The Sundance Times Page 4
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Relay
coming soon
The 2105 Relay for Life
event is fast approaching.
Please plan to attend Sat-
urday, May 30 from 6 p.m.
until Midnight at the Devils
Tower KOA.
The next planning meet-
ing is Saturday, May 9 at the
KOA from 10 a.m. to noon.
Call the event chairwoman
Florence Reynolds for more
information at 467-5604.
Last minute teams can sign
up at www.relayforlife.org/
crookwy or call Brittany at
307-399-3014 and she will
do it for you.
If you are a survivor and
want to register for this
event please call Freida Dent
at 467-5790.
The 2015 Grand Mar-
shalls / honored survivors
are Beau Wood of Hulett and
Raymond and Jeanne Shep-
herd of Oshoto.
Jumping for joy
Community campaign
enables Yore Buffalo
Jump to open for the
summer
The Vore Buffalo Jump
Foundation is to host a cel-
ebration on June 6 in grati-
tude for supporter dona-
tions to its recent Capital
Campaign cause. Thanks to
the community's efforts, the
tourist attraction will be able
to open this summer.
Insurance safety regula-
tions left the foundation
stranded when it was dis-
covered that insurance safe-
ty regulations require that
guard and hand rails be in-
stalled around the sinkhole.
In response, the founda-
tion received donations from
supportersthroughout the
. . ~ .
regton,~dmg _one from
a single donor that funded
paving of the path leading
into the sinkhole. The foun-
dation was also able to ac-
cess a grant from the Wyo-
ming Cultural Trust Fund to
help put up the rail.
The Vore Buffalo Jump will
be opening on June 1 thanks
to the donations. A celebra-
tion is scheduled for June 6
from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with no
admission charged.
viol
causes
Inyan
BY SARAH PRIDGEON
Firefighters from Wyoming State For-
estry and Crook County Volunteer Fire-
fighters were called to tackle a blaze
near Inyan Kara Road on Saturday
afternoon, says Fire Warden Gari Gill.
The fire was caused by a person burn-
ing his fire pit.
"It was about 80 degrees and about 3
p.m. on Saturday," says Gill.
"It burned 95 acres, 90 percent of it
on state land and it's a heavy timbered
canyon."
The fire presented particular difficul-
ties thanks to the terrain, says the fire
warden.
"It was really nasty because we
couldn't hardly find a place to put a
line to stop it," he explains.
"We got a big dozer in and pushed
over a few trees, got ahead of it enough
so that we started a burnout and in-
creased our line a little bit. It stopped
right there."
On the first night, 13 engines and 39
people were called out to fight the fire.
"It almost wasn't enough," says Gill.
"We had it basically contained at 3:30
a.m. on Sunday, after about 12 hours.
We called it controlled at 5 p.m."
The Inyan Kara fire brings this sea-
son's total to around 15. The person
who began the pit fire was issued a
citation for not following the county
buming restrictions that are currently
in place.
"For the most part, everybody is fol-
lowing the restrictions, but we've got
enough dead grass out here yet that
it's even burning the green grass that's
coming up because it isn't tall enough
yet," says Gill.
!
compo
BY SARAH PRIDGEON
The City of Sundance is in the process
of implementing a pilot program to com-
post animal carcasses as a means to
reduce costs for vets, meat processing
and government agencies, as well as to
remove an additional item from the gar-
bage stream.
The Department of Environmental
Quality is considering the idea of allow-
ing the city to compost animals using
sawdust, says Council Member Brad
Marchant.
"The DEQ is wanting us to get the fluids
out of the animal, because that's what
they're concerned with," he says.
"After the fluids are all out, then you
can dispose of it."
The program will have benefits for nu-
merous local activities. Veterinarians,
for example, must find a place to take
animal carcasses.
"In some places they are incinerating -
they have natural gas, so they can get an
incinerator and burn," Marchant says.
"One of the things we're looking at is
composting [instead]."
Meanwhile, incoming regulations from
the DEQ may require WYDOT to haul
any road kill found on Wyoming high-
ways to landfill facilities for disposal.
"If WYDOT is having to bring in all of
our road kill, we'll be bringing thou-
sands," he says.
Meat processing companies must also
dispose of certain parts of any animal
processed at the facility.
"The idea is that the city would have to
haul all the guts - we'd have to transfer
it somewhere through our transfer sta-
tion," explains Clerk Treasurer Kathy
Lenz.
"The fee we would have to charge for
that would be so high that it could put
people out of business. That's what we're
trying to combat - we're trying to come
carcass
up with mitigation on how to make it af-
fordable for them to get the stuff to us,
hence the pilot program of composting
it."
The compost program would likely in-
volve using sawdust-lined bins to dry out
the animals and remove all fluids before
burying them in the C&D pit at the land-
fill or hauling them to a lined pit, March-
ant continues.
"In calving season they go through
probably 300 cows and in hunting sea-
son there may be 800-1200 deer. The
cows you're fine with but, for the deer,
you've got to do something different be-
cause they could have chronic wasting
disease," he says.
The sawdust used to dry out cattle
can be used as a soil amender for gar-
dens, but the same is not permitted for
sawdust used to dry deer. Though the
contamination that could theoretically
impact the groundwater is in the fluid,
which evaporates, the city is not yet sure
what will be necessary for deer carcasses
and sawdust used to dry them.
"That's one of the things that's up in
the air right now: whether you can push
it into the C&D pit or if you've got to haul
it to a lined landfill," says Marchant.
"DEQ is going to see what their regula-
tions say as to what we can do with [the
deer]. More than likely we will have to
take all that stuff and haul it to a land-
fill."
The carcass compost area will likely be
situated in the contaminated soil area,
says Lenz, because it is not a highly used
part of the landfill site.
"One thing we want to keep away from
is the composting area that we're using
now for grass. We l have a different pile
for this stuff, out of the way, so that peo-
ple aren't trying to drop grass clippings
in the middle of it," says Marchant.
"We're going to try it and see how it
works and see if we stay within levels."
Rally:
continued from page 1
has undergone changes in its de-
mographics.
"The rally is not how it used to
be. I think the crowd has been
getting older every year," he says.
"From back in the old days to
now, the crowd is a lot meUower,
they're older and they tend to keep
things quieted down a bit more.
It's inexperienced riders that have
the accidents a lot of the time."
Shoring up for emergencies
At the Crook County Sheriffs
Office, preparations have begun
to ensure that sufficient law en-
forcement is available for rally
week- and that no potential
emergency is left to chance.
"As far as law enforcement is
concerned, we ce been doing this
long enough that we don~ need
to reinvent the wheel. Were got
eight to ten people coming up to
pair up with our officers that are
on the street now, most of them
have been up here before," says
Sheriff Hodge.
IYaffic will be our main issue,
along with the stray criminal ac-
tivity, which is sometimes not
even rally-related."
The extra officers be spread
across the county, centrally lo-
cated between Beulah, Hulett
and Sundance and also in Moor-
croft. Meanwhile, the Sheriffs Of-
rice must consider incidents that
could occur concurrently with the
raUy.
"My biggest concern is our com-
munications to do with fire. I'm
working with Homeland Security
and they're going to bring anoth-
er communications trailer up in
case things blow up and wekTe got
fires," says the sheriff.
"My biggest worry is that our
communications center gets
overwhelmed. With all the towns
bringing extra officers and us
having extra officers, with a big
fire breaking out they could get
overwhelmed, and if that hap-
pens, [Homeland Security] will be
able to assist us."
The county is also expecting ex-
tra traffic and congestion during
the event, for which traffic control
will be necessary.
"Highway Patrol is going to how to improve traffic control.
bring more stop lights out and "One of the things I really hope
put them at Hwys 24 and 111, I we can do is to have some added
think the frontage road on Hwy traffic control so that We can get
111 and possibly up by Devils them in and out of town. My big
Tower. That l help with some of concern is that, to get into town,
the congestion and accidents,"
Hodge says.
"We're coordinating with Life-
Flight to try to get pre-designated
landing zones and once again
communications with them.
There are going to be a lot of bik-
ers but I think it$l be spread out,
though obviously our big day is
the Wednesday."
On the other hand, he adds, the
extra visitors could bring their
own version of a silver lining to
the roads of Crook County.
"We,re seen in the past that, the
more bikes you have, the fewer
acddents you have, because they
donl have the chance to get their
speed up," says the sheriff.
Improving the experience
For the City of Sundance, pre-
paring for this year's rally will not
merely be a ease of addressing the
city's infrastructure.
"More garbage, more sanitation
and portapotties too," says Clerk
Treasurer Kathy Lenz.
"It's nice this year because the
Chamber of Commerce has des-
ignated other groups to look at it:
It doesn all fall on the city this
year, we can all work together."
As well as hiring the usual two
extra police officers and booking
more portapotties than usual, the
Sundance City Council must con-
sider questions such as whether
to allow extra vendor permits and
you have to turn across traffic,"
says the mayor.
"I think that, if We don make it
easy, they'll sit there in the middle
of the street looking at the place
they want to be, which is down-
town, and I think they'll get frus-
trated and blow on through."
The council will also consider
whether to allow more permits for
malt beverages and foods during
the rally's busiest day.
"I would love to think that the
council Hill allow some extra con-
cessions," Brooks adds.
"I understand there's some law
enforcement issues associated
with that but the fact of the mat-
ter is that, if there are 25 percent
more people, we're going to have
to have added concessions just to
accommodate them."
Overall, the city hopes to have
its plans in place ahead of time
and be ready to Welcome the bik-
ers to enjoy their experience.
"While normally we don l even
begin to talk about rally until the
June timeframe, Were been talk-
ing about it since before the first
of the year," says Brooks.
"I think we need to continue
that dialogue, I think we need to
incorporate the opinions of the
various groups talking about it
and try to have the best possible
tourist experience for those com-
ing to Sundance."
Summer fun
for the kids
BY SARAH PRIDGEON
Sign-up is now open for a
number of city-sponsored
activities to keep the kids
entertained while school is
out for the summer. From
baseball to crafts, there's
something for every little one
during June and July this
year.
Two levels will be included
in this year's summer base-
ball program: majors and
minors, encompassing kids
from ages eight to 13. Eight-
year-olds are invited to
choose between little league
and T-ball, depending on
their level of readiness.
The cost for basebaU is $20
per child and checks should
be made payable to the City
of Sundance. If your child
has a uniform from last year,
please bring it with you to
school or practice.
T-ball for kids aged 4-5
and 6-7 will take place be-
tween May 28 and June 30,
with practices on Tuesdays
at 5:30 p.m. and games on
Thursdays from 1-2 p.m. at
the elementary school field.
The cost per child for this
activity will be $15.
Soccer will also be divided
into two age groups, from
kindergarten to third grade
and from fourth to seventh
grade, although experienced
third graders may play in
the older age group. Soccer
will run from June 3 to July
1 at the elementary school
field with practices for the
younger group from 1-2 p.m.
and for the older group from
2-3 p.m.
Basketball will be split into
three age groups: kinder-
garten to second grade from
1-2 p.m., third to fifth grade
from 2-3 p.m. and sixth to
eighth grade from 3-4 p.m.
on Tuesdays and Thursdays
at the old high school gym.
There will be no basketball
on July 2 I.
Volleyball will also be di-
vided into three age groups
and will take place from
June 8 to July 13 at the old
high school gym. Kids from
kindergarten to third grade
will play from 1-2 p.m., from
fourth to fifth grades will
play from 2-3 p.m. and from
sixth to ninth grades from
3-4 p.m.
Volleyball camp this year
will take place from July 20-
22.
Arts and crafts will take
place at Cindy Lambert's
home at 222 Canyon Road
on June 29 and 30 and July
1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Lambert
will be introducing new craft
ideas as well as some old fa-
vorites and kids must have
completed kindergarten to
attend.
Two classes will take place:
9-10:15 a.m. and 10:30-
11:45 a.m. All activities ex-
cept for T-ball and baseball
will be $7.50 per child.
Kids should be registered
for their chosen summer ac-
tivities by May 28. Registra-
tion forms are available from
city hall and sign-up can
also be accessed online at
www.cityofsundancewy.com
Riverton: 750 East Sunset, 307-856-6993
Casper: 3861 Denis Drive, 307-234-7727
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Vista West Annual Budget
Approval Meeting
will be conducted at the June 11,2015 Board Meeting
7 p.m. at the Crook County Public Library in Sundance
Developing the Bear Lodge
Critical Rare Earth Project
2209 E. Cleveland Ave., P.0. Box 40, Sundance, WY 82729
3undance: 307"283"3500 Upton: 307"Z81"0517
For updates and current information, please qo to:
www.bearlod(JeproJect.com
