POWELL TRIBUNE ~ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

I'd like to file an amendment to Bill Sniffin's column , "Wyoming's own airline" that I
just read in the Powell Trib. I assume Sniff is syndicating this statewide. It requires
a little more information to present a clearer images of the " success" of Great Lakes
Aviation, the airline based in Cheyenne to which he extolls much praise.

Great Lakes is almost the most heavily subsidized airline in the nation , especially in
its size category. Great Lakes derives fully 36 percent of its revenue and presumably
all of its profit from direct federal government subsidies under the Essential Air
Service program. The government foolishly pays exorbitant sums to small airlines like
Great Lakes if they serve remote airports located more than 90 miles from larger
commercial passenger air terminals. Great Lakes debarks to Laramie and Worland in
Wyoming, but effuses the skies over much of Nebraska and Montana with its Beech 1900
puddle jumpers. GLA serves 44 airports in 12 states , and in every state but their
Colorado hub they are heavily subsidized. ( They previously flew into Cody) For tax
purposes, great Lakes is incorporated in Wyoming, but in reality is physically based in
Denver , flying 145 of its daily 225 flights to or from there, and has close working
partnerships with both United and Frontier Airlines. Great Lakes began as a small
airline in Iowa in the late 1970's , and worked the Midwest for many years . It got a
landing slot at Chicago O'Hare in 1985, and its next step was to cash in on the Regan
Administration's new air service subsidy program and has been firmly ensconced in that
rervenue stream ever since. Great Lakes didn't turn it its eyes on Wyoming's lax
business regulations ecosystem till the mid-1990's

Be that as it may , late last fall, Great Lakes renegged on a proposal to take over
four routes abandoned by SkyWay Airlines in Michigan, thereby monkeywrenching air service
in the upper Midwest. Sniffin's institutional memory fails to recall the scandal that
embroiled Great Lakes when they recieved a largely unencumbered loan from the State of
Wyoming for $ 4.5 million to build up their Cheyenne operation , then moved down to
Denver anyway. The Wyoming state loan scandals of the 1980's and 90's are nothing to be
proud of. But speaking contemporarily , it is somewhat disingenuous of Sniffin or
anyone else to claim that Great Lakes Aviation is a Wyoming homegrown local airline
with Wyoming values and a desire to serve Wyoming. Look at Exhibit A: Great Lakes only
flies in Wyoming where they get a heavy subsidy to do so, Laramie and Worland with
passenger counts less than the 10,000 per year EAS qualifying benchmark . That tells
me they cannot compete in the real market at all.

There are indications that funds for the so-called Essential Air Service program may dry
up. If that happens, Great Lakes will in serious trouble financially. Many airlines are
on the ropes, for many reasons. When three airlines go bankrupt in one week as happened
last week , it is perilous to write perfumed columns about the financial virtues of
small marginal heavily subsidized airlines. A year or two from now, that column may read
very differently and platitudes will be in shorter supply, like airline food.

The passenger air service industry on its best day is voodoo. You are so warned.

Editors note: Dewey Vanderhoff is a journalist and freelance photographer whose work is published regularly in the Powell Tribune.

Hello citizens of Wyoming. I'm Russell Schaller. My sister and brother-in-law, Carol and John Munkberg, used to live in Ten Sleep until they were killed by a drunk driver in January driving back from Cody to Ten Sleep.
They had just finished visiting their children and grandchildren in Florida. Now they will never see each other again. Norwill I be able to visit my sister in the summer as I had in the past.
This letter is not to seek revenge on the DUI driver that killed them, he is dead too along with his two passengers. I am writing this because your legislature met this year and the Senate voted down House Bill 73 which would have tightened up your existing DUI laws. I have lived in NM for the past 36 years.
When I moved here (New Mexico) we were right at the top of the list for DUI. Our legislature with the passage of tough laws and harsh penalties has moved us to 17th in the nation, not the best but a lot better.
We are a large state with few law enforcement officers just like your state. The legislature would not have been so aggressive if the public had not spoken up and threatened to replace them.
Our Media particularly newspaper and TV played a large part in this movement. They got the word out on all DUI convictions. They went after Judges that were too soft on DUI offenders.
I would like to advise all Wyoming citizens to please do the same. The lives of you and your relatives are at risk if you don't. I'm sure a few of you have lost someone to a DUI. I urge you all to write your newspapers, all your representatives and TV stations.
You shouldn't have to live with this. It can be stopped before maybe it's you who dies because of a drunk driver.
Thank you for letting me have my say. You've all been very kind to my wife and me when we used to visit my sister and brother-in-law.

My best friend died today.
I don't remember how we met. I just remember being happy that we did. She always made me feel as though she had known me since we were little, although I only knew her little more than a decade. She had the same manners and values that I was brought up with and I felt welcome and appreciated whenever we were together. I house-sat her three kitties when she went on trips and she always brought me a small, heartfelt thoughtful gift upon her return. The last being a hankie with embroidered rosebuds that breathed into life a sweet memory of my childhood, and I shared that memory with her. We cried happy tears together.
I saw her last Tuesday; we made plans and bid each other a laughing farewell.
My dearest Margaret Richardson: You were the one to whom I poured out my heart, chaff and grain together knowing that with the gentlest of hands you would sift it, keeping what was worth keeping and with the softest breath of kindness, blow the rest away.
Oh Margaret, you've gone on to your loving mother and I am left here sobbing, lost and alone.
Your devoted friend,
Nan McCan and Yonnie the cat who loved you as you loved him.

Sirs:
In regard to the letter from Mr. Stebbins on March 18th, if he plays his George Jones at 4:30 in the morning at high decibels, he will be charged with disturbing the peace. You see, we already have a law in the books for that. The recent discussion dealt with being able to hear the stereo from fifty feet of the vehicle. For those of you that are driving hybrid cars, even with the stereo down, you can hear the music. If we enacted this law, a police officer can detain you because he thought he heard your stereo.
So the court proceeding would deal with decibels and measurement making prosecution and defense difficult. All of this for a misdemeanor.
It seems we are living in a time of self gratification. Playing your stereo too loud, never using your turn signals, letting your dog poo in the park, all activities that inconvenience others but seem to make a person feel better about themselves. We can make more laws and hire more police officers but there are some in this town that feel we have too many already.
So if you are bothered by a loud stereo, get the license number and report it. The police will contact them with the complaint of 'disturbing the peace'.
As far as Mr. Stebbins expertise in attracting females, I'm guessing the picture of him in a robe in his alley at 3 am is more of a deterrent than an attractant for the female species.
Scott Mangold - Mayor

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