Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 7

Star-Tribune, Casper, I Casper Area Girl Scouts learn weaving from artit-in-reidence Tuesday, July 24, 1979 r- yV i rA io-rf By DIANE MARSHALL Staff Writer CASPER It starts out as plain old yam. But after a week at Camp Sacajawea, some sagebrush dye and a little Instruction the yam is woven Into baskets, belts and purses. The work is being done by Girl Scouts under the instruction of Ann McCullough, who is serving as an artlst-in-residence for the one-month camp on Casper Mountain, Ms, McCullough's residency Is being funded with money that was left over from the Artist In the School's program, A portion of her day Is devoted to teaching campers the basic skills of weaving, The rest Is scheduled for ber own work. Usually it's the morning hours that Ms. McCullough uses to weave her saddle blanket.

And her work does not go unnoticed by the camp community. When she started on the design of the blanket It was greeted by cheers from the campers. Ms. McCullough Is not a stranger to the Casper art community. Her work was displayed at the now defunct 323 Gallery, where she also taught weaving classes.

And It's good for the artist, too, says Ms. McCullough, "It's Interesting being around children again," she said. "Somehow, just by being around them it gets me In touch with the child In myself." Having an artist In camp has other advantages too, The girls "get to know me. They know an artist, I do things at comp like sing songs and go on treasure hunts that helps to destroy the stereotype of an artist," she said. It has been four years since Ms.

McCullough has woven. She has been administering government funded arts programs for the State of Nevada Arts Council and the Western State Art Foundation. This fall, after completing a residency in Big Plney, Ms. McCullough says she hopes to settle in Casper. During the week-long camp session, girls learn how to use natural dyes.

Sagebrush was boiled in pot and yarn soaked In another pot, explained camper Paige Derby, age 1. When the two are combined, beige yarn turns green, and white yarn turns yellow, she said. Each of the projects the girls made, used a different type of weaving. Baskets or pennants required the coil basket-making technique, Inkle weaving was used to make the belts, and the purses were made with needle weaving. "You go over and under and over and under and over and under," said Laurie Ann Brunette, explaining how a purse is made, Laurie Ann said her mother told she "wanted to learn everything I did when I get back." "My Mom's going to be so proud," said Mellndq Miller, age 9.

"I can't wait to show-off my necklace I was going to be In backpackers but I didn't want to be away for two nights," All the weaving Is done with the aid of cardboard and some wooden shuttles which were carved for the camp by Louis L. Rognstad. At the end of the camp, the yarn belts and purses, which have been colored with sagebrush and tinted by dirt, are used to satisfy requirements for the weaving badge. jf i Extra credits required it Paige Derby, right, LaVonda Sacajawea CASPER Natrona County students will need 21 credits to graduate high school next school year, the county school board decided Monday. The board voted to require three-and-a-half credits of English, two each of social studies, math, science and physical education, and nine-and-a-half of electees.

The former requirement was 19 credits, including three of English, two each of social studies and physical education, one each of math and science, and ten of electlves. Credits accumulated during ninth grade will count toward senior high school requirements. Horrlson, middle, and Lisa Corno, left, work on a loom of Comp Ca mommy tilLlL imssm sperta History in New York City. But both museums reported they do not have such an exhibit. One of the last clues to the fate of the little man came from one of the few researchers to actually see the mummy.

Dr. Harry Shapiro, head of the anthropology department at the American Museum of Natural History, said a man brought it to him more than 20 years ago. Shapiro X-rayed and examined the mummy, and concluded the body was that of a very young child suffering from an abnormality called anencephalitis. By PENELOPE PURDY Staff Writer CASPER The mummy Is still missing, shrouded by controversy. The little human being, preserved for untold generations, made the rounds of sideshows and laboratories for 20 years after It was discovered, only to disappear In the East.

Gold prospectors discovered the diminutive creature In the early 1930s in the Pedro Mountains about 65 miles southwest of Cssper. Although they were ridiculed for perpetrating a hoax, the mummy was displayed as a curiosity, The figure changed hands throughout the West until finally given to Floyd Jones, who operated a drug store In Meeteetse. Jones displayed the mummy In his store and in Casper and Denver, his widow, Iva Jones, said. He had postcards printed by a Cody photographer, showing the little creature in its timeless cross-legged position. But Jones feared the mummy might be stolen.

Rather than risk Its disappearance, "This Is the first time we've had an artlst-in-residence," said Camp Director Dawn Foster. "It's great for the girls." In Spence Is counsel CASPER Lawyers Gerry Spence and Dallas Laird will act as co-counsel for Milt Klungness accused of shooting an acquaintance last month, Laird said Monday. Klungness, 30, is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly shooting Bernadette R. Smith in his Paradise Valley home. Ms.

Smith, 24, who was hospitalized after being shot In the Jaw June 17, is still listed In serious condition at Natrona County Memorial Hospital. Laird said the case Is awaiting preliminary hearing In County Court. Klungness Is free on a 310,000 personal recognisance bond. No levy expected CHEYENNE Governor Ed Herschler Cited a sound state general fund In deciding that there will be no mill levy for the coming fiscal year. The governor's decision followed a recommendation by the state Board of Equalization.

The board estimated that the general fund will have about $50 million left at the end of the fiscal year. Herschler has not used the constitutional provision which allows the state to levy up to four mills. Nominations wanted CASPER The Community Beautiflcatlon Commission is accepting nominations for special awards to be given for buildings and landscaping that help make Casper a more attractive city. The commission will accept nominations for residential, commercial, industrial and public faculties until the Aug. 13 deadline.

The awards will be judged on the visual Impact, energy-saving innovations, enhancement and long-term benefits to the community, explained Zack Panagos, commission chairman. Both new and old facilities in each of the categories are eligible for nomination. Nominations must be submitted to the city manager's office, 300 N. David St. Final check given CASPER The final payment check for work at Highland Park from the Wyoming Recreation Commission has been given to the city.

A 81,927 check, drawn on the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, was given to the city for work on the sprinkler system, landscaping, earthwork, horseshoe pits and engineering. The park is bordered by Fourth and Beverly streets. The total cost of the park was $219,456 with half of the money being paid from the Federal Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service. Class schednled CASPER An "early bird" class for parents in their first three months of pregnancy Is planned for Aug. 9.

Sponsored by the Natrona County public health nursing service, the two-hou class will cover Information relative to early pregnancy smoking, use of alcohol or drugs, nutrition and weight gain. Conditioning exercises, to help with the remainder of a woman's pregnancy and to facilitate labor and delivery, will be demonstrated. The class will be offered the second Thursday of each month with the meeting time determined by those who attend. Call 235-8200 to enroll or for additional information. Kelly Walsh High School Principal Paul Martin, who headed a committee studying the increased requirments, said the new requirements will provide "a framework" with which to give a superior education to Natrona County students.

In other business Monday night, the board denied a petition request from residents of the Jefferson School area to allow Jim Kirby to remain as principal of Jefferson School. The district rotates building administrators every five years. Board member Bob Jourgenson, moving to deny the petition, said transferring Kirby would be a "move that is better overall for the district," he sold It to the late Ivan T. Goodman of Casper in the miJ-lMOs. "I don't remember what he paid for it but It was an awful price," Mrs.

Jcnes said, adding she thought the price was "several thousand dollars." Goodman, in turn, also displayed the mummy, and distributed brochures with photographs of the tiny man and reproductions of X-rays showing its skeletal structure. "It's a miniature mummified man sitting In a squatting position witn arms folded, head bowed slightly and legs in a semi-kneeling posture," the brochure read. "The most amazing thing about this mummy is the perfection of all the features. Its bronze akin, low forehead, flat nose, warped unintelligent head with a fringe of hair are readily identified." Its height, the brochure continued, was approximately six and one half Inches tall and the mummy weighed about three-quarters of a pound. Goodman, who ran several businesses in Casper, took the mummy to New York, people as beneficial.

The Crow, In fact, left offerings of food In rocks where the little people were thought to live. Most of the legends described the men -most of the tales were about males as knee high, with dark skin, and very strong. The unusual thing, Mellblom said, is that the same beliefs would exist among tribes who would not normally have contact with one another or who were bitter enemies.Gtll said the Pedro Mountain mummy represents a small child who suffered from a rare disease called anencephaly. The abnormality causes brain and spinal damage, proportioning the infant like an adult. He speculates later Indians may have found similar mummies and believed them to be the remains of a race of smaU human-like creatures.

Or, Mellblom said, the disease may have been prevelant among an early, primitive society. The tribe may have placed the bodies deep in caves to protect the members from "evil magic." Wisemen would have to develope theories to explain the unusually appearance of the child. Later Indians might have created other representations of the mummies, such as the vegetable head, Either way, Mellblom continued, "We're dealing with something in the physical environment that was interpreted differently in different cultures," dian where it was displayed and featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not column. Goodman fell ill while in New York with the mummy and was flown back to Casper without his unique possession. He died shortly afterward.

The mummy fell Into the hands of a man named Leonard Wadler. Neither Wadler nor the mummy were heard of again. Rumor held that the mummy went to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., or the American Museum of Natural OriiM Staff photo by Diane Mintiall The owner.whose name Shapiro did not remember, left for Chicago with his an-cienfpossession. Shapiro did not hear from the man again. Since then, the mummy has been the subject of numerous magazine and book articles.

Pictures and X-rays remain amid rumor and speculation. But the source of those large rumors; only six inches high, vanished from the hands of modern man as quickly as it had been found. "i it It people to believe in a race of small Legends of small race extend throughout West By PENELOPE PURDY Staff Writer CASPER Indian legends of a race of miniature human beings extend from the Dakota! to the Pacific northwest and may have some physical basis, anthropologists believe, Discoveries of mummies and parts of mummified bodies have Increased the curiosity of researchers, who concluded that many of the finds, such as the Pedro Mountain mummy (see related story) were small children. Others, such as an intricately carved head, are creations of man. The head, owned by Shirley Cles of Casper, is made of some type of vegetable matter such as a turnip, George Gill, professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, said.

But the small head also raises questions of why someone would bother to carve something to resemble the skull of a little man. GUI, along with Mark Mellblom, a UW graduate In anthropology, has developed a theory to explain the legends incorporating the mummy finds. Mellblom, who hat researched the legends extensively, discovered that while the physical descriptions of the small people matched closely among tribes, the behaviors of these people did not. For Instance, the Shoshonls and the Arapahoes believed the little people were evil and cruel, Other tribes, such as the Crow and Flatheads, looked upon the legendery rill It ii fit 1 fTTTts 9 110 ill 112 113 A head carved from vegetable people. matter, such os turnip, once led.