Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 13

star Wyoming Bl Friday, December 6, 1991 Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo. ji 1 til1' Gillette trustee quits Move preceded by allegations of hospital credit card abuse 5 It EQC to take final action on hazardous waste rules By CHARLES PELKEY Star-Tribune Laramie bureau LARAMIE The state Environmental Quality Commission is scheduled to meet next week to take final action on proposed hazardous waste regulations. The panel is slated to meet Dec. 13 in Laramie to review rules designed to permanently replace a set of emergency regulations adopted earlier this year. In July, the EQC adopted emergency hazardous waste measures in response to a request by Laramie's Mountain Cement Company to burn liquid hazardous wastes in its kiln.

Attorneys for the firm had earlier argued that because of the absence of specific state rules regulating the handling, storage and disposal of liquid hazardous materials, the company's plan would be subject only to federal, and not state regulation. At the time of their adoption, EQC and DEQ officials said the emergency rules are based "entirely on existing state statutes," and serve only to "clarify the state's regulatory powers" over all types of hazardous wastes. Since the adoption of the emergency measures, state environmental regulators have held a series of public hearings on proposed permanent rules. Comments from those meetings have since been incorporated into the proposed rules. The EQC is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m., Dec.

13 in the large meeting room of Albany County Public Library. Opponents of Mountain Cement's plan to burn waste in Laramie have scheduled a public meeting for 7 p.m. Dec 12. in the Albany County Library, Laramie. Meanwhile, U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency officials said this week they may defer until early next year a decision on Mountain Cement's application for a fast-track federal permit to burn waste in Laramie. credit cards. "I don't foresee the hospital taking any legal action against a board member over the audit," Anderson said Wednesday. "That's based on preliminary indicators. That doesn't mean it won't happen.

"The potential is there. That's why we called the audit in the first place," he said. "That doesn't mean anything will materialize. We're dealing with incomplete, fragmentary information." Daly and Denver auditors De-loitte and Touche are conducting the audit. Daly said it was inappropriate for him to comment on possible legal actions from the audit.

Anderson said the public would have full access to the audit report, which is expected to be finished by Dec. 13. Other board members did not comment on Matheny's resignation. Matheny was elected to his first four-year term on the hospital board in 1984. His second term was set to expire Oct.

1, 1992. Anderson said the board is asking people interested in filling the remainder of the position to submit their names. Industrial worker dies in accident EVANSTON A 43-year-old Lyman man died Tuesday following an industrial accident in Utah, according to Deputy Uinta County Attorney Greg Crandall. Scotty Rex Platts was admitted to Evanston Regional IHC Hospital on Tuesday, and died later the same day from internal injuries, Crandall said. Deputy Summit County Sheriff Terry Yates, in Coalville, Utah, said Platts was an employee of Michaelis Trucking Co.

of Evanston. He was moving drill pipe racks from one location to another on the Anschutz Ranch, located in both Utah and Wyoming. As he was unloading "he got behind the pipe racks" and one of the racks weighing 2,500 pounds pinned him to the ground, Yates said. Yates said the Utah occupational health and safety personnel have been to the scene of the accident and have conducted an investigation. 'Friends of Bow' appeal timber sale RAWLINS (AP) An environmental group is appealing a timber sale in the Headquarters Creek area of the Medicine Bow National Forest.

Nearly 726 acres of forest were scheduled to be cut, said Jeff Kessler of the Friends of the Bow group. "They justify, in the decision notice, the sale based on information that is either not in the environmental analysis or is incorrect," he said. Regional Forester Gary Cargill will review the appeal. A decision is expected in March. Fishery comments flood BuRec RAWLINS (AP) The Bureau of Reclamation is being flooded with letters and phone calls from people with opinions about how the Miracle Mile area of the North Platte River should be managed.

BuRec Project Manager John Lawson said concerns range from a desire that the area continue to be used for grazing and recreation, to concerns that too much livestock and human activity could harm the area. The Miracle Mile is a blue ribbon trout fishery. The comment period ends Dec. 6. GILLETTE (AP) A Campbell County Memorial Hospital trustee says the "public perception" from allegations of abuse of taxpayer-supported expense accounts has prompted him to resign.

Trustee Jack Matheny resigned Tuesday night after a two-hour private session with the hospital board. "Because of the public perception of me, which I don't agree with, I feel that it is in the best interest of the hospital and my family that I resign," he said in a terse, written statement. Matheny, 51, a two-term trustee and former board chairman, made no other comments, except to answer questions by saying: "They were good years." Board Chairman Tom Anderson called the executive session to receive advice from attorney John Daly concerning potential litigation. Anderson would only say the possible legal action involved an ongoing audit of the board's expenses over the past five years. Anderson initiated the audit a month ago amid charges that some board members were abusing their expense accounts.

He also asked board members to surrender their Barton YorkStar-Tribune UW official candidate for Arizona post LARAMIE James Hurst, University of Wyoming associate prevent fire hazards and will be" Sweetwater County, he said. Uinta County employee charged plead guilty to receiving unlawful a county deputy sheriff and three telecommunication, was originally filing false vouchers, soliciting un money by false pretense, one count iw'' i nr i 1 The silhouette of an old windmill invades the evening skyline along the highway near Sheridan. silhouette legislative departure official vice president for Student Affairs, is among five finalists for an administrative post at the University of Arizona. AU Vice Provost Holly Smith said Wednesday that Hurst was one of 100 candidates vying for the position of Student Affairs Vice President at the school in Tucson. Hurst said he did not seek the post but did allow his name to be placed in nomination.

"It couldn't hurt to take a look at the opportunity," Hurst said. "But, I like it here and I'm not looking to leave." Cody firm wins dam center contract CODY A $1,088 million contract has been awarded to Moltz Constructors of Cody for building the Buffalo Bill Dam Visitor Center, scheduled to open in 1993. The foot center will include a foot viewing gallery with a panoramic view of the North Fork Canyon of the Shoshone River, according to a BuRec news release. The contract includes sitework, all interior finishing, mechanical and electrical systems, plumbing, exterior landscaping and sprinkling. Construction cost will be shared by the Bureau and Park County.

Representing Park County is Buffalo Bill Visitor Center a non-profit corporation which spearheaded a fund drive to collect the local share of the cost. The corporation will operate and maintain the center when it opens in the spring of 1993. Forest Service considers land swap RAWLINS (AP) The U.S. Forest Service is considering a land swap involving a parcel in Fletcher Park for private land surrounded by the Huston Park Wilderness Area in the Medicine Bow National Forest. Forest Service officials are working on an analysis of the proposal.

The aim of the land exchange is to consolidate National Forest property in the wilderness area near Standard Park. In addition, officials say the swap would resolve a problem with trespassing on forest land in Fletcher Park. Hayden District Ranger Michael Murphy said the Forest Service has prepared a scoping statement on the proposed land swap and is accepting public comment. BLM lifts ban on some chemicals ROCK SPRINGS (AP) An environmental impact statement has-cleared the way for federal officials to use previously banned chem-. icals to control vegetation on oil and gas production sites in The EIS was done to let the Bureau of Land Management start a-vegetation and pest management plan in 13 Western states.

The! agency plans on treating about 25,000 acres a year in Wyoming. "There's no changes as far as where," said Ray Christiansen, Rock-Springs District range conservationist. "We will get to use new- Republican lawmakers blast budget CHEYENNE (AP) Two Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee say Gov. Mike Sullivan's recommended budget cuts are reductions in requests not in actual spending. Committee Chairman Rep.

Dick Wallis, R-Campbell, said although he hasn't fully reviewed the proposed budget yet, his initial reaction is that it's "too much money." "We're spending our reserves again," Wallis said. "We're not staying within our revenues." Wallis said the cuts Sullivan has recommended for the 1993-94 are cuts in requests and not actual state spending. However, the proposed budget is higher than the current bienni-um's, Wallis said. Rep. Eric Alden, R-Platte, said he thought Sullivan's executive order requiring agencies to cut their budget requests by 12 percent was a "cop-out." Sullivan ordered the cuts and other measures to try to wipe out a projected $152 million deficit.

"I really think he copped out on that 12 percent rollback deal," Alden said. "I thought that was a major lack of leadership. That wasn't a 12 percent cutback on what you got last year, that was a 12 percent cut of what you asked for, and I'm sure there were some agencies that asked for 20 percent and some agencies that asked for 8 percent." But the governor's spokesman, Dennis Curran, said Sullivan's proposed general fund budget of $875.7 million includes cuts in spending as well as budget requests. And in some cases, the governor has recommended eliminating programs, Curran said. Sullivan has proposed closing the School for the Deaf in Casper and eliminating the state's workplace-safety program.

Excluding education and programs such as Medicaid, which is mandated by the federal government, the proposed budget is nearly 9 percent lower than the current one, Curran said. Agreement reached over rail line RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) Chicago and North Western Railroad has agreed to wait until 1993 before abandoning a line between Crawford, and Crandall, considered crucial to industry and market shipping in western South Dakota. The railroad and the shipping interests signed an agreement early last month in which the railroad gives the shippers until May 10, 1993, to find a buyer to restore the line. The date is the two-year anniversary of the flooding that severely damaged parts of the line.

Because of the flood damage, tried to abandon the line under Interstate Commerce Commission rules, instead of repair it. Sheridan sunset Mader makes By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE Sen. Kelly Mader has made his departure the Wyoming Legislature of-'ficial by submitting his formal notice of resignation to Gov. Mike Sullivan. 1 i As he promised earlier, his resignation is effective Monday, Dec.

9. Mader, a Republican, represented the Campbell-Johnson County senate district for the past seven years. Prior to that he served years in the Wyoming House as a representative from Campbell County. He has been co-chairman of the Joint Appropriations Committee. The Republican Central Committees of Campbell and Johnson counties will meet jointly Friday, Dec.

13 in Gillette to select the names of three nominees to succeed Mader. The county commissioners of two senators. Mader announced in late July that a career change could prompt him to leave the Legislature. At the same time he announced he was dissolving the real estate partnership he ran with his brother, Troy, and father, R. A.

(Dick) Mader. Mader recently moved his family to Denver and opened a consulting business there. Mader delayed resigning his legislative seat on grounds he wanted to finish work on legislation affecting Campbell County. Other legislators criticized the delay, saying Mader should quit so his successor could get ready for the 1992 budget session. Mader's home telephone in Gillette has been disconnected and he could not be reached Thursday for further comment.

Sullivan formally notified the county commissioners of Campbell and Johnson Counties of Mader's resignation on Dec. 5. fall. He alleged, in part, that at least four cancer patients had been diagnosed with the disease but weren't treated for months because the hospital didn't have a urologist on duty While conceding there was a lag in care, Bell said there are mitigating facts that have not been made public. Allegations about patient care prompted investigations by the FBI, the VA's Inspector General Office and a U.S.

House both counties then will meet jointly in Gillette on Dec. 17 to pick one of the three names, John Kennedy, chairman of the Campbell County GOP Central Committee, said late Thursday. Kennedy identified four candidates for Mader's seat all from Campbell County. They are Rep. Mike Enzi; Lynn Smith and Patty Jensen, both ranchers, and Brad Cundy, a Gillette paving contractor.

Kennedy said there are no candidates from Johnson County. "I've talked to them three or four times and they've yet to have anyone who's expressed an interest," Kennedy said. "I think with reapportionment they probably think this is a seat they'll have nothing to do with anyway." He said Johnson County officials expect reapportionment to join their county with Sheridan County while Campbell County will be a single senate district with The transfer follows allegations that patients were neglected at the Cheyenne hospital and a federal report that criticized the hospital for "poor continuity of care." Bell, who is director of the VA hospital in Portland, said this week that he plans to call a news conference in about two weeks to discuss care at the Cheyenne hospital. Jim Nash, a Vietnam veteran and employee at the hospital, first raised allegations earlier this chemicals. Before, we were restricted to just four chemicals." The new chemicals should help used mostly on oil and gas sites in ilnterim director pledges to resolve VA issues Accused Uinta employee pleads guilty EVANSTON (AP) A former with defrauding the county of thousands of dollars has agreed to a plea bargain.

Mark J. Waters, 32, agreed to compensation while acting as a public official and will spend one year jail and repay the county roughly $15,000 he allegedly received The arrangement needs the approval of Uinta County Judge John CHEYENNE (AP) The new interim director at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Cheyenne is pledging to shed new light on allegations that patients were mistreated and neglected at the hospital. And Barry Bell said his temporarily replacing former director George Andries is not just a measure. Andries was temporarily reassigned last week to the VA's regional director's office in San Francisco, Calif. Troughton.

Waters, who spent 1 1 years as years as the county director of charged with multiple counts of lawful compensation, obtaining of forgery and one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property..