“If it doesn’t have to do with Campbell County, we don’t care!”

For subscriptions/home deliveries go to www.campbellcountyobserver.net

Sign up for FallLeagues NOW!

Valid with coupon only! Expires Sept. 15th, 2011

Good for 1 to 4 people.One coupon per visit.

BUY 1 GAMEGET 1 GAMEFREE

Call 682 - 4811 for info

1005 W. 2nd St.1005 W. 2nd St.

Mens - Womens - Kids

Volume 1 • Issue 21 August 26 - September 2, 2011

10% OFFAuthentic Italian

Cuisine

(307) 670-90052610 S. Douglas Hwy.

Suite 220

EntreesAlcoholic Drinks not included.

One coupon per customer per entrée.Valid with coupon only!

Adriano’s�Italian�Restaurant

“If it doesn’t have to do with Campbell County, we don’t care!” www.campbellcountyobserver.net June 17 - 24, 2011

P

atriot Publishing

The Campbell County Observer

P

atriot Publishing $1.00

Residents throughout northern Campbell County awoke this week to the recogniz-able smell of burning wildfi res.

Current conditions from wildfi res in Campbell County are causing a concen-tration of visible smoke. As a result, the Campbell County Public Health offi cials are encouraging area residents to be mindful of the potential health effects caused by smoke from wildfi res.

Wildfi re smoke can hurt your eyes, ag-gravate respiratory problems, and worsen the symptoms of heart or lung disease.

Everyone should use common sense when their local air is smoky and avoid heavy outdoor exercise. People who have heart and respiratory conditions including allergies, asthma, and chronic obstructive

pulmonary disease are especially suscep-tible to wildfi re smoke’s ill effects. Those who are at risk, including the elderly and young children, should be especially care-ful in limiting their smoke exposure.

The largest fi re in the area is the 2,000 acre Rourke Fire located approximately 10 to 15 miles north of Gillette along Highway 59. Lightning sparked the Rourke Fire began Sunday night or Monday morning. As a result of Tuesday’s high winds and hot temperatures, the fi re grew over 550 percent from 300 acres to 2,000 acres in one day. As a result, Campbell County Emergency Agency issued an emergency evacuation for residents living in the Wild-wood Camp Area Tuesday night.

Wildfi re smoke can cause health concerns, offi cials warn

By Paul Wallem - Basin Radio News

Photo by Nathan Kobielusz - Basin RadioSmoke from the 2,000 acre Rourke fi re burning along Highway 59

approximately 10 to 15 miles north of Gillette.

After passing the great little town of Lander, we started on the uphill climb into the mountains. Our destination was a place where everyone carries fi rearms and sleeps in tents, the kids fi sh and frolic, and the talk of the day is liberty. Camp-bell County had four representatives at this prestigious event. These included Representative Sue Wallis, her husband and cowboy poet Rod McQueary, radio show host Glenn Woods, and owner of the Campbell County Observer Nick De Laat.

Saturday morning started off with a great breakfast, coffee, and a beautiful sunrise over the mountains. The kids played, the adults set up their booths and tables, and away we went with Wyoming Liberty Fest 2011. After arrival, the learning and shar-ing commenced.

State Senator Cale Case, who is rated #1 on the state liberty index, started out with a speech about how “we have a liberty loosing tax system,” describing how much people in Wyoming unknowingly are expanding government here naively and with the help of our mineral wealth, which takes tax burdens away from citizens, and therefore makes it easier to spend the highest amount of money than any other state freely, even down to the local governments.

One of Campbell County’s State Repre-sentatives, Sue Wallis, spoke of food free-dom. “Nothing is more fundamental than food and water,” she started. “We are importing so much food compared to how much we produce, we are only a natural disaster away from what a wise man once said ‘the difference between civilization and savagery is 3 days without food.’”

Representative Wallis went on to say that the total cost of regulation is nearly 2 trillion dollars, but those government re-sources are not regulating the major pro-ducing companies, but the local farmers and ranchers. “We raise the best cattle in the world, but we can’t feed it to our kids at school. Instead, we have to give them offi cially certifi ed commodity meat from the lowest bidder nationwide. You can’t buy a quart of fresh milk from your neighbor if he just milked his cow.”

“When are you going to miss the taste of that fresh tomato that was not made for transport how about that cream straight

from the cow, or the sweet honey from the hive? Instead you have swat teams mov-ing in on an Amish family selling raw milk, federal raids on natural producers/sellers, and many more. Where is the satisfaction going to be while feeding the giant trough of the big elitists who are taking our right to grow and eat our own food?”

Campbell County’s own radio talk show host Glenn Woods spoke next. “This is God’s country right? Well it is good that the bureaucrats got involved when the settlers moved out here. There were rules for wagons including wheel size and weight limits. You need a CDL to drive it, and look at the carbon foot print that the oxen are leaving. There was title, rules for agriculture, and subsidies to move out…No, if this was the case, we would not have made it.” He moved his speech with humor based on fact. “The ones who couldn’t make it in Wyoming moved on to California. The tough carried through and worked this land and they had the liberty to do so.” He ended talking about how lib-erty is precious and needs to be sustained at all costs.

Taylor Haynes stood up as the keynote speaker of the day. He started about the starving times of the colonies, and where in order to survive, free enterprise was born. He went on through a history to the revolution. He showed how with liberty in religion and economics we became the greatest nation in the history of civilization. He went on to talk about changing back to that liberty which we lost not by a new constitutional convention or revolution but with involvement and intelligent debate. “What’s the thing Wyoming is missing? Free enterprise, we need a place for the conservatives to go. We have too many regulations. The reason is apathy from ignorance.”

Shepard Humphries spoke about what to do if you fi nd yourself in a situation where you had to use deadly force to defend yourself. Anthony Bouchard spoke of tactics used to gain back our Second Amendment rights. A member of the Wyoming Liberty Group Steve Klein talked about “Another year of founding principles guiding innovative solutions in Wyoming.”

Former Governor Candidate Taylor Haynes spoke of our history and what we

did to create liberty in the free market. There was also a fi rearm workshop, a barbeque dinner, and the best of all the Soap Box Speeches, where you stand on a soap box and talk for 3 min. The winner, a 12 year old boy, received money and a trophy.

What a great weekend for liberty full of great people, good speeches, and lasting friendships. If you are a lover of liberty and want to learn how to fi ght for it within our political system, think about coming out to Lander next year for a weekend of fun, it will be worth it!

Four Representatives from Campbell Co. attend Wyoming Liberty Fest

By Nicholas DeLaat

Earlier this year on February 22, City of Gillette Council members voted to deny El Michoacano’s liquor license renewal after the restaurant had continuous problems complying with the requirements of the license.

Specifi cally, city attorney Charlie Anderson said El Michoacano was not purchasing its liquor from the Wyoming Liquor Division as required under Wyoming law. The restaurant was also not paying sales use taxes.

In actuality, Casa del Rey owned the liquor license and had a contract agreement with El Michoacano. Previously, Casa del Rey was consid-ered a good operator of the license and after the city council denied El Michoacano the renewal, Casa del Rey began attempting to get that license back.

In March, City of Gillette Council-

woman Louise Carter-King ex-pressed concern that Casa del Rey was not more diligent.

Anderson said a hearing was set for the appeal last week; however, the appeal never occurred.

“We had discussions with the at-torneys for the owners of that liquor license, and they basically decided that they didn’t want to proceed with the hearing on appeal and so we agreed to dismiss it.”

According to City of Gillette public information offi cer Joe Lunne, the dismissal means the City of Gillette has three full retail liquor licenses available. Currently, the city council is reviewing the procedures and criteria for awarded retail liquor licenses, and they will not award any new licenses until after November 1, 2011.

Liquor license appeal dismissed

By Paul Wallem - Basin Radio News

2

Community

At the Gillette City Council pre-meeting on Monday, City Councilman John Opseth introduced an issue brought to his attention from local business owners. Those busi-ness owners want the city council to review a city ordinance that prevents restaurant servers under 21-years old from carrying alcohol from the establishment’s bar to the tables they are serving.

Pokey’s BBQ owner Ric Schuyler says revising the law would make it a lot easier on his establishment.

“It would just make it a lot easier if an 18, 19, or 20 year old could take a beer or a mixed drink to a table,” Schuyler ex-plains. “Walking a newly poured beer to the table, an underage adult is not going to take a drink before the customer gets it. It is ridiculous.”

Likewise, Brian Kel-ley and his brother own restaurants in Gillette, Wyoming, and the region, including the Grub and Pub restau-rants of Humphrey’s, Sanford’s, and Uncle Freddie’s. Kelley be-lieves revising the current ordinance will make it easier for 18 to 20-year olds to seek employment in the food service industry.

“The bottom line is it opens up the employ-ee clientele that you can hire,” Kelley says. The ordinance as it stands right now, according to Kelley, cre-ates roadblocks for businesses.

“Say your bartender is 21 and your server is 18,” Kelley describes. “Well the server can’t take the drinks to the table. The bar-tender has to leave the bar which discounts your service right there.”

During the city council discussion, Coun-cilman Everett Boss, who also owns Boss Lodge, brought up the point that Wyoming statutes already permit 18, 19, and 20-year olds to serve alcohol to their tables. In turn, Opseth stated that he wants to see a list of other Wyoming cities and towns that do not have a city ordinance preventing anyone between 18 and 20 from serving alcohol.

Kelley says in the restaurants he owns and operates in Cheyenne, Casper, Sheri-dan, and South Dakota, servers between the ages of 18 and 20 are permitted to bring alcoholic beverages from the bar to their respective tables. As a result, Kelley believes restaurants in Gillette are at a dis-advantage.

Both Kelley and Schuyler would like to see 18, 19, and 20 year old restaurant servers allowed to bring alcohol to their pa-trons. If Gillette wants to grow as a college town, Kelley says, college jobs are needed.

“If kids are going to go to college, they need part-time jobs,” Kelley says. “One of the places where young women and men get their jobs is in the restaurant industry. They can’t get hired on. They can get hired on as a host or something like that and it’s hard to get into the service aspect or even give them that job because they can’t fully do the job correctly.”

During the city council’s discussion, Councilwomen Louise Carter-King remind-ed the council that this same issue was brought up in 2007. Carter-King and Boss both remembered the issue didn’t get very far.

Similarly, City of Gillette attorney Charlie Anderson says the issue never had much support in the city council four years ago.

“There were discussions back then that really had to do with the pinch that some of the restaurant owners and bar owners were feeling because of the huge demand for employees,” Anderson recalled. “So

there was some talk about correspond-ing our ordinances to state statutes which would allow 18, 19 and 20 year olds to serve in restaurants, and it was discussed but it ultimately didn’t have enough support at the council level to ever be introduced.”

Councilwomen Carter-King told the other city council members that during the 2007 discussions, then-police chief Rich Adri-aens was not a fan of changing the ordi-nance.

Current City of Gillette deputy police chief Sawley Wilde provided Basin Radio Net-work with a refresher about the concerns brought up in 2007.

“That was about the time we were insti-tuting the whole liquor license protocol at that time, and currently, the city ordinance says no one under 21 can pos-sess it,” Wilde says. “That was the inter-pretation of it at that time; if they’re bringing it out to a table they’re possessing it. The is-sues arise in who is responsible for carding at the table. Is an 18-year old responsible for carding another 18-year old? All those types of peripheral is-sues is where the dis-cussion went.”

In an email, proj-ect coordinator for the Substance Abuse

Advisory Council Kellie Furman said the current ordinance is in place to protect the community’s youth. The current ordinance, she writes, sends a strong message to local youth that they cannot possess, consume, or handle alcohol in any manner until they reach the age of 21. On the other hand, making exceptions to the current restric-tions would send a confusing message, ac-cording to Furman.

“[Making exceptions] puts our youth at risk of potential peer pressure situations, such as having to I.D. underage friends or having those friends ask to be served al-cohol, even though it is against the law,” Furman says.

Nevertheless, Schuyler argues the cur-rent city ordinance is not consistent when it comes to minors handling alcohol because underage server assistants can clear alco-holic beverages from their tables after the customer leaves.

“The thing that irritates me the most is that a 21-year old has to take it to the table, but yet a 14-year old can take it from the table,” he says. “I don’t think it deters teen-age drinking in any way, shape, or form to restrict a business owner from allowing an 18-year old or 19-year old to take it from the bar to the table.”

Kelley echoed Schuyler’s sentiment.“People think that they’re going to drink

the drinks on the way to the table,” Kelley describes. “I’ve never ever in the 25-year I’ve been doing this job ever seen that.”

During Monday’s discussion, Council-man Opseth told City of Gillette Mayor Tom Murphy that he wants to have additional information on the subject from other mu-nicipalities, as well as comments from the public, by the end of the month.

The Mayor responded by saying getting the public’s feedback and dealing with the issue as soon as possible might be a good idea. That assessment by the Mayor was not met with any resistance by city staff or council members at that time.

Editor’s Note: Basin Radio Network news director Paul Wallem is a contributing member to the Substance Abuse Advisory Council’s media subcommittee.

Why Can’t They Serve?By Paul Wallem - Basin Radio News

I Buy MilitariaI Buy Militaria

US · German · Japanese · BritishItalian · WW1 · WW2

Need an apprasial? Give me a call!

Also Buying Antique Ri�es and Handguns

Je� @ 307-682-7864

· Medals

· Field Gear

· Swords

· Ammunition

· Bayonets

· Ri�es

· Pistols

· Ordinance

· Parts

· Uniforms

· Medals

Old Military Equipment

Veteran Owned Business

ANY MILITARY FROM ANY ERAANY MILITARY FROM ANY ERA

STINSON STINSONCONSTRUCTION, L.L.C.

DirtRoad

Work.Blading

andHauling.

Lowest Rates! Best Quality!Call Bowman for your free quote! 307-660-2532Call Bowman for your free quote! 307-660-2532

Lakeside Salon

Valid with coupon only!

Get a jump on your summer tan!

1 Tanning Session50% OFF

Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful

128 Pine Haven Rd., Suite 102Pine Haven, WY(307) 680-0205

Shenna KnodelOwner/Stylist

Surplus Unlimitedand

GUN TRADERS

801 Carlisle, Gillette, WY 82716307-686-7519

We are opening back up.

Subscribe Now

12 Weeks - $12.00

26 Weeks - $25.00

52 Weeks - $50.00

Mail this form, along with payment,

to our office at 5105 Tarry St. Sleepy Hollow

(Campbell County), WY82718

NameAddressPhone Number

To Pay with a Credit/Debit Card, please call our office at (307) 670-8980

or visit our website at www.campbellcountyobserver.com

3

Community

2012 XLR’S STARTING AT $27,9002012 SANDSTORM TOY HAULER $27,900

NEW CEDAR CREEK STARTING AT $39,900Best Prices, Best Service, No Hassle Sales, Serving Gillette for Over 22 Years

with Integrity and the Lowest Prices in the Region!

EastsideRV’s Inc.

1200 E. Hwy 14-16 · Gillette, WY307-686-1435www.eastsidervs.com

M-F 9am - 6pm · Sat. 9am - 3pm

22nd Annual

ROCKWOOD TOY HAULER 282Slide, Toilet & Shower, Toy Hauler

Only $129/mo. WAC or $10,900!

ROCKWOOD 1940 FREEDOMSleeps 6!

Only $125/mo. WAC or $6,795!

ATTITUDE 21’ TOY HAULERGen., Fuel Station, Power Bed Was $30,982, Closeout $21,900

Only $239/mo. WAC -0- Down!

SHASTA 24’ BUNKHOUSE3 Bunks, Queen Bed, Loaded!

Only $189/mo. WAC or $15,900!

LABOR DAYRV SALELABOR DAYRV SALE

Huge Savings

on 2011

Closeouts!!!

307-686-66661103 E. Boxelder, Suite CGillette, WY USA 82718

Ladder climbing equipment

Now Offering a 90 DaySleep Guarantee*

Now Offering a 90 DaySleep Guarantee*

We keep our mattresses in stock!Buy it today... Sleep on it tonight!

Present this Coupon for

FREE LOCAL DELIVERYon purchases of $599 or more of regularly priced mattress sets!

Cannot be combined with other offers. Expires 8/31/11

408 S. Douglas Hwy (Next to Pokey’s)

307-682-7828Mon-Sat 10am-6pm

*see store for details

A state-wide effort to help bring closure to families who lost a veteran began in June 2010 with monthly memorial services conduct-ed by the Wyoming Army National Guard’s Honor Guard Team, in partnership with the Wyoming Veterans Commission.

The next ceremony will be held in Casper, at the Oregon Trail State Veter-ans Cemetery, Aug. 31, at noon, with participation from the Natrona County United Veterans Council,

other individual veterans, and the Wyoming Army Na-tional Guard Honor Guard. The public is encouraged to attend.

The goal is to provide military honors to a larger number of deserving Wyo-ming veterans.

The service opens with the Pledge of Allegiance, a prayer, the reading of the names of the Wyoming vet-erans who died during the month, a rifle volley, the playing of “Taps” and the folding of the U.S. flag.

The Wyoming Army Na-tional Guard provides free military honors for veter-ans’ individual services; however, some veterans, for one reason or another, never receive the honors due.

Veterans’ organizations interested participating in future services should contact the Wyoming Army National Guard’s military funeral honors office at 307-772-5136.

Wyoming ARNG hosts monthly memorial for

veterans in August

Gillette’s Campbell Coun-ty Republican Women will host the state Biennial Convention of the Federa-tion of Republican Women, September 9, 10, and 11. Inspired by the Centennial Year of Campbell County, the theme is “Energy for the Next 100 Years.” Sue Lynch, President of the Na-tional FRW, will attend all 3 days as featured guest and speaker. Wyoming’s federal, state, and local Republican officeholders have been invited. Camp-bell County delegates and alternates to the conven-tion are Pam Werner, Mary Horning, Michelle Rodgers, Gayle Cooper, Cheryl Chit-wood, and Mary Silvernell.

A reception for delegates and local members will be held Friday, September 9, at the home of Norine Kas-perik, State Representative District 32. Representative Kasperik is a past presi-dent of both the Campbell County and the Wyoming Federation of Republican Women. An auction of gift baskets and other items will be conducted by Glenn Woods of Basin Radio and Republican County Chair-man David Horning.

Gillette Mayor Tom Mur-phy will open the Conven-tion with a welcome to del-egates Saturday morning in Presentation Hall at the Gillette College. Wyoming Federation President Dar-

lene Vaughan of Lander will chair the proceedings. Fol-lowing the business meet-ing Convention goers will travel to Eagle Butte Coal Mine and then to Durham Buffalo Ranch for a tour and cookout.

CCFRW will conclude business on Sunday with a commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001, and a tribute to Wyoming’s fallen soldiers. Associate Member Chris Smith and State Repre-sentative Gregg Blikre will recognize those Wyoming sons, daughters and fa-thers who have died in ser-vice since “9/11”.

Gillette’s Campbell County Republican Women

to host state convention By Mary Horning

4

Community

BIG HORN TIRE, INC.

Gillette, WY Exit 124 o� I-90307-682-9411

SWEDE’S SPECIALTIES

www.swedesspecialties.comCheck out our web site for a variety of products

Home Brew has Natural Pro Biotics and No PreservativesAND its Less Expensive and Healthier!

Don't whine if you can't �nd good wine,Swede can help you to make �ne wine.From either the box or the vine!Try it and see and you will agreehow easy �ne wine can be.

Swede's Specialties has your wine making supplies,from starter kits to ingredient kits, and more!

Beer supplies too!

Sturgis is a blast!! Says many of the Campbell County resi-dents who took the ride over there during the rally. The Camp-bell County Observer received over 500 photos, so we decid-ed to print only one of our submissions.

Photos by John Lasek

Friday, August 26-TSJH 8th & 9th Grade Schedule Pick-Up,

9 a.m.- 3 p.m.-Microsoft Access 2007 Level I, 9 a.m.- 4

p.m., K2 Technologies 686-3025-Side by Side Mud Races, 1 p.m., Wright-Teen Open-Play Video Gaming, 1-4 p.m.,

CCPL-Lazy L Band Live in Concert, 7 p.m., Gil-

lette College Tech. Center, 686-0254 ext. 2352 for more info.

Saturday, August 27-Farmer’s Market, 8 a.m.- 12 p.m., Gillette

College-Trash to Trees, 8 a.m.- 12 p.m., Gillette

College Tech. Center-Cox Productions Team Roping, 9 a.m.-

10 p.m., Camplex East Pavilion, Doug Cox (307)682-9872

-Teen Chess Club, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., CCPL-Teen Dungeons & Dragons, 10 a.m.- 1

p.m., CCPL-4th-6th Grade WiiPlay Saturday, 1-4 p.m.,

CCPL-Teen Open-Play Video Gaming, 1-4 p.m.,

CCPL-Out of the Darkness Walk, 1 p.m., TSJH,

To Be a Fundraiser,Walker or Donator call Charles Eddie Ed-

wards @ 685-2741-Car Racing; CLMA/WDRA, 7 p.m., Gillette

Thunder Speedway

Sunday, August 28-Senior Center- CLOSED-CCPL- CLOSED-Cox Productions Team Roping, 9 a.m.-

10 p.m., Camplex East Pavilion, Doug Cox (307)682-9872

Monday, August 29-FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL-Cottonwood Open House, 8-9 a.m.-Kappucino Kaper, 8:15-11 a.m., WBL-Windows 7 Basic, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., K2 Tech-

nologies, 682-3025-Little Powder Open House, 5:30-7:30 p.m.-AVA-Life Drawing Class, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, August 30-HealthCHECK Testing, 7-11 a.m., CCMH

Lab 688-1222-Senior Center, Vet’s Breakfast, 8-9 a.m.,

686-0804

-Microsoft Excel Level 3D ONLINE, 9-10:30 a.m., 686-3025

-Microsoft Word Level 1A ONLINE, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 686-3025

-Microsoft Word Level 1B ONLINE, 1-2:30 p.m., 686-3025

-Teen Card Game Club, 4-6 p.m., CCPL-Green Drinks, 5:30-7 p.m., Clarion Inn,

686-5228 for more info.-All About Women Monthly Meeting, 5:30

p.m., Brother’s Coffee-AVA-Adult Beginner Painting, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, August 31-Children’s Immunization Clinic, 8-11:30

a.m., Public Health-Microsoft Word 2007 Level I, 9 a.m.- 12

p.m., K2 Technologies, 686-3025-Ribbon Cutting: Send Out Cards, 12:45

p.m., Chamber Offi ce-Microsoft Excel 2007 Level I, 1-4 p.m., K2

Technologies, 686-3025

Thursday, September 1-Gillette Area Leadership Tuition, 682-3673-HealthCHECK Testing, 7-11 a.m., CCMH

Lab 688-1222-Senior Center, The Lodge Bus, 9 a.m.,

686-0804-Microsoft Word 2007 Level I, 9 a.m.- 12

p.m., K2 Technologies, 686-3025-Microsoft Excel 2007 Level I, 1-4 p.m., K2

Technologies, 686-3025-4-J Open House, 6:30 p.m.-Parent Meeting for Environmental Camp

1-3, 6:30 p.m., Sunfl ower-AVA- Adult Intermediate Painting, 6:30

p.m.-Prenatal Series, 7-9 p.m., Series of 4

Classes Begins 1st Thursday of Every Month,688-2200 for more info. & to register

Friday, September 2-Wyoming Bike MS: Close Encounters

Ride, Sundance Courthouse Lawn, 682-3673 for more info.

-Senior Center- 1st National Bank Birthday Dinner

-WJSH Drama Auditions, Town Hall-NADAC Dog Agility, 8 a.m.- 3 p.m., Cam-

plex Barn 3, Barbara Steele 682-0552-Microsoft Word 2010 Level I, 9 a.m.- 4

p.m., K2 Technologies, 686-3025

What’s Going On?

The City of Gillette’s Utilities Department and the Engineering and Development Services Department announced several road construction updates.

Please remember that school is back in session on Monday, August 29th. Please watch out for, and yield to, pedestrians en-tering and within crosswalks. The Gillette Police Department will also be performing Directed Traffi c Enforcement Patrols in School Zone areas - so make sure to ob-serve and obey posted speed limits near schools.

Following are road construction updates courtesy of the City of Gillette.

1st StreetPaving should be complete this week.

1st Street from 200’ east of 4J Road to Richards Avenue will be closed from Fri-day, August 19th through Saturday, Sep-tember 3rd for the installation of Sanitary Sewer drop manholes.

Enzi DriveWidening Project

Asphalt paving and striping activities will begin Monday, August 15th, on Enzi Drive from approximately 400’ south of West 4J Road through 500’ south of Shoshone Av-enue.

Please note that the north and south bound traffi c on Enzi Drive will be main-tained and that the closures for the above intersections should only last for 24 hours, but any delay may cause them to be closed for a longer period of time. Please observe the posted signs in the area to navigate through the detour.

The Enzi Drive Widening Project is fund-ed by the Optional 1% Sales Tax.

Garner Lake RoadLane constriction on northbound Garner

Lake Road will take place from Wednes-day, August 3rd through Wednesday, August 31st. The contractor is installing storm drain improvements under Garner Lake Road in conjunction with the Inter-state Industrial Park Drainage Project. This project is funded by the Optional 1% Sales Tax.

Clarion Drive & Clarion Court

Clarion Drive and Clarion Court will be under construction from Monday, August 15th through Sunday, August 27th while

the contractor performs asphalt patching, asphalt pavement repair and an asphalt overlay. This work is for the City’s Pave-ment Management Schedule A and is funded by the Optional 1% Sales Tax.

Alley Closures The alley between Rohan Avenue and

4J Road from 3rd Street to 4th Street will be closed to through traffi c from Saturday, August 20th through Saturday, Septem-ber 3rd while crews install Sanitary Sewer lines. This sewer installation is part of the City’s 2010 Sanitary Sewer Main replace-ment and is funded by the Optional 1% Sales Tax.

The alley between Ross Avenue and Warren Avenue from 1st Street to 2nd Street will be closed from Friday, August 5th through Saturday, August 27th while crews install sewer line associated with the Stonepile Creek Sewer Interceptor Phase IIB project.

Par DrivePar Drive will continue being under con-

struction from Monday, August 8th through Friday, August 26th for construction ac-tivities, including: asphalt pavement repair, asphalt overlay and subgrade prep. This project is part of the 2011 Pavement Man-agement Schedule A, and is funded by the Optional 1% Sales Tax.

Road Construction updates

Who’s Brand is this in Campbell County?

Find out in next week’sCampbell County Observer

5

Community

Are you paying $1,000 a month rent or more?

Own a home for less than you rent!

Come see us at Home Team Associates

We give you the personal con�dence oflocally owned and locally operated.

(307) 687-7070 · 2800 S. 4J RoadGillette, WY 82718

DOG GROOMING

AUDREY’S DOG GROOMING AND BOARDINGSOUTHVIEW SHOPPING CENTER #8

307-686-2363

Quality Grooming,Boarding, and

Organic Cat and DogFood.

Superior Service foryou and your animal

friends!

SIMPLY THE BESTWHERE THE NAME SAYS IT ALL

601 E. 4TH STREETGILLETTE WY 82718 307-686-9251

MISTY PETERSONOWNER/STYLIST

SIMPLYTHEBESTGILLETTE@GMAIL.COM

BACK TO THE RACK CONSIGNMENTS

2007 S. Douglas Hwy. Gillette, WY 82718Ph: (307) 685-2322

Hrs. - MWThF 10-5, Tues. 10-7, Sat. 10-4

Watch For Color Of The Day!!

50% OFF

IronArcP.O. Box 1073Gillette, WY 82717-1073

JAMES T. GARDNEROwner

Cell: 307-257-0370ironarc@gmail.com

Sales Rep Wantedfor Print Advertising.

Desirable Quali�cations: Self Motivation People Person Previous Local Sales Experience

e-mail CampbellCountyObserver@gmail.com or call 670-8980 to apply

August 17, 2011- At 5:59 AM to 3338 North

Garner Lake Road (Wyodak Coal Mine) for a haul truck fi re.

- At 12:23 PM to the area of Grandview Drive in Con-cho Valley for a reported small grass fi re in a fi eld. The fi re was quickly contained by CCFD crews and was one acre in size. The fi re was caused by an electrical short in the overhead wires.

- At 12: 38 PM to 1400 South Garner Lake Road (Settle Inn) for a fi re alarm. Plumbers who were solder-ing caused a smoke detector to go into alarm mode – no fi re.

- At 3:12 PM to a grass fi re East of South Highway 59 (1/2 mile north of Haight Road and 5 miles east of South Highway 59). The small grass fi re is believed to have been started by an electrical transformer.

- At 3:19 PM to Force Road (approximately ¼ mile west of Hidden Valley Subdivision) for a fi re in the trash com-partment of a garbage truck. The trash was dumped from the truck and extinguished. The fi re is believed to have started from an unidentifi ed hot/burning item picked up in someone’s trash. The truck is a 2009 Mack Front Load Truck and is operated by Ryan Sanitation. Preliminary fi re damage to the paint on the truck is $5,000.

- At 4:42 to Interstate 90 at mile marker 142 (West-bound lane) for a motorcycle accident with injury – driver transported by ambulance.

- At 7:19 PM to 1715 West Echeta Road for a trailer of hay on fi re. Firefi ghters were able to contain the fi re to the 5th wheel trailer and protected a 2000 Chevrolet Truck. The 2005 tandem axle twenty foot Featherlite Trailer and the eight large round hay bales were a total loss. More likely than not a hot wheel bearing started the trailer on fi re. The trailer is owned by Floyd Land & Livestock Inc. Preliminary fi re damage is $6,500.

August 18, 2011- At 10:56 AM CCFD re-

sponded to a grass fi re off Force Rd. and I-90 started by down electric lines. The lines were knocked down by the mast of a truck.

- At 11:42 AM to the area of the Keeline Road off of the Hilight Road for a small grass fi re that was started by a passing train. The fi re was contained to less than 2 acres in size.

- At 2:41 PM to the area of 31 mile south of Gillette on South Highway 50 for a grass fi re. The fi re was quickly contained to 8 acres in size and was started acci-dentally by a vehicle that had a mechanical failure.

- At 4:10 PM CCFD re-sponded to a medical on the 2400 block of Dogwood Ave.

August 19, 2011- At 6:20 AM CCFD re-

sponded to the 400 block of Prairieview Dr. for a medical assist.

- At 8:41 PM to the inter-section of Kluver Road and Gurley Avenue for a medi-cal assist – Fire Department cancelled enroute.

- At 11:37 PM to the 300 block of Ross Avenue for a medical assist.

August 21, 2011- At 3:55 p.m. to the area

of mile marker 77 on North HWY 14-16 for a grass fi re. CCFD responded to the scene and upon arrival found a 10 acre fi re burn-ing in grass and sage brush. CCFD attacked the blaze and brought it under control in approximately 2 hours. The fi re burned a total of 60 acres and was caused by an electrical short.

- At 5:42 p.m. to 2200 South Douglas HWY for a 2 vehicle collision. CCFD responded to the scene and upon arrival it was deter-mined no one was injured in the crash.

- At 6:05 p.m. to Lasting Legacy Park for an EMS as-sist.

- At 7:47 p.m. to the area of Japps arena on HWY 59 for

an EMS assist.- At 9:55 p.m. to the area

of Middle Prong Road for a grass fi re. CCFD responded to the scene and upon arrival

- At 10:04 p.m. to 1198 Olmstead Road for a timber fi re. CCFD responded to the scene and upon arrival found a fi re less than 1 acre in size that had been extinguished by rains in the area. The fi re was caused by lightning.

- At 10:12 p.m. to 378 Recluse Road. CCFD re-sponded to the scene and upon arrival found a fi re less than 1 acre in size that had been mostly extinguished by citizens. CCFD assisted with mopping up the fi re. The fi re was caused by lightning.

- At 10:15 p.m. to the area of 508 Elk Creek Road for two timber fi res. CCFD re-sponded to the scene but was only able to access one of the fi res. The fi re was ap-proximately 20 acres and started by lightning. Crews contained the fi re and contin-ued to work on extinguishing it at press time. The second fi re could not be reached at night due to rough terrain and safety concerns. Crews will make their way into the fi re at day break on 8/22.

- At 10:31 to the area of the Kennedy Ranch on North HWY 59 for a grass fi re. CCFD responded to the scene and upon arrival found a less than 1 acre fi re that had been extinguished by rain. The fi re was caused by lightning.

- At 11:38 p.m. to the area of North Hepner Road for a grass fi re. The fi re was ex-tinguished by rains and was less than 1 acre in size.

August 23, 2011- At 02:09 AM to the area of

Lakeway Rd. and Ridgecrest for an agency assist.

- At 08:41 AM to the 1000 block of Country Club Rd. for an EMS assist.

- At 3:32 PM to the 3600 block of N. Highway 14/16 for an automatic fi re alarm, cancelled en route.

- At 3:58 PM to the 400 block of Arapahoe Ave. for

Campbell Co. Fire Dept.

The Wyoming Offi ce of Tourism (WOT) is putting in some extra effort to extend visitation to the state well into the fall months.

“Many businesses were adversely effected in the early part of the summer, so we are extending our fall campaign through Sep-tember and adding eight new markets to our cam-paign for more lift,” said Diane Shober, Director of the WOT. “This investment tops $180,000 in additional advertising.”

The new markets that will be added include: Rapid City, Billings, Butte/Boz-

eman, Pocatello, Idaho Falls, Boise and Omaha. These markets are in addi-tion to comprehensive cam-paigns already running in Denver and Salt Lake City. The ad campaign in each of the new markets will in-clude TV and a newspaper insert driving consumers to www.roadtripwyoming.com where they can learn more about the great road trips throughout the state as well as great Deals and Packages offered by tour-ism industry businesses.

In addition to the extend-ed fall efforts in these new markets, the WOT is also

taking advantage of the taping of the Modern Fam-ily 2011 season premier in Jackson at the Lost Creek Ranch. The cast and crew are in Wyoming for the tap-ing the week of August 15 and the season premier is scheduled for September 21. The WOT is placing TV commercials during the premier as well as work-ing with ABC.com to place ads on the Modern Fam-ily page and the ABC.com home page. Added visibility through Hulu.com will also be purchased and a new venture into social media advertising on Facebook

will also be a part of the Modern Family initiative.

“The Modern Family ini-tiative will tie in nicely with the additional advertising to give Wyoming a strong presence in the media us-ing multiple platforms,” Shober added.

To follow the media expo-sure for the Modern Fam-ily fi lming in Wyoming click this RSS feed (best viewed in Internet Explorer or Firefox: https://us.vocuspr.com/Publish/517990/MOD-ERNFAMILY.xml

Wyoming Offi ce of Tourism extends fall campaign

a structure fi re. The fi re was contained to an exterior deck of the residence. The cause of the fi re is under investiga-tion.

- At 6:04 PM to the 900 block of Camel Dr. for a bro-ken fi re sprinkler system.

The Wyoming Depart-ment of Health is reminding people that not all docu-ments labeled as “birth certifi cates” are considered as offi cial birth certifi cates frequently needed to prove identity.

“If you are trying to re-new or obtain your driver’s license and want to use a birth certifi cate to prove identity, a hospital birth cer-tifi cate will not work,” said Matthew Rowe, registration supervisor with Vital Statis-tics Services. “These are essentially souvenirs with little legal value that cannot be used to prove identity.”

The Wyoming Depart-ment of Transportation be-gan requiring offi cial proof of identity for driver’s li-censes earlier this year to be consistent with federal security regulations. Offi -cial birth certifi cates are the most common document accepted under the new laws as proof of identity.

“We want to help people understand the important

differences between sou-venir certifi cates often pro-vided by hospitals and offi -cial birth certifi cates so they may avoid a frustrating visit to their local Driver Servic-es offi ce,” Rowe said.

Rowe offered some tell-tale signs of souvenir hos-pital birth certifi cates:

• There are baby foot-prints on the document.

• The mother or father’s fi nger print is on the certifi -cate.

• There is a gold (or other color) seal from the hospi-tal.

Offi cial birth certifi cates, Rowe said, include these features:

• A state fi le number in the top right corner.

• It will show city and county of birth, rather than the facility name.

• Shows the birthplace for the mother and the father.

• Shows the date of birth or age at the time of birth for the mother and the fa-ther.

• Shows a date issued at the bottom.

• Regardless of how old the certifi cate is, the record will be issued on security paper.

For people born in Wyo-ming, certifi ed copies of their offi cial birth certifi -cates are available from Vital Statistics Services, which is part of the Wyo-ming Department of Health.

Vital Statistics Services is located in Cheyenne at 2300 Capitol Avenue on the fi rst fl oor of the Hathaway Building. For more informa-tion or to order a certifi ed birth certifi cate for those born in Wyoming, please visit the offi ce, call at 307-777-7591 or go tohttp://www.health.wyo.gov/rfhd/vitalrecords/index.html. The offi ce does charge $13 to provide the certifi cates.

Individuals born in other states can fi nd where to get a certifi ed birth certifi cate by visiting http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w.htm.

Department of Health: Not all “Birth Certifi cates” offi cial

6

Community

Authentic BarBQue & Smoked MeatsDINE IN · TAKE OUT · CATERING

408 S. Douglas HighwayGillette, Wyoming 82716307.687.7653

$2.00 OFFprime Ribdinner

Award

Winning Smoked

Prime Rib

The Campbell County Observer Staff

Candice De Laat - Owner/PublisherCandiceDeLaat@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Nicholas De Laat - Owner/EditorNicholasDeLaat@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Keary Speer - EditorKearySpeer@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Owen Clarke - Ad DesignOwenClarke@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Ken McCoy - Distribution Manager

Pattie Ladd - What’s Going OnPattieLadd@CampbellCountyObserver.com

WritersSandra Boehler (Charities/Fundraisers/Veterans Events)SandraBoehler@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Glenn Woods (Political Column)GlennWoods@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Mike Borda (American History)MichaelBorda@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Elizabeth Albin (Wright)ElizabethAlbin@campbellcountyobserver.com

Lin StephensLinStephens@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Josh Uzarski (Science)JoshuaUzarski@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Ken De Laat (About Nothing)KennethDeLaat@CampbellCountyObserver.com

“Juice” (Political Cartoonist)Juice@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Jeff Morrison (Local History Contributor)JeffMorrison@CampbellCountyObserver.com

Rod McQueary and little Harvey Hibbert show off the Camp-bell County Observer in Lander, Wyoming.

Readers on the Road

***The Campbell County Observer welcomes “Readers on the Road” submisisons. Take a picture of yourself and your family holding the Campbell County Observer while you are somewhere out of the county and submit it to us at 5105 Tarry St., Gillette, WY 82718 or by email at CampbellCountyObserver@gmail.com.

Monday, August 29-City Council Work Session Meeting, 6-7 p.m., 2nd Floor

Community Room, City Hall

What’s Going On In Government?

The University of Wyo-ming, with students from more than 75 countries, is a diverse place where the use of different languages is common.

This week, though, UW was introduced to a new language: The National Center for Atmospheric Research’s (NCAR) Com-mand Language.

To bolster its deepen-ing relationship with UW, NCAR staged one of its cutting-edge workshops for the fi rst time in Wyoming, using lectures, tutorials and hands-on computer work to educate researchers on how to analyze scientifi c data through calculations and visualizations.

“It’s been a good learning experience,” says Damao Zhang, a UW Ph.D. stu-dent from China who stud-ies atmospheric science. “The NCAR teachers are very good. They know their software and they provide a good guide on how you can learn it, even in just a few days. This is a great oppor-tunity to learn tools that are going to be useful for me in the future.”

With its newest super-computing facility being constructed some 45 miles east of Laramie, NCAR saw the four-day work-shop in the UW College of Engineering building as a “perfect opportunity” to strengthen its partnership with the university, says NCAR software engineer Mary Haley.

The Cheyenne-based

NCAR-Wyoming Super-computing Center (NWSC) is being developed in part-nership with UW, the state of Wyoming, Cheyenne LEADS, the Wyoming Busi-ness Council and Chey-enne Light, Fuel and Pow-er. It will contain some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers dedicat-ed to improving scientifi c understanding of climate change, severe weather, air quality and other vital atmospheric science and geoscience topics. The center will also house a premier data storage and archival facility that holds irreplaceable historical cli-mate records and other in-formation.

The NWSC is expected to be in operation by June 2012.

“The more people we have on campus with an understanding of NCAR Command Language (NCL), the more we’ll be able to take advantage of the time we have on the su-percomputer,” says Bryan Shader, a special assistant to the Vice President for Research and Economic Development and UW’s liaison with NCAR. “We’ll use the supercomputer to crunch all the data. But when we need to see it, present it to the public or analyze it, we fi rst need to understand the language.”

While NCL could easily “take a semester” to learn, Haley says NCAR maxi-mizes its short time with students by encouraging

them to use their own data.“We teach them how to

use NCL to analyze their own data sets instead of providing canned examples or saying, ‘Here’s a toy ex-ample to try,’ because we want them to not only learn NCL but retain what they’ve learned,” says Haley, one of three NCAR instructors at the workshop. “They’re going to be much more like-ly to remember how to use the language when they looked at their own data.”

The workshop included 24 participants: 14 UW stu-dents, four UW faculty or staff researchers and six students supported by the National Science Founda-tion’s Experimental Pro-gram to Stimulate Competi-tive Research (EPSCoR).

“Any workshop that NCAR organizes is really good,” says Sasha Hara-ruk, a Ph.D. student from the University of Oklahoma who studies solar-terrestrial ecology. “Last year, I visited the CLM workshop at Boul-der, Colo., and that helped me a lot. So has this work-shop. It helps a lot to listen to lectures, to have practice sessions like we do and to have instructors coming up to you and asking, ‘What do you need help with?’”

“It’s also nice because you bring your actual data and that helps to advance your own studies.”

UW researchers will likely have more opportunities to train with NCAR scientists, Shader says.

The Offi ce of Academic

Workshop strengthens UW-NCAR partnership

Affairs has funded en-hancements to a campus computer lab, equipping the space with the appro-priate technology to con-duct future workshops.

“This,” says Shader, “is just the fi rst of what we hope will be a series of workshops on high-per-formance computing with NCAR.”

To learn more about the NWSC project, go to the website at http://nwsc.ucar.edu/ .

Millions of students, teachers and scout lead-ers around the country are preparing to go back to school – and many are also planning a return to the outdoors. On Saturday, September 24th, more than 170,000 Americans will vol-unteer across the country on National Public Lands Day (NPLD). Students from elementary school to college are signing up to build trails, remove inva-sive plants and trash, paint signs, beautify landscapes, and more on America’s public lands.

“Every year, Boy and Girl Scout troops from Massa-chusetts to Alaska play a major role in making NPLD a success – and this year is no exception,” said Robb Hampton, program direc-tor for NPLD, a program of the National Environmen-tal Education Foundation. “Students from public and private schools, 4-H groups and colleges, like the Uni-versity of Illinois and Middle Tennessee State Univer-sity, have also committed their time.”

Events held at city and county parks, neighbor-hood green spaces, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and coastal areas are ex-pected to draw the largest crowds in the program’s history.

“In addition to the time and energy volunteers put into making parks better, NPLD is about introducing young people and adults to the opportunities public lands offer for them to be active and to give back to their communities,” said Hampton. “For example, one teacher in Oregon has had her 6th grade students involved for the last fi ve years planting trees and picking up litter near an his-toric hydropower site.”

As the nation’s largest one-day volunteer event in support of public lands, NPLD hosts more than 2,000 sites in all 50 states and the District of Colum-bia with a wide array of activities. Volunteers’ one-day efforts will equal more than $15 million in improve-ments.

“Every year, students and

scouts apply the time they spend volunteering during NPLD toward service hours and scouting badges,” said Hampton. “Students re-ceive credit, but they also have the chance to spend time outdoors, be active and work with their neigh-bors and friends.”

NPLD is also a fee-free day in many federally man-aged lands, and volunteers who participate are given coupons for a second free entry into a national park or other federal public land.

“Public lands can be anything from a small playground downtown to a sprawling national park. The size and scope of the land is as immense as the natural resources and fam-ily and recreation activities available to visitors,” added Hampton. “They are in ev-ery community for all peo-ple to enjoy, and are the re-sponsibility of every citizen as well.”

To fi nd a site, or register a new site near you, visit www.publiclandsday.org.

National Public Lands DayBy Amber Taylor

7

Community

Everything Kids Consignments

(307) 685-3001114 S. Gillette Ave.

From Tummy To Early Teens

Consignment Days - Wed. & Sat.Consignor Pay-out on Thursdays only

New and used clothingHours - Mon., Tues., Thur., Fri. 9:30 - 5:00

Wed. 10:30-6:00 Sat. 10:00-4:00

Select NewJeans ApokalypseGo WearGeGeAndre BiniAll 25% OFF for Back to School Clothes

Tuesday Sale

25%OFF CLO

THING

IT’S ABOUT LONGITUDEOpen To Public!

For questions call Steve Barbour at (307) 660-2573

Our keynote speaker this year is Ms Jessica Cox, the �rst licensed pilot to �y without arms. If that isn’t enough, Jessica is also the �rst person without arms to get a black-belt in the American

Tae Kwon-Do Association. Ms cox, who is recognized internationally as a motivational speaker, has traveled around the world sharing her stories of struggles and successes. She says, “I am convinced that how we react has a greater impact on our lives than our physical constraints. I provide unique

and personal insight on how best to approach a challenge and attempt to rede�ne the concept of possibility.”

Here for the 2011 Pilots for Christ National ConventionMs Jessica CoxAugust 27 at 6p.m. Clarion Inn Conference Center

Motivational Speaker & Dinner

See you on August 27th at 44o 17’ N and 105o 30’ W!

The cost of the evening, dinner and speaker is $35.00 per person. Advance registration preferred but tickets available at the door also.

Gillette-Campbell County Airport recently announced its 14th consecutive month of increased year-over-year passenger traffic. During July 2011, traffic climbed to 5,409 arriving and departing passengers,

an increase of 8.8 percent over July of last year.

Year-to-date*, the airport has served 35,987 passen-gers through July, marking a 19.2 percent increase over the first seven months of 2010.

* July’s year-to-date cal-culations reflect a correc-tion to June’s year-to-date report. Charter passengers increased June’s year-to-date total from 30,452 to 30,586 passengers.

Gillette-Campbell County Airport reports July Passenger Traffic

About Gillette-Campbell County AirportThe Gillette-Campbell County Airport is located in Northeastern Wyoming in a major

energy producing part of the country known as the Powder River Basin. Gillette is at the hub of this basin, and the Airport serves the commercial service and general aviation needs for a large portion of this corner of the state.

The Airport sees approximately 56,000 passengers come through yearly and is cur-rently served by Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Great Lakes Aviation to Denver, Salt Lake City, Rock Springs, Wyoming, Miles City, Montana and Williston, North Dakota.

The Gillette-Campbell County Airport and tenants currently employ approximately 260 people in the surrounding area.

July 2011 July 2011 July 2010 % Change 2011 Y-T-D 2010 Y-T-D % ChangePassenger 5,409 4,973 8.8 35,987 30,200 19.2Totals

The Gillette Police De-partment’s “Caught with a Helmet” program, which encourages local children to wear a protective hel-met while biking, is winding down for the summer.

During the summer, if a Gillette Police Officer sees a child biking with a pro-tective helmet, the officer gives the child a gift certifi-cate worth a free ice cream cone from McDonalds and thanks them for wearing a protective helmet.

During the summer of 2011, the Gillette Police Department handed out over 250 coupons for ice creams.

Young cyclists are more likely than adult cyclists to

die of head injuries, most of which are caused by motor vehicle collisions.

Among children and youth age 0 to 19 in 2000, head injuries accounted for 62.6 percent of bicycle

fatalities, collisions with motor vehicles accounted for 75.7 percent of bicycle fatalities, and 61.7 percent of motor vehicle collision deaths were due to head injury.

“Caught with a Helmet” program winding down for summer

Photo courtesy of City of GilletteA Gillette Police Officer write two children tickets for a free ice

cream cone at McDonalds after catching them wearing their pro-tective helmets while bicycling.

A man was hired to paint a church. He thought he could make more money by diluting the paint. He had just finished painting when a storm came up and a driving rain washed all the paint off the church. There was a blinding flash of lightning and roar of thunder, in which he heard “repaint and thin no more”.

Joke of the weekSubmitted by Wade Swede

8

Public PulseRocky Mountain

4706 S. Douglas Hwy.Gillette, WY 82718

Ph: 307-686-0221Fx: 307-686-0265

8am-9pm Mon.-Sat.9am-6pm Sunday

DISCOUNT SPORTS

Archery Season

Has Started!!!!!

After an exhausting day, all you want to do is put your feet up and spend time with the person you care about the most … and then your spouse walks into the room. Upon their arrival, you close your com-puter hoping you do not appear too startled to raise suspicion. Sharing intimate details of your life on Face-book with someone else probably would not go over so well with your signifi cant other. Your relief is tem-porary, because this will likely become a reoccurring theme when you continue to “network” with that spe-cial person.

This deception happens every day when a person decides to carry on an af-fair, especially one where social media plays a prime role. With over 700 million users on Facebook alone, many of those ask them-selves, “am I crossing the line?” when they carry on with another “friend” either new or old.

Things become foggy when you’re consistently tempted to look up an ex or confi rm a friend who may not be the greatest choice to allow back into your life. The lines begin to blur and lies turn into infi delity. Be-fore becoming just another statistic, ask yourself these three questions:

IS THE RELATIONSHIP REAL? Cyber relation-

ships are tricky. Either you begin to correspond or communicate with some-one after a reconnection or you meet someone en-tirely new. This excitement or newness resembles the easier days without respon-sibilities, work, and chil-dren. You feel special from all the attention solely fo-cused on you, swept away with the thought of a less complicated life.

The reality may be dif-fi cult to swallow when you realize that the person you make that connection with, a. may not be the person you thought you knew, or b. turns out to be very similar to the person you are cur-rently with when the fun times fade and reality slaps you in the face. Social net-working hands you the op-portunity to be anyone you want to be. Someone living in a fantasy may not grasp the impact on their family and themselves. Their new relationship is real to them but could it be masked by all the hype that surrounds social networking. When you take away Facebook, and you are just one on one, can you look at the person and feel your new reality will stand the test of time?

WHAT IS LIFE LIKE? Lonely or feeling like you want more out of life? Vul-nerability, mixed with the ease of connecting (or re-

connecting) with people, is a recipe that may derail one’s path. A person may feel they are receiving more support from a friend than a spouse. This atten-tion sometimes leads to a tighter bond with your so-cial media “friend” than the person you sleep next to at night. But is this new rela-tionship based on fi nding the support more so than the person giving it?

Sometimes, the relation-ship is not about the attrac-tion or compatibility but the needed strength to get out of a diffi cult or lonely situ-ation. Ask yourself, are you using this new relationship as an out? Do you truly believe this person will be around in six months? Be honest with yourself with where you are in life and why you have pursued an-other relationship in the fi rst place.

WHY TAKE THE RISK? Some people are going to cheat, whether facilitated by cyber relationships or not. Others may look for their ex and get into trouble pursuing the past or inno-cently be struck out of the blue with a connection they never thought would hap-pen. Are you impulsive and want to just go for it? Have you thought about the con-sequences and decided to cross the line anyway? Ask yourself, are you risking your marriage or relation-

Cyber Relationships...Real, fantasy, or just a way out?

By Amanda Strong

Advertising InformationFront Page - Standard Rates - $15.00 per column inch

Business Card - $60Banner Ad (Bottom of Page) - $180

Middle Page - Standard Rates - $10.00 per column inch.1/2 Page - $6001/4 Page - $3001/8 Page - $180

Business Card - $40

Call our o� ce for more ad sizes and prices

“If it doesn’t have to do with Campbell County, we don’t care!” www.campbellcountyobserver.net June 17 - 24, 2011

P

atriot Publishing

The Campbell County ObserverP

atriot Publishing

(307) 670 - 8980

Sponsor Sections in the Campbell County Observer: Must sign a 3 month contract.

Veteran of the Month $40.00 Per Month Saduko Puzzle $25.00 Per WeekWhere is � is? $20.00 Per WeekQuiz $20.00 Per WeekWhat’s Going On? $40.00 Per WeekLocal History $25.00 Per Week American History $25.00 Per Week Joke of the Week $25.00 Per Week New Recruits $20.00 Per Recruit

Where is this picture taken? Find out in next week’s Campbell County Observer

ship because you found a more exciting and pas-sionate person; think this is your soul mate; or feel this is your way out of your cur-rent situation?

Even if you get wrapped up in the hype and the temptation seems too much to handle, there is always that split second before you post something or encourage communica-tion when you know you should not. Your actions could destroy the ones you love and change your life completely. Ask yourself, why would I choose to face those consequences? If you deal with the truth be-fore you cross the line, you may save yourself from making a huge mistake.

Couples are now citing Facebook on their divorce papers as one of the rea-sons their marriage fell apart. Can social media be blamed for giving everyone such an easy tool to cheat? Words of advice be honest with yourself, because your decisions are yours, and only yours, to make.

Weekly Trivia QuestionBen Franklin, John Adams, and one

more man met Admiral Howe after the British capture of Long Island.

Who was that third man?A. Thomas JeffersonB. Edward RutledgeC. Christopher BillopD. Alexander Hamilton

Find out in next week’sCampbell County Observer

9

Public Pulse

Last weekend, I was in-vited to attend the Wyo-ming Liberty Festival. Well, I have to tell you I was scared. I mean, come on, a gathering of Tea Parting, gun toting, Bible believing, Constitution-hugging con-servatives way up in the mountains of western Wyo-ming for the weekend? No way was this going to end well.

Imagine my shock when I found out that, everyone had to pay to get in. Noth-ing was free. It wasn’t even subsidized by the govern-ment to help the “less for-tunate” who might have wanted to go but could not afford it. If you wanted to go you had better fi nd the money and you had better fi nd your own way out. AND NO ONE COMPLAINED ABOUT IT! It was as if they expected to pay their own way and did not want any free handouts. I was fl oored I tell you! Though I did hear of one couple who broke down on the way, and an-other fellow, who was going to the same event, stopped and tried to fi x their vehicle, when he could not he of-fered them a ride. But I’m sure that one nice guy was just a fl uke.

Once we arrived on the scene I was shocked to see that no one needed or wanted any instruction other than to be pointed to where the camping area was. Other than that ev-eryone took care of their own needs. It was as if they were prepared for anything! No one sat around claiming that they needed to be told where to pitch their tent. No one complained that someone had a nicer tent than theirs. Everyone took care of their own needs as

if they had a mind of their own and could fend for themselves. And get this, if it seemed that anyone did need help it was offered. JUST LIKE THAT! No one had to ask and everyone was willing to pitch in to help their neighbor without being told.

I looked around the neat-ly laid out campground and watched the many men, and women, walking about with guns on their hips. I made note of a nice pile of rocks where I could hide once the shooting began.

That night someone lit a campfi re without ask-ing permission. I was sure that everything would soon burn, but nothing did. They even let their children tend the fi re! The children had no problem taking up that responsibility. Everyone gathered around and then came the sounds of beer cans popping open and I wanted to run for it. I was sure that as soon as ev-eryone started drinking the guns would come out of the holsters and the shooting would commence. For sure there would be bodies ly-ing around the grounds by morning with the smolder-ing remains of a campfi re in the midst of it all. Those poor children would be caught in the cross fi re. But, luckily, the night was no louder than the sounds of laughter.

As the sun rose the next morning I stepped from my tent to the smell of cof-fee, and the sigh of a clean camp ground. REALLY? With all that drinking last night. No, wait, there was a beer bottle over there in the middle of the grass. But just as I noticed it a young boy, about nine years old, saw

the bottle as he crossed the grounds. He went out of his way to pick it up, and further out of his way to fi nd a trash can. He did it all on his own. No one had to yell at him. Well, I’m sure that kid was just a fl uke. A freak of nature. No nine year old is that responsible. Where would he learn such a thing? Next thing I knew that little snot nose was heading my way. He smiled and greeted me with a cheerful “Good morning Mr. Woods.” Mr. Woods? A few moments later I saw his parents crossing the grounds following the smell of coffee to the breakfast tent. I wonder if they know what a nice, responsible, boy they have?

After breakfast came a series of speakers. I was ready for it. Would they start with, or end with their racist plot to take over the government? Or would it be the theme throughout the afternoon?

I waited, and waited.There were speeches on

big government getting too big. Speeches on too much government overspend-ing. Speeches on personal freedoms and responsibil-ity.

I know you are going to fi nd this hard to believe There was this one guy, A BLACK MAN, who ev-eryone seemed to admire. They kept asking him to run for governor again, and no one seemed to care that he was black! And those darn kids who were running loose all over the place kept calling him Mr. and SIR! Well, I mean, this must have been the token black man right? He was just a fool. He had NO idea why he was there! Then he

stood and gave an inspir-ing speech on the history of our nation and what made America Exceptional! Here again, I was shocked! Why was he not bitter about the nation who had enslaved his people? There was no demand for reparations in his little talk. If anything he demanded more personal responsibility and LESS government “help” in his life! WHO WAS THIS GUY? What’s more was that no once seemed to care that his wife was white! I mean, REALLY, a mixed race cou-ple in THIS CROWD! And no one cared?

That night, another camp fi re. More singing. LOTS more beer. Three in the morning sent everyone staggering back to their tents when the beer ran out but a few needed rides back to their hotels and get this, there were sober people ready, willing, and offering to give them rides. A second night and not one gun left its holster. The next morning the camp grounds were almost spotless, just like the morning before. From a distance I spotted a lone beer bottle in the grass and went over to pick it up. As I tossed it in the trash I began to wonder if these people were rubbing off on me.

Well --- WOW! This was not what those folks on MSNBC told me that it was going to be.

Wait, hold on! Come to think of it, there was that one speaker --- he was a real JERK! No, wait, that was ME! Never mind.

Wyoming Liberty FestivalBy Glenn Woods

Bold Republic Weekly

To listen to Glenn Woods morning radio show tune in to 1270am KIML Gillette

Monday through Friday from 6 - 10 a.m.

Dear Editor,As your readers get ready

for back-to-school, please consider sharing nomina-tion info about this new awards program that is now open to local educators. Peabody Energy Leaders in Education has recently been expanded to include Campbell County educators and call for nominations are now open. The program asks parents and commu-nity members to nominate their favorite educator.

Leaders in Education recognizes heroes in edu-cation, from teachers and coaches to librarians and counselors, who help chil-dren achieve their true po-tential. Winners will be cho-sen throughout the school year and receive recogni-tion and $1,000 grants.

Learn more or nominate a deserving educator at: www.peabodyenergylead-ersineducation.org

Thanks!Meghan Heeter-Peabody

Energy

From Editor Nicholas De Laat: Yet another great thing that energy compa-nies do for our community. There is always plenty of bad media about energy companies, but this is just one in thousands of proofs of what they do good that you will not see reported. Thank you very much Mrs. Heeter, I am confi dent that our community will get in-volved.

To Editor Keary Speer;Thank you for the article.

It was well written and well timed. When I got to work and saw a new issue or The Campbell County Ob-server I couldn’t wait until my break to buy an issue. I made up an excuse that I was going to go smoke a cigarette which the ladies know means I am taking a seldom taken break.

You surprised me by cov-ering everything that I had e-mailed to you. I have been

told that I am long winded. Thank you again; when

the “Walk” is complete my daughter is going to lami-nate all of the articles for me for my memory book.

With all due respect;Charles Edwards

From Editor Keary Speer:Dear Charles,You are so welcome for

the article! It is people like you who keep our paper full of good content and, thus, keeping it alive and well!

You are doing something great for the community and that deserves to be shared. Don’t stop doing what you are doing.

Dear Editor, Why do people keep

complaining about the new streets and the medians? Yes it costs a lot of money but it is for City beautifi ca-tion, and that is always worth it. This is something we should always spend as much money as needed on, and I enjoy the sum-mer when I can drive down 59 and soon 4J and look at the wonderful endangered plants. I want to say that all that money was worth it, we will be leaving our kids with a beautiful city.

From Editor Nick De Laat: I think that people are not complaining about the beautifi cation, but the spending. After a vote for the water line to raise taxes, and the amount of gross spending that never seems to end people would just like to see it slow down. The country is still in a reces-sion. It has not hit us yet, but very well could…and hard. There is a quote by a State Legislator saying “If you give us money, we will spend it.” The fl ower pots are a good example of this. I don’t think people have a problem with beautifi cation, but with priorities. I have said this before, “It is eas-ier to spend other people’s money than your own.”

Letters to the Editor

The local bar was so sure that its bartender was the strongest man around that they offered a standing $1,000 bet. The bartender would squeeze a lem-on until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money.Many people tried over time but no-one could do it. One day this scrawny little man came into the bar wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit, and said in a tiny squeaky voice “I’d like to try the bet.”After the laughter died down, the bartender grabbed the lemon and squeezed the juice out. Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little man. But the crowd’s laughter turned to total si-lence as the man clenched his fi st around the lemon and sex drops fell into the glass.The bartender paid the $1,000 and asked the little man “What do you do for a living? Are you a lum-berjack, a weightlifter, what?”“Neither,” replied the little man. “I’m an IRS agent.”

Joke of the weekSubmitted by John Billings

Patriot Publishing is a small publish-ing business starting up right here in Wyoming. We not only publish the Campbell County Observer and cal-endars, but anything in print. We will soon also have a monthly publication that we think you will enjoy. If you have a book and can’t get a major compa-ny to publish you, we are a new and American-owned publisher that may print your work. Please feel free to contact us at anytime with your idea.

“We can’t all be Washingtons, but we can all be patriots.”

- Charles F. Browne

We want to get it Write. Oops we mean Right.

The Observer strives to make news reports fair and accurate. If you have a question or

comment about news coverage, Contact us at nicholasdelaat@campbellcountyobserver.com

10

Sports Report

Friday, August 26-CCHS Tennis(V-G)@ Rapid City,

8 a.m.-CCHS Volleyball(JV/V)@ Cokev-

ille, 8 a.m.-WJSH Volleyball @ Riverton, 8

a.m.-CCHS XC (JV/V), Casper Invite,

12 p.m., Bear Trap Meadow-CCHS Girls Swim/Dive @ Casper,

1 p.m.-CCHS(V) Football vs. Evanston,

North Campus, 7 p.m.

Saturday, August 27-CCHS Tennis(V-G)@ Rapid City-CCHS Volleyball(JV/V)@ Cokev-

ille-WJSH Volleyball@ Riverton-CCHS Football(JV) vs. Evanston,

9 a.m.- 1 p.m.-CCHS Girls Swim/Dive Gillette

Pentathlon, 9 a.m.-WJSH 9th Volleyball @ Newcas-

tle, 9 a.m.-CCHS Volleyball SO Invite, 10

a.m., S. Campus-WJSH Football @ Lusk, 7 p.m.

Monday, August 29-First Day of School-CCHS Football(SO) vs. Rapid

City Central, 4-7 p.m., N. CampusTuesday, August 30

-WJSH Volleyball vs. Newcastle-CCHS Volleyball(SO/JV/V) vs.

Sheridan, 4:30 p.m., N. Campus-WJSH Football vs. Moorcroft, 6

p.m.

Thursday, September 1-CCHS Tennis(V-G) vs. Rapid City

Stevens/Central, 12 p.m.-CCHS Girls Swim/Dive vs. Buf-

falo/Newcastle, 4 p.m.

Friday, September 2-CCHS Tennis @ Sturgis-CCHS Volleyball(JV/V) Camel In-

vite, N/S Campus-WJSH Volleyball @ Gillette-WJSH XC @ Sheridan, 2 p.m.-CCHS Football(SO/V) @ Rock-

springs, 3-10 p.m.-CCHS Girls Swim/Dive @ Chey-

enne Central, 4 p.m.-CCHS XC- Michelle Ludwig Invite,

V/JV, 4 p.m., VA Hospital- Sheridan-WJSH Football @ Lovell, 7 p.m.

What’s Going On In Sports?

LIMITED LATE MODEL - Main EventFinish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 6 81 Danny Allen - 75.00 2 4 2 Marty Erivez Gillette , Wy 70.00 3 5 12 Brian Allen Gillette , W 65.00 4 3 C4 Toby Smith Gillette , W 60.00 5 2 6 Jeff Gorsuch Gillette , Wy 55.00 6 1 8W John Smith , Wy 50.00

Thunder Stock - Main Event Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 6 80 Chad Horst Gillette , W 35.00 2 8 80P Duane Haines Gillette , Wy 33.00 3 7 13S Seth Cavanaugh Gillette , Wy 32.00 4 2 39 Mark Brandt Gillette , Wy 31.00 5 4 01 Brittni Snyder Gillette , W 30.00 6 1 13T Austin Long Gillette , Wy 29.00 7 3 6 Chris Russell - 28.00 8 5 S16 Teresa Schuler Wright , Wy 27.00

Thunder Stock - Heat 2Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 1 39 Mark Brandt Gillette , Wy 10.00 2 3 80 Chad Horst Gillette , W 9.00 3 4 80P Duane Haines Gillette , Wy 8.00 4 2 01 Brittni Snyder Gillette , W 7.00

Thunder Stock - Heat 1Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 1 13T Austin Long Gillette , Wy 10.00 2 4 13S Seth Cavanaugh Gillette , Wy 9.00 3 2 6 Chris Russell - 8.00 4 3 S16 Teresa Schuler Wright , Wy 7.00

Midwest Mod - Main EventFinish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 8 17 Troy Leiker Gillette , Wy 35.00 2 5 14 Kenny Bell Gillette , W 33.00 3 7 34H Rob Hoffman Gillette , Wy 32.00 4 4 10J Scott Joslyn Gillette , Wy 31.00 5 1 28S Cannon Slawson Gillette , Wy 30.00 6 6 2J Jerry Martin Moorcroft, Wy 29.00 7 10 23 Ernie Acuna Gillette , Wy 28.00 8 3 26 Ray Nash Evansvile , Wy 27.00 9 2 23DB Maklain Harrison Gillette , Wy 26.00 10 9 36 Eric Slocum Gillette , Wy 25.00 11 11 27 Scotty Fischer Gillette , W 0.00

Midwest Mod - Heat 2Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 3 17 Troy Leiker Gillette , Wy 10.00 2 4 2J Jerry Martin Moorcroft, Wy 9.00 3 2 34H Rob Hoffman Gillette , Wy 8.00 4 5 26 Ray Nash Evansvile , Wy 7.00 5 1 23 Ernie Acuna Gillette , Wy 6.00

Midwest Mod - Heat 1Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 2 14 Kenny Bell Gillette , W 10.00 2 5 10J Scott Joslyn Gillette , Wy 9.00 3 1 23DB Maklain Harrison Gillette , Wy 8.00 4 6 28S Cannon Slawson Gillette , Wy 7.00 5 3 36 Eric Slocum Gillette , Wy 6.00 6 4 27 Scotty Fischer Gillette , W 5.00

Mod Four - Main EventFinish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 2 55 Duane Manning Gillette , Wy 35.00 2 7 70X Steve Schickentanz Casper , Wy 33.00 3 4 10 Todd Mccoy Gillette , Wy 32.00 4 8 307 Tom Manning Gillette , Wy 31.00 5 6 33 Robert Harley Casper , Wy 30.00 6 10 51 Amanda Manning - 29.00 7 9 28 Mark Hansen Bar Nunn, W 28.00 8 5 50 Wade Manning Gillette , Wy 27.00 9 1 42 Dakota Estrada Cheyenne , Wy 26.00 10 3 00 Benjie Bayne Casper , Wy 0.00

Mod Four - Heat 2Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 5 307 Tom Manning Gillette , Wy 10.00 2 3 50 Wade Manning Gillette , Wy 9.00 3 2 10 Todd Mccoy Gillette , Wy 8.00 4 4 00 Benjie Bayne Casper , Wy 7.00 5 1 51 Amanda Manning - 6.00

Mod Four - Heat 1Finish Start Car Driver Hometown Race Points 1 3 55 Duane Manning Gillette , Wy 10.00 2 5 33 Robert Harley Casper , Wy 9.00 3 4 42 Dakota Estrada Cheyenne , Wy 8.00 4 1 70X Steve Schickentanz Casper , Wy 7.00 5 2 28 Mark Hansen Bar Nunn, W 6.00

Gillette Thunder SpeedwayCurrent Standings

The Gillette Lady Camel golf team made it two for two in this young season as they ran away with the Buffalo Invite yesterday by having the top three individual scores.

Haley Shackelford, once again, led the way with a two day to-tal of 160 after carding a 78 on the 1st day. She was followed by Ashlyn Pearson with a 168 and Jandey Shackelford with a 191. Also finishing in the top 10 for Gillette were Julia Seamans (222) and Jordan Dowling (226). As a team the Lady Camels fin-ished 144 strokes in front of 2nd place Buffalo.

“Those three are kind of like our three horsemen. They’re always going to play well and we expect a lot out of them,” explains Gil-lette Head Coach Rory Williams. “Then Julia Seamans has come a long way in her second tourna-ment with her swing and getting that tournament experience un-der her belt. And Jordan Dowling is doing a good job as a fresh-man as well.”

In all, Williams says they are really happy with how these girls performed.

“We just got to kind of look at the big picture and not get caught up in these tournaments and how well we’re doing but what we can do to help our swings and pol-

ish up our game for the next six weeks,” he says.

For the Camels they were once again led by Danny Davis as he helped them to a 2nd place finish behind the Sheridan Broncs.

Davis opened up the tourna-ment with a 69 and was tied with Sheridan’s Kamrin Allen, but then closed out the tourney with a 79 Tuesday to finish with a two day total of 148. Allen won the tournament with a two day total of 137 (69/68). Also in the top 10 for the boys was Alex King who came in 8th place (168). Sean Kelley finished with a 172, Ty Jensen carded a two day total of 183, and Brady Durgin followed up his day 1 DQ with an 86.

Williams believes the Camels played better in Buffalo than they did in Sheridan.

“I think this is a tougher course. This course is the complete op-posite of what we play with every day at Bell Nob,” he explains.

The coach says the team will continue to improve as they play more and more golf, and he is upbeat about the season.

“Our boys are going to be in the thick of things,” says Williams. “Six weeks is a long ways away and I like our work ethic and just our competitive attitude that we have. They play with a little chip on their shoulder and they

always want to get a little better and we like that.”

After playing five or six of the last eight days, Williams says he is looking forward to getting some practice in over the next couple of days before they hit the road again.

“There’s something to be said about repetition and hitting a lot of balls, especially just working on your short game,” Williams describes. “So these next cou-ple of days before we get back on the bus again to go to Cody and Powell we’re really going to work on the chipping green, our putting, stroke, and all that touch stuff. It takes a while to get the feel of that short game and we’re going to take advantage of the next couple of days.”

Next up for the golf teams, they will be taking part in the Powell and Cody Invite this Friday and Saturday. Looking ahead, Wil-liams says these two courses play into their style of golf.

“Powell has a new nine. It’s wide open, there’s not a lot of trees.” Williams continues, “Cody is a lot like Bell Nob. It’s pretty long, pretty wide open.”

In all, Williams says the team is really looking forward to this trip. “They’re two really, really nice golf courses,” Williams con-cludes.

Lady Camels run away with Buffalo InviteBy Ted Ripko - Basin Radio Sports

Sara Reile, a 2011 graduate of Campbell County High School (CCHS) and former basketball player for the Lady Camels, has decided to continue her basketball career. She will be doing so in the same town as her high school days, playing for the Gil-lette College Pronghorns Women’s team this sea-son.

When Head Coach Will Rider of the Pronghorns found out Reile was planning on attending Gillette Col-lege for classes, he was very interested in the possibility of hav-ing her on the team.

“We’ve been talking to Sara all year,” Rider said.

However, Sara was not sure if she wanted to continue playing basketball while go-ing to college. As time went on, Rider dis-covered she was hav-ing second thoughts about not playing and that Reile began to miss it.

“A couple of weeks ago, I bumped into her and asked her if she was still interested,” the coach said.

Apparently, she was, as she became one of the last additions to the team roster that was com-pleted last week. Coach Rider will use Sara in the team’s one or two post player sets, “prominently playing in the lane.”

“We’re happy to have her energy, her background

and her skills,” Rider praised.Reile played two years on the varsity team un-

der Coach Mitch Holst, including last season when the Lady Camels won the state championship. “I’m excited for her opportunity. She has a motor that just doesn’t stop… she’s an aggressive defender,”

Holst said of his former player.

In regards to how she will be able to help out the Pronghorns Holst said, “I think her val-ue [is] in a blue collar area… [a] hard work-ing kid, that knows how to play hard.”

Rider also said that Sara should transition well from high school to the junior college level due to the great program and many things that Coach Holst does at CCHS. Rider also thinks that is going to be a strong, funda-mental building block for Sara going into the junior college ranks.

You will be able to hear select games of the Women and Men’s Pronghorn games this winter on News/

Talk 1270 KIML and online at http://www.network-1sports.com/station/kiml#menus with Vic Wright.

The broadcast schedule will be released in the near future right here on basinsradio.com. This is also the place to go for all the information to be released on the other Pronghorn Women recruits as well.

Former Lady Camel to play for Gillette College

By Vic Wright - Basin Radio

Photo by Nathan Kobielusz

“Lets face it. I’m not a headline guy. I always knew that as long as I was following Babe to the plate I could have gone up there and stood on my

head. No one would have noticed the difference. When the Babe was through swinging, whether he hit one or fanned, nobody paid any attention

to the next hitter. They all were talking about what the Babe had done.” - Lou Gehrig

11

Toys (ATV’s, Boats, etc.)

Toy Parts & Accessories

Home Appliances/Furnishings

Sporting Goods

Lost & Found

Personals

Boat for Sale with trailer. Needs work. Call 670-8980 for info.

Stock pipes for Sportster. 500mi. Stock pices for Dyna Wide Glide. 1500mi. Email baxtersmom62@gmail.com for info.

Small washer. Needs new belt, $25. Email USSailorPatriot@gmail.com

Microfiber couch with 2 recliners com-bined. Green. $100 Call 299-4967.

Booth Table. L-shaped. With Chairs. Seats 6. $500.00 Call 299-4967

Like new Horizon Elliptical. $300 obo. Call 299-7058 for more info.

Wanted to BuyI Buy Militaria. Swords, uniforms, bayo-nets, medals, guns/parts, field gear. 682-7864

Newspaper vending machines. Contact us at: CampbellCountyObserver@gmail.com

Interested in founding a Sherlock Holmes Society in Gillette? Contact gillettesher-lockians@gmail.com for info.

FOUND: one large trampoline. Currently located at 5350B M&M circle. If yours, please pick up any day any time. If not yours, do not trespass.

Autos, Trucks and Vans

Campers & Motor Homes

1981 Harley Davidson FXB-Sturgis, 1st dual-belt drive to commemorate Hill-Climb @ Sturgis, Jack-Pine Gypsies rally started in ‘41, 50th anniversary model. 12K on straight-up original paint, new Moetzler’s driven-by beefed Shovel, 102hp at wheel. Perfect in every aspect, serious inquiries only, loan is $15K and value of over 25K. Ben 680.7464, 3-other older bikes and this has to go to the right person!

2008 Hyundai Sonata LMTD, 40,000 mi. $13,500, Call 307-660-2532.

‘76 Electra-Glide would consider trade on Pan or Knuck if ya know of anyone, ‘81 sent it to LA-S&S, 11.5to1 and dual-plugged to run regular-gas, had burn-out time at Hog-Jam! Ben 680.7464.

1994 Ford Ranger. Black. With Topper. Runs Good. 85k Miles. 2300 obo. Call 307-299-0223

1997 32ft. Class A Motor Home. Sleeps 6, Only 31,000 Miles. Asking $17,000. Call (307) 660-7520.

Large Private RV/Camper Lot for rent. Big yard, trees. All utilities available. $400 per month, $400 deposit. 1 year lease. Call (307) 660-1007.

Local journalists wanted. Always wanted to try? Must be 16 yrs of age. Contact us at CampbellCountyObserver@gmail.com

Advertising Sales for our weekly paper. Great commission rate, set your own hours. Contact us at CampbellCountyOb-server@gmail.com

Contributors wanted for weekly newspa-per. Need a doctor, a Politician, a lawyer, and more to contribute an article a month. E-mail CampbellCountyObserver@gmail.com for more information.

Sports writers, event writers wanted. Gil-lette, Write, Recluse, Rozet. Call 670-8980.

Help Wanted

Minnows, crawlers, leeches, fishing tackle, boating and camping supplies. Fully furnished cabin rentals, 50 Amp Full Hookup RV sites 5 minutes from Key-hole Reservoir in Pine Haven. Empire Guesthouse & RV Park 307-756-3454. www.empireguesthouse.com

Camping/Fishing

Home for sale by owner in Western Way. Asking $239,000 for the 1,800 sq. ft. 3 bedroom 2 bath home with an unfinished basement and a two car garage. Fully fenced, large landscaped yard with a sprinkler system. Home is within walking distance to the new recreation center and the new elementary school that is being built. Please contact me at 307-670-1209 if you are interested.

Homes for Sale

Welsh Corgi Puppies. 3 females, and two males. 682-2598

Pets

Cook needed at Lu La Bells. Motivated and Energetic. Days Only. Apply at Lu La bells.

1-5 bedroom units available for rent. Please contact Real Estate Systems of Gillette Inc at 307-682-0964 for all the up-dated details.

Apartments for Rent

Tri-level house for sale 4 bed 2 bath $209,000 (307) 670-1925.

- LIMITED TIME ONLY - Free Classified Ad - 10 words or less

(Private ownership only - No businesses)For more details visit

www.campbellcountyobserver.com or call (307) 670-8980

WILL PAY CASH FOR CAMPERS. Call Scott (307) 680-0854.

Sports Report

ClassifiedsHeavy Equipment/Trailers

6x10 trailer. Great shape, fits your biggest Harley. $1,400 obo. 299-4967.

Gorgeous 3 bedroom 2 bath with den. 1800 sq.ft/Culdesac lot. Financing avail-able. For a personal showing, call 687-0333.

Merchandise1939 HA Selmer Trumpet $750 OBO. 687-1087

Selling mobile homes. $3,000 to $12,000. All good deals. (608) 212-0056

Mobile Homes for Sale

If you ask most people what a nickname is for their signature, they will probably say that it is called their “John Hancock”. If you ask people what the most famous signa-ture on the Declaration of Independence is, a good amount will probably also say, “John Hancock.” However, if you ask peo-ple who the first Governor of Massachu-setts was, or who turned out to be George Wa s h i n g t o n ’s chief opponent to be elected Presi-dent, they would have to be an early American historian to know that it was also John Hancock.

John Hancock, one of the Dec-laration’s original signers, led a very interesting and political life. On his way to being one of our Founding Fa-thers, he earned great success in as a business-person, politi-cian, and early statesman.

Born in 1736 in Braintree, Massachusetts, Hancock grew up the son of a Reverend, which compared to most, was a very good profession. He did not have to struggle in his childhood, as he was well cared for. A childhood friend of fellow statesman John Adams, Hancock spent his childhood meeting the middle class so-cialites of his day. His life took a turn, how-ever, when the Reverend Hancock died in 1744, leaving an eight year old John to live with his aunt and uncle, wealthy mer-chants. In fact, his uncle Thomas Hancock lived on Beacon Hill, one of Boston’s most elite neighborhoods, and made his money by trading with the British.

John grew up in the upper class from then on, graduating from Harvard Univer-sity in 1754. He started working for his uncle soon after, eventually inheriting his business. When the British and American relations began to break down prior to the Revolution, Hancock – being a leading so-

cial figure – quickly rose to fame as a poli-tician, although he was slow to go against Great Britain at first.

This reluctance to join the Revolution right at its onset, while at first surprising, makes sense when viewed in a monetary light. Hancock, a successful business-person, was doing just fine for himself when the British were under control. This

brewing change, then, must have seemed very in-timidating for Hancock, as he had no idea what would happen to his business after this Revolution.

However, un-der the mounting pressure from the other colonists, Hancock eventu-ally rose to the top of the political world in this newly forming country. Many even be-lieve that he used his merchant ships to help smuggle goods into Bos-ton Harbor under-neath the nose of the British.

When the Revo-lution began in 1775, Hancock had already been elected to the Second Conti-nental Congress in 1774, and was

thus a ready and able leader for the people of Massachusetts. It was in 1775 that he was elected President of the Continental Congress, where he led all the colonies for his term of just over two years. He had many difficulties during the war, but sur-vived with enough popularity to be elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1780, with the battles still raging.

The Revolutionary War ended in 1783, and Hancock continued his service as Governor until his death in 1793 at the age of 56.

The man we all know as famous for little more than his signature was in fact a great political leader who guided our country through its formation and unification. Per-haps it’s time he garnered a reputation for something more than his handwriting.

John HancockBy Mike Borda

“America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security

of our country.”

- George W. Bush Jacob Duvall

12

Our Roots

Cowboys on StrikeBy Jeff Morrison

In the spring of 1886, the Pow-der River basin witnessed an event never before seen in Wyo-ming and never to be repeated: a labor strike by cowboys.

Beef cattle were a boom industry in the 1880s, although cat-tle ranching had been an established i n s t i t u t i o n in Wyoming as early as the 1860s. In Powder River coun-try, the cattle industry be-gan in 1879 when More-ton Frewen, an English-man backed by investors from the old country, established the 76 ranch a few miles upriver from the site of old Fort Reno, near modern day Sussex. The next few years saw a veritable flood of cattle and cattle speculators invade the Powder Basin. Thanks to some optimistic publicity, extolling the unlimited supply of grass on the free range, describing Wyoming winters as mild and predicting annual profits from 25% to 40%, anyone with money and a desire to earn more began organizing ranching enterprises and driving herds onto the high plains. Actual prior experience running a cattle ranch was seen as unnecessary – after all, how hard could it be to turn cattle loose on the open range to eat?

For many ranch managers, ar-riving from places like Pennsyl-vania, New York, and the British Isles, their knowledge of cattle was roughly the same as their knowledge of the back side of the moon. The same went for their knowledge of the West and the cowboys therein. Moreton Frew-en, although enthusiastic and en-ergetic, never really learned the business end of running a ranch. Others, such as Horace Plunkett, a younger son of the sixteenth Baron Dunsany in Ireland, not only learned the business end, but became pretty competent cat-tlemen as well. And yet, Plunkett still looked down on his cowboys with disdain. By and large the feeling was mutual.

Most of the cowboys came from Texas, following the big herds north and staying on the northern range to work the ranches that were created. One exception was Oscar H. “Jack” Flagg. Although he did come to Wyoming in 1882 with a herd of Texas cattle, he was born in 1861 in West Vir-ginia. He was a typical cowboy: tough, independent and outspo-ken. The cattle barons, most of whom were accustomed to their hired help tugging their forelocks and averting their eyes, where taken aback at the average cow-boy looking them in the eye and voicing their blunt opinions open-ly. Unlike most of his colleagues, Flagg was well educated and ar-ticulate, which became an even bigger headache for the cattle barons.

Cattle ranching in the 1880s had a vastly different method of operation than the ranches of to-day. The systematic removal of Indians from the plains left the northern plains in general, and the Powder River basin in partic-ular a real-estate void, populated by next to no one and owned by the federal government. As such, anyone was free to use the land, and thanks to the Homestead Act of 1862, anyone could own 160 acres of it. In 1879, no one had seriously considered farming the Powder Basin, so the vast grass-land remained open range. This was perfect for the needs of the cattle speculators, who turn cattle loose to wander the range freely by the thousands. Although most ranches observed an imaginary boundary, there were no fences aside from small areas used for holding and sorting pens. This guaranteed that cattle from vari-ous ranches would intermingle on the range. Since bulls were turned loose with the cattle, calv-ing occurred all year long, and this made branding a never-end-

ing chore. Cattle were marked with brands to distinguish owner-ship and facilitate sorting the vari-ous herds in the fall for driving to market.

Inevitably calves were missed with the brand-ing iron and the range was full of ha l f -grown un-branded cattle, called maver icks. Most were a l r e a d y weaned from their mother by the time of discovery, and estab-lishing own-ership be-came next to impossible. It could also

be deadly if a dispute over own-ership became heated. In an ef-fort to organize communal round-ups, solve ownership disputes and set acceptable standards in the cattle business, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association was born. Under the watchful eye of the Association, roundups were conducted in the spring to gather cattle off the range, sort them out for branding, and arbitrating the dispensation of all mavericks gathered. This usually involved an impromptu auction where the maverick went to the highest bid-der.

The Association, run by the cattle barons, became a law unto themselves, and had the final word on everything related to the cattle industry, from who could bid on mavericks, to who could attend a roundup, to who was allowed to work on a ranch. No one could employ a cowboy who owned cattle of his own, nor could anyone employ a cowboy who owned his own brand. This man-date was based on the assump-tion that the cowboy in question was undoubtedly branding mav-ericks for his own herd on the sly. Disobeying the Association meant being black-balled, which included being barred from the roundup. For a blackballed cow-boy, this meant permanent un-employment. For a cattle baron it meant being put out of business.

Many historians contend that the winter of 1886-1887, in which cattle died in the hundreds of thousands all over the northern plains, ended the boom years of the cattle industry. The truth is, most of the mega-ranches were already on their way to bankrupt-cy due to ownership ignorance and mismanagement. The open range had become overstocked with cattle and the grass was eat-en down to nothing. The lack of grass, combined with a few hard winters and the utter lack of feed-ing hay meant inferior beef sold at market, which drove the price down. Stockholders, expect-ing their 25 – 40% profits meant that the cattle market was also overstocked, which cause prices to fall even further. The incred-ibly silly practice of buying cattle based on book-count, an optimis-tic guessing formula based in fan-tasy mathematics, rather than an actual head count left huge dis-crepancies on the books, which stockholders were beginning to look at with more scrutiny now that profits were low.

And then came the cowboy strike of 1886. Panicked by the falling profits since 1884, the Association called on their resi-dent financial expert to look for ways to boost their sagging bot-tom line. The expert, none other than Horace Plunkett, had two bright ideas. “Wages,” he had once said, “must come down very much lower.” His other idea was to “abolish free room and board at ranch houses.” This was refer-ring to the time honored tradition of grub-riding, where seasonal cow hands would wander from ranch to ranch during the off-sea-son, doing odd jobs and chores in return for a few nights stay in the bunkhouse and free meals. Plunkett thought they should be charged 50 cents per meal for that privilege, even though one could eat cheaper at a restaurant in town.

The shock came just as the spring roundup on the south fork of Powder River was getting un-der way. It has been speculated that the strike may have been or-ganized by the Knights of Labor, but at least one cowboy in atten-dance was an apt rabble-rouser and agitator in and of himself. Jack Flagg, working for the Bar C had decided to put his foot down, and found his fellow cowboys were in the same frame of mind. The cowboys informed their em-ployers that they were not gath-ering any cattle unless everyone on the roundup crew was paid $40 per month. One of the own-ers attending this roundup was Horace Plunkett, the architect of their angst.

“They were not cordial at all,” Plunkett wrote of his own cow-boys in his journal on the way to the roundup. “They have been talking of shooting me all winter because I have been made the scapegoat of the attempt to re-duce wages.” Plunkett apparently suffered from selective memory.

The “reps”, cowboys represent-ing other ranches from adjoin-ing roundups, on hand to pick up any of their strays off their main range, were told to return to their respective roundups un-til they were paid the same wage as well. This caused the strike to spread to other roundups. In the end, the owners gave in. As Jack Flagg later explained, “They were

caught at a disadvantage; work had to be shoved forward, they had to brand their calves and gather beef, and as they had no time to get more men, they were obliged to comply with the de-mands of the strikers and restore their wages.”

The only non-compliance came from Joseph M. Carey, owner of the CY outfit on the North Platte, and president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. His reps returned with the news that Carey absolutely refused to re-store their wages. Jack Flagg and the rest of the boys may have sympathized with their di-lemma, but they were not allow-ing exceptions. The CY reps were told to cut their horses out of the picket-line and leave. They were not allowed to take the CY cattle that had been gathered on their absence with them, however, and those cattle were left wandering the range when the roundup was over.

The cowboys had won the battle, and eventually won the war, but this victory was short-lived. According to Jack Flagg, “as soon as they could get men to fill their places, the strikers were either fired or compelled to have their wages reduced.” Lat-er Flagg would admit the firings had less to do with participation in the strike and more to do with the fired cowboys having bid on mavericks. He was one of them.

Although the owner of the Bar C protested, the Association was not in a forgiving mood as far as Jack Flagg was concerned, and he was blackballed.

This was a decision that ulti-mately blew up in their faces. Flagg, with four other partners, started the Hat ranch. They branded mavericks with a ven-geance and Flagg made such a nuisance of himself his name was listed on the famed “execution list” of the Johnson County regu-lators. Flagg not only survived the Johnson County War of 1892, but a few days after the shooting stopped penned an account of the range war and all the may-hem in the preceding years lead-ing up to it. It was published in the Buffalo Bulletin in serial install-ments that spring and summer. It is a very well written, accurate ac-count from the perspective of the “rustlers”. As it turned out, Jack Flagg was a very good writer, and started his own paper that sum-mer called the People’s Voice, which later became the Buffalo Voice.

Horace Plunkett returned to Ireland in 1889 never to return to Powder River. In one of history’s great ironies, Plunkett devoted the rest of his life to bettering the lot of the Irish farmer through or-ganizing farmer co-operatives and stressing the importance of the farmers “self-reliance”. For this he was knighted.

Things people actually said in court, word for word: Q: What is your date of birth? A: July fifteenth. Q: What year? A: Every year.

Q: This myasthenia gravis-does it affect your memory at all? A: Yes. Q: And in what ways does it affect your memory? A: I forget. Q: You forget. Can you give us an example of something that you’ve forgotten?

Q: All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to? A: Oral.

Q: How old is your son-the one living with you? A: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can’t remember which. Q: How long has he lived with you? A: Forty-five years.

Q: What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke that morning? A: He said, “where am I Cathy?” Q: And why did that upset you? A: My name is Susan.

Q: And where was the location of the accident? A: Approximately milepost 499. Q: And where is milepost 499? A: Probably between milepost 498 and 500.Q: Did you blow your horn or anything? A: After the accident? Q: Before the accident. A: Sure, I played horn for ten years. I even went to school for it.

Q: Now doctor, isn’t it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn’t know about it until the next morning?Q: The youngest son, the twenty-year old, how old is he?

Q: Were you present when your picture was taken?Q: Did he kill you?Q: How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?Q: You were there until the time you left, is that true?Q: How many times have you committed sui-cide?

Q: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th? A: Yes. Q: And what were you doing at that time?

Q: She had three children, right? A: Yes. Q: How many were boys? A: None. Q: Were there any girls?

Q: You say the stairs went down to the base-ment? A: Yes. Q: And these stairs, do they go up also?

Q: How was your first marriage terminated? A: By death. Q: And by whose death was it terminated?

Q: Can you describe the individual? A: He was about medium height and had a beard. Q: Was this a male or a female?

Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you per-formed on dead people? A: All my autopsies are performed on dead peo-ple.Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body? A: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m. Q: And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time? A: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy.

Joke of the weekDisorder In The Court

Submitted by John Kennegan