Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 5

Wtdneuly, June mi PAGL UNE EXTRA FAMILY: In Irac, soldier read stories to his kids IIKAltT: Miller had massive presenee I i 4 i ilii el.liiif' ill- i i in li i 411,1 Mil holllolr I. mil i i. I. ii recalled lillli .1 li tf.l "ioik I who got Ith Ins 1 is-, mates. "He a- a iun 1 jtliK ir, Uolke.l ll.ll.l ll.l.i .1 :M.kI ethic," said Scult Si Other students llki to l-e around Millei, Si hutle "1 le had a eood m-iim' ol Iiii mor," Miller's lm mi 1 o.u Ii said.

"He had kind ol a neat grin when he'd smile. 1 hat smile also made an impression on Melissa Henry, who taught Miller's speech class. "lie always had thru little curled up grin, thai hitle mis chievous corner of your mouth." Henry said. Henry remembers Miller being shy and polite in her class. Hut he could also be a prankster.

"1 remember lie sal toward the back ol the room," she said. "His group, he could always make them laugh. You never knew what he was up to. He was never mean. He was a good-spirited kid." Brit Shrebe knew Miller her whole life and said he enjoyed the outdoots and hunt -ing.

She remembered him as an easygoing country boy. "He was definitely a cowboy," she said. That was just who Scott was." Couftrty lyre Curtiu Army Staff Sgt Brian M. Long, who died Sunday in Iraq, poses in 2006 with his wife, Brenda, and their three children: Shelby, 3, Sydney, 9, and Sage, 1. I.

hi i hiil; to inivs linn MITCH HILL Miller and took several classes with him. "Fverybody is going to miss him," Hill said. "1 know 1 will. He will be one of those kids who will be missed and remembered forever. He gave his life to protect ours." Miller liked to pull pranks on his buddies, but Hill didn't mind.

"1 don't know, I kinda enjoyed it," he said. "I never had a brother and that's how he treated me, like a younger brother." Hill remembered his friend as a cowboy at heart, who wore Cinch jeans and boots to school every day. "He pulled off the perfect cowboy," Hill said. After Miller deployed to Iraq, Hill would keep in touch with him through the social networking site MySpace.com. Miller described Iraq as a different world, his friend recalled.

"He really didn't like being in Iraq, but who would?" Hill said. "But he knew that is what he went into the military to do. As far as I know, he liked being a soldier." grows to replace Continued from A1 At age 10, he allowed another wrestler, who was blind, to pin him during competition. The other boy's "mom came over and gave (long a big hug and said it meant so much," Curtiss said. Long attended elementary school in Burns and graduated from Cheyenne's Triumph High School in 19 Afterward, he served four years in the Navy and later joined the Army, where he intended to make a career.

Several of Long's relatives have served in the military over the years, but only his grandfather, Charles Long, has been a career military veteran. "He told his grandpa, 'I'm going to make you proud of me. I'm going to be the first one to stay until I retire, just like Curtiss said. While in the Army, Long continued to reveal his compassionate side. When a friend committed suicide, he spent several days offering help and comfort to the man's family.

When his mother became too ill to work, Long helped cover the cost of her medication. "That's just how he was," Curtiss said. "I don't think there was anything that kid wouldn't do for anybody." In fact, Long told his mother that he wasn't sure he'd be able to kill the enemy if the moment came. It was a concern of his. don't think Brian could hurt a hair on your head," his mother said.

During a two-week break from the military, Long bumped into his future wife at a restaurant in Cheyenne. The two had dated in high school. Long bonded instantly with Brenda Long's daughter from another relationship, Sydney, and he adopted her just before his first tour in Iraq. "To her, Daddy could do no wrong, and to him, she could do no wrong," Curtiss said. Brenda Long gave birth to the couple's other children during the two years Brian Long served in Iraq.

Shelby was around 3 weeks old when he first went to Iraq. His only son, Sage, was a few months old when Long began his second tour. Before his final deployment, Long bought each of his children a teddy bear that recited a recorded message in his voice. He sometimes read stories to them on a live satellite link. Continued from AI suffi'fiiiji cvt-n limn.

I think it is important lor the family to know thai pct le lin don't even know well loved him and miss him," Miller had a smile that lit up the room and "a heart just as big as Wyoming," Dawson recalled. "He was aUo a good storyteller," she said with a laugh. "He always had a good reason why he was late from lunch or why his paper wasn't ready yet." Miller had a massive presence but was still humble and helpful with his classmates. "He commanded the room when he walked in," Dawson said. Miller enlisted in the Army in July 2004 after graduating from Natrona County High School, After training at Fort Benning, Ga, he was assigned to the Siryker Brigade Combat Team at Fort Lewis, Wash.

His brigade deployed to Iraq in June 2006. Dawson doesn't recall her student being fearful of going to war. "He talked about pride in his country, and wanting to do the right thing by his country," she said. "He wanted to be in Wyoming eventually; this was his home, he wanted to come back here. But I think he felt it was his duty to go serve." Mitch Hill went to Natrona County High School with SENATE: Field Continued from A5 former legislator Becket Hinckley of Cheyenne said Tuesday they will not apply.

Schiffer said he promised his 29 colleagues in the Senate that he would serve the full two years as president. "I've always been true to my word," Schiffer said. Hinckley said he was surprised at how many people called him and said they wanted someone under 40 and who could run a statewide race in 2008 to be a candidate. Hinckley, an assistant district attorney for Laramie County, is 36 years old. He served four years in the Wyoming House.

Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron casperstartribune.net. taking and ralj hi concerned that U.S. political leaders didn't understand what was happening on the ground in that country, his mother said. He felt like it was a losing battle," Curtiss said. "He said, 'They've been fighting over here for thousands of years, and I don't know now what progress we are really But Long was a soldier, and he stuck to his job, even when the military extended his second 12-month tour by three months.

Had he been home as scheduled, in early June, his life might have been spared, his mother said. "I really just feel like if they would have sent him home when they were supposed to, this would never have happened at all," Curtiss said. Long's family is deeply grieved by his death. His sister, Kristina Sheets, wept as she explained that her brother was her best friend. That he'd stuck by her and written her letters during the hardest episodes of her life.

"I don't know what we're supposed to do," Sheets said. "I don't know how life is supposed to be without him." Long's grandfather, the Vietnam War veteran, was too shaken up even to speak about his grandson's death. On Tuesday, Curtiss shuffled through a pile of family photographs, recalling snapshots of Long's brief life and wondering how she'll live life without her good-hearted son. Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.millercasperstartribune.net. or fad 1 JH i Jill WW Hsj Who announced Tuesday Bruce Asay Age: 57 Home: Cheyenne Career Attorney, 32-year member of the Wyoming National Guard, retired as assistant adjutant general for air Education: Bachelor's degree, Bngham Young University; law degree.

University of Wyoming Family: Married, wife Diane, six children Political experience: Candidate in 2004 Republican primary election for U.S. House, a contest won by incumbent Barbara Cubin Cynthia Lummis Age: 52 Home: Cheyenne Career Attorney, rancher, former state treasurer Education: Bachelor's degrees in agriculture and education, University of Wyoming law degree, UW Family: Married, husband Alvin Wiederspahn, one daughter Political experience: Two terms as state treasurer 1999-2007; served in Wyoming House and Senate HOBART: Library drops games BLOEDORN Long, who served with the Stryker Brigade Combat Team, missed his children desperately and had trouble speaking of them on the phone from Iraq, his mother said. "He was a good daddy, and a good husband and a good son," Curtiss said. "You couldn't ask for anybody better." Perhaps because he missed his children, Long took a special interest in helping Iraqi children, Curtiss said. Long's final letter to his mother contained a photograph of him handing a teddy bear through a fence to a small girl.

A note with the photo said, "See, mom, I'm trying to help out as much as I can." Curtiss was proud of her son's military service. The Navy had been good to him, and she supported his decision to make a career in the Army. "It was just a life he came to know, and he really enjoyed doing his job," Curtiss said. But she became concerned when coalition forces invaded Iraq in 2003. She had witnessed her mother's anguish during her father's service in Vietnam, and she was scared for her son.

She even asked him to consider taking a combat deferment, which she said is permitted for men who have no surviving brothers. But Long declined, saying he wouldn't abandon the other soldiers in his unit. Long's second tour in Iraq was the hardest for Curtiss. Bad dreams troubled her, and she often worried for her son's safety. Long wasn't thrilled to be fighting in Iraq, either.

He was met with Warneke in April, said Stahley-Cummings, who also is the deputy director of Mercer House, which offers programs about underage drinking. Despite the dispute, the coalition has no plans to end its partnership with the Casper Rockies, in which it pays the team $3,000 a year to have a non-smoking, non-drinking family section at the ballpark, she said. Stahley-Cummings doesn't fault the Victor, Idaho-based Grand Teton Brewing Co. that makes Duckbill Draft. The local Rockies management took the Hobart Duckbill Draft idea and logo to the brewer, which agreed to create a special house beer to be served only at Rockies games, Otto said.

"I'm sure there was no intent on their part to entice youth to drink," he said. Warneke agreed, saying a ban on Hobart's Duckbill Draft won't fix problems with underage drinking. He's forwarded the Natrona County Prevention Coalition's concerns to the team's ownership group, which will review the issue before flying from Southern California next week for opening day, he said. Meanwhile, he thinks the coalition has gone overboard about the beer. "They're taking the mentality like a lynch mob," Warneke said.

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