Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

WYOMING HT WEATHER 1 Warm and I 1L NATIONAL 1 lynf Angering fr president? I SPORTS 1 t'U'j T-Birds reach semifinals ft -A5 Legislative report -A3 Kil School bifl amendments tossed out by Senate panel King holiday 6EquaKty Day9 added to title House nearly deadlocked on controversial measure --V. -i-. fr fit Verify' ll "Ih i nun change, 33 representatives voted for it. No vote count was taken to tally the opposition. i On Thursday, the vote was 32-29 to keep the King name, which had been deleted earlier in committee.

Legislators who supported leaving only King's name in the bill first tried to delete a "slash mark" and the word "Wyoming" from the amendment, which would call it the "Martin Luther KingWyoming Equality Day." The slash mark "grammatically, logically and emotionally is a symbol of division," Rep. Don Sullivan, D-Laramie, said. The new name will be read by people as "undercutting" the King holiday, Please see HOLIDAY, A14 By PAUL KRZA Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE The proposed Martin Luther King, Jr. state holiday underwent another name change Friday when the House voted to add the words "Wyoming Equality Day" to the King designation. Those supporting the new name said it was a "compromise," aimed at passage of the long-stalled holiday in Wyoming.

But those who wanted to leave the King name intact said the move might in fact lead to another defeat of the bill. When House members stood to be counted on the amended name Zbigniew BzdakStar-Tribune Top House Democrats fail to restore cuts to DEQ Natrona's Jennifer Devore drives toward two of her 29 points in the Fillies' 67-42 victory over Cheyenne Central on Friday night at the Casper Events Center during a semifinal game of the girls Class 4-A Wyoming State High School Basketball Tournament. UW professor hits system regulating water transfers ByTOMREA Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE The Senate Education Committee Friday threw out all amendments the House had made on the main school finance bill, but ended up approving a bill similar in all its major aspects to the House's version. The Senate committee's action came two days after the House gave final approval to the bill. House members Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to raise the basic state allocation for schools by about 1.5 percent and to provide for the projected $60 million education shortfall in the coming biennium out of the Budget Reserve Account.

Committee Chairman Sen. Boyd Eddins, R-Lincoln, opened the discussion Friday morning by expressing his disappointment that the House had made drastic changes in the version of the bill agreed on by the joint House-Senate interim committee last December. "We really did walk out (of the December meeting) with a consensus, and it was not articulated" in the House's version of the bill, Ed-dins said. Committee members agreed Friday it would be easier to start back with the interim committee's version of the bill, rather than amending the House version. But by the time they were done Friday, they ended, up with a bill whose key, features were very close to what the House approved.

The new Senate version raises the basic allocation for schools slightly more than the House bill about 1.6 percent and provides money to pay for only the first year of the shortfall. But a separate bill will keep putting enough money in the Budget Reserve Account to make up for the shortfall projected for the second year, committee member Sen. Allan Howard, R-Big Horn, said Friday. Please see EDUCATION, A14 BOYD EDDINS Expresses disappointment County GOP opposes appointed post CASPER The Natrona County Republican Convention defeated a resolution Tuesday calling for reorganization of the Wyoming Department of Education including the appointment of the state superintendent of public instruction, County GOP Chairman Matt Kaiser said. The Star-Tribune incorrectly reported the Republican action on the resolution in some of Thursday's editions.

Panel sides By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE The Senate Revenue Committee Friday sided with the state tax department and rejected a controversial House position on the method of valuing coal from "captive mines." The committee voted 3-2 to allow state tax officials to review all coal contracts in setting the value for captive mine coal. The move dumped a House provision that limited the state to i a-j By GEOFFREY O'GARA Wind River Basin bureau JACKSON Casper and other Wyoming municipalities are forced to seek water through expensive development projects because of the state's "very conservative" regulation of water transfers, according to a University of Wyoming law professor. Mark Squillace told a legal symposium here that Wyoming would benefit economically by allowing water right holders to transfer their rights more easily from one use to another. Agriculture is the primary con ELI BEBOUT Tou have gutted the bill' Transportation Department delayed by House panel By PAUL KRZA Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE State government reorganization was dealt a setback Friday when a House committee decided against im-' mediately setting up a Department of Transportation. The House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee voted nearly unanimously to keep the current administrative structure intact in both the Wyoming Highway Department and state Aeronautics Commission while a plan is developed for the new DOT.

The amended bill still gives the governor the authority to appoint a transportation department director. But unlike the version of the bill approved earlier by the Senate, the director will not have the power to appoint the highway department superintendent or the director of the Aeronautics Commission. "You have gutted the bill, more-less," said Rep. Eli Bebout, D-Fremont, a House sponsor of the transportation bill and the only person on the committee to vote against the amendment. But several members of the committee said they were not convinced that the change in the set-up of the agencies needed to proceed so quickly.

Rep. Steve Freudenthal, D-Laramie, who authored the amendment to slow the change, said he wanted to "avoid a premature reorganization." Rep. Carroll Miller, R-Big Horn, saying that "momentum begets momentum, and once it's in place, it's hard to stop." Please see BILL, A14 Classifieds B7-14 Comics B5 Crossword A4 Drilling B6 Landers, Omarr B3 Legislature A3 Markets B4 Movies B3 Obituaries, Diary B2 Opinion A12 Sports A5-U Wyoming Bl Phones 266-0500 Wyo. free 1-800-442-6916 Old Grouch I'm laying odds that the House will massage that King holiday to death. RESULTS GUARANTEED RESULTS OR YOUR MONEY BACK! 1.

We run your ad for 7 days (must be paid within 5 days.) 2. If your item doesn't sell, we run it 7 extra days FREE! 3. If you haven't sold your item after 14 days, we will happily refund your money! Limit 3 items per ad. Each item must be priced ($2000 or less.) Some classifications excluded. Call today! 266 0555 or 1-800-442-691 6 (WY tol-free.) North: Poindexter didn't scorer sumptive use of water in the state, said Squillace, accounting for 96 percent of water use while producing only 2 percent of the state's gross income.

But cities like Casper choose not to purchase water rights from the agricultural sector because of the state's "disfavorable" view of such transfers, said Squillace. This leads, he said, to expensive alternatives like the proposed Deer Creek Dam. In Wyoming, water right holders can't transfer water without having to pass a battery of conditions, said Squillace. In addition to protecting Please see WATER, A14 But North said that when he tola Poindexter his misgivings about attending the meeting he was told: "You can handle it, you can take care of it." North said he was "concerned by the kind of questions they might ask" because "I'd been told by two national security adviers and their deputies, by the director of central intelligence that that information was not to be revealed to anyone." North said "I didn't walk into the meeting intending to lie." But the former National Security Council aide staff officer admitted that he "did not tell the truth" during Aug. 6, 1986 session with members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

"I recall deceiving them about the full measure of my involve erance and ad valorem taxes, based on figures provided by Marble. But the committee turned down on a 2-3 vote an amendment from Sen. Tom Kinnison, R-Sheridan, that would have guaranteed the state would lose no money from adopting a new method of valuing 'all other coal production in the state. The dispute over valuing coal produced from captive coal mines has put legislators at odds over the coal bill during its passage through the House. already has learned that "we have the money to do what those in control want to do." "The money magically appears and disappears," Hacker said.

Further attempts to put back the DEQ money and positions are expected Saturday when the appropriations bill, which contains the budgets for the DEQ and the Department of Health and Social Services, comes up for third and final House action. The bill previously cleared the Senate with the DEQ cuts objected to by the Democrats. In trying to restore $112,318 and one position to the DEQ's solid waste management division, Hacker reminded the House members they had enthusiastically endorsed legislation last yea' to control dumping of out-of-state garbage and added positions to the solid waste management section. This year the Legislature did a turnaround and approved funding cuts that will mean the loss of two positions in the division, Hacker Please see DEQ, A14 to Congress OLIVER NORTH Declared 'hostile witness' by the House reflected industry's position that the department set tne value for captive coal by using spot coal sales and long-term contracts negotiated only within the last 12 months. The department wanted to remove the 12-month "window," as it is called, so officials can continue to look at an assortment of coal contracts in an effort to set the current market value for captive coal.

Sen. John Fanos, D-Uinia, By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE House Democrats failed to restore positions and money to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality Friday, losing two tries on votes roughly along party lines. After the attempts to put back slots In the department's solid waste management and land quality division, three House Democrats held a news conference to blast the Republican majority. They said their GOP counterparts lack vision and instead marched in "full retreat" from protection of the state's environment. They also disputed Republican claims the state is broke and claimed members of the Joint Appropriations Committee are manipulating the budget to make it appear no money is available for additional spending.

Rep. Pat Hacker, D-Laramie, who sponsored the DEQ amendments and who was recently appointed to the House seat, said he tell me to lie ment," said North. Poindexter, a retired Navy rear admiral who was national security adviser for President Reagan in 1986, is accused, among other things of putting North up to lying at the meeting. Compelled to testify by Iran-Contra prosecutors, North conceded few points without a struggle during a day of relentless questioning by prosecutor Dan Webb. When Congress banned U.S.

military aid to the rebels, North said he was told "in so many words" he was responsible for the Contras. North said he kept Poindexter fully informed of his work to help buy and ship arms to the rebels. North reluctantly admitted he Please see POINDEXTER, A2 It also has surfaced as the only remaining major issue that separates industry and the Department of Revenue and Taxation on the mineral valuation package developed by legislators over the past year. The five bills in the package set the points of tax and methods of valuation for coal, uranium, oil and gas, sand and gravel and ben-tonite. The package is scheduled for debate by the full Senate Monday.

The coal valuation bill as passed WASHINGTON (AP) Oliver North testified Friday that former national security adviser John Poindexter sent him to be questioned by lawmakers about covert aid to the Nicaraguan rebels that couldn't "be revealed to anyone." The former White House aide, testifying as a reluctant leadoff witness at Poindexter's Iran-Contra trial, admitted he lied when questioned by House members about whether he was covertly helping arm the Nicaraguan Contras for the Reagan administration. The retired Marine lieutenant colonel, declared a hostile witness by the judge, insisted that "no one ever told me to lie to Congress" about the covert operation to help the rebels after Congress shut off money. with tax department on valuing coal from 'captive mines' looking only at contracts signed by other mines over the previous 12 months to determine the value of coal prJuced by captive mines those p.ines owned by power plants that own and burn the coal. Richard Marble, director of the Department of Revenue and Taxation's mineral tax division, said if the 12-month restriction weren't removed, the state would see a $2 per ton drop in valuation on 10 million tons of coal per year. That cut would cost the state about $2.5 million per year in sev.