Shutdown nixes Yellowstone wedding bells

Megan Wenk spent three months planning her dream wedding at Yellowstone National Park's Artist's Point. Then the government shutdown closed all the national parks to visitors, leaving Wenk and her husband-to-be, Kory Hammerbeck, scrambling to find a new location for Sunday's ceremony. It didn't matter that her dad is the park's top official. Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk said Wednesday he and his daughter are scouting new wedding locations north of the park, near the Gallatin National Forest. He says the wedding will still go on, with 65 guests expected to arrive from across the nation. Wenk says it won't be the wedding his daughter had hoped for, but they are no different from anybody else when it comes to the effects of the shutdown.

Former state AG would be lead special counsel

A special House committee investigating state schools Superintendent Cindy Hill has voted to hire former state Attorney General Bruce Salzburg as its lead special counsel. The committee is seeking $100,000 from the Legislature's Management Council to hire Salzburg and his firm to help with the investigation. The Management Council will consider the request next Tuesday. The special committee is investigating Hill's administration of the Wyoming Education Department before she was removed by a new state law earlier this year. Hill had denied any wrongdoing.

UW will help student veterans stay in school

University of Wyoming President Bob Sternberg has issued a directive that no military veterans who attend the college will be forced to leave or to have their studies curtailed because of the federal budget impasse. More than 400 veterans are students at UW. There's concern that the partial federal shutdown will cost them their financial support for tuition and residence hall costs. But Sternberg says the university will work to help military veterans regardless of what happens with their federal funds. The university expects to review each veteran's needs, and a customized variety of resources will be employed to help address each student's immediate financial needs.

Y'stone treatment of tour group draws complaints

Some tourists to Yellowstone National Park are complaining about their treatment by National Park Service rangers when the park was closed down last week because of the partial federal shutdown. One tour guide operator went so far as to say rangers used "Gestapo tactics" in the treatment of his tour group. Gordon Hodgson, of Provo, Utah, described one confrontation with a ranger where his tour group was prevented from taking pictures of bison along a road. Pat Vaillancourt, of Salisbury, Mass., was a member of the tour group. She says some foreign members of the group felt they were under arrest because armed rangers ordered them confined to the lodge when the park was closed Oct. 1. National Park Service officials in Washington didn't immediately comment on the matter.

Sweetwater County Library Book Sale Starts Thursday

The Sweetwater County Library Book Sale will be held this Thursday through Saturday at the White Mountain Library. Britney Wells says that a wide variety of items is available for purchase at discounted prices.






Hours for the sale are 9 AM to 8 PM on Thursday, 10 am to 5 PM on Friday and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday.






All Library Book Sale items will be sold for donation. The Sale is sponsored by the Sweetwater County Library System. For more information call the White Mountain Library at 362-2665.

UW in tax dispute with Albany County

The University of Wyoming and Albany County are in disagreement about whether a campus apartment development should be subjected to local property taxes. The dispute over the 9.14-acre Bison Run Village has been argued before the county's Board of Equalization, which consists of the three county commissioners. Albany County Clerk Jackie Gonzales says that a decision is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 15, the county commission's next official meeting date. The Albany County assessor contends the land and development should be taxed because it is being used for commercial purposes. Bison Run Village is owned by UW and leased to a private nonprofit company.

NPS issues citations in Grand Teton, Yellowstone

National Park Service rangers in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks have been issuing trespassing citations to people being found in the closed parks. Grand Teton park spokeswoman Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles says the park has issued nine citations. Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash says a few citations have been issued there. The national parks closed last week after Congress and the White House deadlocked over spending priorities and the new health care law. Anzelmo-Sarles says that people cited for trespassing in Grand Teton included cyclists, runners and drivers taking vehicles around temporary barricades. In addition to closure violations, she says rangers have issued citations for taking a vehicle off-road and for resource damage.