Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 3

star Casper Area Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo A3 Wednesday, July 25, 1984 Income from patients totaled $32.6 million HosDital made SI. 5 milli Casper in brief annual audit is completed later this year. The hospital board also marked the end of the fiscal year by electing new officers. Hardy Ratcliff replaced Mike Sullivan as president, with Sullivan taking Trula Cooper's place as secretary. Cooper will continue as treasurer.

William Muller will serve another term as vice-president. Board members bid farewell to Ray Dame, who is leaving after five years on the MHNC board. He will be replaced on the board by local stockbroker William Kidd. Medicare patients to recover the difference, Bird said, but hospitals are not allowed to do so. MHNC also wrote, off $1.5 million in services provided to indigent patients and $1.3 million in uncollectable debts, he said.

Bird said 40.7 percent of the hospital's charges were billed to insurance companies, 32.5 percent to Medicare, 3 percent to Medicaid, 17 percent to private patients and the remaining 6.5 percent to workmen's compensation and other sources. The figures he presented Tuesday were preliminary, Bird said, and will not be final until the ing interest and $500,000 in tax money, brought the total preliminary profit figure to $1.5 million. The $5.8 million in losses came from four sources, Bird said Medicare, Medicaid, care to indigent patients, and uncollected debts. Differences between hospital charges and the amounts paid by Medicare and Medicaid amounted to $3 million, with $2.8 million of -the shortfalls coming from Medicare, he said. The federal programs do not reimburse health care providers for the full cost of patient care, he said.

Private physicians can bill By ANDREW MELNYKOVYCH Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER Memorial Hospital of Natrona County made a $1.5 million profit for the fiscal year which ended June 30, according to preliminary figures presented Tuesday to the hospital board. Finance officer Doug Bird told the board the net income figure was $250,000 below projections. The hospital averaged 10 tients per day fewer than projections, but compensated last winter by cutting total employee hours by 3.4 percent, he said. Patient days in the last fiscal year totaled 56,867, down from 59,904 in the 1983 fiscal year, the preliminary figures show. Total patient income was $32.6 million, $580,000 above projections, Bird said.

But losses from Medicare, Medicaid and bad debts totaled $5.8 million, bringing net patient income to $26.8 million. The hospital made another $300,000 on other operations such as the cafeteria and outside sales, according to preliminary figures, for a total operating income of $27.1 million. Expenses totaled $26.8 million, leaving an operating profit of $300,000. Other revenue, includ- Casper sewage plant reaches 'milestone' First screw pump to go in Friday basins, then trickle through a "bio-feeder tower" containing redwood louvers inside. As the water trickles over the wood, bacteria will grow to help "stabilize" the wastewater, Pai said.

The water then will be chlorinated to kill coliform bacteria. Later, it will be de-chlorinated with a sulfur dioxide solution and returned to the North Platte River. De-chlorination protects the river aquatic life, Pai noted. The sewage plant expansion project, known as the Metro 201 Facilities Plan, will enable the city plant to process all the wastewater generated in the Casper area. Total cost of the project, which includes the extension of sewer interceptor lines, is expected to reach $27.5 million, Pai said.

The cost is being met with a combination of state and federal grants. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued the city grants of $18 million, Pai said. The Wyoming Farm Loan Board has issued grants of about $3 million. Local taxpayers contributed about $6.5 million in local One Cent Sales Tax revenues, he said. The screw pumps are part of the first two phases of the project under which the headworks building and sludge handling equipment will be constructed.

Phase One is 65 percent complete, Pai said, and Phase Two is 61 percent complete. Phases Three and Four of the project, which include construction of water clarifiers, an operations building and de-chlorination equipment, are about 17 percent complete, he said. ByDANNEAL Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER The construction of the Casper sewage treatment plant "will be reaching a milestone this week" with the installation of the first of three major pumps, city officials said Tuesday. The first "screw pump" will be installed at the headworks building, probably on Friday, according to Punda Pai, assistant director of the Board of Public Utilities. Two other screw pumps, one a backup unit, should be installed by the end of next week, he said.

The pumps will handle up to 35 million gallons of raw effluent each day. They will lift the effluent 27 feet to be dumped into a chamber for removal of large objects such as rags, Pai said. The lift is the only part of the treatment process which requires pumping. The effluent will travel by gravity through the rest of the plant, Pai said. During primary treatment, grit will be removed, then the effluent will flow into "primary clarifiers," where sludge is brought to the surface of the effluent and scraped off.

The waste treatment process at that point will split into the handling of both solids and wastewater. The sludge will be fed into "anaerobic sludge digesters." It later will be spread out in drying beds and eventually will be used by the city Parks Department for fertilizer. Once the sludge is removed, the wastewater will go through a secondary treatment process. The water will flow through aeration I Planners consider Pratt 6 site plan CASPER The final plat of Joe Mock's Pratt 6 subdivision be considered by the Casper Community Planning tonight, Planning director L. Charles Davis has recommended that the commission approve the Final plat, annexation and zoning of the vacant land that will be developed by Mock's Delta Land Company.

The tract lies south of ISth Street and just east of Missouri Street. Delta Land Company plans to build 200 townhouses on the west side of the SI acre site. Sixty-five single family homes will be built in the eastern part of the area. Davis said the developer will be required to post a $20,000 erosion control bond before the City Council gives its final approval to the subdivision. 1 In other business, the commission will consider a report on its erosion control and sedimentation manual and a site plan for an addition to the Luthercare nursing home.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers, 200 N.David St. Bus company fee for day is $375 CASPER Powder River Transportation Services, serving Casper and Gillette with charter service, charges a daily bus rental fee of $375, company officials said. Stories last week in the Star-Tribune indicated that charge was higher. Company controller Bob Zabel also was incorrectly identified as a co-owner of the firm in stories pririted last week.

The company is owned by Wayne, Sandy, Hal, and Beula Worthen, Zabel said. CEC closes today for tower repair CASPER The Casper Events Center will be closed today while city crews work on the water tower serving the entertainment complex, center officials said. According to Punda Pai, assistant director of the Board of Public Utilities, a gasket on a manhole cover in the bottom of the tower is leaking and must be repaired. The tower will be drained, he said. The Events Center will resume its normal office hours Thursday, opening at 8 a.m.

and closing at 5 p.m. The center box office opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. Burn victims' conditions better CASPER Two men burned in an industrial accident at the Amoco Refinery Monday are improving at Memorial Hospital, a hospital spokesman said. Robert Dehler, 37, is now in serious condition.

Tandy Ray, 42, is in satisfactory condition, the spokesman said. Dehler, who suffered second-and third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body, was in critical condition when he was admitted to the hospital. Ray, admitted with first- and second-degree burns over 50 percent of his body, was in serious condition, according to earlier reports. Burn patients generally are in shock and "a lot of pain" when first admitted, the spokesman said. "They are pretty unstable then." The conditions of both men were given an improved rating following a reassessment of their injuries Tuesday, the spokesman said.

Star-TribuneMike McClure Spray from the Casper Fire Department's Firebird truck meets in mid-air with a stream from the deck gun of Engine No. 1 during a recent practice session. Spray dance Sedar pushing single agency for economic development Casper in brief Besides pushing for the state's economic development, Sedar said he will try to keep property taxes down. He said he favors reinstating some form of homestead exemption for property owners. Other priorities cited by Sedar are making state funds available for highways and county roads, developing permanent funding for state programs for the elderly, and keeping state spending down.

"I have tried to represent all of the people of Natrona County," Sedar said. "I plan to continue to represent the interests of our entire county and not become the captive of the special interest groups." By P. J.ROSE Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER The passage of a bill creating a state Economic Development Board will be a top priority next year for Natrona County's senior State Senator D.R. "Dick" Sedar. That bill will give Wyoming a single state agency with adequate funds to promote the state's economic climate for business expansion, Sedar said.

"I intend to push for an aggressive state program," he said. The 53-year-old restaurant and bar owner seeks his fifth term in the Senate. He is currently the only Democratic incumbent from Natrona County in the Senate. "I have dedicated much of my time in the Legislature to promoting small business and economic development," Sedar said. "I was an original sponsor of the Wyoming Community Development Authority Act.

During the last session, I sponsored several economic development bills, including the Small Business Assistance Act." In the last legislative session, Sedar served on the Highway Transportation, Revenue and Rules committees. "I think we've benefited in this county considerably" from his 16 years on the Highway Transportation Committee, he said, including the belt road around Casper and the First Street extension among his major accomplishments. inary hearings. Kenneth Crashley, 21, and Duane Schmidt, 23, are accused of breaking into a vehicle owned by Keith Brian Goodenough, 936 S. Poplar, in mid-June.

The men were arrested about two weeks later, after Crashley allegedly attempted to cash a check made out to himself and signed with Goodenough's name, District Attorney Scott Evans said. Cameras stolen from parked car CASPER The Natrona County Sheriff's Department is investigating the theft of $600 in camera equipment from a car parked at Morad Park Sunday. According to reports, a 35 mm camera and two lenses owned by Barry Palmer, 42, were taken from his car. City offices close for parade CASPER The City of Casper will close its offices July 31 from 10 a.m. to noon, according to a city spokesman.

The offices will be closed to allow employees to attend the Natrona County Fair and Rodeo Parade. Migratory Bird Treaty Act, passed in 1918. Anderson said the maximum penalty for possession of raptor parts is $500 and six months in jail. The penalty for selling such parts is $2,000 and two years in jail, he added. Man arrested for perjury CASPER A 53-year-old Casper man already facing numerous fraud-related charges was arrested this week for perjury, police sard.

Norman B. Smith, of 1510 Kingsbury, is accused of "telling numerous untruths" to conceal his assets during a debtor's examination in 1981, a police department spokesman said. Smith was involved in litigation with High Plains Construction during the examination, the spokesman added. Hearing waived in check forgery CASPER Two Casper men accused of stealing a checkbook owned by a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House and forging a check with the candidate's signature have waived their prelim Eagle feathers may spur charges CASPER A 23-year-old Casper man arrested last week when police found rattlesnakes and marijuana at his home may also face federal charges for the alleged possession of two eagle feathers and the tail section of a hawk.

Tony Fowler, of 1854 Laramie, was arrested after police entered his home with a search warrant and discovered the snakes and parts from protected bird species, police Cmdr. Dick Fields said. Federal authorities will be notified of the find, Fields said. Although a "minimal amount" of marijuana was discovered at the home, three rattlesnakes and three bull snakes were confiscated. The reptiles were turned over to the Metropolitan Animal Control Division and were destroyed, the spokesman said.

Possession of eagle feathers carries a maximum penalty of $5,000 and one year in jail for a first offense, Leroy Anderson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver said. Subsequent offenses are punishable by fines of up to $10,000 and two years in jail, he added. Other birds of prey, such as hawks, are protected under the I D.R. 'DICK' SEDAR Wants development board.