The Campbell County Observer

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Week of April 15 - 22, 2011

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“Health Buddies”Support for Medicaid Clients

Contact: Kim DetiPhone: 307-777-6420“Health Buddies” to Support Wyoming Medicaid ClientsCertain selected Wyoming EqualityCare (Medicaid) clients are beginning to use “Health Buddy” devices for a cost-effective connection to enhanced medical care as part of a new Wyoming Department of Health effort.The new Healthy Together Health Buddy Project, designed especially for the Wyoming EqualityCare (Medicaid) program, will connect certain clients to medical professionals who will directly monitor their health status using tele-health technology.The Health Buddy is a small, easy-to-use device that is placed in a client’s home and is attached to a phone line. The system asks patients a series of individualized and interactive questions. “For patients, it basically involves logging in to a computer over the phone line so that you can answer important questions every day about your health condition,” said Dr. James Bush, Medicaid medical director with the Wyoming Department of Health. “The system also allows for sharing important data such as blood pressure readings or sugar levels.”“For example, we know Medicaid clients who have experienced heart failure are frequently candidates for expensive hospital readmission. This is both costly

to endure so we want to help them avoid future hospital stays or complex procedures,” Bush said.“With this program, we can set up a Health Buddy device in a heart patient’s home,” Bush continued. “Using the Health Buddy, the patient can answer daily questions about medications and potential symptoms such as shortness of breath or weight gain.”

managers, under a contract with the

Aging and Disabilities Conference Set for CheyenneWith a theme of “Powering toward the future,” the 2011 Wyoming United for Aging and Disabilities conference will be held May 3-5 in Cheyenne.The conference, hosted by the Wyoming Department of Health’s Aging Division, will be held at the Little America Hotel and Resort. Conference sessions will cover a variety of topics related to the human

and substance abuse, and disabilities, including developmental disabilities.The keynote/banquet speaker will be Dr. Walter Bortz. Bortz is one of America’s

aging and is a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford University.Additional session topics include the Wyoming Aging and Disabilities Resource Center, Green House Living, Accessing

Disabilities Panel: Shifting to Self-Direction Care Plans, Multicultural Aging, Medication Use and Abuse, Healthcare

Wyoming Department of Health, will staff the project. These nurses will monitor information submitted by patients and

detect potential problems or increased symptoms of concern. “Depending on the case and the patient’s needs, they may call that patient to discuss their condition or they may help ensure the patient visits a doctor,” Bush said.“The Health Buddy system has been used for a number of years in other programs such as the Department of Veterans

“It’s been proven to reduce the number of hospitalizations and costs associated with managing chronic illnesses.”Bush noted the initial project is limited to 100 patients. “Because we are interested in better patient care and cost avoidance through improved prevention, we are focusing on cases with the highest rate of expense and use,” he said. “We hope to expand the program should we see the good results we expect.”The Health Buddy effort is part of the Healthy Together program offered to all Wyoming EqualityCare clients at no cost. The program, which is operated by APS Healthcare, provides one-on-one support from a nurse, educational materials to encourage the self-management of health and help in coordinating care among multiple providers. Healthy Together also provides EqualityCare clients with information on weight loss, smoking cessation and how to adopt healthy lifestyles. For more information on Healthy Together please contact APS Healthcare at 1-888-545-1710 extension 7089 or visit www.WYHealthyTogether.com.The Health Buddy devices are provided by Robert Bosch Healthcare Inc., a leading provider of innovative tele-health systems. For more information, please contact Edie DeVine at 415-365-8543 or visit www.bosch-telehealth.com.

Reform, Reverse Mortgages, and theAging/Mental Health/DevelopmentDisabilities Panel.A pre-conference session the morningof May 3 from 9 to 11 a.m. will cover emergency preparedness. A post-conference session on May 5 from 12:30 to 5 p.m. will cover emergencypreparedness training in detail.The conference registration fee is $150 before April 24 and $175 after April 25. Online registration is available at http://guest.event.com/d/ldqb91/1Q. Formore information about attending theconference please call the Aging Division at 1-800-442-2766 or send an email to wyaging@health.wyo.gov.The conference is sponsored in part by theWyoming Department of Health’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Division, the Wyoming Departmentof Health’s Development Disabilities Division, and AARP.Contact: Kim DetiPhone: 307-777-6420

Aging and DisabilitiesConference for Cheyenne

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Gillette College Graduation

By Keary Speer

There are many milestones in a per-son’s life. Those defi ning moments that make people who they are and manage keep that person from ever returning to who they once were. Everyone knows what these milestones are and share some, or all, of them. These things would be your fi rst date, your fi rst car, high school graduation, your wedding day, having a child, etc. For 163 Gil-lette residents, one of those defi ning moments came Friday, May 6th when they walked across the stage to accept a GED, certifi cate, or college diploma at the 21st Gillette College Commence-ment Activities.

The Powder River Brass Quartet per-formed the pre-processional and pro-cessional music for the walking gradu-ates. They were followed by the National Anthem sung beautifully by one of the graduates themselves, Patrick Webb. After a few words from two of the NW-CCD (Northern Wyoming Community College District) Board members they presented the President’s Award to a surprised recipient.

DeShara “Dee” Washington was hon-ored with the award for her outstand-ing academic accomplishments as well as her involvement in the community, sports programs, and other school ac-tivities. DeShara is also a part of the Phi Theta Kappa honors program. It was not until the end of the presentation of this award that they called her name. Shock had washed over her and she slowly made her way up to the stage. She briefl y thanked her mother and sis-ters and walked proudly off the stage.

Wyoming’s 32nd Governor Matthew H. Mead honored the ceremony with his presence to give the Commencement speech. He started off with a funny an-ecdote about a young girl who came to the Governor when he was visiting a school. She asked if he were the “real” governor and, if so, what can he do for her about bullies pushing her down on the playground. He offered his appre-

ciation to the graduates for their bet-terment of themselves and therefore the great state of Wyoming. Along with words of wisdom he told a story of hope and achievement in which his grandfa-ther overcame a stutter and the exile by his public school to become a state senator. Having such an infl uential and successful speaker present at the cer-emony hopefully left an impression not only on the graduates, but on the audi-ence as well.

The Vice President for Academic Af-fairs, Dr. Jon Connolly, presented a total of 163 degrees and certifi cates. GED Certifi cates were presented to 11 graduates, 3 of which came from the Even Start/Wyoming Family Literacy Program. Certifi cates of Completion were presented to 33 graduates. There were 58 Associate of Applied Science graduates, 49 Associate of Science graduates, and a mere 5 Associate of Arts graduates. Along with these gradu-ates, the University of Wyoming Out-reach presented 4 Bachelor’s degrees and 2 Masters of Business Administra-tion degrees. Regis University honored one person with a Bachelor of Arts-Ele-mentary Education degree.

After the ceremony, the Class of 2011 was asked to a reception at the college to celebrate their successes and ac-complishments with everyone around them.

The NWCCD President, Dr. Paul Young wrote it best when he said, “The achievement of a college diploma or certifi cate is a major life milestone. Re-gardless of major, a college diploma signifi es persistence, sacrifi ce, self-dis-cipline, intellectual accomplishment and that graduates have the ability to set an important long-term goal and achieve it in spite of the obstacles we all know will arise along the way.” Graduates of any degree will remember this defi n-ing moment in life and go forth to better our society and that is something to be proud of.

John Fritz of Campbell County put up the American Flag and the POW/MIA Flag the day that the Navy SEALS shot and killed bin Laden. He said that “It was the proudest day that the United States of America has seen in decades.” It has been awhile since he put up a fl ag. “It costs too much because of the wind. Your replacing a fl ag a week.” Now he says that he bought U.S. made stitched fl ags and will never not have one on his fl agpole again.

Medical doctors may be on the way to becoming an endangered species. In-stead of making them a protected spe-cies, however, the government is spear-heading a movement that may well lead to their extinction, replacing them with what are currently considered mid-level medical practitioners.

Physician assistants (PA) and Nurse Practitioners (NP) are commonly called “Doctor” in clinic settings. They are not medical doctors.

A medical doctor who receives his education in the United States typi-cally spends four years in college, four years in medical school, and completes a minimum three-year residency of working in a hospital. Depending on the specialty, completing the residency can take many more years. The degree is Doctor of Medicine (MD).

A physician assistant spends four years in college and typically two to three years in an accredited PA pro-gram. The degree is Physician Assis-tant (PA).

A nurse practitioner spends four years in college and typically two to three years obtaining a master’s degree in nursing (MSN). The exception being, in the 1980s, nurse practioners were ex-pected to obtain an MSN, but those al-ready practicing with a certifi cate were grandfathered in. The degree is Nurse Practitioner (NP).

It has been stated that Nurse Practi-tioners are vital to being able to provide health care to citizens, due to a critical

shortage of physicians. For that rea-son, the next big push is for the Doc-tor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, which will require four years of college, experience as a registered nurse, and four years of advance practice educa-tion. It is planned that by the year 2015, all nurse practitioners and nurse anes-thetists entering practice will have to have obtained the DNP. Those currently practicing with either an MSN or certifi -cate will not be required to obtain the DNP for continued practice, but will be grandfathered in.

“Advanced practice nurses” appear to be the wave of the future, due to health care reform and major efforts by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. The Wyoming State legislature has a bill in the works (SF0098) which will, in fact, mandate hospital privileges for advanced practice registered nurs-es. It will also require that hospital by-laws regarding staff admission and staff privileges “make any provision needed to comply with the relevant governmen-tal regulations.”

Whatever your opinion on the qualifi -cations of health care providers, make your opinion known to your state repre-sentatives and senators, as well as to your local hospital administration and the hospital board of trustees. It is as important for them to have your sup-port as it is for them to know if you are against it. Either way, let them know where you stand on the subject.

Is a Doctor In?By Sara Painter

Patriot Publishing is a small publishing busi-ness starting up right here in Wyoming. We not only publish the Campbell County Ob-server and calendars, but anything in print. We will soon also have a monthly publication that we think you will enjoy. If you have a book and can’t get a major company to publish you, we are a new and American-owned publisher that may print your work. Please feel free to contact us at anytime with your idea.

Community

2

May is motorcycle awareness month and on Saturday, May 14, A Brother-hood Against Totalitarian Enactments (A.B.A.T.E.) will sponsor an awareness parade.

“This year we are going to line up at the Sports Bar at 9 am. with depar-ture time sometime after 10. From the Sports Bar will we head onto Warlow Drive, then right on to Burma Road, left on to 2nd street, and then right onto Hwy 59 to the fi shing lake,” said Mike Argue, President of the organization

There will be a free public picnic spon-sored by the GRO (Gillette Riders Or-ganization) following the parade.

“There is no parade permit for this so all traffi c signals and laws must be obeyed by all motorcycles participating in the event,” he added

The main focus of this group is to fi ght for the rights of motorcyclist in our area and in the nation. We pay close atten-tion to any legislation aimed towards motorcycles and or their riders. We in-form our members of the goings on in the legislation and encourage them to call, write, or email the legislators to get their voice heard.

The organization also has a Christ-mas fund. “This is probable our biggest event,” stated Argue.” Every year we partner with the Council of Community Services and open the A.B.A.T.E Toy Store. We open this store for 3 days right before Christmas and let Moms and Dads come and do some shopping for their children. These families are less fortunate can really use the help we provide.”

A.B.A.T.E. holds several other events throughout the year to benefi t bikers as well as the community at large. Satur-day is a chance for folks to watch the parade and pay respect to an organiza-tion that believes in giving back to the community.

ABATE to hold motorcycle awareness parade

BySandra Boehler

MIKE ARGUE,President of ABATE

Lines of people in red t-shirts could be seen walking and running on Lakeway and 4-J Road Saturday, May 7th for the 6th Annual Family Literacy Walk-a-thon. Over fi fty men, women, and children registered to participate and either walk 3 miles or 6 miles for the cause sponsored and organized by the Energy Rotary Club.

Though there was no competition in time fi nished, because everyone started on their own time, there were defi nite winners in money raised be-forehand. Shirley Beckett would be the individual to take home a trophy for raising $450 on her own. All par-ticipants were rewarded when they fi nished with a chili lunch provided by the Prime Rib.

Even Start was a federally funded program until recently. They lost their funding and are being forced to change their name to Wyoming Fam-ily Literacy. That may not be a bad thing, however, considering it will eliminate all confusion between Even Start and Head Start. They are now a grant funded program and rely heav-ily on these fundraisers to keep their program alive.

Their mission statement is, “Em-powering parents to give their chil-dren the best possible start in life.” It is a program that helps parents

receive their General Education Di-ploma (GED) while providing their children, ages 0-5 years, with qual-ity, educational childcare. In order to participate in the program the parent must take adult education courses, early childhood education courses, parent education courses, have par-ent and child time (PAC) at least 2 hours per week, and are required to have home visits regularly.

The goal is to help families and par-ents graduate from high school in or-der to encourage their children to do the same. They do not want children to become a product of their environ-ment infl uenced by their parents and are putting the proper tools in the hands of the parents to help prevent that from happening. The program is also largely ESL (English as a Sec-ond Language) based. Of Hispanics in Wyoming, 44% drop out of high school. However, of the people who participate in the program, there is a 94% graduation rate. Three of which participated in the Gillette College graduation Ceremony the day before the fund-raising event.

This particular event helped raise a grand total of $7,001.00 which will go to paying the staff for providing fam-ily literacy sessions throughout the summer. More donations are expect-ed to come in shortly as well.

Wyoming Family Literacy can be found in the old Hillcrest School building. They are a grossly under-funded and under-recognized orga-nization that can always use commu-nity support. To help donate go to the Campbell County School District web site and search, “Families” to get a pledge form.

Results for teams: 1st place went to Meadowlark Elementary with do-nations totaling $535; 2nd to Nutri-tion Services of Campbell County School District - $390; 3rd to Camp-bell County Public Library - $385; other teams: Cottonwood Elementa-ry - $336; Campbell County Abstract - $200; Hillcrest Elementary - $170; Chapter V, P.E.O. - $65. There were seven teams altogether consisting of 41 walkers and they raised $2,081. Energy Rotary Club members, be-sides organizing and sponsoring the event, raised a total of $995.

Results for Individuals: Individual participants numbered 52 and they raised funds of $3,925. 1st place went to Shirley Beckett with dona-tions totaling $450; 2nd place to Helen Mathes with $450; 3rd place to Stephanie Bowker with $365; 4th place to Ileana Salas with $200; and 5th place to Lisa Geer with $190.

Family Literacy Walk-a-ThonBy Keary Speer

Campbell County Memorial Hospital’s (CCMH) Summer Youth Volunteer Pro-gram begins June 9, 2011. Interested youth ages 12-17 years should contact Bridget Vanderpool, Volunteer Coordi-nator at 688-1536 by Friday, May 13 to complete an application and schedule an interview. Applications are also avail-able online at www.ccmh.net and click on the dropdown Ways to Give.

Interviews will conclude May 25th. Orientation and training takes place June 9. All interested youth volunteers, even those from previous years must complete an application and schedule an interview.

“Completing the application gives youth additional practice and the inter-view process allows me to meet the vet-eran volunteers”, said Bridget.

The program has limited a limited number of slots available. Youth volun-teers perform duties such as delivering meals, beverages and books, greeting patients and families, assisting nursing and support staff, working with children and Pioneer Manor residents and other healthcare related services.

“It’s a great way for young people to learn the value of helping others,” said Bridget Vanderpool. “And it’s fun for the kids too.”

Interested youth must be the mini-mum age of 12 by June 1, 2011, be able to volunteer at least three hours each week - excluding vacations, and have transportation to and from the hospital. Volunteer shirts/uniforms will be pro-vided.

The Summer Youth Volunteer pro-gram concludes August 18 and an ap-preciation reception is scheduled for August 23. For more information call Volunteer Services offi ce at 688.1536.

CCMH Summer Youth Volunteer Program begins June 9

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Community

3

Virgil Moss, a very intriguing man, was found at the Hometown Veterans break-fast, last week. He was born and raised in Campbell County April 13, 1924. His parents later moved to Montana. It was always a desire of Virgil to return to his parents ranch to work the land and animals he loved so dearly. However, as he puts it, God had a whole different plan for Virgil’s life.

He does admit he has en-joyed his travels and adven-tures in life. Mr. Moss was 19 years old when he joined the U. S. Army. He trained at Camp Hale, CO, which is at 9,800 ft. Virgil went to communications school and learned Morris Code. He then served in Italy starting in February 1945 as a forward radio transmitter. It was Vir-gil’s job to scout the enemy and send information back to the troops behind him so they could find and push back en-emy soldiers.

Virgil was lead by General Hayes through the moun-tains in their attacks. He remembers a victory which took their troops four days to take two points, Riva Ridge and Mt. Belevader. It had been at a stand off for nine months. He was traveling with a five man crew. The lieutenant and Virgil made it to their destination, however, three others were hit and in-jured and could not go on to fight. Virgil was knocked out on his way up the mountain and were left alone.

After coming to, knowing he could hit a land mine, he pushed on, using his gun as a cane to assist him. He knew his radio was needed and, therefore, would not give up his struggle. At dawn, he saw someone approaching. Not sure if it was the enemy he was ready to fire. Thankfully, it was his Lieutenant. The Lieutenant took Virgil’s radio and, once

again, left him alone. He watched en-emy soldiers carrying the dead. He had no food and little water as he wandered around heading down the mountain to where he knew troops would be.

He arrived at a base where he wit-

nessed U.S. heroes stacked like “cord wood.” Virgil was fed and got some much needed rest. He took a loaf of bread and proceeded back up the mountain to find his fellow soldiers. He sat on a German built trench to rest and eat some of his bread. He heard the sound of a German 88, a large German gun shot, approaching which landed at the trench. He was unharmed but no-

ticed his loaf of bread was gone. Virgil can’t remember how but he found his Lieutenant. He feels God aided his trip to the Lieutenant.

They fought their way to Pole Valley where, Virgil says, he had the scariest

experience of his life, “the burning bush”. He stated an angel spoke to him telling him to “get across the river or he would die.” They joined an-other crew which was travel-ing across the river in Duks, a vehicle with the capability of traveling on land and water, to the other side of the river. There, they had the last stand at Brennor Pass. At this vic-tory they took 3 Star General Von Senger prisoner. Virgil and a buddy stayed in a Mus-lim Palace where they rode bicycles and relaxed.

From there, his travel took him to Trieste which lies be-tween Yugoslovia and Italy. Virgil shipped home in the fall of 1945. He wrote a let-ter to his parents requesting to come home ad work on the ranch he so missed. Howev-er, there was no room for him to join the family ranch at the time. Virgil was discharged November 27, 1945 and went on to work in Colorado Springs, CO at Pikes Peak Roofing. He enjoyed square dancing and it was there he met his dance partner whom he married. He has lived in many areas throughout his life, including a year in India doing missionary work. Virgil

has written 20 books on his life experi-ences. He states “God wrote them I just penned them.”

If you are as interested to hear more on these adventures you can now find his books at the Campbell County Li-brary. He can be found at the Home-town Veterans Breakfast on May 31.

Local Veteran of the MonthBy Sandra Boehler

Friday, May 13- Artist of the Month, Mae Gill, CCPL- Wyoming Junior High Div. of HS

Rodeo, 1 - 6:30 p.m., Wrangler Arena, Camplex

- NADAC Dog Trials Camping Form, 9 a.m., Barn 3, Camplex

- Gillette High School Rodeo, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Morningside Park, Camplex

Saturday, May 14 - Campbell County Centennial Dis-

play, CCPL- 4th - 6th Grade Wii Play Saturdays,

1 - 4 p.m. at CCPL- Teen Open Play Video Gaming, 1 - 4

p.m. at CCPL- NADAC Dog Trials Camping Form, 9

a.m., Barn 3, Camplex- Gillette High School Rodeo, 7:15

a.m. - 6 p.m., Morningside Park, Cam-plex

- Pre-PAW Performing Arts Workshop, 1 - 4 p.m., Heritage Center, Camplex

- Rotary Ball, 5:30 p.m. - 1 a.m., En-ergy Hall, Camplex

- Mule Deer Foundation Banquet, 5 - 11 p.m., Wyoming Center Equality Hall, Camplex

- Thar’s Ranch Sorting, 9 a.m. - 8 p.m., East Pavilion, Camplex

- Gillette Riders 3rd Annual Picnic, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., Dalby Park

Sunday, May 15 - One on One Computer Classes,

CCPL- NADAC Dog Trials Camping Form, 9

a.m., Barn 3, Camplex- Gillette High School Rodeo, 7 a.m.-

(?), Morningside Park, Camplex- Thar’s Ranch Sorting, 9 a.m. - 8

p.m., East Pavilion, Camplex

Monday, May 16 - Artist of the Month, Mae Gill, CCPL- CCSD Secondary Strings Concert, 7

p.m., CCHS N. Auditorium

Tuesday, May 17 - Teen Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game Club, 4 -

6 p.m. at CCPL- Twin Spruce Choir Concert, 7 p.m.,

Heritage Center, Camplex- Wyoming Reads, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

(Private Event), Camplex- RCM Spring Barrel Race, 5 - 9 p.m.,

East Pavilion, Camplex

Wednesday, May 18 - Teen New Volunteer Sign up, CCPL- Campbell County Centennial Dis-

play, CCPL- Story Time, 11 a.m., Wright Public

Library- GALI Annual Tour and Meeting, Pri-

vate Event, Camplex

Thursday, May 19- Teen New Volunteer Sign Up- Teen Anime Club, 7 - 8:30 p.m. at

CCPL

Friday, May 20 - Teens New Volunteer Sign Up- Choose Dance Recital, 7 p.m., Heri-

tage Center, Camplex (CCHS)- Open MIC Night, 7 p.m., Brothers

Coffee

What’s Going On?

The Community Stop and Drop is a multi-agency event to promote safe and responsible recycling. This event, held at Campbell County Public Health (2301 S. 4-J Road), coincides with Na-tional Seat Check Saturday and will be held Saturday, May 14th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The public can drop off unused or un-wanted prescription medications, con-sumer electronics and Powder River Shredders will also be on site to shred sensitive documents for individuals (no businesses).

Look for volunteers in orange shirts when you arrive at Public Health on Saturday.

What you can bring in: Prescription Drug Take Back

Bring in: old pills (unwanted or ex-pired), vet or pet drugs, over-the-coun-ter medicine, vitamins, medical patches or creams.

Do not bring in: needles & sharps, mercury thermometers, oxygen con-tainers, chemotherapy/radioactive sub-stances, pressurized canisters, or illicit drugs.

**Please conceal or remove any per-sonal information, including the Rx number on the container by covering it with black permanent markers. Markers will be available at the Stop & Drop lo-cation.

Consumer Electronics Bring in: computers (Hard drives will

be destroyed), TVs, monitors, printers, stereo systems (no speakers) Remem-ber: 70% of heavy metals found in US landfills come from discarded electron-ics. Consumer Electronics Recycling is sponsored by ProTech Computing.

Document Shredding Powder River Shredders will be on

site to safely destroy sensitive materi-als with secure confidential shredding for personal paperwork - no business or commercial papers will be shredded. Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime in the U.S.

Campbell County Public Health offersCommunity Stop and Drop event

For orders and inquiries contact:Morning Rose MarketingOwen C. 307.680.1302 or e-mail doclarke12@yahoo.com

Shirts can be purchassed at Monogramming Plus, Downtown Gillette

Discounts For

Multiple Shirts

$18 50/50 TEES S, L, XL$22 50/50 LONG SLEEVE$36 50/50 HOODIES

The National Armed Forces Freedom-Ride is an annual nationwide event created in 2010. Wyoming is joining to honor our past and present US Military and to remind Americans of our mili-tary’s service to the people of the Unit-ed States. Saturday May 21, 2011 is for all those wishing to pay their respects to America’s Veterans...whether you ride a motorcycle, drive a truck, a race car or a go-cart...everyone is welcome!

Registration begins at 8 AM at the Gillette National Guard Armory, with breakfast being catered by Pokey’s and kickstands up at 10 AM. The ride will proceed to the Buffalo Veterans Home, then onto the Sheridan VA Hospital and returning that evening to enjoy a fun filled night at Jakes Tavern including dinner. All proceeds above costs will go to Hometown Veterans; an organization

that provides support to local service members and their families.

This is the first year for Wyoming to observe the FreedomRide; and the or-ganization is seeking monetary dona-tions to make this a smooth and awe-some event. The money will provide the organization with the means to purchase food, t-shirts and patches to commemorate this event. Donations may be made at 1st National Bank of Gillette under Armed Forces Freedom-Ride.

For more information please contact Keri Mann (Wyoming Coordinator) at 307-689-5006 or visit their website-www.wyomingfreedomride.webs.com Keri will also be available at the Gillette Riders Organization Picnic.

God Bless America and Our Troops!

National Armed ForcesFreedomRide Wyoming

“Talent doesn’t win against hard work, hard work wins against talent.”

- Gillette Wild Hockey Player

Community

4

The following are some of the topics covered and items discussed at the Campbell County Cemetery Board meeting on May 4, 2011.

Darin Edmonds, Sexton, gave a detailed and useful tutorial on how to navigate the new Cemetery Board website. The rebroadcast of this board meeting will be available for a time on Gillette Public Access Channel 22.

The board voted to allow the use of granite for base material in memori-als; previously only concrete was al-lowed.

New health insurance coverage for employees and board members was discussed, and was to be discussed in further detail in an executive ses-sion.

There is a state statute regarding sold but unused spaces in a cemetery. If there has been a 25 year period with no activity, the spaces can be consid-ered abandoned and go back into inventory. Before this can be done the staff has to take appropriate mea-sures to contact the owners of those

spaces. There are 4796 sold but un-used spaces in the Cemetery District at this time. The cemetery staff will go going through block by block to de-termine which, if any, spaces will go back into inventory. It is very impor-tant to keep contact information cur-rent with the Cemetery District.

The board voted to purchase an ADA compliant sound system for the meeting room. The bid was awarded to American Radio & Hi-Fi, who has experience dealing with structures similar to the meeting room in Gillette. The sound system upgrade will be a benefi t to the community. It can be rather diffi cult to follow the recorded meetings due to the quality of the sound system currently in place. Da-rin Edmonds later explained that this new ADA system will feed directly into the City of Gillette’s recording system. So, in addition to the sound being am-plifi ed in the meeting room itself, there will also be a much better sound qual-ity on the recorded programs.

There was discussion on the need

for, and the previous recommendation of, a Master Plan for the cemetery or-ganization. It was called a road map, a tool, and a guide line, and seemed to be favored by several meeting at-tendees. One board member said that if the public asked them how a deci-sion had been made, he would rather say they had experts to assist them in making decisions, rather than saying they had made an educated guess.

Due to the absence of two board members, the vote on Water Well Number 5 was tabled until the next meeting. It is hoped that all board members will be in attendance at the next meeting to allow the six board members to vote on whether to move forward with the project.

The proposed budget for fi scal year 2012 was discussed. Once again, the Cemetery District is not asking for all the money it is entitled to. Although state statute allows them to assess three mills, they have never done so.

Many items discussed at Campbell Co. Cemetery Board meeting

By Sara Painter

May 4, 2011- At 5:09 PM to the 700 block of Gran-

ite for a residential fi re alarm, units were cancelled en route.

- At 9:09 PM to 7th and Richards for a motorcycle vs. full size car accident with one injury.

- At 10:23 PM 1901 Energy Ct. for an elevator emergency alarm, upon arrival nothing was found.

May 5, 2011- At 12:15 a.m. to the National 9 Motel

for an EMS Assist.- At 2:46 a.m. to the Days Inn for an

EMS assist.- At 12:36 p.m. to #9 Pineview Drive

for a controlled burn that got out of containment. CCFD responded to the scene and extinguished an approxi-mate ¼ acre grass fi re. The burn was then turned back over to the property owner.

- At 6:06 p.m. to 911 South Doug-las HWY for a possible structure fi re. CCFD responded to the scene and de-termined that a malfunctioning coal fur-nace was causing excess smoke and ash to be exhausted from the chimney. The excess smoke/ash led to a neigh-bor calling 911 reporting the building on fi re. The owner was notifi ed and they shut down the furnace until it could be repaired.

- At 7:43 p.m. to the intersection of Skyline Drive and Westover Road for a vehicle collision. CCFD responded to the scene and upon arrival determined no one was injured and no hazardous materials were leaking from the in-volved vehicles.

- At 9:04 p.m. to 905 North Gurley Av-enue for an automatic fi re alarm activa-tion. CCFD responded to the scene and upon arrival determined that the alarm was caused steam from a shower.

May 6, 2011- At 9:39 AM to the 700 block of Rich-

ards Ave. for an EMS assist.- At 10:12 AM to the Prime Rib Res-

taurant for an automatic fi re alarm acti-vation, units were advised that child had pulled a pull station that activated the fi re alarm.

- At 2:06 PM to 1st Interstate Bank for a report of an automatic fi re alarm. Upon arrival it was determined that the alarm was caused by construction dust in the duct work.

- At 5:48 PM to North Sage Hill Rd. for an EMS assist.

May 7, 2011- At 2:59 p.m. to Tyler Avenue for an

EMS assist.- At 10:45 p.m. to Wigwam Blvd for an

EMS assist.

May 8, 2011

- At 9:34 AM to the 2600 block of South Douglas Highway for a medical assist. Responding fi re units were can-celled by enroute.

- At 9:57 AM to the 7100 block of Rob-in Drive for a medical assist.

- At 12:11 PM to the 5200 block of Rocky Point Drive for a medical assist.

- At 12:17 PM to 601 Tyler Avenue (Birchwood Apts.) for a fi re alarm. A fi re alarm pull station was activated by an unknown person(s). There was no fi re. The fi re alarm was reset.

- At 3:23 PM to the 1000 block of Church Street for a medical assist.

- At 5:01 PM to the 100 block of Mesa Drive for a medical assist

May 9, 2011- At 10:40 a.m. to 2804 Hackathorn

Lane (SGS Minerals Services of North America) for a structure fi re. Employees discovered the fi re and evacuated ten employees out of the building safely. Three rooms and a portion of a hallway suffered extensive fi re damage. The whole building suffered heat and smoke damage. The metal building measures fi fty feet by one hundred and thirteen feet. SGS Minerals analyzes minerals (processed coal samples). An employ-ee was removing a protective cap on an acetylene bottle with a wrench when the control valve to the acetylene bot-tle was inadvertently partially opened by the wrench and caught on fi re. Fire investigators are working on identify-ing the ignition source. The building is owned by Mr. Ray Webb and is insured. Preliminary fi re damage estimate is $150,000 to the building and several hundred thousand for laboratory equip-ment. Acetylene gas is very fl ammable and accelerated the fi re spread in the building. SGS Minerals is able to use other laboratory equipment and are open for business.

- At 11:59 a.m. to Mercantile Drive for an EMS assist.

- At 12:24 p.m. to Rockpile Blvd for an EMS assist.

- At 3:45 p.m. to the area of Burma overpass for a vehicle fi re in the en-gine compartment. The fi re was extin-guished by the vehicle owner prior to Fire Department arrival. There was less than $500.00 damage to the vehicle.

- At 5:50 p.m. to the area of the I-90 overpass on HWY 59 for hazardous materials leaking from a vehicle in-volved in a crash. Upon arrival CCFD determined there were no hazardous materials leaking from the car and no action was needed.

- At 9:07 p.m. to Miranda Avenue for an EMS assist.

Campbell County Fire Department

Update on Stonepile Creek Sanitary Sewer Project

The City of Gillette’s Utilities Depart-ment announces an update on the Ston-epile Creek Sanitary Sewer Project.

The intersections of 1st Street/Em-erson Avenue and 1st Street/Kendrick Avenue will both be closed for paving. Carey Avenue will be open for business access.

And 1st Street from 1,250’ east of Burma Avenue to 650’ west of Rohan Avenue will be closed for paving from Tuesday, May 10th through Tuesday, May 24th. Business access will be maintained.

These closures are for the Stonepile Interceptor Phase IIB project, which is funded in part by the Optional 1% Sales Tax.

For more information contact Public Information Offi cer Joe Lunne at (307) 686-5393.

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Question of the Week

What conspiracy theories have you heardabout Osama Bin Laden’s death?

“That the U.S. Planted a look alike body, he is still alive. I don’t believe it though.”

- Dale Keaton

“That he has been dead since as early as 2002.”- Mike Kraft

“I heard that he is still alive, and working for the CIA, and that this is just an election stunt.”

- John Hornseby

Channel 18, Gillette’s education chan-nel, provides services such as providing live coverage of graduation ceremonies. You can also purchase DVDs of gradu-ation ceremonies (Campbell County High School, Westwood High School, or Gillette College), or of the prom. They also provide rebroadcast of these events and other educational events such as CCHS Scholarship Night.

There are short programs for teach-ing kids how to draw, and even a show called Kids a Cookin’, which teaches kids how to prepare nutritious meals.

The public service announcement fea-ture of this channel provides a schedule of upcoming school sports events with time and location. It lists, one at a time,

all of the elementary schools with con-tact information for the school, including the name of principal. It gives informa-tion about the times of classes offered at Gillette College (in QuickBooks, for example), small two day, two hours each day classes.

Currently this channel is also display-ing electrical safety posters, including the name of the student who drew it and the school they represent.

Gillette Public Access is a tremen-dous service to our community. Be sure to contact them and express your ap-preciation for making it so convenient to share in events that you cannot attend in person.

Channel 18 provides many services

By Sara Painter

Community

5

The law requires business owners to obtain proof that every employee is eli-gible to work in the United States. How-ever, there is no mechanism in place in Wyoming or in Campbell County to verify that a business owner is a United States Citizen, or is eligible to work in the United States.

Forty percent of our illegal immigrants initially arrived in the United States le-gally, and just never left, according to Carl Rusnok, Public Information Office for the central region of ICE (Immigra-tion and Customs Enforcement). The estimate is that there are currently over 11 million illegal immigrants in the Unit-ed States.

Illegal immigrants enjoy greater pro-tection of privacy rights than are grant-ed to United States Citizens. Photos of United States citizens, details of their crimes, and the street address where they live, are posted on the Internet for the entire world to see. However, the information as to whether a person is a United States citizen or an illegal immigrant, that information cannot be

revealed unless the person in question signs a waiver giving permission for the release of that information. In fact, the person in question cannot even be investigated by authorities unless they are caught in an illegal act.

A local law enforcement officer said, “I always thought being an undocument-ed immigrant was an illegal act.” How-ever, he acknowledged that ICE does promptly respond when any illegal im-migrants are apprehended due to any violation of the law, even a minor one such as driving without a license.

Although they do a great job in de-porting illegal immigrants, ICE places a priority on criminals, rather than on non-criminal illegal immigrants. “Of the more than 392,862 deported in fiscal year 2010,” Rusnok says, “195,772 were criminals.”

At thinkexist.com Rusnok is quoted as saying, “Anybody who is in this country illegally runs a risk, When you have lim-ited resources you have to prioritize run-ning down criminal illegal aliens.” When asked about that quote, he laughed and

said, “Yes, that sounds good. Print that one.” He is also credited with saying, “With the number of illegal aliens, we can’t drop our criminal prosecutions to handle administrative arrests. We have to prioritize.”

Some states and cities do have laws that require physicians (prior to being li-censed in the state), and business own-ers to be verified through the System-atic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, an information service that determines immigration status so that only entitled applicants receive federal, state, or local licenses or benefits.

If you would like to see Wyoming and Campbell County participate in SAVE for physicians and business owners, as well as for citizens who receive other federal, state, and local benefits, con-tact your state legislators, county com-missioners, mayor, and city council.

Whether you favor amnesty for all un-documented aliens, or proof of citizen-ship, citizens can make a difference.

Should Wyoming/Campbell County participate in SAVE?

By Sara Painter

Scholarships for students atCampbell Co.High School

Scholarships for Campbell County High School (CCHS) students are up from 124 last year to 132 this year. The dollar amount also increased from $223 thousand to $260 thousand this year.

Carmen Heer, who is in charge of the scholarship program at CCHS, said the full listing with names and details of the awards will be available within a couple of weeks.

Heer explained the increase in schol-arship dollars happens when, for ex-ample, individual businesses organize special events, with the proceeds des-ignated to go to scholarship awards; also, when families sponsor scholar-ships in remembrance of loved ones. For more information on how to contrib-ute to a scholarship, call 307-686-1239, and ask for Carmen Heer.

Watch for the complete listing of awards which will be coming soon.

A federal judge issued an opinion Sunday rejecting a lawsuit brought by environmental groups hoping to stop the sale of coal leases in the Powder River Basin.

Wildearth Guardians, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Sierra Club brought a civil lawsuit challenging the federal government’s decision to authorize the leasing of U.S. Bureau of Land Man-agement ground in northeastern Wyo-ming for coal mining operations.

The claims challenged the BLM’s March 25, 2010, decision to authorize the leasing of the West Antelope II tracts for possible coal mining. The area is ad-jacent to existing mining operations.

But District of Columbia District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found Sunday the claims are without merit.

Named as defendants were Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The state of Wyoming intervened on behalf of federal government, defend-ing the potential leasing. Others who

intervened on the side of leasing the lands were Antelope Coal LLC, and the National Mining Association.

The leases have been under consid-eration for years.

Antelope filed an application with the BLM on April 6, 2005, requesting that public land adjacent to Antelope’s ex-isting coal mine in Campbell and Con-verse Counties.

Antelope asked that about 4,746 acres of land within the Powder River Basin containing about 429.7 million tons of coal be offered for competitive lease sale.

On March 25, 2010, the BLM decid-ed to divide the land into two separate tracts—designated as the “West Ante-lope II” tracts and to offer each tract for lease at separate, competitive sealed-bid sales.

In the course of reaching this deci-sion, the BLM prepared a controversial Environmental Impact Statement.

Submitted by the Cowboy State Free Press - Go to the Cowboy State Free Press Website at http://thewyonews.net

Federal judge rejects Powder River Basin coal-leasing challenge

By Bill McCarthy

SWEDE’S SPECIALTIESWine & Beer Brewing Supplies

& much, much more!307-686-0588

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To submit a quote of the week

go to www.campbellcounty

observer.net

Channel 31, Public Service, provides a continuous supply of information in-cluding meetings and events, as well as other programming. The announce-ments include a selection of events available through the Campbell County Parks and Recreation Center, as well as Campbell County Public Library events. The meetings notices include support group times and places as well as random meetings such as Meeting Singles, if you are age 45 to 105.

It also reminds citizens of the law that requires all resident vehicles to display Wyoming plates within a certain period, provides the definition of what condi-tions make you a resident, and states it includes you if you apply for public assistance. According to the Campbell

County Clerk’s office, the rule is you must have Wyoming plates within 30 days of arriving here, or immediately upon employment.

Other programming examples include car racing from Thunder Speedway; Powder River Symphony concerts; Democracy Now (political discussion), and Army News Watch (current events in the US Army). Currently playing is a rebroadcast of the Chamber of Com-merce meeting with guest speaker Gov-ernor Matt Mead.

Gillette Public Access provides an amazing service to our community. Contact them and let them know how much you appreciate having access to meetings and events that would other-wise not be available to you.

Channel 31 offers important information

By Sara Painter

The Wyoming Department of Health wants children to learn good sun safety habits to help avoid developing skin cancer later in life.

“Just one blistering sunburn in child-hood or adolescence more than dou-bles a person’s risk of developing melanoma when they grow older,” says Jessica Perez, outreach coordinator for the Wyoming Comprehensive Cancer Control Program with the Wyoming De-partment of Health.

“The time to learn about and start practicing sun protection is in youth, when safety behaviors can be estab-lished for a lifetime,” Perez continued.

Because children spend a large amount of the sun’s peak hours at school, schools can play an important role in skin cancer prevention. Accord-ing to Perez, the most recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that fewer than 47 percent of schools encouraged students to apply sunscreen before go-ing outdoors.

To help increase awareness and en-

hance school policies surrounding sun safety in the state, the Wyoming Com-prehensive Cancer Control Program created the Wyoming Sun Safe Schools of Distinction Program in 2007. Since that time, 40 schools have been recog-nized with the award.

“Our goal really is to present every school in Wyoming with the Wyoming Sun Safe School of Distinction title and award,” Perez said.

To earn the honor, schools must incor-porate school-based sun safety in three areas of concentration: Sun Safety Education, Promotion of Sun Protec-tion Measures, and Evaluation. Once each school in a district is awarded for their Wyoming Sun Safe School status, the district shall receive an award for its comprehensive approach to prioritizing the importance of sun safety.

For more information, or to apply on-line for the Wyoming Sun Safe Schools of Distinction award, contact Perez at 307-777-7362 or visit www.fightcancer-wy.com online.

Sun Safety important for Wyoming’s Children

May is Skin Cancer Awarness Month

The Gillette Riders Organization would like to extent an invitation to the public:

On Saturday May 14, 2011 they will host the Third Annual Picnic from 11AM to 3PM at Dalby Park. Free hamburg-ers and hot dogs will be served for all who attend. The organization consists of area bike organizations coming to-gether to promote events for the public.

Last September, this group was the organizers responsible for bringing the “American Traveling Tribute Wall” to Gillette. Many of you went out to see this amazing monument that visited our town. It was an honor for Gillette to show its support to all Veterans from all stages of war-time. The parade they hosted was enjoyed by several citizens.

This picnic is a great way to get out and meet some local people. Nothing to buy, just good time to eat and visit. If anyone is interested in the “National Armed Forces Freedom Ride,” a nation-wide ride to show our support for veter-ans, taking place on May 21, 2011, they will have spokespeople there to give you information on what the ride entails. You will be able to order a t-shirt if you choose.

Please come out to enjoy lunch and a beautiful afternoon. If you are watch-ing the A.B.A.T.E. Awareness Parade just follow the group as they will end the parade at the picnic site. For more information you can visit their website gro2010.org.

Gillette Riders Organization to hold free public picnic

6

In March, after moving many of its em-ployed medical providers to under one roof at the main hospital, the Campbell County Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees had planned to find an “um-brella” name to use, such as Campbell County Clinics, rather than continuing to use the individual names each clinic had been started up under.

At the April hospital board meeting, Brian Peshek, MD, a hospital-em-ployed physician, when asked for his input regarding a name change for his Sagebrush ENT practice, replied, “As long as you give good patient care, in my opinion, the name isn’t that big of a deal.”

Monica Morman, MD, another hos-pital-employed physician, spoke out against the name change of her hos-pital-owned practice. She has worked very hard to gain name recognition for her practice, and stated unequivocally that a “stigma” is attached to the words “County Hospital.” The fact is, Camp-bell County Memorial Hospital (CCMH) has grown into, at the very least, a multi-million dollar industry despite the “stigma” of that name.

What is more interesting than a po-tential name change is the concept that hospital- employed providers may have

the power to change a decision made in March, by the Campbell County Me-morial Hospital Board of Trustees, that whatever the name would be, it would have “Campbell County” in the title. Af-ter Dr. Morman’s input, that is no longer set in stone.

During her speech Dr. Morman said, “At this point, we are at a point where you know the institution, the hospital, has really asked us to market. We’ve really been trying to capture the indus-try business that’s here in town.”

Capturing the industry business in Gillette does support CCMH’s strate-gic plan, of which the Number 1 Goal is: “Recruit and retain physicians and mid-level providers to meet community healthcare needs and enhance CC-MH’s business strategy in recapturing market share and financially supporting CCMH’s department overhead by pro-viding referral business.”

Due to the way the hospital is orga-nized (non-profit), they do not have to pay taxes. As Trustee Joe Hallock has pointed out, they do openly compete with privately owned specialties and businesses. In addition, they are co-owners of at least one for-profit enter-prise (Powder River Surgery Center).

Independent physicians have com-

plained about the use of taxpayer funds for advertising for hospital-employed physicians, voicing that they are having to pay to promote their own competi-tion, and possibly funding their own de-mise. The hospital received over $18 million of “taxpayer money,” disburse-ments from the Campbell County Trea-surer’s Office, from July 2009 through June 2010 .

Our hospital is a wonderful facility, but where would our community be without freedom of choice regarding healthcare providers, including the option of an independent physician. If, in fact, the hospital is able “to capture the indus-try business that’s here in town,” how many physicians will have been forced to leave our community to make a living elsewhere.

Contact the Campbell County Memo-rial Hospital Board of Trustees and let them know where you stand on this is-sue that is of great importance to our community. Trustees at this time are Chairman Alan Mitchell, MD; Brook Bahnson; Harvey Jackson, Nancy Tarv-er, Joe Hallock, George Dunlap, and Sara Hartsaw, MD. Their contact infor-mation is available online at http://www.ccmh.net/About_Us/Board_of_Trust-ees.aspx.

Campbell Co. Memorial Hospital board discusses name change

By Sara Painter

Campbell County CommissionersNext meeting is May 17, 9 a.m.

City Of GilletteNext meeting is May 16 at 7:30 p.m.

at the Council Chambers (201 E. 5th St. • Gillette, WY 82716)

Meeting Minutes

Community

These are some of the topics covered and items discussed at the Campbell County Cemetery Board meeting on May 4, 2011.

Darin Edmonds, Sexton, gave a de-tailed and useful tutorial on how to navi-gate the new Cemetery Board website. The rebroadcast of this board meeting will be available for a time on Gillette Public Access Channel 22.

The board voted to allow the use of granite for base material in memorials; previously only concrete was allowed.

New health insurance coverage for employees and board members was discussed, and was to be discussed in further detail in executive session.

There is a state statute regarding sold but unused spaces in a cemetery. If there has been a 25 year period with no activity, the spaces can be considered abandoned and go back into inven-tory, after the staff has taken appropri-ate measures to contact the owners of those spaces. There are 4796 sold but unused spaces in the Cemetery District at this time. The cemetery staff will go going through block by block to deter-

mine which, if any, spaces will go back into inventory. It is very important that you keep your contact information cur-rent with the Cemetery District.

The board voted to purchase an ADA compliant sound system for the meeting room. The bid was awarded to Ameri-can Radio & Hi-Fi, who has experience dealing with structures similar to the meeting room here. The sound sys-tem upgrade will be a real benefit to the community. It can be rather difficult to follow the recorded meetings due to the quality of the sound system currently in place (muffled, not loud enough, hard to hear). Darin Edmonds later explained that this new ADA system will feed di-rectly into the City of Gillette’s recording system, so in addition to the sound be-ing amplified in the meeting room itself, it will also be much better sound quality on the recorded programs.

There was discussion on the need for, and the previous recommendation of, a Master Plan for the cemetery or-ganization. It was called a road map, a tool, and a guide line, and did seem to be favored by several meeting attend-

ees. One board member said that if the public asked them how a decision had been made, he would rather say they had experts to assist them in making decisions, rather than saying they had made an educated guess.

Due to the absence of two board members, the vote on Water Well Num-ber 5 was tabled until the next meeting. It is hoped that all board members will be in attendance at the next meeting, to allow all six board members to vote on whether to move forward with the proj-ect, due to the cost involved.

The proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 was discussed. Once again, the Cemetery District is not asking for all the money it is entitled to. Although state statute allows them to assess three mills, they have never done so. The Cemetery District isn’t one you think of on a daily basis. Take the time to contact them and thank them for not only keeping our cemeteries beautiful, but also for not collecting all the tax dol-lars the law would allow.

Campbell County Cemetery Board covers many topics at meeting

Wyoming Governor Matt Mead was the guest speaker at the graduation ceremony for the Gillette College Class of 2011. His message focused on do not accept what you are told you can-not do. He told a personal story about his grandfather, Cliff Hansen, who had been sent home from school as “un-educable” due to a stutter that impeded his ability to communicate with anyone other than family members. Because Cliff’s parents did not accept that he was uneducable, they sent him out-side the state to achieve his education as well as to obtain help in mastering his stutter. Clifford Hansen returned to Wyoming, where he eventually became the 26th governor of Wyoming and sub-sequently a United States Senator for two terms.

“Don’t accept can’t. You don’t know what you can do until you try,” said Governor Mead. “If we had accepted “cannot do that,” we wouldn’t even be a country. If we had accepted “cannot do that,” we wouldn’t have made advances in medicine, automobiles, and space travel. Do not put limitations on your-self or on your dreams. This is a world of possibilities.”

He also said that in this world of pos-sibilities is this great state of Wyoming, and he encouraged graduates to pur-sue their careers or their further educa-tion within the state of Wyoming. He acknowledged that graduates may be-come discouraged with career or further education, and when that happens, he encouraged them to see the opportuni-ty before them, the door that has been opened because of their education.

His entire message was vital to every-one, not just to the graduates he was honoring on Saturday night. Especially his closing, which was, “Make your fu-ture the very best you can.”

Congratulations to the Gillette College Class of 2011.

Governor Mead

speaks at Gillette College

graduation

Campbell County Memorial Hospi-tal’s (CCMH) quarterly health educa-tion luncheon is scheduled for Tues-day, May 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Campbell County Public Library, Wyoming Room. It’s All in Your Hands: Portion Control and Healthy Eating Go Hand in Hand, features guest speaker Heidi Gillette, Registered Dietitian, who

will talk about the roles that portion siz-es and balancing carbs play in today’s active lifestyles.

Participants will enjoy a special lunch with products from Heaven to Earth, formerly SusAnn’s Fine Foods, and a summer fashion show featuring men’s and women’s fashions from Butterfly Boutique, Lasting Memories and LC,

Love Couture, and can register for sev-eral doorprizes,.Special products from Heaven to Earth will also be available for purchase.

Registration is only $10 per person, or save $10 by purchasing a table for eight. Call 688.1580 to register or for more information.

Campbell Co. Memorial Hospital to hold quarterly health education luncheon May 17

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7

Public Pulse

Dear Editor:I would like to respond to Mr. James

Johnston’s letter in the Newsrecord. He said that it is shameful that Wyoming is one of the seven States without some kind of smoking ban. Good. I am not a smoker and I hate the smell of it. How-ever, we call ourselves the last Free State for a good reason. If you own the business, it is your choice how you run it. If you want to let people smoke, then that’s ok. You won’t have my business. But smoking bans are nothing but tak-ing away property rights. Next are you going to say what I can and can’t do in my home that I bought and paid for? If I pay and run this business, it is mine, not yours. The government needs to stay out of any private ownership af-fairs. Our Bill of Rights is law and is not supposed to be interpreted for con-venience. Most of the Bill of Rights are essentially protection of property. If you want a nanny state without individual freedom, move to California.

John ShertzerEditor: “We fought a war because

our lives and property were being loot-ed and destroyed. I will ever dread a man or a government who assumes that force must be used, and, when he believes he knows how best to run an-other’s property.” - Thomas Jefferson

Dear Editor:I really like your newspaper. You are

really trying to make our community look good. Keep it up, I have just or-dered a subscription.

Jason FlanneganEditor: We will. There are many im-

provements to be made, but we have performed leaps and bounds already. Please get involved by answering the question of the week, open article sec-tion, and letters to the editor. The most help you can give is the word of mouth that we need. Thank you for your sub-scription.

Dear Editor:It is good to see Mr. Glenn Woods’ ar-

ticle. First, he knows what he is talking about. Second, we have a local political show host writing a local political col-umn. What do I care for someone who is from N.Y. City? Keep it up Glenn, love your show.

Keith JensonEditor: Glenn is a good writer and

knows his information. He is just as much a part of this newspaper as the owners. Your right, having a local per-sonality write for a local newspaper is only right.

Dear Editor:When are we going to learn? Wyo-

ming has the highest spending per per-son, the biggest population percentage that works for government, most spend-ing per student at the schools, etc. Yet we let our politicians around the State call us Conservative? We need to re-evaluate our thinking.

Chris JohnsonEditor: You are right; however there

is always more than meets the eye. We have high spending because of our low population. We also have no income tax. We have many advantages that other states don’t have. We should take all of this in account. Also, there is always the option of running for offi ce yourself, which is the only way to really make the change you would like to see with government.

Letters to the Editor

Our spending is a big problem, and our tax system just as large. Tax laws will fi ll bookshelves and more. They are bounti-ful enough where no tax attorney (or IRS agent) could possibly know all of them. They empower governments too much. Property taxes for example allow the gov-ernment to take your paid off property for not paying taxes. Some taxes are a necessary evil though. We need police, fi reman, courts, streets, water, schools, etc. The problem is and has always been how to pay for them? Below I highlighted the current tax system vs. two semi-recent proposals and what they are. Are one of these the solution?

Federal income tax:Continuation of 16th Amendment.Extremely complex with over 20,000

pages of regulationsTax attorneys and IRS does not fully un-

derstand225 billion dollars in compliance costs

yearlyTaxes Savings, labor, investment, and

production multiple timesThere is a question of whether the cur-

rent tax code violates the principle of equality

Places larger tax burdens on US exports and fails to neutralize tax advantages for imports

Requires dossiers, audits, and collec-tion activities including judgments that re-sult in funds stripped from personal bank accounts, usually from struggling people

Requires an enormous cost of the IRS agency, with the ability to collect warrants, and act as agents making people into criminals

Over 6.1 billion hours per year in re-quired man-hours for compliance

Hidden, embedded in prices, and in-comprehensible. Taxes are withheld from paychecks.

Flat Tax:Continuation of the 16th AmendmentHR. 1040 would impose a 17% fl at tax

on incomeCost of fi ling is reduced and much sim-

plerImposes a tax burden which is still hid-

den in the price of goods and services. Taxes exported goods and does not tax foreign imports to the US.

Still requires personal fi les, dossiers, audits, and collection activities

Reduces interest rates 25-35%The IRS is retained with a reduced roleMan-hours required for compliance will

be signifi cantly reduced.Reduced tax rates will improve simplic-

ity and will improve compliance.Retained in a different form. Both em-

ployee and employer will still pay 7.65% each into Social security

National production increases.The business component of the fl at tax

and payroll taxes are hidden and would be embedded in prices. Taxes are still withheld from paychecks.

Fair Tax:Will repeal (through Constitutional pro-

cess) the 16th amendmentIndividuals do not fi le, and businesses

only need to deal with sales tax returns.HR. 2525- Employees receive 100% of

pay. Social Security and Medicare funded from the consumption tax revenue.

No personal forms are fi led.Believed that the fair tax will increase

productivity and produces signifi cant eco-nomic growth

Taxpayers pay same rate and control li-ability. Tax paid depends on life style and material choices.

Foreign companies are forced to com-pete on even terms with U.S. companies

Does not directly tax individualsIRS would be abolishedMakes U.S. companies competitive

against overseas companies.Very easy to understand.The income tax started out nearly fl at

in 1913 then grew out of control with top rates over 90% until the Kennedy admin-

istration, where it leveled off and grew ac-cording to our nation’s spending habits. Because we already use this tax system, we know the complications, dangers, and economic impact of this design.

Basically, the fair tax is a set sales tax on new items. You do not pay taxes on used items, services, production steps, income (business or personal), only when you buy that new item from the store. If you never buy new, you won’t pay taxes. If you buy the newest and most expensive car on the market (and you can afford it), you will be paying much more taxes. Taxes will then be your choice, but there will be no way to dodge them, and there for no need for an IRS to regulate compliance. Overseas buyers would have to pay this also.

The Flat tax is a set income tax for all classes of individuals; let’s just say as an example 17%. There would be no tax brackets, no returns, and no complicated laws. 17% across the board for everyone including overseas companies operat-ing in the United States. Social Security FICA payroll taxes would remain in place to help fund the social services needed. Everyone would pay the same percent-age based on income regardless of class. Would also signifi cantly reduce marginal tax rates.

I heard about the Observer’s Open ar-ticle section, and thought this would be good for my fi rst submission. I enjoy the fact that you encourage common people to be their own journalists. I hope to be able to submit one again within a couple months. Thank you for this opportunity.

Editor: You’re Welcome! We want the community to be as involved in this paper as possible. Thank you for writing a fact based article, as we will not print opinion articles for the open article section. Opin-ions are reserved for the letters to the edi-tor. Mr. Sevis brought up a great point on this alternate tax possibility. Write to us, how do you feel about the tax laws, and how can we make it better?

Open Article of the Week“Fair Tax vs. Flat Tax, vs. Federal Income Tax”

By David Sevis

All opinions in the Public Pulse section are not necessarily the opinions of the

Campbell County Observer

When Alexandria Johnson, 19, gradu-ated Campbell County High School this year, she did not really have a career in mind. “I was thinking, maybe college, maybe mines. Hopefully Black Thun-der.”

While working a city auction with her step-dad, she became aware of City West and found herself at City Hall looking at the seasonal work ads. “All they had was the Police department and this,” she said, perking up, “This [working for the Parks Division] is fun. Everyone is nice. My boss is extremely nice. The people [public] are nice. Ev-eryone treats you, well, nice. They val-ue your opinion. That’s great because I have some strong opinions and, I hope, some good ideas. And I like how I can always get ahold of a supervisor by phone.”

Johnson also appreciates the trust she and her co-workers are given. “We are trusted to do our jobs. Trusted to get the job done in a timely manner. There are rules but they are for our safety.

Everyone [every city department] gets seasonals. Safety has to sign you off on everything. That’s ok. That’s safe.”

Her favorite jobsite is Dalby Park. “Pretty much we clean everything,” she says, bouncing in her seat, “Every morning we walk the lake, clean out the trashes, clean the bathrooms but we al-ways watch out for the little kids.”

“One day,” she continues, with added excitement, “I found this really huge goldfi sh. It was carp size with a three prong tail. It was dead so, I had to get him. It was really fat, too big for my gar-bage grabber! I had to get it by the lip,” she suddenly squirmed. “It was icky! But, I got ‘em,” she added, smiling with pride.

While mine work will always be a pos-sible future, for now, she is happy. “It’s good money,” she says smiling broadly. “It supports me. It pays the rent, the truck payment, insurance, gas. I like being active, it makes the day go by fast.”

Our Public ServantBy Karen Waters

Band and Orchestra Instruments · Sound SystemsSales · Rentals · Repair

(307) 682-9808Toll Free: (800) 682-9808

500 O-R DriveGillette, WY 82718

musicworks@haggertywest.com

Select Instruments & Amps 45% OFFSelect Instruments & Amps 45% OFF

M-F 9-6 · Sat 9-4

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8

Sports Report

Campbell County CamelsGolf

- Monday May 16th - Tuesday May 17th, Var-sity Conference Championship in Cheyenne

Girls Soccer- Thursday May 12th - Saturday May 14th,

Varsity Regionals in Casper. Times TBA.- Thursday May 19th - Saturday May 21st,

Varsity State Championship in Sheridan. Time TBA.

Boys Soccer- Thursday May 12th - Saturday May 14th,

Varsity Regionals in Laramie. Times TBA.- Thursday May 19 -Saturday May 21st, Var-

sity State Championship in Sheridan. Times TBA.

Track- Friday May 13 - Saturday May 14th, Re-

gionals in Sheridan. Times TBA.- Thursday May 19th - Saturday May 21st,

State in Casper. Times TBA.

Wright PanthersTrack

- Friday May 13th - Saturday May 14, H.S. East Regional in Sheridan. Times TBA.

- Thursday May 19th - Saturday May 21, H.S. State Track in Casper. Times TBA.

Gillette PronghornsRodeo

- June 11 through June 19, CNFR in Casper. Times TBA.

Track- May 20th, National Finals in Hutchinson,

Kansas.

Gillette American Legion Roughriders

- May 13th at Spearfish (1-9 inning) at 6:30 p.m.

- May 14th at home vs. Billings Scarlets at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

- May 15th at home vs. Billings Scarlets (1-9 inning) at 11 a.m.

- May 20tha t home vs. Spearfish (1-9 in-ning) at 6:30 p.m.

Gillette Rustlers- May 14th at Miles City Outlaws at 1 and 3

p.m.- May 15th at Rapid City Post 22 Expos at 1

and 3 p.m.

What’s Going On In Sports?

Boys Soccer Standings4A East

Team Conference Points Overall PointsLaramie 8-0-2 26 10-1-2 32Sheridan 6-4 18 9-5-1 28Chey. East 4-5-1 13 6-6-1 19Kelly Walsh 4-5-1 13 4-9-1 13Chey. Central 4-6 12 6-7 18Gillette 2-8 6 2-12 6

4A WestTeam Conference Points Overall PointsRiverton 9-0-1 28 13-1-1 40Natrona 6-4 18 9-4 27Green River 6-4 18 8-5-1 25Rock Springs 5-4-1 16 7-5-2 22Star Valley 1-6-3 6 3-8-4 13Evanston 0-9-1 1 0-11-2 2

3A NortheastTeam Conference Points Overall PointsBuffalo 4-0 12 12-1-1 37Douglas 1-2 3 7-6-1 22Newcastle 0-3 0 2-10-1 7

3A NorthwestTeam Conference Points Overall PointsCody 3-1 9 7-5-2 23Worland 2-1 6 7-6-1 22Powell 0-3 0 3-10 9

3A SoutheastTeam Conference Points Overall PointsTorrington 4-0 12 7-6 21Rawlins 2-2 6 4-9 12Chey. South 0-4 0 0-11 0

3A SouthwestTeam Conference Points Overall PointsLander 3-0-1 10 8-2-4 28Jackson 1-1-1 4 9-2-2 29Pinedale 0-3 0 0-12-1 1

3 Points for Win; 1 Point for a Tie

Girls Soccer Standings4A East

Team Conference Points Overall PointsGillette 8-2 24 12-2 36Chey. Central 7-3 21 10-4 30Laramie 6-4 18 9-4 27Sheridan 5-5 15 9-5 27Chey. East 4-6 12 7-6 21Kelly Walsh 0-10 0 3-11 9

4A WestTeam Conference Points Overall PointsNatrona 9-0-1 28 9-4-1 28Green River 8-2 24 10-5 30Riverton 6-3-1 19 7-5-1 22Star Valley 3-6-1 10 3-10-2 11Rock Springs 2-7-1 7 3-11-1 10Evanston 0-10 0 2-11 6

3A NortheastTeam Conference Points Overall PointsBuffalo 4-0 12 11-2-1 34Newcastle 1-2 3 3-7 9Douglas 0-3 0 2-10-2 8

3A NorthwestTeam Conference Points Overall PointsCody 4-0 12 9-5 27Worland 1-2 3 7-6 21Powell 0-3 0 3-9-1 10

3A SoutheastTeam Conference Points Overall PointsTorrington 4-0 12 8-4-1 25Chey. South 2-2 6 2-8-1 7Rawlins 0-4 0 1-11-1 4

3A SouthwestTeam Conference Points Overall PointsJackson 2-0 6 10-2 30Lander 2-1 6 9-4 27Pinedale 0-3 0 4-9 12

3 Points for Win; 1 Point for a Tie

This was not supposed to be happen-ing. Through the frosty window Todd watched the show and ice blowing side-ways across his yard. Rolling clouds so thick it seemed as if was night. He tried to tell himself that Global Warming was causing yet another harsh winter. Yet he was no longer sure of the reasoning. If this was because of Global Warming then why was there no warmth?

First they called it jGlobal Warming. Then they called it Climate Change. Then, Global Climate disruption. The scientist from the United Nations had come up with a new name for it, but he could not remember what it was. Nor did he care. He was cold, and the power was out… again.

Through the snow and the dark, off on the horizon, he could see the standing hulks of the windmills that were sup-posed to provide his neighborhood with the power to keep his house warm. But, once again, their giant blades were not turning.

It was always something. Too much wind. Too little wind. Too cold, causing the gears and the lubricants to freeze. From his vantage point the could just make out the ice that had gathered on the blades. Ice, which was not sup-posed to happen because of Global Warming, would either weigh down the blades, preventing them from turn-ing, or change the aerodynamics of the blades with the same results.

Many more windmill farms across the nation had been intentionally shut

down, though they worked just fine. How beautiful the Sage Grouse once was. But the grouse was now extinct, and several other species were endan-gered. The piles of dead birds that had been sucked into the vortex of spinning windmill blades had caused an outcry form his own people, the environmen-tal activist that had pushed to have the windmills put up in the first place.

Todd turned up the collar of his coat, shivering in the cold of his own living room, as he tried to block out the grind-ing complaints of his wife and kids. He cursed himself for the amount of money he had spent to fill his rooftop with so-lar panels. Those panels never paid for themselves, needing expensive battery replacements, and that last hail storm that took out almost half of them. Now, covered in ice and snow, and a cloudy sky the panels were not providing even a tiny amount of power to the house. A colossal waste of money.

From his home, near the top of the hill, Todd could see most of the neigh-borhood. Normally he could, that is to say. But on this day, with the dark skies and the blowing snow, and there being no power in the entire neighborhood, every house was dark. Not a single light across the landscape.

Not a single light, save for the house next door.

Marvin Sterns was the Global Warm-ing Denier and neighbor. Todd figured that he should have turned him in a long time ago when he saw the scrap metal

being delivered to his basement. Todd had fought hard with activist groups, liberal politicians, and bureaucrats, to have the local coal fired power plants made illegal and shut down. But now Marvin the Doubter was building one in his cellar. He was insisting that man had little if anything to do with Global Warming, or Climate Change, or what-ever they were calling it this week. Mar-vin further insisted that he needed his illegal coal fired generator to provide power to his house when the windmills and solar panels failed.

“They won’t fail,” Todd had insisted.Marvin laughed.“Two more homes just lit up,” Todd’s

wife called out. “If they have lights then they have heat.”

Todd turned to see the misery on her face. The expression from his kids was even worse.

“I bet he’s charging them for the pow-er,” Todd sighed. “That’s just greedy. We fought so hard to rid ourselves of that dirty power.”

He looked back to her eyes. Her ex-pression said it all. She was in agree-ment, but tonight the temperature would drop to twenty below. The children, much less the adults, would not be able to take it. Todd let out a heavy sigh, threw his convictions to the floor, and headed for the door.

Passing through the garage was the quickest way to Marvin‘s house. But scooting around his electric car caused him to grumble again as he had not

been able to charge the batteries most of this past winter. How could he, with the windmills and solar panels out of commission. No matter. The snow was too high to drive the little car anyway. Marvin, however, was doing just fine getting around in his oversized SUV.

“I’m not charging anyone just yet,” Marvin smiled. “Keep your money for now. When I need more fuel I’ll let ev-eryone know and you can all chip in.”

“I can’t thank you enough,” sighed Todd. He stood in Marvin’s toasty living room fighting the urge to take his coat off. His pride was causing him to work up a sweat.

“Tell you what you can do,” said Mar-vin, “if you really want to help. You can forget arguing with me about all this global warming junk. How about you get with your friends, you know, those freezing environmental activist buddies of yours who might actually survive this night, and as soon as you are able to charge your little electric cars, and as soon as the snow is down enough so as you can dive them around town, join me in going to get that thing turned back on.”

Todd followed Marvin’s finger as it pointed out toward a dark silhouette in the distance. The old power plant at the edge of town. The plant that Todd had fought so hard to have shut down over concerns of Global Warming. Or Cli-mate Change. Or Global Climate Dis-ruption. Or whatever they were calling it this week.

A Cold Winter’s Reality SlapBy Glenn Woods

Bold Republic Weekly

To listen to Glenn Woods morning radio show tune in to 1270am KIML Gillette Monday through Friday from 6 - 10 a.m.

Public Pulse

Our best source

for news is you.

Visit our website for

contact information.

9

Sports Report

Juniors-52 Games1st Place - Eagles

Jacob Centner-78Matthew Centner-75Samantha Floyd-63Sierra Taylor-63

2nd place-The Wild KidsAustin Kercher-75Kassi Tennant-78Gina Clark-72Colton Galambas-48

3rd Place-Allie and the 3 J’s

Justen Geer-75Johnathan Gorman-60Jeffrey Hawley-72Allie Vincent-39

High Game-Scratch-GirlJade Ehmke-183

High Series-Scratch-girlGina Clark-522

High Game HDCP GirlSierra Taylor-249

High Series HDCP GirlSierra Taylor-624

High Game-Scratch-BoyJeffrey Hawley-296

High Series-Scratch-BoyJeffrey Hawley-667

High Game HDCP BoyJusten Geer-270

High Series HDCP BoyCameron Griffi n-664

Most Improved GirlSierra Taylor-13.71 pins

Most Improved BoyCameron Griffi n-18 pins

High Average-GirlGina Clark-139

High Average-BoyJefferyHawley-174

Majors-52 Games

1st Place-Rolling ThunderKaila Geer-66James Marshall-75JD Miller-78Aaron Huyck-72

2nd Place-3 J’s N A TJohney Mikkelson-78Jake Geer-63Jakob White-72John Miller-30

3rd Place-Owned!(:Casey Mated-78Haley Shackelford-69Jessica Divis-78Kelsey Benson-27

High Game-Scratch-GirlJessica Divis-247

High Series-Scratch-GirlJessica Divis-678

High Game HDCP GirlKaila Geer-288

High Series-HDCP GirlKaila Geer-782

High Game-Scratch-boyJacob White-279Casey Maxted-279

High Series-Scratch-BoyJD Miller-722

High Game HDCP-BoyJD Miller-310

High Series-HDCP BoyJames Marshall-810

Most Improved GirlHaley Shackelford-9 pins

Most Improved BoyJake Geer-18 pins

High Average-GirlJessica Divis-191

High Average-BoyCasey Maxted-213

Bowling Results

Gillette Roughriders 2011 Riders Schedule Hitting StatsPlayer Position G Inn PA AB R 1B 2B 3B HR RBI BB Sac SO HbP RE FC SB CS OBP Slg OPS AvgMatt Fogle OF/C/P 8 0 31 23 8 3 2 1 0 7 5 1 8 2 2 1 3 0 .419 .435 .854 .261Kadison Wass IF/P 10 0 48 36 15 7 6 0 0 9 9 0 4 3 4 1 4 3 .521 .528 1.049 .361JT Zigray OF/P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Gavin Reimer IF/P 10 0 42 29 7 7 1 0 0 11 4 1 6 8 3 3 4 0 .476 .310 .787 .276Turner Lofi ng OF/P 10 0 46 39 13 10 6 2 4 34 3 2 3 2 1 1 2 0 .587 1.128 1.715 .564Keegan Williams P 5 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 2.000 1.000Austin Tennant C/P 6 0 30 20 9 8 1 0 0 6 9 0 6 1 3 1 0 0 .633 .500 1.133 .450Robert Markve OF/1B/P 8 0 34 23 9 4 1 0 0 3 9 1 3 1 3 2 0 0 .441 .261 .702 .217Doyle Hanson UTL 9 0 16 13 6 3 1 0 0 2 3 0 4 0 1 1 1 0 .437 .385 .822 .308Drake Kelley C/IF/P 9 0 44 30 15 7 2 2 2 15 13 0 6 1 0 0 6 1 .614 .833 1.447 .433Dalton Cowen IF/P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Westin Hinkel IF/P 10 0 50 35 25 13 1 1 1 14 10 3 1 2 2 0 9 0 .560 .629 1.189 .457Alex King IF 9 0 32 29 7 8 2 0 0 7 1 0 4 2 2 1 3 0 .406 .414 .820 .345Mason Stillman P 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Dalton McCann OF 10 0 49 40 23 11 3 2 0 8 7 0 5 2 5 1 6 0 .510 .575 1.085 .400Wyatt Estabrook P 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Andrew Kaufman P/DH 6 0 5 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 .600 .333 .933 .333Ty McCartney 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Jacob Groombridge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Austin Zigray 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Zach Donahoo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Dalton Young 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Andrew Youngs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Taylor Murdock 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Josh Settelmeyer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Ian Bridges 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sports Question of the Week

Are the Gillette Pronghorn Rodeo team (Men and Women) going to take the National Championship?

“It will be tough. I think the women’s team will, but the men are pretty banged up. They still may pull it off for a VICTORY four

our beloved Pronghorns though.”- Dale Keaton

“It’s Wyoming Rodeo, of course they will win...You don’t get rodeo anywhere like you do here, we are the best.”

- Don Madison

“I think that “Cowboy Country” speaks for itself. Go Pronghorns!”- John Hornesby

“If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.”

- Jack Lemmon

Patriot Publishing is a small publishing business starting up right here in Wyo-ming. We not only publish the Campbell County Observer and calendars, but any-thing in print. We will soon also have a monthly publication that we think you will enjoy. If you have a book and can’t get a major company to publish you, we are a new and American-owned publisher that may print your work. Please feel free to contact us at anytime with your idea.

10

Our Roots

ClassifiedsAutos, Trucks and Vans

Campers & Motor Homes

Toys (ATV’s, Boats, etc.)

Toy Parts & Accessories

Home Appliances/Furnishings

Sporting Goods

Lost & Found

Personals

Garage Sales/Announcements

1972 GMC for sale. Torn down to frame. Body good. All parts there. Great restora-tion project. $750. Email NCQDeLaat@gmail.com for information.

Boat for Sale with trailer. Needs work. Call 670-8980 for info.

2006 Cabella’s “Lowes Sun Cruizer” 20 ft. Pontoon 95 HP Mercury Outboard Motor (less than 50 hrs). Good Condition. Call 680-2982 or 696-7512.

Stock pipes for Sportster. 500mi. Stock pices for Dyna Wide Glide. 1500mi. Email baxtersmom62@gmail.com for info.

Small washer. Needs new belt, $25. Email USSailorPatriot@gmail.com

Like new Horizon Elliptical. $300 obo. Call 299-7058 for more info.

Wanted to BuyI Buy Militaria. Swords, uniforms, bayo-nets, medals, guns/parts, field gear. 682-7864

Newspaper vending machines. Contact us at: CampbellCountyObserver@gmail.com

Help WantedLocal journalists wanted. Always wanted to try? Must be 16 yrs of age. Contact us at CampbellCountyObserver@gmail.com

Advertising Sales for our weekly paper. Great commission rate, set your own hours. Contact us at CampbellCountyOb-server@gmail.com

Data input. Work one day a week from home. Contact us at CampbellCountyOb-server@gmail.com

Contributors wanted for weekly newspa-per. Need a doctor, a Politician, a lawyer, and more to contribute an article a month. E-mail CampbellCountyObserver@gmail.com for more information.

Interested in founding a Sherlock Holmes Society in Gillette? Contact baxters-mom62@gmail.com for info.

Don’t forget about the neighborhood ga-rage sale during Sleepy Hollow Days on the first Saturday in June. Many Sales. We will have one at 5105 Tarry St. Lots of good stuff.

FOUND: one large trampoline. Currently located at 5350B M&M circle. If yours, please pick up any day any time. If not yours, do not trespass.

1997 32ft. Class A Motor Home. Sleeps 6, Only 31,000 Miles. Asking $17,000. Call (307) 660-7520.

On May 13, 1607, one of the most formative events in modern history oc-curred. On that day, Jamestown was founded and our American culture of-ficially began to take shape. Showing the fortitude and resilience that would characterize the nation it helped form, the colonists that landed in Virginia un-dertook a great journey that even today we should never forget.

Jamestown was the first official settle-ment in what European leaders called the “New World”. The Virginia Company of London, a company founded by the Royal Family to settle North America, had sent the settlers to this part of the world to spread the British Empire. Three ships departed England, the Su-san Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery. These ships carried just shy of 200 colonists to a future they could hardly imagine.

After they arrived, the man put in charge, John Smith, led them to the Chesapeake Bay, finally landing around the current city of Hampton, Virginia. Finding the James River, they sailed until they found a location to settle on. They eventually found an island, nam-ing it Jamestown (after King James). The island suited the colonists well, providing a natural barrier against the indigenous people of the area, includ-ing the Powhatan, Algonquian, Siouan, and Iroquois tribes (although they were attacked early on, they managed to survive with minimal casualties). It also protected them from familiar threats, including the Dutch, French, and Span-ish, who were also colonizing North America.

The downfall of their location however,

was quickly revealed to them. The rea-son that they initially found no evidence of a current population was because the land proved extremely inhospitable. Located in a swamp, Jamestown had almost no land with which to farm. In addition, being an island (although it has since bridged into a peninsula) it had very little in the form of local wildlife for the settlers to hunt. This led to some instances of starvation, and many more instances of disease.

Many of the settlers also had no expe-rience in farming or hunting, and were therefore ill equipped for the harsh new life they found in the New World. With trading help from the nearby Powhatan Tribe, however they managed to sur-vive.

Jamestown grew late into the 17th Century, however, it was eventually replaced with bigger, more secure cit-ies inland. The middle of the 18th Cen-tury, however, saw its eventual demise. Overshadowed by other settlements, Jamestown was eventually turned into farmland.

The island did later play a role in both the American Revolution and the Civil War, providing a fort for Colonists of the former and Confederate soldiers of the latter. Following the Civil War, it re-mained largely unnoticed until historical preservation began in the 1930’s.

The story of Jamestown remains the story of America. Although it was not easy, the colonists made the most of their surroundings, and found a way to survive. Four hundred and four years later, we are still working hard, and still showing the world that we, as Ameri-cans, can persevere through anything.

JamestownBy Mike Borda

Campbell County has always been a target for immigrants seeking a better life. Ever since gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874, local residents have seen inundation after inunda-tion of immigrants, and at least part of the population has always been more ‘camp-dwelling’ than residential. If this influx has been a constant in the history of Campbell County, what can we say of its effects on Campbell County culture?

Not surprisingly, Campbell county was originally inhabited by Native Ameri-cans. The area was, in fact, a native american settlement until the gold rush. It was some time before a stable popu-lation could be established, and this was only accomplished through the ac-tive promotion of immigration. During its formative years, Campbell County and all of Wyoming were both dependent upon newcomers. Without them, the economies of local governments could not have become viable. Newcomers didn’t just come to Campbell County; their presence was requested. Even in current times, job vacancies inspire businesses to look outward for recruits. Wyoming businesses looked to Michi-gan, my homestate, for grateful workers when the economy there bottomed-out. When a boom comes, the top priority is filling seats, and those seats are adver-tised to anybody willing to apply. His-torically and currently, Campbell County opens its arms to migrants from all over the country.

A more divisive issue is that of another kind of immigrant: the promise of a bet-ter life also draws people from Mexico, Central America, and South America. In my experience, attitudes regarding these newcomers are far less favor-able than those about more historical or more domestic immigrant waves. What-ever conclusions we draw from this population (and we may draw some in a later column), it suffices today to note that these immigrant populations have their own unique effect on local culture.

It’s true that the immigration has shaped Campbell County culture. The jobs created by the energy industry are marketed primarily towards youths, and so the immigrations have resulted in an

unusually young population. This popu-lation presents somewhat juxtaposed demands for a lively nightlife and for family friendly entertainment. Further-more, workers for temporary contracts (the pipeline is a recent example) are very transient and often live in modern camp-towns. Their very temporary sta-tus decreases the small-town feel in the area because there are always fresh faces around. International immigrants additionally contribute elements of their culture that may seem exotic, although their presence in this area of the world dates back further than many people realize.

So here we have a collection of new-comers who far outnumber any popula-tions that could be called native. It could be tempting to worry that their influence has chipped away at true Campbell County-ness. However, it seems to me that Campbell County culture endures. The area, and in fact the entire state, has always been politically conserva-tive and republican. The various booms have not affected this tradition, perhaps because youths and transients don’t tend to vote. A more careful look at the ideals held most firmly - the economic security of the region, the availability of jobs and the adoption of the American Dream - shows that these traits all en-dure. The changing population has not eroded these away. If fact, I’d argue that the changing population is exactly what maintains them.

Campbell County is made up of peo-ple who were willing to leave the lives they knew in pursuit of the American Dream. These are exactly the kind of people who are willing to work to main-tain a financially viable environment, and who are just plain willing to work. Ours is a community built upon wave after wave of newcomers, and it is ex-actly this tradition that defines us most of all. I’m a newcomer myself, and am possibly remiss in my coverage. What changes do you see and - more to the point, as change is a feature of any vital thing, including culture - in what way are these changes important? What do you see, Campbell County? The landscape is yours; I am merely a painter.

Immigration helped shape Campbell Co. Culture

By Jessica Boynton

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“America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable

determination to do the job at hand.”- Harry S. Truman