The U.S. Department of Agriculture has created a new loan program to help op-erators of small farms, including those who want to take advantage of growing con-sumer interest in locally produced food.

Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday that new “micro-loans” of as much as $35,000 are designed to help bolster family-run farms and help dis-advantaged farmers and military veterans seeking to start farms who might otherwise have trouble qualifying for small loans from banks or other USDA loan programs.

The loans can help farmers seeking to grow niche or organic crops to sell directly to ethnic and farmers markets or contrib-ute to community-supported agriculture programs. Vilsack noted that direct-to-con-sumer sales is a fast-growing sector of the farming industry, with a 60 percent increase in farmer’s markets in the past three years.

The loan also can cover the costs of seed, equipment, land rents and other expenses. The goal is to create more opportunities for entrepreneurship and boost employment in the farming industry, Vilsack said.

“This smaller microloan program really is designed to help a producer that wants to get into the direct-to-consumer sales busi-ness or wants to help provide produce to, for example, a farmer’s market,” Vilsack said. “It will help bolster the local and re-gional food system movement that is taking place.”

Vilsack said the new loan program also helps organic producers and small farmers who had been benefiting from grants and programs under the 2008 farm bill, which has not been extended by Congress.

The microloan program also provides a more simplified application process in com-parison with traditional farm loans.

Vilsack spoke ahead of an official an-nouncement of the program Tuesday. He was in Tennessee to speak to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting in Nashville.

A $35,000 loan can help beginning farm-ers cover startup expenses such as essential tools, irrigation and delivery vehicles. The money also may help cover annual expens-es such as seed, fertilizer, utilities, land rent, marketing and distribution costs.

Vilsack said the loans represent an ef-fort to expand credit to minority, socially disadvantaged and young and beginning farmers and ranchers. The interest rate will be about 4.9 percent, and the loan does not have to be repaid for seven years, he said.

The agriculture secretary also touted the loan’s benefit to military veterans who want to start a farm but cannot borrow larg-er amounts.

“It’s about making sure that we have diversity within agriculture, that we have a good blend of large production facilities, medium-sized operations and smaller op-erations,” Vilsack said of the loan program.

Since 2009, the federal government has issued more than 128,000 loans totaling nearly $18 billion through the Farm Service Agency Operating Loan Program. It has in-creased the number of loans to beginning farmers and ranchers from 11,000 loans in 2008 to 15,000 loans in 2011.

Those interested in applying for micro-loans may contact their local Farm Service Agency office.

February 2013 Vol. 4, Issue 2Worland & Ten Sleep “Better Together”

An initial review shows that there were 23 workplace fatalities in Wyoming in 2012, accord-ing to Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead’s office. That’s a decrease from 48 in 2007. For much of the 2000s, Wyoming’s workplace fatality rate ranked either worst or second-worst in the nation.

Gov. Mead issued a press release on Wednesday (January 23) announcing that his administration recently brought together representatives from the transportation industry to discuss forming a safety coalition and work on ways to make trans-portation in Wyoming safer. The concept would be similar to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Industry Safety Alliance (WOGISA) and the Wyoming Refinery Safety Alliance.

Mead noted that in 2012 more than half of the fatalities in Wyoming were in the transportation industry, and over the last decade 60 percent of workplace deaths occurred in the transportation industry.

“The transportation industry presents work-place safety challenges for employers and employ-ees alike. I believe the transportation industry can

See Workplace, page 6

From the Associated Press

Courtesy of WyoFile.com

The Chief Joseph Scenic Highway in northwest Wyoming. (Dewey Vanderhoff/WyoFile)

Thank you to Varney Clean Care

our first jade member!

USDA to offer ‘microloans’ to small farmers

PostWashakie

Wyoming’s workplace fatalities declining

MISSION STATEMENTThe Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce is organized for the purpose of fostering, promoting, aiding and encouraging the advancement of the civic, commercial, industrial and agricultural interest of the city of Worland, Wyoming, the town of Ten Sleep and the surrounding territory without any purpose of direct gain to itself beyond operational costs, promoting the general welfare and prosperity of said city and surrounding territory, and stimulating public sentiment to these ends and providing such social features as will promote these purposes.

WORLAND-TEN SLEEPCHAMBER

OFCOMMERCE

BOARD OF DIRECTORSEXECUTIVE BOARD

Craig Whitlock (Retired) President

Linda Keyes (Pinnacle Bank) Vice President

Butch Siirila (Shopko)Secretary/Treasurer

DIRECTORSBryan Barthelmess

(Security State Bank)

Dr. Carl Cottrell(Worland Vision Clinic)

Machelle Fettig (Admiral Beverage)

Ed Keller (Coffee & Everything Wonderful)

Robin Hawley(Bank of the West)

Sheryl Ley (WCCC)

Krista Shearer (Big West Autoplex)

Sherrill Sorensen(Washakie Med. Center)

Ward Tigner(Tractor Guys)

Tess Vigil (Big Horn Radio Network)

OFFICE STAFFGlenn S. Robertson

Executive Director

Kathy NewmanBusiness Operations Director

The Washakie Post is an official publication of the

Worland-Ten SleepChamber of Commerce,

120 North 10th St., Worland, WY 82401(307) 347-3226

wtschamber@rtconnect.netwww.wtschamber.org

This publication is made available twelve times a year.

Comments, ideas,and questions are welcome.

Signups for the Big Horn Mammoth Run will be taken soon! Come out and compete in the 1/2 marathon, the 10k or the 5k run/walk!

Watch our website for the online sign up.

Coffee & Everything Wonderful will close their doors Feb. 15.

Business on the Move & News

Have any used electronics just taking up space? Have a cell phone that you haven’t used in months? Bring it by the Chamber! We’ll send it along to be recycled so it doesn’t take up space in the landfill. Electronics, batteries, inkjet cartridges - these things all contaminate and pollute when left in a dump. Bring it by and we’ll make sure it gets taken care of.

City of Worland Meetings• City Council Meetings

1st & 3rd Tuesday @ 7 p.m.• Utilities Commission2nd Mon. @ 5:30 p.m.

• Bldgs & Grounds Commission2nd Mon. @ 4:30 p.m.

• Community Srvs Commission2nd Mon. @ 5:00 p.m.

All Meetings at City Hall

Ten Sleep Town Council MeetingsCouncil meetings are the 1st Tuesday each month at 7 p.m. If it falls on a holiday, the meet-

ing will take place on the 2nd Tuesday.

Want a coupon in thenewsletter?

Give us a call!

Electronic recycling @ the Chamber

Chamber Coffees are for you to show off your business!

If you have remodeled, have new merchandise, new services, new owner, or new manager etc., con-sider hosting a Coffee to get the word out!

Dates to host a Chamber Coffee are still available - call the Cham-ber to reserve a time.

The sign up box for the “Chamber Gift Certificates” (given yearly at the Chamber Banquet) will be at the Chamber Coffees. In order to win the certificates, you need to attend the coffees. If you are interested in hosting a Chamber Coffee, contact the Chamber of-fice at (307) 347-3226.

See you at Coffee!The Wyoming Chamber Partnership, along with the Worland – Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce, are work-ing together to help Chamber members with gaps of health insurance deductibles and out of pocket expenses and also transportation, lodging, short term disability and life coverage for their employees and families. Through this partnership, we are able to take this coverage out to our membership and in turn will receive a portion of the commissions. Membership calls and appointments have started. If you want to get on the next appointment schedule, please contact the Chamber office or Trenton Frandsen at trenton_frandsen@us.aflac.com.

Membership lists will be included in each newsletter based upon the date their membership was received. Our February 2013 issue acknowledges those businesses who submitted payments between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31.

Thank you to all those members who have recently renewed their Membership in the Chamber.

We are pleased to announce our new members: Hammer Electronics (Verizon), Antiques, etc., Grace Chapel Community Church & Heart Mountain Hearing Center. Thank you for your membership and support of our community.

Admiral Beverage Corp.Amish Origins, LLCANB BankAntiques, etcArby’sBee Hive HomesBig Brothers Big SistersBig Horn Basin AccountingBig Horn Basin Tire & Off RoadBig Horn Coop Marketing AssociationBig Horn Federal Savings BankBig West AutoplexBig West Realty, Inc.Black HIlls BentoniteBlair’s Super MarketBloedorn Lumber Co.Blue Cross Blue ShieldBonny Realty, P.C.Born Again Clothing.Bower, Earl Farms Co.Bower, Kenneth FarmsBrown’s Western ApplianceBryant Funeral HomeBryant Honey, Inc.Business & Professional WomenBW Insurance AgencyCharles Newton DrillingChildren’s Resource CenterClear Image Vision Care, P.C. Cloud Peak ChiropracticCloud Peak Counseling CenterCloud Peak Veterinary Service, P.C.DevonDonnell & Allred, Inc.Elmer & Yvonne’sEngineering AssociatesFirst American Title InsuranceFlower ExchangeFrandson Safety, Inc.Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 3096Fremont Beverage Corp.Frontier Tire, LLCGail Carver PhotographyGREAT LAKES AVIATIONGrosch, P.E.Construction, Inc.Guardians of the RangeH&R Block

Hake Realty Harry Ujifusa, Jr. Insurance AgencyHASCO Industrial SupplyHaskell FurnitureHedge MusicHerzberg HideawayHigh Plains PowerJanet’s Boutique & GiftsJeffries Dental, PCKennedy Ace HardwareLU RANCH CO.MCCLELLAN & MACQUEEN, INC..McGarvin & Taylor Real Estate SpecialistsMcGarvin Moberly Construction Co.McKinnon FlooringMel’s Plumbing & HeatingMountain Benefits Management CompanyMountain West ComputerNAPA Motor SupplyNelson & Page Dental, P.C.Northern Wyoming Daily NewsNOWCAP Services A.D.D.S.Owl UnlimitedPalesk FarmsPinnacle BankPizza HutRed Reflet Ranch, RBK Ranches, LLCRicker Pharmacy, Inc.Rocky Mountain Framing & GalleryRT COMM. INC.S&H Glass, Inc.Security State BankSerlkay PrintingSigns of SutherlandState Farm InsuranceStine, Buss, Wolff, Wilson and Associates, PCSubwaySummit National BankSunlight Federal Credit UnionSunshine Office ProductsTanager Beverages, LLCTeton DistributorsThe Buyers GuideThe OutdoorsmanTommerup Machine Shop, Inc.Tractor Guys, Inc.U.S. BANK

UNITED PAWN BROKERS & STORAGEVarney Clean CareWashakie County Fair BoardWashakie County School District #2Washakie Medical CenterWBI Energy Transmission, Inc.Wendy Press Sweeny, Attorney at LawWestern Sage CPAs, PCWilde Natural Health CenterWorland Elks LodgeWorland Ford-ChryslerWorland HealthCare & Rehabilitation CenterWorland Senior Citizen CenterWorland True Value HardwareWorland Vision ClinicWorland Volunteer Fire DepartmentWorland Workforce CenterWyoming Business CouncilWyoming Financial InsuranceWyoming Gas Co.Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church

Renewed Members

New Members

Washakie Museum & Cultural Center2200 Big Horn Avenue Worland, WY 82401

307-347-4102www.washakiemuseum.org

Open to Public thru Winter (Sept. 16 - May 14) Tues. - Sat. 10:00 am - 4:00 pmAdmission: Free to Members

Adults: $8; Seniors (62 and over): $7; Children (age 7 to 12): $6 (age 6 and younger free)

Worland Community Center Complex1200 Culbertson Ave.

P.O. Box 1736(307) 347-8616

www.worlandcommunitycentercomplex.com

New & Renewed Members 2013

Chamber Coffee

Public Transportation is available in Worland and Ten Sleep through the Senior Centers

In Worland: No Set Routes, Only By Appointment

Call 347-3208 for more info

In Ten Sleep: MWF to Worland, Leaving at 9 a.m.

Call 366-2210 for more info

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3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28

Westi Ag Days Chamber Banquet

Women’s Expo

Biloxi Blues

Dr. Richard Adams “Archaeology with Altitude”

Worland Library Mon. - Wed. - Fri.

8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Tues. - Thurs.8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Closed Sundays347-2231

Summer HoursM-F 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Winter Hours

M-F 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.Saturday 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Ten Sleep Library

All week open 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Closed end of October to Memorial Weekend

Ten Sleep Museum

Mon. - Thurs. 7 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Noon Lunch Monday - FridayEvery Friday 7 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Ten Sleep Senior Citizen Center

Washakie County Public Health1007 Robertson Avenue (For information or appointments call 307-347-3278)

Every Monday & Tuesday - Family Planning ClinicEvery Wednesday - Adult Health ClinicEvery Thursday - IMM Clinic 1-4 p.m.

1st & 3rd Monday - Thermopolis Family Planning1st & 3rd Wednesday - Greybull Family Planning

Last Friday of the month - Ten Sleep Adult Health Clinic

Worland Senior Citizens CenterEvery Monday, Wednesday & Friday at 9 a.m. EXERCISE

Every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. BINGOEvery Tuesday at 7 p.m. DUPLICATE BRIDGE

Every Wednesday & Friday at 1-4 p.m. PINOCHLEEvery Thursday at 1 p.m. PARTY BRIDGE

Second, Fourth & Fifth Friday the FUN BAND at WSCC

FEBRUARYSunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

4 AND UNDER - - - - - -FREE 5 TO 11- - - - - - - - - - - -$4.00 12 AND UP - - - - - - - - - $6.00

MON – FRI 5:30 AM – 8:30 AM Lap Swimming In Competition Pool 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM School Swim lessons (Pools closed)

11:30 AM – 1:30 PM Lap Swimming In Competition Pool 1:30 PM – 8:00 PM Leisure Pool Open

SATURDAY 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM Leisure Pool Open * SUNDAY 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM Leisure Pool Open *

POOLS WILL CLOSE 15 MINUTES BEFORE FACILITY CLOSING TIMES

*Competition pool will be open pending lifeguard coverage.

December 26, 27* and 28, 2012 – Open 11 AM – 6 PM *December 27, 2012 – ½ Price Day

Closed December 24, 25, 31 and January 1

For more information about: Special Holiday hours Planning your Birthday Party Upcoming Activities and Lessons Annual Membership Rates Employment Opportunities

U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and a group of senators that included one Democrat put mem-bers of Congress on notice today in demanding they pass a budget. This time the demand comes with teeth.

The senators introduced a bill today that would prohibit Congressional pay until they pass a budget.

“I wouldn’t run my former business without a budget plan to guide me. I can’t believe we’re trying to run the country without one,” said Enzi. “A member of Congress is the only job in the world where you can spend $1 trillion more than you have and not be fired. We can’t do that here, but we can stop being paid.”

No Budget No Pay requires the Senate and House to pass a budget and all appropriations bills by the beginning of each fiscal year. If they fail to do so, then they would not get paid until

Congress passes these measures in both cham-bers. The Senate has not passed a budget in nearly four years and has avoided passing most appro-priations bills, choosing instead to use spending bill conglomerations and dozens of “continuing resolutions,” which postpone important spending decisions.

Members of the House have introduced their own version of “No Budget, No Pay.” The Sen-ate and House versions differ, but both adhere to the Constitution, which prohibits members from increasing or decreasing their own salary. The House bill would keep member pay in an escrow account that would be paid out when a budget is passed or on the final day of the 113th Congress, whichever is earlier. The Senate bill would take effect at the beginning of the next Congress, in early 2015.

Senators introduce 'No Budget, No Pay' bill

While parts of the northwest region of Wyoming are slow, other parts are crammed with economic-development activity, construction and big plans. From ski-area revival to interstate tourism marketing, many areas are making a splash, especially Worland with its community pool.

A big splashWhen it came to building a community pool, Worland residents decided

to go big.“The voters went to the polls and decided that’s how they wanted to spend

that kind of money,” said Le Ann Baker [Chenoweth], executive director of Washakie Development Association.

Chenoweth said the $9.5 million aquatic center should be finished in December and open to the public. The 28,500 square-foot facility flourished around “a grassroots community effort,” said Jack Stott, business manager at Washakie County School District No. 1. Funding for the building came from general-obligation bonds the school took on as the primary user of the community pool and a one-penny specific purpose excise tax taken on by the community.

That tax is one Chenoweth said she hopes will pass again on this month’s ballot to fund economic development and operations of two senior citizen centers in Worland and Ten Sleep along with a Worland community complex.

While the pool complex is shaping up, complete with water slide, other projects aren’t going so smoothly in Worland. Chenoweth said a business spec building designed to stimulate business creation and arrivals has hit a major roadblock.

“All of our bids came in over the budget,” she said. But it was probably just a minor overflow.

“I wish it was a little bit, but it’s more like $175,000 over,” she said of the

$730,000 project funded in part by a $618,000 Business Ready Community Grant from the Wyoming Business Council. “There’s maybe a couple hundred thousand between the low (bid) and the top (bid). It’s a huge neighborhood to us.”

Even so, she expects to be able to iron out the difficulties and get the contractor bids into the completely different neighborhood that the engineers estimated.

“The price really surprised us and at the same time we’re not seeing a lot of construction in the area,” she said. “When you have grant money a lot of people think it’s heavily padded.”

Not so in Worland. Chenoweth said it doesn’t hurt to go under budget. She even returned $500,000 to the state from the last co-op project she did with them when she did go under budget.

“I’m confident we’ll get it done,” she said.The city of Worland is also trying to “get it done” by developing a new

master plan through a Wyoming Business Council grant to accommodate growth and plan for the future. Worland Building Official Ron Vanderpool said the project is in its infancy, but the city is hoping for a grant in the vicinity of $45,000 to hire a consultant and make it happen. The city will know by May 2013 if they’ve gotten the funding. After that, a request for proposals will go out and they expect to have consultants in place by fall.

“I think we’d do an injustice to the system if we tried to cram it in any faster,” Vanderpool said. He said the current master plan was drafted in 1978 and though it has some good information, it is obviously out of date.

The master plan may be out of style, but oilfield work is back en vogue in the area, Chenoweth said.

“There’s a lot more excitement in the oilfield than there has been in a long time,” she said.

do better,” Mead said in a prepared statement. “This coalition can focus initially on the root causes of transportation fatalities and begin to develop practices to reduce deaths.”

“It is important to identify and address the safety challenges of driving in Wyoming and communicate those challenges to the public,

especially drivers who are not familiar with Wyoming’s roads, Wyoming’s weather and long distances travelled,” Sheila Foertsch, managing director of the Wyoming Trucking Association, said in a prepared statement.

Wyoming and some of its main industries have taken on several voluntary initiatives in recent years to try to reduce workplace fatalities and injuries. Wyoming hired a state occupational epidemiologist to analyze workplace fatalities

and injuries`. Seven new safety consultants were hired and trained by the Department of Work-force Services. The Legislature also appropriated funds for small companies to purchase safety equipment such as flame retardant clothing. The oil and gas industry formed WOGISA and the refineries in the state formed a similar coalition, the Refinery Safety Alliance.

By Mark Wilcox, Wyoming Business Report

Workplace from page1

The Official Connection (with Sen. Mike Enzi)

Northwest Wyoming returns to wild West roots

Recent Business of the Year Winner Coffee & Everything Won-derful may be closing their doors in February; however, in just more than three years, Patty and Ed Keller created a immensely popular lunch destination and local art haven.

Coffee & Everything Wonderful

3rd Annual Worland Furball

Raising Funds and Awareness for the New Hope Humane Society

For more information or any ideas, please contact lead organizer of the Worland Furball Event, Omar Khan @ 307.347.3927

The Worland Furball Fundraiser was created by Suizi Richards in 2011 to raise money for our local animal shelter, the New Hope Humane Society.We are just getting underway this year and need help recruiting volunteers to join our committee.

An event is being planned for April at the Fairgrounds. Please volunteer for our cause or donate, if possible. The shelter would greatly appreciate it, and so would Whiskers!

Whiskers

By the time you read this newsletter, you should have already re-ceived a letter letting you know about the increase in membership dues.

While this is certainly something I had hoped we could avoid, it has become readily apparent that if we didn’t act to increase revenues along with cutting costs, we would very likely not make it through the year. The increases are fairly small by most accounts, and we hope that another increase will not be necessary for a few years - however, the board will have to assess that at the end of the year.

Truthfully, our membership dues account for less than 1/3 of our operating budget, far below the 1/2 that most chambers suggest as a guideline. Of course, if we were to raise it that much - we’d be looking at some fairly extreme rate hikes that I know most (including myself) wouldn’t agree with.

I want to assure all of you that we are doing everything in our power to raise the revenues we need to survive as a chamber while cutting costs where they can be. Unfortunately, as many of you know all too well, the costs of doing any sort of business have done nothing but go up, and chambers of commerce are certainly in the same boat.

All across the country, chambers are being forced to make tough deci-sions on what services they provide, in the face of funding cuts from government entities. This is certainly true in our case - the funding we have received from other entities has allowed us to keep our rates low, compared to most chambers across the state.

So, we have cut our spending to a large degree, but even with those cuts we are in a position where revenues have to be raised. We have opened our doors and minds to outside-the-box funding ideas like CheckFree Pay and online marketing tools.

Basically, I want you all to know that we did not take the idea of raising your costs lightly and did everything in our power to keep those increases minimal. We appreciate your investment in the chamber and the community and we will continue to work to provide a value to that investment and improve the Worland-Ten Sleep community.

All my best to you in 2013 and beyond,

Wyoming is truly “Like No Place on Earth” and the people in Wyoming are a huge part of the reason why. Wyomingites are independent, innovative, adaptable and entrepreneurial. They help their neighbors and volunteer in their communities. It’s all part of the Wyoming Spirit! Wyomingites know that their actions not only impact their community but the entire state surrounding them. It is for this reason, the Wyoming Dis-trict Office of the U.S. Small Business Ad-ministration announces its first ever Small Business Spirit of Wyoming Award.

SBA Wyoming District Office will make the Small Business Spirit of Wyoming award at the district level. This award will be pre-sented to small businesses that demonstrate potential for success in the areas of growth in number of employees, increase in sales,

steady growth of company and innovation and imagination in product/services. The nominee should also demonstrate the “Spir-it of Wyoming” with contributions to their local community and a demonstrated spirit of volunteerism and community involve-ment.

Any individual who owns and oper-ates or who bears principal responsibility for operating a small business may be nomi-nated. Partners who jointly own and oper-ate a small business may be nominated as a “team,” so long as the number of individu-als in the team nomination does not exceed four. A nominee for Small Business Spirit of Wyoming Award must own or operate a business defined as “small” under the ap-plicable SBA size standards. Individuals who have received the Small Business Per-son Award at the State level within the past

five years are not eligible. Nominees must also be residents of the United States or its territories and will be subject to background checks. Small businesses owned and oper-ated by nominees must comply with federal civil rights laws. While receipt of SBA assis-tance is not required, it is preferred.

For nomination guidelines and more information contact Sharon Nichols, 307-261-6508 or Sharon.nichols@sba.gov or Deb Farris, 307-261-6510debra.farris@sba.gov Nominations must be received in the Wyo-ming District Office no later than January 31, 2013.

For more information about SBA’s pro-grams for small businesses, call 307-261-6500 or TDY 307-261-6527 or visit the SBA’s extensive website atwww.sba.gov/wy.

CHEYENNE – A bill that would raise hunting and fishing fees to support the Wyoming Game and Fish Department failed in committee this morning.

House Bill 136 failed in the House Travel, Recre-ation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee. Of nine members, only Rep. John Freeman, D-Green River, voted in favor of it.

Members were concerned that hunting and fish-ing license fees were becoming so expensive that the activities would become a “rich man’s sport.”

The bulk of Game and Fish’s budget comes from the fees. Executive Director Scott Talbott said that the money would fund ongoing operations and not be used for new programs or employees.

With a future of no new money, Talbott said he’ll have to apply for grants to raise money for his depart-ment. The new money would have kicked in next year.

He’ll look at other efficiencies. He said it’s too soon to determine whether he’ll have to make program or staff cuts.

from the Wyoming Business Council

By Laura Hancock, Casper Star-Tribune

SBA Seeks Nominations for Small Business Spirit of Wyoming Award

Wyo. House committee nixes license fee hikes for G&F funding

Art and Science Work Together to Present Story of Early Life on Earth

Ammonites, trilobites, dinosaurs, oh my! Fossils are all around us. That’s the message paleontologist Kirk John-son and artist Ray Troll share in the traveling exhibit Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway with Artist Ray Troll and Pale-ontologist Kirk Johnson, opening at the Washakie Mu-seum on February 2, 2013. Fossils have long been a subject of fascination and are used by paleontologists to help answer questions about early life on earth. But how much can the fossil record tell us about evolution, extinction, and geologic time? Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway features 19 framed color prints and five large-scale murals of Ray Troll’s whimsi-cal, fossil-inspired artwork, all of which were created for a book of the same title, published by Troll and Johnson in 2007 (available for purchase in the Washakie Museum gift shop). The book records the “epoch tale” of the duo’s 5,000-mile road trip through the American West as they sought to explore the fossil record. The exhibit combines visuals and stories from the book with real fossil specimens from the Washakie Museum’s own pa-

leontology collection. Also on view will be a video high-lighting Troll’s artistic process. Among other fossils from the Washakie Museum’s col-lection, on display will be a supersized ammonite, rare leaf and bud fossils, dinosaur bones, and an Allosaurus skull on loan from Worland BLM. Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway was organized by the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, Wash-ington in collaboration with Ray Troll and Kirk Johnson, authors of the book Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway: An Epoch Tale of a Scientist and an Artist on the Ultimate 5,000-Mile Paleo Road Trip (Fulcrum Books 2007).

“Sleeping with the Ichthyosaurs” by Ray Troll

Artwork above: “Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway” by Ray Troll

with Artist Ray Troll and Paleontologist Kirk Johnson with Artist Ray Troll and Paleontologist Kirk Johnson

Temporary Exhibition Opening Reception at the Washakie Museum

SATURDAY, February 2, 2013 3:00-5:00 P.M.

Family Friendly Event Fossil-rific Finger Foods

Hands-on Art Project Museum Members Free * Non-Members $10

WASHAKIE MUSEUM * 2200 Big Horn Avenue * Worland * 347-4102 * www.washakiemuseum.org

Upcoming Events

DRIVER’S LICENSE TESTINGWorland

606 So. 12th St. • 347-6528Monday, Thursday & Friday

8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.Noon - 1:00 Closed

Thermopolis173 US Highway 20

Tuesday9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.Noon - 1:00 Closed

Basin215 So. 4th St.

Wednesday8:45 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.Noon - 1:00 Closed

CHAMBER BULK MAIL:IMPORTANT: If you use the Chamber’s Bulk Mail Permit, remember to contact the Chamber for any new information and instructions on how to prepare the bulk mailing. The bulk mail form must be signed by the Chamber Staff before your mail is taken to the Post Office. Chamber mail must be to the Post Office before 4:00 pm.

The Chamber provides gift bags and coupon booklets for groups coming to town to show them our hospitality.

If your business has any coupons you’d like distributed, please let us know and we will give them out to visiting tourists. If you would like to provide special items from your businesses, we will give those out as well. Product samples, pens, note pads etc. are very welcome. The Chamber provides lists of Restaurants, Parks, Lodging, postcards, and street maps. Bring your items to the Chamber office or call for pick up. We thank you.

Coupons and Gift Items Needed!

February:Feb. 4-6 Westi Ag DaysFeb. 7 Chamber BanquetFeb. 8 Women’s Expo Dinner & AuctionFeb. 9 Women’s ExpoFeb. 9 Biloxi BluesFeb. 14 Valentine’s DayFeb. 18 Presidents’ DayFeb. 23 Archaeology with Altitude

On the Horizon:March 14 Relay for Life Kick-OffMarch 16 - 17 Worland Gun ShowMarch 25 - 31 Celebrate Freedom!

For the 2013 March Newsletter and Calendar, all events and articles need to be in to Kathy at the Chamber office by Feb 21st. If you would like to have an insert with the newsletter, please con-tact the Chamber office to get on the list.

OCCUPY

BLACK

FRIDAY

Buy LOCAL and give back to your community!