You Still Here

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://twitter.com/FredSchultz35/status/1585720227018334208
</div></figure>

You still here 10 28 22

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>You Still Here? Friday, October 28, 2022 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

That's the last time I take care of your cats, Bob!!

You Still Here? Friday, October 28, 2022

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

counties on Thursday that a 4% cap on yearly increases in residential property taxes is unconstitutional, and the counties shouldn’t let taxpayers have that exemption.

The State Equalization Board will refuse to certify this year’s property tax assessment figures if counties keep that cap on them, the report says.

The board’s two-person majority — Chair Jayne Mockler and Vice-Chair Marty Hardscog — wrote in the Thursday report that the 4% increase cap for residential property taxes has arbitrary impacts across the state. 

It also disproportionately insulates high-end homes, and disfavors homeowners in more sluggish market areas, the report asserts.

But the report’s main point, and conclusion from the past two years’ tax data, is that the 4% cap violates the Wyoming Constitution’s call for equal and uniform property taxes within each class of property.

The board hasn’t yet issued an order requiring Wyoming’s county assessors to rework their pending tax bills without the cap.

But it expects to do so in the coming weeks after working with counties, Mockler told Cowboy State Daily in a Thursday phone interview.

“We issued this report today that says if that cap doesn’t come off, Marty and I can’t vote to certify residential property taxes. Because they’re not uniform,” said Mockler. “It’ll be followed with an order ... (and) our goal is ultimately to remove the cap.”  

Mockler noted that the board isn’t targeting the other, narrower exemptions with this report — like the 25% property tax cut passed in 2025 or the long-term homeowner exemption.

More than half of the state’s residential property tax values fall under the 4% increase cap, the report says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"But We Don’t Get A Tax Free Year"}]

This kind of push from the state board is unprecedented, Converse County Assessor Dixie Huxtable told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

But Wyomingites shouldn’t expect a tax-free year over the maneuver, she said.

“Everyone’s in agreement there will be residential property taxes for 2026,” she said. “This … is just a step in the process of getting different values the board feels is appropriate.”

The pending mandate leaves Wyoming counties somewhere between following the 4% cap requirement in state law and following another state law that tells assessors to obey the state board, she said.  

“You’re asking us to go against the law? Under the law we have to apply the 4% cap and you’re saying we can’t,” she reflected from the report.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s so bizarre it’s funny,” Huxtable added. "}]

She said she was digesting the report Thursday afternoon, and had just been to a phone meeting with the board officials, assessors, and county attorneys.

Two days earlier on Tuesday, Huxtable had just urged the Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee to approach more changes to the state’s property tax law with caution, because assessors are always trying to keep up with the many changes lawmakers have brought in recent years.

Assessors are at the mercy of state law and are working hard to follow it, she’d said.  

Reflecting on the board’s Thursday report, Huxtable told Cowboy State Daily that assessors are now trying to gain clarification on what to do in the coming weeks.

“We’re on standby,” she said, adding that from her meeting with the board, her impression is, “They’d be tickled pink to go to court” on this issue.

Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz said Thursday that he doesn’t know of any litigation on this currently, “but if there is a challenge, we will support what the Legislature did.”

Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, who has since become a state senator, was the sponsor on the main bill the board’s Thursday report derides as unconstitutional.

Crago did not return a Thursday afternoon voicemail request for comment by publication.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Different Homes, Different Taxes"}]

The board’s report points to inconsistencies across the Wyoming property tax structure.

People who upgrade their homes by changing the footprint of those homes lose the cap exemption to a reset that year, while people who upgrade only the interior do not, says the report.

It says some homes have had their tax bills so thoroughly capped, they’re paying less than half of the state-mandated property tax rate.

“The caps, by design, generate highly disparate tax consequences for 

It accuses the law of discriminating arbitrarily between different homeowners across Wyoming.

“The demarcation between taxpayers receiving a tax windfall, versus those who do not, serves no rational basis,” the document adds.

Rep. Liz Storer, D-Jackson, told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that she had voted for the 4% tax cap during the tax hikes of 2024. But she views the law as more of a short-term fix. 

"It was a tourniquet; it was a short-term fix," she said. "Butif you leave the tourniquet on, you damage the body." 

Storer's home region of Teton County accounts for huge property tax revenues in Wyoming. She has tried over the years to get lawmakers to stop applying property tax breaks to people's secondary homes. 

Of the $860.2 million in exemptions the 4% cap is expected to cause this year, Teton County accounts for $507.9 million, says a Department of Revenue memo Storer sent to Cowboy State Daily. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Lawsuit That Wasn’t"}]

The board warned lawmakers before the 4% cap bill’s passage that board members believed it’s unconstitutional.

 “the die was cast,” says the report.

The board examined the residential assessment values and looked for inverted valuations, that is where higher-valued properties were assessed at lower taxable values than other, similarly situated properties.

The board during the 2025 tax calculation process had just two members, Mockler and Hardscog. They voted that year to certify the tax values, but said that those values were probably invalid. Still, they wanted to gather one more year of data to be sure, the report says.

They also planned to release a Nov. 13, 2025, order requiring assessors to stop giving the exemption.

Gov. Mark Gordon’s office asked the board not to issue that order, the report says.

In November and early December, the governor’s office and Wyoming Attorney General’s Office met with Hardscog and Mockler to talk about filing an action asking a court to judge the issue.

The governor’s office and AG’s office agreed the state board should file that court action, the report says.

The litigation was slated to be filed Jan. 20. Gordon’s office asked for multiple delays, at first to communicate the lawsuit with legislative leaders. 

When Gordon’s office asked for another delay two days later, Hardscog and Mockler said they wouldn’t certify the property tax values after the June tax calculation process, “without a working resolution of their constitutional concerns,” says the report.

Property tax chyenne 1 6 11 26

<title>Wyoming Tax Board Says 4% Cap On Property Tax Is Unconstitutional, Won't Accept It | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming’s state-level property tax board told counties on Thursday that a 4% cap on yearly increases in residential property taxes is unconstitutional and it will refuse to certify this year's property tax assessment figures if the cap remains.

Wyoming Tax Board Says 4% Cap On Property Tax Is Unconstitutional, Won't Accept It

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily political columnist, Rod Miller.

Rod Miller

Opinion

CSD Columnists

I returned to the ID ranch where I grew up. My family (the blood) joined me, as did Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken (the heat). 

Here’s what went down in a country widely considered to be the original site of the Garden of Eden.

First – why the sheriff? Alex Bakken wears the same badge that my great-grandfather, I.C. Miller wore as territorial sheriff in Carbon County. So I’ve kept an eye on Sheriff Bakken, and I’ve been impressed with how he handles himself wearing that badge. 

I’m sure my patriarch would agree, had they ever met.

I called Alex and asked if he would like to see the ranch that I.C. put together. Alex had bow-hunted in the Seminoe Mountains, but hadn’t seen the rest of the outfit, or the headquarters with the massive 140-year-old stone buildings. He is also an avid history buff and jumped at the chance.

Since my third-born son, Kirk, was visiting from the City of Angels, this would be a great opportunity to gather the clan so they could revisit the place they had spent their childhood years. My former wife, Linda joined us, and had the chance to see the ID again, where she had spent years in the solitude, wind and rattlesnakes, 40 miles from town, raising our sons. 

I owe Linda an un-repayable debt for her maternal excellence. This sojourn was an installment.

I also invited family friend and videographer extraordinaire, Mike Vanata, to join us. I owe Vanata a debt for doing several thousand bucks worth of primo video work for my 2018 run for Congress and, when the campaign ran out of money, accepting my beloved AK-47 as payment. 

Another road trip with Vanata was a side benefit to this particular journey back in time.

My second-born, Isaac had to stay back in Cheyenne to take Pippi the Wonder Dog to the vet for a canine emergency, so he missed out. But Pippi lives! 

Vic, my youngest son, served as Chief of Security for the pilgrimage through Outlaw country, and kept us safe from the brigands that, 150 years earlier, he would have led. 

The youngest Miller, grandson Dayton, came with my eldest son Tommy, to share the driving chores, peel a bronc and catch his first fish. For a 4-year-old, Dayton pulled his weight and then some. 

Rounding out the party of backtrackers were my brother, Mark, and cousin, Bill Shaffer, who grew up with me on the ID. We share indelible memories of that place that cannot be put into words.

We met at Su Casa, in Sinclair (the best Mexican food north of the Nueces River) for lunch, where Vanata proceeded to mortify everyone by ordering a chicken fried steak (but that’s a topic for a future column), and then we drove north on Memory Lane to the ID headquarters. 

Given our statewide drought, I expected to see the countryside clad in a pale beige duster, but she must have known we were coming, because she wore her prettiest green sundress. The ID looks splendid!

Inside the big stone barn, it’s always cool in summer. The heavy door still bears the carved initials of long-dead cowboys and old brands. Outside in the corral, Dayton got his first horseback ride. His mount was a sleek bay mare named Clementine. They bonded in that sacred and mysterious ritual known only to kids and horses.

Sheriff Bakken got a good look at where his predecessor lived, and he seemed to enjoy it.

Then we drove up to the base of Bradley Peak, to the high divide between the Hurt Creek and Deweese Creek drainages, so I could show my kids where I expect them to scatter my ashes at the appropriate time. 

Sure, I had planned earlier for my sons divvy up my cremains and sneak them into the pepper shakers in Taco Johns all over the Big Empty. They all said they’d do it, but the Bradley Peak plan seems a bit healthier all around.

Dayton then caught his first fish, a mini-brookie, in the same place on Hurt Creek that his dad caught his first fish. That seems symmetrical and correct to me. It’s the gold in the brown and gold of Wyoming.

Kirk, a runner, skipped fishing to run five miles back toward headquarters to frolic in the wind-shifting dunes that will, in time, bury my first home.

With these living folks I retraced my steps through the country of my ghosts. The ticks and snakes spared us out of respect. 

The youngest of my bloodline experienced his first horsey ride and first fish. The new sheriff met our old country. 

It was a good day on the backtrail. And I’m tickled to be back in the Cowboy State Daily stable!

Rod Miller can be reached at: RodsMillerWyo@yahoo.com

Rod miller headshot scaled

<title>Rod Miller: Backtracking Part Two - Blood and Heat At The ID Ranch | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Columnist Rod Miller writes: "So I took my family (the blood) and Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken (the heat), to the old ranch country where I expect my kids to scatter my ashes. Here’s what went down."

Rod Miller: Backtracking Part Two - Blood and Heat At The ID Ranch

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Crime & Courts

Courts

CASPER — A 19-year-old Casper man faces felonycharges for allegedly firing into a car that was trying to take his girlfriend out of what she characterized as a “bad situation.”

Camden Martinez faces a preliminary hearing on three counts of aggravated assault and battery and one count of theft. He appeared in Casper Circuit Court for his initial appearance on Tuesday.

Court records show that Casper police officers were called to an area in the Paradise Valley subdivision just after midnight on Monday for a report of shots fired. 

At the scene they found two women and a man with a Volkswagen Jetta. 

One of the women was identified as Martinez’s girlfriend, the other was her friend who drove to the location with the male.

A police affidavit states that Martinez’s girlfriend declined to speak with officers but her friend identified as “KS” said that she had been contacted by Martinez’s girlfriend on social media with a message that she “was in a bad situation” and wanted to be picked up.

At Martinez’s home, the girlfriend came out of the door, got into the back seat behind her, and she started to pull away, KS told police. As she began driving she told officers that she heard shots fired.

“KS quickly drove away and pulled over a short time later and observed her vehicle had been shot in the rear bumper and rear window area,” the affidavit states. 

She told officers she did not have any weapons in her car, and Officers searched the vehicle and found no weapons.

The male in the car with KS told police he was in the front passenger seat and saw Martinez stand shirtless in the doorway of his home as his girlfriend approached the Jetta. 

Martinez yelled something at her, and the girlfriend told them to take off without shutting the car door, he said.

The male told police he heard three shots and the rear window of the car was shot.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bullet Marks"}]

Police found two “bullet defects” in the back of the Jetta, one to the rear window and one to the bumper. A bullet fragment was also recovered from the car, the affidavit states.

The affidavit states that officers contacted Martinez and he had a “moderate odor” of alcohol and when asked where the firearm was, he replied that “it wasn’t my gun.”

Officers recovered three 10 mm shell casings: one outside the front door of his residence, one in the grass, and one in the street in front of the residence. 

Martinez also said that he was shot at by someone in the vehicle, the affidavit states.

A search warrant obtained for Martinez’s home resulted in officers recovering a black Glock 20 10mm in the propane tank area of a grill in the back yard of the residence. 

It had two rounds in the magazine, the affidavit states. They also recovered a Glock 19 from a gun safe in Martinez’s bedroom. The gun was determined to be stolen from South Dakota.

Martinez’s mother told police that he and his girlfriend had an argument in his bedroom and that when his girlfriend left his room with her backpack, Martinez followed with his hand in his pocket, “giving her the feeling that something was wrong,” the affidavit states.

“(The mother) reported then seeing Martinez standing in the middle of the street, draw a handgun, then fire three rounds in the same direction of travel for the vehicle that (his girlfriend) had left in,” the affidavit states.

The mother told police she did not know that Martinez had the Glock 20 and that he had placed the gun on the grill to “hide it because he had shot it.”

The three aggravated assault charges and the theft charge all are punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Bond was set at $75,000 cash. Martinez remains in the Natrona County Jail.

A preliminary examination date has not yet been set.

Camden Martinez 6 11 26

<title>Casper Man Accused of Shooting Into Vehicle As Girlfriend Tried To Leave | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 19-year-old Casper man faces four felony charges and the potential for 40 years in prison after firing three times at a vehicle that was taking his girlfriend away from his home. She was trying to get out of a “bad situation."

Casper Man Accused of Shooting Into Vehicle As Girlfriend Tried To Leave

“This is not a purity test,” says a letter to Republican candidates for Park County partisan offices, warning 

 that if they don’t commit to back at least 80% of the state Republican Party platform, they won’t receive an endorsement or support from the party.

The state GOP passed a set of new bylaws in April which requires county and state committee iterations of the party to vet candidates for office 

 commitment to the platform and “demonstrated loyalty to the Party’s principles.”

The Park County GOP’s vetting committee chair Richard Jones dispatched his vetting letter and survey to multiple candidates this week. Responses are due next Wednesday.

“We ask you to complete the questionnaire, and that you complete it honestly,” says Jones’ letter. “This is not a purity test. It is a questionnaire to see where you align with our Platform. 

"Also, this Platform is a reflection of the majority of Wyoming Republicans.”

The letter urges candidates against opting out of prompts they deem irrelevant to the offices they’re seeking.

“We wish to know where you stand regarding the Platform, not the role of the position you are seeking,” it says.

Candidates are split on whether the test is necessary, appropriate, and whether it is or isn’t a “purity test.”

“I support this,” said Karin Richard, a candidate for Park County Commission. “The Wyoming Republican Party, it stands for something. It stands for timeless truths — these truths are to maintain and protect and defend life, liberty, property, the pursuit of happiness.”

Richard added, “The Wyoming Republican Party isn’t demanding a purity test … it’s protecting the integrity of those foundational principles.”

Jones, who is also running for a Park County GOP precinct committee position, did not return a voicemail request for comment by publication. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Then Why Do It?"}]

Former state Park County GOP precinct committeewoman and current candidate for the position, Sandy Newsome questioned why the party would bother dispatching a test at all if it’s not a “purity test.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Newsome is also a former state reprsentative. "}]

She said she didn’t receive the questionnaire at all — and she checked her spam folder. Other candidates have also said they didn’t receive it, she added.

“They want to say (it’s not a purity test) but that’s not true in my mind,” said Newsome. “Then why do they care? Why would they send that out … if it’s not to pigeonhole someone because of their responses into some group?”

Newsome defined herself as a Ronald Reagan Republican, and said the current GOP platform, while it tries to tackle vital issues, is poorly written and confusing in some areas.

 are endowed with the rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness “from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.”

That language is a problem for Republicans who support the death penalty, noted Newsome.

The last two times Wyoming lawmakers proposed bills to abolish Wyoming’s death penalty — to the Senate in 2021 and the House in 2020 — the legislators who killed the bills on their introductory votes were all Republicans.

Newsome said that at a candidate forum in late May, current Republican state Sen. Dan Laursen, who’s now running for a seat on the Park County Commission, voiced discomfort with a plank strongly in favor of property rights.

“He spent his career doing water projects for the state, and sometimes you need an easement; sometimes you need to condemn some land to do an irrigation project,” Newsome related from what she recalled of Laursen’s answer.

Laursen did not respond by publication to a voicemail request for confirmation and comment.

Newsome emphasized that while the party seeks to threaten withholding its endorsement or financial backing, it can’t keep people off the ballot.

To her, she added, the people of her precinct — not the party — are the judge of whether she’s worthy to serve.

[{"type":"text","text":"‘Buncha RINOs’"}]

Jimmy Rush is campaigning to become Park County Clerk. He told Cowboy State Daily in a Thursday phone interview that he agrees 100% with the party platform and has no problem with the questionnaire.

He countered Newsome’s point about how the platform’s “natural death” wording, in its plank touting the right to life for every individual, is inconsistent with support for the death penalty.

“Well, I think that (plank) covers abortion,” said Rush, adding that he supports the death penalty and wishes the state were tougher on crime.

“I think that falls more into a legal area,” Rush said. “Once you break the law, you lose your rights. Once you get convicted as a criminal you lose your rights.”

Convicted criminals retain many rights such as the due-process right of appeal and rights against cruel and unusual punishment within their prison sentence or other punishment. Convicted felons lose civic, voting and gun rights.

U.S. Supreme Court precedent allows states to enforce the death penalty and thereby remove a convict’s right to life, but only after a rigorous legal process and under limited circumstances.

Rush pointed to Park County candidates who have re-posted a Facebook post Newsome published deriding the test. He called the re-posters unoriginal.

“I think it’s a bunch of RINOs making a bunch of noise, because they’re scared to death that some absolutely true, patriot conservative Republicans are finally running for office,” he said, adding that he’s campaigning on transparency promises.

“RINO” is a pejorative acronym that means “Republican in name only.” It’s become prevalent in recent years as the divide between at least two factions of Wyoming Republicans deepens.

On the one hand, Democrats do switch to Republican voter registration so they can vote in the state’s GOP primary elections.

On the other hand, many Republicans who’ve been hit with the “RINO” 

 accuse their attackers of glossing over nuanced and grey-area issues, especially pertaining to hyper-local governance.

[{"type":"text","text":"More About The Platform"}]

The platform has remained substantially the same for the past eight years, Richard told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","text":"The party touts the platform as a collection of “timeless truths.”"}]

Cowboy State Daily covered a platform committee at this year’s state GOP convention in April, where party delegates rejected new planks rooted in more transient issues, like the advancement of artificial intelligence, and rejected a plank calling Wyoming a Christian state — after a heated debate about biblical principles and free will.

[{"type":"text","text":"The principle behind the platform’s plank No. 23 is a hot topic now."}]

“The Wyoming Republican Party opposes any federal takeover or interference of federal, state, or local elections,” the plank says.

Numerous federal courts are now contemplating whether the U.S. Department of Justice can, under federal law, 

[{"type":"text","text":"And More About The Party"}]

The state GOP is suing the Wyoming Secretary of State's Office over a law barring the party from financially backing one Republican candidate over another ahead of the primary election, which is Aug. 18. 

That law has been interpreted over time to mean the party can't endorse candidates during the primary election cycle either, state GOP Chair Bryan Miller told delegates in April. 

The party says it has a First Amendment right to endorse and publicly vet Republican candidates. 

[{"type":"text","text":"That case is ongoing. "}]

Jones' letter says that, "Failure to achieve, or commit to, a minimum 80% support negates any candidate from receiving an endorsement at the primary election and party support, financial or otherwise, during any general election."

GOP convention 5 4 25 26

<title>Park County Republican Party Sends Platform Loyalty Tests To GOP Candidates | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Republican candidates for office in Park County received a letter warning them if they don’t commit to backing at least 80% of the state GOP platform, they won’t receive an endorsement or support from the party. "They is not a purity test," it reads.

Park County Republican Party Sends Platform Loyalty Tests To GOP Candidates

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

The Beartooth Highway was closed at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday because of snow and extreme conditions at the highest points of the 10,947-foot-high All-American Road.

As of Friday afternoon, the entire 68.29-mile expanse still wasn’t fully open with no estimated time of reopening. That’s because it was still snowing across northwest Wyoming and southern Montana, with no signs of stopping.

The Montana Department of Transportation (MDOT) posted pictures of deep snowdrifts covering the two-lane mountain pass and several inches of fresh snow across the landscape. The agency told tourists traveling between Wyoming and Montana to take the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway to reach Red Lodge, Montana, and beyond.

[{"type":"text","text":"And, above all else, MDOT posted, “Please do not use map apps.”"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Not That Late"}]

Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day hadn’t seen any snow totals reported from the Beartooth Highway. Based on pictures and reports out of Yellowstone National Park, he had a reasonable guess of how much snow had fallen at nearly 11,000 feet.

“It's probably in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 inches of snow, with a lot of wind and cold slicking things up,” he said. “There should be a fair amount of wind up there, and it’s chilly enough to make things icy.”

Meanwhile, a Winter Weather Advisory was issued for southern Montana, including the Beartooth Highway, until 9 a.m. Thursday. Additional snowfall of up to 2 inches was anticipated, along with wind gusts as high as 55 mph.

Tourists might be baffled to hit a snow-caused road closure in mid-June, but that’s the reality on the Beartooth Highway. It doesn’t happen frequently, but it does often enough, and sometimes even later in the summer.

“It snows every month of the year up there,” Day said. “I can remember some Fourth of July where they've had snow-related issues on the Beartooth Highway.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Its Own Climate"}]

Day believes people underestimate the elevation changes they experience when exploring northwest Wyoming. Drivers ascend from 5,200 feet to 10,947 feet in just 12 miles.

The Beartooth Highway sits at the northern edge of the Yellowstone Plateau, a massive landform that covers northwest Wyoming and southern Montana. An area that vast, high, and rugged is its own environment

More than 69 miles of the Beartooth Highway are still closed because of a late spring snowstorm in southern Montana. Road officials warned motorists not to use “map apps” as people have become stranded like a German couple who got lost in Wyoming. 

You Still Here? Friday, October 28, 2022

More in You Still Here

Bonus Video 1: Friday, June 12, 2026

Bonus Video 2: Friday, June 12, 2026

Today In Marriage: Friday, June 12, 2026

Today In Self Amusement: Friday, June 12, 2026

Most read