Torrington Telegram
Jerry Abbott, Staff Writer
September 1, 2006

On Tuesday and Wednesday, First Lady Nancy Freudenthal and her daughter,Katie, visited Torrington and the surrounding area as part of the governor's re-election campaign.

"I've started into the campaign season," Nancy said. "I'm taking time off from my law practice.

The campaign staff selected communities where I would enjoy going. This is part of a campaign swing through the country. We have a lot of friends in this part of the country."

"Goshen County is an important county for this campaign," Nancy added."Goshen County is a model for certain programs in the state, like St. Joseph's Children's Home and the Wyoming Children and Family Development Center. The Development Center provides services to the whole region and has very well-qualified staff."

Their state funded program for 4-year-olds has many children so well prepared that they will be able to "mainstream" into the general public school population for kindergarten."

Two first lady initiatives that Nancy started are combating underage drinking and seeking wage equality.

"I am the co-chairman of the national organization "Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free," which has 50 former and current first ladies on it," Nancy said. "We raised four children and dealt with the issue of children and alcohol. Alcohol kills more kids than all the other drugs combined.

Wyoming is first in the country for kids drinking under the age of 13. There is a compelling case for Wyoming to change attitudes and culture. We need to encourage better modeling by adults for children. It is not a moral issue. I am taking this as an initiative because it is a health issue."

According to Nancy, Wyoming is among the top 10 states for drinking in school and among the top three states for binge drinking. Most of her work is educating adults and showing them pictures of children¹s lives.

This year the Wyoming legislature passed $400,000 for the "youth piece" of the underage drinking initiative. Traditionally, this initiative worked with parents and law enforcement. This new piece works with youth to help solve the underage drinking problem.

"Cody has a program called Change Attitudes Now (CAN), which is very successful in decreasing underage drinking," Nancy said. "It involves mentoring youth and youth leadership. Since this is the number one health risk for youth, parents need to hear the message that kids are drinking
early. Parents need to influence their children by talking to them in elementary school. One in four fourth grade children are pressured to drink."

Information about the first lady's underage drinking initiative is available on her web site, www.wfli.org.

Nancy said it is too early to assess the effectiveness of this initiative. This year national benchmark data will be available for trends in underage drinking.

"We are seeing the best results in cities like Cody," Nancy said. "It depends on the readiness level of the area, especially where there is a consistency among adults, youth and community groups to work together. We need to mobilize all the pieces. There needs to be a comprehensive
environmental strategy involving county and city government to tackle issues seriously."

As part of the underage drinking initiative, there was a statewide mailing to every family in the state with children age nine to 18. The mailing provided a free booklet on how to talk to kids about drinking.

The second key initiative for Wyoming's first lady is wage equality and comes from information on where Wyoming stands.

"Wyoming has the worst gender wage gap of all the states and territories," Nancy said. "The earning level of women in Wyoming versus men is 67 cents for every dollar earned. There are a high number of women who are the sole source providers for their children."

"Even before I became first lady, I supported economic self-sufficiency," Nancy added. "Wyoming has a history of being first in women issues. Wyoming had the first woman governor. It was the first state to grant women the right to vote. It was the first to have women serve on juries. Jackson Hole had the first government controlled entirely by women."

According to Nancy, additional surveys need to be completed to see if Wyoming is making progress in wage equality.

There are several state supported programs to help single mothers like "Our Families Our Future,"
which provides counseling services and training for women to enter higher paying jobs like construction trades. The program has been very successful.

"Women can not continue to select jobs in what is referred to as the "pink collar ghetto,"Nancy said. "The Department of Corrections funded a study to determine the self-sufficiency standard for every county in Wyoming. The study gives the dollar amount required to be economically self-sufficient depending on the family model type.

This study should motivate women to look at jobs to become self-sufficient. There are resources in every county."

"It is no mystery," Nancy added. "Typically, those who are below self-sufficiency dropped out of school. They need educational programs and job training programs. There are jobs out there that pay self-sufficient wages. A person should not feel trapped."

Nancy said the Wyoming Business Council should look closely at companies that want to move to Wyoming to see if they have a career ladder to bring employees to self-sufficiency in wages. There should not be a state subsidy for businesses that pay less money than is required for economic self-sufficiency.

Regarding politics, Nancy is pleased that her husband chose to run for governor again.

"He is a quick study and has a great ability to know what position to take on different issues," Nancy said. "I don't have great skills for the executive branch of government. Instead of politics, I would like to see my career progress in the judicial branch, perhaps in higher judgeships."

According to Nancy, this year's political race for governor has the potential for being close.

"Dave is a Democrat in a largely Republican state," she said. "We feel strongly our citizens need to know where Dave stands. They need to feel that their vote matters. We will work hard in the re-election effort. I know Dave's opponent quite well. He will make it a challenging race. We are on the right track in Wyoming. There are things to do and complete. We can make a strong case for re-election."