Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 14

Thursday, August 29, 2002 A14 Casper Star-Tribune FLOOD: Too soon to provide dollar estimate on damage V. i -V- fV it DAN CEPEDAStar-Trlbune Bud Rhoads pauses while cleaning up his flooded out business, The Rusty Spur, on Wednesday afternoon. Rhoads, who owned the tack and saddle shop for 20 years, says the building is a total loss after it slid off its foundation. Rhoads hopes to relocate in another downtown building. ELECTION Continued from Al qualify for the general election ballot.

Actually, one person did get 25 Democratic write-in votes, but It was Lummis, the Republican Incumbent. Lummis received 27 votes that could be feasibly construed as attempts to vote for her. "Cynthis Lummis" got 11 votes; "Cynthia M. Lummis" got four votes; Lummis" got three votes; and "Cynthia Loumis" got two votes. Another seven voters wrote In names apparently Intended to represent the incumbent treasurer, ranging from "Cynthia M.

Lummins" to "Cindy Lummis" to simply "Lumas." Lummis insisted that she doesn't let anyone call her "Cindy." Linda Stoval, who chairs the state Democratic Party, said her party will win the gubernatorial election this year, which will energize the party faithful and help with candidate recruitment. "We did not have a candidate this year, but we will next time," Stoval said. "We are absolutely going to elect a Democrat governor, and it's going to be good for everybody. It's going to be good for this state. We can't go on under single-party rule and expect things to change." Democrat Dave Freudenthal faces Republican Eli Bebout and Libertarian Dave Dawson on the general election gubernatorial ballot.

GOP registrations outnumber Democrats in Wyoming more than two to one, and Republicans hold the top five state positions and Wyoming's three congressional seats. Legislative races set In state House races, six write-in candidates qualified to fill slots on the general election ballot that their respective parties left vacant in the primary. Those people are Republican Melvin ZumBrunnen for House District 2 in Weston, Niobrara, Converse and Goshen counties; Democrat Rick Moore for HD 14 in Albany County; Democrat Tim Wells for HD 17 in Sweetwater County; Republican Greg Jackson for HD 49 In Uinta County; Democrat Gary Bare for HD 51 in Sheridan County; and Republican Frank Latta for HD 53 In Campbell County. There were no successful write-In bids for state Senate seats. The only automatic recount In a state race was In the Republican primary for HD 3, where Deborah Alden on Wheatland defeated Incumbent Bill Stafford of Chugwater 1,018 votes to 1,009.

State Elections Director Peggy Nighswonger said the official results of the recount were exactly the same as the initial, unofficial tally for both affected counties, Platte and Converse. That news excited Geringer, who said the "extraordinary tension" in the 2000 presidential election in Florida focused people's attention on election credibility, and Wyoming came out looking good. "When you have a recount that turns out exactly the same, that says something about reliability," he said. Voter turnout average Nighswonger said 59 percent of Wyoming's registered voters cast ballots in the primary. Of 229,377 registered voters, 135,983 voted.

That figure represented 37 percent of the voting age population. "Those numbers compare very closely to past primary elections," she said. Meyer said the turnout was the highest in a primary in Wyoming since 1994, and the highest figure before that was in 1986. Those were the last two years the governor's race featured no incumbent. Wyoming's 37 percent turnout among eligible voters was two to three times better than Colorado, and Nighswonger opined that Wyoming's small population and same-day voter registration were two reasons for the difference.

The GOP beat Democrats in voter turnout, with 70 percent of registered Republicans voting and only 61 percent of registered Democrats. Only 8 percent of the 29,076 registered independents and minor party members voted in the nonpartisan primary races. Herring said the last flood in Kaycee occurred in 1982. "But it didn't hurt anything," he said. "1 think the last one like this I saw in some pictures was 1932 or in the early '30s." Shirley Simon rescue frozen and refrigerated foods on Tuesday.

Chest freezers collected from throughout the town were filled. Stella Brock, curator of the town museum, said most of the still in effect for flood holdings escaped damage, but some books, business files, old dresses and photo albums were lost. "1 think the water was 8 inches to a foot deep," she said. Bottled water is available at Kaycee High School. State public health officials have said there is no immediate reason for concern about the risk of infectious disease in connection with the Kaycee flooding.

Department officials urged residents to practice basic hygiene during the emergency period. Always wash hands with soap and water that has been Continued from Al rescued Tuesday with a (rout-end loader, Herring said. A trailer home was snapped In half and several other trailers and buildings were shifted by the flood waters, he said. However, no one was hurt, and no one took advantage of a Red Cross shelter set up at the local high school. "Small town, Just move In with somebody else," Herring said.

"We have several new roommates at our house," Welsch said. Electricity and utilities interrupted by the flood were restored by Wednesday morning. Herring said officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were expected in town Wednesday. Not many people had private flood insurance because it costs too much, he said. Ross Elliot, a State Farm agent in Buffalo, said only some mobile homes were insured with his company for flooding.

Elliot said it was too soon to provide a dollar estimate on damage. No city offices were damaged, but residents were still boiling water Wednesday until tests confirmed that the city water was free of contaminants. At the Kaycee Grocery Market, volunteers helped owner Boil order By the Star-Tribune staff The Wyoming Department of Health's boil water order for the town of Kaycee is to remain in effect until further notice, officials said Wednesday. Residents were urged to take precautions to guard their health and State Health Officer, Dr. Brent Sherard, stressed that the boil water order was only a precautionary measure.

GOVERNOR: Continued from Al Oil and Gas in Gillette, said, "There is a real concern that Freudenthal will be anti-development." He thought Freudenthal handled himself well at the forum but said "a lot of us see Eli as one of us." Freudenthal said that after the primary, people switched from criticizing him for being too far right for the Democrats, to being too far left for a Republican state. He told Freudenthal that people had said to him, "We're concerned that if you get elected, Freudenthal, you're going to appoint a bunch of Bolsheviks." Freudenthal responded there's not much danger of a communist cabinet. "1 don't know that I know any." Freudenthal stated he is not anti-oil or anti-gas, but he is not trying to be the director of the petroleum association, nor will he favor organized labor. "The role of the governor is to represent the whole state," he said. Yet he seemed to be fighting an uphill battle with the energy workers in the audience.

He outlined his three energy issues: outline campaign issues residents boiled or disinfected before preparing or eating food; after toilet use; after participating in flood cleanup activities; and after handling articles contaminated with flood water or sewage. Health officials warn that mold can be a health concern. Efforts to identify and eliminate it from living areas should be made with a commercial cleaner or bleach solution. economy is tied to the multiple use of our land," but the Endangered Species Act had been used to take multiple-use options away. He cited the Jack Morrow Hills area, which is rich in oil and gas deposits, as an example of land that the Bureau of Land Management had taken out of state hands.

The area is the subject of an ongoing environmental impact statement. Finally, he said the next governor must diversify and broaden the economy in order to keep young people in Wyoming. After the speeches, Bebout played down his ties to the energy community and said that his special interest group is "all of Wyoming." He said he intended to practice "an administration of inclusion" if he is elected governor. Freudenthal said his approach to the forum was to recognize that he was on "Eli's home court," but that he would stick to his platform. "I believe that the voter is entitled to real leadership and not slogans," Freudenthal added.

spends like a drunken sailor." He said if Wyoming continues to spend at the current rate, the pressure for tax increases will be "unbearable." Bebout seemed relaxed at the podium, and spoke to Freudenthal on several occasions, joking with him and stressing their long friendship in Cheyenne. He outlined the five planks of his campaign platform, which are economic development, high-quality jobs, excellent education, multiple-use of lands, and health care. He appealed directly to his audience by saying that he wanted to bring in a new national energy policy to consider conservation issues and Wyoming's economic future. He also agreed with Freudenthal about auditing gas production, and said "we need more auditors." He added that the state needed to clarify its valuation process to make it simpler for producers to understand, and said Wyoming is not getting a fair price for its natural gas. He said the "basis of our "We have no evidence yet that the Kaycee water supply is contaminated," he said.

"We issued the order to ensure the health and safety of the residents until a determination can be made." Kelly Ruiz, public information officer for the Wyoming Emergency Management Administration, said state and federal assessment teams are still working to fully understand the extent of damage. Bebout, Freudenthal the environmental consequences of coalbed methane drilling, providing money to build energy communities' infrastructure and auditing energy production. On this last point Freudenthal said Wyoming needs to give auditors additional authority to seek information and pursue transactions further down the line. He said he is prepared to add auditors but would first find out if better tools can provide more data for audits. Talking about the state as a whole, he stressed that Wyoming would continue to be sparsely populated and would have to organize to deal with deregulated industries such as telecoms and airlines.

He also said that Wyoming has to stop settling for low-paying part time jobs in place of real economic growth. "Do you think that any old job is what you want your child to have?" he asked the audience. Finally, he turned his attention to state finances and described Wyoming as "a conservative Republican state that Search for WASHINGTON (AP)- Intelligence officials may have uncovered the hide-outs of two more key al-Qaida figures who escaped Afghanistan right across the border in Iran. And one of the men was previously believed dead. A U.S.

official said Wednesday the United States has. received reports on the whereabouts of Saif al-Adil, an Egyptian who has been security chief for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and wanted in the certain terror organizations to the tune of tens of millions of dollars," said a senior law enforcement official directly involved in the investigation. Agents believe they have uncovered a broad effort by U.S. residents many who are citizens or legal residents to use credit card thefts, illegal cigarette sales, diverted charitable funds and cash smuggled TYPO Continued from Al along the way had left out a zero. There were no ballot errors or voting machine failures, Gonzales said.

"We. only hand-tabulated probably at the very most 16 ballots the day of canvassing," she said. "Everything else worked fine." In the official tally, Freudenthal garnered 2,060 votes; Paul Hickey got 920; Toby Simpson received 178; and Ken Casner got 115. Another clerical error made it look like Sublette County had an election night turnout of 124 percent of registered voters. The secretary of state's Web site shows the county with 1,683 registered voters, and 2,089 voted in the primary.

An election official in the Sub- della remains at large. The indictment charged the men with conspiracy to provide jnaterial support or resources to terrorists and conspiracy to engage in fraud and misuse of visas For merchandise priced between: Items Items 5500lsss lette County clerk's office, however, said the 1,683 figure is inaccurate. The county has 3,446 registered voters for a turnout of 61 percent, slightly above the statewide average of 59 percent. The only machine-related mistake on election night was in Park County, where initial figures showed a 3 percent Democratic turnout, due to a ballot printing error. County officials caught the error quickly and fixed the ballots, and the final, official figures show a Democratic turnout of 35 percent.

Statewide Democratic voter turnout was 61 percent. There were no other significant changes in state races between unofficial results and those certified Wednesday by the state canvassing board. and identification documents. Hmimssa was named at the top of the indictment, where the charges were listed, but was not further mentioned in the indictment. Wyoming's Internet provider FREE internet technical support, no limit TERROR: Suspects possessed videotape of Disneyland, MGM Hotel and Casino al-Qaida leads to Iran Continued from Al whose full name isn't known by the government was also named in the indictment.

Their indictment said the men plotted attacks on sites in Turkey and Jordan and possessed a videotape that surveilled U.S. landmarks such as Disneyland in California and the MGM Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The object of the conspiracy was, among other things, to cause economic harm to U.S. businesses," the indictment said. Both indictments used a law barring people living in the United States from providing "material support and resources" to terrorist groups.

U.S. officials said Wednesday they expected several more such indictments in coming months as the FBI, Customs Service and other federal agencies attempt to block money and operational support from the United States from reaching terror groups overseas. "The evidence that is being developed suggests that America has been a piggy bank for 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa; and Abu Hafs the Mauritanian, an operational planner possibly linked to those bombings and the failed plot to blow up unidentified U.S. targets on New Year's Day 2000.

U.S. officials previously said Hafs was killed in January in Afghanistan. New information from foreign intelligence sources and other sources now indicates he survived the war and escaped, said a Pentagon official in airline luggage to enrich anti-American and anti-Israeli terror groups, the officials said. One law enforcement official said agents also recently began investigating possible terrorist funding schemes that employ the Internet or defrauding of federal aid programs. That official said evidence so far indicates the anti-Israel groups Hamas and Hezbollah receive far more who like the other administration official, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has said repeatedly that al-Qaida figures are hiding in Iran, Iraq and dozens of other countries. Suspects have been captured in places ranging from Singapore to Morocco to Yemen to Bosnia. But this is the first time the location of a possible hide-out has been made public before a person was captured. support from U.S.

soil than al-Qaida. The indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Detroit named Karim Koubriti, Ahmed Hannan, Youssef Hmimssa, Farouk Ali-Haimoud and a man only known by the first name Abdella. Koubriti, Hannan, Hmimssa and Ali-Haimoud have been in custody since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. Ab- est Items 3 Lines 10 Days 1 itemad Each Additional ft S3 Wvatt party feneral mewtaridise vfif.

no pes vehjetes; no cfanga. Aopte to ads run from 1 to 10 0s. No discounts on aJs run less, tf.3fi 10 Says. or toWre in Wyoming Wew 9t aw Mi onfe art 111 1 OnirWei trib.com Call for more information, in Casper, 235-9132, or in-state, ext 625 www.trib.com Thursday Lunch Special Grilled Ham Steak Sedar'sRestaurant Please RECYCLE i This Newspaper.