Casper Star-Tribune du lieu suivant : Casper, Wyoming • 15

starWy oming Wednesday, May 9, 1 990 Bl Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo. 1 Despite complaints, state must use 1988 mineral valuation plan: AG said. Freudenthal said using an average to determine the value generally means the level falls to a "lower common denominator," resulting in a lower value. The impact on state income is uncertain, Freudenthal said, because the price of coal has gone down while the valuing system should mean a little more money. "If we had gone back to the 1987 method, tax revenues probably would have gone down," she said.

Prosecutor seeks death in Rawlins murder case By CANDY MOULTON Star-Tribune correspondent RAWLINS Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the case of a Saratoga man charged with last month's rape and murder of a Rawlins teenager, court documents filed Monday show. Carbon County Attorney Kurt Kelly listed five "aggravating circumstances" in his notice of intent to seek the death penalty in the case against Robert Lee Clegg. Clegg was arrested April 4 in Rawlins and subsequently charged with first-degree sexual assault and first-degree murder in the rape and beating death of 17-year-old Lisa Marie Hansen of Rawlins. According to Kelly, the circumstances which form the basis for the prosecution to pursue a dealth penalty include Clegg's previous felony conviction in Hot Springs County District Court, and that the alleged murder of Hansen was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest. The documents filed by Kelly also allege that the murder was especially atrocious or cruel, being unnecessarily torturous to the victim," and that the defendant poses a substantial and continuing threat or is likely to commit other criminal acts.

The list of aggravating circumstances further alleges that Clegg killed Hansen, "purposely and with premeditated malice, while in flight after committing a sexual assault." If found guilty of the sexual assault charge, Clegg could be sentenced to from five years to life in the Wyoming State Penitentiary. Clegg's district court arraignment has been scheduled for 10 a.m. May 22. He is currently incarcerated in the Carbon County jail. she said.

"That puts us between a rock and a hard place because legislators want what we did in 1987 and the AG is saying that's not authorized." Freudenthal said she is expecting some complaints from both mineral producers and lawmakers over the decision but it wasn't up for much debate. "We'll use the same methods used last year. We expect some complaints (but) in lieu of any other methods and data, we basically did what we" had to do, she said. What the attorney general said the state can't do, she said, is continue to assume all producers earn 14.25 percent return on their investments. Some producers were earning less, she said, and some were earning more.

The change meant some producers had higher valuations and paid more taxes while other paid less. In general, Freudenthal said, producers in the Powder River Basin with lower production costs paid less taxes while those in the southwest part of the state with higher production costs paid more. "When we gave everybody the average number without inquiring about what they were actually earning skewed the earnings. When we tried to change, people who weren't earning that much weren't allowed that much as a deduction," she fit' CHEYENNE (AP) Wyoming Attorney General Joe Meyer says the state can't revert to the 1987 system of valuing minerals, meaning last year's controversial system will be used again, according the chairman of the State Board of Equalization. Nancy Freudenthal said the board had considered using the 1987 system after producer and legislative complaints.

However, after Monday's decision from Attorney General Joe Meyer, the board decided to stick with last year's program. "There was discussion of going back and using the methods used in 1987 because the Legislature seemed to want to freeze to the methods of that year," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Monday. "We were trying to learn from our mistakes. So, rather than just doing what we did in 1987, we asked Joe questions (about the plan). It means that we end up in a conflict because legislators want to go back to those methods, but we have an attorney general's opinion that says we can't." Apparently, she said, lawmakers thought they had passed legislation requiring use of the 1987 system.

"The Legislature was outspoken and critical. They thought they froze things. The attorney general said if that's what they intended, they didn't put it in the statute," Bebout says RIVERTON (AP) Although flattered that he's been contacted about seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate this year, Rep. Eli Bebout, D-Fremont, announced Tuesday that he will not enter the race.

Bebout's decision leaves the Democrats with two political unknowns to fight for the nomination. U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson is running for his third term, and while a Gillette insurance agent is challenging him for the GOP nomination, Simpson is fully expected to be the Republicans' nominee in the General Election. "I'm very flattered that so many of my constituents consider me a viable challenger to someone of the stature of Al Simpson, and I would have enjoyed debating the issues with him and meeting people in a statewide campaign," said Bebout.

"Anything can happen in politics and nobody is invincible," he add he won't run for Senate 03 pump and gas flare with Dave HuberStar-Tribune Woriand in far background it Abduction charges filed in Sweetwater GREEN RIVER Deputy County Attorney Cliff Beavers will file charges today against Charles Hime, 37, of following an alleged abduction that took place Sunday morning. Hime remains in the Sweetwater County jail on $100,000 bond following his arrest by Sweetwater County Sheriff's deputies at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday. vivvii ivi a WilWV Nilll Gillen said Hines entered the Mini Mart convenience store on Bridger Avenue in Green River at about 3:10 a.m. and abducted clerk Deb- bie Richards.

Customers entering the store and finding it empty con- tacted police, Gillen said. Police later found an empty vehicle stuck near the FMC plant west of Green River, Gillen said. 'He said Richards had been in th vehicle, escaped when it became stuck and fled on foot to the FMC guard house, where she contacted authorities. Gillen said two sheriffs deputies located and arrested Himes at about 7:30 a.m. when they saw him walking near the FMC plant.

Contacted Tuesday afternoon, Beavers said is "anticipating a kidnapping charge" but has not yet completed the charging documents, which he said he would file this morning in Sweetwater County Court in Green River. BCR asks Sullivan for penitentiary funds CHEYENNE (AP) The state Board of Charities and Reform has approved some $200,000 for stabilization work at the State Penitentiary and has asked Gov. Sullivan to help it meet a $100,000 shortfall in its medical budget. In a meeting on Monday, the board approved the expenditure to bolster sections of the Rawlins facility that are sinking into the ground. The prison was built on unstable ground and some build- ings have been sinking in on their 'foundations.

The allocation will be used to stabilize two cell blocks and two center stations, but seven cell blocks still need to be supported. Sullivan said he will be glad to help the BCR by dipping into the contingency fund if the board can't find the funds in its budget to cover health care costs at the state penitentiary. Officials expect to fall $150,000 short by the end of the fiscal year, but they have borrowed $50,000 from the State Hospital in Evanston, according to Executive Secretary Gary Sherman. Rock Springs debate: Creation vs. evolution ROCK SPRINGS A debate between proponents of creation and evolution will be presented here today at 7 p.m.

at the Western Wyoming Community College Theatre, according to a release. "Human Origins Evolution or Creation," sponsored by the WWCC Natural History Museum "and Victory Baptist Church of Rawlins, will feature Fred Ed- words, editor of the "Journal of CreationEvolution" and evolu-tion advocate, and Duane Gish, associate director of Institute of Creation Research and advocate of creation. 1 The debate is free and open to the public, and more information can -be obtained by. contacting Steve Creasman at the WWCC Natural History Museum, 382-1663, the release said. Spring storm blasts northwestern Wyoming By The Associated Press A spring storm has dumped as many as 14 inches of snow in Yel lowstone National Park and about 10 inches in the Big Horn Mountains, according to the National Weather Service.

The snow was the result of a cold front that plowed into northern Wyoming late Monday night and Tuesday morning, but "it's pretty well over," forecaster Stan Sigler said Tuesday evening. "It's just leaving some unseasonable cool temperatures now," in the 20s, 30s and 40s. Those cool temperatures likely will continue through Thursday. History of toxic gas regulation marked by complaints, revision New B-T winter use plan less restrictive; should 'meet needs of officials say ed. "But after soul-searching with my family, we concluded that the timing was not right and I can best serve the people of Fremont County by hopefully returning to the Wyoming House." Bebout, who will seek a third two-year term in the House, said he hopes to be very active in Democratic politics this election year and will work to see Gov.

Mike Sullivan reelected. "We've been making progress in Wyoming, and I want to be a part of continuing that progress," he said. During the state Democratic convention last weekend party Chairman Chuck Graves lamented that the Democrats had a lack of people with the money and power needed to unseat the likes of Simpson. Although Graves called Bebout a "superstar" politically, he acknowledged that the state representative might hurt himself for been underway for the past eight to nine years. The winter travel plan is understandably an "emotionally charged issue" because of the historic precedent of unrestricted winter travel in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Jones said.

The revisions should "meet the needs of most folks," he said. Alternative opens up an additional 12,000 acres that was identified as off-limits crucial range in previous forms of the plan, as well as allowing corridor access through that designated area. Crucial range is defined in the decision notice as "that component which has been documented as the determining factor in a population's ability to maintain itself at or above the population objective over the long term." The preferred alternative identified "restricts human presence in the Gros Ventre drainage, Curtis Canyon area and the area south of Jackson (Camp Creek Horse CreekFall Creek) to designated routes on all crucial elk and bighorn sheep winter range and some crucial moose winter range." Motorized travel is also restricted JOE MEYER Wyoming Attorney General future statewide races by opposing, and losing, to Simpson. ELI BEBOUT 'Timing was not right onto the designated routes in Buffalo Valley and Spread Creek Alternative also reduces the restricted travel area in the Gros Ventre drainage identified in Alternative by a third, AND corridor widths were increased along a portion of the designated routes identified in earlier alternatives. The restrictions in Curtis Canyon and the areas south of Jackson were unchanged.

The new plan widens snowmobile corridors to 200 yards as opposed to the 50 ft. corridors originally proposed. Closures to the south of the northern boundary of the Gros Ventre wilderness are effective Dec. 1 throught April 30. To the north, closures are effective Dec.

15 through April 30. The Forest Service evaluated an additional alternative proposed by the Northwest Wyoming Recreation Association but did not adopt it because it failed to address all crucial big game winter range in the Forest Plan. The Bridger-Teton National Forest released the decision notice of the Teton Division Winter Travel Plan Tuesday. to Congress were 95 percent greater after the crucial votes (from Fall 1985 to June 1989) than before (1983 to Fall 1985)," the group said in a handout. The group's figures show that Simpson had received $3,200 from sugar PACs prior to the votes, and $7,000 after the votes, while Wallop reportedly received nothing in sugar PAC contributions prior to the vote but $15,708 after the votes.

Both senators voted in favor of the industry's position, the group said. Neither senator nor their spokesmen were immediately available to comment Tuesday, according to secretaries in their Washington offices. Wj lu Jf' J--' f. 'V I TBS ifw' i I By LAMAR BRYAN Star-Tribune correspondent WORLAND Complaints by some Washakie County residents nearly a decade ago prompted the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to impose new standards for companies disposing of gas containing toxic hydrogen sulfide produced in oilfields east of Woriand. See related story, Al Monitoring stations installed in late 1980 at two residential sites approximately two and seven miles outside of Woriand confirmed that H2S concentrations routinely exceeded the state's ambient air standards, according to a technician with the Department of Environmental Quality.

Lee Gribovicz, an air quality engineer for the DEQ's Southwest District, said ambient air standards for residential areas are set in half-hour averages not to exceed .03 parts per million of H2s two times in any five days and not to exceed .05 parts per million two times in any year. During three months of monitoring, measurements at the Dave McKamey and Ken Deromedi residences exceeded the daily standard By ELIZABETH BERRY Star Tribune correspondent JACKSON A wider corridor for snowmobiles in some areas and generally fewer restrictions are among the features of a new winter use plan released Tuesday by Bridger-Teton National Forest officials. The plan, which includes several areas in the B-T near Jackson, was revised three times to accommodate public comment, officials said. Jackson District Ranger Chuck Jones said the new plan, outlined in a decision notice made public Tuesday, is less restrictive than what Forest Service officials proposed at a public meeting on March 24. The Decision Statement concludes that "Alternative is "consistent with the approved management direction found in the Bridger-Teton National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, and continues to allow for established winter recreation opportunities in popular use areas." Jones said that the new winter travel plan is the implementation of the forest planning process that has Wallop, Simpson 27 percent to 45 percent of the time, and exceeded the yearly standard 15 percent to 26 percent of the time, according to the DEQ report.

The DEQ also investigated several complaints about H2S in the 1970s, both from farmers and city residents reporting a smell of rotten eggs in the Woriand vicinity. Following a public hearing in 1981, the OGCC required flares used to burn casing-head gas at the oil fields to be equipped with automatic solar igniters that emit sparks every few seconds to ensure that gas was being burned rather than released into the atmosphere. Some well operators also were required to install vapor collection systems on well and tank batteries and to stop venting casing-head gas directly into the air. The opening of a gas processing plant east of Woriand by the mid-1980s reduced flaring of H2S. When burned, H2S breaks down into sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and water vapors.

S02 is a pollutant linked to acid rain, but it is not as toxic as H2S, which can be fatal at levels as low as 500 parts-per-million. McKamey said measures taken by the OGCC and the opening of the processing plant noticeably reduced H2S levels in the area. "Once in a while we get a blast of H2S and it's usually caused by a leak in the gaslines," he said. ing the wells and nearby soils to determine why elevated levels of the pesticide were found in the water, the commissioner said. The chemical company recently tested water wells in Washakie, Park, Big Horn, and Goshen counties that were within 1,000 feet of fields treated during the past five years with the pesticide.

Of the 147 wells tested, no traces of Aldicarb was found in 140 wells, including all wells sampled in Park and Goshen counties, according to the Agriculture Department. In five other wells, traces of the pesticide were "well within" EPA limits of 10 parts per billion, the agency said. The company selected the counties for testing based on sales and use of the pesticide, which is used to control insects in sugar beet fields. Big Horn Basin wells contaminated accused of catering to sugar lobby CHEYENNE (AP) Two private water wells in the Big Horn Basin are being monitored for a pesticide that has reportedly exceeded Environmental Protection Agency levels, according to state officials. Agriculture Commissioner Don Rolston says concentrations of "Temik brand 15G Aldicarb" above EPA levels turned up in a well near Basin and in another one near Woriand.

The Rhone-Poulenc Ag Co. has agreed to provide charcoal-activated filters to remove the pesticide as well as other chemicals from the well water, according to Rolston. Company officials say the pesticide residues normally degrade within several weeks. The company, which manufactures the pesticide, also is examin of Public Voice. "The powerful sugar lobby is paying millions to keep things just the way they are, and so far they have succeeded," she said.

The group analyzed campaign contributions from sugar industry PACs from January 1983 to June 1989 to examine their relationship to congressional votes on sugar policy. The study looked at contributions before and after critical votes on an amendment to the 1985 farm bill that would have modestly reformed the sugar program. According to this study, Public Voice determined that contributions "increased greatly after the important farm bill votes." "Average annual contributions CHEYENNE (AP) U.S. Sens. Malcolm Wallop and Alan Simpson are being accused of voting in favor of anti-consumer legislation in return for campaign contributions from sugar industry political action groups.

According to Public Voice for Food and Health Policy, the sugar lobby paid out more than S3.3 million in campaign contributions between 1983 and 1989 to congressmen "to keep the anti-consumer sugar support program intact." "U.S. sugar support policies artificially keep the price of sugar so high that consumers have spent billions more than they should have," said Ellen Haas, executive director 1.