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

<title>Daily Smile: Monday, November 21, 2022 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

He crashed his bike...

Daily Smile: Monday, November 21, 2022

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Entertainment

[{"type":"text","text":"It started with a selfie."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"That's the funny part of the story, said Bradlee Skinner."}]

The remarkable part came years earlier, when the former Wyoming high school English teacher was homeless, delivering pizzas and wondering how his life had unraveled.

Today, Skinner spends his weekends DJ'ing in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans for the Savannah Bananas, the wildly popular baseball entertainment phenomenon that has become one of the hottest tickets in sports.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's been amazing,\" Skinner told Cowboy State Daily."}]

The job has taken him from Wyoming classrooms to iconic ballparks such as Coors Field in Denver and soon Wrigley Field in Chicago, where he rubs shoulders with performers and entertainers he once showed his students as examples of creative excellence.

It's a journey Skinner never could have imagined when life hit rock bottom more than a decade ago.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"From Rock Bottom To The Classroom"}]

In 2013, Skinner had lost nearly everything. 

He had quit a teaching job, saying, "I reached a point where if I didn't end it, it was going to end me." 

But he said his mental health was unstable then, and he found he could not land another job. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Soon, the money ran out."}]

"I had lost my job, lost my house, lost a lot of my self-identity," he said. "I was in a really, really dark place."

While delivering pizzas and doing anything he could to earn a buck, Skinner said he hadn't yet learned the importance of caring for his mental health as much as his physical health.

[{"type":"text","text":"The people around him carried him through."}]

"I could either be humiliated that I was dancing on a street corner, or I could be humbled that people cared enough to reach out," he told Cowboy State Daily.

A former student even offered him and his wife, Melissa, a place to live.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Those moments changed Skinner’s perspective."}]

Later, when he interviewed for a teaching position at Rock Springs High School, then principal Darrin Peppard recognized Skinner as someone who needed an opportunity.

"I was more than happy to give him that opportunity," Peppard said. "Almost immediately I noticed, once the school year began, he's just a kid magnet. Students are just drawn to him."

Skinner spent three years teaching in Rock Springs before moving to Green River High School, where over the next nine years he taught English while building the school's theater program.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Baseball Meets Broadway"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Outside the classroom, Skinner had another passion."}]

He DJ'ed weddings, school dances and corporate events with Melissa through their Wyoming entertainment company, Phony Stark Industries.

[{"type":"text","text":"The name came out of the blue, courtesy of one of his students."}]

One day in class, a student remarked that Skinner resembled Tony Stark from the 

Another student sitting in the back of the classroom immediately replied, "It's more like Phony Stark."

[{"type":"text","text":"The name stuck."}]

Melissa also played an unexpected role in launching Skinner's DJ career. While in college, he enrolled in a radio broadcasting class, he jokes, because "there was this really cute girl who ran the radio show."

[{"type":"text","text":"That girl was Melissa."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Discovering Banana Ball"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Skinner first heard about the Savannah Bananas in 2022."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I was like, 'This is weird',\" he said."}]

Founded by Jesse and Emily Cole, the Bananas were created with one goal: make baseball fun again.

The organization transformed the traditional game into "Banana Ball," a fast-paced version with a two-hour time limit, no bunts, no walks and fans catching foul balls for outs. Baseball is only part of the show.

Players, all in bright yellow uniforms, dance between innings. A senior-citizen dance troupe called the Banana Nanas performs alongside the Man-Nanas, a dad-bod cheerleading squad. Even the first-base coach breakdances. Team owner Jesse Cole famously wears a bright yellow tuxedo.

The result has become one of the biggest sensations in sports entertainment.

"I think it's easier to get tickets to see Taylor Swift than see the Bananas right now," Peppard said.

As someone with backgrounds in both theater and entertainment, Skinner was fascinated.

"The preshow, the postgame party – everything is a theatrical performance," he said.

In 2024, he brought a group of Green River High theater students to Salt Lake City to watch the Bananas play the Party Animals. By then, he was teaching English and building the theater program.

He said he wanted his students to see how theatrical skills translate far beyond the stage.

“Students see you can be involved in theatre and the skills you can learn don’t always have to be on the stage,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"One Selfie Changed Everything"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Before the game, players mingled with fans outside the stadium."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Skinner heard music and immediately knew there had to be a DJ nearby."}]

While his students posed for pictures with players, Skinner wandered over and snapped a selfie with the DJ in the background.

[{"type":"text","text":"The DJ noticed."}]

The two struck up a conversation about their work, exchanged contact information and stayed in touch.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"No Pressure — Just 50,000 People"}]

Early in 2025, the Bananas' DJ contacted Skinner and encouraged him to audition for a DJ slot. They were adding more teams, and auditions for new DJs were being scheduled.

[{"type":"text","text":"Skinner quickly submitted a demo reel."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Interview after interview followed."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Eventually, he received a phone call inviting him to audition in person."}]

He assumed the tryout would happen at the team's home stadium in Savannah, Georgia, or perhaps another minor league ballpark.

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead, they invited him to Coors Field."}]

"Oh yeah, sure," he remembers thinking. "I'll DJ in front of 50,000 people. No pressure."

[{"type":"text","text":"The audition worked."}]

Skinner joined the organization for the 2026 season, performing with both the Bananas and one of the league's newer teams, the Texas Tailgaters.

“The opportunity just became too big and it’s too exciting (to pass up),” he said.

He resigned from his teaching post in Green River at the end of the school year.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'He's Living His Best Life'"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"When Skinner shared the news with his students, many were stunned."}]

“It was like this big ahhh moment, like, that’s pretty crazy,” former student Jeremy Neher said. “He told us with a smile on his face. He seemed to be ecstatic.”

Fellow English teacher Victoria Hemphill told Cowboy State Daily she saw the struggle Skinner had in leaving the school.

[{"type":"text","text":"“He knew he was impacting kids,” she said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She called the move to DJ brave."}]

“The selfish side of me says, yes, I would love to have Brad back in the school,” she said. “But seeing him see so brave, I can say, ‘Hey, I know that guy'.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Peppard said he wasn't surprised by the career move."}]

"My reaction was, obviously I am so excited for him, but in part I'm not surprised at all," he said. "He's living his best life."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Never Too Old To Chase A Dream"}]

During the baseball offseason, Skinner plans to continue DJ'ing weddings and corporate events while growing an educational speaking and consulting business.

[{"type":"text","text":"He also said he believes he'll return to teaching someday."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He's simply following a different classroom for now."}]

His message to students remains the same as when he stood in front of a whiteboard.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"You're never too old to chase your dreams,\" he said."}]

These days, many of the performers he once showed students on YouTube have become colleagues, including Broadway star Ben Platt, songwriter duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul of 

, and Mandy Moore, known for choreographing Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.

For Hemphill, Skinner's story sends an important message to Wyoming students.

"Those cool jobs go to somebody," she said. "I do think he inspired kids to think outside of our sometimes limited perspective in Wyoming. If you want that, go get it."

[{"type":"text","text":"Neher believes that's exactly why students connected with Skinner."}]

"He sees his students not just as another day of work but as people who care about the same things he does," Neher said. "He sees them as future world changers."

Bradlee Skinner IMG 7569 7 11 26

<title>Homeless To Home Plate: Wyoming Man's Fantastic Journey To The Savannah Bananas | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Green River's Bradlee Skinner was homeless, delivering pizzas and wondering how his life had unraveled. Now he performs before sold-out crowds with the Savannah Bananas, baseball's wildly popular entertainment phenomenon. And it all started with a selfie.

Homeless To Home Plate: Wyoming Man's Fantastic Journey To The Savannah Bananas

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

Human remains that were apparently scavenged by a bear, or bears, were discovered Sunday near Grand Mesa in western Colorado, officials there reported.

However, investigators haven’t found evidence that the unidentified person was killed in a bear attack before the bear(s) and “other wildlife” began eating the remains, 

Mesa County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a report of human remains at the Wild Rose Picnic Area of Land End Road, according to reports.

The Mesa County Coroner’s Office is trying to determine the cause of death and expected to release the person’s identity, although it’s not known when that will be, News 11 reported.

As of Friday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife wasn’t planning any further action, agency spokesman Luke Perkins told Cowboy State Daily.

The incident isn’t being treated as a possible bear-attack fatality, he said.

When asked if there was concern over whether eating from the body could cause a bear or bears to become acclimated to human flesh, Perkins said CPW doesn’t think there’s any “threat to human safety.”

Retired federal ecologist Chuck Neal of Cody said given the lack of information available it’s difficult to determine what that might mean in terms of bear behavior after eating the body.

"However, if it is true that a bear didn’t kill the person before eating from the body, the risk of that bear trying to eat more people is extremely low,” he said.

Bears are “opportunistic omnivores,” and happening upon a dead human body would be just another easy meal from the bear’s perspective, Neal said.

“If it was a one-off thing that doesn’t make that particular bear any more dangerous to human beings,” he said. “I would not think that just one taste would make that bear extremely dangerous.”

Moreover, if the body was in a state of decay, it would smell and taste much different than a live human, he added.

“It would just be another lump of rotten flesh,” Neal said.

There are other examples of wild carnivores eating bodies but not wanting to go after live humans, he said.

For example, when pioneers were pushing westward many died along the trail and were buried in shallow graves. That provided a morbid buffet for wolves.

“It became routine for wolves to dig up and eat human bodies, but they didn’t then start trying to prey on live humans,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Most Predacious’"}]

Grizzlies might evoke the most fear among humans, with reports of terrifying attacks. But male black bears can actually be the most dangerous in the Lower 48, Neal said.

Nearly all grizzly attacks are territorial, defensive or because a person surprised a bear at close range. Bears deliberately hunting humans is extremely rare, but male black bears are the most likely to do it, Neal said.

“A male black bear is the most predacious bear toward humans in the Lower 48. Polar bears are the most predacious of any species, but we don’t have to deal with them here,” he said.

A male black bear has to be “the biggest, strongest male out there” to win mating opportunities with females, Neal explained. And so, a big male black bear wanting to pack on the pounds might, in rare instances, see people as possible prey.

“They might see a human as a high-quality lump of protein. Sort of like a hot dog,” he said.

Male grizzlies, likewise, want to eat big to get big, Neal said. However, given their superior size and strength, they can take down large animals and don’t need to bother with humans.

Black bear getty 5 10 26

<title>Investigators Say Colorado Bear That Ate Human Remains Shouldn’t Crave People | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Investigators don’t think a bear or bears that ate parts of a human body found Sunday near Grand Mesa in western Colorado will develop a taste for people. They likely didn’t hunt the person, but instead scavenged someone already dead.

Investigators Say Colorado Bear That Ate Human Remains Shouldn’t Crave People

Public Lands

People keep using a steep, scenic hillside above Sinks Cayon near Lander as a climbing challenge for off-road vehicles, leaving tire ruts that have lasted more than two decades, a retired Forest Service ranger says.

Overzealous off-roaders have illegally gone ripping up Fossil Hill so many times, retired forester Karl Brauneis wonders if the marred hillside will ever heal.

“I just don’t think that site is going to recover. And that fact that people keep driving up it means it’s going to remain an eyesore,” Brauneis told Cowboy State Daily.

In 2005, he wrote the last ticket of his career with the Forest Service after watching a young man on a dirt bike illegally buzzing up the hillside.

“I waited until he came back down, and then wrote him a ticket,” Brauneis said. “That kid who went up there, who I ticketed, was not the first one to go up there.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Nor was he the last, Brauneis said."}]

He still visits the site frequently, and took a recent photograph of an illegal two-track.

That's despite a barricade at the bottom of the hill and a sign stating the area is closed to motorized travel.

“For some folks the barricade and closure sign simply means, ‘Let’s go around and drive on up. It's so much fun to tear up rehabilitation sites,’" Brauneis said.

He added that the recurring off-road violations on Fossil Hill encapsulate the “chronic problem” of unauthorized off-road vehicle use on public lands.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The 50-40-10 Rule"}]

Brauneis noted that during his career Forest Service rangers and Wyoming Game and Fish wardens would go out together on “red shirt-green shirt patrols,” referencing the red shirts worn by wardens and the rangers’ green.

During one such patrol with a warden, Brauneis said they were discussing how many people are honest citizens compared to those who might try to bend or break the rules.

They came up with what he calls the “50-40-10 rule.”

Meaning, “50% of the people are law-abiding and will faithfully follow laws and regulations even when nobody’s watching," he said.

Then, there are the 40% who are “going to try get away with it, if they think they can get away with it,” he added.

The last 10% “will kill you if they think they can get away with it,” Brauneis said. “Fortunately, most of those are in prison. The bad news is, some of them might be getting out tomorrow.” 

To his estimation, the people running vehicles up Fossil Hill probably fall into the “40%” category – and don’t have truly bad intent.

“They are probably younger people who are just after the thrill,” he said.

 And in some cases, unauthorized off-roading could result from confusion over the rules on federal land, Brauneis added.

On Bureau of Land Management (BLM) tracts, the regulations for motorized use tend to be more permissive, he said. So, people accustomed to recreating there might not realize rules are stricter on Forest Service land.

As to why off-road violations might have gotten more common, Brauneis noted the availability and capability of vehicles has increased.

“I think everything escalates, gets bigger with the increased technology in vehicles,” he said. "But also, there’s the sheer number of people to consider.” 

The outdoors has become more crowded, and more people means greater odds of a relative few breaking the rules, he said.

Places that once were sparsely visited, such as the southern end of the Wind River Range, are drawing crowds, Brauneis said.

“It’s outwash from the big cities. It’s their land, and they want to recreate on it. And there’s no problem with that, but there’s just a huge amount of people out there,” he said.

He also noted that the Forest Service tried moving toward educating the public rather than having an immediate presence of rangers with ticketing authority on the ground.

Brauneis said the latter is more effective. The more rangers are on patrol, the better.

“Not in an antagonistic way, in a service way. But with the ability to take care of problems, if the need arises,” he said.

Brauneis said he’s not against roads or motorized use in general. He favors established Forest Service roads because they aid public travel and make fire mitigation and timber harvest more efficient.

And because the national forests are “America’s playground,” there should be areas where motorized users can enjoy themselves, he added.

Taylor Jones is a Sweetwater County commissioner and off-road enthusiast who advocates for motorized access.

He said he hates to see people breaking rules and tearing up places where vehicles aren’t supposed to go.

“Every group has that 10% who don’t play by the rules and give everybody else a bad name,” he said.

And those who abuse the land ruin things for all off-roaders, Jones said.

“What it can do – and we have seen it, so we know it’s true – is it can cause the motorized recreation community to lose access to public land. And, in some cases, also private land,” he said. “The motorized community has lost a tremendous amount of access to public land, and loses more on an annual basis.” 

Irresponsible people tearing up fragile landscapes are a big driver of that, he said.

However, by Jones’ estimation, there’s been a decline in illegal off-road use because motorized users know what’s at stake if they continue to let rule-breaking go unchecked.

“There’s a big push in the off-road clubs to raise awareness and be better stewards of the land,” he said. "There’s an awareness of the loss of access, and an understanding that breaking the rules causes it.” 

Off road where you shouldnt Hill 7 10 26

<title>Sinks Canyon Public Land Damaged By Illegal Off-Roaders 'May Never Recover' | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Off-roading tire ruts have marred Fossil Hill at Sinks Canyon near Lander for more than two decades, and a retired ranger says such illegal drivers tearing up public lands are a growing problem. “I just don’t think that site is going to recover," he said.

Sinks Canyon Public Land Damaged By Illegal Off-Roaders 'May Never Recover'

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

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

A Mexican national sentenced Tuesday to 180 days in jail for charging toward a Teton County Sheriff’s deputy with his box truck is trying to remain in the United States, his defense attorney said in court.

Ramon Gabriel Chavez Cruz, 46, pleaded no contest Tuesday in Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens’ court, to one count of aggravated assault.

He was arrested the night of June 4, 2024, after waging what court documents describe as repeated attempts to ram his truck into vehicles in the Snake River Canyon on U.S. Highway 89, between Alpine and Jackson.

The case affidavit by then-Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper Mike Merritt compiles statements by drivers and their families. Those witnesses said they maneuvered in reverse and swerved into barrow ditches to escape Chavez Cruz’s head-on chases.

“The individual in the vehicle that attempted to collide with us deliberately crossed the centerline at a high rate of speed, targeted our vehicle, and attempted to kill my family,” the affidavit relates from the account of Roy Walters, who said he’d been in the back seat of a family vehicle while his son Eamonn drove, and Roy’s wife, Kate, sat in the front passenger seat. “By the grace of God and my son’s quick reactions the collision was barely avoided.”

The prosecutor, Teton County Deputy Attorney Claire Fuller, emphasized at Chavez Cruz’s sentencing hearing that only one of Chavez Cruz’s many, alleged head-on charges happened in Teton County.

The rest happened in Lincoln County, where County Attorney Spencer Allred is waiting to prosecute Chavez Cruz “to the full extent of the law,” Allred told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

Chavez Cruz struck a plea agreement with the Teton County Attorney’s Office, under which he pleaded no contest to one count of aggravated assault. That’s a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. Fuller agreed to drop three  misdemeanors, including DUI.

And Owens, who accepted the agreement, sentenced Chavez Cruz to a split sentence: 180 days in jail followed by three years’ probation – with the threat of a two-and-a-half to four-and-a-half-year prison sentence remaining if he fails probation.

The 222 days Chavez Cruz has already spent in jail awaiting Tuesday’s hearing eclipsed his sentence and he’s to be released from Teton County. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office expects to take him into custody soon, a jail deputy confirmed to Cowboy State Daily Thursday.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s Allred’s understanding as well."}]

Chavez Cruz faces potentially much harsher consequences in Lincoln County, where Allred has filed eight counts of aggravated assault against him – one for each person he allegedly charged with his truck. Allred also filed a ninth count, misdemeanor reckless driving, which is punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines.  

It’s unclear what role, if any, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plays in this case. The agency declined to discuss Chavez Cruz’s immigration status, writing in a Friday email, “ICE cannot provide any information on this individual.”

Chavez Cruz has a special kind of immigration visa indicating he’s been a crime victim, Trefonas told the court.

“He’s a victim of some incredibly severe, traumatic physical crimes. And so were his wife and children,” said Trefonas. “That all led up to these events: working 24/7; having terror, trauma in his life – and some drug use.”

Trefonas said Chavez Cruz has accepted responsibility in the Teton County case. He’s from Oaxaca, Mexico, and “he’s in a legal process to remain in the United States lawfully, irrespective of these charges,” said Trefonas.

Chavez Cruz told Owens, “For every impacted person in my case, I feel really, really sorry for what happened. I’m willing to take every step to fix the situation – here and Lincoln County.”

While nearly all the drivers Chavez Cruz is accused of chasing with his box truck evaded uninjured, Eric Leonard did not.

Merritt responded to the canyon area at about 10:42 p.m. the night of June 4, 2024, while the two counties’ dispatchers received at least a dozen 911 calls about a violent driver, the affidavit says.

Vehicle descriptions ranged from RV to “semi-type truck” and the culprit vehicle was identified as a box truck registered to Chavez Cruz.

He’d incorporated a transport business called “Your Freight Guys” in Aurora, Colorado, two months before his arrest.

The 911 calls kept coming. Merritt “was advised the large truck had continued northbound toward Jackson after running a car off the road,” so the trooper asked Teton County Sheriff’s deputies to track the truck down while he pulled off to investigate a white BMW that sat in the ditch with its front end smashed and its air bags deployed.

Two men, Brian and Nolan Potts, were on scene. Brian was “visibly shaken up,” wrote Merritt.

Merritt found Brian’s friend Leonard in the BMW’s driver’s seat, and emergency personnel “being careful” about pulling him out because they suspected a back injury.

Leonard said the truck crossed from its northbound lane into his southbound lane to hit them.

“I swerved hard because he was coming directly at me, head-on,” Leonard recalled in a Friday interview with Cowboy State Daily. “When we went into the ditch we went airborne. I don’t know how long we were in the air, but I know we crashed down very hard, and I felt my back immediately.”

He broke his L2 vertebra, Leonard said. As of this week, he still struggles to load the dishwasher, he added.

The three friends had been hiking in Yellowstone that day and were headed back to a cabin Leonard rented in Alpine, using the BMW – which was also rented.

A Mexican national who faces eight felonies is attempting to stay in the country after he allegedly chased down and tried to ram travelers off the road in Snake River Canyon. He "deliberately crossed the centerline and targeted our vehicle," one victim said.

Daily Smile: Monday, November 21, 2022

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