Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 3

Casper StaiVIYibunc Friday, November 29, 2002 A3 'Area LJOl ffB Attorney faces probation Neves accused by foster son she later married CBS affiliates under new ownership Chelsey Broadcasting bought KGWC, KGWNfrom Benedek was provided to the Star-Tribune by the victim, Robert Neves, who said Tuesday that he was very unhappy with the way the case turned out and with the fact that Michele Neves has not been disbarred. Gish, in his letter to Robert Neves, said he would ask the judge to accept Michele Neves' plea of no contest. "I also found that your action of attempting to obtain $25,000 from the Defendant was an actual demand and is suggestive of blackmail by providing that if she did not pay, you would go to the authorities," Gish wrote in the letter. Robert Neves denied blackmailing his ex-wife. Furthermore, Gish said in the letter that it was his understanding that Michele Neves would have been disbarred had she entered a plea of guilty.

Big Horn County officials said Tuesday that the case remained sealed and declined to By TARA WESTREICHER Star-Tribune staff writer A Casper family law attorney charged with taking indecent liberties with a foster boy she cared for some 30 years ago and later married pleaded no contest to a lesser offense, according to her attorney, Dallas Laird, and a letter the Big Horn County Attorney's Office sent to the victim. Charges against Michele Neves were filed earlier this year following an investigation by the Basin Police Department and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation that began in April 2001. The case was delivered to the Big Horn County Attorney's Office in August, officials said. Neves' ex-husband, Robert Neves, alleged that she had victimized him in the early to mid-1970s. The letter from the Big Horn County prosecutor's office, dated Nov.

15 and signed by county attorney Bob Gish, attorney until disciplinary action is taken. Robert Neves, who now lives in Biloxi, claimed in court documents that his mo lestation by Michele Neves, who was first his foster mother and later his wife, resulted in the birth of a daughter, now 27. The court documents indicate that in 1970, Robert Neves was placed in the foster home of Michele Neves, then Michele Durgin, and her husband, David Durgin, in Duxbury, Mass. He was 12 years old. Within a couple months, Robert Neves says, Michele Neves began a sexual relationship with him that continued for three years even after Neves' husband, Durgin, learned of the relationship.

He would run away from home, he says, but eac time, the police would bring him back to the Durgins. At 15, Robert Neves ran away to Wyoming. Neves Please see NEVES, A4 comment on the case. Neves' attorney, however, explained that his client, who has continued to do legal work in Casper, would ndt be disbarred because she's not technically convicted of anything under a law favorable to first-time offenders. "The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor and the plea is held in advance pursuant to that (statute) 7-13-301, which means that at the end of one year, the case is dismissed.

And that statute is pretty clear that it's as though there was no conviction and that it can't be held against her for any purposes," Laird explained. Nor will Neves be required to register as a sex offender, he said. "She's a decent person and a good lawyer and this whole case is very tragic," Laird added. Wyoming State Bar officials said they could not comment on any complaint against an Ranch-giving By TOM MORTON Star-Tribune staff writer KGWC-TV of Casper and KG-WN-TV of Cheyenne now belong to a new owner, the company's soon-to-be chief executive officer said Tuesday. What Chelsey Broadcasting will do with KGWC-TV, Channel 14, remains to be seen.

Paul Goodman said in an interview from New York City. "We're just at the beginning of evaluating what we're going to do with KGWC," Goodman said. "It's been a few weeks now. It was a part of a package of eitjht stations that we bought." Chelsey is looking at a lot of alternatives for KGWC-TV in Casper, and that possibly could include expanded operations such as news programming, he said. "Some decisions have to be made about the direction in which the station is going to go.

We think we'll have some direction on that by the early part of next year." He sees no changes ahead for KGWN-TV in Cheyenne, Goodman said. "It's a very well-run station. We're happy to have acquired it. and no changes are planned." Both CBS affiliate stations were owned by Benedek Broadcasting Corp. But KGWN-TV was the survivor after Benedek suddenly shut down nearly all the operations of KGWC-TV in June 2000, and laid off about 25 employees in Casper.

Benedek left an engineer and advertising sales person at the station at 2500 CY and left Casper with only one station, NBC affiliate KTWO-TV, with news programming. KFNB-TV. Channel 20, is the local ABC and Fox affiliate, and has no news programming. SARAH BETH BARNETTStar-Trlbune Benedek's parent company, Stations Holding filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on March 'M)2.

In April, Gray Communications Systems Inc. of Atlanta acquired a number ol stations from Stations Holding Co. Meanwhile, the Chelsey Capital Co. of New York City formed an affiliate. Chelsey Broadcasting.

In June, Chelsey Broadcasting signed a $30 million contract to buy KGWC and KGVVN and six other stations, Goodman said. The other stations are in Youngstown, Ohio; Duluth, Peoria and Quincy, Columbia-Jefferson City. and Wichita Falls, Texas. On Oct. 21, Chelsey closed the deal and filed incorporation papers with the Wyoming secretary of state to register Chelsey Broadcasting Company of Casper.

LLC. and Chelsey Broadcasting Company of Cheyenne, LLC. That same day, Chelsey bought KGWC-TV's broadcasting tower and the Channel 14 station and offices at 2500 CY Ave. from Benedek, according to deeds filed Nov. 5 with the Natrona County Clerk's Office.

By the beginning of the year, Goodman will become the chief executive officer and move to Benedek's former headquarters in Hoffman Estates, he said. Chelsey Broadcasting will concentrate its efforts on the television stations and look for other possible acquisitions, but not expand into Other media, Goodman said. a Steen: Be thankful for freedom Ex-hostage tells of ordeal SARAH BETH BARNETTStar-Trlbune Nine-year-old tyler Garrett talks with his parents, Steve and Kim, after Thanksgiving dinner at the Haygood's in Bates Hole south of Casper on Thursday afternoon. Making tracks Former firefighter sues Bar Nunn 20 feet long under the first floor. It was accessed by a ladder -that's how they came down and they fed us.

But the bathroom and everything was at our level so we didn't have to go up the ladder. That's where we stayed the remaining two years," said Steen, who hasn't talked publicly about his experience in six or seven years. Steen described his ordeal as one of boredom and waiting. His hopes of being freed were raised and dashed, he said. "I refused to wait out my cap ture as the others had reserved to do," he said of his failed attempts to escape.

"If there was a chance to be free, then I knew I would take it." Steen described one such escape shortly after his capture. "My access to freedom was not an open door but an open window in the bathroom," he told the group. He had noticed a bathroom window was held shut by a wingnut. He turned it one night, and It was open next morning. He jumped on a bucket, pulled himself up and, to his surprise, there was a set of stairs leading down.

Steen said that was his last good break, as he eventually ended up right back where he started at Hezbollah headquarters. His captive academic colleagues Americans Polhill and Turner, and naturalized U.S. citizen Singh had been released at approximately year-and-a-half intervals. Steen, who appeared to want out the most, was re leased last. 1 suppose that is ironic, yes," he said.

By TARA WESTREICHER Star-Tribune staff writer In a rare speaking appearance, Alann Steen shared his experience as a political hostage in Lebanon 11 years ago with Ki-wanis Club members Wednesday at the Radisson Hotel. "Be thankful for the stars, the sun, the moon and. most of all, freedom," he told the group of about 50 people who listened intently as he told his story. Steen's ordeal began Jan 24, 1987, when he, Robert Polhill, Jesse Turner and Indian national Mithileshwar Singh were taken captive by terrorists while teaching at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. The Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine had threatened to kill all four men unless Israel released 400 imprisoned Arabs by the following midnight.

That threat came and went, said Steen, now a journalism instructor at Casper College. Before his release on Dec. 3, 1991, he sat on concrete floors, chained to the walls of window-less makeshift prisons in and around Beirut for nearly five years. The guards allowed the hostages to watch videos on occasion and gave them a deck of cards and cigarettes after meals. All the while, Steen said he and the others were pretty sure there were more Americans being held hostage, perhaps even hi the same building.

One of the holes he and the other men were imprisoned was somewhat tike a dungeon, Steen aid. "It was a room that might have been 10 feet wide and By TOM MORTON Star-Tribune staff writer A former Bar Nunn volunteer firefighter is suing the town and its fire chief for $250,000 for allegedly firing him after he criticized a "prescribed burn" practice exercise conducted by the fire department in April 2000, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court In Casper. Donald Cooper voiced his concerns about the exercise at a fire department meeting On April 19, 2000, according to the complaint Hied Nov. 4 by Donald Cooper through his attorney Keith Nachbar.

The methods used by the Town of Bar Nunn Volunteer Fire Department during the 'prescribed burn' on or about April 8, 2000, endangered the life, safety and property of the public and were a matter of public concern," according to Cooper's recollection of his questions and comments. The above-mentioned questions and comments were offered with the Intention of Improving the mrinrmanrp of the department warning and without any due process at all," according to the complaint. The Bar Nunn Volunteer Fire Department hired Cooper in October 1996. Cooper never received any negative evaluations, discipline or reprimands before his termination, according to the complaint. The actions violated Cooper's right of free speech guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S.

Constitution, according to the complaint. The job loss also damaged his reputationand career. Cooper's volunteer employment allowed him to be qualified for employment through the State Forestry Mobilization Plan to fight wildland fires for pay, and allowed him to rent his truck through the plan, too, according to the complaint. He has lost past, present and future income; emptoyabtllty in his profession; and suffered Injury to his reputation, according to the complaint. Cooper is seeking at least $250,000 In damages, plus punitive damages, attorney's fees, and reinstatement to the Bar Nunn Voianteer Fire Department, according to the iwNay mm oot dw snowy mnaacBpe orneeaanoie and preventing disaster, and prevaoUnfl further dancer to the re Chief Charles Aader- The Town of I ofl Apr! L- Z7,.