4 J The Lovell Chronicle J August 23, 2012
CHRONICLE
J
nomln,
Hats off to the Republican voters of Wyoming
House District 26, who saw through the smoke screen
put up by challenger Rob DiLorenzo and voted over-
whelmingly to re-nominate Elaine Harvey to the dis-
trict seat in the House of Representatives.
DiLorenzo, a Big Horn' Basin Tea Party activist, ran
an aggressive, hard-hitting campaign in an attempt
to characterize Harvey as a "progressive," the current
national buzz word that carries a negative connota-
tion among those on the far right side of the politi-
cal spectrum. Rather than touting his own credentials,
DiLorenzo went after Harvey with a barrage of adver-
tisements and mailings attempting to brand her as be-
ing somehow representative of left wing politics when
nothing could be further from the truth.
Make no mistake about it, politics is a full contact
sport, and Rep. Harvey was more than ready to meet
the challenger on the field of battle. But it was dismay-
ing to see the political discourse sink to a level that
stunk of the kind of politics we're not used to in Big
Horn County as the challenger sought to demonize
and mischaracterize Harvey and her voting record.
As chairman of the House Labor, Health and Social
Services Committee, Harvey has had to deal directly
with the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. She should
be praised for her thoughtful consideration and study
of the ramifications of the act on Wyomingites as chair-
man of the committee, not hammered for refusing to
pick up her toys and run home. Rather than taking a
"bury your head in the sand approach" that so many
opponents of the plan prefer, Harvey did the right
thing and has worked hard to understand and some-
how try to adjust the plan with its one-size-fits-all ap-
proach to rural Wyoming=
not an easy task, but itt Harvey job and she has
done it well, attending countless meetings and work-
ing with many experts in an effort to do what right
for Wyoming citizens. Throughout the process, Harvey
has learned about the many pitfalls the act presents for
Wyoming, not the least of which are the insurance ex-
changes called for in the act that simply do not work
well in sparsely-populated Wyoming.
If anything, all of Harvey work has hardened her
opinion against the Affordable Care Act, but DiLoren-
zo would have you believe that she supports it. Thatt
bunk.
Rob DiLorenzo may well be a good man, and he
certainly appears to have skills that could benefit the
voters of Big Horn County. But his attempts to cast
Harvey in a highly unfavorable light on a small num-
ber of highly ideological issues that are more the stuff
of national politics was unfair and disappointing.
Elaine Harvey is not a perfect representative. No
one could be. But she has worked hard for the citizens
of House District 26, putting whatL best for the people
- her constituents - ahead of purity of ideology. And
she refused to take the negative path during the cam-
paign, choosing, instead, to stand on her record.
That the kind of representative we need in Chey-
enne, and it is good to see that voters ignored the
smokescreen and are sending Harvey to represent us
in the Wyoming Legislature once again.
-David Peck
2012 mEMBER
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www.LovellChronicle.com
Believe it or not, our summer is over
and school begins next Monday. Drivers
need to pay attention and watch for our
children heading off to school and return-
ing home each day. The Lovell Police De-
partment is determined to keep our chil-
dren safe and part of doing so is to strictly
enforce the traffic code in our school zones.
Drivers will notice the new Hawk
light system that has been installed at
Main Street and Shoshone. This new sys-
tem will allow the children and other pe-
destrians to push the activation button,
which will activate reds lights on both
driving lanes for 20 seconds while pe-
destrians cross Main Street. Traffic on
Shoshone should not turn east or west during the
red light activation because this could conflict with
those crossing Main Street.
Drivers should be aware that on Shoshone Av-
enue in front of the elementary is a NO U TURN
ZONE. It is going to be strictly enforced for safety
concerns so please do not U TURN in this area. Driv-
ers need to be aware that if you turn and pull into
a driveway and then head the opposite direction it's
considered a U TURN. Many parents drive north on
Shoshone make a left turn and park in front of the
elementary. This is a U TURN and is in violation of
the NO U TURN ZONE. Kansas Avenue at the west
of the elementary also has a NO U TURN ZONE for
the safety of our children.
Another traffic concern in our community is
parking in the yellow no parking areas. These areas
are painted yellow and prohibit parking for many
different reasons. In our school zones these areas
provide a greater area of view for the children in
the crosswalks. Some have been widened to give the
children and drivers a clear view of each other so we
can avoid tragedy. Parking in these yellow no park-
ing areas limits the view of our children and other
drivers, which could result in a child being struck
Chief Nick
Lewis
Cop Beat
and injured. These areas will be strictly
enforced and drivers should be on notice
not to park in these areas.
Of course the crosswalks will be in
use and once the child/pedestrian enters
the crosswalk they have the right of way.
Drivers should stop at a distance that
gives the child and other drivers a clear
view of the crosswalk and the children/pe-
destrians using the crosswalk.
The school zone on Shoshone Avenue
and Kansas Avenue are 20 mph, 24 hours
a day.
I would encourage parents to use the
drop-off area on Shoshone Avenue and
the Shoshone Avenue parking lot so you
can drop your child off "curb side." This is, by far,
the best way to ensure your child's safety while be-
ing dropped off and picked up each day.
The circular drive on Shoshone Avenue in front
of our elementary building is for school personnel
and authorized vehicle use only. The circular drive
is not to be used by non-authorized vehicles and is
marked as such. If this circular drive is used by all
of us it would create a traffic hazard for our chil-
dren. Remember that the circular drive is to be used
by buses, school personnel and authorized vehicles
ONLY!
At the high school when the cones are up on
Park and Hampshire, drivers should NOT enter this
blocked off area. The cones are there so ONLY au-
thorized vehicles can enter. This area is not to be
used by parents, students and other non-authorized
vehicles.
Remember also drivers to have your children in
a proper restraining device. Children that are not
secured in the vehicle can be severely injured should
you become involved in an accident or have to apply
your brakes suddenly.
Watch for our children and let's have a safe
school year.
Letters to the editor
Im
Dear editor:
Good grief. I haven't heard
so much whining since my lit-
tle brother had to spend Satur-
day mornings weeding the gar-
den! The new Byron Poli ce Chief
certainly has his "rough row to
hoe" trying to maintain the law
for citizens who don't think the
laws should apply to them.
I, for one, am grateful that
Chief Wahl is not only aware
of Wyoming state laws pertain-
ing to animal welfare, such as
they are, but is also willing to
enforce them. In the many years
here that I have reported animal
cruelty, neglect, or abuse, in one
form or another, to law enforce-
ment, I have never had an action
taken on behalf of the animal.
Former Byron Chief Rohrer was
the one exception, and he helped
me with a disturbing rescue case
for which I was very grateful.
Some time ago, when asking
the Animal Control Officer who
held the position at that time to
explain the details of one of the
laws to me, he admitted he didn't
know the Wyoming state laws
pertaining to animals, but that I
could find them on the internet!
When I asked him how he could
enforce laws he didn't even know
about, he walked away.
The same ignorance seems
to exist in the general populace,
or perhaps in the state that was
the last in the nation to finally
pass a law making dog fighting
a felony instead of a misdemean-
or, animal protection isn't a big
priority.
There are several "gaps" in
the letters protesting the actions
taken by Chief Wahl in the two
dog incidents. Meeting with him,
as I did, to clarify the 'l tv anti'
his posi fiforci:i'i ttiSs '"
laws would be fit anyone re
ally interested. Also, you carl go
online to research the Wyoming
statutes pertaining to animal
cruelty and you will find stat-
ute 6-3-203, section (a), subsec,
tion (iii) that covers the carrying
of animals in a way that poses
undue risk, injury or death, and
also poses a public safety haz-
ard.
Let's be discerning and sup-
portive, of an officer who's actu-
ally trying to do his job.
Sandra Scouten-Ford
Lovell
ronicle
Dear Editor,
Please accept my congratu-
lations and gratitude for putting
out the best weekly community
newspaper in the United States.
Prior to the Bush-Cheney De-
pression of 2008, it had occasion-
ally been my privilege to provide
gift subscriptions. These were
sometimes for people out of the
area who had for some reason
written to the newspaper. Mrs.
McNeil was most helpful to me.
Several recipients were Byron
speed trap victims, whom I hope
attained a more balanced view of
the area after reading the Chron-
icle for a year. Courtesy of Ber-
tha Binford, Captain Jim Lovell
received his Lovell Chronicle for
several years after he marshaled
Mustang Days. He sent a gracious
thank you letter.
So much for all of that. The vol-
unteers at the Senior Citizens Cen-
ter who handle my correspondence
and computer work inform me that
your web site is not user friendly
insomuch as actually purchasing a
subscription. They do say the com-
pany you use to provide the e-edi-
tion is the best in the business with
a user friendly format.
For you to go to the time and
expense of providing a website, it
would seem to maximize value to
you by providing an easy proce-
dure to subscribe online.
Bertha Binford
Dear Editor,
A penny for our thoughts!
The nine Big Horn County sales
tax proposals to raise our county
sales tax to six cents for a specific
one cent purpose: (community im-
provement at $24.8 million, to last
13 years) should be amended be-
fore it goes on November's election
ballot. It should offer property own-
ers an "opt out" clause (similar to
the states' "opt out" clause in the
federal healthcare bill).
We are aware that Governor
Mead is already sharing more
state funds with towns and cit-
ies. It took eight years to get the
sales tax off from groceries. How
many know how much the grocery
tax cost you annually? It's like the
federal government's policy of
hiding welfare's cost in the farm
bill. (80 percent of the farm bill is
welfare cost, 20 percent is farm
subsidies.)
We have identified the "needs"
in these nine proposals and rec-
ommend that a "volunteer core" in
each community meet these needs
instead of the six cents sales tax:
Lovell: paving/museum/rodeo
facilities/golf course: Need: paving.
Greybull: new pool; Need: none.
Basin: electric loop transmis-
sion/town hall develop/lighting
park/BCAC; Need: electric loop.
Cowley: street repair; Need:
street repair.
Byron: sewer/park improve-
ments; Need: sewer.
Burlington: paving; Need: pav-
ing.
Deaver: water lines; Need: wa-
ter lines.
Frannie: water lines/Park RPJ
demo Legion bldg; Need: water lines.
Manderson: water lines;
Need: water lines.
In World War II, Mander-
son collected enough scrap metal
for the war effort to have a ship
named after the town. Such inge-
nuity should be utilized now.
Since our property taxes
raise annually we reject the idea
that this property owner, paying
$1,900 annually to live in her own
home, should be responsible for
further county projects, totaling
$24.8 million, seeing as how we al-
ready pay taxes for: BHC library/
fair/weed-pest/airport/five school
levies/dist, fire/hospital/health
care dist./soil conservation.
Nora Marie Lewis
Basin
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. Un-
signed letters will be discarded. Writers are lira-
ited 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, WY 82431, or
delivered to our office at 234 E. Main St Lovell. A
strict 1:00 p.m. Tuesday deadline will be enforced.
