4 I The Lovell Chronicle I September 29, 2011
Football, hoops
and Main Street
improvements
A little bit about this and that on a
perfect autumn day:
Football fans who acquired tickets
and made the trek to Laramie Satur-
day for the Wyoming-Nebraska foot-
ball game enjoyed a marvelous experi-
ence at War Memorial Stadium.
The weather was stunning, and the
War was packed to the gills with rabid
Wyoming and Nebraska fans - a sea
of red and gold.
Some pundits on the Wyoming David Peck
internet fan boards are complain- Observations
ing that the university shouldn't have
scheduled an opponent like the Corn-
huskers to come to Laramie, that it was embarrassing that
Nebraska fans were able to purchase so many tickets.
But I disagree. The atmosphere was incredible, and the
Cowboys held their own against the Huskers, showing how
far Coach Dave Christensen has brought the Wyoming pro-
gram. In fact, had the Pokes not dropped a long pass and
missed a field goal, the 38-14 score would have been much
closer.
As for the tickets, Wyoming fans have no one to blame
but themselves if they don't scoop up all of the extra tickets
that were available for the game.
Speaking of UW, it is truly sad to see the basketball ca-
reer of Lovell Kristen Scheffler come to an end due to her
continuing back problems. Kristen has been a spectacular
player at Lovell High School and UW, easily one of the most
talented players to don a Bulldog or Cowgirl uniform.
Kristen could drain multiple three-pointers and make jaw-
dropping moves to the basket. We will miss seeing her on
the court, but she made the right decision to apply for a
medical DQ that will end her playing days but allow her to
keep her scholarship.
The situation is disheartening for Kristen and her very
supportive extended family, but here what Kristen needs
to remember: Her competitive drive will take her far in life
off the court, and she will make her mark as much for her
friendly good nature and many talents off the court as for
her success on the court. Even without basketball competi-
tion, she has a very bright future.
Yc Yr
The Town of Lovell wants to spruce up the town entry-
ways, and the town council wants your help. Mayor Bruce
Morrison is seeking volunteers to come up with ideas and/
or serve on a committee for "entryway enhancements." The
improvements could include anything from walking paths
to trees.
Let the mayor or town hall know if you are interested, or
attend a meeting called for Thursday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m. at
town hall.
Letters to the editor
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2011MEMBER
Postmaster: Send address changes to:
The L0vell Chronicle, USPS 321-060
234 E. Main, L0vell, Wyoming 82431
(307) 548-2217
Published every Thursday
Periodical postage paid at L0vell, Wyoming
Editor and Publisher: David Peck
Reporter: Patti Carpenter
Staff: Gladys McNeil, Pat Parmer,
Dorothy Nelson, ManNyn Layne,
Teressa Ennis, Jason Zeller,
Chen/I J011ey, Stormy Jameson
\\;\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\, \\;\\\\\\\\\
OU BUCK'S BEEN
GOLFIN' WITH ME FOR 30
YEARS, AN' HIS TRIPLE BY-PASS
YESTERDAY WON'T CHANGE
A THING - NOT AFTER
HE RI00COVERS!
TILLTHE00N, IT'S
HITTH'BALL, PRAG
BUCK, HITTH'BALL
DRAG BUCK...
Letters to the editor
Alternative energy is the future
To the Editor,
I was fortunate to be in the
right place at the right time last
Friday to see a beautiful sight. I
was walking the dogs by the rail-
road tracks when I heard the fa-
miliar train whistle.
We stopped to watch the train
go by and I was surprised to see
an unusual shaped object on the
first flatcar. It was white, very
long and I thought at first it was
some kind of odd shaped pipe. By
the third car I realized it was a
propeller but way too long and too
large to be for an airplane. That's
when it dawned on me they were
blades for wind turbines! A lot of
them, car after car.
I didn't think to count them,
but every two to three blades rep-
resented one turbine. We own a
few shares of Rocky Mountain
Power Blue Sky Project, and I
wondered if they may be going
there to expand the field. Heaven
knows, we need all the alterna-
tive power sources we can get!
It seems to be a little known
fact, especially in this part of the
country, that Peak Oil occurred
in 1971 and the profit-driven pe-
troleum industry is willing to say
and do anything to preserve the
illusion that there's still plenty
of gas and oil out there - some-
where - tar sands, shale, deep
water, polar reserves, just wait-
ing for the usual government
subsidies to make it possible to
extract it. The truth is, as fields
deplete, extraction becomes more
and more cost prohibitive.
Whereas, if we'd just stop
listening to the lies and propa-
ganda and start installing solar
panel arrays on our homes and
business buildings, which is even
better than fields of solar panels
and acres of wind turbines, we'd
be prepared when the oil finally
runs out. There's no transmis-
sion lines and no corporations
that you have to pay for the priv-
ilege of powering your own home.
You own it!
Wake up before it's too late.
In the meantime, I sure enjoyed
watching those white propeller
blades go by and picturing them
when they're up in the sky, catch-
ing the wind .....
Sandra Scouten-Ford
Pipeline Board defends prequalification process
Dear Editor,
:' Our Wyoming resident engi-
For over 20 years Shoshone'
Municipal Pipeline has main-
tained a solid reputation for
providing high quality service to
its constituents and has always
supported local businesses and
contractors. Most importantly,
Shoshone Municipal Pipeline
provides a critical, life sustain-
ing product to the communities
it serves, quality water. Sho-
shone Municipal Pipeline has
the responsibility to provide an
uninterrupted water supply to
several communities, without
which emergency providers, fire
protection, hospitals, schools,
businesses and residents could
be in jeopardy.
For the past several weeks,
Shoshone Municipal Pipeline
has been criticized by newspa-
per editors, several legislators
and state officials regarding the
prequalification process, which
was open to all contractors, for
the 24-inch pipeline relocation
project required by the Wyoming
Department of Transportation
(WYDOT). With the exception of
a couple reporters, and one leg-
islator, not one of these individ-
ual parties has taken the time
to even attempt to contact Sho-
shone Municipal Pipeline to in-
quire about the prequalification
process or to verify the informa-
tion and stories they have been
hearing, much of which Shosho-
ne Municipal Pipeline disputes
as being inaccurate. It is unfor-
tunate that some people are so
ready to be critical of this pro-
cess that they will not take the
time to try to get accurate infor-
mation and facts.
The pipeline relocation proj-
ect requires a qualified con-
tractor that can work with the
landowners upon which the
easements are located and has
the ability to complete a com-
plex project involving three
bores, two under Highway 14A
and one under private proper-
ty, and two critical tie-ins. The
project will involve installing
pipeline in difficult terrain, in-
cluding steep grades, a creek
crossing and the highway cross-
ings. Because of the critical na-
ture of the pipeline, it was de-
termined that each of the tie-ins
must be completed within a 24-
hour period, which includes the
time to drain and refill the pipe-
line at the tie-in locations in or-
der.to avoid potential damages
to the customers who rely on
the water for their emergency,
business, and personal needs.
neers determined that this proj-
ect would require a contractor to
possess both the experience and
resources necessary to complete
a tightly sequenced project. At
the suggestion of our engineer
and as expressly authorized by
state law, Shoshone Municipal
Pipeline deemed it appropriate
and in the best interests of the
citizens it serves to prequali-
fy contractors in order to se-
lect only those who possess the
qualifications to perform the
proposed work at a performance
level that met the Board's ex-
pectations and as a means of en-
suring that the proposed project
was built on time and within
budget. It was never the intent
of the Request for Qualifications
(RFQ) to exclude anyone, but
only to ensure the best chance
for this project to reach a suc-
cessful conclusion. There were
more than double the number
of out-of-state contractors com-
pared to in-state contractors
that were not prequalified.
The prequalification package
required an extensive amount
of information, yet only a small
component of the prequalifica-
tion criteria seems to ever be
discussed by anyone choosing
to criticize Shoshone Municipal
Pipeline. Wyoming state law,
which was appropriately passed
and adopted by the Legislature,
allows a mechanism for cities
and towns to prequalify contrac-
tors based on such criteria as
the project type and experience,
expertise, professional qualifi-
cations, past performance, staff
proposed, schedule proposed, fi-
nancial strength, qualifications of
supervisors proposed to be used,
technical solutions proposed, or
references. The prequalification
package of Shoshone Municipal
Pipeline followed State statute
(W.S. 15-1-113(c).
Shoshone Municipal Pipe-
line was required to submit the
prequalification package to Wy-
oming Water Development Com-
mission (WWDC) for review and
approval. WWDC reviewed the
RFQ package, made some rec-
ommended corrections, which
were all complied with, and ap-
proved the process. As expressly
allowed by statute, many munic-
ipal entities have prequalified
contractors for the sole purpose
of selecting qualified contrac-
tors, which is consistent with
the ethical and fiduciary duties
of the representatives elected to
administer those entities.
In the RFQ, there is specifi-
cally a provisidti' allowing Sho-
shone Municipal Pipeline the
right to reject any and all state-
ments of qualifications as well
as to waive irregularities there-
in in determining the firm's
qualifications. Accordingly, if a
contractor had been able to pro-
vide appropriate information to
demonstrate its qualifications,
even though the contractor may
not have done specific work on
24-inch pipeline but rather only
on a 20-inch pipeline, it is an ir-
regularity that could have been
waived. Additionally, there have
been newspaper articles that
have contained information re-
garding our RFQ that are either
misleading or completely inac-
curate. Furthermore, the focus
was only on Wyoming projects,
yet the RFQ was not limited to
Wyoming. Wyoming contractors
could have turned in work done
anywhere in our geographical
region that included five states.
There were projects in Wyoming
tha.t would have qualified.
The fact is, the contrac-
tors that were not prequalified
would not have been prequali-
fied even without the request to
submit information regarding
work on 24-inch or larger pipe-
lines. Some of the complaining
contractors submitted incom-
plete or inadequate information
and others did not even provide
any of the required prequalifi-
cation information.
There has been nothing im-
proper with the Board utilizing
the statutory process allowed
by state law to try to prequali-
fy contractors who have the ca-
pabilities to perform the job on
time, within budget, in a cooper-
ative manner with the citizens
upon whose property the project
will be located, and in such a
fashion as to not disrupt or en-
danger the lives of the numer-
ous people who will be served by
this project.
Shoshone Municipal Water
Joint Powers Board
Don Richards, Chairman,
Lovell Representative
Bryan Lee, Vice Chairman,
Frannie Representative
Craig Sorenson, Secretary,
Deaver Representative
Steve Miller, Treasurer,
Cody Representative
Dwain Jackson,
Byron Representative
Jim Mentock,
NRWD Representative
Jim Hillberry,
Powell Representative
