You Still Here

[{"type":"text","text":"Just drop that off anywhere..."}]

You still here 9 27 23

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

<title>You Still Here? Wednesday, September 27, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Just drop that off anywhere...

You Still Here? Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Law Enforcement

A predawn law enforcement operation stretched across western Wyoming and eastern Idaho on Tuesday, as federal, state and local investigators executed coordinated search warrants in what authorities describe as a drug trafficking investigation.

By the time the raids were over, investigators said they had seized large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and other evidence tied to drug distribution.

[{"type":"text","text":"One man now faces five felony drug charges and a child endangering count."}]

But beyond those basics, much of the investigation details have not been released. 

Authorities have declined to answer questions about exactly where the raids took place, how much narcotics were seized, how long the investigation had been underway, or whether more arrests are expected.

[{"type":"text","text":"Three Communities Targeted"}]

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday that deputies, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal, state and local agencies carried out simultaneous search warrants Tuesday in Etna, Jackson Hole and Victor, Idaho.

Officials have not identified the addresses where the warrants were served, including the Etna location.

The coordinated nature of the operation — spanning three communities in two states — suggests investigators could've been targeting an interconnected investigation.

The sheriff's office described the seizures only as "large amounts" of methamphetamine and cocaine, "along with other evidence related to drug trafficking."

[{"type":"text","text":"Officials have not released the quantities of drugs recovered."}]

The only person publicly identified so far is 42-year-old Julio Jaimes Angeles.

[{"type":"text","text":"He has been charged in Lincoln County with:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Tight-Lipped Investigation"}]

Despite the unusually broad operation, investigators are saying little about what led to Tuesday's raids.

Cowboy State Daily sought additional information from both the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. Neither agency returned a comment beyond the written news release, citing the ongoing investigation.

Lincoln county drug guy 7 22 26

<title>One Man Charged After Sweeping Drug Raids Across Western Wyoming, Eastern Idaho | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 42-year-old man is facing five felony drug charges and another count of child endangerment after the DEA and DCI launched drug raids in Lincoln County, Teton County and Victor, Idaho. Investigators said they seized large quantities of meth and cocaine.

One Man Charged After Sweeping Drug Raids Across Western Wyoming, Eastern Idaho

[{"type":"text","text":"Underestimate him at your own peril....."}]

Sports 7 22 26

<title>Today In Sports: Wednesday, July 22, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Underestimate him at your own peril.....

Today In Sports: Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Outdoors

Jory Thomas, 14, was absent-mindedly flipping loops with a rope while visiting his grandparents' campground on the Yellowstone River over the Fourth of July weekend when he heard someone start screaming for help.

Within seconds, the Montana ranch kid emptied his pockets, splashed across a side channel and waded chest-deep into the river.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then he did something he'd spent the past year practicing on calves."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"This time, he roped a drowning man."}]

The July 5 rescue unfolded so quickly that by the time the first Sweet Grass County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived three minutes after Jory's father called 911, everyone was already safely on shore.

"My opinion, Jory saved the individual's life, 100%," Sweet Grass County Sheriff Alan Ronneberg told Cowboy State Daily. "Had Jory not acted, I believe the chances of this individual not making it to shore were very slim.”'

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Boat Hits A Bridge"}]

The Thomas family lives on a ranch about a dozen miles outside Big Timber, directly across from a campground where Jory's grandparents had been staying for the week.

Jory wandered over to visit with his parents and grandparents that afternoon, a rope already in his hand as he casually practiced throwing loops.

"All of a sudden he heard some yells for help," Jory's father, Jase Thomas, told Cowboy State Daily.

A boat had struck a bridge pillar, throwing its occupants into the Yellowstone River.

Three people fell in, but only two managed to get out, leaving one person alone in the swift current, desperately clinging to a cooler.

[{"type":"text","text":"Jory didn't hesitate."}]

Somehow, said his father, he convinced the drowning man to let go of the cooler. Then he threw the rope, catching the man around the neck and one arm. 

Jory and another bystander then pulled the man safely to shore before emergency responders arrived. 

In the moment, Jory didn’t think about any potential danger to himself, he just acted on instinct, the teen told KTVQ television in Billings, Montana, which first 

"This current was pretty fast then, and he was moving pretty quickly," he told the outlet. "Only thing I could focus on was helping him get out of the water because I didn't want to see anyone go in front of me.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Let Me Have My Son Back'"}]

Jory's father has spent three decades on the Big Timber Volunteer Fire Department and immediately called 911.

Dispatch records show the call came in at 5:39 p.m. A deputy arrived just three minutes later and reported everyone was already out of the water. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Watching the rescue unfold wasn't easy for the elder Thomas. "}]

He knows that stretch of river, and that it becomes more dangerous just downstream, where swift current, deep holes and logjams create deadly hazards.

"My biggest concern was to let me have my son back," he said before taking a long pause, reflecting on the potential for Jory to also get caught up in the current.

"He understands water, but I don't think he understands what could happen,” Jase said. "I mean, he does, but he had one thing in mind, which is great, and he got it done." 

Jase believes the man his son rescued likely wouldn't have survived much longer.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sheriff Ronneberg agrees."}]

"I'm not sure how close the individual was to being 'lost,' but in my experience such things happen faster than you might guess they can," he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'He Loves Roping' "}]

Although the rescue looked almost unbelievable, it wasn't blind luck. Jory has spent the past year immersing himself in roping.

He practices on roping dummies in his spare time and started roping calves from horseback during local brandings, his father said.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"He's always had a rope,\" Jase said. \"He loves roping.\" "}]

Outside of ranch work, he's an avid hunter and is spending this week showing a steer and a pig at the county fair. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'That's Just Who He Is'"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"To his family, the rescue wasn't entirely surprising."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Jase said his son has always been the first person to help someone else."}]

"We'll be in town at the grocery store, and you'll see an elderly person," he said. "They can't pack the groceries, and he never says a word. He goes over and gets their groceries and packs them out. That's just who he is." 

Ronneberg said the rescue is a reminder that courage often appears in ordinary moments.

"Jory saw another in trouble and acted, not for himself but for another," Ronneberg said. "He didn't pull out a phone, but a lariat. He didn't watch what was happening but intervened."

"Jory is a lesson for all of us in this day and age and showed us what is courageous and right.”

Montana lasso teen 7 21 26

<title>14-Year-Old Ranch Kid Ropes Drowning Man On Yellowstone River, Saves Life | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 14-year-old ranch kid from Big Timber, Montana, had a rope in his hand when cries for help erupted from the Yellowstone River. He sprinted into the water, threw one loop and caught a struggling man around the arm and neck, pulling him safely to shore.

14-Year-Old Ranch Kid Ropes Drowning Man On Yellowstone River, Saves Life

Daily Cartoon

Cartoon 2 7 18 26

<title>Daily Cartoon 2: Saturday, July 18, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon 2: Saturday, July 18, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Energy

Agriculture

A massive data center and power generation complex is being proposed for 5,344 acres of ranchland northeast of Wheatland in Platte County near the Goshen County line, on property owned by the Lazy V Six Ranch.

The developer, a company called Site Layer 4, has filed an application to rezone the land from agricultural to industrial for what it describes as a $26 billion data center campus with co-located, utility-scale energy generation. The property is roughly 13 miles east of Interstate 25, in an area now used for grazing and agriculture.

Public hearings for the rezoning have been set for 7 p.m. Aug. 11 before the Platte County Planning and Zoning Commission and 10 a.m. Aug. 20 before the Platte County Commission. 

Site Layer 4 says in its application that the project would be built over multiple years and is designed to concentrate infrastructure in one unified location. 

Residents who live around the Goshen Hole Rim say that location also happens to include springs, mule deer habitat and big-sky views their families have cherished for generations. 

In its application, Site Layer 4 describes the Wheatland project as a long-term phased industrial campus that could scale with market demand. 

“Rezoning the proposed project area would allow well-planned large-scale industrial development in an appropriate location, and protect private landowner rights to use property for business and economic purposes in a manner reasonably balanced with regulatory oversight,” Site Layer 4 wrote in its application. 

Site Layer 4 also emphasizes that the project area represents less than half of 1% of the acres devoted to ranching and agriculture in Platte County.

“The project area has been selected specifically because it enables development of a unified, co-located facility, limiting potential sprawl of infrastructure and associated regional impacts,” the company added. “The project area has access to critical grid interconnection and other necessary existing infrastructure, is separated from residential uses and public spaces, and is visually buffered via topography from the community of Wheatland.”

Site Layer 4 further promises that the campus would include stormwater drainage and other environmental controls consistent with local, state and federal requirements, and would “prioritize environmental protection and effective mitigation of potential environmental impacts.”

That might sound good on paper, one of the project’s neighbors, George Gamblin conceded. But, he said, the project’s footprint falls within a dramatic and scenic portion of Goshen Hole where Platte County’s plateau drops hundreds of feet into canyons and draws before flattening out again across Goshen County.

“You can see clear into Nebraska from here,” Gamblin said. “You can look all the way across Goshen County.”

The area is a unique land feature for the area, a place where there are plants and animals that probably should not be there, and would not be there, but for a micro-climate that’s supporting what would typically need more water.

“I probably have a couple hundred acres of pine trees on my little property that are not even really supposed to be there,” He said. “I think it’s about a 12-plus precip zone, and they’re not even really supposed to be growing there. But some of these trees are probably 100-plus years old. And they contain a lot of birds and things like that, which typically don’t exist in this area out here in the plains.”

Gamblin’s family has been in the location for close to 90 years.

“I live on Goshen Hole Rim, which dissects Platte and Goshen counties,” he said. “And in places, from the rim to the bottom is anywhere from I don’t know, 400 to 600 feet that drop and what you have in those canyons, there’s a lot of varied habitat.”

Ponderosa pine, mountain mahogany and little riparian areas near the natural springs that come up in the bottom of the canyons lie within a half to three-quarters of a mile from the proposed rezoning.

“Some of the wildlife we have out there — it’s pretty amazing,” Gamblin said. “I had some professional birders come out and they got I believe over 40 species of birds in like seven or eight hours walking along the rim.”

There’s also a diversity of wildlife, including elk and mule deer, as well as occasional mountain lions — which Gamblin noted wasn’t mentioned in the wildlife portion of the application.

“There’s just any number of things that are very unique to Platte County, and especially this part of Platte County,” he said. “So I would like to see, at the very least, some kind of buffer for that kind of habitat.”

From his place, much of the proposed industrial zone would sit less than a mile and a half away, with the rezoning boundary coming to within about a half-mile of his property.

“That’s a huge tract of land that’s going to affect quite a few people,” he said. “I understand private property rights and I respect them, but that needs to work both ways in my mind. You need to respect the neighbors. There’s no reason where they can’t protect Goshen Hole Rim and still probably have everything they need down there on the lessee’s land.”

Gamblin hopes if the project happens despite such objections, he hopes appropriate steps will at least be taken to protect water, wildlife and the view.

“I would rather not see it go in at all,” he said. “But I do understand the private property issue and I understand people wanting to make more money to benefit from it.”

Water and the view are the two biggest issues for Kathryn Stevens, who lives across the rim on the Chugwater Flats about 5 miles from the proposed industrial zone.

“We moved out here specifically for the wide-open space, for the landscape, for the beauty, because we wanted to be homesteaders,” she said. “We moved out here to appreciate the heritage of the land.”

The project has taken her and her family by surprise.

“I came from western Washington, where that land, which is really beautiful land, has been exploited,” she said. “And it’s so sad to see that. I just shudder to think of that happening here in an area that’s in many ways kind of untouched. I can look out my window and see for 40 miles, and I don’t know what would compel somebody to destroy that or put a huge building there. I just don’t understand that.”

The family, like their neighbors, all depend on domestic wells for water, so how much water the data center might use is her biggest concern. 

“Everybody knows we’re in a drought,” she said. “Farmers are plowing under their wheat because it’s too low to even harvest and a lot of farmers didn’t even plant this spring. We are an ag community. Water is life. If you don’t protect your water supply, you’re going to be real sorry.”

The flats have no access to municipal water, Stevens added. 

“The people who live here rely on their wells solely,” she said. “If our wells were to go dry or become intermittent, then we wouldn’t be able to live up here. Like, there’s no alternative, and you also wouldn’t be able to sell our land for anything.”

The developer’s documents say the data center will use a closed-loop system to minimize water use. Its annual water use would be comparable to that of 25 to 30 residential homes, which Platte County Economic Development Executive Director Josephine Young characterized as watering about 5 acres of hay a year.

Young said she’s fielded phone calls, emails and social media posts about the project, some of which are mixing concerns for Wheatland with stories from Georgia and Cheyenne. 

She hopes residents will zero in on the specifics of Site Layer 4’s project and judge the project on its merits. 

“I’m sure you’ve been to Wheatland plenty of times,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “There’s a lot of vacant buildings. I think something everyone can relate to is wanting a place where their kids can come back to. I have an 8-year-old little girl, and I know we don’t want to lose our small-town culture, but we also want to thrive.”

Contrary to what some social media posts have suggested, the data center would offer between 250 to 300 permanent positions, which she said is “massive” for Wheatland.

“I mean, that would be one of our largest employers,” she said. “So I guess, if I could plug one encouraging statement, it would be to judge each project on its own merit and application, versus what Google says or what a standalone data center might offer versus one with power generation, because that does change a lot.”

The project, Young added, is in its infancy right now, and its application to rezone is just the first step of many to come. The application also doesn’t mean the project is necessarily a “done deal” either.

If it does come about though, the community benefits have potential to be “transformational.”

“I think the sales tax revenue would, gosh, triple our county budget,” she said. “It would be an influx. And I keep trying to tell myself, like when Laramie River Station — Basin Electric — came in, there was a lot of contention around it and now it’s the lifeline of our county.”

Platte County Commissioner Ian Jolovich told Cowboy State Daily he’s keeping himself at arm's length from the project, at least until the rezoning formally lands before the commission.

“I make a point to let the planner do — to not insert ourselves into the deal and to let them make an unmolested decision at the planning and zoning commission level,” he said. “I do know what’s coming down the pipeline but, typically, that’s how I feel like you get to muddy, if you start digging around too early.”

Commissioners will get a “full staff briefing” in time for the meetings, and until then Jolovich plans to stay “agnostic” about the project, though he did add that he is typically “for private business.”

“There’s some good and bad in everything,” he said. “So just find the good and regulate or treat the bad.”

Water will be a big issue to Jolovich as well, he confirmed.

“I’m in agriculture so I have a different perspective on water and its uses and whatever else,” he said. “Basically, what we do is we turn water and sunlight into beef, and so, when there’s no water, you can’t make beef.”

The nearby Laramie River Station power plant already uses 18,000 gallons of water per minute, which dwarfs the data center’s projected use. 

“The water issue is almost a solved problem to me,” he said. “The biggest issue with water is what happens to the stuff that is wastewater … So I’m interested to see what wastewater treatment practices and force majeure practices are, if say, something goes wrong, act of God, and something gets out and gets into the aquifer or whatever.

"That’s more of a detriment to the existing water supply. It’s not the use of it. I think they’ve got the use dialed down.”

Like Young, Jolovich, too, worries about young people leaving Platte County in the search for better job opportunities.

“I want more productive people in Platte County,” he said. “Our people are very productive, but we’re getting older and there’s not as much opportunity for kids to stay around.”

Wheatland data center 7 13 26

<title>Ranchlands Near Wheatland Eyed For $26 Billion 'Transformational' Data Center | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A company called Site Layer 4 wants to rezone 5,344 acres of ranchland near Wheatland for a data center and power plant. The project, they say, adds 300 jobs and substantial tax revenue, but neighbors worry about water, wildlife and the viewshed.

Ranchlands Near Wheatland Eyed For $26 Billion 'Transformational' Data Center

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

Andrew Rossi

A man was seriously injured Friday evening after being thrown 8 feet into the air by an angry bull bison in Yellowstone National Park.

Mike MacLeod, a professional photographer from Bozeman, Montana, said the incident happened at the Bridge Bay Campground, south of Fishing Bridge.

MacLeod said the man was walking with his grandson when the agitated bison made them the targets of its aggression.

“I was just trying to get some dramatic footage of that bison having a fit,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s changed my idea of what to expect from these guys at this time of year, because I would not have predicted that happening.”

The National Park Service has not released any information on the incident.

[{"type":"text","text":"Bull In A China Shop"}]

MacLeod was camping in at the Bridge Bay Campground when his wife pointed out the bull bison entering the area. He grabbed his camera and started shooting from a safe distance.

“He started walking through the campground,” MacLeod said. “He was coming up to this group of kids, who were taking pictures on their cellphones from a good distance away, and then the buffalo charged these kids.”

When the bison charged, the kids safely scattered. But the bison wasn’t done yet.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s when McLeod started filming. "}]

“I used to be a combat photographer in the Army,” he said. “I could see this thing coming.”

MacLeod said the bison kept running through the campground, while people occupants yelled and screamed at each other to alert one another to the threat. After a while, the bison found a patch of dirt to wallow in.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then, the victim appeared. He had no idea what was about to happen."}]

“They weren't even in that camping loop,” McLeod said. “They were walking along the road, quite a ways away from the bison, and it started running at them.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Closed The Distance, Up And Over"}]

The victim and his grandson were at what even the National Park Service would say was a safe distance, at least 100 yards, from the bison. They stopped for some pictures while the bison lay down and seemed to have calmed down.

“He was sitting in the dust, like bison do, with his head out towards the road,” MacLeod said. “When the bison started to get up, the grandfather's like, ‘OK, time to leave,’ and they moved off behind these trees.”

Then, a white pickup appeared. For whatever reason, that set the bison off again.

“The bison was charging the truck,” MacLeod said. “The guy in the truck saw that happening, and he just kept going. The bison (then went) to where these two were hiding in the trees.”

After expending some of its energy on a sapling, the bison tore into the trees and chased the victim and his grandson.

While the grandson escaped, his grandfather wasn’t so fortunate. The bison chased him around the trees while he tried to escape.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then, according to MacLeod, the victim got flipped."}]

“The bison hooked him with his left horn on his hip and tossed him in the air,” he said. “He made a perfect flip and landed on his side. The bison was at least 6 feet tall, and (the victim) was several feet above him.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Observer To Rescuer"}]

When the older man hit the ground, the bison stopped but didn’t run away. It stood over the man he’d just tossed, shaking his head in an obvious display of agitation.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s when MacLeod decided he had to do something."}]

“I had to get the bison's attention,” he said. “I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible.”

Following MacLeod’s lead, a few other observers did the same and darted toward the bison. That was enough to send it running.

[{"type":"text","text":"“He really took off when he left,” MacLeod said."}]

When the bison was gone, everyone rushed toward the victim. He was in a lot of pain, particularly in his hips and the leg he landed on, but MacLeod and others couldn’t see any external injuries.

“One guy held his hand,” MacLeod said. “Another guy pulled security on the outside to make sure that bison didn't come back. A gal in a car was on the phone with 911, and another gal did a blood sweep, but we couldn’t find any blood.”

Yellowstone EMS quickly arrived and took over. MacLeod has been in touch with the victim’s grandson, who told him that his grandfather “has some pretty significant injuries and is not out of the woods yet.”

“He was really worried and wanted to see the video to make sure that it wasn't his fault,” MacLeod said. “You can tell in the video it's not his fault. You can tell from the very beginning.”

This is Yellowstone’s second human-bison incident in 2026. 

 when a 12-year-old was injured near Mud Volcano, north of Fishing Bridge.

What stuck out to MacLeod in the Friday incident was that nobody was at fault for what happened at Bridge Bay Campground. People do “stupid things” in Yellowstone all the time, but this wasn’t one of those cases.

“I didn't see anybody getting close,” he said. “People were yelling, ‘Careful, there’s a bison coming through,’ and they kept their distance. They were very respectful.”

In this incident, the bull bison was the instigator. MacLeod said it was extremely evident that the bison entered Bridge Bay with a chip on its humped shoulder.

“You can tell he was agitated, pissed off, and charging anything and everything,” he said.

The biological explanation for what happened is the annual bison rut, which runs from June to September. During that time, bull bison surge with energy and aggression as they compete for dominance and females.

MacLeod doesn’t blame anyone, especially not the victim or his grandson, for what happened.

“They were just out for an evening walk, just happened to turn around the corner, and there’s a bison,” he said.

In MacLeod’s opinion, this bull bison was looking for a fight and, for reasons known only to itself, chose those two as the targets of its aggression.

“I’ve been around bison for a while, but this was really weird,” he said. “Why did it pick those two? There were so many people around, and most of them were closer to and behind the bison. It was really weird.”

Closeup of bison launch 7 11 26

<title>Tourist Seriously Injured After Yellowstone Bison Launches Man 8 Feet In The Air | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A tourist was seriously injured Friday evening after being thrown 8 feet into the air by a bull bison in Yellowstone National Park. Professional photographer Mike Macleod filmed the incident and said the bison was "angry, agitated and charging anything and everything."

You Still Here? Wednesday, September 27, 2023

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