BUFFALO BULLETIN

$1.00 Issue 4 January 26, 2017 The Voice of Johnson County Since 1884 www.buffalobulletin.com Buffalo, Wyo. 82834

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Buffalo Bulletin

HB019 Sales from remote sellers

An act that would allow Wyoming to collect
sales taxes from remote sellers who sell at least
$100,000 in goods to Wyoming residents or com-
plete 200 transactions with Wyoming purchasers.
Sponsor: Joint Interim Revenue Committee
Status: Received for introduction to the
Senate.

HB082 Local optional sales and use taxes Bulletin photo by Thom Gabrukiewicz

An act that would allow local voters to approve President Donald Trump, also known as Johnson County Commissioner Bill Novotny, made an appearance Friday and Sat-
urday nights during the Susie Bowling Lawrence Hospice variety show that raised funds for the local hospice program. For
incremental changes in optional sales and use tax. more photos from the event, see page A11.
Sponsor: Joint Interim Revenue Committee
Status: Recommended unanimously to House
by Committee

HB0108 School finance K-12 class size

An act relating to education; modifying educa-
tion resource block grant model class size compo-
nents; amending core teacher class size from 16
for elementary school and 21 for middle and high
schools to 24; amending foundation account eligi-
bility requirements for class size.
Sponsor: Rep. Mike Madden, R-Buffalo
Status: Received for introduction in the House.
HB0138 School finance class sizes 5
An act relating to education; modifying educa-
tion resource block grant model class size compo-
nents; amending the core teacher class size to 18
for elementary schools and to 22 in school year
2017-18, 23 in school year 2018-19 and 24 in
school year 2019- 20 for middle and high schools;
JCSD graduation rates up in 2016
State graduation rates
increase slightly
BY STEPHEN DOW
stephen@buffalobulletin.com
According to recent numbers released by
the Wyoming Department of Education, 83
percent of Johnson County School Districts
senior class graduated in 2016 a 3 per-
cent increase from 2015. According to Chad
Bourgeois, principal of Buffalo High School,
this is a number worth celebrating.
This is good news, and everybody in the
community played an important role in help-
ing us get here, Bourgeois said. The school
board should feel good about this, parents
should feel good about this, and teachers and
students should certainly feel good about this.
This is something we should all be proud of,
but at the same time, we shouldnt rest on our
laurels. We want to see this number continue to
grow from year to year.
The school district also saw a jump in the
number of female graduates this year from
approximately 83 percent in 2015 to 89 percent
in 2016. The number of male students stayed
roughly the same at 78 percent. In total, 85
students graduated from the district last year.
Seventy-five students graduated from the high
school in 2015.
Superintendent Gerry Chase said he was
pleased with the districts numbers this year
and attributed that success to a caring commu-
nity of teachers and administrators who wanted
to see students succeed.
GRADUATION
continued on page A12

Familys barn a total loss

amending foundation account eligibility require-
ments for class size. Funding cut proposed for
Sponsors: Reps. Northrup, R-Laramie; Brown,
R-Albany County; Burkhart, R-Carbon County, prevention management
and Madden and Sen. Driskill, R-Devils Tower. Boden family loses bums. She had a hard time with that. Its
the hardest tragedy theyve had to deal PMO could be facing a complete
Status: Received for introduction in the House. 4-H animals in fire with. Its just mostly the animals things evisceration, CEO says
BY JEN SIEVE-HICKS can be replaced. That was tough.
SF0003 Public lands constitutional amendment jen@buffalobulletin.com Boden said she moved the three bum BY STEPHEN DOW
A joint resolution proposing to amend the piglets out to the barn around noon on stephen@buffalobulletin.com
Wyoming Constitution to provide for the manage- Its only January, but already Tera and Tuesday and plugged in the heating mat,
ment of and public access to lands granted by the Lane Boden were looking forward to fair As the Wyoming Legislature works to find a solu-
then she left for Sheridan for an appoint-
federal government to the state after Jan. 1, 2019. time and 4-H. Earlier in the month, the tion to Wyomings $78 million budget deficit, one
ment.
Sponsor: Select Federal Natural Resource familys sows had farrowed and there were A little before 2 p.m., neighbor Barry thing is for sure, according to Sen. Dave Kinskey,
Management Committee seven wiggly piglets in the barn. Bauer drove past the farm, which is about R-Sheridan: There will be cuts and no state agency
Status: Not assigned to committee. On Then tragedy struck on Jan. 17 when a 14 miles east of Buffalo, and realized the is going to come out unscathed.
commercial heating pad used to warm bum The Prevention Management Organization of
Friday, Senate President Eli Bebout, R-Riverton, barn was on fire. Cell service is spotty in
piglets caught fire and burned the fam- Wyoming, based in Buffalo, is no exception.
announced that he would kill the bill due to ilys barn down. The family lost a sow, the that area, so Bauer texted the news to his
public opposition. wife Shirley who called the fire in. Both In a perfect world, we could say that things
seven piglets, a couple of chickens and all like the prevention management organization could
the supplies the kids use for showing. city and county fire crews responded.
You can track the status of bills as they move The Bodens had a pickup truck and come out of this without any new cuts, Kinskey
The things the barn its replaceable,
through the Wyoming Legislature at https:// horse trailer parked next to the barn, which said. Theyre a great organization that does a lot of
but the animals, it was a hard loss, said
legisweb.state.wy.us/LSOWEB/Session/BillsInfo. Bev Boden, Tera and Lanes mom. Kodi Barry moved. good for the state of Wyoming, and Ive fought like
aspx. had the hardest time, shes the youngest BARN the dickens in previous years to make sure that they
and she was helping me take care of those receive funding. But the reality of this situation is
continued on page A8
that were in a deep enough hole that I dont know

Beef insiders bemoan trade deal withdrawal

how any state agency is going to escape this budget
session without getting some sort of cut.

In the short run, without a doubt, PMO

BY JEN SIEVE-HICKS
jen@buffalobulletin.com
Mondays news that President
Donald J. Trump had signed an
executive order to withdraw from
the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or
TPP, came as a disappointment to
cattle producers. Beef production
is the primary agricultural com-
modity in Johnson County with
$42 million in gross sales in 2012
the most recent data available
according to the United States
Department of Agriculture.
Theres no doubt about it that
TPP represented a tremendous
opportunity for the beef industry
in terms of getting us more into
the Southeast Asian markets, like
Japan, Wyoming Stock Growers
Association Executive Vice
President Jim Magagna said, add-
ing that Japan has a steep tariff
on American beef and a much
smaller tariff on Australian beef,
meaning America often loses out
to Australia.
The fate of the embattled TPP
faced an uphill battle, at best, in
Congress. However, with cattle
prices lagging behind what pro-
ducers were earning last year and
many economists predicting that
2017 holds little reason for opti-
mism, Magagna was hopeful that
it could initiate another downturn in the cattle cycle. continued on page A9
Prices are going to be affected nationally, and then
sift back to Wyoming
Roger Coupal, head of the
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics
at the University of Wyoming
the TPP would be the shot in the lion in gross income, accord-
arm that beef producers needed. ing to Wyoming Agriculture
The cattle industry is the larg- Statistics. There are more than
est component of Wyoming 694,000 beef cows in the state;
agriculture accounting for over about 7 percent of those cattle
half of all cash receipts. And call Johnson County home. Bulletin photo by Stephen Dow
in 2014, cattle production in Bill Hawley, with the Prevention Management
Wyoming was valued at $937 BEEF Organization, teaches a suicide prevention QPR
million and generated $1.2 bil- continued on page A12 (Question, Persuade, Refer) class.

Eight-day outlook provided by www.weather.com

Thurs. Jan. 26 Fri. Jan. 27 Sat. Jan. 28 Sun. Jan. 29 Mon. Jan. 30 Tues. Jan. 31 Wed. Feb. 1 Thurs. Feb. 2
Sunny Partly cloudy Mostly sunny Sunny Partly cloudy Mostly sunny Partly cloudy Mostly sunny
High 24/Low 14 High 34/Low 20 High 37/Low 26 High 43/Low 35 High 36/Low 20 High 31/Low 19 High 33/Low 20 High 37/Low 24
A12 - Buffalo Bulletin - Thursday, January 26, 2017 www.buffalobulletin.com

Graduation
Continued from A1
This is mostly due to a concerted effort to
provide academic assistance to our students
and support them when theyre struggling,
Chase said. We never want it to get to the
point where theyre struggling so much that
theyre thinking about dropping out.
Bourgeois attributed the higher overall
graduation rate to the efforts of the schools
teachers.
If there is any credit to be given, it should
be given to the teaching staff, Bourgeois said.
They are really going above and beyond the
call of duty to make sure students are success-
ful.
Bourgeois did note the decreasing gradu-
ation rate for male students and said that he
would keep an eye on those figures.
The numbers of students who graduate do
fluctuate from year to year so obviously the
numbers of males who graduate will fluctu-
ate a bit from time to time, Bourgeois said.
Im not ready to say that this is a crisis quite
yet, but its certainly something we want to be
aware of as we move forward.
Kaycee High School had a 100 percent
graduation rate in 2016 an increase over the
previous year in which 86 percent of students
graduated. Ten students graduated from the
high school this year.
Kaycee High School always has a great
graduation rate due to small class sizes that
encourage personalized interaction between
students and teachers, Chase said. In addi-
tion, there is an expectation in that community
that students will graduate from high school.
That expectation motivates students to keep
going even when things get rough. I truly
believe graduation is important to everyone in
Kaycee, and that commitment is reflected in
these excellent rates.
The increased graduation rates in the coun-
ty and in both local high schools reflects a
trend taking place in the state at large, accord-
ing to State Superintendent Jillian Balow.
During a statewide press conference on
Jan. 17, Balow said state graduation rates had
increased slightly over the past year from
79.4 percent in 2015 to 80 percent in 2016.
Balow said that, while this growth in the
graduation rate was encouraging, the state still
had work to do.
Weve seen incremental growth, and were
very encouraged by that, Balow said. But
when we have 2 out of 10 students not gradu-
ating, thats an issue. We still have a long
ways to go, but hopefully, through a focus on
career, college and military readiness, we will
Beef
Continued from A1
The TPP, which included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile,
Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore,
had the support of the National Cattlemens Beef Association,
National Pork Producers Council and more than 225 other food
and agricultural groups, representing everything from beef pro-
ducers to peanut farmers. With Mondays executive order, many
agricultural groups and economists are speculating what the eco-
nomic impact will be.
Roger Coupal, head of the Department of Agricultural and
Applied Economics at the University of Wyoming, sees more
than a lost opportunity. Coupal said that as China moves into
those other TPP countries, its likely that the U.S. will be out
competed. Still, he said that its not possible to predict the dollar
Bulletin photo
amount by which Wyoming beef producers will be affected.
Johnson County School Districts 2016 graduation rate was 83 percent, a 3 percent
increase from 2015.
In the short run, without a doubt, it could initiate another
downturn in the cattle cycle, Coupal said. Prices are going to
soon have all of our students graduating as well. be affected nationally, and then sift back to Wyoming, Coupal
high school. We need to continue communicat-
said. My suspicion is there will be an impact as other countries
Chase agreed that there was still prog- ing the importance of graduation to our
students and work on having them com- replace us in those international transactions. But locally, its
ress to be made.
We care about this number because municate it to each other, Bourgeois said. really unclear how much it will affect prices.
graduation is what is best for our stu- A lot of these students have been together National agricultural groups came out swinging harder against
dents, Chase said. We know that whether since kindergarten or even day care, so the the executive order. On Monday, Tracy Brunner, President of the
students graduate or not has a direct impact opinions of their friends hold much more National Cattlemens Beef Association, issued a press release
on their ability to weight than that expressing concern that the administration killed TPP without
earn a living wage. of myself or the any plans for meaningful alternatives.
That, in turn, has What does it take teachers. I would TPP and NAFTA have long been convenient political punch-
love to see students ing bags, but the reality is that foreign trade has been one
a direct impact on
whether theyre
to graduate? encouraging their of the greatest success stories in the long history of the U.S.
able to be a con- According to the Wyoming Board of classmates to stay beef industry, said Tracy Brunner, President of the National
tributing member Education, all students must earn 28 in school because Cattlemens Beef Association.
of society, and credits and show proficiency in five out of I think thats one One need not look far to find evidence of just how crucial
that is something nine content areas in order to graduate. of the most moti- foreign trade has been to the success of the beef industry.
we want for all of A credit is equivalent to the successful vating things that About 19 percent of the U.S. beef supply was exported (in
our students. We completion of two semesters of work in could happen.
2015) and thats very significant, Magagna said. And if we
want to increase a particular subject. In order to graduate, In the end, while were able to increase that to 25 percent, that could make a sig-
the graduation rate students must have four credits in English, graduation rates
nificant difference. Were still hopeful that President Trump and
each year until we three credits in science, three credits in in the district did
increase in 2016, the new administration will reach out and negotiate bi-lateral
have the top rate in mathematics, three credits in social stud-
both Bourgeois and trade agreements with those countries. As long as we reach our
our area. We know ies, two credits in physical education and
Chase said they objectives, were willing to look at other ways.
we have a long health, and 13 in electives.
are already looking
ways to go, but we Students must also demonstrate
ahead to 2017 and
also know that the proficiency on district assessments in
work will be worth five of the nine content areas, including the years to come.
it. career/vocational, fine and performing Weve come
Bourgeois and arts, foreign language, health, language a long ways, but
Chase said they arts, math, physical education, science our work isnt
would continue to and social studies. finished, Chase
provide students said. Increasing
with a support graduation rates
system compris- will continue to be
ing caring teachers and administrators with a focus for the district, and we are optimis-
the goal of increasing the graduation rate. tic that we will see this trend continue as
Bourgeois said he would also work hard to long as we work to serve the needs of our
make students part of that support system students.

Something for everyone!

Bulletin photo by Jen Sieve-Hicks
Beef cattle production in Johnson County amounted to $42
million in 2012, but prices have fallen off the last two years.
Some industry insiders were hopeful that the TPP would boost
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