Wyo. senator seeks to restructure OSHA laws

If the nation˜s job-safety laws are reformed this year, much credit will go to a freshman senator from Wyoming who is bringing the savvy of small business to the hallowed halls of the U.S. Senate.

Sen. Mike Enzi, an accountant and one-time shoe-store owner in Sheridan and Gillette who succeeded Sen. Alan Simpson, is leading the charge to reform the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in a manner that will be more user-friendly to employers, while retaining protections for employees.
Enzi˜s proposal, the Safety Advancement For Employees Act, has been reported out favorably from the Senate Labor Committee, and Enzi is hopeful it will be among the first bills considered after the Senate˜s holiday recess.
The bill encourages employers, employees and OSHA to work together toward a common goal of a safer workplace, Enzi said. Among other provisions, it would allow employers to use independent auditors to evaluate safety and have the National Academy of Sciences review OSHA rules to ensure they are based on sound science.
The Wyoming Republican˜s bill has some bipartisan support, though many Democrats and organized labor groups are opposed or at least wary of softening job-safety regulations. But he is working hard to curry bipartisan support by including in the bill provisions that Republicans and Democrats have agreed on in previous attempts to revise the OSHA law, which has gone unchanged in its 27-year existence.
"We˜ve worked very hard to make sure it was a reasonable effort … that it actually works to make things safer in the workplace for the employee," Enzi said. "We haven˜t taken away any of the club of OSHA. But we are trying to change the focus so that we encourage businesses to … make it safer for the worker, and we are encouraging individual responsibility by the workers as well. When we get a teamwork effort like that … we get better safety."
Enzi˜s effort could still suffer the fate of previous attempts to change OSHA, but if he succeeds with his first major bill, he may claim a talent much prized by his predecessor — being a successful legislator.
The lanky Simpson, who retired last year after three terms, enjoyed a considerable reputation as the witty Will Rogers of the Senate, but he was equally proud of his reputation as a lawmaker who could persuade opposing parties to find areas of common ground and pass something into law.
Simpson and Enzi shared that reputation as state legislators in Wyoming, and perhaps they will share it at the U.S. Senate level as well.
As a former shoe salesman, Enzi has wisely decided that nobody can fill Simpson˜s shoes. But while he brings a different style to the Senate, he is determined to make his mark as a pragmatist who can work with both sides, much as he did in the Wyoming House and Senate and as mayor of Gillette.
He has proudly donned the cloak of small business, touting his experience as one of the few active small businessmen in the Congress (and the only accountant), and among his early accomplishments was helping secure funding for Small Business Administration lending programs.
Enzi also was on the Senate delegation to the Kyoto global warming conference and cosponsored the Senate resolution opposing any treaty that would harm the economy of the United States.
But the Wyoming freshman has met his match in trying to persuade the U.S. Senate to allow him to bring his laptop computer into the Senate. Laptops, it seems, are not part of the U.S. Senate˜s tradition. But then, Enzi˜s only been there a year.

Wyo. SBDCs rated highly

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LARAMIE — Wyoming˜s Small Business Development Centers are getting high marks from clients they serve.
A survey indicates high levels of satisfaction with SBDC services, with 89 percent indicating satisfaction and 78 percent saying they were very satisfied. SBDC regional counselors were considered helpful by 93 percent of the clients surveyed, and their ratings for timeliness and skill also ranked above 90 percent.
The Wyoming Small Business Development Centers are a partnership of the University of Wyoming, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the State Division of Community and Economic Development. The network is based at UW in Laramie and has regional centers in Cheyenne, Casper, Powell, Gillette and Rock Springs.
In fiscal 1997, the WSBDC provided 3,400 counseling hours to 917 clients statewide. SBDC clients injected more than $8 million into Wyoming˜s economy through various loans or investments obtained with SBDC help.UW loan-default rate low
LARAMIE — University of Wyoming students are doing a better job repaying their college loan than students at most other colleges.
The UW student-loan default rate is 4.4 percent, less than half the national average of 10.4 percent, said John Nutter, UW student financial aid adviser.
Nutter attributes the low rate partly to debt-management strategies and counseling but mostly the "solid, responsible nature of our students. They have grown up in communities where a person˜s word can be relied upon."
Dennis E. Curran can be reached at (307) 778-3666. His fax number is (307) 778-3600, or via e-mail at denncurran@aol.com.
Assorted Wyoming Briefs
For February or March 1998
1/28/98US WEST Expands in CheyenneCHEYENNE — US WEST has announced plans to open a new service center in Cheyenne this spring to help the telecommunications company deal with new companies entering local telephone service markets.The new Interconnect Service Center will be one of four in US WEST˜s 14-state service region and is expected to employ 80 to 120 people initially and up to 300 ultimately, company officials said.The company˜s announcement was good news for Cheyenne, where US WEST downsizing had reduced its Cheyenne work force from nearly 400 in the early 1990s to fewer than 200 employees currently.US WEST selected Cheyenne for the new facility because of the proven track record of its Cheyenne employees, the state˜s 1995 Telecommunications Act and the fact that space will be available soon in US WEST˜s headquarters building in Cheyenne, according to Tom Bystrzycki, president of US WEST˜s Carrier/Wholesale Division. The company already is at work on a $2 million project to upgrade its north Cheyenne facility for the new center.And fresh on its completion of an all-digital network in Wyoming, US WEST also has announced plans to offer high-speed asymmetrical digital subscriber lines, or ASDLs, that will greatly speed data transmission time and significantly reduce computer download times. Cheyenne will be one of 40 cities in 14 states — and the only one in Wyoming initially — to receive the new service.United Airlines Pledges Continued Wyoming ServiceCHICAGO — Wyoming˜s governor and congressional delegation have won concessions from United Airlines that it will improve commuter service to 10 Wyoming communities, even if it has to contract with another commuter airline to operate as United Express.United officials met with Gov. Jim Geringer, Sens. Craig Thomas and Mike Enzi and Rep. Barbara Cubin in Chicago late last month and United CEO Jerry Greenwald said the airline is committed to continuing service to Wyoming and upgrading service.United also indicated it will ask Mesa Airlines to honor its contract with United and resume service to Cody or United will find an alternative carrier. Mesa, which operates as United Express in Wyoming, links 10 Wyoming airports with Denver International Airport.Mesa officials have complained that they can˜t make money under their existing contract with United and DIA˜s high fees and say they may leave DIA. United recently terminated its agreement with Mesa to operate as United Express on the West Coast but company officials said they expect Mesa to continue to serve DIA.Meanwhile, state officials continue to look for alternative commuter carriers to serve Wyoming, but the most innovative plan is under discussion in Gillette. City officials there say they have been approached by a Florida-based airline interested in providing service or leasing jets for a city or county-operated airline.——-Vista Suspends PublicationLARAMIE — Vista, a two-year-old alternative monthly Wyoming newspaper offering "new perspectives on the West," has suspended publication indefinitely, citing not only financial reasons but complications from a family tragedy.While both publisher Nels Wroe and editor Matt Smith alluded to the possibility of the paper being resurrected by somebody down the road, it appears the November-December 1997 issue was Vista˜s last. (The back cover showed the tail end of a Union Pacific train with the caption "The End?" while the front cover showed a tombstone dated 1996-97).Money was definitely an issue, Wroe and Smith conceded, but the demise of Vista also can be linked to the disappearance last July of Wroe˜s sister, Amy Wroe Bechtel of Lander. Amy, a former University of Wyoming track star, disappeared without trace while running in the Wind River Mountains, and her brother has been very involved in helping launch a nationwide search.In his final column, Wroe wrote that his experience of being "on the other side of a journalist˜s pen" and seeing stories about his sister and family that fell short of capturing the real story or the real Amy has caused him to question his own skills as a writer and journalist and wonder whether his own publication was guilty of similar sins."I˜d like to believe we were close to our goal," Wroe wrote. "But," he continued, "until I come to terms with my own skills, my own biases, and my own family, I˜m not the one to lead this paper." He signed off his parting column, "Here˜s to you, Amy."Smith closed out his brief stint as editor by suggesting that Wyoming needs an alternative newspaper like Vista that asks tough questions and puts the news in perspective. "Our hope, as we shut down the computers and turn out the lights, is that someone will try again," he concluded.———Frontier Mall Continues GrowthCHEYENNE — With the holiday rush over, one of the major anchors of Cheyenne˜s Frontier Mall is planning a complete interior makeover.Sears has announced a complete interior renovation at its 83,000 square-foot store at the mall˜s west end. The three-to-four month project will be done in stages so that customers will be able to find what they need during construction. Plans include new flooring and fixtures and additional lighting at the store, the first to open at the Frontier Mall in 1980.Meanwhile, mall officials have announced that Ritz Camera will open in March. Ritz provides a full line of video and photographic equipment as well as film processing. It will be the 10th new store to open at the mall in the past nine months.——-
People Briefs for On the Job, etc.
John Clay of Cheyenne has been named the 1997 Person of the Year by the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce for his long history of community involvement. Clay, a senior vice president of Dain Rauscher, Inc., is a former chamber president, United Way chairman and Rotary president. He and his wife, Esther, have been active in a variety of activities, particularly Laramie County Community College and the Cheyenne Civic Center.
John Masters, a Cheyenne attorney, has been appointed to the board of the Laramie County Enterprise Center at Laramie County Community College. Masters also is an accountant and is very familiar with the Enterprise Center, having been a previous tenant. He continues to own and operate a specialty coffee vending business, Gourmet Vending, from his home. The Enterprise Center also has named Craig Hiett of Aamco Transmissions as vice president and Jolene Simkins of Creations Unlimited as treasurer.Dennis E. Curran can be reached at (307) 778-3666, or via fax at (307) 778-3600. His e-mail address is denncurran@aol.com.