Sheep Industry Faces

Sheep Industry Board Members Appointed by Governor

March/April 2005 -- Virginia Governor Mark Warner announced appointments to the Virginia Sheep Industry Board in late November.

Appointed to the board for three-year terms are: Joe B. Andes, Andy Heverner, Chris King, Martha Polkey, Tracey Redifer, Kenneth Reynolds, John See, J. Alvin Thomas, Jr. and Carl Washington.

The Virginia Sheep Industry Board is responsible for promotion and economic development of the state's sheep industry through additional market development, research and education. It also contributes financial support to the Virginia Cooperative Coyote Damage Control Program. The sources of funds the board allocates to achieve its mission is in the Virginia Sheep Assessment tax, a 50-cents-per-head fee paid on sheep and lambs sold by Virginia producers.

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ASI Board Member Runs for Farm Credit Board

Margaret Soulen Hinson, a third-generation sheep and cattle rancher and member of ASI's executive board, is in the running for a position for the board of directors of Northwest Farm Credit Services (NFCS).

Soulen Hinson's family owned operation is headquartered in Weiser, Idaho. She has represented Idaho, Wyoming and Montana on the executive board for the past three years. She has one year left in her term.

NFCS is a customer-owned, agricultural-lending institution offering credit to agricultural producers throughout the Northwest. It is headquartered in Spokane, Wash. Members voted on the new board during the month of February.

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In Memory of Richard Biglin

Richard 'Dick' Biglin, who was with the American Sheep Producers Council (ASPC) for 25 years, died at the age of 86. Biglin held the positions of executive director and director of the public relations for ASPC.

Biglin, a Nebraska native and journalism graduate of Creighton University, came to Denver for a job working with sheep ranchers, "the last of the great cowboys," comments Rocky Marranzino, an executive with an ad firm that collaborated with ASPC at the time.

"He had a good enough personality to deal with a wide variety of characters," Marranzino says.

Biglin's work included trips to New Zealand, Australia and New York City, where he introduced the sheep ranchers to the East Coast buyers of lamb for ethnic markets.

Biglin is survived by the wife, Ruth; his daughter, Nancy Lajoie; his daughter's fianc?, Frank Sipe; son-in-law, Douglas Kennedy; his grandsons, Richard Kennedy and Keith and Dominic Lajoie; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Eileen Kennedy.

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In Memory of Beth Williams and Tom Thorne

Beth Williams, an internationally renowned Wyoming wildlife veterinarian known for discovering chronic wasting disease (CWD) and her husband, Tom Thorne, a prominent wildlife biologist, died in a traffic accident on Dec. 29, 2004.

Both Williams and Thorne were well known and highly respected for their expertise of many animal diseases, most notably CWD and brucellosis.

Williams was a pathologist at the University of Wyoming's State Veterinary Lab. Thorne conducted research into many animal diseases as well.

Donations may be made to the University of Wyoming for a scholarship fund in the names of Beth Williams and Tom Thorne. For more information, contact Anne Leonard, director of Ag Development and College Relations, via e-mail at aleonard@uwyo.edu.

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