Posted: Thursday, August 28, 2008 12:00 am
Acknowledgment sought in sex suit
RAWLINS - The attorneys for a woman who says a Rawlins police officer sexually assaulted her as a teenager say the city of Rawlins has not completely fulfilled its legal settlement with the alleged victim.
The woman has been paid $250,000 but her attorneys, Fred Harrison and John Robinson, say the city has yet to acknowledge that a preventable incident occurred.
Rawlins City Attorney Dan Massey says the city will follow the advice it gets from Richard Rideout, an attorney with the city's insurance pool.
The woman's federal lawsuit charged that Lee Meacham, a former Rawlins police captain and Carbon County commissioner, assaulted her repeatedly when she was between 15 and 18 years old. The woman is now in her late 20s.
Meacham has not been charged in criminal court.
Plan in works to save homes
CHEYENNE - A plan is in the works to save three of six old houses near the Historic Governor's Mansion in Cheyenne that were slated to be moved or demolished to make way for a hospital parking lot.
A co-owner of the homes, Rande Pouppirt, said the three homes will stay where they are and be restored. The other three homes will be moved to new locations.
Several neighbors said they're not satisfied with the compromise. State Rep. Mary Throne, who lives in the neighborhood, said the Governors' Mansion is one of Cheyenne's key historic sites. She said that site needs to be improved, not diminished.
Nader plans Wyoming visit
CHEYENNE - Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader plans a press conference in Cheyenne.
Nader's campaign says he will be at the State Capitol in Cheyenne at 12:30 p.m. today.
Nader plans to speak about what he says are critical issues the major party candidates aren't addressing. He says those include a comprehensive, negotiated military and corporate withdrawal date from Iraq, as well as health care, energy issues and an end to corporate welfare.
Cloud seeding project to resume
RAWLINS - The state official overseeing a cloud seeding experiment said the process seems to be boosting precipitation, but it's too soon to be able to say that for certain.
Barry Lawrence of the Wyoming Water Development Commission said he's looking forward to seeing how much snow falls this winter in the cloud-seeding areas in the Medicine Bow, Sierra Madre and Wind River ranges.
Cloud seeding is scheduled to resume Nov. 15 in the Snowy Range and Sierra Madre mountains. This will be the second full year of the project.
The experiment involves pumping silver iodide into clouds that are believed to have a marginal chance of producing snowfall. The technology dates to the 1940s but cloud seeding has never been scientifically studied to determine whether it increases snowfall.