Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 13

star Wyoming Bl Wednesday, September 28, 1 988 Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyo 0 Rock Springs group home hits another obstacle Contractor decides against purchasing, fixing up proposed site but don't need the supervision." SCS first approached the Green River City Council last spring for permission to set up the group home. The council rejected the proposal, bowing to arguments of neighborhood residents who said the proposed location was too close to schools and that neighborhood children would be at risk. Rosen said the recent report by the National Alliance for the Mentally 111 was correct in citing the lack within Wyoming of residential facilities for persons released from mental hospitals. He said the state had never applied for federal funds to address this problem until last year, when the grant his group compteted for was applied for by the state. "We're just now getting to the point where we have money available in the state to deal with housing," he said.

The recent nationwide study showed that Wyoming ranks 47th out of 50 states in provision of care to the seriously mentally ill. statewide issue is so Sweetwater County can provide the services this population needs," Rosen said. He said he is considering a short-term solution which would allow SCS to receive the grant and offer residential services in a home environment, to complement the residential services already provided. Under Rock Springs ordinances, up to three unrelated persons are allowed to co-habitate in a residential area. Rosen said SCS will therefore consider renting a home for three mentally ill persons, and at the same time continuing to operate its existing residential program in the motel.

"It would be a short-term way to handle it, not a long-term solution," Rosen said. "It would cost a little more in rent. It would be two different programs in two different facilities In some way there would be advantages, because you would be able to offer a range from those who need residential service and intensive supervision, to those who need residential services "He didn't ask the right questions the first time," Horton said. "He used his own judgment as to what it would take to bring it up to code. He did not check with (building inspector) Tom Talboom.

Then after it was approved (by city council) he found out he had to do some more things. Evidently he didn't budget enough money and it just wouldn't work out, so he just withdrew from it." Johnson was unavailable on Tuesday for comment. Southwest Counseling Service was awarded a $114,000 grant of federal funds from the state over a year ago to develop the group home. Now, agency executive director Jordan Rosen he said he must begin again the search for a home. SCS has operated a day treatment center in Rock Springs for the chronically mentally ill for nine years, and currently provides short-term and emergency residential services in a remodeled wing of a Rock Springs motel for persons with a history of mental illness.

Rosen said he is personally committed to continuing the search for appropriate housing for mentally ill persons who require closer supervision. "The reason I keep pursuing it in addition to the fact that it is a the eight-bed facility for patients released from the State Hospital and deemed ready to make a transition into the community. A local contractor had signed a contract to purchase a four-plex on Dewar Drive to house the program. But according to Tom Kershisnik, the local realtor who was negotiating the sale contract, the contract expired and neither the buyer nor seller wanted to extend it. Kershisnik said the building belonged to the local chapter of the Jaycees, a community service group.

The buyer, Marlin Johnson of Bangor homes planned to purchase the building, bring it up to code, and rent it to Southwest Counseling Service, who would operate the group home. "Apparently the city engineering office made it economically not feasible to repair the building," Kershisnik said. "There were just too many things. In the meantime we were getting hesitation on the part of the Jaycees to extend the offer, and before we got an answer from them (the contractor) came in and withdrew his offer." Rock Springs City Planner Steve Horton said that he suspected the contractor had not done a careful enough assessment of the modifications that would be needed to bring the building up to city building codes. By KATHARINE COLLINS Southwestern Wyoming bureau ROCK SPRINGS A proposed group home in Rock Springs for chronically mentally ill people, which survived numerous political obstacles, now has fallen victim to failed business arrangements, officials say.

But the latest setback won't stop the program, a mental health official said. A new location will be sought, and in the meantime, the agency sponsoring the project may simply rent a small house as a stopgap solution, he said. The effort to locate a group home began more thari a year ago in Sweetwater County. The local mental health center. Southwest Counseling Service, has been attempting to use federal funds to locate an 8-bed group home in a residential neighborhood in Rock Springs or Green River to ease the transition of mentally ill persons into the community.

In August members of the Rock Springs City Council indicated they might attempt to block the location of what would have been the state's first group home for the chronically mentally ill. But City Attorney Vince Crow advised the group to issue the building permit needed by a builder who planned to remodel a four-plex on Dewar Drive to house Favorable weather aids Everest climbers' progress its' i By KATHARINE COLLINS Star-Tribune staff writer MOUNT EVEREST Lack of snow and generally stable weather have helped the Cowboys on Everest as they continue to carry provisions to the Camp 4 near the top of the treacherous North Col of Mount Everest. The 31-member expedition remains on schedule, according to Steve Padwa, a spokesman for the Wyoming Centennial Everest Expedition contacted by telephone Tuesday at the base camp on Rongbuk Glacier in Tibet. "More loads are being shuttled up to Camp 4," Padwa said. "Camp 5 will not be put in for another day or two." He said going up the North Col renowned for seracs, or ice blocks, and avalanches, was "somewhat more complex route-finding" than the group anticipated, and that the oxygen-poor air at such high altitude results in a general slowdown in transporting food and equipment.

"The altitude means that people are carrying 30-pound loads rather than 40-pound loads, so there are more loads to shuttle up, but we are Former Rock Springs men found shot WINNEMUCCA, Nev. (AP) A criminal complaint was filed Monday in Justice Court, charging Roger Libby with two counts of murder in connection with the slay-ings of two former Rock Springs men. The Washoe County coroner's office identified the victims on Saturday as James Robertson, 24, and Charles Whitman Beatty, 28, both of whom recently moved to Winnemucca from Rock Springs. Investigators planned to question Libby, who was arrested Sunday and was being held by police outside Nevada, said Humboldt County Sheriff Jim Bagwell. The sheriff refused to release any details about where Libby was being questioned or where he is from.

A warrant also has been issued in the case for Wayne Huff, who was listed in the complaint as a material witness who allegedly drove with Libby from Nevada to Missouri. The victims were last seen Sept. 14, according to a missing persons report filed with Winnemucca authorities. Beatty is the uncle of Robertson's wife, according to Bagwell. They moved to Nevada within the past month from Rock Springs, the sheriff said.

One body was discovered Thursday near a county park and the other the next day about a quarter mile away in a ravine. Both were shot once in the head, according to-the coroner's report. Hearing on counselor licensing set today CHEYENNE The Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Social Workers, Chemical Dependency Specialists Licensing Board will hold a public hearing today on proposed rules governing licensing requirements and ethics, among other things. The 1987 counselor licensing law covers private counselors and exempts those working for government agencies, political subdivisions or public or private educatonal institutions or in certified substance abuse programs. The law also exempts licensed psychologists, religious leaders and practictioners.

It sets up a six-member governing and licensing board. The law doesn't prevent unlicensed people from providing counselling but says they can't represent that they are licensed under penalty of a $750 fine, six months in jail or both. Hal secretary-treasurer of the licensing board, said Tuesday he expects some objections because the proposed rules and licensing standards are strict. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in the basement of the Hathaway State Office Building.

Senate panels to discuss fire policies HELENA, Mont. (AP) Two Senate subcommittees will hold a hearing Thursday in Washington, D.C., on current fire management policies of the National Park Service and the Forest Service, according to Sen. John Melcher, D-Mont. He said Monday the two subcommittees conducting the hearing have jurisdiction over the two federal agencies. Melcher, who has been critical of v.J; 1 4 if i tt hi iff' 'hi if! i I i a.

Jr TV- -1. a 1-' Forest light "1 Jill Hit Montana, Wyoming tourism officials set strategy meeting hV if more or less on schedule." He said both Courtney and Bob Skinner the Pinedale outfitters who are leading the expedition are waiting at Camp 3 for the sum-miters to begin their final assault on the world's highest peak. Both Skinner brothers have suffered bouts with pulmonary edema, a build-up of fluid in the lungs resulting from oxygen deprivation and loss in atmospheric pressure at high altitudes. The six summit climbers are all resting at base camp, Padwa said, before beginning their climb on Friday. Sue Cobb, one of two women climbers picked for the summit climb, said the strategy for the assault on the summit has still not been finally determined.

"The whole thing appears fairly fluid," Cobb said. "I think the real concept is to wait until we get up there and see what everybody's degree of health and strength is. There has been some discussion of all six going togehter, and discussion of other formats as well. I think we just can't pin that down right at the moment. We want our strongest people on the front line when the time comes and the weather's good." choose Montana or Wyoming; they choose Yellowstone," Wilson said.

"Both states stand to gain or lose a significant portion of tourism revenue depending on how quickly and effectively we can rebuild the park's image." One tack an advertising campaign may take is to tell travelers that they have a once-in-a-century chance to see nature working to reshape one of the world's most natural laboratories, he said. Both states are awaiting word from the federal government on their request for $3 million in assistance to pay for a three-year public education and information campaign jointly managed by Montana and Wyoming. The request, Wilson noted, is the equivalent of one day's cost of fighting the Yellowstone fires. in Montana "We'd like to see extended rain in the forecast." Still, conditions had improved enough in the past few days to allow 640 Marines to pack up their gear for the return trip to Camp Pendelton in California, he said. Left behind to continue fighting the Wolf Lake fire were about 500 civilian firefighters, said Hesseldahl.

Additionally, forest officials Tuesday closed the North Absaroka Wilderness north of the North Fork of the Shoshone River to the public because of fire activity, said Thompson. "As they get things mopped up and cleaned out we try to shrink the closure," he said. "The closure's basically where there's active fire or we haven't been able to get in and clean it up." Officials estimate that since the fires began, as much as 60 percent of an area covering more than 1.6 million acres of Yellowstone and surrounding najtional forests has been affected. I has been working on surrounding a hot spot near Crow Creek, Carlson said. A fire line has been built within Clover-Mist's perimeters, but the blaze could flare up if it goes unchecked.

Carlson said he will retain one crew working on "smokes" on the North Fork until deep snow falls or all the hot spots are out. No other firefighters are on the North Fork, and the Class II command team which has been in charge of the southern end of the Clover-Mist fire for several weeks is leaving this week, Carlson said. Another area causing concern for firefighters is the western edge of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, which is threatened by the Wolf Lake fire. "They're watching for spots on the other side because the eastern slope of the canyon is heavily timbered," park spokesman Sandy Robinson said. "So they obviously do not want the fire in that area because of the potential for spreading." Zbigniew BzdakStar-Iribune Sunlight filters through a stand of unburned lodgepole pines south of Grant Village in Yellowstone National Park.

Small section of Qover-Mist fire burns HELENA (AP) Montana and Wyoming tourism officials will meet in Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday to begin mapping strategy for rebuilding the fire-scarred park's national image. "We need to tell the world that Yellowstone is still a national treasure," said John Wilson, head of travel promotion in Montana. The meeting at park headquarters in Mammoth Hot Springs will include Wilson and his Wyoming counterpart, Gene Bryan. They, the Montana Tourism Advisory Council and Wyoming Travel Commission will meet with park officials to assess impact from forest fires in and around Yellowstone. "It is important that Montana and Wyoming join hands on this project, because tourists don't out of control While a good fire line had been gouged south of Tower Junction 21 miles north of the Grand Canyon, firefighters were working to keep the gusting winds from sweeping the fire across the line, she said.

Elsewhere in Yellowstone, little activity was reported on the North Fork fire that earlier this month swept around the Old Faithful Geyser complex. Although fire managers there were concerned about the strong winds, they said higher humidity levels would help keep the flames quieted. "There were a few hot spots in the Mary Lake area, and they had firefighters camping out last night at spike camps," said Robinson. "But today all firefighters have been brought into the base camps because of the wind and cold weather." Behind the cold front was a high-pressure system expected to return warmer and dryer weather to Yellowstone. "From a fire standpoint, that's not good news," said fire information officer Norm Hesseldahl.

the "natural burn policy of the two agencies in national parks and wilderness areas, said he called for the hearing earlier this month. He said in a news release that Interior Secretary Donald Hodel, Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng, National Park Service Director William Penn Mott and Forest Service Chief Dale Robertson have been asked to testify. Disaster status sought for three counties CHEYENNE (AP) Gov. Mike Sullivan has asked the Small Business Administration to issue a disaster declaration for four Wyoming counties affected by fires this summer. In a letter sent Monday to the federal agency's Denver office, Sullivan noted the request for Park, Teton, Sublette and Fremont counties may be expanded in the future as more information on the fires' effects becomes available.

the area Tuesday. Water dumps from helicopters and retardant dump; are also being used in an attempt to stop the blaze. To protect cabins in the fire's path, pumps have been installed to draw water from Kersey Lake and fire hoses brought in, Bowen said. If the Clover-Mist and Storm Creek fires do join, Bowen said Clover-Mist would eventually "run out of gas" because fuels in the area have already burned. There is, however, a small section around Kersey Lake that was not burned by the Storm Creek fire which could provide some fuel for the blaze, Bowen said.

In the Sunlight Basin area, meanwhile, the Clover-Mist fire was "quiet" and firefighters patrolled for and extinguished "smokes," Bowen said. Wapiti District Ranger Jay Carlson of Cody said the Clover-Mist was quiet on the North Fork of the Shoshone River, its southern front. A crew of 22 from Fort Washakie From staff and wire reports YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK Fanned by high winds, a 1 '2-mile section of the Clover-Mist fire Tuesday burned out of control over the Montana state line. The fire, which officials say is nearing but has not yet joined the Storm Creek blaze, threatens three summer cabins '2-mile north of Kersey Lake. Fire information officer George Bowen at Crandall said the fire, driven by 50 mph winds from the south, could reach the cabins Tuesday night.

The high winds caused more burning, but firefighters got some help from rain that also fell, he said. The Clover-Mist fire, which grew 860 acres Monday night, now covers 413,610 acres on all fronts. Officials have 250 firefighters, pilots and support crews working on the blaze, Bowen said. A helitack crew of three to five people, which Bowen described as the "commandos" of firefighting, was bought in by helicopter to work in.