Early payoff

PAGE A10 Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018 S GILLETTE NEWS RECORD S GILLETTE, WYOMING

WORLD / GILLETTE

World in brief

Suspicious envelopes sent to president

WASHINGTON -- Authorities were investigating two envelopes suspected of containing a suspected poison that were addressed to top military chiefs and a third with unknown contents sent to President Donald Trump.

In a statement Tuesday evening, the Secret Service confirmed that a suspicious envelope had been sent to the president on Monday, but was not received at the White House, nor did it ever enter the White House. The agency did not disclose any details about what was in the envelope or where it was received. The White House had no comment.

Authorities at a Pentagon mail screening facility were investigating two envelopes suspected of containing a poison, ricin, made from castor beans. Those letters were addressed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who is traveling in Europe this week, and the Navy's top officer, Adm. John Richardson, a defense official said.

They were turned over to the FBI for further analysis. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to speak publicly ahead of FBI release of its findings.

Neither envelope entered the Pentagon. The mail screening facility is on the Pentagon grounds but separate from the main building.

Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood said the envelopes had been found on Monday.

Pompeo goes to NKorea for nuclear talks

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is heading back to North Korea for another round of talks aimed at getting Kim Jong Un to give up nuclear weapons.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Tuesday that Pompeo will meet with Kim on Sunday, following a daylong visit to Japan.

This will be Pompeo's fourth visit to North Korea since he became secretary of state. He made an earlier trip there, in April, when he was director of the CIA.

"Obviously these conversations are going in the right direction, and we feel confident enough to hop on a plane to head there," Nauert said.

Feds roll out new student aid app

WASHINGTON -- The Education Department is unveiling a mobile program intended to make it easier for students to apply for federal financial aid.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rolled out the myStudentAid app on Tuesday. She says applicants will now have the necessary tools to apply for loans and grants "in the palm of their hand."

Students and parents have long complained that the standard paper-based application form is long and cumbersome and could deter many from seeking federal aid and thus going to college.

The department said the "engaging and user-friendly" app allows applicants to compare information about schools of their choice and electronically transfer their tax data from their tax returns.

Every year, the Education Department awards about $120 billion in student aid in grants, federal student loans, and workstudy programs.

Disaster survivors desperate for food

PALU, Indonesia -- "Awesome Indonesia," a young man shouted sarcastically as a crowd of people, some pushing their arms elbow deep into a jumbled pile of sodden food and debris, searched for anything edible in the shell of a warehouse that tsunami waves had pounded.

Clambering over the reeking pile or staking out a patch of territory, the people pulled out small cartons of milk, soft drinks, rice, sweets and painkillers. One man digging out packets of biscuits had half submerged himself in the mess.

They had come from devastated neighborhoods and elsewhere in the remote Indonesian city of Palu, which was hit by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake and powerful tsunami on Friday. They were young and old, middle class and poor, university students and sullen young men.

"We came here because we heard there was food," said Rehanna, a 23-year-old student, wearing a bright red motorcycle helmet. "We need clean water, rice."

-- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

City OKs several 1 Percent projects

By NEWS RECORD STAFF

The Gillette City Council agreed to a number of Optional 1 Percent Sales Tax projects Tuesday.

In total, the council agreed to spend about $1.36 million on street improvements, sidewalk design, a sewer main replacement and a garbage truck compactor body.

The money is all cash the city has

on-hand. That's the standard procedure for 1 Percent purchases. The improvements include:

Simon Contractors was awarded a $1.1 million project for street improvements in the 4J subdivision.

$12,000 will be spent on sidewalk design for areas near Wagonhammer Lane, Flying Circle Drive, 12th Street and others near Kiwanis Park that don't have side-

walks. That project was awarded to Inberg-Miller Engineers.

The City Council also agreed to pay more than $114,000 for a new garbage truck body. City Administrator Patrick Davidson said the garbage truck body will replace an aging one in the city's fleet. It was bought from Southwestern Equipment Co. of Justin, Texas.

Bus driver ticketed after Wright crash

No injuries reported

By NEWS RECORD STAFF

A 35-year-old woman was ticketed after getting into an accident Tuesday afternoon in Wright. She was driving a Campbell County School District bus with three kids and turned left onto Charcoal Court when she hit an unoccupied parked car, said Sheriff's Cpl. Marlene Sharpe.

There was damage on the driver's side of the bus for the length of the vehicle. The children were wearing their seat belts and were not hurt.

The bus driver was ticketed for failure to maintain her lane of travel. It's estimated the crash caused more than $1,000 in damage.

News Record Photos/Rhianna Gelhart

Clouds roll in over Gillette near Garner Lake Road on Wednesday morning. Winds will reach near 24 mph with a high chance of rain and snow toward the end of the week. The high for Thursday will be about 53 degrees with a low of 34 degrees.

Early payoff

Recently installed lightning detection system passes early tests

By PATRICK FILBIN NEWS RECORD WRITER

pfilbin@

The $130,000 that the Campbell County Community Public Recreation District, city of Gillette, Campbell County School District and County Commission all chipped in for a lighting detection system has already paid off.

City spokesman Geno Palazzari said Tuesday that the new Thorguard lightning detection system that was installed earlier this year has been used twice so far this school year during outside athletic practice at Thunder Basin High School.

Palazzari said officials at the school district reported the lightning system worked.

At a recent practice on the soccer and football fields, the Thorguard alert went off exactly 10 minutes before teams spotted a lightning strike.

"On those two instances they said it was quite accurate," Palazzari said, adding that the system could be described more as a lighting prediction system.

The alert system sounds more like a basketball buzzer rather than a typical weather alert horn, Palazzari said.

Some of the sensors and towers were installed in August by Thorguard in time for football season and the rest were installed after Labor Day, covering all school play-

Cooler temperatures are convincing area trees that it's time to break out their fall colors.

grounds, Dalbey Memorial Park, Bicentennial Park, the Bell Nob Golf Course (each golf cart will include a warning sensor) and others.

The sensors also were installed so that Wright's two schools and golf course are covered in the system's range.

Campbell County is the the first community in Wyoming and the western Rocky Mountain region -- at least six states -- with near total coverage through a system that can alert residents ahead of time when lightning is imminent.

Lightning won't be an issue in

Campbell County this week. Rain and cooler temperatures are in the forecast for the rest of the week and into the weekend.

On Thursday, there is a 50 percent chance of rain with a high of 51 degrees and a low around 36 degrees. On Friday, there is a 40 percent chance of showers before noon and a low of 31 degrees overnight, according to the National Weather Service.

Rain and possibly snow are likely before 8a.m. Sunday, which will likely turn to just snow Sunday night as temperatures drop.

Retention: Study

to be done in 2019

Continued from Page A1

but now many people are earning technical certificates or professional licenses that when put together are the equivalent of a college degree.

The contract with Washington, D.C.based Segal Waters Consulting is for $200,000. The county will pay that over two fiscal years and will not have to make any budget amendments.

The firm will review the existing compensation system to ensure it's fair yet up-to-par with the competition.

"Are we hiring the best employees for the dollars we're spending?" Terry asked.

It's a big undertaking, she said, because the county employs a wide range of people from detention officers to food service workers to child care aides, and "we need to ensure we're compensating the entire gamut of workers correctly," Terry said.

County Public Works Director Kevin King said his department has seen a lot of people leave, many of them custodians.

Commissioners have said they're proud of the benefits the county offers its employees, but King said that "when you're struggling to buy food and pay rent, benefits don't really mean that much."

King said he hopes the study will give him more flexibility when it comes to paying employees.

"If we could look at a menu of compensation, maybe take a reduced health care portion and have a higher wage or something, that could potentially help," he said.

The study is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 31. While the consultants will make recommendations, the county will have the final say as to whether it will follow through on those recommendations.

Kavanaugh: All

eyes on FBI probe

Continued from Page A1

this week as senators await the results of an FBI background check investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh. Democrats have called the comment a breathtaking breach of judicial impartiality that should be disqualifying on its own. Republicans have defended the tenor of Kavanaugh's remarks, saying he had every right to be upset. GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah calls it "righteous anger."

Coal fight: Tribe says lack of specific information from government is troubling

Continued from Page A1

land. The group says the coal company has offered their neighbors a better deal while manipulating the Bureau of Indian Affairs to force the Moccasins accept its terms.

A Davis & Cannon attorney brought the Moccasins' story to WyoFile's attention.

Coal mining revenue is critical to the Crow Tribe, which owns the mineral rights to all coal on the reservation but is economically isolated and has few other revenue sources.

In late May, acting BIA superintendent for the Crow Indian Reservation Michael Addy sent letters informing the nine Moccasins that unless the dissenting siblings reach a deal with Cloud Peak Energy within three months, "the BIA will make a best interests determination and consent on behalf of the non-consenting owners."

At that time, five Moccasins had agreed to Cloud Peak Energy's terms, a majority. But in June the majority shifted. In late June, Lana Moccasin revoked her agreement, Davis & Cannon informed the coal company. Cloud Peak Energy is refusing to recognize that reversal, according to their response letter, because Lana has not returned a $5,000 signing bonus. The company hasn't formally requested the money back, the lawyers told WyoFile,

but the family has indicated a willingness to pay it.

Cloud Peak Energy's latest offer comes to $4.7 million in combined signing bonuses and leasing rates -- more than $500,000 per sibling for use of their land for 50 years. But the dissenting Moccasin siblings, Wayne in particular, point out that the company is only offering coal leasing rates for the first 25 years. Cloud Peak would pay lower grazing lease prices for the second 25.

The family and their attorneys also take exception to not knowing what deal the neighboring Padlock Ranch has been offered. Davis & Cannon's requests for disclosure of the terms of the Padlock deal were ignored in the communications reviewed by WyoFile. The Sheridan lawyers say that's unusual in their experience, as coal companies often offer clauses that say all surface lessors will receive deals based on the best terms any single lessor gets.

"The fact that they won't tell us what the deal is suggests that it's substantially different than the deal thats being offered to the Indians," said Kim Cannon, a partner at the law firm.

"For a big coal company to negotiate one way with the Indians and one way with the non-Indians seems horribly inappropriate," Cannon said. "To use the BIA to force the lease, if you will, of the Indian land whereas they could

not do that with Padlock is to ... use the agencies of the government to force a worse deal on the Indians than the non-Indians."

Cloud Peak Energy representatives maintain they've negotiated with the Moccasins in good faith and are key economic partners to the Crow Tribe. The company has paid the tribe almost $13 million in lease options and leasing bonus payments and created educational scholarships, a company spokesperson told WyoFile.

"We have been working in good faith with the Moccasin family for over five years and have reached an agreement with many of the family members," Cloud Peak Energy spokesman Rick Curtsinger wrote in an emailed statement. He accused lawyers of fostering dissent in the family.

"Unfortunately, divisions within the family, exacerbated by a long line of attorneys representing some of the family members, stand in the way of a project critical to the economic well-being of the entire Crow Tribe," Curtsinger wrote. "We have made countless offers over five years with the goal of ensuring that all members of the Crow Tribe can benefit from their coal resources and continue to engage with the family to that end."

Curtsinger declined to respond specifically to allegations that the company was offering a better deal to Padlock

Ranch than to the Crow landowners, or that the company was in some fashion manipulating the BIA to apply pressure on the Moccasins.

Cloud Peak and the BIA aren't the only parties eager to see the deal done. A few weeks ago Loretta Moccasin -- a sibling who has agreed to terms -- told Davis & Cannon she wanted her siblings to take a deal "immediately" and urged Ben Reiter, a lawyer at the firm, to conclude negotiations, Reiter said. Loretta did not return voicemails from WyoFile seeking comment.

Curtsinger also provided WyoFile with a copy of a letter sent by the Crow tribal chairman Alvin Not Afraid to an assistant secretary at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C., expressing the tribes interest in the project and its desire for federal support in making it happen. The project has brought "significant support" to the tribe already, Not Afraid wrote, and that support only promises to increase if the mine is developed.

"Continued support by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs for Big Metal is critical for the project to move forward and to provide future revenue streams and employment opportunities for the Crow Tribe," Not Afraid wrote.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

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