Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

World AIDS Day Casper observances, B4 nC ASPERfin In Science Technology, CI WYOMING'S STATEWIDE NEWSPAPER 'V 1891 y-ectny )ccirl Of r. ill: 1 4 L. School finance trial begins Districts want to milk Supreme Court decision, state claims Genftger: Special session likely Hunkins said Gov. Jim Geringer's proposed 1999-2000 biennium budget released Monday would allocate $36.7 million more per year in new 'We don't want to fix this funds as a result of the high decision. When coupled with new The high-profile trial in First Judicial District Court is scheduled to last two weeks.

"This lawsuit is primarily about money," Ray Hunkins, chief trial counsel for the state of Wyoming, said in his opening statement. Attorney Jerry Mason noted that the districts will be required to provide a "basket of services" defined by the Legislature, which he said amounts to an "unfunded mandate." Hunkins charged the school districts and the teachers' union are using the Wyoming Supreme Court's landmark December 1995 decision as leverage to see how much money they can each obtain from the state. one-time funding for assess ment and technology, he added, there will be $102.4 million more spent in the next biennium for pub- CC "likely prospect." The need for a special session is contingent upon the recommendations a select legislative committee will make early next year on such items as adjustments for transportation and for small schools, Geringer said dur ing a news conference Monday A special session could be called immediately before or Please see BUDGET, A8 court's (system) ftfrX every Education five years. Reform We want it fixed PAT HACKKB, WEA ATTORNEY "This is the largest single in crease in educational spending in our state's entire history," Hunkins maintained. It will bring total state Please see TRIAL, A8 2 dead in Kentucky school 111 tt vmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmw i it i mn.pi i ro! ill U'- Governor's $3.81 billion budget up 7.9 By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE-Alt hough he was able to present a balanced budget to the Legislature without asking for new or higher taxes, Gov.

Jim Ger-inger says a special session on school finance still is a shooting i it STEVE NAQYAP By KERRY DRAKE Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE On the opening day of a trial to determine, the constitutionality of Wyoming's new school finance system, attorneys for the state Monday argued it is spending more money on public education than ever before. But lawyers representing 31 of the state's 48 school districts and the Wyoming Education Association said the funding level is still inadequate to meet the Wyoming Supreme Court's order that the state must provide equitable educational opportunities for all students. Interim Lands director named Governor chooses former legislator Cynthia Lummis By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE Gov. Jim Geringer on Monday announced the appointment of Cynthia Lummis, one of his former aides, as interim director of the Office of State Lands and Investments. Lummis, Geringer's former general counsel and director of intergovernmental relations and natural resource issues, will temporarily succeed Jim Magagna, who was fired by Geringer a week ago.

Lummis, who has a part interest in a family LUMMIS ranch near Cheyenne and is a full time attorney, took over the duties of the office immediately. She served as a Republican from Cheyenne for 14 years in the Legislature, including six terms in the House and one term in the Senate. Geringer said he needed someone with Lummis' experience and background who could quickly step into the job. He noted the agency's budget hearing is scheduled before the Joint Appropria-Please see LUMMIS, A8 The grouch There's no hupp'r bull than a lawyer. I I i I lhyear-old student opens fire on prayer group i open in Japan By WILLIAM K.

STEVENS The New York Times KYOTO, Japan A conference that is supposed to cap more than two years of negotiations on what to do about global warming opened Monday amid widespread concern that too many hard issues remained to allow the completion of an effective agreement before the talks end in nine days. "This negotiation hasn't matured; it's like new wine, and I don't know if we can ferment it in time," said Melinda Kimble, a senior State Department official who is leading the U.S. delegation in Kyoto until the higher-level ministerial phase of the talks begins next Monday. Monday, however, Ms. Kimble hinted at some flexibility in the American position on setting targets for reduction of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.

After more than two years of bargaining, delegates from more than 150 countries are meeting for their final session in the high-tech Kyoto International Conference Hall, set among lovely hills, gardens and ponds in this ancient capital and repository of traditional Japanese culture. Surrounded by thousands of lobbyists and journalists from around the world, the negotiators are trying to agree not just on the amount by which emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide should be cut over the next 10 to 20 years, and on what schedule, but also on how to share the burden, what gases to include and how to structure the immensely complex task. The job has turned out to be more complicated and difficult than was envisioned in March 1995, when parties to the 1992 Please see CONFERENCE, A8 ed unanimously Nov. 13 to impose the unusually large fine on McCulliss Resources Co. -on top of unpaid fines already totaling $7,950 for violations first discovered by inspectors in October 1996.

Company President Paul McCulliss was also ordered to post a $125,000 bond in addition to the standard $25,000 bond already on file before the commission meets again to review his case Dec. 15. Meanwhile, Big Horn County Treasurer Becky Lindsey has notified McCulliss that the Please see FINE, A8 Heath High School Principal Bill Bond, "I'm sorry." "He acted just like he had been caught with some minor offense," Bond said. "Really, the main question is, why," Sheriff Frank Augustus said. "He stated there was no personal vendetta against anyone.

It was just a random shooting." Strong said the boy hung out with people who claimed to be atheists. The teen, who was not identified because of his age, carried into school a handgun with three spare clips of ammunition, two rifles and two shotguns. He wrapped the rifles and shot-Please see SHOOTING, A8 a six 0 -w ft 1 If TOP: A Heath High School student screams at seeing the scene of shooting at the school Monday that left two students dead and wounded. ABOVE: Students gather outside Heath High School following the shooting at the school. By TED BRIDIS Associated Press WEST PADUCAH, Ky.

A 14-year-old boy who warned last week that "something big's going to happen" inserted earplugs, drew a gun and shot eight students as a prayer meeting ended in a high school lobby Monday. Two girls were killed and a third was in ciitical condition. The boy, who had three spare clips of ammunition and four other guns, surrendered when lien Strong a pastor's son and leader of the prayer circle grabbed the teen after he stopped shooting. Afterward, the boy told Schoolyard By SETII HETTENA Associated Press MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. -Stepping into a hair-pulling, name-calling dispute that went from the schoolhouse to the courthouse, Monday a judge ordered two 10-year-old girls to play nice or risk going to jail.

"If one of you looks crosseyed to the other, you're going to come back here," Circuit Judge Michael Schwartz warned fifth-grade classmates Kytan Schultz and Cassandra Reibel in an after-school hearing. "No more harassment, no more threats, no more obscenities or vulgar names, no more pulling hair, no more threats to the family, no more threatening calls to each other or relatives," he said. "If one of you dispute goes to court State fines oil company $132,000 Index CALENDAR A2 CASPER AREA B4 CLASSIFIED C33 COMICS D4 CROSSWORD C6 LANDERS. BROMPTON A5 LETTERS A7 MARKETS A4 MOirtES A5 OBITUARIES B3 OPINION A6 SCIENCE 4 TECHNOLOGY CI 2 SPORTS D13 WEATHER A2 WYOMING Bl left court. The fact that the case was in court at all caused a furor in this Detroit suburb.

A prosecutor called it an abuse of the court system, and educators say it could subvert their efforts to teach children how to get along. "Where did we get this idea that every dispute between children has to wind up before a circuit court judge?" asked prosecutor Carl Marlinga, who was not involved in the case. "I think it's a ridiculous waste of time." Kytan's mother, Deborah Schultz, said her request for the original order was a matter of taking care of her child after a year of abuse. "When your children are hurting, isn't it the parent's re-Please see PLAY NICE, A8 'If one of you looks cross-eyed to the other, you're going to come back IK(XTl MICHAEL SCHWABT causes problems to the other, I'm going to put you in the juvenile hold." Schwartz, who didn't specify how long he could confine them, cracked down on both girls during a hearing in which he was asked to lift another judge's personal protection order issued Nov. 21 on behalf of Kytan.

The girls only nodded during the stern lecture and stuck close to their parents as they McCulliss Resources fails to clean up Big Horn County wells By JASON MARSDEN Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER A Colorado oil company's spills, pit overflows, improper chemical drum disposal and oilpits found full of dead migratory birds in Big Horn County have led state regulators to fine the company $132,000. The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission vot 1-800442-6916 or 266-0550. 082762749 Wyoming's news source: The Casper Star-Tribune. Subscribe today:.