THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2019 109TH YEAR/ISSUE 49 HOTEL PROJECT STILL CULTURAL CELEBRATION CONFLICT IN PARTY SEEKING FINANCING County BY KEVIN KILLOUGH the hotel, and Bekes said he Tribune News Editor interviewed three contractors, GOP two of which were local. He t its regular meeting selected one of the local candi- Monday, the Powell City dates, who will be announced at ACouncil approved a bud- a later date. leaders get amendment, received an Mayor John Wetzel asked update on the Clocktower Inn if there was any certainty as project and approved a new to when the project will break agreement with the City of Bill- ground. resign ings landfill. “Is there a date we can circle Christine Bekes, executive on our calendar?” he asked. director of the Pow- Bekes said a date BY CJ BAKER ell Economic Part- is still uncertain. Tribune Editor nership, said the She had previously Clocktower Inn re- indicated that con- ensions within the Park mains at a standstill struction would like- County Republican Party while hotelier Steve ly start in July. Tboiled over Monday night, Wahrlich secures The council also as three of the party’s top lead- funding for the proj- approved an agreee- ers resigned over “irreconcil- ect. ment with the City able differences” with Chairman While the hotel of Billings for an Martin Kimmet. and conference cen- increase in out-of- Meanwhile, an effort backed ter has yet to break state landfill fees. by the resigning leaders to ground, Bekes The City of Pow- remove the party’s secretary said things are ‘There are things ell, which hauls from his post failed by a narrow moving forward. its solid waste to margin. “There are happening behind the Billings land- Park County Republicans things happen- the scenes, but fill, had been picked their leaders only a few ing behind the it’s hard to see paying $27.40 months ago, and they were sup- scenes, but per ton. How- posed to serve for two years on it’s hard to see things happening ever, the Bill- the GOP’s executive committee. things happen- without the dirt ings City Council Now, Republicans will need to ing without the recently raised hold a new election to choose dirt moving,” she moving.’ that fee to $31.40 replacements. told the council. per ton, with the In their brief letter of resigna- The project is Christine Bekes increase going tion — submitted in the middle a public-private PEP executive director into effect July 1. of Monday’s meeting — party partnership be- For the time Vice Chairman Joyce Boyer, tween the City of being, there will State Committeewoman Denise Powell and Wahrlich, who will be no increase on Powell resi- Shirley and Treasurer Jennifer own and operate the roughly dents’ bills. Lohrenz said the chairman posi- 75-room hotel. The conference “At this immediate time tion is “intended to be a role of center, meanwhile, received there won’t be an increase leadership, not dictatorship.” $2.62 million in state fund- passed down to the Powell While they didn’t elaborate ing, and the city will own it. If residents, but we constantly in their letter, one of the issues the project comes to fruition, monitor rates,” said City Ad- of contention was Kimmet’s Wahrlich will lease the confer- ministrator Zack Thorington. unilateral decision to appoint ence center from the city on a Any rate increases in the Vince Vanata — a leader of the 20-year lease, with an option to future would need to be pre- Big Horn Basin Tea Party — as buy after 10 years. sented to the City Council. the executive committee’s sec- Bekes said at Monday’s The council also approved retary. meeting that Wahrlich is in an amendment to the 2018- Shirley also called it a “dis- talks with a bank for the final 2019 budget at Monday’s grace” that Kimmet didn’t invite piece of financing on the hotel meeting, adding $49,500 from state Rep. Sandy Newsome, side of the project, and she unappropriated funds to cover R-Cody, to the party’s meeting said the bank is very inter- increased expenses from for- in March, where GOP Reps. Da- ested. There are still details to mer city administrator Zane vid Northrup and Dan Laursen hammer out before a deal is Logan’s retirement payout. of Powell addressed the body; finalized, but “it’s looking very The city also needed to cover Kimmet has been critical of positive,” she said. a month’s salary for a new IT Newsome’s voting record. Wahrlich decided to go with manager, a position that was Elias Her Many Horses (Oglala Lakota) won the Men’s Grass Category at the Plains Indian Museum The rifts in the party are a construction manager at risk vacated when Thorington was Powwow at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West over the weekend. The 38th annual event celebrated to oversee the construction of promoted to administrator. Native culture, dance and arts. For more photos, see Page 8. Tribune photo by Greg Wise See GOP, Page 8 Growing or starving? GRIZZLIES ARE RANGING FURTHER AFIELD AND CONFLICTS ARE RISING, BUT SIDES DISAGREE ON WHY BY MARK DAVIS Department says the increased Tribal Heritage and Grizzly Bear Tribune Staff Writer conflicts are a sign that the DMA Protection Act earlier this month. is full and that bears are being “However, because the core of the t’s undisputed that the number pushed out into less desirable population has nearly achieved of conflicts between grizzly areas — such as the sow and two density dependence, grizzly bear Ibears and people are on the rise cubs that reached Byron last year. distribution has extended far be- in northwest Wyoming, with bears “The DMA was identified as a yond suitable habitats.” roaming further and further from large enough tract of contiguous Some scientists and bear advo- their core habitat in and around habitat to maintain [Greater Yel- cates, however, don’t see it that Yellowstone National Park. But lowstone Ecosystem] grizzly bears way. why the bears are spreading out of in perpetuity,” Brian Nesvik, Barrie K. Gilbert, a conserva- the so-called “demographic moni- director of the Wyoming Game tion ecologist and emeritus faculty A grizzly bear — one of more than 700 in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem — forages for a toring area,” or DMA, is a matter and Fish Department, told a con- at Utah State University, told a meal in Grand Teton National Park. The current method of estimating the number of grizzly of debate. gressional committee discussing bears was designed to be conservative. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is in the The Wyoming Game and Fish proposed legislation called the See Grizzlies, Page 2 process of conducting its own count. Photo courtesy National Park Service Vehicles traveling south Big Horn Basin spring on Bent Street find the roads flooded near the tracks after a ending on a wet note heavy downpour in downtown BY MARK DAVIS May was exceptionally wet Powell on Tribune Staff Writer in Powell. The city received Friday. The 2.79 inches of rain — 1.39 Powell area f you’re tired of the wet, inches above normal. That weather station, gloomy nature of spring, followed a dry April when located north of Iyou prob- Powell only town and on the ably won’t like registered 0.1 edge of Friday’s the forecast ‘It looks like we’re of an inch of gully-washer, for the official going to be a little precipitation, recorded only start of sum- according to 0.7 of an inch mer. Rain is soggy for a while.’ the National of precipitation once again Weather Ser- for the entire forecasted Samantha Fulton vice in River- weekend. for every day UW Research and Extension ton. Tribune photo through the Meteorolo- by Mark Davis middle of next week. gist Trevor LaVoie said the But look for the silver lin- Powell area’s precipitation ing in those clouds: Lawns for 2019 is 170 percent above in Powell have rarely looked normal. But Powell is far this good and the area wild- from the wettest spot in the flowers are beginning to bloom in brilliant colors. See Rain, Page 3 INSIDE ♦ TRACK AND FIELD AWARDS: PAGE 9 ♦ SCHOOL EMPLOYEES RETIRE: PAGE 14 PAGE 2 • POWELL TRIBUNE THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2019 Juror faces jail SUN TANK LARAMIE (WNE) — Albany County District Court Judge Tori Kricken ruled that a juror in a Lara- mie civil case will be jailed indefi- nitely, starting June 28, unless she completes community service and writes an essay. Lindsey Salisbury was held in contempt of court after refusing to serve on a jury. To avoid jail time, More Than You Imagined More Than You Imagined Salisbury must perform 20 hours of community service and complete JULY 23 - JULY 27 JULY 23 - JULY 27 a “10-page single-spaced typed paper regarding the importance POWELL, WYOMING POWELL, WYOMING of the American judicial system, the jury’s role in the same, and the importance of an individual’s civic responsibly of service.” On June 3, Salisbury was select- ed as a juror for a two-week trial re- garding a business dispute between Laramie energy company WellDog and former business partners in Australia. After voir dire, Salisbury “expressed some concern with the length of trial vis-a-vis her employ- ment as a private mental health counselor,” Kricken wrote in her contempt order. Salisbury acknowl- edged there were other counselors who could help her clients, but still refused to take the juror’s oath, the Sunshine lights up a field and Heart Mountain on the evening of Tuesday, June 11.