Greybull Standard

Seven aspiring Greybull High School actors and actresses will present “The Wall – A Pilgrimage” Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Greybull High School auditorium.

The cast includes Cesar Garay as “Billy,” Sammi Stewart, “Mrs. Pearson,” Matt Dillon, “Mr. Pearson,” Alex Preis, “Janie,” Emma Nelson as “Aunt Clarissa,” Ezra Hanson as “J.D.” and Lynae McBride as “Lisa.”

“The Wall” is the Vietnam Memorial.

The “Pilgrimage” is the journey the Pearson family takes to the Wall 20 years after their son “Billy” was killed in the Vietnam War. Each shares what has happened to him/her in the ensuing 20 years.

“Billy,” the fallen soldier, never actually appears. Garay acts as the host soldier, in full uniform, at the Memorial. “The family sees him, talks to him – he is like a surrogate Billy,” explains director Ted Menke.

Mother (Stewart) is the drive behind the pilgrimage, saying the family “needs to go back and close the doors we have had in our hearts all this time.”

“Billy’s father (Dillon) fights it, doesn’t want to go, stands apart from the group, and after all the rest have spoken, comes out and says his goodbyes.”

According to Menke, “I thought this (subject) was very important at this point in time, when the country (is trying) to withdraw from wars, get over things.

“I think Vietnam veterans, as well as those from the Korean War and World War II, will understand; they will have had some of the same experiences.”

In fact, Menke said the play is relevant to “anyone who has lost someone who kind of needs to sit down and talk about it.”

Admission is $2 or donations of canned goods to benefit the Community Outreach food bank.

by karla pomeroy

Antelope Butte Foundation presented a draft agreement to the county for the county taking ownership of the Antelope Butte Ski Area facilities, which will then be leased to the foundation for operations.

Chairman Jerry Ewen said the agreement has been sent to the county attorney’s office for review. “She’ll bring back some recommendations and we’ll review those and take action at another meeting,” Ewen said.

Board member Barbara Burbridge said the foundation also has a public meeting set for May 11 for the State Loan and Investment Board grant. The hearing notice is published in the legal notices of this newspaper. She said the commissioners need to approve the date because the grant has to be funneled through the county.

The commissioners set the meeting at 7 p.m., May 11 in the commissioners meeting room. There will be a short presentation by the Foundation prior to taking comments and questions from the public.

The foundation will be seeking $1.5 million. Funds will be used for the renovations of the facilities.

by nathan oster

The traffic flow and appearance of the intersection of Greybull Avenue and Sixth Street will be in for a big change possibly as early as today (Thursday, May 3) with the dismantling of the steel supports for the signage and traffic light.

Officials from the Wyoming Department of Transportation and S&S Builders, which is the primary contractor for the downtown streets projects, reported during Thursday’s meeting with business owners that it should take one to two days to complete the task.

Motorists should expected 15-20 minute delays while a crane is being used to take down the supports.

A new support system for the signage and traffic light will be installed at the end of the project. Until then, the intersection will function as a four-way stop.

Discussion at Thursday morning’s meeting at the chamber office focused on beautification, the bump-out in front of the Bank of Greybull and the next phases of the construction.

Betty Koller and Brenda Peterson, who serve on the town’s tree board, asked about the fate of the only tree on the north side of Greybull Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets.  It is located directly in front of The Box — and will be coming down as part of the project.

Koller asked if any arrangements had been made to either replace it or add some other elements to beautify that side of the street.  “That’s a concern, I think, of the whole community, and the tree board.  There should be some beautification added in — whether it’s planters or some other thing.  It will look pretty stark down there if nothing is added to replace that tree.”

Paul Koenig of WYDOT and Kurt Countryman of S&S Builders said the contract does not call for trees, planters or any landscaping elements, and they suggested that it would be up to the town to add those things later, if it so chooses.

Koenig said it wasn’t that WYDOT refused to put plantings into the plan.

“No one asked,” he said.

Sue Anderson, executive director of the Greybull Area Chamber of Commerce, said the four-sided, memory brick planters will help somewhat, noting that the plan is for them to be placed on the bump-outs.

Koenig said contractors got off to a good start, but did encounter a problem in front of the Bank of Greybull, where the existing slope of the sidewalk required some modifications to the original plan in order to make the new sidewalk ADA compliant.

The focus of the project will shift next week to the sidewalk on the north side of Greybull Avenue between Fifth and Sixth streets.  Countryman said S&S crews will do what they must do, then get out of the way to allow the town to complete infrastructure, such as moving a fire hydrant and modifying water lines.

While that is taking place, S&S crews will be focusing on the west side of Sixth Street, directly south of the Bank of Greybull.  Work on the other two corners (in front of Probst Western Store and the Historic Hotel Greybull) will follow.

Koenig and Countryman said their hope is that the most impactful work on Greybull Avenue and Sixth Street in the downtown area will be done prior to the Days of ’49 celebration, which is scheduled for June 7-9.

To address concerns about the limited parking in the downtown area, Cody Beers, a public involvement specialist for WYDOT, said the highway department is just waiting on a notice to proceed for the paving of the parking lot where the old gas station used to sit at the corner of Sixth Street and First Avenue North. That lot is empty, staked and ready to be paved.

“We’re trying to find out what the schedule (for that paving) is going to be — and if they aren’t going to get in there for a couple more weeks, we’re just going to pull the stakes and let folks park in there,” Beers said.

Beers added that the removal of the steel supports at the intersection “will improve the situation there as far as the work crew getting its work done.”

by karla pomeroy

If all goes well and according to the latest plan, Big Horn County would take ownership of Antelope Butte Ski Area Capital Improvements and the Antelope Butte Foundation would have the ski lift and lodge open for the 2012-2013 winter season.

It’s a big ‘if” however and the county and foundation members understand that but after a meeting April 14 between the foundation, the foundation legal counsel and the county commissioners, they have new direction.

Foundation President Mark Weitz there has been no formal decision by the U.S. Forest Service but Supervisor Bill Bass is supportive of the plan. He sais the plan would be to have the county take ownership of the Antelope Butte Capital Improvements, which would be the lift, the lodge, garage and other facilities. The land would still belong to the Forest Service.

Commission Chairman Jerry Ewen said for the county to take ownership there is a specific process that has to take place. First the Forest Service would have to declare the improvement “excess property” and show it doesn’t need them. “They obviously don’t since the buildings have been vacant for six or seven years.” After that declaration, the process goes to the General Services Administration who would offer the facilities to other federal agencies.

“There’s none around that would be interested. The only other federal agency in the area is the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) and they wouldn’t be interested,” Ewen said. If and when there is no interest from federal agencies, the facilities would be declared surplus property and become available to other public entities.

Ewen said the land could be transferred to the county at minimal or no cost through a public benefit conveyance, if the county can show a benefit for owning the property.

The county then would lease the facilities to the foundation for operations.

“They have a legal firm guiding them and this idea looks pretty good,” Ewen said. He said the county and/or the Forest Service would require a bond be in place to handle any future demolition and reclamation of the land. He said the Forest Service is requiring a clause on any special use permit that the operator is responsible for removing all the facilities and reclaiming the land if the business fails.

“We don’t want to put the county at risk for any cash for acquiring the land or for reclaiming the land later,” Ewen said.

“They’ve got an energetic board of directors who are committed to this project,” he said, adding that to have the ski area open this coming winter is an “optimistic schedule and the first thing that has to happen is the public conveyance.”

Weitz said the board first considered the option of having either Big Horn or Sheridan county take ownership of the facilities but then looked at other options and came full circle this month. “It does look like the public-private partnership would be the best fit and it’s easier for the federal government  to dispose of the land to a government entity,” Weitz said.

He said the next step will be setting up the agreement between the county and the foundation so once the county has ownership the foundation can get on the property and get a better look at the facilities and develop accurate costs of getting the lodge and lift operational.

“We need to get access to the property to really determine cost estimates,” Weitz said, then more concentrated fundraising will occur. He said it’s easier to raise funds if you have something tangible for people.

He said with the county having ownership of the facilities, the foundation would be able to apply for Wyoming Business Council grants through the county.

As for the timeline, Weitz said the Forest Service won’t give them any specific dates. The best scenario, he said is the process takes just a few months and they can begin work this summer. If it takes until this fall or winter they have lost the construction season to get things operational this year.

Weitz said they have $175,000 raised in cash and pledges and much more in volunteer labor and material donations for the lodge.

He said while Meadowlark Lodge and officials in Johnson County have expressed concern about the area supporting two ski areas, the numbers show the ski areas can survive. He said the best financial numbers were when both Antelope Butte and Meadowlark were in operation.

He said they have the support of Red Lodge, Sleeping Giant and other skiing operations in the area.

From a tourist standpoint, the more opportunity there is, the larger attraction it will be for skiers. He said if skiers can come and try several different areas all within a half-day drive of each other, that’s a good thing.

For more information on the Antelope Butte project or on ways to donate, go online at www.antelopebuttefoundation.org or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AntelopeButteFoundation. The foundation is currently working on obtaining 501-3-c status but in the mean time is operating under the Wyoming Community Foundation so donations are tax deductible.

by nathan oster

With the two fourth-grade teachers, Sharon Tranas and Marilyn Edeler, retiring and longtime fifth-grade teacher Cheryl Hunt moving up to the middle school, the upper grade levels at Greybull Elementary School will have an entirely new look next school year.

The Big Horn County School District No. 3 board of education has made several moves in recent months to put staffing in place for the start of school in the fall. The most recent ones were the hirings of Nathaniel Boyer and Kallie Young.

Principal Brenda Jinks said she is nearly done filling all the openings.

Boyer, who is currently living in Michigan, is in line to replace Mrs. Cheryl Hunt, who is moving over to the middle school next fall to work as a reading specialist.   Boyer will be paired with Mrs. Kim Curtis, who will have the other fifth-grade class at GES.

Boyer will come to GES with a degree in elementary education from Western Michigan University.

He is currently teaching at St. Mary’s School in Paw Paw, Mich.

The fourth-grade posts currently held by Edeler and Tranas will be filled next year by Jeff Hunt, who is moving up from his third-grade classroom, and Kerri Thiel, who will be leaving her special education post.

Lisa Michelena will leave Junior Kindergarten next fall to join “Timmy” Anderson as third-grade teachers.

There will be no changes in the teaching assignments for grades K-2.  Sarah Bowe and Sarah  Zeller are in line to teach kindergarten, Patsy King and Margaret Bockman the first grade and Vicki Collingwood and Paula Heuschkel the second grade.

Stepping in for Michelena in the junior kindergarten program will be Young, who this month is wrapping up her student teaching requirement in Laramie.  She is scheduled to graduate in May with an elementary education degree from the University of Wyoming.

Jinks said Anne Babiuk, who was hired by the board in March, would step into the special education teaching position to be vacated by Marilyn Maubauch.  The board has yet to fill the special ed post to be vacated by Thiel.

Jink said the philosophy behind the changes is to avoid putting new teachers on islands, pairing them at grade levels with more experienced teachers. “We discussed it as a PLC, and what we wanted to do is … shore up every grade level, and put our experienced teachers in strong mentoring positions for the new ones coming in.

“The staff has just been fantastic.  They’re willing to do whatever is in the best interests of our students.”