Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 4

A4 Mi i Star-Tribune Thursday, April 30, 2009 'I 1 KGWN goes dark in contract dispute with Bresnan I Wednesday to help handle the volume of calls coming in from viewers. "It's alot of elderly people who's lifeline is the television," Turner-Doyle said. "They like to watch their local news because they see their grandson getting a sports award or they want to know what the weather in Cheyenne is going to be. Bresnan is directing all their customers i vjttn 1 change also affects about 7,000 Bresnan customers in Albany County, she said. KGWN's owner, Sagamore Hill Broadcasting, of Augusta, and New York-based Bresnan are at odds over a proposed fee that KGWN wants to introduce as part of the parties' retransmission consent agreement, Turner-Doyle said.

The contract is renewed every three years. KGWN has proposed charging Bresnan an additional 2 cents per customer per day, or about 60 cents per month per customer, Turner -Doyle said. "We have been successful with other cable companies where they all pay us a small amount of money per mibficriber, because they're taking our signal and repurposing it," Turner-Doyle said. "We're will ing to negotiate. We're will-, ing to give a little, take a lit tie, and (Bresnan) has not changed their offer since we started talking about this in February." A Bresnan spokesman did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Bresnan's broadcast of The Weather Channel on channel 5 scrolled the following message: "Bresnan has been forced to remove KGWN (5) KGWN HD (705) and CW (2) from our lineup. We continue to negotiate to carry KGWN. You can still watch CBS on KCNC Denver (69) or on KCNC HD (769). You can still watch CW on KWGN Denver (68)." KGWN produces four local newscasts per day. Turner-Doyle said she brought in extra staffers on By MATT JOYCE Associated Press writer CHEYENNE About 30,000 Bresnan Communications cable subscribers in Cheyenne and Albany County lost their local CBS affiliate, KGWN, on Wednesday morning because of a contract dispute between the station and Bresnan.

Bresnan removed the station known as CBS NewsChannel 5 shortly after midnight and substituted the KGWNbroadcast with a Weather Channel feed. KGWN General Manager Joan Turner-Doyle said 60 percent of the station's Cheyenne customers get the station through Bresnan. That's about 23,000 customers in the city of roughly 5S(500 people. The RADIO Continued from A3 up to $100,000 and spend a year in jail for the vio- lation, the document An FCC spokeswoman in Washington, D.C., said the agency does not com ment on ongoing cases. Downtown shop owners said they were shocked by the demeanor of the FCC agents when they confronted Stugelmayer on Tuesday.

Mike Barrett, owner of a downtown art gallery, said the agents pulled up to the building in a whitej sport -utility vehicle and began snapping photographs of Stugelmayer's car. Then they aggressively entered the building where Stugelmayer was programming afternoon music, Barrett said. "They really thought they had a terrorist or something, the way they were charging around," Barrett said. "I was struck by their heavy-handedness, their rudeness," added Don McKee, a downtown bookstore owner who witnessed the initial confrontation. Stugelmayer said he did not fault the agents, who were "just doing their job." "They're cops, and cops can't be nice all the time," Stugelmayer said.

Stugelmayer started broadcasting in 2003 after growing tired of listening to commercial radio while "cruising" downtown Cheyenne. With permission from 1 1 Ji House panel approves wild horses bill $77 million in 2012. The report also noted that euthanasia, though unpalatable, is authorized under current law as a way to dispose of excess animals. U.S. Rep.

Cynthia Lum-mis, is a member of the House Natural Re-sources Committee. She re -leased a sta'ment Wednes -day criticizing the wild horse bill. She said she added two amendments intended to improve the measure. "Careful and balanced management of the range -land is the only way to ensure our ranges remain a healthy habitat for native plants, wildlife, livestock and wild horses," Lummis ByThe Associated Press WASHINGTON A House committee has passed legislation that would prohibit the killing ofhealthy wild horses and burros to control their populations on federally managed lands. About 33,000 wildhors-es and burros roam in 10 Western states, more than half of them in Nevada.

About 3,600 wildhorses live in Wyoming. Officials with the Bureau of Land Management say that the number of horses and burros exceeds what's healthy for the land they live on as well as for the animals. They said last summer that one option for controlling said. 1 Stugelmayer said he's unsure who blew the whistle on his operation, but he recently joined the Downtown Cheyenne Merchants Association and offered to run advertising for the group. He speculated that the arrangement may have angered commercial broadcasters.

Fans of 95.5 were surprised to hear their radios go silent Tuesday. Donna Steenbergen, who works downtown, said she'lrmiss the Tuesday jazz show. "I came across the station while I was channel surfing, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, a jazz station in Cheyenne," Steenbergen said. "It provided a different mix of music that we don't quite have access to on the air waves." McKee said he played 95-5 programming in his bookstore and got lots of positive comments from customers. "I think he had a loyal, steady listenership that will be disappointed because it's the kind of music you don't hear in Cheyenne," McKee said.

Stugelmayer said he's "depressed" over the loss of his station, and has nowhere near the money needed to buy equipment that would allow him to properly regulate his signal. If the station returns to the air at all, it will be at a much lower level, he said. "It won't be what it was, for sure," he said. Stugelmayer also said the episode has left a bad taste in his mouth, and he's rethinking his goal to work in the professional broadcasting field. "I don't think I want a career in radio anymore he said.

"I don't like the politics." Contact capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at 307-632-1244 or jared.millertrib.com. Read his blog at young man was killed in the commitment of a rob -bery. It wasn't because he was gay," Foxx was quoted as saying. "The bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's re -ally a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills," she added. Rep.

Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, said he was sorry Shepard's mother was around to hear Foxx's statement. The argument that Shepard was killed during a robbery is an urban myth," he said. During his trial, McKinney testified that Shepard attempted to grab his leg earlier in the evening and that had spurred a "gay panic" that provoked a violent outburst. His lawyers claimed McKinney had suffered homosexual abuse as a child. Contact capital bureau reporter Joan Barron at 307-632-1244 or joan.barrontrib.com a downtown ounaing owner, he erected a waterproof antenna on the rooftop and set up his gear inside an unfinished attic space too small for even a chair.

He offered Jazz on Mondays and Tuesdays, alternative rock and '80s hits on other weekdays, and a weekend electroni-cashow. Operating nearly com- morrial frpo flip ctafrinn mainly served downtown Cheyenne. It never earned any money, Stugelmayer PATHOLOGIST: Performs 23 autopsies before leaving 10 isAiNi, in ueovei, uu frankly, that makes Wyoming people mad." Turner -Doyle said customers in outlying Laramie County towns, such as Bums, are not affected because they are served by a different cable company. Likewise, the KGWN broadcast in the Nebraska panhandle and northern Colorado are not affected, she said. said in a prepared statement.

"Unfortunately, (this bill) as it is currently written, fails to live up to that careful and balanced approach." Lummis' first amendment would specify that any proposed expansion of rangelands for wild horses be studied to determine the impacts on rangeland health, riparian zones, water quality.soil compaction, native wildlife, and endangered or threatened species. Lummis' second amendment would allow the removal of horses if the health of native plant or wildlife species is threatened, her office said in a news release. DatmnMc cil file tcnc nnll AXJT UV1UO 0CUU UU VBO9 TV Ui now be taken to Scotts-bluff, or Billings, Mont where they've gone in the past. Kohlmeier "did bring a tremendous amount of assets to our state that we didn't have in the past," Reynolds said. "To me, it's almost to the point it's an absolute neces Leslie Stratmoen is news director for KVOWKTAK radio in Riverton.

is If JiLEGm Custom Granite andTik 'For Your Homr 415N.Conwell,Caspei 007)265-2841 advertising for you. the population was euthanasia. Lawmakers responded with legislation that would make more range land available to wild horses. The bill that passed the House Committee onNatural Resources also would bolster an adoption program and increase the use of sterilization. It's uncertain when the full House will take up the bill and if the Senate will consider such a measure.

A recent Government Accountability Office report said the BLM this year will spend about $27million caring for the animals. Continuing current practices would require abudget of $58 million next year, escalating to said, which equates to aloss of about $800 to $900 per month. Kohlmeier's move also means Ivie reverts to putting in a considerable amount of travel time to Loveland, which sometimes poses aproblem because of inclement weather. "Her leaving affects the entire community," Ivie said. "It's very disappointing, not only for our office, but for a lot of the different coroners." Coroners Paul Zamora and Don Schooley, of Carbon and Sublette counties, respectively, agreed.

Zamora said he used Kohlmeier's services "quite a bit" most recently for two cases involving deaths of inmates at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins. "Wyoming statute states all deaths that occur in the pen or a correctional facility are coroner cases," he said. Zamora said he saved about $400 per case, or approximately $2,400 total, by working with Kohlmeier. Utilizing her services not only saved him money, but HATE CRIMES also time. Lander is about 60 miles closer to Rawlins than Loveland.

Zamora said he'd like to see another private practice pathologist in the state, either one centrally located or one who would come to his facility. Natrona County Chief Deputy Coroner Wayne Reynolds said he hadn't figured out the cost savings yet, but he believed Kohlmeier's state-based office would have provided some kind of cut. 6R Continued from A3 Medical Center," McAuslan said. "We have been dealing with the forensic pathologists there for many years and are satisfied with the work they do. We have reestablished our relationship and they have agreed to accept our cases again." Kohlmeier performed her first autopsy for Fremont County on Nov.

26. She performed 23 overall. Several other counties will be affected by Kohlmeier's departure. She had been performing autopsies for Natrona, Carbon, Washakie, Sublette and Sweetwater counties, most of them out of the Fremont County morgue in Lander. Fremont County willlose money on that service, too, according to the coroner's office.

A $75 user fee of the county morgue in Lander was charged for each autopsy. That service brought in about $900 since Kohlmeier's arrival and was used to cover the cost of cleanup and basic supplies. On a more personal level, Kohlmeier's departure directly affects Fremont County Deputy Coroner Erin Ivie. Ivie had been hired by Kohlmeier as her diener, or autopsy assistant. She was making anywhere from $75 to $100 per case, she Continued from A3 Shepard was an open -ly gay 21-year-old University of Wyoming student who died after a brutal beating.

Two young Laramie men Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney were convicted in connection with the crime. According to published reports, Shepard's mother, Judy Shepard, was in the gallery during the debate and vote on the hate crimes bill. North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx argued against the bill. She said the description of Shepard's murder as an anti- homosexual attack was a "hoax." "I also would like to point out that there was a bill the hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that ei reaau emenum mm a new custom bar ind count Did you 71,200 people read the Casper Star-Tribune last Sunday.

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Source: ABC Report Oct 2007.