Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 11

Sunday, March 29, 1992 time The frustrating part is that the child may need to be injured before we can intervene with the court." High caseworker turnover Wise conceded that frequent "turnover" of caseworkers in Sweetwater County results in decreased "institutional memory" and familiarity with cases. But she noted that a change in caseworker is not always a disadvantage, and that sometimes progress occurs when a new caseworker provides "a fresh look" at a troubled family's situation. Only one of seven caseworkers in Sweetwater County has been on the job for more than a year, and the most recent arrival started five weeks ago. The Sweetwater County DFS office has eight caseworker positions, but one remains unfilled for lack of funds, Wise said. Caseworkers with a bachelor's degree start at 1 8,000 annually, a Very low pay scale, Wise said, compared to salaries at the bachelor's level in other fields.

A caseworker with a master's degree starts at $21,500. The county office within the past 12 months has investigated 468 reports of child abuse or neglect, substantiating about 45 percent of those reports. Of the total number reported, 46 percent were physical abuse, 28 percent were sex abuse, and 26 percent were neglect, Wise said. Home school 'red flag' But one factor present in the Franklin case that automatically raises a "red flag" is that the child was home-schooled. The agency is "more responsive" to reports of the abuse of such children, along with pre-school children.

"There are fewer adults associated with the child," Wise said. "He would be more vulnerable in abusive situations It's difficult to get a clean investigation." If a child is in school, DFS personnel are more likely to consult school officials and make background enquiries before approaching the child, or the alleged adult abuser. Asked what she thought might have made a difference in the Suliber case, Wise was careful to speak only in hypothetical terms about "a family like that" a man under stress because he was not contributing financially to the household, a woman attempting to balance the man's needs against her child's needs. If the Suliber family had sought counseling, "arrangements would have been made," Wise said. She offered her personal opinion that state law should allow child care workers greater authority to require troubled families to enter counseling.

"A major problem is that families are unwilling to make changes," Wise said. "And we're not able to intervene because often injuries are minor the first A1 2 Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo. Family Continued from Al in the recent deaths, Robb said. And on a national level, he noted, drugs and alcohol are big contributors to the abuse and death of children. But "there is no way to know until each of these deaths has been reviewed," he said.

Another disturbing aspect of the recent deaths, Robb said, is that all five appear to result from abuse injury inflicted on the children. The historical pattern, he said, is that child abuse deaths in the state are about equally caused by abuse and neglect. Despite the high death rate, Robb said there is reason to believe that child protective services are "very effective" in the state. A recent University of Wyoming study of 500 families in the state receiving services showed that "in by far the majority, the risks of abuse and neglect were reduced by the intervention of case workers," Robb said. In the 12 months, March 1991 through March 1992, he said, 3,200 families in Wyoming have been investigated for suspected child abuse, and there were 2,020 "confirmed victims of child abuse." In the same time period, in addition to the five deaths, there were 51 cases of major injury involving broken bones or hospitalization, he said.

Funds down, problems up A major problem facing child protective services is that caseloads have doubled since 1985, Robb While reported cases of child abuse have grown from 1,500 to 3,200 in that time period, "personnel has stayed fairly level," Robb said. Low pay, heavy and difficult Boys' School. The DFS budget includes both the three institutions as well as public assistance and social services. The Adam Franklin case Adam Douglas Franklin, 7, was found dead on the floor of his bedroom in a trailer north of Rock Springs on Feb. 14.

Gaping holes remained where two front teeth had been knocked out, his face and body were covered with bruises, according to testimony at a March 12 preliminary hearing. The pathologist examining the child determined he died as the result of 14 "blunt impacts" to the head, which caused bleeding within the brain. Alan Suliber, 44, the child's stepfather, is accused of beating Adam to death, and will stand trial for second-degree murder on July 14. During the preliminary hearing the child's mother, Elizabeth "Katie" Suliber, testified about relationships among herself, the defendant and the deceased child. Suliber said she had been married to the defendant since last October.

She had broken off with him last July, she said, because he had slapped her son, causing him to fall against the washing machine. Testimony at the hearing revealed that the slapping incident was reported to local authorities and that a Sweetwater County. Sheriffs investigator interviewed both the mother and stepfather. The defendant during that interview, however, "basically denied" hitting the child, saying he only "pushed" him, according to the testimony of a sheriffs detective during the preliminary The mother's testimony also revealed that initially there had been rivalry for her affections between the stepfather and the child. Suliber did not testify to any sort of pattern of abuse, though she described a spanking ritual the defendant at times initiated a ritual that would begin as a kind of joke, but which she thought tended to get out of hand.

The mother described a husband who underwent repeated rejections of his photos and paintings of wildlife, who was at times jealous of her relationship with her child. She also testified that she complained that the defendant did little to help her with housework, though she worked long hours and frequent overtime at the post office. Julie Wise, DFS supervisor in Rock Springs, said state law prohibits her from revealing whether suspected abuse of the Franklin child was ever reported to DFS, investigated by the agency or discussed by the local child protection team. EacH county in Wyoming has a child protection team, made up of a dozen people representing schools, law enforcement agencies, and child care professionals. Every case of suspected child abuse or neglect is referred to the team, which may request a particular scope of investigation and follow-up.

Wise was willing during the interview to discuss the Suliber case only in theoretical terms, on the basis of published accounts of the case. She noted that "hindsight" in the Franklin case provides "a lot more information" than might have been available to child protection officials investigating earlier reports of abuse. caseloads, and added responsibilities such as juvenile probation and parole work all contribute to "tremendous turnover," according to Robb. And the picture is not apt to be brighter any time soon, according to LovatoofDFS. DFS, just like all other state government agencies, has seen its funding cut by the Legislature, Lo-vato said, forcing the agency to review specific programs to determine whether they can be reduced or eliminated.

"We have to consider who will be affected and how," Lovato said. "Those caseloads will grow. Abuse and neglect will continue We'll continue to do the best we can with the resources we have." He said the average caseworker in Wyoming deals simultaneously with 45 families, far more than the 25 recommended by national social work organizations. According to Larry Biggio, another DFS financial administrator, the DFS recommended $80.1 million in General Fund appropriations for public assistance and social services within the 1993-94 biennium. Gov.

Mike Sullivan cut that request to $69 million in his recommendation to the Legislature, Biggio said, and the Legislature trimmed another $1.1 million. Yet another cut that will affect youth services in the coming biennium occurred in the wake of the Legislature's across-the-board cuts imposed on state agencies, Biggio said. The agency had to transfer $625,000 from troubled youth programs to help fund the three state institutions for troubled youth the Youth Treatment Center in Casper, the Sheridan Girls' School and the Worland and Britain followed. Lawyers for Libya said any conflicting signals from Tripoli on the issue of the suspects were due to Western threats. "Peace of mind can hardly be expected from a rabbit facing the hunter's rifle," said Jean Salmon, a Belgian lawyer for Libya.

The two Libyan suspects, both identified by the West as intelligence agents, are wanted in the United States and Britain in the December 1988 bombing of Flight 103, which killed 270 people. The West is also seeking four other Libyan suspects in the 1989 bombing of a French airliner over Niger, in which 171 people died. At Saturday's hearing, Libya The agreed-upon General Fund spending figure for 1993-94 is $779.3 million. That represents a 1.2 percent increase in General Fund spending over 1991-92. Total spending for 1993-94 is authorized at $1.79 billion, a 6.5 percent rise over current total spending levels.

True earlier said state General Fund spending was up 6.5 percent. True's new figures revised upward state General Fund spending for the current 1991-92 biennium that ends June 30, 1992. According to a report from the governor's office, the current spending figures were changed to reflect an emergency legislative appropriation of about $20 million for Medicaid and court-ordered placements of troubled youth. The funds are expected to be spent by June 30, 1992. Another factor that pushed up the 1991-92 spending totals was $8.6 million for state employee pay raises granted by the 1991 Legislature.

As a result of these variations, the LSO figures show the State Penitentiary at Rawlins with a budget $400,000 higher than the institution had in 1991-92, while the governor's figures show the State April Fool's -4 UiUtnn Chnnnind Cant or CTMt 577.77 Ifi ft ESTATE AUCTION TODAY-11AM 3614 Salt Creek Casper ELMER N. JOHNSTON ESTATE Guns. Crystal, Antiques, Furniture, etc. INSPECTION 10 A.M. I Auctioneer: John Japp HJ '112 'via lf.T! if I I Investor Continued from Al State's office lists Malcolm Preece, vice president of ABB's hydropower division, as the president of Little Horn Energy.

The report is dated May 16, 1991. Preece could not be reached for comment Friday. Larry Baccari, a Sheridan resident who is listed as Little Horn Energy's vice president, declined to comment. A recent report in the Sheridan Press, however, quotes a spokesman for another corporate investor in Little Horn Energy Kvernauer Hydro Power, Inc. as saying that his firm and ABB each own "a 30 percent interest" in thapumped-storage project.

That individual, Bjorn Omreng, the president of Kvernauer Hydro Power, is listed as secretary of Little Horn Energy in the company's 1991 corporation report. He was also unavailable for comment Friday. Little Horn Energy has given government agencies copies of its draft application for a license to construct its pumped-storage project in the Bighorn National Forest about 33 miles west of Sheridan. The draft application is a prelude to the final application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is expected in May. FERC must decide whether to grant or deny a license to build the project.

The company estimates the project will cost 1 billion in 1991 dollars. An ABB spokeswoman at the company's offices in Stamford, said the isostatic press was sold to Iraq in 1990 by an ABB plant in Sweden. She said the Swedish nuclear power inspection board licensed the sale after Iraq and the company certified that it would not be used for nuclear activities. An article in the March 8 New York Times Magazine, however, reported that the United Nations nuclear inspection team in Iraq found the machine at a suspected POTPOURRI jEnrfomtcil Eartljmorks 1 5th Durbin 265-2009 1 (12 Block South of Bi-Rite) Ie33" i Optical Single Vision, Clear, Class Lenses and Select Frames only PhotoCray Tints extra Bifocals Trifocals slightly higher Offer good thru April 4, 1992 Sears Optical Eastridge Mall 577-1818 dcr or 235-2571 USE YOUR SEARS CHARGE CARD at Sears nuclear weapons-testing site at Al Atheer. Gary Milhollin, the director of the University of Wisconsin's Project on Nuclear Arms Control in Washington, authored the article.

Milhollin was out of the country Friday but Diana Edensword, a spokeswoman for the group, said isostatic presses were developed by nuclear weapons laboratories in the U.S. for the production of nuclear weapons components. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Office of Technology and Policy Analysis, which helps oversee sales and exports of sensitive technology, said isostatic presses are used to compact lithium hybrid and lithium deuteride for use as nuclear fuel and weaponry. In his New York Times article, Milhollin said "the U.N.

team thinks the machine was for shaping the high-explosive charges that set off a nuclear chain reaction." The ABB spokeswoman said the Swedish license to sell the press required ABB to inspect and service the machine but that the Gulf War, which erupted a few months after the sale, probably prevented that from happening. Steve Petruska, another ABB spokesman, said the company's U.S. subsidiary employs more than 30,000 workers in the U.S. in more than 50 manufacturing facilities. Worldwide, he said, the company employs more than 220,000 workers.

In addition to investing in the Little Horn Energy project, ABB's U.S. subsidiary contributed $250 to Wyoming GOP Sen. Malcolm Wallop's campaign committee in 1991, according to records on file at the Federal Election Commission. K.P. Janitorial Service Home Offices RV Windows, etc.

Spring Cleaning 15 irs. in Casper Excellent References Donna Politte 237-5044 The band tbat rocks the IRTY I help preserve T) JOZENS our earth-by using cloth DIAPER SERVICE Sdiapers! 472-3533 Get Started PrnoYnm 3 Weeks of Program Services America's lost millions of pounds at NutriSystem. Right now get started for $19 plus the cost of our meals. Don't put it off, take it off-for 19 bucks you can start feeling like a million! "I've Nutrisized myself 25 lbs. and feel great" Gillette's Wanda Wass HURRY-LAST WEEK! IN GILLETTE Wight to cmtmn 682-8519 577-SyM Call NOW for FREE Computer Weight Analyst Libya Continued from Al pected in about three weeks, although the 16-judge court, a U.N.

body, has no enforcement powers. Libya has denied involvement in the Pan Am bombing and told the court it is unconvinced of the guilt of the suspects. It claims it has already complied with international law by investigating them. The United States, Britain and France are promoting a U.N. air and trade embargo against Tripoli to force surrender of the suspects.

The sanctions are expected to be imposed by the Security Council this week. The third and final day of hearings at the U.N. judicial body was given over to rebuttals. Libya led off and the United States Hardest Continued from Al the number of beds in the state's four community corrections centers, Uphoff said. The Legislature authorized the department to expand from 300 to 350 community corrections beds statewide to ease pressure on the State Penitentiary at Rawlins.

Occupancy in the corrections centers in Cheyenne, Casper, Gillette and Rock Springs ranged from 180 to 200 last year, Uphoff said. The 1992 Legislature authorized a new medium security prison at Lovell which will have "long term impact" on the state's prison housing problem, Uphoff said. Sullivan has not yet acted on the bill, however. "We're still analyzing," she said. "Our first level of concern is to maintain a level of safety for citizens and inmates." After differing on the degree of increased spending in the coming biennium, Sullivan and Senate President Diemer True, R-Natrona, came to an'agreement on the figures on March 20.

The agreed-upon spending figure for 1991-92 is $770 million in state General Fund money. CASPER ELKS "SUNDAY BRUNCH" 9AM 12NOON SPECIAL PRICES FOR SENIOR CITIZENS (55 yean old) AND CHILDREN Elkt Bona Fide Guests Only! 7th Center REDWOOD DECKS NEW CONSTRUCTION REMODELING Workmanship uuaranteed Insured References Burton-Knowlton Construction 237-0833 265-0712 equated 1986 U.S. bombing raids on Tripoli and Benghazi which were in retaliation for Libyan involvement in terrorist acts in Germany and Italy with the Pan Am bombing. Libya's chief counsel, Ian Brownlie of Britain, said the raids were "a blatant and obscene violation of international law," echoing the phrase used by Williamson on Friday to describe the Lockerbie bombing. Libya's Belgian lawyer said that although his son's best friend died in the Lockerbie bombing, it did not change his view that "Libya has the right to judge the suspects exactly as much as the United Kingdom or the United States." During Britain's rebuttal, Scot- Penitentiary with $1 million less to spend.

Also hard-hit by legislative cuts were the Public Defender's Office, down the Division of Criminal Investigation, down $823,408 and 6 full-time positions, according to the report from the governor's office. The report from the governor's office also noted the "temporary hold" placed on state capital improvements projects with the result of a potential loss of 400 to 500 jobs in the coming fiscal year. Also noted in the report was the loss of $19 million in revenue from the expiration of the capital facilities tax on coal and trona. The report also lists more than $600,000 in cuts for the state's institutions for the elderly the Veteran's Home at Buffalo, the Retirement Center at Basin, and the Pioneer Home at Thermopo-lis. Judiciary budget down Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Walter Urbigkit has labelled as inaccurate spending figures for the judiciary carried in a chart in the March 22 edition of the Star-Tribune.

Learn to Wallpaper FREE! Come to SHERWIN WILLIAMS 500 S. Center APRIL 1st -7 to 9 PM sjfli'L peoples SPORTSWEAR SWIMWEAR a arrtvin? l2LE3 daily It tish Solicitor-General Alan Rodger derided that claim. "It is a trite principle of law that no one can be the judge in his own case," he said. "Yet that in effect is what Libya demands." The United States and Britain have taken pains during the proceedings to trace the Lockerbie bombing links they say extend into the highest levels of the Libyan government. The sanctions resolution has overwhelming support on the 15-member Security Council.

But one permanent member, Chinese Ambassador Li Daoyu, told reporters Friday he did not have guidance from his government and declined to say how he would vote. In a letter to the editor of the Star-Tribune, Urbigkit said spending totals for the judiciary for 1993-94 are about $2 million less than the figures in the chart. The budget for the courts is incorporated into Senate File 7, which also includes the budgets for the district attorney and county attorneys. The Star-Tribune rolled in the totals for the district and county attorneys in compiling the chart on judicial budgets which made the final budget figure higher. Urbigkit, who targeted the Legislative Service Office for criticism, wrote that the budget for the judiciary actually reflects an average 4.9 percent decrease which he said will create problems with the maintenance of total court operations.

Rick Miller, Legislative Service Office director, told the Star-Tribune Thursday, "The figures we provided you all were accurate. How you presented them and any add-ons or subtractions I would leave to you all." Ultrasonic Blind Cleaning ONE BLIND CLEANED FREE! Ask for details. WE CLEAN: Mini Blinds Woven Woods Venetian Blinds Vertical Blinds Pleated Shades Wood Blinds Duette Shades ONE DAY SERVICE! Don's Vac Shack Hit E. 2nd St. Z3S-3189 i Da BREAKFAST SPECIAL eaas 2 pancakes 2 strips of bacon ClMWY'S IIimU "Good Frtah food it Great Prkn!" rVfc'i'2l.