Ten Sleep School Board decision challenged

WORLAND – Citing a violation of state statute on the legal definition of a newspaper, the Northern Wyoming Daily News has requested that the Ten Sleep school board reverse its decision designating the Ten Sleep Tribute as its official newspaper.

During the July Ten Sleep School Board meeting a motion to change the newspaper of record from the Northern Wyoming Daily News to the Ten Sleep Tribute was brought to the table, discussed and approved. An official newspaper designation signifies to the public that legal advertisements will be published in that newspaper.

The recommendation to change the newspaper of record was given by Ten Sleep School Superintendent Jimmy Phelps. “I recommend that we use the Ten Sleep Tribute as our newspaper of record. Last year we started, I talked to Betty Jo Stiffney, she said that they have about 120-125 subscribers. We pay them $60 per month, entered into an agreement with them last fall, and they will put in their Tribute whatever we ask for, for that fee, so we can put in things that are legally required, like notice of budget hearings and staff salaries,” Phelps said at the July meeting.

Northern Wyoming Daily News attorney Bruce T. Moats stated in a letter July 28 to the school board that a newspaper must meet the qualifications of Wyoming Statute 18-3-519.

Wyoming Statute 18-3-519 reads, “The publication of any legal notice, printing or advertising required by law is without force or effect unless published in a newspaper which has been regularly issued at least once each week for a period of 52 consecutive weeks prior to the date of the first publication of the notice or advertisement, has a paid circulation of at least 500 and each page is not less the 10 inches by 12.5 inches in size.”

Moats further stated, “While we applaud the efforts of those publishing The Tribute, the fact is that publication does not meet the requirements of the statute, and placing legal notices there places a dark cloud over the actions of the district. The Tribute has not been published for 52 consecutive weeks, as it publishes only twice a month. Further the information at the school board meeting indicated that The Tribute does not have 500 paid circulation.”

Phelps stated in the July meeting, “I talked to Tracy Copenhaver, our attorney. He said that (Tribute) met the legal requirements.”

Copenhaver declined to comment Wednesday stating, “I’m not at liberty to discuss that.”

According to The Ten Sleep Tribute’s Facebook page from a post on May 5, 2016, “The Ten Sleep Tribute is your local, hometown paper, a tribute to our community. Issues are printed on the second and fourth Tuesday’s of every month.”

Legal notices posted in a newspaper that doesn’t meet the statute could cause harm to community members and the district. Moats stated in the letter, “The notice provided by the legal advertisements is without force or effect if published in the Tribute, potentially putting actions taken by the board related to the notice at risk. A person harmed by such a decision could seek to have it overturned by a court. The Rawlins zoning ordinance was voided by the court more than 10 years after adoption after a person aggrieved by a zoning decision took it to court.”

When contacted about the letter to the school board, Phelps stated, “We don’t plan to do anything with it (letter). I don’t know that there is anything for us to do. He (Bruce T. Moats) sent the letter and gave his opinion and we respect his opinion but at this time we have no response to it.”

Ten Sleep School Board Chair Dan Rice stated, “Our action has been taken when we voted to do the newspaper of record.”