MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017
107TH YEAR/ISSUE 53
Cody library cafe continuing to lose money BY CJ BAKER Tribune Editor
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ark County Commissioner Joe Tilden posed a question to county library leaders last month: “What’s more important to you, buying new books or keeping the Bistro open?” Tilden was referring to the Cody library’s Biblio Bistro. The county-owned and -operated cafe sells sandwiches, soups, coffee, smoothies and other foods
SINCE OPENING IN 2008, LOSSES AT COUNTYOWNED BIBLIO BISTRO HAVE TOPPED $320,000 and beverages while serving as a public meeting place. It’s also heavily subsidized. Preliminary budget documents show that, from last July through May, the Bistro lost nearly $46,300. The figures mean the restaurant brought in an average of about $200 per day in sales — only cover-
ing about half of its expenses. In the next fiscal year, which started Saturday, library officials project the Biblio Bistro will again run in the red and cost the county $49,556. The losses will continue to be absorbed as part of the Park County Library System’s overall budget. “I’m just pointing out that, if you have
deficiencies in other areas, there’s some money there that could be had,” Tilden said of the Bistro during a June 20 discussion of the budget, adding, “It’s a wonderful thing, but it’s an amenity.” “But then so is a library, in a sense,” responded Park County Library System Director Frances Clymer. “It’s a public service; it’s a public utility that serves people from every walk of life — man, See Bistro, Page 3
E M E RG E N C Y T R A I N I N G
Author Craig Johnson and two stars from the TV show based on his ‘Longmire’ novels will serve as grand marshals of Tuesday’s Cody Stampede Parade. Photo courtesy Chet Carlson
‘Longmire’ rides in Cody CRAIG JOHNSON REFLECTS ON TV SHOW, FUTURE OF BELOVED SHERIFF BY DON COGGER Tribune Staff Writer
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t was on a recent trip abroad when Craig Johnson — author of the popular “Longmire” series of books and the television series it spawned — realized first-hand just how far-reaching his fictional Wyoming sheriff’s popularity had become. “I remember getting into a taxicab in Prague in the Czech Republic, and I had ‘What’s fun my cowboy hat on,” Johnson recalled. about this is, “The taxicab driver Park County turned around and at me and and Cody and looked said, ‘Longmire!’ Meeteetse and and I was like, Powell have ‘Whaaat?’” Turns out the taxi always been driver, having no some of my idea who Johnson was a fan of the favorite areas was, show, associating to tour.’ Johnson’s appearance with his ficCraig Johnson tional counterpart. Author “He told me he watches the show, and I was like, ‘That’s great, I write the books.’ And he goes, ‘Whaaat?’” “Hollywood is very pervasive,” Johnson continued. “It gets out there and into places where maybe the books can’t quite so readily get into.” A bit of Hollywood will come to Park County on Tuesday, as Johnson and a pair of actors from the television series will be See ‘Longmire,’ Page 2
Groups challenge U.S. plan to lift grizzly protections BY KEITH RIDLER Associated Press
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t least three different legal challenges were launched Friday against the U.S. government’s decision to lift protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone National Park area that have been in place for more than 40 years. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Center for Biological Diversity, The Humane Society, and WildEarth Guardians are among those challenging the plan to lift restrictions this summer. “The rule removing federal protections for America’s beloved Yellowstone grizzly bears is a political decision that is deeply flawed,” said Andrea Santarsiere, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. The federal government announced last month its plan to lift grizzly bear protections and made it official Friday by filing its decision in the Federal Register. That prompted the various groups to send 60day notices of their intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a required step in the legal process. Some of the groups say the decision is wrong because it only involves Yellowstone See Grizzlies, Page 3
Powell firefighters, including Nate Mainwaring and Dustin Dicks, train on carrying a patient under the watchful eye of Reach flight nurse Rachel Severinsen during an emergency training situation at Powell High School on June 26. Tribune photo by Mark Davis
Army platoon gathers for 50th reunion of their fiercest battle BY DON COGGER Tribune Staff Writer
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ituated near Ap Bac Village in the Long An Province of Vietnam, the soldiers of Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry were slogging through a couple hundred yards of open rice paddies when they stumbled into chaos. It was the day after Father’s Day, June 19, 1967. “Alpha Company walked into a batallion-sized ambush,” said Powell resident and Army veteran Jim Heller. “In the first 10 minutes, 95 percent of them were killed. That is a huge, huge loss.” Lieutenant Heller and his fellow soldiers in Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, were the closest to Alpha Company’s position and scrambled to provide support. Nicknamed the “Tornados” — in honor of platoon Sergeant Johnny “Tornado” Jones — the men knew every minute counted. “We were fortunate in that we were attacking a known position,” Heller said. “We knew they were there. Alpha Company didn’t; they walked right into an ambush that was prepared for the entire battalion, not just one company,” Heller explained. Whereas a company might be made up of 80-250 soldiers, an Army battalion can consist of between 300 to 1,200 soldiers. “We spent a lot of time evacuating the wounded, going out into rice paddies and getting shot doing that,” Heller said. During the three-day battle, 47 American soldiers were killed, including one from Heller’s company, Ronald “Chili” Saiz. “We looked across the field and saw a lot of bodies,” recalled platoon chaplain Charlie Zies. “A jet came in to drop a bomb. The bomb dropped, but the pilot had been blown up in the blast. Then a helicopter came in to pick up the wounded; the second he-
MEMBERS OF 4/47 9TH INFANTRY DIVISION REMEMBER, REFLECT ON LIFE, THOSE LOST
licopter came in and was shot down.” Zies was carrying ammunition for Saiz, an assistant machine gunner, and followed him to a clump of palm trees. “As Chili went through the other end of the tree line, he was shot,” Zies recalled. “He fell and I said, ‘Crawl back to me.’ He said, ‘Charlie, Char-
lie, hold my hand.’ I held his hand, his body started quivering and then he died. I yelled for a medic and one ran across the field.” Nearly every member of Heller’s platoon was wounded in the battle, including Heller himself. “When I got hit, I had just gotten back to the chopper with some of
the wounded,” he said. “There was a huge explosion, an artillery round probably, and I woke up back here in the states about three weeks later.” The scar on his face, a wound that required more than 500 field stitches, is Heller’s legacy; a reminder of the men lost and wounded and the reverberation of war. “It’s what happens, unfortunately,” Heller said. “You play a dangerous See Platoon, Page 2
Chaplain Charlie Zies, 1st Platoon Bravo Company, 4/47 9th Infantry Division, delivers a short service to the surviving members of his platoon, the ‘Tornados,’ at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Cody. The men were in Park County earlier this month to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Ap Bac. Tribune photo by Don Cogger
LOTTA NUMBER - 2073 06/18/2018
LAST WEEK’S LOTTA NUMBER BELONGED TO BARBARA SEAGO OF POWELL WHO WON $20.