Wyo. joins medical-school consortium after 25 years

SEATTLE, Wash. – High above the misty shores of Lake Washington and Husky Stadium is the medical school the Wyoming Legislature wisely decided it couldn’t afford two decades ago.Wyoming is affiliating with the University of Washington School of Medicine and a 25-year-old consortium of Pacific Northwest states called WAMI (for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho) that provides nationally recognized medical education that emphasizes primary care in rural areas – precisely what Wyoming has sought for years.
Visiting the University of Washington facilities recently reminded me of how close Wyoming was to trying to launch its own medical school back in the late 1970s – and what a mistake it would have been.
At the height of the Energy Boom, Wyoming was awash in budget surpluses, and one solution for spending the excess cash was to build a medical school to train doctors who would remain in the state. The proposal failed in the Wyoming Senate on a tie vote, ending the dream and convincing the state to opt for a more modest pre-med program and family practice residency centers in Cheyenne and Casper.
After the subsequent Energy Bust in the mid-80s, even the medical school’s most ardent supporters conceded it would have been a costly mistake.
Now Wyoming is beginning a new chapter in its effort to train doctors who will remain in the state. Like Alaska, Montana and Idaho, it has concluded that spending hundreds of millions on its own medical school is less cost-effective than sharing costs with five other states on a quality program geared to producing primary-care physicians who want to practice in today’s frontiers in medicine.Enterprise Center names board
CHEYENNE – The Laramie County Enterprise Center has appointed two veteran Cheyenne business leaders to its Board of Directors, said Nancy McDonald of the Enterprise Center.
Bob Burge, owner of Midas Muffler in Cheyenne, brings an MBA degree, engineering training and 20 years of small-business experience to the Enterprise Center. Nick Gill, owner of Gill Window Co., has a business degree from the University of Wyoming and worked for the State of Wyoming before successfully launching his business nine years ago.
The Enterprise Center, a small-business incubator, was established in 1987 at Laramie County Community College. It currently has 10 small-business tenants.Guard changes at chambers
LARAMIE – It’s changing of the guard time at the Laramie and Cheyenne chambers. In Laramie, Gary Crum is the new president of the Laramie Area Chamber of Commerce, succeeding Laramie School Superintendent Charlie Head. Crum is president of First Interstate Bank in Laramie. New directors include Steve Sonntag, Phil Harris, Mary Fitzsimmons, Ken Patel and Andy Gentry.
The Laramie chamber also honored several businesses and individuals during its recent annual banquet, highlighted by the largest attendance in recent years. Gillette Office Supply and its owners, Joy and Tim Hunt, were honored as the Small Business of the Year, Suzanne Lewis and John Nutter were honored as the Business People of the Year, and the Laramie Daily Boomerang received the award for Corporate Community Service.
Top Hands were Patty and Doug Campbell of Authorized Steamway, Donna Cuin of the Laramie Greenbelt Project received the M. Clare Mundell Award for community service, and Kinko’s received a Special Recognition Award.
In Cheyenne, Dixie Hruby will chair the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce during 1997, succeeding John Dinneen. Hruby is a financial planner with American Express Financial Advisors.
The Chamber Board has elected Sharon Keizer of Keizer Inc. as chairman-elect, and Monica Miller of Taco John’s International, Paul Vencill of United Medical Center and Larry Wolfe of Holland & Hart as vice chairs. Gary Imig of Sierra Trading Post will serve as treasurer.Cheyenne pushes beautification
CHEYENNE – Look for the Cheyenne Chamber to spearhead efforts to make Cheyenne more visually appealing.
Chamber president Larry Atwell says a number of business leaders are concerned about the need to make the community more appealing, especially the gateways.
“Most entrances to the community have a less-than-attractive industrial atmosphere, an older industrial atmosphere,” Atwell noted. “We drive around town and don’t always notice it, but a newcomer does. There’s not really many ways into town with something attractive that somebody would say, ‘Hey, this looks like a town I’d like to be in.'”Waste program launchedLARAMIE – The Wyoming Small Business Development Center is seeking 10 businesses to participate in a hazardous-waste cleanup program funded with a $50,000 grant from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.
Center director Diane Wolverton says the small-business center and the Mid-America Manufacturing Center, MAMTC, also located at the University of Wyoming, will help businesses in the pilot project learn how to mitigate environmental impacts and clean up hazardous wastes. They will determine what needs to be done, develop and implement a plan of action and publicize the results.”The purpose of this project is to increase awareness of the monetary benefits of running environmentally clean businesses,” Wolverton said. Tax lady collects
CHEYENNE – A computer consolidation project in the Wyoming Department of Revenue is paying unexpected dividends for the state – but it could cost merchants who are in arrears in payment of state sales and use taxes.
State Revenue Director Johnnie Burton says her department has begun sending notices to businesses who have missed tax payments during the past decade and will expect payment of back taxes by January or face a stiff penalty.
Burton says the Revenue Department had used several different computer databases, along with manual record-keeping, to track sales and excise tax payments in the past. But now a new computer system is centralizing the records and showing that several million dollars worth of payments may have fallen through the cracks.Business Day At Legislature Feb. 11
CHEYENNE – Wyoming’s Chamber of Commerce Executives are planning their 1997 Business Day at the Legislature for Feb. 11 at the Hitching Post Inn in Cheyenne.
Business Day gives chamber executives and members an opportunity to interact with legislators and state officials, learn about pending issues and observe the Wyoming Legislature in action, according to WCCE President Paul Hoffman of Cody.
Gov. Jim Geringer will speak at lunch, and House Speaker Bruce Hinchey, R-Casper, and Senate President Bob Grieve, R-Savery, will speak at breakfast. The day-long session includes panels on economic diversification, public lands and Wyoming’s tax structure, a “how to lobby” tour of the Capitol Building, and the concluding Wyoming Growth Alliance Business Expo.
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