Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 4

Managing Editor RonGullbergcan be reached at (307) 266-056O, 1-800-559-0583 or ron.gullbergtrib.com A3 Doctors look for better ways to treat back injuries Program designed to reduce compensation costs I For more information on the program, call 577-BACK(2225)or By JOSHUA W0US0N Star-Tribune staff writer 1 1-877-894-BACK toll-free. The Wyoming Legislature adopted the program in 2010. Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, proposed ft after hearing from people on workers' compensation who continued to experience problems after undergoing back surgery. Scott said he found information indicating Natrona County had the nation's highest rate for lower back sur gery.

That concerned him because the surgery has a reputation for being performed too often, and with mixed results. "We are pot doing these people any favors if we have a system that encourages them to get surgery? Scott said. The care is also expensive. In 2009, the state received more than 2,400 new workers' compensation claims for back injuries, according to information provided by Wyoming Medical Center. It also had another.4,200 open claims over the same period.

Those claims cost the state more than $210 millioa "The state was putting out quite a bit of money, and you want to see results if you do that," Scott said. "For alot of people, the results were negative." Based on Scott's proposal, the Legislature required the Workers' Safety and Compensation Division to look at alternative programs. The division selected Wyoming Neuroscience and Spine Institute for the job. In Wyoming, doctors traditionally address back pain with only one treatment at a time, Nelson said. It's only after one intervention fails that they try another.

AH the while, the patient receives little education about the nature of his injury. Patients in the trial program will receive several treatments at once. These could include physical therapy, Please see BACKS, A4 State lawmakers approved the creation of a trial program last year with the aim of speeding recovery times and cutting the cost of workers' compensation claims. Advocates also hope to reduce the number of patients whose injuries become a chronic source of pain. "When someone doesn't get adequate treatment up front, it affects their mood, their sleep, their physical activity," said project director Dr.

Karen Nelson. "They become sedentary. Hiey gain Doctors in Casper have kuncbed a 10-month trial program designed to establish more effective ways to treat workers wimback injuries. Hie program, conducted by the Wyoming Neurosci-ence and Spine Institute, favors a comprehensive approach to beating back pain. Patients receive multiple therapies, along with education about their injuries, in the fust six weeks.

weight. They pick up old bad habits it changes their whole perception of themselves. That is when you start chasing a magic fix, and at that point, there isnt going tobeamagicfix." The trial program began March and runs through the remainder of the year. It's open to loo workers' compensation claimants who've sufferedspinalinjuries. A government horseback rider hazes bison from one location to another Just Inside Yellowstone National Park near Gardiner, last month.

The effort to give more room to the park's Iconic bison herds ended In failure when 25 of the animals refusd to stay within 2,500 acres of dedicated habitat within 0 ft Mont, officials give Yellowstone bison river basin access miles north of the park. Bison that go any farther entering the Paradise Valley south of Livingston, Mont. could be shot, said Mike Volesky, Schweitzer's natural resources adviser. Also, if too many of the animals crowd into the basin they could be hazed back into the park, Volesky said. The move is aimed at ending a deadlock over Yellow-stonebisonthathas resultedin almost 4,000 of the animals being hauled to slaughter since 2000.

It will allow at least some bison to carry out their natural migration to lower elevations outside the park during harsh winters. "This doesn't mean they turn open the gates and let a bunch of bison loose," Volesky said. "It's a limited amount (of habitat) and how many bison can be there will be dictated by how much grass there is and the sncwpack." An earlier effort to give more room to the park's iconic bison herds ended in failure when 25 of the animals refused to stay within 2,500 acres of dedicated habitat within the Gallatin National Forest. The Gardiner basin is estimated to be roughly 10 times larger, which state officials say should give them more flexibility in their dealings with bison. More than 600 bison have been captured trying to leave the park this year.

They faced impending slaughter until Schweitzer blocked any shipments of the animals to packing plants outside the Yellowstone region of Montana, Ida-ho and Wyoming. Roughly half the park's approximately 3,500 bison carry brucellosis. The disease could potentially infect livestock caus- Please see BISON, A4 By The Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. Montana officials are pushing ahead with a plan to let Yellowstone National Park bison roam more freely within a sprawling river basinformerlyoff 1 limits to the disease-carrying animals because of livestock industry concerns. A top aide to Gov.

Brian Schweitzer said Thursday bi-; son will now be allowed within the Gardiner Basin, which straddles the Yellowstone River and stretches roughly 13 Casper man strikes deal He faces 7-10 years for burglary, assault charges Man bites officer, gets 2-4 years in prison requirements. The pedestrian and bicycle path along the southborder will be retained. The project is scheduled for completion before the first home football game of the 20U season, Sept. 3 against Weber State. Fisherman rescued ice RIVERTON Search and rescue crews In brief FROM STAFF WIRE REPORTS Laramie remains Verizon center candidate SANBORN, N.Y.

Laramie remained in the running for a $4 billion Verizon data center after western New York was no longer considered. The communications company notified New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other officials of the decision Thursday. A site in Somerset in Niagara County had been considered a frontrunner for a state- of-the-art center employing 200 people, but the project was challenged in court by a nearby land owner. State Sen.

George Maziarz said the lawsuit was delaying things too much for Verizon so it pulled the plug. Attorney Arthur Giacalone represents land owner Mary Ann Rizzo. He said Verizon used the lawsuit as an excuse to back out of New York. LARAMIE The east side parking lot at WarMemorialStadiumtaLaramtewinbe paved. The lot holds 660 parking spaces.

The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees recently The project includes parking spaces rangingfrom standard vehicle parkingto spaces for larger vehicles such as recre -ational vehicles. Accessible handicapped parking spaces and bicycle racks are included in the design. In addition to the paving, the lot will include curb and gutter, sidewalks, landscaping and lightingtomeet(y of Laramie By WILLIAM BROWNING Star-Tribune staff writer A Casper man is facing seven to 10 years in prisonf or stealing nearly $2,500 worth of stereo equipment from a car before pulling a pistol on the owner during a subsequent confrontation. Kody Nathaniel Hess, 22, pleaded guilty to four charges in exchange for a prosecution promise to seek the sentence. Hess was accused of stealing speakers and an amplifier out of vehicle.

He pulled a handgun on the car's owner the following day after the owner found out about the theft and ronfronted him, according to an arrest affidavit from the case. The victim told police Hess visited his South Wilson Street residence the week prior to the December theft and seemed impressed with the stereo system in his car, authorities say. The following week, when the owner wanted to show the stereo system to a friend, he discovered it missing, according to the affidavit. The victim called the business that installed the system and told a mechanic "to keep his eyes and ears open for anyone bragging about the equipment or bringing it in." The mechanic told him that that same day, Hess "had tried to sell him. exact system," the affidavit states.

Please see BUHSIASY, A4 successfully retrieved an elderly fisherman trapped on a floating block of ice on a lake in Fremont County. The incident occurred on Ocean Lake on Wednesday afternoon. The Fremont County Sheriff's Office says a7l-vear-oldrnanvicefishingwhenthe piece of ice he was standing on broke away from the bank. It was carried a quarter of a mile from shore with the wind where it stuck after hitting a larger ice formation. The fisherman was stranded there for a couple of hours before he was picked up by airboat." Lu.7.r.is:NPRmust str.donitscwn CHEYENNE Rep.

Cynthia Lummis joined in voting to end federal funding for NationalPublic Radio. The Vyoming Republican says nones-sential government programs must be scrutinized and difficult decisions must be made to address the nation's fiscal problems. Lummis said in a media release that NPR must stand on its own. However, she noted that she prefers what she calls a "glide path to self-sumdency" for WyorrJngPubHc Radio. The U.S.House on Thursday voted 228-192tobar federal funding of NPRand prohibit bcalpublkstattons from usirg federal money topay NPR dues and buy its programs.

By WILLIAM BROWNING Star-Tribune staff writer A Casper man will spend the next two to four years behind bars after authorities said he bit the hand of a police officer trying to get marijuana out of his mouth. Authorities arrested Thomas Avery Glenn on South Cedar Street last October after someone called police coniplaining that he had just asked if they had any drugs, according to an affidavit. While searching Glenn for possible weapons, officers found two 12-ounce cans of Coors Light beer in the pockets of his Carhart coat. They also noticed a bulge in his cheek, authorities say. After Glenn refused to spit out the item, an officer stuck two fingers in his mouth in an attempt to remove it.

The of -ficer was only able to remove her fingers after "forcibly prying bis jaws open," the affidavit states. The item in his mouth approximately four grams of marijuana eventually fell out, according to authorities. Glenn told police he hadn't meant to bite anyonebut did so "because she stuck her fingers in his mouth and he did not like that," according to the affidavit. Please see.