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June 18, 2015
Newcastle, Wyoming
Year 129
Week 25
Collection
carted off
Bob Bonnar
NLJ Editor
Travelers who venture to
Newcastle this summer will find
that there is plenty of tradition
and heritage to boast of in Weston
County, but the community's ability
to verify the wealth of local lore
that exists was threatened consider-
ably when historian Leonard Cash
reported that a significant portion
of his photograph collection has
mysteriously disappeared.
"He came in and reported that
his photo albums were missing,"
Newcastle Police Chief Jim Owens
said after Cash appeared at the Law
Enforcement Center to report the
suspected theft on the morning of
June 9.
Cash told the News Letter
Journal that he first discovered the
photo albums were gone two days
earlier, when stone mason John
Francis visited him to view Old
Mill photos in Cash's collection.
Francis is currently recon-
structing part of the historic
Newcastle restaurant at Devil's
Tower, using stones from the
building to create a new visitors
center at the monument.
"It was a week ago Sunday,"
Cash recalled. "Some of the
numbers (used to reference place-
ment of the stones in the original
structure) got washed off, and he
wanted some really good pictures of
the Old Mill."
He said he furiously searched
his home for the photos and has
confu'med that at least five albums
full of historic photos taken around
Newcastle and Weston County are
missing.
"I tore that house up from one
end to another, and they are just not
in the house. I figure there are well
over 1,000.gone, and some of them
we will never be able to replace,"
Cash sighed.
His daughter, Annette Koester,
immediately spread word of the dis-
-- See Collection, Page 3
Funding friends
Denice Pisciotti
NLJ Reporter
The Eastern Weston County Recreation District board agreed to provide
financial support to the Weston County Friends of the Fair at their meeting
May 27, even though some board members expressed concern over the
current operation of the fairgrounds.
Nancy Darnell, who represented the Friends of the Fair at the meeting,
presented two separate requests for money at the Weston County School
District No. 1 board of trustees meeting immediately prior to the rec board
meeting. Tlie first reques[ was for $2,000 for general upgrades to the
fairgrounds, which would inetude a donor sign above the bucking shoots.
A second request for $1,000 was to help fund five Gymkhana equestrian
events at the fairgrounds this year. Damell told the board that she hoped
they would fund one or the other but didn't expect them to provide money
for both.
Board members, who are all school trustees, had varying opinions about
giving money to the fairgrounds, but in the end, all agreed to fund not only
the $2,000 request but also the $1,000 request for the gymkhana.
"As Friends of the Fair, we raise money for projects and ask for dona-
tions. Then every bit of money that the Friends of the Fair has goes either
for fairgrounds improvement or promotion. Our bylaws require that, and
that is how we conduct ourselves," Darnell said.
Ten years ago, the Friends of the Fair received $2,000 from the board to
-- See Funding, Page 3
Weston County School Board member John Reisland, Mayor Greg James, northeast regional director for the Wyoming
Business Council Dave Spencer and councilman Steven Ladwig discuss recreation plans. (Todd Bennington/NLJ)
Rec talks move forward
Todd Bennington
NLJ Reporter
Representatives of Weston
County School District No.
1, Eastern Weston County
Recreation District, and
Newcastle met with Dave
Spencer, northeast regional
director for the Wyoming
Business Council, the after-
noon of Wednesday, June
10. The local entities are
exploring the possibility of
a obtaining a Community
Enhancement Grant from
the council in order to fund
recreational infrastructure
improvements.
The proposed improve-
ments are being considered in
conjunction with the poten-
tial creation of the position
of a community recreation
director position. The person
hired to fill the post would
work to increase the public's
access to and awareness of
existing recreational oppor-
tunities and facilities and to
coordinate facility use.
Though the council
is unable to provide direct
funding for the position,
those present at the meeting
said they considered WBC
funding, in the form of an
enhancement grant for related
infrastructure projects, to be
integral to the success of any
new position in the long run.
News Letter Journal
Publisher Bob Bonnar, who
was present in his capacity as
a school trustee, told Spencer
that "we think that in order
(for the community recreation
director position) to have
long-term stability and com-
munity buy-in, that we prob-
ably do need to show some
effort to improve infrastruc-
ture, and that's why we've
asked you to be here."
The proposed projects
and funding
The main infrastructure
projects proposed are the
completion of the existing
network of bike/walking
trails, the construction of
two tennis courts at the Larry
Price Memorial Park and
improvements to the patio
area of the Kozisek Aquatic
Center. A written proposal
from the recreation district
estimates the cost of the trail
completion and tennis courts
at $200,000 and $150,000,
respectively.
Bonnar said that though
the enhancement grants
require a 50 percent match,
he believed much of the
required matching funds were
already available, potentially
allowing city and recreation
board funds to be put directly
toward salary and support of
the rec director position.
"I think through (city
Councilwoman Linda) Hunt's
work," he said, "through some
of the private partnerships
and corporate sponsorships in
the community, the money
that's already been secured
and put into that project in
recent months, ... that we
might be at our 50 percent
or near our 50 percent right
now, which would then free
up recreation resources to put
into this recreation director
position."
City Engineer Bob Hartley
clarified with Spencer that a
federal grant, which is filtered
through the Wyoming Dept.
of Transportation and is being
used to fund some of the
bike paths, could be counted
toward the matching funds.
Typically grants through
WYDOT require a 20 percent
grant match themselves, the
pair noted.
In response to a question
from Hunt about whether it
might be more feasible to
pursue additional WYDOT
funding, Bonnar reminded
those present that the business
council's enhancement grant
has the advantage in that,
unlike the WYDOT funding,
it can be utilized more broadly
and would allow for construc-
tion of the tennis courts.
Spencer cautioned,
however, that when it comes
to using other grants as
matching funds, timing is
crucial. Though he said the
business council now works
on a quarterly rolling-dead-
line system for grant appli-
cations, with applications
due the first of September,
December, March, or June,
grants utilized for matching
funding need to coincide with
the council's timetable.
Time line,
in-kind funding issues
"When you're trying to
match existing funding, you
want to make sure that that
nexus is happening at the
same time. We can't use stuff
that was funded previous to
any kind of an application
being filed. It has to be part
of the same project basically,"
Spencer said.
-- See Rec, Page 7
Newcastle grad seeks to revolutionize microscope technology
Todd Bennington
NLJ Reporter
How medical professionals go
about diagnosing diseases in field sit-
uations, particularly in the developing
world, may be turned on its head if
the engineering and entrepreneurial
endeavors of Jeffrey Schmidt, a 1976
graduate of Newcastle High School,
come to fruition.
Schmidt, who holds engineering-
related degrees from the University
of Wyoming and the South Dakota
School of Mines and Technology, is
currently hard at work on a super-
compact, portable imaging micro-
scope, the Peri-scope 1, which is
intended to function as a removable
module for Google's new Project Ara
smartphone.
The innovative Ara phone, which
is currently in development with a
trial release scheduled for the end
of this year in Puerto Rico, will
feature ports for removable hardware,
such as cameras and scientific instru-
ments like the microscope Schmidt is
designing.
"The basic idea of this project is
that Google has developed this phone
that is modular," Schmidt explained.
"A typical cellphone these days, you
can develop different apps for it. It's
open source software. In this case, it's
open source hardware as well, so you
can just add anything you want to the
phone. You can basically make the
phone into any instrument you want
by adding hardware to it."
Schmidt, who worked in telecom-
munications for 14 years, mainly
on cellphones, said the impetus
for starting his California-based
company, Peritech, came after being
laid off last year from multinational
communications and technology
giant Nokia during a bout of restruc-
turing.
"I looked for a job for a while and
then just got to thinking to try my
own thing," said Schmidt, who added
that he claims no particular title for
himself within his company.
In part, that's because Peritech
is essentially a one-man show, at
this point, although Schmidt's sisters,
Janene and Jennifer, provide him with
some respective support with busi-
ness management and getting the
word out about his current project.
"When we first started, we had
four founding members and then,
due to delays in getting support from
Google for this project, almost every-
body went their own ways," Schmidt
explained. "A lot of developers are
just stuck right now because Google
hasn't delivered the development
hardware that they promised because
they're redesigning it."
But the setback of having his
fellow co-founding engineers leave to
find work elsewhere hasn't been the
only obstacle Schmidt has faced in
seeing his technological vision come
Jeffrey Schmidt of Poway, Calif., holds a prototype of his Peri-tech 1 microscope module for the new Google Project
Ara smartphone. He hopes the device will simplify the diagnosis of malaria in the developing world. (Submitted Photo)
about. Development costs for optical
equipment run high, he said, with the
design of the lens itself presenting a
significant financial hurdle.
"Optical engineers are a specialty,
and they charge an arm and a leg,"
Schmidt said with a sigh, adding that
all quotes he's obtained thus far have
Friday Saturday Sunday I
Sunny Thunderstorms Partly Sunny Partly Sunny
Hi 86 Lo 57 Hi 73 Lo 52 Hi 77, Lo 56 Hi 91 Lo 58
estimated the cost for the design of
the lens alone at $20,000-$50,000.
Still, Schmidt, who intends his
product for use in diagnosing dis-
eases in parts of the developing world
where infrastructure is limited, said
he believes he can still keep his costs
reasonable, aiming for a retail price
Tuesday
Hi 85, Lo 58
of under $200.
"To make each lens is going to
be a significant cost to the product,"
he reasoned, "but I'm hoping, since
we're a small company, I don't have
to ask for a large margin on the
-- See Microscope, Page 8
m