Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 9

Gispcr SUirTWbune Apartment controversy Casper City Council to discuss proposed complexB4 Tuesday, November 4, 1997 I r- OBITUARIES B3 CASPER NEWS B4 In Brief Concurrent enrollment quality questioned vwoiniiig FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Instructor opinions split High sclwolers taking courses for college credit By TOM REA Star-Tribune staff writer CASPER More attention needs to be paid to questions of quality now that the practice of offering community college courses at Wyoming high schools is becoming common, education officials say. Concurrent enrollment allows colleges and public schools both to claim state reimbursement when a high school student takes a course for high school and college credit. Often, the courses are offered at the high schools and are taught by high school teachers who have won approval from the nearest community college. Other courses are taught by college instructors at high schools. The high school teachers must meet the same criteria as any other instructor seeking to work part time at a college.

Supporters say it saves students time and money. Critics say it devalues education at both the high school and college levels. About 1,800 high school students around the state are now taking advantage of the system. Though the Wyoming Education Association is "not opposed to the idea of concurrent enrollment," the practice still raises a number of questions, WEA President Jean Hayek said recently. Those questions have not been very clearly thought through, Hayek said.

They have largely to do with college instructors' competence Please see ENROLLMENT, B2 By TOM REA StarTribune staff writer CASPER Two community college instructors in Wyoming agreed Friday that a new system allowing the delivery of college-credit courses at Wyoming high schools was instituted more for financial than for instructional reasons. One of them, a math teacher, said he believes so called "concurrent enrollment" can be useful and works well as long as the academic quality is closely monitored. But "so long as the state keeps funding us with FTEs, there will be pressure to keep Please see OPINIONS, B2 Scenic grazing School finance trial delayed 4 i Bebout to lead Energy Council CHEYENNE The majority floor leader in the Wyoming House, state Rep. Eli Bebout has been elected chairman of The Energy Council. Bebout, -Riverton, is the first legislator from the state selected to lead the council -an organization of energy-producing states trying to expand their clout in Washington, D.C.

The group's former chairman, Oklahoma Sen. Larry Dickerson, said Bebout's career in the energy industry and his service in the Wyoming House made him an ideal choice. Gillette hit and run investigated CHEYENNE -The Wyoming Highway Patrol is investigating a hit-and-run accident that killed a Gillette woman. Lorri Patricia Bunney was apparently attempting to cross Highway 59 near the intersection with Southern Drive when she was struck by a vehicle about 8 p.m. Sunday, officials said.

Officials with the Highway Patrol say they have identified the vehicle and driver allegedly involved. WWGA to hold annual convention ROCK SPRINGS A Wyoming lamb and wool profitability conference will be held Thursday in Rock Springs in conjunction with the 94th annual Wyoming Wool Growers Association convention, according to a University of Wyoming spokesman. The conference is being presented by the Wool Growers Association and the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service. The WWGA convention is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The fourth annual lamb and wool conference will be held at the Outlaw Inn.

Washakie coroner identifies body WORLAND The man whose body was found on a road south of Worland over the weekend was identified Monday as a resident of an unspecified city in Maine. Washakie County Coroner Gordon Martinson said Craig M. Carey, 23, is the name of the dead man, according to state Division of Criminal Investigation Deputy Director Steve Miller. Miller said the coroner had not yet determined the cause of death. He said authorities were still awaiting autopsy and chemical-test results.

Carey's body was found late Friday night along state Highway 20 about two miles south of Worland. Wyoming Highway Patrol officers found the body after responding to a caller's report. Miller said on Saturday the incident was being investigated as a "suspicious death." Correction A Congressional Quarterly story on the extension of some grazing rights in Grand Teton National Park that ran on the state page Monday incorrectly explained the difference between the House and Senate bills. Both measures call for a three-year study, with recommendations to Congress on how to preserve privately owned ranch land adjacent to the park. The Senate bill would extend the grazing rights within the park for six months after the study group's recommendations are submitted to Congress.

The House bill would extend them until the recommendations are MIKE MCCLUREStar-Tribune correspondent Cattle graze in a field against the backdrop of the Uinta Mountains about 20 miles south of Evanston. CHEYENNE A trial to determine whether education financing reforms adopted by the Wyoming Legislature fulfill a Wyoming Supreme Court has been delayed. State District Judge Nicholas Kalokathis agreed to postpone the trial after learning the state's lead counsel suffered a death in the family Saturday. The delay will enable Ray Hunkins to attend his mother's funeral and take care of personal matters, according to a news release from the Attorney General's Office. A new trial date could be set by Kalokathis next week, the release said.

The trial is the latest in a series of legal maneuvers that have put the issue before the courts. The new financing plan is set to go into effect July 1, 1998. Although it would pump an additional $29 million into the state's education system, several school districts and the Wyoming Education Association sued this summer, arguing the plan does not meet the Wyoming Supreme Court's requirements outlined in a 1995 decision. The 1995 ruling ordered the Legislature to approve a finance system that would ensure the delivery of a uniform, high-quality education to every student. Wyoming's four large school districts Gillette, Rock Springs, Green River and Evanston filed the 1992 lawsuit that prompted the court-ordered revisions.

And, in July, those four districts challenged the plan the Legislature adopted in June. Another lawsuit, filed on behalf of legislators by the Legislative Service Office, challenges Gov. Jim Geringer's authority to use his line-item veto power on the new reform plan. Geringer removed a provision from the plan in July that would have allowed school districts to levy up to two optional property taxes. A Supreme Court opinion on that aspect of the case is pending.

Wyoming Water Development Association Report backs local action on water issues Says increase in western population puts strain on resources 'There has been a general decline in aquatic systems across the West. Wyoming, however, reflects that less than most states, partly because it is the least populated and has less urban DON GLASER, EXECITIVE DIRECTOR, WESTERN WATER POLICY REVIEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE By JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau RIVERTON Water resources that are increasingly being tapped by population growth in Wyoming and other western states can be managed better locally, according to a federal report on water issues in the West. Water resources in the 17 western states need to be kept on a "sustainable" basis in order to meet the future water needs of the fastest growing region of the country, a member of the Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission said at a recent meeting of the Wyoming Water Development Association. "If we don't get the decision-making process back to the local level, there is very little hope for good, meaningful, constructive decisions about water in the fu- ture," said Don Glaser, executive director of the commission. The Advisory Commission last month released for public review a 500-page report that outlines the water issues and problems facing western states and the commission's recommendations on how to combat them.

Following the public review period, the commission's report will go to President Clinton in March. Glaser told WWDA members that increasing demands on water resources in the West are putting pressure on all of the region's water systems. "We're heading towards some kind of crisis," Glaser said. "The trends right now Please see WATER, B2 Jury awards Cheyenne distributor $90,000 in Denver Post contract dispute Riverton officials wary of Mesa Airline gamble subsidy available under the federal Essential Air Service program, Mesa recently announced it would suspend service to Riverton and to four other Wyoming cities. "If we don't have reliable air service into Fremont County, then we'll have a big problem," Urbigkit said.

Urbigkit said Riverton and other Wyoming cities are being used as pawns. "We're concerned that in Mesa's attempt to earn a federal subsidy, that we may be left with a reduction of service," he said. RIVERTON (AP) Riverton city officials are keeping their fingers crossed that Mesa Airlines' attempt to obtain a federal subsidy doesn't backfire. After buying a $3.6 million terminal for the carrier, they're not banking on luck alone. Officials from the Wyoming Airport Operators Association have scheduled a meeting with the state's congressional delegation Nov.

21 in Casper to press their case for continued air service throughout the state, said Riverton Public Works Director Bill I'rbigkit. In an attempt to trigger a about business practices. The suit claimed the Post took over Meredith's direct sales and collections, and then directed specific distribution procedures. Telemarketers allegedly contacted Meredith's existing customers, informing them that they could receive the newspaper at half price if they subscribed through the Denver office instead of through Meredith. Meredith received "promises but not payment" when he asked to be compensated for increased mileage on motor carrier routes, the distributor claimed.

The newspaper's agents and By KERRY DRAKE Star Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE A former Cheyenne distributor of the Denver Post has been awarded $90,000 by a First Judicial District Court jury that found the newspaper breached its 13-year contract with him. Ed Meredith entered into a contract with the Denver Post on Feb. 1, 1982, as an independent merchant who would distribute the newspaper in Cheyenne using his "own means and methods." Meredith said he quit on April 30, 1995, after a long running battle with the company representatives "purported to use the large economic power of the Denver Post in a coercive, threatening and demeaning fashion in a calculated effort to coerce (Meredith) into complying with their arbitrary, unreasonable and over-reaching demands" the suit charged. The jury last Friday awarded Meredith in damages for breach of contract and $25,300 for damages and emotional distress. Meredith said the issue, however, went beyond money.

"It took more than two years, but we proved these guys still have to live up to their ion Please see DISPITE, B2 For information, questions and comments about this page, call the news desk (307) 2WVD582 or (800) 442-WH; email newstrib.com; fax (307) 26f0568..