's
Office.
"It was a whole lot clo-
ser than it needed to be,"
Burns said. "I want to thank
everyone who supported me
during my campaign. We
worked to get the facts out
so voters could make an
educated decision."
She added, "I am ab-
solutely ready to hit the
ground running," and she is
ready to work with those in
Micheile Burns
the office to make Big Horn
County a place "we can all
be proud of," she added.
Burns said, "I'm loo-
king forward to Mrs. Hunt
turning over her office in a
professional manner and
making the transition as
smooth as possible."
Hunt said, "I'd like to
congratulate Mrs. Burns. I'd
also like to thank everyone
for their support. The well-
being of Big Horn County is
still my No. 1 focus."
Burns won eight of the
13 precincts Burling-
ton 122-63, Frannie 31-22;
Deaver 50-22; Byron 91-76;
Cowley 206-95; Lovell 592-
314; Shell 90-87; and Otto
42-32.
Hunt won Basin, 318-
227; Emblem 25-12; Hyatt-
ville 48-10; Manderson 58-
43 and Greybull 367-333.
Burns should be unop-
posed in the General Elec-
tion unless there is an eli-
gible Democratic write-in
candidate.
Sheriff Blackburn wins by 545
BY BRAD DEVEREAUX
It was a convincing vic-
tory Tuesday for Big Horn
County Sheriff Ken Black-
burn, who won the Repub-
lican nomination and is on
track to be re-elected to a
second term Tuesday, reel-
ing in an unofficial 2,072
votes compared to 1,527 for
opponent Ben Mayland.
He will likely be unop-
posed in the General Elec-
tion in November, barring
a write-in nomination.
Blackburn said he
would like to thank voters
and everyone who helped
during the busy cam-
paign season. He thanked
deputies who have "held
down the fort" a few times
while he attended political
events.
"Now, it's time to get
back to work," Blackburn
said, adding he would hold
a staff meeting Wednesday
to talk about the next four
years and continue toward
Ken Blackburn
achieving 5- and 10-year
goals that have been set.
Blackburn carried a
large percentage of the
vote in the north end of
the county: Lovell, 775
votes (81 percent), Cowley
290 votes (90 percent), By-
ron 157 votes (86 percent),
Deaver 51 votes (66 per-
cent) and Frannie 45 votes
(88 percent). He also won in
Burlington with 142 votes
(69 percent) and Otto with
54 votes (71 percent).
Mayland did well in the
south end, winning Basin
with 396 votes (68 percent),
Greybull 531 votes (69 per-
cent), Hyatville 48 votes
(70 percent) and Shell 125
votes (67 percent). Mayland
edged Blackburn in the two
remaining precincts, Em-
blem and Manderson,
Blackburn won 57.49
percent of the vote and
Mayland made up 42.37
percent, with the remain-
ing. 14 percent write-ins.
Blackburn said he
would be happy to be able to
stop talking about himself
and center his focus on the
people of Big Horn County.
He said campaigning did
however give him a chance
to hear concerns from many
&
See BLACKBURN, page 7
Come on
down to the
Hyart Film
Festival
BY BRAD DEVEREAUX
The Hyart Theater
will be open for its regular
hours this weekend, but
the historic theater won't
be showing its normal
schedule of recent feature-
length films. Instead, the
theater is being taken over
by artists from around the
world for a chance to show
their films at the first-ev-
er Hyart Film Festival in
Lovell on Friday and Sat-
urday.
Tickets for the event
can be purchased for one
two-hour block at a time or
on a sliding scale depend-
ing on how many blocks are
purchased. Tickets for one
block are $4, two blocks $7,
three blocks $9 and four
blocks (all films) $10. A free
hour show will be held Fri-
day from 5 to 6 p.m. to give
the public a taste of what
to expect for the rest of the
weekend.
The festival will fea-
ture 45 films from 13 coun-
tries ranging from drama
to comedy and animation
to science fiction.
Having pre-screened
all the material to be shown
this weekend, organizer Ja-
son Zeller said the festival
is full of variety and should
offer something that every-
one will like.
"If you're like me, you'll
laugh," Zeller said. "I don't
normally cry at films, but
some people could easily
cry. There are some off-
the-wall films and some
that will make you think.
I'm hoping to get the whole
gamut of reactions."
The festival includes
such films as "Azaad 26/11,"
a music video from In-
dia with no accompanying
translation. Zeller said the
film centers on Mumbai at-
tacks in India that occurred
Nov. 26, 2008, and the film
speaks for itself without an
English translation.
Another film, "The Des-
perate," is an emotional
tale set in a WWII concen-
tration camp, Zeller said.
The plot involves the dy-
ing son of a Nazi, and the
only person who can save
the boy is a concentration
camp prisoner.
Several of the films
have local or Wyoming
ties.
"West Divided," direct-
ed by and starring 1998
See 'FILM,' page 8
Cockpit,
written and
directed by
Jesse Griffith,
will be a
science fiction
film featured
at the Hyart
Film Festival
this weekend.
The festival
includes
films in the
categories
of drama,
animation,
comedy, sci
fi, action, and
more.
Town responds to DEQ
open burning request
BY DAVID PECK
The Town of Lovell has
presented its response to
the Wyoming Dept. of En-
vironmental Quality, which
asked that the town to come
up with a plan to mitigate
and manage the effects of
open burning in the town
before the DEQ will issue
any future setback waiv-
ers.
Councilman Scott All-
red worked on the issue, re-
sponding to a request from
DEQ Director John Corra
to respond to five questions,
and the council voted to ap-
prove the response at the
regular council meeting last
Tuesday, Aug. 10. The re-
sponse will go to Corra un-
der the signature of Mayor
Bruce Morrison. The plan
relies heavily on police dis-
patchers to determine the
conditions for burning.
The letter asks Director
Corra to accept the letter
as a drafL proposal for the
town's Vegetative Material
Open Burning Management
Plan and said the town will
attempt to address the fol-
lowing issues outlined by
Corra in his June 7 letter:
1) Identify weather con-
ditions that would allow
burning.
Allred wrote that town
dispatchers would be able
to call the National Weath-
er Service office in Riverton
to obtain weather condi-
tions during a burning pe-
riod, though he wrote that
it is "generally not possible"
for dispatchers to obtain
enough data to accurately
predict conditions that are
ideal for burning.
"Obviously, light winds
are favorable as opposed to
no wind, which would not
allow smoke to disperse,"
Allred wrote. "The prevail-
ing winds during the burn
should be away from any
occupied residence likely to
be affected by the smoke to
the best extent possible."
2) Define criteria the dis-
patch will use to deter-
mine acceptable days
for burning and/or areas
of the town where open
burning will take place on
a given day.
In his answer, Allred
noted the town prohibition
on burning hazardous ma-
terials and "environmental-
See 'BURNING,' page 8
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The Lovell Chronicle, 234 E. Main, Lovell, WY 82431. Contact us at: 548-2217. www.lovellchronicle.com
