Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"I think the cat's hungry..."}]

Smile 6 11 23

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

<title>Daily Smile: Sunday, June 11, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

I think the cat's hungry....

Daily Smile: Sunday, June 11, 2023

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Around Wyoming

[{"type":"text","text":"The room Roman Parra left behind still looks much the way he left it."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"His Bible remains on the coffee table at his home in Worland. "}]

His truck still needs a suspension repair he never got to finish with his father.

And in the days since the 20-year-old former Worland athlete died from injuries suffered in a northern Colorado rollover crash, family members say those ordinary reminders have become priceless.

, Colorado State Patrol said Parra was critically injured July 25 when the Chevrolet Tahoe he was driving rolled on Weld County Road 80 near Eaton, ejecting all five occupants. Three Colorado passengers died at the scene. A fourth passenger survived with minor injuries. Parra remained hospitalized for eight days before dying Sunday. 

Cowboy State Daily requested the official crash summary from the Colorado State Patrol but had not received the report before publication. 

 that the State Patrol said that speed and impairment contributed to the crash, though a cause hasn’t yet been determined.

Now, those who knew Roman best say they hope he is remembered not for the crash but for the life he lived.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Mother's Worst Call"}]

Roman's mother, Alyssa McDonald, said Saturday had been an ordinary summer day.

She had taken Roman's younger sister to the fair parade before returning home to surprise her oldest son by cleaning his bedroom.

[{"type":"text","text":"Roman had driven to Colorado the night before for a concert with friends."}]

As she folded clothes and straightened his room, she expected him to walk back through the front door the next day.

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead, at about 5:15 p.m., her phone buzzed."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The Life360 app she used to keep track of Roman showed a collision."}]

"I texted, called, panicked when I saw there was no movement," said McDonald. 

She hoped his phone had simply fallen to the floor or been tossed across the vehicle.

[{"type":"text","text":"When the location never changed, she called police and waited."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Nearly two hours later, the hospital called."}]

"They told me there had been a bad accident and my son was involved," she said. "Three had passed away at the scene, but Roman had survived."

[{"type":"text","text":"Doctors rushed him into emergency brain surgery."}]

"The chance of him making it off the table was very unlikely," she said.

[{"type":"text","text":"For over a week, his family remained by his bedside before Parra died."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Faith Before Football"}]

Long before he became one of Wyoming's top linebackers, Parra was the little boy who wanted one thing more than anything else.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"He just never wanted to let me down,\" McDonald said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"His faith grew naturally alongside him, she added. "}]

As a second-grader, teachers noticed he signed the bottom of school assignments with the words "God is Good." 

Near graduation, one of his teachers asked what he wanted to do with his life.

"My first priority is my relationship with Christ," he replied, according to his mother.

Looking back, McDonald said she believes that answer explained the way he lived.

"I think that was probably his purpose in life — to spread that kindness, that joy and Christ's love," she said.

[{"type":"text","text":"His aunt, Daniela Parra, saw the same thing."}]

If someone challenged Roman's beliefs, she said, he didn't argue emotionally.

"He would fight for God all the time," she said. "If somebody said something, he could back it up with Scripture."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Competitor On Every Field"}]

In his final high school football game in the fall of 2024, McDonald said Parra tore his meniscus.

[{"type":"text","text":"Coaches wanted to pull him from the game."}]

He finished the game and scored the final touchdown of his high school career.

In the spring of 2025, he again played through the same injury during the state soccer tournament because he didn't want to leave his teammates behind.

When football ended, Roman spent the summer working construction alongside his father while preparing to attend Laramie County Community College this fall to study automotive technology.

Asked what his son had taught him over the past 20 years, Armando Parra paused.

"He taught me peace and patience," he said. "As much as you raise a kid, a kid raises you."

[{"type":"text","text":"He credits Roman with helping him become a better man."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"He changed my life,\" Armando said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'He Was That Loved'"}]

The waiting room rarely emptied during Parra's eight days in the hospital.

[{"type":"text","text":"Friends drove from Cheyenne after work."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Football families stopped in."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Strangers from Eaton, Colorado, brought food, water and supplies."}]

One mother loaned the family a wagon so they could haul meals through the hospital.

[{"type":"text","text":"For Daniela, none of it came as a surprise."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I expected it,\" she said. \"He was that loved.\""}]

She remembers her nephew as the young man who encouraged everyone around him.

[{"type":"text","text":"His father said Roman never limited his friendships to teammates."}]

"He was friends with everybody," Armando said. "He fit in everywhere. He talked to everybody."

 to help cover Roman's medical and funeral expenses.

Armando also asked for prayers for the lone survivor of the crash, saying he believes the young man now faces an unimaginable burden.

"I feel worse for him than I feel for anybody," he said. "That poor boy that has to live through this is going to need more guidance than anybody I know."

Roman Wesley Parra and new Colorado crash location 8 3 26

<title>Worland Man Dies Sunday, Eight Days After Being Ejected From Car In Colorado | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Worland athlete Roman Parra died Sunday, eight days after being ejected from his vehicle in Colorado. His family said Roman's greatest gift wasn't in sports, but making everyone feel loved. "His purpose in life was to spread kindness," his mom said.

Worland Man Dies Sunday, Eight Days After Being Ejected From Car In Colorado

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

A super-sized male grizzly called Bruno for years has been one of Grand Teton National Park’s most famous bears, but age is catching up with him.

Big, dominant male grizzlies might hit their peak sometime in their early to mid-teens, bear biologist Cecily Costello told Cowboy State Daily.

Bruno, dubbed Grizzly 679 by researchers, is thought to be around 22. Grizzlies rarely live past 30 in the wild.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Observers say Bruno is over the hill."}]

Wildlife photographer Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven has watched Bruno for years and said another bear fan recently told him the beloved behemoth bear isn’t looking so great this summer.

“I just spoke with someone who saw Bruno in the last few days. Per his report, Bruno looks a bit thin and is starting to look old,” Vangoidtsenhoven texted to Cowboy State Daily.

One of Bruno’s biggest claims to fame was being a regular mate of Wyoming’s most renowned bear, Grizzly 399. She was struck and killed by a vehicle in October 2024.

In 2025, Bruno appeared with a nasty, oozing gash on his face. Bear managers usually let nature take its course with bear wounds.

But when Bruno was captured last fall for research by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST), he was treated for facial injuries out of an abundance of caution.

He emerged this spring showing no visible signs of that wound.

An IGBST biologist surmised he suffered the wound in a fight with another bear, perhaps a male, but wouldn’t speculate as to which bear it might have been.

Grizzly watchers and photographers said he might have also been clawed by another famous bear, Grizzly 610, while trying to mate with her.

Wildlife photographer Dominic Westkamp told Cowboy State Daily many think Bruno was slashed by another well-known female, Grizzly 1063.

Regardless of the origin of the healed wound, Bruno has other battle scars and is still a sight to behold, even in his senior years, Westkamp said.

“He’s got that rugged look. He’s been through many battles,” said Westkamp, who took video and photos of Bruno last week.

Bruno was busy in a roadside field, digging up roots, and wasn’t paying any mind to spectators, he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Bruno was looking thin, Westkamp added."}]

However, Westkamp noted it’s still a little early for bears to go into hyperphagia, essentially a pig-out period during which they gorge on as many calories as they can to fatten up before winter hibernation.

“I expect Bruno to be 80 to 100 pounds heavier the next time I see him, during hyperphagia,” Westkamp said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Past His Prime"}]

A male grizzly in his 20s is past his prime, said Costello, the statewide grizzly research biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

“When they get to their late teens, that is when I expect them to be going into decline,” she said.

“He (Bruno) is definitely on the downhill side,” she added.

There’s no “direct data” she’s aware of on the prime age of grizzlies. However, research on black bears suggests the peak years are about 12 to 15, Costello said.

Moreover, Bruno is entering his twilight years during a time when competition among males for mates is getting tougher, she said.

Grizzlies by the thousands once roamed a huge swath of territory west of the Mississippi. However, by the early 1970s, they’d been pushed back to a tiny remnant population in or near Yellowstone National Park.

They were placed under federal Endangered Species Act protection in 1975 and have since expanded in range and numbers.

The early years of recovery would have been great for a big male grizzly, Costello said.

“When there’s only a few dominant males, they really dominate,” she said.

“In the early years of grizzly recovery, you would have seen one male doing all of the reproduction in an area. Now, it’s harder to compete for mates,” she said.

Bruno old 8 4 26

<title>End Of An Era: Grand Teton's Favorite Mighty Grizzly, Bruno, Is Getting Old | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For years, a huge male grizzly called Bruno was one of the brawniest bears in Grand Teton National Park. But at roughly age 22, Bruno is past his prime and those who routinely watch him are saying he's gotten thinner and "is on the downhill side."

End Of An Era: Grand Teton's Favorite Mighty Grizzly, Bruno, Is Getting Old

Public Safety

Inside Rawlins Family Church on Sunday afternoon, worshippers paused when the sound of blaring sirens rushed toward East State Street. 

[{"type":"text","text":"No one inside knew exactly what had happened."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"But Michelle Greer said she knew it was serious."}]

"We started hearing police cars," Greer told Cowboy State Daily. "Then I stepped outside."

Emergency vehicles from surrounded the intersection where a small bicycle lay twisted on the pavement. Nearby, a black tarp answered everyone's immediate question. 

"I was devastated," Greer said. "I work at the school, and I knew it was one of our kids. My heart was just so broken all day yesterday. I just couldn't even really function." 

The Rawlins Police Department confirmed an 8-year-old boy died Sunday after a collision involving a bicycle and a vehicle around 12:21 p.m. near East State Street and Jefferson Avenue. 

Officers from the Rawlins Fire Department, Carbon County Sheriff's Office, Carbon County EMS and the Wyoming Highway Patrol also responded.

A preliminary Wyoming Highway Patrol report says the boy was riding north on Jefferson Street when he possibly failed to stop at a posted stop sign before entering the intersection with East State Street. A Ram 2500 traveling east on State Street struck the child.

Investigators reported the roads were dry, the weather was clear, and the pickup driver was not injured. 

The crash remains under investigation and authorities have not released additional details.

For Greer, the facts mattered less in the immediate aftermath than the overwhelming sense of loss.

[{"type":"text","text":"As emergency crews worked, people gathered quietly nearby."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They were coming down. They were standing on the street,\" she said. "}]

Roads around the scene were blocked for hours while investigators documented what happened. 

[{"type":"text","text":"'Happy-Go-Lucky' "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The crash happened in an area where children are a common sight."}]

"State Street is pretty busy," Greer said. "Jefferson is not, but there's a park right behind our church, so there's always kids at the park." 

Only a week earlier, Greer had watched neighborhood children laughing together during a family event at that same spot.

[{"type":"text","text":"The child who died was among them. "}]

"He was there all day playing with all the kids," she recalled. "He was just happy-go-lucky, and he just had a great time the whole day." 

[{"type":"text","text":"That memory has replayed in her mind ever since."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"'We're Praying For Them'"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Greer is also a mother."}]

Her daughter recently turned 18, and her son is 30. She said thinking about the victim's parents has been almost unbearable.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Oh my gosh,\" she said. \"I can't even imagine that phone call.\" "}]

She said members of Rawlins Family Church are praying for the family and want them to know they are ready to help however they can.

"Our hearts go out to them," she said. "We're praying for them, and our church is there if they need any help or counseling." 

As police continue investigating what led to Sunday's tragedy, Greer hopes at least one lesson reaches other families.

Watching children ride bicycles and scooters through town has always made her nervous.

[{"type":"text","text":"Now, she says, it carries a different weight."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It can be gone so fast,\" she said. "}]

Rawlins 20240525 rawlins 1104 4 18 26 1

<title>Rawlins Boy, 8, Dies When Hit By Truck While Riding Bicycle Outside Of Church | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Rawlins churchgoer says her "heart was just so broken" after worshippers stepped outside of Sunday service to find remnants of a bicycle crash that killed an 8-year-old boy. "I work at the school, and I knew it was one of our kids," she said.

Rawlins Boy, 8, Dies When Hit By Truck While Riding Bicycle Outside Of Church

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, August 3rd.  I’m Mac Watson.

This newscast is brought to you by the Wyoming State Fair. Wrap up your summer at the Wyoming State Fair, August 11th through the 15th in Douglas!

Rodeo, Demolition Derby, live music, entertainment and fair food await. Learn more at W-Y State Fair dot com. See you at the fair! This ad was paid for by Converse County Tourism.

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

Searchers are optimistic that the barrel and a trash can they found two weeks ago at the bottom of Fremont Lake contain the bodies of a young mother and her two sons murdered by notorious killer Gerald Uden. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that their next step is to recover the barrels.

“When Bill Doshey and his team were going back through the drone footage a couple days after the search, they saw what appeared to be a trash can at the bottom of the lake. Now this finding is significant because Gerald Uden claims to have placed the bodies of his two stepsons, Richard and Reagan, in that 35-gallon-trash can, so combined to find both the barrel and the trash can in the same vicinity at the bottom of the lake would confirm lends lends great credence to the fact that Udin is in fact telling the truth in his confession when he said he did put their bodies in the lake.”

Uden has already confessed to the killings. In 2013, he told Wyoming investigators he shot Virginia Uden and the boys — Richard, 11, and Regan, 10 — in September 1980, luring them out under the pretense of a hunting trip. Their bodies have never been found.

Just as firefighters seemed to be getting a handle on a nearly 300-acre fire burning just outside the southwest boundary of a closed Devils Tower, another fire erupted to the southeast Sunday. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that one county official gave a blunt assessment. 

“When I was talking to the Crook County Emergency Management Coordinator. I just basically asked ‘how's the situation up there?’ He was pretty blunt. He said, ‘it sucks.’ Now, interestingly enough, some of the places and businesses around the park that aren't directly impacted by the fire are still open. Like the KOA campground, which is right next to Devil's Tower, it's still open now.”

Although the 282-acre Left Creek Fire burning to the west is not as bad as it was, Emergency Management Coordinator Ed Robinson tells Cowboy State Daily that having another wildfire so close to the monument’s boundary “certainly doesn’t help any.” 

Ann Simpson, mother of three and wife of 70 years to prominent Wyoming political figure and late U.S. Sen. Al Simpson, died Friday morning in her daughter's arms. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that her daughter, Sue, remembers her mother as the most beautiful woman, “inside and out, that ever lived.”

“Sue said that Anne could not get enough of her family, her husband, her family, and that everyone in their everyone should have someone in their life who can't get enough of them, and so the way Pete Simpson described it, she was just encouraging even in the political fray.”

Son Colin Simpson said his mother was diagnosed with an illness about two months earlier. Ann Simpson was 94-years old.

For nearly 60 years, Vern Palmer has searched Wyoming ranches and forgotten dumps for old Wyoming license plates. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that at 90, the Big Piney mechanic has a Wyoming license plate from every year, except one. 

“90-year-old Big Piney man Vern Palmer has spent 60 years collecting license plates. Part of his collection is getting every plate from 1913 until now in the state of Wyoming. In every county available, the state started issuing license plates in 1913, and that remains the only elusive plate for this collector so far. They would go out on ranch land into old dump grounds, and it was always a treasure hunt, just looking for old bottles and things when they started collecting these plates and it kind of became an obsession and the two still to this day love to go out hunting for old treasures and they always are hopeful they'll find the one missing plate they need to complete their collection.”

Ask Palmer about license plates and you'll quickly discover they're much more than stamped pieces of metal. They're tiny time capsules.

I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

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

As a young man, Cheyenne native George Wienbarg figured out how to trademark the famous Hollywood sign in L.A. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that did that because he fell in love with a Korean fashion student and promised to make her line of clothing famous by associating it with that sign. 

“He came up, basically ,with a stunt based on the work that he had already been doing with the Hollywood sign to sell pieces of it. He trademarked the Hollywood sign, and you know, I think at the time he couldn't have imagined this would be controversial in any way, but Hollywood's like, ‘wait a minute, that's the name of our city! You can't just put that on a line of clothing.’ We want a piece of that, right? So they took some steps because he had already trademarked the sign.”

Wienbarg found a clever New York attorney to help him trademark the sign for his girlfriend’s clothing line, and then they were in business. Wienbarg soon had articles appearing in places such as Variety, the Los Angeles Times, and many others, delivering on his promise in a big way. 

President Trump has not endorsed anyone in the nine-candidate Republican race for U.S. House and it’s unclear if he will. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the president has a good batting average in Wyoming, but his endorsement hasn't meant a win every time.

“There is absolutely no telling if Trump is going to endorse in the U.S. House race because he endorsed Foster Freese on election day when Foster Freese ran for governor. Now we see Foster Friess's son Steve Friess vying against eight other people for the Republican nomination. The Politico Bill Cuban said ‘maybe this isn't the best race to spend an endorsement’ because Wyoming is likely going to elect someone who will work with Trump either way.”

One of the nine GOP candidates, conservative activist Steve Friess told Cowboy State Daily in a 

 that he’s heard he’s under consideration for an endorsement. The White House did not respond to a request for confirmation. The election is Aug. 18.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"–"}]

Summer heat has sent water temperatures soaring above 70 degrees in some of Wyoming's prime trout fishing waters, so Game and Fish is urging anglers to quit before noon. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that when it gets that hot, catch-and-release fishing stresses and can kill trout.

“What Game and Fish is asking people to do is to carry a water thermometer with you. Maybe fish only in the mornings, in the early mornings, and once the water starts hitting that 68, 70-degree mark, just put your fishing rod down and go do something else. Unless, like I said, if you're fishing for food that you intend to keep and kill for food anyway, like if you're fishing for bass or if you want to keep the trout to eat, go ahead.”

Avid angler and fishing guide Bradey Hall of Casper tells Cowboy State Daily that 

a water temperature of 70-degrees is widely considered the red line, particularly for trout.

One of the most extraordinary petroglyph sites in North America is hidden away in a secret spot near Newcastle, Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports the petroglyphs of Whoopup Canyon depicted in 150 sandstone panels are between 3,000 and 10,000 years old. 

“Whoop-up Canyon is unique because while they're still petroglyphs, they're depicting a lot of what life would have been like, anywhere from 3,000 to up to 10,500 years ago, when there weren't any of the established tribes that we're aware of today, these would have been nomadic peoples that were following game across the landscape. And the image, the panels at Whoop Up Canyon depict the animals, the people, and the technologies that the people were using to hunt those animals.”

Hundreds of images are carved into the sandstone walls across 150 known panels. They depict people, animals and even the technology used by some of the earliest Indigenous people in North America.

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

And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image 8 3 26

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Monday, August 3, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Monday's headlines include:
* Bodies In Barrels
* Devils Tower Wildfire
* Ann Simpson Dies At 94

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Monday, August 3, 2026

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

Andrew Rossi

 petroglyph sites in North America is hidden away in a secret spot near Newcastle, Wyoming. The petroglyphs of Whoopup Canyon are among the oldest and most "realistic" known to exist.

Hundreds of images are carved into the sandstone walls across 150 known panels. They depict people, animals and even the technology used by some of the earliest Indigenous people in North America.

A lucky group of people got to visit this protected site July 25 as part of a tour coordinated by the Wyoming Historical Society and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Newcastle office.

The tour was led by Lucas Keeler, a BLM petroleum engineering technician who’s also one of the foremost authorities on Whoopup Canyon.

“It’s one of the largest and oldest petroglyph sites in North America, and it’s a love and passion of mine,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"It’s Not Art"}]

One of the most extraordinary petroglyph sites in North America is hidden away in a secret spot near Newcastle, Wyoming. The petroglyphs of Whoopup Canyon depicted in 150 sandstone panels are between 3,000 and 10,500 years old. Access is extremely limited.

Daily Smile: Sunday, June 11, 2023

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