Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

I Star Tribune little manure between WYOMING'S STATEWIDE NEWSPAPER FOUNDED IN 1891 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2003 AMERICA AT WAR DAN The casket of 2nd Lt. Therrel Shane Childers is taken out of Northwest College's Cabre Gym after funeral services Tuesday afternoon in Powell. Childers was remembered as a confident, courageous platoon leader. Lt. Childers laid to rest Powell residents line streets as hearse passes idea, since everybody couldn't make it to the funeral, and to show their respect not only to the young gentleman and to the family but also to the country, him being in the service," Ramos said.

Hutchison, who helped organize the funeral, called it a "moving moment." Outside the gym before the ceremony, a rumored protest against the war never materialized. Instead, about a dozen young people stood Former Co Congressman Teno Roncalio dies at 87 By JOAN BARRON Roncalio, 87, died Sunday at Life underground nuclear blasts to pro- to Wyoming. against the tribes of the Wind River Star-Tribune capital bureau Care Center in Cheyenne from con- duce natural gas in southwestern Roncalio also played a key role in Reservation. Roncalio's decision gestive heart failure. Wyoming.

Along with former Re- passage of strip-mining reform that the tribes had the rights to waCHEYENNE Former Congress- A funeral mass is scheduled for publican U.S. Sen. Cliff Hansen, Ron- passed by Congress in 1977. ter sufficient to irrigate 76.000 acres man Teno Roncalio was remem- 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St.

Mary's calio also was instrumental in pass- After he left Congress, Roncalio was affirmed later by the U.S. bered Tuesday as a colorful, Cathedral in Cheyenne. ing legislation that increased the served as Special Master in the ad- Supreme Court. legendary political figure who Called the "last unreconstructed state's share of federal mineral judication of water rights on the Big Born March 23. 1916 in worked hard and effectively for the liberal" to represent Wyoming in royalties from 37.5 percent to Horn-Big Wind River.

The case pit- Rock Springs, Roncalio was state during his five terms as Congress, Roncalio, a Democrat, suc- 50 percent. The measure has ted the state of Wyoming and sev- the eighth of nine children of Italian RONCALIO U.S. Representative. cessfully blocked efforts to use meant millions of dollars in revenues eral Wyoming irrigation districts Please see RONCALIO, A7 Inside: B4 Letters, Markets, A11 A8 Enjoy! Today The Advisers, Making time for grouch Calendar, B6 Movies, B4 tasty Semper fi. Casper Area, A3 Obituaries, B3 Classified, C3 Opinion, A10 Comics, D6, C4 Sports, D1 Windy and seasonably Crossword, C4 Weather, B6 warm 6 18134 427497 Enjoy, C1 Wyoming, B1 64 30 Wyoming's statewide newspaper.

Subscribe today: (800) 442-6916, (307) 266-0550 or http://www.casperstartribune.net Judge rehears Canyon Club Army engages Iraqi Guard American prisoner rescued By DAVID ESPO AP special correspondent Army ground forces attacked Republican Guard units Tuesday near Karbala. scarcely 50 miles from Baghdad, part of around-the-clock combat pointing toward an assault on the capital. An American POW was rescued in Iraq. Defense officials said Army units attacked elements of the Medina Division of the Republican Guard in the clash near Karbala, hitting an elite Iraqi force weakened by heavy air bombardment over several days. Pfc Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old supply clerk from Palestine, W.Va..

was freed after nine days in Iraqi hands. Military officials said she was rescued from an Iraqi hospital but gave no details of the rescue or her condition. "Coalition forces have conducted a successful rescue mission of a U.S. Army prisoner of war held captive in Iraq." Brig. Gen.

Vincent Brooks said at U.S. Central Please see WAR. A12 By BILL LUCKETT Star-Tribune staff writer POWELL Judy Childers wept as a Marine handed her the flag that had draped the casket of her son, the first U.S. serviceman killed in combat in the war in Iraq. Marine 1st Lt.

Therrel Shane Childers, 30, was laid to rest Tuesday with full military honors at Crown Hill Cemetery near Powell.He was promoted from second lieutenant to first lieutenant posthumously. "On behalf of the president of the United States and commandant of the Marine Corps, please accept this flag as a symbol of your son's faithful service to country and corps," Capt. Kevin Hutchison told the grieving mother. About 1,200 people attended the funeral for Childers, whose parents moved here in 1990 when he joined the Marines. The funeral touched many in this town of nearly 5,400, beginning Tuesday morning when the casket was driven across town from Miratsky-Easton Funeral Home to Northwest College's Cabre Gymnasium.

Dozens of locals lined the streets as the hearse drove by. One of them, Paul Ramos, appreciated the gesture and said the gathering demonstrated the closeness of a small town where most people know each other. "I really thought it was a great along the entrance holding U.S. flags. "We're just a group of friends showing support for the family," said Royce Njos.

"We just kind of decided that we had to do something for the family. I don't think any of us even knew him." Funeral chaplain Paul Moore, a retired Navy commander, began the ceremony describing Shane Childers' courage. Moore's son and Childers once encountered a copperhead snake in Mississippi, but Moore said his son was not scared because he was with Childers. Childers "emanated a sense of courage out of him that nothing scared him." Moore said. He said that when Childers led his unit into Iraq, "I guarantee those Marines felt very comfortable around him." Childers commanded the 2nd Platoon, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, Please see CHILDERS, A12 Therrel Shane Childers' mother, Judy Childers, clutches the American flag that was on Therrel's casket as she's comforted by her son Sam Childers after the funeral Tuesday afternoon in Powell.

Therrel's father Joseph looks on. Bombs dazzle, soldiers win wars ANALYSIS By TOM RAUM Associated Press writer WASHINGTON Never mind the enormous U.S. advantage of satellite-guided missiles and smart bombs, the overpowering command of Iraqi skies. The battle in Iraq is becoming a shooting war on the ground, a bloody grind of street fights. ambushes and unpleasant surprises.

As American forces near the gates of Baghdad, the war is complicated by the fact that thousands of the troops slated Please see ANALYSIS, A7 DAN RONCALIO.