What's Inside ...
Police help with cleanup 2
Latest Main detours 3
Natural Trap Cave 6
A visit to Nepal 14
LOVELL, WYOMING • VOLUME 109, NUMBER 12 • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014 • 75q
Street project challenges
starts in
District Two
"Hurry up, Mom!"
kindergarten
student Kate
Cooper seems to
be saying as her
mom, Danielle
Martens, snaps a
first-day-of-school
picture Tuesday
morning at Lovell
Elementary
School. At the
right, kindergarten
student Nathan
Cornia flies off
the bus Superman
style, such was
his excitement
to arrive for the
first day of school.
Also exiting are
brother Sam
Cornia (middle)
and Jastin Joy.
DAVID PECK PHOTOS
islative committee to meet
BY PATrl CARPENTER
Issues like the appro-
priate length of on-site sur-
gery recovery, managed
health care, the state's
nursing loan repayment
program, changes to the
state's disability waiv-
er program and licensing
rules for massage thera-
pists are among the many
topics that will be discussed
at a two-day meeting of
the Wyoming Legislature's
Joint Labor, Health and So-
cial Services Interim Com-
mittee in Lovell this week.
The meeting, which is
open to the public, will be
held on Thursday and Fri-
day at the Lovell Commu-
nity Center starting at 8
a.m. each day and ending
at around 4 p.m.
THURSDAY
On Thursday, the
meeting will open with a
discussion of the state's
developmental disabil-
ities program. A report
from the Dept. of Work-
force Services, Department
of Health and Governor's
Council on Developmen-
tal Disabilities on Disabil-
ity recent Crossroads Con-
ference will be discussed.
The committee will review
departmental roles, imple-
mentation of d.epartmen-
tal changes to date and the
relationship to new waiver
programs. At 9:45 a.m., the
committee will look at bud-
get amounts for the Dept. of
Health and will review its
appeal process.
The two discussions
will be followed by a pub-
lic comment period, expect-
ed to last until noon. The
public comment period will
be followed by a break for
lunch.
The committee will re-
convene at 1:30 p.m. with
a discussion of changes to
the experience modification
factor for workers' compen-
sation premiums and a re-
view of OSHA workplace
fatalities, including data
and penalty assessments.
A public comment pe-
riod will follow the two dis-
cussions starting at 3:15
p.m.
FRIDAY
On Friday, the commit-
tee will discuss issues re-
lated to the State Dept. of
Health, including a report
on managed care, the re-
sults of a hospital cost shift
study, issues related to de-
velopmental preschools,
in Lovell
public health nursing con-
tracts and an update by the
health care facilities task
force.
At 1:30 p.m. the com-
mittee will review the
University of Wyoming's
nursing loan repayment
program. At 1:45 p.m. it
will review the Wyoming
Ambulatory Surgery Cen-
ter Association proposed
rule change that would al-
low longer on-site post-sur-
gery recovery. And at 2:45
p.m. the committee will re-
view healthcare licensing
for massage therapists.
These discussions will
be followed by a public com-
ment period at 3:30 p.m,
The committee will adjourn
upon completion of commit-
tee business.
"This is a great oppor-
tunity for citizens in this
part of the state to be a
part of a legislative com-
mittee meeting," said Rep.
Elaine Harvey of Lovell,
who co-chairs the commit-
tee with Sen. Charles Scott
of Casper. "Sen. Ray Pe-
terson (of Cowley) is also a
member of the committee,
so even if you don't want
to speak, you can observe
your representative and
senator at work."
BY DAVID PECK
It's been a challenging
summer for Lovell Main
Street businesses with the
ffust, noise and disruption
of the Main Street recon-
struction and water and
sewer project, but as the
project finally moves west
of the central business
district, business owners
feel they've weathered the
storm.
"I was surprised how
well we did, especially in
June and July," La De Da
co-owner Pat Baxendale
said. "Tourists came in.
"We were always clean-
ing due to the dust and dirt,
but business wise we did re-
ally well. I thought for sure
we'd be way down."
Oddly, July was espe-
cially strong for the busi-
ness at 186 E. Main, and
that's when the project was
right outside the store's
front door, Baxendale said.
"In July we did excep-
tionally well," she said.
"Maybe it was the lo-
cal events, but even peo-
ple from Cody and Powell
were finding us on a regu-
lar basis."
Baxendale said she ap-
preciates the efforts of the
construction crew during a
project of this scope.
"Even when they did
our street at Eighth and
Washington two years ago
the Wilson guys always ac-
commodated us," she said.
Employees at the new
Queen Bee Gardens honey
candy storefront at 244 E.
Main said the project had
an effect on business but
the store has bounced back.
"Before the street shut-
off we couldn't keep up," em-
ployee Peggy Fowler said.
"But that was also Lovell's
Day and the reunions."
Business slowed when
the "hard closure" shut
down Main Street traffic m
the 200 block of East Main,
but many shoppers were
persistent, Fowler said.
"Most tourists found
us after tasting the candy
at the Brandin' Iron or the
Mustang Center," she said.
"They all said what a mess
it was trying to find us."
And as the project
moved on west, business
has returned.
'Tou could tell when
they opened up the street,"
April Christensen said.
"Business immediately got
better."
Employees at Lovell
Drug said they were sur-
prised how fast the project
went on the 100 block of
East Main. They said busi-
ness has remained strong.
"We did well," Car-
ol Spann said. "They (the
construction workers) kept
the sidewalk swept so there
was no mess out there. It
was only three weeks. They
were in and out of here."
JoAnn Moody said cus-
tomers learned to come
in the back door or come
around to the front via the
park immediately to the
east of the building, and
she also appreciated the
efforts of the construction
crew.
"They cleaned up very
SEE 'BUSINESSES ROLL WITH
THE PUNCHES' page 3
BY PATFI CARPENTER
Students in Big Horn
County School District No.
reported to class this
Week, and initial enroll-
ment numbers show the
district is showing a slight
increase in overall enroll-
ment for the school year
2014-15. Supt. Rick Wood-
ford reported an overall in-
crease of students enrolled
in the district of six stu-
dents based on the number
of students actually attend-
ing classes. It is typical for
these numbers to fluctuate
in the early weeks of the
school year.
Lovell Elementary
School saw 338 students on
the first day of school. The
middle school had 154 and
the high school had 212
students cross its threshold
this week. One year ago en-
rollment stood at 335 in the
elementary school, 164 in
the middle school and 209
in the high school.
"These numbers re-
flect the actual number of
students in attendance on
the first day of each school
year," explained Wood-
ford. "As you can see, the
numbers continue to be sta-
ble in Big Horn County No.
.,,
DISTRICT NO. 1
Big Horn County School
District No. 1 had an en-
rollment of 1,000 students
as of Tuesday, but officials
expect a bump in atten-
dance within the next few
weeks due to an addition-
al 118 pre-approved appli-
cations pending the receipt
of final applications to Wy-
oming Connections Acade-
my, an online school man-
aged by the district.
Rocky Mountain pre-
school held steady with
46 students in attendance
compared to 47 last year.
Grades K-12 saw 646 stu-
dents this week compared
to 676 last year. Connec-
tions Academy saw 308
compared to last year's 331.
The online school Con-
nections Academy, in par-
ticular, will see growth if
those pre-approved actu-
ally attend. Teachers in
the program provide on-
line classrooms to students
from all over the state.
H0me-schooled students,
with parent supervision,
use the school extensively.
The school has seen steady
growth over the past few
years. The figures include
Burlington schools.
"Numbers are fluctu-
ating daily," said District
No. 1 Supt. Shon Hock-
er. "As we approach our
10th school day later this
week, the numbers will
start to solidify."
Since funding for
schools in Wyoming is
based on "Average Daily
Membership," commonly
referred to as ADM, school
officials carefully monitor
enrollments and plan ap-
propriately for funding and
student needs.
Under Wyoming law,
if a student is absent more
than 10 days in a row with-
out notice, the student is re-
moved from the enrollment
figures and funding to the
school is decreased accord-
ingly. Funding is based on
the actual number of stu-
dents attending on the 10th
day of school.
BY PATTI CARPENTER
The sugar campaign will begin early
this year on Monday, Sept. 8, when beet
trucks begin rolling into town. Local farm-
ers are expected to start digging beets as
early as this weekend, according to West-
ern Sugar Cooperative's senior agricultur-
alist Randall Jobman. Normally the cam-
paign begins later in September.
According to information provided by
the cooperative', one acre will normally
produce 25.7 tons of sugar beets. Jobman
said farmers are expecting to yield a nor-
mal tonnage of beets this year, in spite of
getting off to a late start due to cool and
wet springtime weather.
"The farmers have seen really good
growth all summer," said Jobman. "Though
off to a slow start, the crop looks as good as
expected."
A ton of beets yields about 285 pounds
of sugar or 2.8 tons of sugar. That is 1,150
five-pound bags of sugar that would make
a line of bags 810 feet long if you laid the
bags end to end, according to information
provided by the cooperative.
The Cooperative, which is owned by
farmers, and will operate 24/7 during the
campaign, employs up to 125 workers
during the campaign. The campaign nor-
mally lasts for about five months and its
success depends on weather and many oth-
er factors.
According to Jobman, the harvest con-
ditions are excellent right now and the en-
tire process from digging m the fields to
transporting the bountiful harvest to the
factory and the 24/7 processing operation
is set to begin early.
The sugar beet crop is a primary
source of income for many farmers in the
area. Most of the trucks rolling into town
next week will be hauling beets from near-
by local fields.
In an effort to alleviate traffic in
town, the cooperative recently changed
the location of the weighing station, so
trucks can enter from the highway south
of the factory instead of from Great West-
ern Avenue.
The finished product, which is pure
granulated sugar, is picked up daily by
truck and train and delivered to commer-
cial customers all over the country.
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The Lovell Chronicle, 234 E. Main, Lovell, WY 82431. Contact us at: 548-2217. www.lovellchronicle.com
