Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 15

star Wyoming Bl Tuesday, July 19, 1988 Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo. Nurses, lawyers and patrolmen get extra state employee bonus Sullivan says West will like uka Ids plan shows the Legislature has at least recognized state employee pay is an issue that needs to be addressed, although the one-time bonus is "unsatisfactory." Sullivan hopes the new state employee compensation plan he proposed in June will be adopted by the 1989 Legislature, and the new compensation schedule will address some of the pay problems within state government. Roark said he has ordered that the $550 bonuses for all UW employees be distributed over the next nine months in contrast to all other state and community college employees, who will receive their bonuses in a lump sum. After taxes, the typical bonus will be worth less than $400, but Roark said he wanted to spread out payment of the bonus to discourage employees from receiving the bonus and then quitting, and also to reward those UW employees who stay with the university another year. Roark said the $600,000 left to UW after the $550 bonus was allocated to all university employees also was not enough to offer any broad-based merit pay raises.

In dividing up the $600,000, Roark said his first concern was to Wyoming water Water a commodity in increasingly short supply in Wyoming still flows in plentiful supply in the state's high mountain streams, like Brook's Lake Creek near Dubois. Motorcyle crash kills Manderson man TENSLEEP A 36-year-old Manderson man has died from injuries sustained in a weekend motorcycle accident, an official says. Brian McNeal Conkey died Saturday night at St. Vincent Hospital in Billings after being transported there by helicopter, according to Washakie County Sheriff Ralph Seghetti. According to the sheriff's office report, the accident occurred about three miles north of Tensleep.

Seghetti said it appears excessive speed may have been a factor in the fatal accident. Death penalty issued in kidnap-death case MILES CITY, Mont. (AP) Lester Kills On Top, convicted last month in a beating death described by the judge as "foul and depraved," was sentenced Monday to be executed. Judge H.R. Obert imposed the sentence in district court here, saying leniency would be an affront to justice.

A jury deliberated less than three hours last month before convicting Kills On Top, 25, in the kidnapping and murder of Marty Etchemendy, 23, of Miles City last October. Etchemendy was last seen leaving a bar in Miles City on Oct. 17. His badly beaten body was found in an abandoned building near Gillette two days later. Kills On Top, his brother, Vernon, Diane Bull Coming, Doretta Four Bear and Lavonne Quiroz all were charged in connection with the slaying.

Prosecutors accused Lester Kills On Top of beating Etchemendy on the head with a pipe, a tire iron and a rock, of trying to shoot him with a make-shift firing device, and of trying to cut his throat with nail clippers. Defense attorneys maintained that the murder was committed by Bull Coming, who earlier pleaded guilty to a robbery charge and testified against Kills On Top. Bull Coming was sentenced last Friday to 40 years in prison. Ex-Evanston teacher rebuffed on parole POINT OF THE MOUNTAIN, Utah (AP) A former Wyoming school teacher convicted of killing Firefighters battle raging Teton Wilderness wildfire 'A 'V By SCOTT FARRIS Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE State attorneys, nurses and highway patrol officers will receive the bulk of the additional discretionary pay bonuses authorized by the 1988 Legislature, Gov. Mike Sullivan said Monday.

University of Wyoming employees, meanwhile, will receive their $550 pay bonus, which was granted to all state workers, over the next nine months, UW President Terry Roark said. The 1988 Legislature authorized $750,000 for state employee bonuses in special cases, as part of $5.6 million compensation package that included one-time $550 bonuses for all full-time state employees. The bonuses are to be paid at the end of this month. The Legislature turned down Sullivan's proposal for a 4 percent pay raise for all state workers. Sullivan in an interview late last week said he has tried to allocate the special additional bonus money to the fields the Legislature felt it was most needed, including extra-hazardous work such as law enforcement and professional occupations which the state has trouble keeping filled because of competition from the private sector.

The final allocation has not been made, but Sullivan said law enforcement personnel, including highway patrolmen, Wyoming Game and Fish wardens and forensic analysts in the Division of Criminal Investigation will receive an additional one-time bonus equal to about 7.5 percent of their salary. State attorneys will receive additional bonuses equal to about 5 percent of their salaries, and nurses and state prison guards will also received additional bonuses of as-yet-undetermined sizes, the governor said. Sullivan said he recognized his allocation of the additional bonuses will make some state employees unhappy, but that he was trying to follow the guidelines established by the Legislature. Not everyone in these selected fields are guaranteed the additional bonuses, however. "Unfortunately, with the restrictive language and the limited money, some cutoff point was required both within and among agencies with similar personnel," the governor said.

Sullivan said he granted state attorneys additional pay because of agency complaints of a high turnover in their legal advisers because attorneys can make so much more in private practice. The state has also had a difficult time recruiting and keeping nurses, he said. The Legislature simply did not appropriate "enough money to take care of everybody," Sullivan said, pledging to continue to seek permanent pay increases for state workers. Sullivan also said the $550 bonus Sullivan won't Deposits rules By SCOTT FARRIS Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE Gov. Mike Sullivan has rejected State Treasurer Stan Smith's proposed rules for the state's expanded Link Deposits Loan Program.

In a letter to Smith made public Monday, Sullivan said he is concerned Smith's rules will prevent non-agricultural businesses from participating in the program, and they send the inappropriate message that "competition is unfair." In expanding the Link Deposits Program from $100 million to $150 million, the 1988 Legislature also voted to prohibit any new business from obtaining a Link Deposits loan if that business would compete against an existing business. Agricultural businesses were exempted from the anti-competition clause. Smith had suspended the program designed to expand and diversify Wyoming's economy when the new legislation was approved, pending approval of new rules. The Legislative Management Council approved Smith's rules last week after the state treasurer explained his rules would allow some non-agricultural businesses to participate in the program. Smith's rules also required businesses to prove their loan would create at least one new job for every $250,000 that was borrowed.

Sullivan said he is "sympathetic" to the1 problem of defining what the Legislature meant by prohibiting loans for business that would compete against existing firms, but said From staff and wire reports ATLANTA Gov. Mike Sullivan, working here this week to bring Wyoming issues to the attention of leaders in the national Democratic Party, said Monday he believes the Dukakis-Bentsen ticket will be attractive to Western voters. And two Wyoming delegates to the Democratic National Convention here said an atmosphere of unity leaves them optimistic about the party's chances this fall. Jesse Jackson delegate Willis Ludlow of Albany County said that at a Monday morning caucus it became apparent that Jackson's name will be put into nomination for vice president. But the real issue, Ludlow said, is ensuring that Jackson's consituency and beliefs are given proper recognition during the convention process.

Sullivan, an old pro in Wyoming Democratic circles, is here for his first national political convention. The Democrats kicked off their meeting Monday night in The Omni and will nominate Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis and Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas as their standard-bearers later this week. "I hope and think we will present unity in the party, a unity that will reflect the values of the Democratic Party that I think are important to the West," Sullivan, 48, said.

"The West has been left to roll in the sea by the Reagan administration," he said. However, Sullivan stopped short of predicting victory in his state in November. "Wyoming is a tough state for any Democrat on a national ticket and I don't think it's any different this year if we're realistic about it," he said. "But Michael Dukakis already has reflected a keen interest in Wyoming and Western issues." Bentsen, he added, will be a strong plus to the party's ticket in Wyoming because of the Texas Democrat's efforts to keep the U.S. energy industry strong.

Bentsen's vice presidential nomination has caused some division between members of Wyoming's convention delegation, two delegates noted Monday. "Sullivan circulated the petitions for nomination of both Mike Dukakis and Bentsen. You know some of the people there signed them, some people didn't I signed the Dukakis one, I didn't sign the Bentsen one just sort of keeping my options open," said delegate Lynn Dickey, a Dukakis delegate and state representative from Sheridan. "The peace people are generally not thrilled with the choice of Bentsen for vice president he has a real pro-MX, pro-Contra aid, pro-military-of-every sort record," she said. "But there's not anything that sounds like it's going to actually amount to very much," Dickey added, while suggesting disagreement over some platform planks may lead to a floor fight.

Jackson delivered an "impassioned" speech concentrating on civil rights but also emphasizing the need for "party discipline" and "the need to keep your eye on what we're after," Ludlow said in a telephone interview. Ludlow said his dominant impression Monday was that "this isn't really Dukalis' convention," since Jackson forces have been able to exercise such a degree of influence so far. He said he expects Jackson forces to score victories in the area of "social justice and peace kind of things." "There is concentration on discussion of how Dukakis can win if doesn't give the Jackson people some substantia voice in the convention," he said. Both Dickey and Ludlow said there is a sense among Democrats at the convention that any serious disagreements will be skirted in recognition of a desire to regain the White House. Sullivan, chairman of the 18-member Wyoming delegation, said he has been attending meetings here since arriving Sunday and will attend more to keep Western issues in front of national party leaders.

The convention "presents an interesting opportunity to get Western leaders together with national deci-sion-makers, those people associated with the Dukakis campaign, to talk about Western issues," Sullivan said. "We did that this morning and I think it was very successful." Sullivan said the state delegation which had not been polled prior to Monday night's floor session stood at 1 1 votes for Dukakis, 4 for Jesse Jackson and 3 uncommitted. JACKSON (AP) Almost 400 firefighters, armed with little more than picks, shovels and their muscles, returned Monday to prime grizzly bear territory in a northwestern Wyoming wilderness area to fight a raging wildfire. Crews on the "Mink Creek" fire, which was sparked by lightning in the Bridger-Teton National Forest's Teton Wilderness a week ago, were working primarily without benefit of mechanized equipment because of wilderness area restrictions. "They're using what's called a 'light hand on the land' technique," said Fire Information Officer Lynn Young.

"Rather than going in and making a traditional big fireline, they're using as many natural barriers as possible," such as meadows and "natural rock barriers." The fire was burning in some 100 million board feet of dead timber that was downed by a rare, high-altitude tornado a year ago. The blowdown covers roughly 15,000 acres, and firefighters were trying to keep the flames out of the densest areas of the blowdown. Aside from picks and shovels, the crews had little else than backpack water tanks to douse the flames, according to Young, who thought permission might have been granted for the use of one chainsaw. Permission was granted for seven helicopters to fly crews and equipment into "spike camps" set up within the wilderness area, he said. Monday's forecast promised little help to the firefighters, as winds were expected to gust near 20 mph with temperatures in the 80s and low humidity, said Young.

A wildlife specialist also was called in to examine a bear den, but so far no grizzly bears had been sighted, he said. To the east in the Big Horn National Forest south of Sheridan a Star-TribuneMike Mammon 20-acre fire was being fought by almost 50 firefighters, who expected to contain the blaze by evening. There also was a 95-acre fire reported on Bureau of Land Management land south of Rock Springs in the state's southwestern corner. To the north of the Teton Wilderness in Yellowstone National Park, officials were continuing to allow a number of fires covering roughly 11,000 acres to burn and were expecting the Mink Creek fire to eventually cross over into the park. While all of Yellowstone's roads and "front country" campsites were open, campfire restrictions were imposed throughout the park's backcountry and some backcountry campsites were closed because of fire danger, said spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo.

As of Monday morning the Clover Fire on the park's east side on Mirror Plateau was burning "quite actively" over 6,400 acres, while the Fan Fire in the park's northwestern corner had grown to just more than 3,000 acres, said Anzelmo. The Mist Fire near Mist Pass on the park's east side covered about 1,200 acres and also was quite active, she said. The Red Fire on the southwest side of Lewis Lake covered about 940 acres. The Shoshone Fire, which covered 100 acres near Shoshone Lake, had forced the closing of the Lewis River Channel and some nearby campsites. The Falls Fire in the park's southwest corner near Grassy Lake had grown to 310 acres.

Forest officials said this fire will be contained if it reaches the park's southern border to keep it from entering the Targhee National Forest. the strike began Oct. 1, Deeds said. The second grievance alleges the miners were unjustly denied recall rights guaranteed under the labor agreement, he said. Deeds said the union will contact the company sometime this week to discuss how the grievances will be processed.

The first step of the procedure calls for a company personnel representative or foreman to meet with a union grievance comitteeman in an attempt to solve the differences. If they fail, the second step is a meeting between mine superintendent Frank Kawulok and Deeds. The third step calls for the UMW's District 15 representative to meet with mine manager Leonard Skret-teberg. Deeds said the union will make a "good faith effort to resolve the grievances" in the first three steps. "We think they're completely off on the strike misconduct," he said.

"Hopefully, we'll convince them to put the miners back to work. We think it's not only in their best interest, but in our best interest and the community's best interest," Deeds added. SULLIVAN Bonus not enough address any obvious pay inequities within the university, such as situations where female employees were making less than males for doing the same work. His second priority, Roark said, was to raise the pay of long-time employees who were making less money than new employees who were paid the higher salaries necessary to recruit them to UW. Third, Roark said he gave additional bonuses to instructors in highly-competitive fields who might be lured away from UW, including instructors in the College of Commerce and Industry, the College of Engineering and other science departments were instructors are routinely tempted by higher salaries in the private sector.

approve Link from Smith Smith's definitions are too harsh. "I do not believe the Legislature intended to regard any similar business, excluding farm and ranch operations, in an area served by a common post office to be automatically regarded as unfair competition," Sullivan said. "This would basically conclude that all competition is unfair and I cannot endorse that conclusion." Sullivan instead suggests public notice be given of Link Deposits loan applications where there might be a competing business. That business then would have the opportunity to oppose the loan. Objections could be handled through an administrative hearing, the governor said.

The cost of the hearing would be paid by the objecting business, while the cost of the public notice would be paid by the loan applicant, Sullivan said. Sullivan also objected to Smith's plan to set the interest rate for Link Deposits loans at three percent below the prevailing rate, but which would allow the treasurer to further reduce the interest rate if lenders were all notified in advance. Sullivan said the interest rate should be set in the rules, and if the interest rate was changed than the rules should change. "This notice will afford better notice to all parties who may be interested in the program," Sullivan said. Under the Link Deposits Program, the state invests its funds in a Wyoming bank if the bank agrees to loan that money out to businesses at a reduced rate of interest.

Decker starts grievance process his wife in a scheme to collect on $110,000 in insurance will spend more than two decades in prison waiting for a parole hearing. Andrew David Moosman, 36, of Evanston, was convicted in 1986 of killing his wife, Tamara, and trying to collect on death benefits. He also was convicted on filing false insurance claims. The Utah Board of Pardons set a June 2012 rehearing date for Moosman, who was sentenced to a life term for the crimes. Moosman, who was working in pvanston and living in Logan on weekends, was driving the couple's pickup truck in Logan Canyon Sept.

14, 1985, when he intentionally swerved over a 340-foot embankment. He jumped to safety, and the truck plunged into the Logan River. His 34-year-old wife escaped injury, but Moosman scrambled down the embankment, beat her on the head and then drowned her. Moosman maintains the whole episode was an accident. His appeal is now before the Utah Supreme Court.

Jackson company to produce film CHEYENNE (AP) A 28-minute film intended to attract people to Wyoming will feature a cornucopia of diversions including a llama rendezvous, hot air balloons and rodeos, according to the Wyoming Travel Commission. A commission news release said officials reviewed proposals from 13 film companies seeking to make the film before settling on Horizon Pictures of Jackson. According to Bill Lindstrom, manager of film and video services for the Travel Commission, Wyoming has not made a summer promotion film since the early 1970s, he added. Lindstrom said the new film is expected to cost between $80,000 and $90,000, with production scheduled for completion by Feb. 1, 1989.

SHERIDAN (AP) Decker Coal Co. will process the United Mine Workers of America's 302 grievances though the company's grievance procedure, according to UMW Local 1972 president Larry Deeds. Deeds said he received the company's reply to the complaints, which were filed Monday, in a letter Friday. Decker said the grievances could be taken through at least the third step of the company's grievance procedure. The company has not decided whether the grievances can be taken, if necessary, through the fourth and final step of the process arbitration, according to Deeds.

The union filed two grievances for each of 151 union workers that were refused a place on Decker's preferential rehiring list and were charged with strike misconduct. The UMW local last month offered to return to work on the company's terms so miners could work while a settlement to their nine-month-old strike could be reached. One of the grievances alleges the company failed to provide the miners with due process required by a labor agreement in effect before.