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1"
2 -- October 22, 2015
editor@newslj'.com
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Our view
Bonnar
Publisher and
Editor
Governor Matt Mead's announcement that he is trying to
find $200 million to cut from state budgets in the current fiscal
year should scare the heck out of local government officials
around Wyoming who were hoping Mead and the Wyoming State
Legislature would provide financial support over the next bien-
nium to help communities weather the economic rough patch many
of them are experiencing.
We hope Weston County officials are prepared, however, to
stand up to their fears-- instead of curling up in a helpless ball and
hiding from them, and we hope they will do so in a convincing
enough manner to encourage their counterparts in other parts of
Wyoming to stand defiantly (even disrespectfully) with them.
For most of the past decade, the legislature has used overly
conservative revenue projections to build a nearly $2 billion
Legislative Stabilization Account-- more commonly refered to as
the Rainy Day Fund-- and local officials should be loudly pro-
claiming that the downturn in the energy industry means that it is
raining just as hard in Newcastle as it is in Cheyenne or Laramie.
Throughout most of the energy boom legislators refused to
provide a guaranteed (and appropriate) funding stream to local
governments because they favored saving the money to safeguard
the state against the bust that would inevitably follow the boom.
That bust has arrived, and lawmakers are already hinting that local
governments shouldn't expect much in the way of shared state
revenue this year.
We assume it is their intent to dig in and attempt to spread that
nearly $2 billion over as many years as they possibly can out of a
fear that this bust will go on for a number of years, but we believe
doing so will create a self-fulfilling prophecy by simply magni-
fying the impact of any economic hardships the state will experi-
ence while energy prices are low-- making it that much more dif-
ficult to emerge from the current recession.
The intent behind the creation of a rainy day fund is to spend
those monies to provide some shelter when the rain does come, but
the track record of the Wyoming State Legislature would seem to
indicate that they will hesitate to hand out umbrellas because they
are worried that the "heavy stuff won't come down for awhile yet."
(Of course, a big umbrella is already being provided to
Cheyenne and Laramie, where a $300 million renovation of the
state capitol and numerous construction projects at the University
of Wyoming are moving forward at full steam.)
We find it highly unlikely that the state's current recession will
last much beyond the next presidential election, and it should be
noted that the Rainy Day Fund is only one of the many savings
accounts in the State of Wyoming's portfolio.
Those other accounts should be more than suitable to protect us ]
if the rain continue~o l~ll,~d ~e ugge locakoff~ials~4p rel~ind~ ~.
", legislators of that while resisting that i~e level tSt" funding prowded
~to local goyernments should, at the very least, be maintained at the
;i!]a&i~y levels "enjoyed" during the boom.
Lawmakers can take some solace in the fact that their refusal to
share the wealth during the boom means that communities already
know how to tighten their belts (because we've been doing it all
along), but it is offensive for them to think that we can tighten them
any further. Elected officials in Weston County should not hesitate
to show how offended they are if the legislature suggests that we
should.
the Editor ....................................................
Commit to funding apparent, but not a problem.
People are not a bad thing. Many people
mental health programs have entered the United States illegally,
which is true, but not a bad thing. With
Dear Editor, more people in the U.S., there is a'bigger
As recently as the 1960's, our nation's demand for supplies, and a bigger demand
mental health programs were mishandled for goods will boost the economy, which is
by state and federal governments, already in a downward spiral. Also, people
Diagnosis too often was "Possessed working for less money helps businesses,
by Demons." Treatment was too often which helps the economy as a whole.
inhumane incarceration in an asylum that With more people entering the U.S., the
had more in common with the "CooCoo's country is protected. There are more people
Nest" than a Psychiatric Hospital. President in the U.S with illegal immigration-- in the
Kennedy did not come to grips with this USA, 10.8 million more people according
problem and so it persisted, to "At Issue: Illegal Immigration."
Later, in the mid-80s, the paltry That means there are more people in the
amount dedicated to mental health was country to help fight in a war if that should
deemed excessive by President Reagan. ever become a necessity.
He severely cut the already meager federal Many jobs and everyday lives deal with
funding. Many asylums/shelters/mental racial diversity. With illegal immigration,
institutions had to close. Many of the ex- there are more people of different races
residents acquired a new designation: "The coming into the United States as kids.
Homeless." This sets up the kids already
The funding levels never in the U.S., as well as the
recovered from those draco- immigrants coming in, for
nian cuts. Ad Hoc "threat success because they will grow
assessment teams" have tried, up among different races.
with some, but little success, Illegal immigration makes it so
to stem the flow of blood from people do not hear accents or
school and workplace mass see colors. It teaches respect.
murders. If someone grows up
Thirty years ago there was without racial diversity, they
a mass murder about every will not really know how to
200 days. react to it. With a wider range
Currently, there is a mass murder of racial diversity, people would be able
about every two months, to observe other race's cultures and how
The National Institutes of Health need people act. Illegal immigration will intro-
more funding to research, recommend duce more racial diversity than immigration
and deploy a palliative program. Fund a does because of the limit of people that can
comprehensive mental health program, enter the U.S. legally.
including a psychiatric domiciliary for Illegal immigration could save money
every population of a million. That will and prevent war, and having illegal
probably cost less than one squadron of immigrants in the U.S. could save a lot of
those worthless F35 planes our politicians money.
are so eager to shower money upon. If the Border Patrol lost some of their
Beyond that, we need to find a way to funding-- they receive a ridiculous amount
'destigmatize' engaging mental health pro- of money to try and keep human beings out
fessionals. I had a friend who went off the of the "land of the free"-- the government
rails just one night while in college. He was could use that money on real issues around
threatened with loss of his degree and other the country.
abominations. If people were allowed to come into our
A good letter from a psychiatrist got country, it would create allies, thus making
him out of that mess. He Was so happy and less enemies. It is easy to see why illegal
relieved that he made a little sign to wear. immigration is not a problem.
It read "I can prove I'm sane, can ~¢ou?'" Many people think that illegal immigra-
--Jerry Baird tion is a bad thing, but it is not an issue.
--Lyle Whitney
K]m Bean
Circulation/
Accounts Manager
S~aplmnie Bonnar
Graphic Artist/
Advertising
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Office/Sales/
Classifieds
Spain Kaq=
Spots Reported
Photographer
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Reporter
Tom Mullah
Co-Owner
Web
Co-Owner
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Tallman
Cimulation
Pam Penflekl
Sales
Alleds Shultz
Reporter
Jesslea Yarnes
Graphic Designer
We're all still a little shell-shocked from the
fallout of the Great Recession.
As for newspapers, in 2007 when our world
economy was at its peak, so was newspaper pulp
production.
But by mid-2008 people had stopped
spending money and you probably ........
noticed a dearth of 18-wheelers on the
highways.
But despite the chorus of "print is ......
dead" (led by our own industry) some ::
strange facts have come to light.
Pulp sales in the U.S. in 2014 finally
surpassed that high water mark of 2007
and 2015 is expected to surpass that.
Spending on direct mail also is
growing once again.
So if print is dead, why then is there
more of it being sold and/or shipped today than ever
before?
We've all heard complaints about
gas quality and may have had experi-
ences ourselves from time to time with
poor vehicle performance after filling
up, but what factors actually determine
fuel quality?
That's the question the NLJ posed
to Senior Petroleum Analyst Will
Speer, who covers the Southwest,
Midwest, and Mountain states for
GasBuddy.com, a site that bills itself
as "the leading provider of retail fuel
pricing information and data," as well
as Bruce Hinchey, president of the
Petroleum Association of Wyoming, an
industry lobby group.
Speer told the NLJ that the major
product distinction that can be made is
between branded gasoline, such as that
sold at Chevron, Exxon, or Phillips 66
stations, and unbranded gas, which is
what can be found at wholesale Costco
stores, mom-and-pop groceries, and
similar establishments where no recog-
nizable brand name is advertised.
Unbranded gasoline tends to have
less detergent, according to Speer,
to With Advertise News or
07-746-277 /
..... , t .... What :~
Illegal immigration isn't we strive to cover all the news and
entertainment important to the people of
as bad as we think red. note: The preceding letter was West0n County, Wyoming. Our entire staff
written for an assignment in Debb takes part in the decisi0n-making process
Dear Editor, Proctor's Freshmen English class. Please 0f what appears in these pages and all
Many people think that illegal immigra- send any responses to this letter to editor@ content is locally generated. If you have a
tion is a bad thing. Illegal immigration is newslj.com) story idea please contact any of the people
you see here. NLJ editorials appear in the
upper left hand corner of this page and are
written from the position of the newspa-
per, usually with the influence of several
There is a simple answer, but it is an over-simpli-
fication.
Marketers, who pay to have print delivered to
you, saw the internet as a cheap and more effective
route to their customers.
They were half right.
It is cheap.
But the internet, with all its promise,
has still failed to deliver a workable busi-
ness model for our industry and the
carnage of trying to make it work has yet
people, and in the hope that they will carry
the weight of our lO0-plus years'of lead-
ership. The personal columns and letters
appearing elsewhere on this page. and
likes last week (paid readership) which means this others, represent the opinions of single
newspaper will have over 100,000 page views, individuals and d0 not necessarily reflect
Which is why this print media survives. Every the position of the newspaper. The NLJ
welcomes and encourages your Letter to
week we deliver to you reliable information on the the Editor. We will print all signed, original
cheap, letters of local interest. Please provide a
This paper costs more than four bucks to get to phone number for verification. We will not
you so we make up the difference by selling adver- publish letters that are libelous or scurri-
lous in nature. Letters of thanks are offered
tising we think will benefit you. at a reduced price in our classified section.
Our advertisers have faith or know from experi-
ence that if they put their message in front of people
who are paying for the message, they'll get more
to stop. customers.
And when we say "carnage," we mean If you're a global company with vast resources
erevvn
the elimination of jobs. Big newspapers you can probably compete pretty well using digital.
Tom M~fllen have ravaged their newsrooms, in many But if you're a small town shop using the internet
Stop in Monday through Friday
at 14 West Main Street,
Newcastle, Wyoming
POSTMASTER: Please send any address
changes to the News Letter Journal, PO Box
40, Newcastle, WY 82701.
Annual Subscription Rate:
In Weston County ............. $45.50
Out of County .................. $57
Senior Citizens (65+) ............ $30
Military (Active) ............... FREE
Student, In State ................ $27
Student, Out of State ............. $33
Paper Boy cases by firing half of their news staff, you are competing globally and that's a hard row to
But print is still the most effective hoe.
medium to deliver a message and noneAs a culture we should also recognize that the
more so than paid circulation media, more we make our purchases on the internet, the
To paraphrase a social media giant, we had 6,700 less chance our retail stores will be able to survive.
Usually it's ten percent or less. That's
by law. Once you add the alcohol it has
less BTU content than straight gasoline
does, and so therefore it will reduce
your gas mileage and reduce your Y ~ ~le~w~-
horsepower a little bit."
which is a chemical additive meant to
minimize the formation of deposits
inside combustion chambers, intake
valves, and fuel injectors.
"In your branded gasoline you'll
get close to twice as much
detergent, and you'll have the
name-brand detergent that
they're using. [For] Chevron
it's Techron ... That's why
you'll sometimes see the
price of a branded fuel
slightly higher than a generic
grocery store."
Other than the amount
and quality of the detergent
added, gasolines themselves
tend to be similar, Speer
maintained.
Instead it's factors such as seepage
of water into underground tanks or
other storage and maintenance issues
that make for a poorly performing
product.
Hinchey agreed, saying that current
industry standards make getting a bad
tank of gas unlikely in this day and
age, with the issue usually attributable
to factors other than the fuel itself.
"The quality checks that go on
today are a lot different than they were
30 years ago," Hinchey explained "...
There's filters before it's
pumped into the tanks and
filters after its pumped out
of the tank into your car, and
your car has filters itself. To
[talk about bad gas] today, I
would imagine it's probably
other factors. It could be rust
in someone's gas tank. It
could be water that somehow
got in the gas tank, but very
unlikely [to be a problem
with] the fuel."
Still, Hinchey seemed
to take a negative view of the use of
ethanol in gasoline, while acknowl-
edging there may be other views on the
subject.
"Ethanol is alcohol. It's made from
corn," he explained. "You can make it
from a lot of different products, but it's
alcohol that is added to the gasoline.
News Letter Journal is published each
Thursday at 14 W. Main Street in Newcastle
(Weston Co.) WY 82701. Periodicals post-
age paid at Newcastle, WY. USPS No. 389-
940. Deadline for advertising is the prior
Friday at 5 p.m.
i
o provide news and entertainment for, and
to serve the best interests of, the people of
Weston County.
Serving Weston County since 1889. All con-
tents are property of the News Letter Journal,
(NLJ) Copyright 2010. NLJ is a publication
of News Letter Journal, LLC, Thomas R.
Mullen and Robert H. Hicks, owriers.
"It was a fix for the federal govern-
ment to try to solve a crisis and make
sure we had plenty of fuel," Hinchey
continued. "Plus the farmers in the
Midwest were really pushing it, so they
could sell their corn crops ... That's
my opinion. There's probably other
reasons."
An ethanol tax credit that had been
in effect since 1995 was allowed by the
State Legislature to lapse this year.
As for gasoline at the wholesale
level, however, the quality is pretty
much the same before the addition
of additives for retail sale, contended
Speer.
"Gasoline is a fungible product.
Just because it says Chevron on the gas
station, you're still pulling from the
same wholesale rack as the Costco,"
Speer said.