Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

The do i race in pictures nC A RT Inside: one OSHA CITES PRISON Bl CASPER WANTS MORE COPS TO FIGHT CRANK CI B2 WYOMING'S STATEWIDE NEWSPAPER FOUNDED IN 1891 25 t'Vt Of TVmlK JL1MJ k- '3 IOWA CAUCUS feKoaVins in 6101 Dole wins big; on to New poll 77 Hasn't decided if she'll run By NADIA WHITE Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER A Democratic poll puts Democrat Kathy Karpan finishing ahead of likely Republican candidates in hypothetical head-to-head matchups for retiring Sen. Buchanan, Alexander vie for 2nd Alan Simpson's Senate seat. But poll watchers, including state Republican party chairman Diemer True, said the poll can be viewed as a recruitment effort aimed at encouraging Karpan to enter the race. SKNATB And Karpan, still smarting from her 1994 loss to Gov. Jim Geringer, ap d) pears to need somerecruit LACY AlmAP Presidential hopeful Sen.

Bob Dole, addresses a big crowd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. By JOHN KING Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa Bob Dole won a clear-cut victory Monday night in Iowa's presidential caucuses, strengthening his position atop the field heading into a breakneck stretch of early primaries. Pat Buchanan and Lamar Alexander dueled for second place. Iowa's results served to rank the field heading into next week's New Hampshire primary, and early results suggested a disappointing night for publishing heir Steve Forbes. Forbes shattered records by spending more than $4 million on television advertising in Iowa but was bogged down in a race for fourth with Sen.

Phil Gramm. "I am deeply gratified with the strong support of Iowa voters," Dole said. "Now it is on to New Hampshire on the road to conservative change in the White HousV' President Clinton was unopposed in the state's Democratic caucuses. Polling showed Dole with support from slightly less than one-third of Iowans who attended 2,142 precinct caucuses as he sought to begin ing, bhe said Monday she would announce her decision by St. Patrick's Day, but for now she remains undecided.

"I feel like Hamlet," she joked, paraphrasing the politically perplexed Dane, "To run, or not to run, perchance to feel the barbs and whips of another campaign." The poll, conducted Jan. 20 to 23 by Democratic pollsters HickmanBrown, and paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), showed Karpan beating Dan Sullivan, 'I feel like Hamlet. "To run, or not to run, perchance to feel the barbs and whips of another KATHY KARPAN his 1996 presidential bid just as he opened the 1988 campaign with a big Iowa win. As he repeated history here, he vowed to defy it next week in New Hampshire, where he sputtered eight years ago. The surveys suggested Buchanan was benefiting from his victory in last week's Lousiana caucuses.

Until then, he had little hope here and was concentrating on New Hampshire. But conservative Christians began rallying to him after he thumped Gramm in Louisiana. Alexander's standing began improving a week ago and appeared to come mostly at Forbes' expense. Late polling showed increasing skepticism of Forbes' flat tax plan, and suggested voters assigned Forbes much of the blame for the Iowa campaign's decidedly negative tone. "The people of Iowa could well decide the fu-Please see IOWA, A8 Critics blast Micheli appointment to brucellosis panel i i i i governor ueienus uecision, promises lmparaai service oy ag director xw By DAN NEAL Star-Tribune staff writer 53 21 John Barrasso, and Eli Be-bout.

Bebout has since said he won't run. In releasing the results DSCC also reported Karpan has 92 percent name identification statewide, and is viewed as an "effective" public servant by 81 percent of the people surveyed. A plurality viewed her as "a leader for the future," according to a DSCC The poll showed Karpan beating Barrasso 42 percent to 37 percent, with 21 percent undecided. She out-polled Sullivan 45 percent to 38 percent with 17 percent undecided. "Clearly Kathy Karpan would be a strong candidate for the Democratic Party.

She is viewed as effective and independent and as someone who puts Wyoming values first," DSCC spokeswoman Stephanie Cohen said. The DSCC, whose goal for 1996 is to retain seats held by retiring Democrats, and win the three Republican seats the party needs to regain control of the Senate, has conducted similar polls in Kansas and Maine, two other states in which Republicans have stepped down, Cohen said. True said Karpan is an obvious and capable candi- Please see KARPAN, A8 BRUCELLOSIS this was much ado about nothing," said Art Reese, the Game and Fish staffer most familiar with the brucellosis issue. The GYIBC is charged with reducing or eliminating the threat of infection of livestock with the disease while maintaining free-ranging elk and bison herds in the Greater Yellowstone. Bison and elk herds in northwestern Wyoming already carry brucellosis.

Though transmission from wildlife to livestock has never been documented in the wild, state and federal livestock officials con- with the criticism. He said Micheli will provide "a strong hand" to run the committee's meeting but will be impartial. "We did not do this with any mo-. tive of biasing the outcome," the governor said. He said that state officials have asked committee members to accept Micheli as a non-voting chairman.

Micheli will take the chair at the Greater Yellowstone Brucellosis Committee (GYIBC) meeting Thursday and Friday in Bozeman. When it ends, the critics will realize "that sider its presence a threat to cattle because it can cause pregnant cows to abort their young. State officials worry that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will revoke Wyoming's designation as a brucellosis-free state, a move that could cause marketing problems for the state's cattle growers. Wyoming Wildlife Federation Please see BRUCELLOSIS, A8 CASPER Ron Micheli should not serve as temporary chairman of the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee, critics of his appointment said Monday.

The Wyoming Wildlife Federation asked that Micheli's appointment be withdrawn and called for the appointment of a Game and Fish Department employee in his place. D.J. Schubert, a wildlife biologist who works for the Fund for Animals, charged that Micheli's appointment violates the panel's own rules. He said Micheli, director of the Wyoming Agriculture Department, should be removed from the committee chair. Gov.

Jim Geringer took issue Home free T-Birds Keep ft alive SportsDl The grouch TRICIA MdNROYStw-Tribum To grouch or not to grouch; those dogs get my vote. Rick Swenson of Two Rivers, Alaska, maintains the overall lead in the International Rocky Mountain Stage Stop Dog Sled race with a time of 33 hours, 7 minutes, 57 seconds. His nearest competitor after Monday's stage was Hans Gatt, who was 1:18:08 behind. Today's finals stage begins at 11 a.m. See story.

DL Cheyenne group hits tax plan as 'pork' Vote set in May on $35 million proposal 'This proposed tax ignores the upcoming problems of insufficient landfills, flooding, and poor roads in favor of pork barrel JACK QITKK, COST FKESTDEYT Index CALENDAR A2 CASPER AREA Cl-2 CLASSIFIED C44 COMICS 04 CROSSWORD C6 LANDERS. BR0MPTON C3 LETTERS A7 MARKETS B4 MOVIES C3 OBITUARIES B3 OPINION A6 SPORTS D13 WEATHER A2 WYOMING Bl greenway. Last month the Laramie County Commission approved the proposal that will go to voters May 7. Voters must either accept or reject the entire package, which includes a $7.5 million recreation center, and $5 million each for parks in north and south Cheyenne. Other items to be funded by the tax include a $2.5 million Please see TAX, A8 cient landfills, flooding, and poor roads in favor of pork barrel projects." Laramie County's "sixth penny" sales tax expired Feb.

1 after raising $29.2 million in less than five years to pay for the new County Government Complex, the City-County Health Department, a parking facility, a water storage tank and a portion of a By KERRY DRAKE Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE A group opposed to a one-percent sales tax that would finance $35 million worth of Laramie County projects charged Monday that the proposal is "pork barrel" and caters to special interests. The group, calling themselves Citizens Opposing Spendthrift Taxation (COST), said the capital facilities tax projects focus too much on recreation and not enough on the area's real needs. "This proposed tax is the most blatant example of dedication to special interest groups ever seen in Cheyenne," said COST President Jack Quirk. "It ignores the upcoming problems of insuffi If news is what you need subscribe today. 1-800442-6916 or The Casper Star-Tribune..