Night Flight - The Sheridan Press

8 The Sheridan Press, Thursday, September 4, 2003
County awards $25,000 for
tree-trimming near airport
By Lori Newman
Staff reporter
Sheridan County commissioners awarded a
$25,382 contract to Valley Tree Service
Tuesday for tree-trimming near Sheridan
County Airport.
The Sheridan firm was the only bidder on
this second bid advertisement, according to
Airport Manager John Stopka.
When bids were opened the first time, on
July 29, Stopka told commissioners, VTS was
also the lone bidder — at $47,275, which was
$17,275 above the county engineering office’s
$30,000 estimate.
Negotiations followed with the owner of the
property where the majority of work needs to
be done, Stopka said.
“After reaching agreement on a reduced
quantity of tree removal and replacement, we
asked Valley Tree Service to submit a revised
bid,” Stopka stated.
That bid was received Aug. 5, and came in
at $25,382. Another $1,470 will be added to
that amount to pay for new trees purchased by
No. 1
(Continued from Page 1)
Cities competing in both categories were judged
by inspectors with WSWRA and the Wyoming
Department of Environmental Quality.
Among the areas scored were job performance,
safety, customer service, equipment maintenance and
even uniform cleanliness, Cummins said.
“Safety is our top priority, and customer service
is also very important,” Cummins said. “The
employees really do their job in a professional manner.”
The city maintains a fleet of six garbage trucks
(two are used as backups), a garbage compactor,
front-end loader, disc, scraper, bulldozer and
Tarpomatic.
The Tarpomatic — an automatic tarping machine
Drug court
(Continued from Page 1)
The recidivism rate is “minimum 70 percent” —
about the percentage of those who do not complete a
treatment program for alcohol or drug addiction and the
anger-management issues that accompany substance
abuse.
Among former inmates who do complete the strict
requirements of a drug court sentence, however, the
recidivism percentage is reversed, Sampson said.
Seventy percent do not commit another crime, and only
30 percent re-offend, he stated.
Starlings
(Continued from Page 1)
The police department tested 25 applicants in
August. Four passed to the next level, and the
department is waiting for results of their psychological
tests before proceeding further.
“The problem is not money,” Gardner said.
“The problem is finding people through the testing
process and retaining them.”
He added the police shortage is nationwide.
• Council members retained Doug Abernatha
as the city’s agent of record in dealing with new
insurance carrier Great West Life.
• The Council approved on third and final
reading Ordinance 1935 authorizing issue of
local improvement bonds to finance Special
Improvement District 76 — the downtown
Sheridan Main Street project.
• Fletcher Construction Co. received the contract
for construction of the Senior Center bus
garage for the low bid of $547,628.
• Council members gave second-reading
approval to Ordinance 1933, partial vacation of
a dedicated access and utility easement on
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John
Stopka
the airport, for a total project
cost of $26,852, or
$3,148 below the engineer’s
estimate, Stopka
reported.
This part of the
Runway Protection Zone
project calls for trimming,
removal and replanting of
trees on four different, privately
owned properties
on Airport Road, including
removing 18 trees on
one property, he added.
The properties
belong to residents who have granted the airport
an “avigation easement,” Stopka said.
He also reported that three property owners
“held out and did not sign” avigationeasement
agreements.
Trees on these properties deemed to present
an aviation hazard can only be trimmed
or removed by the county, Stopka said. “If
they go to build on their property ... the
building permit will include the easement,
for a consideration by the county of $1.”
—is used to spread a large tarp over garbage each
evening to keep trash from blowing.
Before the machine was purchased about a year ago,
Cummins said, crews bladed dirt over the garbage each
day.
“This wasted good dirt and valuable landfill space,”
he said.
The city also has a tractor for the landfill’s composting
operation.
Other waste collection/recycling employees include:
Jerry Sees, Robert Kusel, Jack Amende, Ron Peterson,
Steve Melneck, David Dewey, Gary Foster, Danny
Daniels, Loren Anderson, Scott Osborne and Seth
Sharp.
Other landfill employees include: Tony
Baumgartner, Dave Butler, Ada Lyle, Bill Wegner and
Troy Bower.
Sampson said drug court is successful because its
clients go through “a criminal-thinking component” as
well as a substance-abuse component.
“But most women have victim issues that go beyond
our drug court’s ability to deal with their issues ...
they’ve been beaten and need to deal with that, as
well,” Sampson said.
He praised the efforts of WYSTAR — the Wyoming
Substance Abuse Treatment Centers in Sheridan — to
create a separate campus for women and children, so
issues of repeated victimization can be dealt with in a
safe environment.
Holly Ponds Commercial Corner at Fifth Street
east of Long Drive.
• The Council approved closing Brundage
Street between Linden Avenue and Jefferson
Street for a neighborhood block party from 2-6
p.m. Sept. 14.
• The Council approved an employee assistance
program service agreement with Eastern
Wyoming Mental Health Center, a facility with
offices in Lusk, Douglas and Glendo that specializes
in post-traumatic stress treatment. The
request is from City Police Chief Vince Yardas.
• The Council approved a contract with
Northern Wyoming Mental Health Center for
fiscal year 2003-04 and immediate payment of
$10,000 — half of the total the facility will
receive for the year from the city.
• Council members approved the final plat of
Galloway Subdivision, northeast quadrant of the
intersection of Dunnuck Street and Adair
Avenue.
• The Council approved appointment of Scott
Hininger to the city’s new design review board.
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Jail
(Continued from Page 1)
Drug courts and other sentencing alternatives by
the courts go a long way toward ensuring the jail
doesn’t have an even higher population, noted both
County Attorney Matt Redle and Circuit Court Judge
John Sampson.
Redle said he and Hofmeier compile a list of
inmates to be moved for Judge Sampson to review
and approve.
“Whenever I move anybody, I’ve got to have
paperwork from the court,” Hofmeier said.
Judge Sampson reported that he has always
agreed with the recommendations from Redle and
Hofmeier on relieving “our hopelessly overcrowded
jail.”
“I think the (CCC) is a good deal all the way
around. (Inmates) have to work to pay for their stay
there,” Sampson said in an interview Wednesday.
Sampson, who also presides over the county’s
juvenile and adult drug courts, said substance-abuse
treatment options at CCC help reduce the number of
repeat arrests.
“The people we send (to CCC) have already been
sentenced, they aren’t a danger, and they have at
least 60 days to serve,” Hofmeier said.
He added, “They must be able to get a job within
30 days over there. Once they’re employed they pay
the $45 per day (charged to the county by VOA) plus
they start paying us back for the time we paid to keep
them here.”
Jeff Holsinger, CEO of VOA, said the “pay your
own way” philosophy is a good one — for inmates
and county jail budgets. He added that inmates sent
by courts all over the state to the VOA’s Gillette
halfway house seem to agree.
“It’s good for them ... for self-esteem, and they
get job skills,” Holsinger said.
Inmates at CCC can work on earning their GED,
Holsinger said, and “they can take advantage of inhouse
counseling services, networks with various
social agencies and any mental or physical health
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The Sheridan Press/Robert Waggener
A prescribed burn in the upper stretches of Tongue River Canyon several
years ago cleaned out fuel buildup on the forest floor and also improved forage
for wildlife.
Summer homes and other structures built in forested areas in the Big Horn
Mountains are complicating fire-management activities. This cabin is among
several in the lower stretches of Tongue River Canyon at the base of the
mountains.
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These stands historically burned
about every 35 years or less, and
were relatively low-intensity fires
that cleaned out fuel accumulations
on the ground, Roesler said.
Older ponderosa pine has thick
bark and usually survived these
fires, he said.
But fire-suppression efforts in
ponderosa stands have led to an
“uncharacteristic fuel buildup,” he
said. This buildup is endangering
property and lives and has also hurt
wildlife habitat.
“Most wildlife species benefit
from diversity,” Roesler said.
A Wyoming Game and Fish
Department article, titled,
“Building with fire,” says that fire
encourages plant diversity, which,
in turn, is necessary for wildlife
diversity.
“Populations of mammals and
birds often decline immediately following
a fire, but, in most cases,
they exceed prefire numbers three
to 10 years after the burn,” it states.
But the article states that many
people think of forest fires only as a
“tragic and destructive force,” as
evidenced by news media coverage
of the 1988 Yellowstone National
Park fires and by the U.S. Forest
Service’s famous character,
Smokey Bear, which has promoted
a negative image of fire.
Roesler said forest managers
now realize the benefits of fire, and
that’s why prescribed fire is among
the tools they use.
“Prescribed fire has been phased
in over the years. A lot of the prescribed
burning in recent years has
been to improve forage for wildlife
and livestock and to reduce hazardous
fuels,” he said.
support services” they may need to rehabilitate.
Holsinger noted that “probably 80 to 85 percent of
inmates in the VOA’s 84-bed facility in Gillette are
“involved with substance-abuse treatment options
while they’re here.”
Most offenses that land people in jail — probably
that same 80-85 percent, Holsinger said — “are the
result of alcohol or drug abuse. Most are alcoholrelated
... a third, fourth or fifth DUI, property
offenses, theft ... as opposed to an act of violence.”
Since Sheridan County began sending inmates to
CCC, Holsinger reported, the county has received
more than $8,000 from the wages of inmates who
are employed and can pay for their own keep.
CCC’s new facility opened in December with two
women’s dorms and 10 for men, with “barracks-style
living quarters,” Holsinger said.
A state-of-the-art surveillance system adds to the
physical security for residents, he added, “but if they
want to leave, our monitors will not physically try to
stop them. It becomes felony escape then, and they’ll
call the sheriff’s office and have them arrested.”
A zero-tolerance policy for drugs, alcohol and
“not being where you’re supposed to be” accounts
for the facility’s fairly high success rate, Holsinger
said.
Approximately 75 percent of CCC inmates do not
re-offend, according to Holsinger.
Since the jail population has been dangerously
high for at least two years now, Redle said, “we’re
always looking for alternatives” to jail sentences.
“Everybody who’s looking at (at least) 60 days is
a good candidate for Gillette,” Hofmeier said. “We
put everybody over there (at CCC) that we can. We
are left with people waiting to get into the court system,
waiting for trials or in for less than 30 days.”
In addition to substance-abuse, Alcoholics
Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous options,
Hofmeier said, inmates at the halfway house can participate
in Bible study and other church discussion
groups that come to CCC once a week.