Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 13

i i rm 1 i i i 1 1 11111 1 11 "in MUjjtjwiiiiii. TiT 4 Gisper StarTrilxuic B3 In Brief Experts: Cooperation, planning key Airman By JEFF TOLLEFSON Star-Tribune staff writer LARAMIE Although evaluation of the 1973 Endangered Species Act ranges from absolute praise to vilification, there is consensus regarding the benefit and necessity of local participation whenever the act is Invoked, several officials said Friday. "If you live in an area (where endangered species are a consideration), there is a real need to be involved," Mike Brennan, a partner with Holland in Jackson, told a small crowd in Laramie. A former executive assistant to John Turner, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during the Bush administration, Brennan spoke at a meeting organized by the Albany County Stockgrowers and coordinated with the an- 1 lilUlVMMi.llUAUl"" 1 nual meeting of the Wyoming County Commissioners Association.

He concurred with several participants who said ranchers and farmers are often ignored in the process, calling landowners "the single greatest untapped resource" for conservation. He said conservation groups need to work with landowners, just as both must to work with government agencies. "Guys that are historically at each other's throats" must work together, he said. "And that's the only chance we've got." While the Endangered Species Act is one of the most far-reaching laws, holding sway over almost any agency or action that involves such species, Brennan told the crowd that local governments are not in any way bound by the law to be pro-active. "The Endangered Species Act does not force anybody to get involved," he said.

Counties could chxse to do so by working with locals or by implementing land-use planning efforts to help endangered species, but the act only legally binds individuals and agencies from adversely impacting a given species. He also pointed out that the law would vary from case to case. Local action can take place through land use planning and conservation before the ESA becomes a player or through participation once the process is rolling, but it is a necessary component of the process, according to panelist Mike Long, director of the Wyoming office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. During his first year in Wyoming, Long said to applause, "It's become very clear to Please see ESA, B2 Water world it trnTiiiiTiiWn-ii Spring in Sublette County has been wet and cold, as seen in Wyoming Range in the background.

BEN FRANKLINStar-Trlbunt correspondent this photograph taken along Horse Creek near Daniel with the FROM WIRE MfOKTS Guard to aid refugee relief CHEYENNE A six-member crew from the Wyoming Air National Guard has been sent to Europe to support the Kosovo refugee relief operation. The C-I30 airlift crew volunteered for the assignment, said Guard spokesman Dave Troyanek. "As of this time, we have not been asked to provide any reserves for the presidential call-up," he said Wyoming crew Includes a pilot, copilot, navigator, flight engineer, loadmaster and one other member. The guard members are providing additional support for active duty operations and are expected to return to Wyoming by the end of the month, said Troyanek. WyDOT gets high marks CHEYENNE Wyoming's highway system was ranked second In the nation, upstaged by only North Dakota, in terms of cost-effectiveness, according to a recent study by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Rounding out the top five were South Carolina, Montana and Idaho. Colorado, ranked 45th, and California, ranked 43rd, were the only western states to rank in the bottom 10. New Jersey came In last. The study judged states on several criteria using data provided by states in 1997. UNC researchers examined five measures of fiscal performance: administrative costs, maintenance costs, road and bridge capital costs and total disbursements and receipts.

The study also considered pavement condition for various categories of roads; urban Interstate congestion and fatal accident rates. Fremont storm damage costly RfVERTON-Fremont County officials say last month's record snowstorm and subsequent flooding may have caused up to $1 million in damage. 2 The problems may not be Over, judging by the existing Snowpack and the usual timing of spring runoff. "We do not expect the full Impact of these exceptional storms will be felt until the first few weeks of June," Fremont County Emergency Management Coordinator Kim Lee said. Hundreds of homes, dozens of businesses and public Infrastructure were affected by the usually wet weather.

In Lander, nearly 53 Inches of snow fell April 21-25 the equivalent of 3.7 Inches of rain. Wyoming Emergency Management Agency officials were In Lander this week helping with the preliminary damage assessment. Flood victims in the Lander area are asked to report damage by calling city hall at (307)332-2870. Buffalo student arrested BUFFALO -Police have arrested a high school student for allegedly leaving a threatening note in the school gym. The note found Tuesday night was given to school authorities, who turned it over to police, according to Police Chief Randy Ricard.

Eric Weber, of Buffalo, was arrested Wednesday and charged with making a terroristic threat, a felony. He will be tried as an adult, according to Ricard. Johnson County School District Superintendent Rod Kessler said Weber is not allowed near the school, but has not been suspended or expelled. Home education will be available if Weber's family chooses, Kessler said. Weber faces up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.

could race homicide charges Accident killed two in Cheyenne CHEYENNE (AP) An airman from F.L Warren Air Force Base could face vehicular homicide charges following Thursday's collision that killed two people, a Wyoming Highway Patrol officer said. Patrolman Gaylan Wright said Quaid Samsell, 21, smelled of alcohol at the scene of the early-morning two-vehicle crash which killed John Greenwalt, 20, of Cheyenne, and Jennifer Rosner, 19, of West Lafayette, Ind. Friends of Samsell told officers that they attempted to prevent him from driving shortly before the 12:30 a.m. collision, said Wright. Samsell, who was hospitalized, had been drinking with a group of friends at a Cheyenne bar, said Wright.

The airman first class could face two counts vehicular manslaughter or vehicular homicide, he said. Greenwalt and Rosner were killed instantly when their Honda Civic was struck by SamseH's Dodge pickup, which allegedly ran a flashing red light at the intersection of South Greeley Highway and College Drive, said Wright. Greenwalt was a 1996 honor graduate of Cheyenne East High School and had just completed his junior year at Purdue University. He was chief photographer for the campus newspaper and photo editor of the yearbook. Rosner graduated from East in 1997 and had been living in West Lafayette while working as a shoe department manager of Cole's Department Store.

against Board policy." Trustee Bob Innes said that teachers need some leeway. "At some times, a teacher needs to restrain a student in an altercation," he said. Teachers, however, also need some legal protection beyond existing law, he said. "We need to have some things in place that offer good protection for staff and show kids that there is a policy out there," he said. Trustees will review possible changes to the discipline policy at a July meeting, officials said.

At the end of June, a group of Wyoming teachers, school administrators, business people and parents will set scoring standards for the eighth- and llth-graders who took the test. The fourth-grade standards will not be set until the validity of the test has been determined by testing professionals, according to Catchpole. Shortly before the test was given it was discovered that some multiple-choice questions labeled with numbers had possible answers marked with letters. capable of displacing deer from shrubs they like to eat, he said. The two species generally have very different diets, he said.

Elk tend to graze on grasses, while deer prefer shrubs and small leafy plants. Both like mountain mahogany, and elk will browse shrubs occasionally, said Debolt, Please see ELK, B2 Trustees not ready to ban spanking 4 if it chooses. "Over the years, we have gotten real lax with how teachers can deal with students," said Jackson. "I'm saddened that our legislators have given us something with some teeth to it, but it's so watered down here that it doesn't really have any bite." Stevens' proposal, rejected by trustees Monday, read: "No employee of Campbell County School District may administer any form of corporal punishment. Hair pulling, pinching, slapping and other such forms of physical punishment are Thomas Clinton amb producers GILLETTE (AP) Trustees voted against a proposal that would have prohibited corporal punishment in Campbell County schools.

"Building administrators should be able to spank a child if they think it is appropriate," said board member Burke Jackson. "I think they should have that if they think it will get the child's attention." School attorney Frank Stevens had proposed that corporal punishment not be used in any Campbell County school, although state law allows each district the punishment option Teachers pick CHEYENNE (AP) A group of teachers is selecting the best results from portions of Wyoming's first statewide assessment test to help score the other tests. The teachers' choices for the best written answers will be sent to New Hampshire, where the two-week scoring process begins Monday. According to Superintendent of Public Instruction Judy Catchpole, many teachers in the group belonged to an advisory panel that began working on state standards nearly two years ago. calls on to aid 40 percent.

Furthermore, the senators wrote the president, U.S. Commerce Department figures show 1998 levels of imported lamb were 30 percent higher still than 1997 imports. American Iamb producers and feeders filed an action with the ITC under section 201 of the 1974 Trade Act, which allows U.S. industries to seek reparations for economic injuries under all U.S. trade agreements.

The ITC unanimously recommended the administration im- pose trade re lief and suggested a range of options including annual import quotas, tariffs and a tariff rate quota. "Our domestic lamb industry has met the rigorous requirements under a section 201 petition of demonstrating dam- age to the industry as a result ol unlair imports," Thomas said in a release Friday accompanying the letter, "It Is fundamentally important that the president now support our domestic producer or Congress must question the purpose of having a section 201 trade law," Thomas added. The senators said the lamb industry supports a two-tier tariff which could be adjusted based on import volumes. best assessment test results Cites increase in 'unfair imports' By JASON MARSDEN Star-Tribune Washington bureau WASHINGTON -The U.S. International Trade Commission and 24 U.S.

senators, at the instigation of Wyoming's senior GOP Sen. Craig ITiomas, are urging the Clinton administration to enact emergency tariffs to bolster American lamb producers. "The domestic lamb industry continues to suffer devastating low prices from the ever-increasing level of imports that severely undercut the U.S. lamb mar 'It is important president our domestic or question of having 201 SEN. fundamentally that the now support producer Congress must the purpose a section trade CRAIG THOMAS Some of the teachers also helped write questions and create the scoring process for the Wyoming Comprehensive Assessment system test of students in the fourth, eighth and 11th grades.

The test evaluated students' reading, writing and mathematics skills. "We are adamant about these examples being approved by Wyoming teachers," Catch-, pole said. "Even the New Hampshire teachers who will be scoring the WyCAS tests will be trained to follow the Wyoming teachers' examples for each question." they studied how the two species used the same habitat. During the period, elk and deer coexisted peacefully, they reported recently. "We didn't find competition going on, but the potential is there" if severe conditions such as drought were to occur, said Elk are larger and might be Elk not replacing deer, researchers say ket," Thomas, Wyoming junior U.S.

Sen. Mike Enzi, and 22 other senators wrote In a Friday letter to President Clinton. The senators, including 16 Republicans and eight Democrats, cited a recent U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruling that found Imports of foreign lamb to the United States surged 47 percent between 1993 and 1997, and that those imports consistently undersold the price of domestic lamb by 20 to BAGGS (AP) Expanding elk herds in south central Wyoming are not displacing mule deer, according to a study by two University of Wyoming graduate students. Master's degree candidates Brian DeBolt and Marc Porter lived in a small trailer on the windswept Powder Rim west of Baggs for about two years while For Information, questions and comments alxwt this page, call ttie news desk (307) 2664)582 or (800) 442-6916; email npw.strib.com; fax (307) 26M)568.

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