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August 13, 2015
Newcastle, Wyoming
Year 129 Week 33
Todd Bennington
NLJ Reporter
The 2015 results for the
Proficiency Assessment for
Wyoming Students (PAWS)
are now available, and Weston
County School District #1 edu-
cators plan to utilize the data
in order to gauge the effective-
ness of education programs and
teaching strategies and adjust
them as needed moving forward,
according to district personnel.
Among the highlights of the
2015 results, as cited by District
Curriculum Director and Math
Facilitator Sonya Tysdal, are
those scores in which WCSD #1
students fall within the 4th quar-
tile, meaning they're among the
top twelve schools in the state.
"For last year the scores that
I would say really stand out are
... 7th grade reading ... and the
other two are fourth and fifth
grade math," she told the NLJ,
while adding that the scores for
last year's 8th grade class, as
well as across-the-board science
scores, indicate areas district
educators and administrators will
seek to address.
Issues concerning the teaching
of science are difficult to pin-
point Tysdal noted, because the
statewide PAWS assessment only
includes the subject in the fourth
and eighth grades, as it is not
mandated to be tested for every
year.
Superintendent Brad LaCroix
affirmed that the district will be
looking at how to best address the
lower science and eighth grade
scores, while also noting that the
fact of the district's smaller class
sizes means that the test perfor-
mance of just a few students can
skew results either way.
"Now that they're fifth
graders [we'll ask] what kinds
of resources are we going to
do to make sure this kind of
thing is going to improve," said
LaCroix. "We're a small enough
sample group that you'll have
groups that will come through
and they'll be state champions
every year ... and then there are
other groups. For example, we
know this freshman group that
is coming in to the high school
... has just got some different
challenges. So if we don't change
our resources to meet those chal-
lenges then those kids will just
-- See PAWS, Page 7
Todd Bennington
NLJ Reporter
Ran Brunner, who
has been put forward
by Commissioner Tracy
Hunt as a possible board
candidate for the newly
formed Weston County
Solid Waste Disposal
District, appeared
before the Weston
County Commissioners
last Tuesday morning to
discuss what he might
be able to contribute as
a potential appointee.
Later that after-
noon Newcastle City
Engineer Bob Hartley
appeared before the
commissioners to
express his displeasure
with them over com-
ments quoted in a News
Letter Journal article of
July 30.
Brunner, who indi-
cated he had served
as the equivalent of a
county commissioner
in Wisconsin for 12
years, related some of
his experiences in that
state in regard to the
financing and permit-
ting of landfills and
transfer stations.
"We faced [in
Wisconsin] in the
1980s what you're
facing today," Brunner
told the commissioners,
adding that he feels the
Wisconsin Department
of Environmental
Resources, the equiva-
lent of the Wyoming
Department of
Environmental Quality,
is much more politi-
cally powerful in com-
parison to its Wyoming
counterpart.
Even so, Brunner
said he expects to see
the same stringent envi-
ronmental regulations
-- See Board, Page 8
Smoke
Nathan Foote gets geared up for the Newcastle Volunteer Fire Department's 2nd
annual 5K on Saturday morning. Participants walked and ran to raise money for
the 2016 fireworks fund. Nathan was among those who walked the route in full
firefighting equipment. (Todd Bennington/NLJ)
Alexis Shultz and Todd
Bennington
NLJ Reporters
A referendum to legalize
marijuana for medicinal use
may appear before voters on
next year's ballot. In anticipa-
tion, the Wyoming Association
of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Pblice
(WASCOP) is making an effort
to gain support across the state
for an educational campaign
potentially financed by the
Daniels Fund.
To that end, Newcastle
Chief of Police Jim Owens
and Weston County Sheriff
Bryan Colvard appeared before
local officials last Monday and
"Our intent is to educate
and stay totally out of the
political arena," Chief Owens
told the city council on Monday
evening.
Owens further explained
that the goal of "Get Informed
Tuesday, successfully gaining Wyoming" is to educate
support for the initiative from Wyoming citizens as to what
the Newcastle City Council it means to legalize marijuana
while the Weston County so that Wyoming can avoid a
Commissioners voted to table situation similar to what was
the issue, seen in Colorado. The general
public throughout Colorado
had "no idea" what was really
taking place when they voted
to legalize marijuana due to
the proliferation of inaccu-
rate information, according to
Owens.
Chief Owens went on to say
that WASCOP is working in
conjunction with the Daniels
Fund, a private philanthropic
foundation established by late
cable TV entrepreneur Bill
Daniels, to ascertain whether or
not there is sufficient support
among businesses and public
officials to move forward with
the education campaign. If so,
the Daniels Fund is willing to
provide $250,000 a year for a
two-year period to help educate
Wyoming residents, Owens
said.
Owns and Sheriff Colvard
indicated that they were
seeking to gain signatures of
support for the education effort
from either individual officials
or the boards as a whole by the
deadline of August 14.
Commenting on the pro-
posed campaign, Councilman
Todd Quigley noted that he
is "all for education" but
noted that a resolution indi-
cating WASCOP is against the
legalization referendum was
-- See Education, Page 3
Alexis Shultz
NLJ Reporter
The public fishing pond
that will be created at the
local golf course through
the combined efforts of
the Newcastle Country
Club, Wyoming Refining
Company and the Wyoming
Game and Fish Department
could soon be a reality.
Construction crews from
Farnsworth Services and
B&M Dozer have begun to
excavate the site, and hope
to have the dirt work fin-
ished by the end of August,
but Country Club Board
Chairman Rick Dunford
admitted that crews got
started on the project a
week later than anticipated
and may not have all of
the digging and dirt moving
done by the end of the
month.
"They have told us they
want to be done by the end
of August," he said, noting
that all of the equipment
needed to build the fishing
pond has been moved onto
the location.
He reported that crews
had to dig a second hole
near the one being exca-
vated for the pond, and that
will be used to bury soil
taken from the pond area
that is not "suitable." He
explains that the unsuit-
able soil is the dirt that is
porous and won't compact
properly or possibly has too
Crews are spending this week removing the top layer of soil and vegetation from the
lowland area so it can be used as topsoil on the area surrounding the pond. (Alexis
Shultz/NLJ)
much clay, neither of which
would make it appropriate
for building the side walls
of the pond.
Before excavation could
begin in the pond area itself,
a process of de-watering
had to be undertaken to
allow heavy equipment to
be used in the drainage and
to remove moisture from
soil so it could be shaped
and compacted properly.
"Apparently the de-
watering process has
worked," Dunford said,
indicating that the area in
which the pond is being
built collects a lot of water
and even flooded a bit over
the summer.
"They think there is an
old s-shaped stream bed
that went through there, and
some of the city drainage
actually goes through there,"
Dunford reported, noting
that a considerable amount
of runoff from spring and
summer rains necessitated
the need for de-watering in
the low-lying area.
Crews are presently
removing the top layer of
soil and vegetation from
the bottom of the area des-
ignated for the pond, and
piling it on the site for use at
the end of the project, when
it will be utilized as topsoil
-- See Pond, Page 3
Todd Bennington
NLJ Reporter
The Weston County
Commissioners discussed the pos-
sibility of purchasing a commercial
building within the city limits of
Newcastle last Tuesday, a topic on
which prior closed-door executive
session discussions seem to have
been held.
No vote on the matter was
taken, though Commissioners Tony
Barton and Randy Rossman both
volunteered to work with County
Administrator Dan Blakeman and
other county officials on looking
into what options are available and
better establishing the feasibility of
the potential purchase.
Barton told his fellow commis-
sioners that he believes that, over
the long run, such a purchase would
save the county money in terms
of rents and other expenditures,
adding that he believes the space
needs of Weston County govern-
ment will continue to grow.
Commissioner Tracy Hunt,
however, questioned the county's
ability to afford the building pur-
chase, noting there would also be
additional costs involved when it
comes to making the building in
question suitable for the county's
purposes.
"I don't dispute that it's a great
deal," Hunt said. "I don't dispute
that it will save money. But I've
passed up a lot of great investments
in my life because I couldn't afford
them. Where are we going to get
the dough if that's what we're going
to do?"
Rossman agreed with Hunt's
assertion that significant renovation
would be needed, including taking
out existing counters within the
building in question. He estimated
that the costs would be significant.
At one point the conversa-
tion turned to the possibility of
locating the District Court within
the building, and Commission
Chair Bill Lambert indicated he had
spoken with a judge the previous
evening on the matter.
"[The judge] was very interested
in what we are going to do and
wanted to have an idea of where
we are headed," Lambert told those
present.
The possibility of utilizing court
security funding from the state or
Emergency Operation Center grant
money were also discussed. In
answer to a question from Rossman,
Blakeman said he doubted the pos-
sibility of using EOC funding since
that money had been requested for
a specific purpose that will need to
be satisfied, but said he had not yet
garnered enough information on the
EOC project to say that definitively.
Hunt expressed some doubts
about the possibility of locating the
District Court within the building
under consideration (which was not
revealed), while Blakeman further l
questioned why two courtrooms
were necessary. Blakeman said that
sharing one court room between
-- See Building, Page 7
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