Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 13

star Wyoming Bl Sunday, October 4, 1992 Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo. Lander may solidify 'gateway' position on Divide trail with snowmobile ordinance 'If we don't want it, I'm sure Pinedale will take it' Bv TOM KURTZ 1 public hearing and three readings before being enacted. "Obviously, it will be a real controversial issue." Many callers were under the impression that a snowmobile ordinance would mean streets would be left unplowed, he said. He assures residents that there would be no change in Lander snow removal. City Councilman Dan Moore said Lander has been seeking a way of firmly establishing itself as a gateway to the 275-mile Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail, which in its proposed configuration would extend from the South Pass area above Lander, to Pinedale, Dubois, Jackson, Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, and would end in West Yellowstone, Mont.

"We're the southernmost trailhead for the largest snowmobile trail in the continental U.S. and I feel that this is our winter economic future," Please see TRAIL, B5 Star-Tribune correspondent LANDER The city of Lander may take advantage of its position on the Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail by establishing an ordinance to allow snowmobiles to ply city streets. Mayor Arland "Pee Wee" Carlson said the city council discussed having a snowmobile ordinance at a work session Tuesday night. He asked City Attorney Rick Sollars to research laws and draft an ordinance prior to another work session Oct. 20.

"It's just one of those ideas being explored at this point," Carlson said. "No decisions are being made." The mayor said that already he has received calls expressing concern about noise and safety with snowmobiles on Lander streets, but he points out that any ordinance would undergo a Shoshone oil andgasEIS draws record response Team leader says 60 comments will require lengthy answer By CAROLE CLOUDWALKER Star-Tribune correspondent CODY The Shoshone National Forest received 1,148 letters during a comment period on its draft Environmental Impact Statement on oil and gas leasing, making the E1S among the most com-mented-upon ever, according to a spokesman. Bob Rossman, Interdisciplinary Team leader for the EIS, said the 1986 Forest Plan itself drew only 185 letters from the public, although "they were all different." He said many of the responses to the current draft EIS included comments which he felt were derived from the Sierra Club or other environmental groups and all raised similar issues, rather than raising a number of new ones. Rossman said that 60 of the 1,148 responses from the public "will require more than a general response," in the final EIS, such as comments from federal and state agencies. He is still in the process of sorting out the comments and categorizing them, which should take about two more weeks.

At least 30 letters were received after the public comment period deadline, and so could not be included in the analysis, Rossman said. On the Medicine Bow National Forest, the only other Wyoming forest with a current oil and gas draft EIS out, ID Team Leader Terry Dilts said that although his forest received 92 comments so far and is still accepting them, issues and impacts are not the same in the two areas. "There are significantly different problems," according to Dilts. Rossman said he had to enforce the deadline for comments on the Shoshone's draft EIS because of the volume of mail, which Dilts said he would have also done if he had received as many responses. The Shoshone's draft EIS included eight alternatives but no preferred alternative; Rossman said that will only be announced when the final EIS is printed and made public.

Powell man dead in plane crash POWELL (AP) Officials have identified a Powell man killed when his plane crashed into a radio tower in the town. Perry Deming, 48, was apparently flying south of Powell in a westerly direction at low altitudes Friday night when he clipped one of the two radio towers at KPO W-Radio in Powell, according to the Park County Sheriffs Department. The single-engine Cherokee 1 80 then nosedived to the ground in an open field between homes and buildings, the department said in a release Saturday. The department did not say why Deming might have flown into the tower. The Federal Aviation Administration in Seattle also would not comment.

A team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board is at the site. There were no clouds or wind when the crash occurred off Highway 295 at about 6:20 p.m. Friday. Deming was the sole occupant in the plane. Rural health care office considered again CASPER (AP) The Select Committee on Health Care plans to ask the Legislature once again to consider creating an office of rural health care.

In addition, the committee, which met earlier this week in Casper, plans to ask lawmakers to consider eliminating residency at the state's family practice centers as a means to repay medical school loans. The panel, headed by Sen. Charlie Scott, R-Casper, unanimously adopted a motion to ask the Legislature to change the state statute regarding repayment of loans for students. The original intent of the requirement, University of Wyoming officials said, was to attract more doctors to practice in the rural parts of the state. But the officials told the committee that having the graduates work in the family practice centers in Cheyenne and Casper doesn't meet the law's original goal.

A bill proposed by the committee would seek ways to recruit Ehysicians to rural areas and establish loan repayment programs to pay ealth care providers for practicing in certain communities. A similar bill passed the House in the last session, but was defeated in the Senate. Thomas, Herschler receive endorsements From wire reports CASPER Republican Rep. Craig Thomas received an endorsement in his bid for re-election from a statewide mining interest political action committee but was denied endorsement by a Wyoming abortion rights PAC, who gave their endorsement to his challenger, Democrat Jon Herschler. The Wyoming Mining Association PAC, in a release, said the two most crucial issues facing the mining industry are taxation and regulation.

"I The WMA board said they "believe Thomas understands those important issues and others, including access to public lands and resources." The WMA represents 37 bentonite, coal, trona, and uranium producers in Wyoming. Meanwhile, Herschler has been declared "fully pro-choice" by the abortion rights Wyoming Right to Choose PAC, according to their newsletter. Thomas received an overall "anti-choice" rating in their survey. In the nation's capital, Thomas was named a "guardian of small business" by the National Federation of Independent Business, who give him a 100 percent score based on voting records analyzed by the group, according to a release. The NFIB is the nation's largest advocacy organization for small business, according to the release.

Per capita, Wyoming has the largest number of small businesses in the country, Thomas said. Also, Congressional Quarterly, a private non-profit Capital Hill publication, listed Herschler's race against Thomas as a "district to watch," giving his campaign more viability than another 240 Congressional races out of 435, according to Democratic officials. Congressional Quarterly defines "districts to watch" as races where "one party has a clear advantage but the contest could tighten." For more state news see B3, B5 Mike McClure Lander considers possible benefits of Continental Divide Snowmobile Trail Right-toabortioii advocates endorse legislative candidates Choose PAC endorsed four candidates: Cisco Valdez, a Democrat, over Republican incumbent Jim Twiford in Senate District Wayne Morrow, a Democrat over incumbent Republican Ron Micheli in House District 19; Cynthia Lummis, a Republican, over incumbent Liz Byrd in Senate District Ruth Komma, a Democrat, over incumbent Republican Barbara Cubin in Senate District 29. The group's second tier of endorsements went to "proven pro-choice" advocates who are facing challengers who are anti-abortions rights or who haven't stated their positions, the newsletter said. Endorsements in this category went to three Democratic incumbents; Lisa Kinney over Roger G.

Britton in Senate District Guy Cameron over Carl G. LeJambre in Senate District 7, and Bernard Phe-lan over Larry Shippy in House District 8. Other candidates endorsed by the Right-to-Choose PAC include Mike Gierau, a Democrat, over incumbent Bob LaLonde for Senate District 17; Mac McGraw, a Democrat, over Don Erickson for House District 41; Sandy Daly, a Please see ABORTION, B5 By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE The abortion rights group, Wyoming Right-to-Choose Political Action Committee, has endorsed 17 legislative candidates for the Nov. 3 general election, a spokesman says Sharon Breitweiser, treasurer of the Right-to-Choose PAC, said her organization will not make any direct campaign contributions to candidates but will work for their election through mailings to voters. The Right-to-Choose PAC is giving first priority to trying to defeat the sponsors of targeting sponsors of the proposed Human Life Protection Act, a bill that would have outlawed abortion and that failed in the 1991 legislative session, according to the group's newsletter.

In this category, the Right-to- Surplus of tax-exempt securities stalls Wyo bond refunding dan Legislative candidates support taxation in Sweetwater forum Drought leaves Jackson Lake at 30-year low, BuRec says Wire and staff reports JACKSON Jackson Lake is suffering its lowest end-of-sum-mer level since 1961 and it could be worse next year, according to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials. Peak demand for downstream irrigation and recreation during the summer forced the release of 700,000 acre-feet of stored water from Jackson Lake, said BuRec hydraulic engineer Mike Beus. The average summer release is about 200,000 acre-feet. An acre-foot is the amount it takes to place one acre one foot under water.

The lake was expected to drop last week to 1 30,000 acre-feet of water, its lowest level since 1 961 The lake has a capacity to store 847,000 acre-feet. The released water filled the needs of irrigators suffering from their sixth year of drought that has depleted other Idaho-owned reservoirs downstream, Beus said. Keeping commitments to Wyoming agencies and recreational concessions on the Snake River also were factors for the low water level. Although BuRec tries not to release too much water from Jackson Lake Dam, the years of drought have finally caught up. 'It was finally dry enough years in a row that we had to go to Jackson for water, which is kind of a last resort," Beus said.

And BuRec Chief of Operations Earl Corless warns that unless winter precipitation does not refill the lake, a "worst case scenario" could come true next summer a dry lake. On the issue of raising taxes, Kellogg said such a step would have to be preceded by "gaining a consensus of the people." He scid he would support taxation "to help the state to grow" by becoming more diverse economically. Nelson said there is "going to have to be some increase in your taxes," to pay for the "good streets, hospitals, police protection and schools" that the citizenry wishes $550,000 if the bonds were reissued now. He said the savings have veered between 1 .5 percent to more than more than 3 percent of the bond mount recently. "The volatility is something that is a little alarming," he said.

He recommended holding off with the new bond issue until the state can get a 3 percent savings, or about $855,000. If the stale goes ahead with the deal at less than a 3 percent savings, the board and the underwriters can be subject to criticism, Casey said. The 1989-90 bond were issued at interest rates of 7.39 and 7.6 percent but the new bond issue initially was expected to cost the Ntatc only about six percent interest, officials said earlier, Dain Bosworth and Co. is lead underwriter for a coalition of three firms that will carry out the bond deal. The original target closing dale for the new bond issue was Oft.

15. By JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau CHEYENNE A glut of tax-exempt securities on the market is one factor driving down savings for a state bond refunding plan, the elected state officials learned Thursday. Terry Casey of Dain Bosworth the lead underwriter for the bond deal, told the Wyoming Farm Loan Board that $9 billion in tax exempt securities will be on the market for sale in the next 60 days. He said the State of Colorado alone is trying to refund 1 09 million in tax-free bonds, so far without success. To take advantage of lower interest rates, the board in August voted to re-issue a new series of S27 million in capital facilities bonds backed by mineral royalties to replace bonds issued in 1989 and 1990.

The bond refunding was estimated to save the state $1 .7 million. Eat Cssey told the board Thursday the savings would be only By KATHARINE COLLINS Southwestern Wyoming bureau ROCK SPRINGS Six Rock Springs legislative candidates speaking at a public forum Wednesday night all said they are willing to support increased state taxation in Wyoming. The forum featured two contested races the House District 17 contest between Republican Fred Parady and Democrat Ray Sarcletti, and the House District 48 race between Republican Phil Kellogg and Democrat Bud Nelson. Two unopposed incumbent Democrats also participating were Sen. Carl Maldonado, Senate District 1 3, and Rep.

Sam Blackwell, House District 16. Nelson and Sarcletti have refused challenges by their respective Republican opponents Kellogg and Parady to appear in one-to-one debates. to have. Sarcletti said that at one point he had favored a one percent sales tax increase, but said he was "taken to task" by Wyoming Association of Municipalities official. He said they convinced him that such a step would jeopardize the ability of municipalities to gain passage of their own 1 percent optional sales tax.

Sarcletti also suggested "possibly doing away with earmarked funds." Parady he "started with the po- sition of eliminating earmarking, where Ray ended up." But. he added, "I decided de-earmarking would create a chaotic situation. I would look at the sales tax and find a way to cut the localities in on it." A question about the importance of the Green River to the area, and the prospect of leasing water downstream or diverting wa- Please see TAXATION, B5 I li i ii in. ii.i i.