Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 13

Vj star Wyoming Bl Thursday, November 28, 1991 Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo. 0 Utah congressman calls for probe into Kern River pipeline JU 'f I I I III lll l.l 11 I II tlflHtlllll SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Utah Congressman Wayne Owens has called for civil and criminal investigations into the Kern River Pipeline project in Bountiful but company officials say they have nothing to hide. In a news conference Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Owens accused the company of causing irreparable damage to the foothills east of Bountiful along the Wasatch Mountain Range and thinks the U.S. Forest Service should take severe measures against the company. "I think the Forest Service was snookered and should throw the book at Kern River Pipeline," the Utah Democrat said.

"I will ask the U.S. Attorney in Utah to look into the matter." Controversy is nothing new to Kern River. The 900-mile Wyoming-to-California natural gas pipeline has met with protest almost every step of the way. Earlier this month, Forest Service officials expressed deep concern about the project when they discovered deep ruts caused by bulldozers at the construction site. They also complained that frozen saplings being used for revegeta-tion.

Bill LeVere, deputy supervisor of the Wasatch Cache National Forest, said Owens' statement was likely prompted by an incident last week when Forest Service officials found Kern River workers moving heavy equipment over a snow-covered area of a 12-mile stretch known as Mueller Park, leaving muddy ruts behind. "They were making big trenches and we are worried about soil compaction," LeVere said. In October, the Forest Service had considered shutting the project down for the winter when Kern River failed to meet a deadline to complete the Bountiful section be-' fore winter set in. Forest officials reconsidered and allowed construction to con-' tinue despite protests from envi-ronmentalists and some Forest Service officials worried that construction would erode the hillside and result in spring flooding. Pipeline officials complained' they could lose thousands of dollars a day by postponing construction, which would set the entire project back several months.

After discovering last week's damage, the Forest Service ordered construction stopped until timber could be laid to reinforce the track. The workers were ordered to stop until timbers could be used as makeshift tracks for the equipment. "The equipment is on Bountiful City property now and as soon as they left the Forest Service land, they quit using the timbers," LeVere said. Owens said the damage is "a travesty" to the people of Bountiful and Woods Cross, many of whom oppose to the project. Susan Flaim, spokeswoman for Kern River, said the company has nothing to hide.

"We would welcome an on-site inspection by Congressman Owens," she said. "We have handled it in an environmentally responsible fashion." Flaim said the company has spent more than $1 million to revegetate the area, an effort she says was "above and beyond" what was required. Snow crowns the Ramshorn Formation above the Dunoir Snowy summit Economist says oil, gas drilling bad for Dubois Wyo Honor Farm halts state worker meat sales Gillette cable firm loses suit, ordered to refund $300,000 GILLETTE (AP) TCI Cablevision of Wyoming has been ordered to refund roughly $300,000 to Gillette customers who were improperly charged for cable TV services. U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson also ruled last week that cable rates for Gillette be rolled back more than $6 a month, to 1 1 .80 for basic service and 1 2.20 for expanded service.

The lawsuit was filed by the city of Gillette against TCI over rate increases made in May 1990. Johnson ruled that Gillette customers were eligible for re-. funds of those rate increases, levied improperly by the cable company. The refunds will be given to TCI's 5,700 customers within the city limits. The lawsuit doesn't affect those TCI customers outside of Gillette's boundaries.

The city will ask TCI to come up with a plan on how and when it will refund that money, City Administrator John Dar-rington said. TCI would have until about late January to present its plan to the city, he said. "This is a significant victory from our perspective," Dar-rington said. "We didn't win on everything in the case, but we felt we won significant issues. It's a very positive thing in the eyes of the city.

We feel it was a major victory for us and when I say us, I mean for the citizens of Gillette." Joe Conway, TCI's area manager in Gillette, said he didn't have enough information about the judgment or the ordinance to comment. Gillette sued TCI after it raised its basic and expanded basic rates in 1990. The city argued that the rate increases were above the federally set 5 percent limit because TCI began separately charging for the cable guide, converter boxes and extra outlets that had been included in the basic service rate. With all of the charges, the increase was more than 20 percent, the city contended. The federal court ruled in a summary judgment Nov.

15 that the city has the right to regulate TCI's basic service rates because TCI didn't have "effective competition" in Gillette a federal stipulation that cable rates can be regulated if fewer than three unduplicated signals reach the area. The court also said the city, as the franchising authority, has the right to review the 1990 rate increases and that it could roll back rates to those rates the city approved in December of 1990. However, the city could not make the refunds retroactive to May 1, 1990, when the rates went into effect, the court said. have moved there if it had been an oil town. The economist said if the town's image changes, the growth seen in recent years could stop.

Dubois' economy suffered about five years ago when a Louisiana Pacific lumber mill closed. Murdock said the slide reversed in 1987 when he began noticing a construction boom prompted by people moving to the area for its natural beauty. Since then, income levels have increased about 7.5 percent, Murdock said. "You get much higher than that and you're in boomtown conditions, so that's about as much as we can reasonably take," he said. Given current conditions, the area's economy will double in terms of real income in 1990 dollars by the end of the decade, Murdock said.

The Forest Service should show Dubois residents that oil and gas development is going to contribute more than the area's reputation as a good place to live, Murdock said. "My contention is that there isn't any way that they can do that, because we have a very hard time getting anything back from this (oil and gas exploration) anyway," he said. Murdock's concerns about oil and gas development doesn't center on Brook Lakes. He said major oil companies have hundreds of thousands of acres from Togwotee Pass to Lander they could develop. And he said Texaco recently announced it would drill on land in the area that is not owned by the Forest Service.

DUBOIS (AP) Allowing oil and gas exploration at Brooks Lake or anywhere in the Dubois area could threaten the town's image and economy, a local economist says. The U.S. Forest Service has contracted John Murdock, a retired professor, to survey residents about what they believe the economic impact of gas and oil exploration would be. Murdock, who used to head the University of Missouri economics department, said he believes allowing extensive drilling in the Shoshone National Forest would give Dubois an oil-town image. And that could halt the growth that has been spurred by the town's image as an unspoiled haven, he said.

"What happens if the town now becomes known as an oil town?" Murdock asked. "A lot of people are looking to Dubois and saying, 'That's the kind of place I want to live 'That could change if Dubois becomes known as an oil town, he added. Environmental groups have appealed the Forest Service's decision to open scenic Brooks Lake, west of Dubois, and Lava Mountain for leasing. A decision on the "appeal is expected Dec. 15.

Meanwhile, the Forest Service has hired economists with varying viewpoints to analyze the decision to allow oil and gas exploration in the area. Murdock said he hopes to complete his survey within two weeks. He is asking residents who moved to Dubois since 1987 if they would Mike McClure Valley, northeast of Dubois. the Sheridan-based Wyoming Sawmills, according to Forest Service officials. Tensleep district forester Don Ackermann said that the company wasn't scaling the necessary loads from the timber sale, making it difficult for the Forest Service to get an accurate accounting of how much timber was being cut.

The Bear Creek sale, according to Ackermann, is a "scaled sale," which means the agency charges the mill for the timber according to of the grave, plus the woman's skeletal features and information provided by tribal elders, prove she was "almost certainly" an Arapaho, he said. The archaeologist said tests indicate the woman died in the early 1880s. "She was buried in a pretty traditional way for that time period," Reher said. "We have indications of several families who may be possible descendents, but there was no way for me to tell who this was Nobody remembered this specific grave." Reher's work is a "cooperative project" to help answer "some questions that elders and tribal members would want answered," including the woman's tribal ori Bighorn National Forest timber sale RIVERTON (AP) Complaints of unfair competition have caused the Wyoming Honor Farm to end a two-year-old program that sells discounted meat to state workers. The state allowed the Honor Farm to sell meat as a pilot project designed to keep skilled labor from leaving the state, said Gary Star-buck, Honor Farm superintendent.

"We train people here in Wyoming, then lose them to other states for higher pay," he said. "That costs the state a lot of money. We thought this would help." The farm has carved out a meat processing business as part of a state requirement to rehabilitate convicted felons ready to enter society again. The farm provided meat to 10 state agencies under the departments of Corrections and Health until private businesses raised a beef with the program. "It's unfair for us to compete against our own tax dollars," said Grant Clark, Riverton meat wholesaler.

an estimate of how much the company takes out. That estimate, he said, is based on the measurement of a random selection of loads as they come into the mill. "Some of the sample loads were not getting into the sample bay for the Forest Service scaler, some of them were taken and dumped outside the sample bay designated for Forest Service loads," he said. Hauling out of the sale was shut-down November, 20 until Wyoming to be reburied gin. Although some Indian people may object for cultural reasons to the scientific study of human remains, Reher said the archaeological procedures he employs "will lead to the utmost care (of the remains) and make sure there's no damage to the bones." He said he works under the direction of tribal elders when old burial sites on the reservation are inadvertently disturbed.

An archaeologist can also inventory any artifacts found near Indian graves, he said, something a non-professional may not do. The young woman's grave was uncovered last fall by construction workers digging a water line near the new Wyoming Indian High A "i Clark said the program did not hurt his business financially, but he believes the farm should restrict sales to only the State Penitentiary in Rawlins and leave the rest to private enterprises. The farm sold $196,000 worth of meat to the agencies last year. Of that amount, $48,000 was sold, mostly as hamburger, to workers at a discount of up to 10 percent off grocery store prices. Corrections officials knew the project was sensitive and would stop selling meat to employees at the first criticism, Starbuck said.

"We did just that." Although Clark said the Honor Farm's expenses are tax-supported, Starbuck said the ranch and meat production is self-supporting. "We don't get money from the General Fund to operate. What money we make goes back into the operation. We pay our own way here." "Agriculture is the best resource in the world to teach inmates values," said ranch manage er Vance Everett. suspended Sawmills submitted written comments on how they would correct the violations, Ackerman said.

Berni Bornong, the Forest Service's representative for the sale, said the mill had been warned four, separate times of the continuing violations before the agency de-cided to stop the hauling. The mill responded immediate: ly and hauling resumed the next day, he said. Wyoming Sawmills couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday; after testing School at Ethcte. Reher said tribal elders several years ago had; warned of possible burial sites in' the area. Tribal elders held a ceremony at; WIHS after the grave was disturbed "to make sure the school! was not bothered spiritually by this; unfortunate circumstance," Reher-said.

Those involved in excavat-! ing the grave were also underwent; ceremonial cleansing, he added. Reher said he has recommended! a traditional Arapaho reburial for; the woman once her remains are returned to the Wind River Indian Reservation. Archaeological documentation will allow tribal elders to "return things in exactly the! same position" they were he said. 'J By MICHAEL RILEY Star-Tribune correspondent SHERIDAN A timber sale in the Bighorn National Forest was temporarily suspended by the Forest Service recently because of contract violations by the company that was awarded the cut. Timber hauling out of the Bear Creek sale on the Forest's Tensleep District was suspended for 24 hours after repeated violations of the company's contract by Arapaho skeletal remains Sullivan, Karpan endorse Clinton CHEYENNE (AP) Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton is being endorsed by Wyoming Gov.

Mike Sullivan and Secretary of State Kathy Karpan. The Democrats are scheduled to formally endorse the five-term Arkansas governor's presidential bid during a noon news conference and rally at the Cheyenne Municipal Airport on Tuesday. Sullivan noted that Clinton was ranked the most effective governor in the country in a poll of the nation's governors by Newsweek magazine earlier this year. "I have worked with Bill Clinton since I became governor," Sullivan said Wednesday in a news release. Nintendo offers customer rebates CHEYENNE Wyoming Attorney General Joe Meyer on Wednesday announced the settlement of a national antitrust lawsuit against Nintendo of America Inc.

Wyoming residents who purchased Nintendo's 8-bit consoles are being mailed $5 redemption certificate and letter from Meyer explain terms of the settlement of the suit. The case of State of Wyoming v. Nintendo of America Inc. was similar to suits filed by state attorneys general in 49 other states and the District of Columbia. The company has settled with all 51 plaintiffs as part of a nationwide settlement.

By DEBRA THUNDER Star-Tribune staff writer ETHETE Archaeological testing is almost finished on the century-old skeletal remains of a young Arapaho woman whose grave was disturbed during construction work last fall, according to a tribal archaeologist. Charles Reher, a University of Wyoming archaeologist who also works for the Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes, said the woman's remains will be returned to Arapaho elders for reburial, probably by mid-December. Reher has been unable to determine how the woman, believed to have been between 23 and 25, died. However, the location and pattern.