Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 3

star Gasper Area Saturday, May 12, 1990 i Council to consider trial plan to drop parking meter fees The citv adds $220,000 out of its -eneral fund to $104,000 in narWina fee revenues each vear to keen thn garage running, he said. Outstanding principal on the parking garage bonds is $1.67 million. Paying that debt off over 10 years will cost an additional $579,000 in interest, he said, for a total of $2.5 million left to pay. i.i i i ,1, it mm jii.ui muni mmiiiu r.f i lJ 4 i i I i 1 lii iM' wnlfj IP 1 V-' I S-T reporter hired by Mead campaign CASPER Star-Tribune political reporter Matt Winters has been hired as press secretary by Republican gubernatorial candidate Mary Mead, a spokesman for the Mead campaign said this week. Winters will start work with the campaign May 28.

Winters is "highly qualified and brings a lot of credibility to the position," Campaign Manager Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Laramie, said Thursday. "He has experience, knowledge of the state, and we couldn't be more pleased that Matt has agreed to come and work on the campaign," Lummis said. 1 "I'm very delighted to be working for Mary," Winters said Thursday. think she's a real bright, dynamic person who can do the state a lot of good." Winters said he has "really loved working for the Star-Tribune" but feels moving to the Mead campaign "is an important thing to do." Star-Tribune Editor Anne MacKinnon said Winters has already stopped doing any writing or editing on stories that have any relation to politics.

"I'm sorry to see him MacKinnon said. Winters, 32, is a native of Lander. He received a bachelor's deuree in ByTOMREA Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER The City Council Tuesday night will consider a proposal from Casper's Downtown Development Authority to do away with parking fees in meters and the city garage for a three-month trial period this summer, City Manager Tom Forslund said this week. The DDA, an association of downtown merchants, also supports earmarking funds from the Optional One Cent Sales Tax No. 9 for retirement of the city's outstanding debt on the downtown parking garage, and for downtown improvements, Forslund said.

But only the parking-meter proposal will be on Tuesday night's Council agenda, he said. Foregoing parking fees for three months would cost the city $20,000, Forslund said. There would still be a two-hour parkingYestriction, he said. now costs about $60,000 per year to run the city garage, and $264,000 to pay the debt still outstanding from its construction, for total annual garage budget of $324,000, Forelund said. But the DDA at a council work session last week proposed that the city include in its requests for funds from the Optional One Cent Sales Tax No.

9 enough money to pay off the principal, Recommendations for spending the projected $25 million in One Cent revenues over four years to the city and county will be made this fall by a committee of citizens. Voters will have a chance to approve or disapprove the tax in November. The DDA also plans to bring a request of its own to the One Cent committee for $390,000 for downtown improvements, Forslund said. The improvements would include trees, planters, sprinkler systems, and "parking loop signs," Forslund said. t-1 offering early retirement to workers Move to meet cost objectives irnifriirm iiih-Tninnirmiihir 1 i CASPER PacifiCorp, the Portland, owner of Pacific Power Light and Utah Power Light, is offering early-retirement to some 640 employees to rmeet cost objectives set when state regulators allowed the two electric utilities to merge, company officials r.

About 300 positions mostly at I in Portland and at headquarters in Salt Lake City have already been cut, i Wyoming spokesman Leslie Blythe Dee GouldSlar-Tribune Dee Brown braves wet snows in downtown Casper Friday morning 1 i i I i i 4 Students' self-image important as curriculum, teacher says said Friday. The decrease in personnel is possible because of efficiencies achieved through productivity and organizational studies of the two utilities, which were merged in January 1989,. Blythe said. PacifiCorp mad? a commitment to long term rate stability in making its case for the merger to utility regulators in affected states, including Wyoming, she noted. Dave Bolender, president of PacifiCorp's electric operations, said the voluntary retirement program is being offered as part of an accelerated program to consolidate staff departments and functions within and "We believe the most positive way of dealing with this, yet meet our commitment to avoid merger related layoffs, is to try to open up remaining positions via an early out program," he said in a release.

PacifiCorp said its early out program offers eligible non union employees a variety of benefits, including the addition of five years length of service in computing pension benefits and monthly "bridge" payments for employees between age 50 and 62. Blythe said that early retirements and attrition will not be allowed to adversely affect local customer services or power-supply operations. Vacancies those areas are being filled, for instance by transferring personnel from other positions, she A headline in Friday's Star-Tribune incorrectly stated mat and plan layoffs. No layoffs are planned, Blythe said. '--X, economics from the University of Wyoming in 1983 and a law degree from UW in 1986.

He is a member of the Wyoming State Bar, and joined the Star-Tribune in 1986. BuRec releases water from Pathfinder CASPER Because of -unforeseen mechanical problems with the Fremont Canyon Powerplant, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began releasing water through the jet-flow valves at Pathfinder Dam on Friday and has closed the low-water crossing below the dam, BuRec Project Director John Lawson said. On account of the water release, no public access will be available to the southeast side of Pathfinder Reservoir, he said. The bypass of water is necessary to maintain Alcova Reservoir at its summer operating level and to maintain releases into Casper canal and the North Platte River below Gray Reef, BuRec said.

Water releases from Gray Reef Dam will be maintained at 500 cubic feet per second (cfs) until May 17, at which time the flow will increase to 700 cfs. That flow will be maintained until the first week of June, when releases will again be increased to move water downstream for irrigation, the agency said. BuRec added that "due to drought conditions and the critically low water supply, all water users are encouraged to conserve water whenever possible." i. Four sentenced for -j drunken driving Four people were-sentenced in municipal court Friday for drunken driving, court record" show. i David Hall, 44, was sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $760.

The jail time and $200 were suspended on condition he complete counseling and commit no alcohol violations for I one year. Ronald Markovich, 27, was sentenced to 90 days in jail and fined $760. Two hundred dollars and 80 days of the jail time were suspended, and he may serve the remaining 10 days on weekends on condition he get counseling and commit nol alcohol violations for one year. Jessica Schneible, 27, was fined $760 and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Sidney Meer, 33, was fined $750 and sentenced to six months in jail.

If he completes a 30-day residential treatment program, all but 15 days of the jail time will be suspended. If he completes a 72-day program, all but seven days will be suspended. He will be put on unsupervised probation for the remainder of the jail time. '( I La 5 tammummmtuMtHa trthflriH-frnfft, mint i irr it ff-friuft i ByTOMREA Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER Garfield sixth grade teacher Harper Park said Wednesday that when she once taught a class dressed as George Washington, some students "thought I had lost my wires there, but I know they'll remember it." Park was one of five Natrona County teachers awarded $1,000 prizes Tuesday for excellence in teaching from the school district's new Education Endowment Fund. Park said that during her 13 years in the school district two at Garfield School and before that 1 1 years at Southridge School she has gradually developed her own way of teaching the curriculum.

"You're moving away from the teacher that says 'take out your books and turn to page 42 and do the first five she said. "I do the discovery and inquiry method, which Is a lot harder, by the way," because it requires considerably more planning time, Park said. Park teaches English and math to sixth graders in the mornings, and social studies to fifth and sixth graders in the afternoons. Fifth graders learn U.S. history, and the sixth grade social studies classes focus on the neighboring countries to the U.S.

Canada, Mexico, and Latin America. Park said she uses her own experiences and souvenirs from traveling in Canada and Mexico to start discussion more often than she uses textbooks. Teaching U.S. history to the fifth graders, she said, "we use books, but again, there's a lot (of-other materials) out there." In addition to bringing the period- aliveincostume, Park said she tries to help students understand "why the Revolution occurred by recreating the feeling of being that unhappy, and how hard the decision to revolt must have been." But it is more important to encourage students' self-confidence than it is to teach the curriculum, she said. Sixth graders are "no longer little kids," she said, but have reached an age where the decisions they make may have lifelong consequences.

Park said she hopes to instill a love for "the mystery of learning" that will leave her students "looking with their eyes open" at the world. "You try to figure out where they are, mostly just by listening to them do the talking, by being available and being accessible," she said. Sixth graders are "definitely more sophisticated" than they were when she started teaching, Park said. "They've had to endure more" stresses and changes in their family lives, "and they're more open about talking about it." She said she has one student who is quite open about her experiences in Alateen a support group for children of alcoholics. Ten years ago, it would have been unusual for a 12-year-old to belong to the organization, and even less likely for the student to talk about it, she said.

"I'd rather not see them have so much responsibility so soon," she said. "They've got it, and most of them handie it really well," Park said. LESLIE BLYTHE Decision won't affect service State business, tourism leaders recognized here HARPER PARK Teaches discovery, inquiry method Park said if she could have everything she wanted as a teacher she would like to see more team teaching, with more than one adult working with each group of students, more planning time for teachers, "more use of centers" areas in the classroom where children can work bn special projects, and "more use of community resources." "I'm big on field trips" that enable students to get a feel for the working world, she said. But field trips also have to be balanced by opportunites for students to work hard on their own in class, she said. "It's a matter of being flexible and having the support to be flexible" from administrators, she said.

CASPER The way to make tourists happy so that they keep doming back to Wyoming is "by being kind to them," a long-time Casper youth lobbies congressional delegation if King's Saddlery, Inc. of Sheridan, won the governor's quality award Framed certificates of commendation were presented to five businesses: In-Situ, of Laramie; National Outdoor Leadership School, of Lander; Queen Bee Gardens, of Lovell; Pioneer of Jackson Hole, of Jackson; and Christen Industries, of Afton. Ten businesses won honorable mention for the governor's quality award: Chevron USA, of Evanston; Eagle Bronze, of Lander, Equipment Maintenance Services, of Gillette; Hawks Industries, of Casper, Joe Oleinik Investments, of Gillette; Rocky Mountain Forest Products Corporation, of Laramie; Teton Homes, of Mills; Wyoming Anns Manufacturing Corporation, of Thermopolis; Unicover Corporation, of Cheyenne, and Union Pacific Railroad Company, of Cheyenne. The export award went to Casper Air Service, and the Small Business Person of the Year Award to Bill Smith of HA Smith Company, ofWorland. Centennial restaurateur told a gathering of people from the state's tourist industry here Friday.

Pat Self, owner of the Old Corral restaurant in Centennial since 1946, was among a number of state leaders in business and the tourism industry recognized here Friday at an awards lunch hosted jointly by the Wyoming Small Business Rendezvous and the Governor's Conference on Tourism. Self was presented with the Big Wyo Travel Person of the Year by the Wyoming Lodging and Restaurant Association. Gov. Mike Sullivan, meanwhile, presented the governor's quality awards to recognize outstanding examples of quality among businesses," and the governor's export award, which he said goes annually to "the company with the greatest commitment and growth in export sales." Sullivan also announced the Small Business Administration's Small Business Person of the Year Award. .1 CASPER Jamie Phillips of Casper recently lobbied Wyoming's congressional delegation in Washington D.C.

through the RespecTeen National Youth Forum seeking more funding for emotionally abused children. Phillips, 14 and a student at Dean Morgan Junior High, visited Washington in April requesting federal funds through an existing educational program called Natural Helpers that presently lacks adequate funding, according to a release. In a letter to U.S. Rep. Craig Thomas, Phillips said she belongs to the Natural Helpers program at her school.

"We have been trained to help other students with their problems," she wrote. "The problem is that only 50 out of 800 students and only two out of 63 teachers are able to get this kind of training due to the lack of funds," she told Thomas. "I urge you to look into this roblem and take action to allocate unding for programs such as 'Natural Helpers' in my school," she said. Phillips trip to visit Wyoming delegation in person was sponsored by RespecTeen, which chose one youth from each state on the basis of their letters. The group, which describes itself as "helping parents and teens respect each other and themselves," received 9,000 letters nationwide.

RespecTeen is a project of the Lutheran Brotherhood, a not-for-profit fraternal benefit society. JAMIE PHILLIPS Seeks funds for abused kids.