6 I The Lovell Chronicle October 27, 2011
COURTESY PHOTO
Members of Cub Scout Pack 3007 participated in a ceremony to place a new
American flag at the Lovell Branch Library last Monday, Oct. 17. Pictured are (l-
r) librarian Donna Capellen, James Caldwell, Talon Grant, CJ Lindsay (holding
the old flag), Hunter Steenbakkers and Den Leader Lindsay Lindsay.
Three vacancies on Fair Board
BY KARLA POMEROY
The Big Horn County
commissioners are seek-
ing applications to fill three
seats on the Big Horn Coun-
ty Fair Board.
Willie Bridges submit-
ted his resignation earlier
this month to be effective
Nov. 1. Clerk Dori Noy-
es said Alfred Anderson
has submitted his resigna-
tion to be effective Dec. 1,
when terms normally begin.
Mitch Shelhamer, who was
appointed after the resigna-
tion of Jerry Brown (follow-
ing Brown's appointment
for the Bill Greer vacancy),
has sent a letter to the com-
missioners stating he will
not seek reappointment to
the board for the new term
beginning Dec. 1.
Letters of interest are
being accepted through
Nov. 14. Noyes said the com-
missioners try and make
appointments in order to
keep a balance of north and
south end members on the
board. Two members re-
maining on the board are
Natty Moody, chairman, of
Lovell, and Karen Sylvester
of Greybull.
POST OFFICE Continued from
speak now you will lose
your post office for sure."
Currently 82 boxes are
serviced at the postal facil-
ity in Deaver. Only the resi-
dents who receive their mail
in those boxes would be af-
fected by a closure decision.
The delivery service will
not change for residents
who are already receiving
their mail on a rural de-
livery route. All residents
would lose the ability to
purchase postage and oth-
er items at a central loca-
tion in town.
The purpose of the
meeting was to gather in-
formation in the form of
surveys that will be passed
on to a postal commission
review committee. Accord-
ing to Sims, that decision
whether or not to close the
Deaver post office could
come down within three
weeks.
The decision will be for-
mally posted at the Deaver
and Lovell post offices. If
the decision is to close the
facility, residents will have
60 days to appeal the de-
cision by sending their in-
dividual comments to the
postal commission. The ad-
dress for the postal com-
mission will be listed on
the notice.
After those comments
are reviewed, a final deci-
sion will be handed down.
If that final decision is to
close the Deaver post office,
closure is expected to occur
page 1
on March 15, 2012.
The Byron post office
is also under consideration
for closure. The town held
its initial closure meet-
ing a few months ago and
appeals are currently un-
der review by the post-
al commission. According
to Sims, residents of that
community should be hear-
ing the decision regarding
the closure of their post of-
fice soon.
Sims predicted that,
if a post office like the
one in Byron with close to
200 boxes is shut down, a
domino effect would occur
where other rural post of-
rices throughout Wyoming
would close in rapid suc-
cession.
WATER
Continued from page 1
of their municipal water
plant. Cody had good water
from Buffalo Bill but needed
a new water plant. Powell,
Lovell and Byron got their
water from the Shoshone
River, Deaver obtained wa-
ter from Deaver Reservoir,
and Frannie used water
from an artesian well now
used only for raw water.
"A lot of the hard wa-
ter in the river comes in
after it leaves the dam out
of DeMaris Springs west of
Cody," Nickle said, noting
that the spring adds miner-
al water to the river water.
"Everybody had water
softeners," he said. "The
water was OK to drink, but
it was as hard as anything.
We had a one-inch copper
line coming onto our prop-
erty and a three-quarter-
inch line to our house and
it would get to the point
where there was a pen-
cil-sized hole in the line
that the water could flow
through. We had to acidize
it periodically."
Nickle, Miller and Sny-
der started meeting with
state officials, including
the Wyoming Water Devel-
opment Commission and
started to develop a plan to
obtain a quality, long-term,
reliable source of water.
The plan was formed to tap
into Buffalo Bill Reservoir.
The long-time project
culminated with the dedica-
tion of the water plant west
of Cody on Sept. 14, 1991,
and the first flow of water
one month later on Oct. 14.
Big Horn Basin offi-
cials first started thinking
about the pipeline project
10 years before it was com-
pleted. Former Cody mayor
Miller said he met on April
10, 1981, with then Byron
mayor Mary Jensen "about
trying to solve the water
problem," Miller told the
Chronicle just before the
treatment plant dedica-
tion in September of 1991.
"And this is what the thing
evolved into. That (meet-
ing) was the first stirring of
this project."
Miller gave credit to a
number of people from the
communities served by the
pipeline who made the proj-
ect happen including Jen-
sen and Bair of Byron, Her-
man Fink and Nickle of
Lovell, Lee of Frannie, Bea-
ver of Deaver and Snyder of
Powell. Lee noted that Ana-
belle Cozzens represent-
ed Byron for many years
on the joint powers board,
and Don Richards has rep-
resented Lovell for many
years. Lee still represents
Frannie.
The $55 million proj-
ect was funded through the
WWDC, the Wyoming Leg-
islature's Omnibus Water
legislation and special leg-
islation.
During the funding
process, Nickle said, Bry-
an Lee sold the project to
a legislative committee
when he stood up and told
the committee that the wa-
ter in Frannie had a small
amount of radioactive ma-
terial in it and he didn't
like the idea of kids growing
up in Frannie glowing like
streetlights.
"That convinced them,"
he said, chuckling. "All of a
sudden there weren't many
more questions about the
project."
Lee said that's a true
story, saying he told the
committee, "We don't need
street lamps in Frannie be-
cause our babies glow in the
dark."
He said the Frannie
well water contained radio-
active salts from formations
the water flowed through
on its way from the Pryor
Mountains.
"It did make an impres-
sion," he said.
WORKING TOGETHER
Lee said the best thing
about the project and its
driving force was that all of
the communities worked to-
gether and shared the bur-
den equally.
"We all went in togeth-
er and shared equally in the
cost," he said. "It was a co-
operative effort."
He said the project was
certainly worthwhile.
"I represent Frannie,
and it's been a struggle to
survive," Lee said. "Without
infrastructure, a small com-
munity like that is doomed.
It's been a good board from
start to finish."
Nickle agreed, noting,
"This is the best project I've
ever worked on as far as be-
ing a benefit to the c0mmu-
nities in the Big Horn Ba-
sin."
He said the project is
part of the Town of Lovell's
longtime effort to build for
the future by developing
enough infrastructure to
allow for growth. I4e said
he and subsequent admin-
istrations prepared for a
population of 5,000 or more
when planning projects.
"Personally, I rated as
the five most important
things: 1) People being safe
and secure in their homes;
2) an adequate, good-tast-
ing, clean water supply; 3)
a good sewer system with
good lagoons to clean the
water; 4) qualiW streets
with curb and gutter; and
5) good parks and recre-
ation."
Visit us on the web at www.
LovellChronicle.com
TO THE STOCKHOLDERS OF THE
BIGHORN, CO.OPERATIVE MAR, KETIIG A$OCIATION
The 88th Annual Meeting of the Big Horn Co-operative
Marketing Association, Greybull, Powell, Riverton,
Worland, Basin, and Buffalo, WY will be held
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2011 AT:
American Legion Post Registration: 11 AM
143 South Clark Street Lunch Served: Noon
Powell, WY Meeting called to order: 1 PM
Election of one director from each of the following districts will be held according
to the Bylaws:
District #1
District #3
District #7
Director at Large
Presently held by David Johnson
Presently held by Gary Petrich
Presently held by Stan Horton
Presently held by Brett Stutzman
PLEASE MARK THE DATE AND PLAN TO ATTEND.
'mArS DOING BUSINESS
Joseph Hatch Colleen Tippetts
Branch Manager Natalie Wardel[ Account Representative THE BIG HORN FEDERAL WAY.
Head Teller Customer Service
Bi, Horn
UMPS
UMPS
DAY
Nov. 8
you have a growth, mole,
or a bump that you'd like
examined?
your appointment for
8 with Dr. Hoffman
and pay only $10!
-5201
Big RGrz Rlospital'District
HORN HOSPITAL CLINIC
' Lovell, Wyoming 82431 • www.nbhh.com
