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[{"type":"text","text":"Baseball would be far more entertaining if it were played like this..."}]

You still here 10 4 23

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

<title>You Still Here? Wednesday, October 4, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Baseball would be far more entertaining if it were played like this...

You Still Here? Wednesday, October 4, 2023

 Baseball would be far more entertaining if it were played like this...

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

A Torrington family is in shock after finding their mutilated dogs partially submerged in the North Platte River outside of Torrington.

Angelica Garcia told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that two rottweilers owned by her parents had gotten loose from their home Friday and hours later were found dead by a woman and her son who were walking by a popular fishing spot on the river.

Garcia said the discovery of the two dogs named Django and Hera left her stunned.

"The top of Django's head was gone and Hera's neck and chest were gone," Garcia said.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They were family dogs. I trusted them around my kids,\" she added."}]

Goshen County Sheriff Kory Fleenor confirmed Monday that his office has an open investigation into the incident. 

He declined to comment on whether investigators have determined a cause of death, whether any suspects or persons of interest have been identified, or what evidence investigators have gathered, citing the active nature of the case.

Garcia said her parents last saw the dogs late Friday morning after letting them outside near their Torrington home.

The two rottweilers, a brother and sister who were both nearly 6 years old, had occasionally gotten loose before and were familiar to many people in town, Garcia said.

When her father realized the dogs had not returned, he began searching for them. A short time later, the family learned the dogs had been found dead near the North Platte River.

[{"type":"text","text":"Questions Remain "}]

Garcia said her family believes the dogs were unlawfully killed and wants investigators to thoroughly examine what happened.

She said relatives have searched for information, spoken with people in the area where the dogs were found and tried to learn whether anyone witnessed the incident.

[{"type":"text","text":"So far, she said, they have found no eyewitnesses."}]

"We're drawing a blank as to what happened," Garcia said. "Or why it happened." She added that on top of being concerned the dogs were shot, she's concerned "it happened in the city." 

 that accuses authorities of not doing enough to investigate the deaths.

"Whoever did this brutally murdered these dogs, took their collars and drug them off and dumped their bodies in the river," the petition reads.

"There is a lead and law enforcement is refusing to look further and do their job," it reads.

The Torrington Police Department also responded after the dogs were found, according to Garcia. 

She said city police helped direct the case to the sheriff's office because the location where the dogs were discovered fell under county jurisdiction.

Torrington Police Chief Matt Johnson did not return a request for comment.

[{"type":"text","text":"A Gruesome Discovery"}]

Garcia began to choke up when she described the condition of the dogs and added the collars on the dogs were missing.

[{"type":"text","text":"The family believes the dogs were killed with a shotgun. "}]

One question repeatedly raised online is whether Wyoming law allows people to shoot dogs under certain circumstances.

 does permit dogs to be killed if they are running livestock and the livestock has been injured or is threatened with injury. The law also shields the person who kills the dog from liability if the danger or damage can be shown.

So far, however, authorities have not publicly indicated whether livestock played any role in the deaths of Django and Hera.

The dogs were known to "get out," said Garcia, "and they would kind of roam around, but nobody ever really made a big deal about it." 

"They would just call the dog catcher or local PD, and they would tend to joke about it, like they're just really nice dogs, and you know, even when they picked them up, the dog catcher was appalled at what happened, because she knew them, you know," she said.

Garcia added that she doesn't think the dogs were bothering livestock, "They would never go after cattle or anything like that." 

Rottweilers 6 1 26

<title>Torrington Family Says Rottweilers Were Mutilated And Dumped In The River  | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Torrington family is in shock after finding their mutilated dogs partially submerged in the North Platte River. Angelica Garcia said one of the dog's head was removed and the other was missing its neck and chest. "They were family dogs," she said.

Torrington Family Says Rottweilers Were Mutilated And Dumped In The River 

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

In the first significant poll of Wyoming’s primary election season, Secretary of State Chuck Gray leads a crowded GOP U.S. House race with 21% support.

Casper businessman Reid Rasner is second at 14%, Teton County philanthropist Steve Friess at 10%, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow at 8%, and state Senate President Bo Biteman at 7%, according to a poll memo Gray sent to Cowboy State Daily.

The poll also shows 33% of those surveyed are “hard undecided.”

Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, a survey and research firm that ran polls for President Donald Trump’s campaigns,

 compiled the poll of 400 Wyoming Republican voters from May 13-16.

Casper-based veteran Kevin Christensen followed at 5%, with Moran rancher Frank Chapman at 1% and David Giralt at less than 1%.

The poll lists former state Rep. John Romero-Martinez at less than 1%, but Romero-Martinez did not register to run for the seat by Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"But What ‘Information’?"}]

The pollster’s methodology says the survey 

 gave voters “information” about Gray, Rasner and Friess. 

Gray told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that the “information” included “different points on our records” but upon inquiry, he did not list those points by publication time.  

 jumped to 48% over “hard undecided” at 22%, with Rasner and Friess falling to 3% and 6% respectively.

Balow, whose record was apparently not included in the “information” discussion with each voter, rose to second place in the post-information survey at 8%.

“Chuck Gray is currently best positioned to win this race,” the pollster’s memo asserts.

Half the survey recipients were male, half were female, and 90% were white, says the poll memo.

“This race is about focusing on the truth — my track record of advancing the America First, conservative priorities of the people of Wyoming and my record of getting those priorities to the finish line,” wrote Gray in a statement. 

“I do not back down, even in the face of false attacks from insiders and the radical Left. That is what the people of Wyoming want, and that is why we are in a strong  lead,” he added.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Kinda Early"}]

Rob Wallace, a longtime Wyoming politico, cast skepticism on a poll conducted so early in the race.

The filing period for candidates ended Friday, and the primary election is Aug. 18.

Wallace served as assistant secretary to the U.S. 

nterior during the first Trump administration and years prior worked multiple political campaigns as an advisor for the late U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop. 

He also ran for Congress in 1994 and finished second in a crowded primary to Rep. Barbara Cubin.

“Polling this early in the campaign is like endorsements,” he said. “It’s good to have favorable information, but the real part of the race isn’t going to get going until probably after the Fourth of July.”

Wallace also hesitated to attach significance to the poll since the “information" the Fabrizio team gave voters is unknown.

“Without really understanding all the pieces of the poll, it’s hard to give a complete assessment of what it means,” he said.

Now that the filing period has ended, the other nine candidates in 

 are going to burst into public view as much as they can, Wallace said.

Between the poll and the filing deadline, two more candidates registered: Keith Goodenough and Richard Dodson.

[{"type":"text","text":"That puts the primary race at 10 contenders."}]

Whoever wins that race will have to face the Democratic candidate, plus the Libertarian nominee Shawn Johnson, who gained momentum when his party selected him unanimously at its Sunday convention.

“There are a couple reasons for putting a favorable poll out” at this phase, said Wallace. One reason could be to dissuade others from running; and another could be to reassure one’s base and supporters.

“It’s like a good-news story for the people you want to attract,” he added.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hey, Trump"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The big unknown, said Wallace, is what Trump will do."}]

The president has endorsed Megan Degenfelder for governor over her GOP opponents.

[{"type":"text","text":"He has not endorsed anyone in the crowded U.S. House primary race."}]

Friess, Rasner, Gray, Balow, and Biteman all have dispatched messaging indicating alignment with Trump.

Rasner and Gray tout themselves as MAGA-style candidates. Biteman has for years had a collaborative relationship with the president. And Friess reportedly helped Trump formulate executive orders ahead of his 2017 inauguration.

Christensen is a strong outlier there: he condemned the president’s April social media post of an AI-generated image depicting Trump as a Jesus-like figure, healing an ailing man while others circle him in gestures of prayer.

A Trump endorsement, said Wallace, “could be a game-changer if he decides to do it. And maybe he won’t — maybe he won’t endorse anybody.”

Chuck Gray 6 1 26

<title>Chuck Gray Leads U.S. House Poll With 21%, Followed By Rasner And Friess | Cowboy State Daily</title>

In the first significant poll of Wyoming’s primary election season, Secretary of State Chuck Gray leads a crowded GOP U.S. House race with 21% support. Casper businessman Reid Rasner is second at 14%, and Teton County's Steve Friess is third at 10%.

Chuck Gray Leads U.S. House Poll With 21%, Followed By Rasner And Friess

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

A corrupt Cheyenne mayor and his chief of police ran a protection racket in 1944 that extorted money from black bar owners and encouraged prostitution, leading to their own criminal convictions.  

A new book about how their criminal operation unraveled because of a sting operation is coming out soon.

While working at the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center as its associate director, now-retired Rick Ewig remembers longtime Laramie County Attorney Byron Hirst mentioning his prosecution of Cheyenne’s former mayor in 1944.

Hirst, who served as county prosecutor from 1943 to 1947, was filing his papers with the American Heritage Center around 2000 or 2001 and Ewig helped him with the project. 

The topic about the mayor came up more than once.

“I thought, that’s really kind of interesting,” Ewig said. “I thought, when I retire, I should write something on that.”

After retiring in 2016, the historian came back to the idea around the time of the pandemic and, once he started digging into the story, found that there was a “lot more to it than just corruption.”

Four years later he is coming out with his book titled “We Are In Charge Now, The Story of Corruption & Intrigue in World War II Cheyenne.” 

The 200-page history delves into the election of Ira L. Hanna and how after arriving in office, along with his police chief and two officers, they attempted to extort “protection money” from black businesses in the city.

Ewig’s research sent him into Hirst’s papers that were at the American Heritage Center and the Old West Museum in Cheyenne as well as through the daily newspapers to get the context of wartime Cheyenne in 1943 and 1944.

“It turns out that Cheyenne was segregated at that time,” Ewig said. "If you were African American, you lived on the west side and that’s where Lola West ran the Black and Tan Club (Cafe), and there was another African American bar owner, Pop Grimes.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“He ran the Porters and Waiters Club.”"}]

Hirst had kept the information he compiled for his prosecution case, although there was not a trial transcript, Ewig said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A New Mayor"}]

Hanna, who had served as the Laramie County treasurer and then was elected as the county assessor, ran for the mayoral office in 1944. 

After becoming mayor he appointed Jesse Ekdall to be his police chief.

Shortly after coming to power, he and Ekdall approached the two black club owners to sell them protection as well as encourage prostitution, gambling, and illegal liquor sales, Ewig said. 

They were told they would be protected from the Cheyenne Police Department and the military police at Fort F.E. Warren.

“Hirst had kept all those documents related to that,” Ewig said.

The “most fascinating” one he found was related to West and Grimes going to Hirst after being instructed by the mayor and police chief to “not tell anybody” about his protection offer. 

A sting operation was set up between Hirst, two federal IRS agents, and the club owners.

Hirst and the feds were able to obtain a dictaphone device and place a microphone under Pop Grimes’ desk at the Porters and Waiters Club and recorded a meeting between the two black club owners, Hannah, Ekdall, and the two officers in his department.

During the hours-long meeting, Hanna and Ekdall were recorded saying that: “This is what we are going to do. We are in charge now. You have to pay us. If you don’t pay us we are going to shut down your business,” Ewig said.

Ewig said there is no evidence showing that the mayor or police chief attempted to strong arm any white business in town. 

Due to the war and the soldiers at Fort Warren in addition to the other war-support efforts that brought workers to town, prostitution was an issue.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Money Changed Hands"}]

Newspaper trial accounts show money was paid by West and Grimes to the mayor and police and the serial numbers of the bills were recorded.

Fort Warren was putting pressure on the city to get rid of all prostitution due to issues with venereal disease among the troops that hampered training, Ewig said.

But Ewig said the mayor and new police chief were trying to “open up” the city to more prostitution and illegal money to bring in funds despite the city’s stance against it.

His research found newspaper ads from Hanna as he ran for office that promised voters “good, clean government.”

Although all he had was the old newspapers to go by, Ewig did not find any evidence of any election manipulation that may have brought Hanna to power. 

Hanna’s record of public service to that point as the county assessor appeared above board.

“I didn’t find anything that really explained why after 20 years of not any issues at all, all of a sudden, he sees an opportunity to extort money from a certain group in Cheyenne,” Ewig said. 

“In the last part of the book, I do provide answers to what other people thought, but I never found anything that explained it directly,” he said.

During the trial of the quartet, the Casper Tribune-Herald reported on May 5, 1944, that Hanna testified that the money collected were “fines” for illegal activities and were destined for the city’s park and recreation fund.

Hanna said he and Ekdall decided to make the black business owners “pay fines” if the Fort Warren military police allowed prostitution, gambling, and the sale of liquor in the businesses, the newspaper reported. 

Hanna testified he received $340 from his police chief and put it in an envelope with other funds collected and a list of “from whom for what.”

Hanna testified he was found with three $5 bills that had been paid by West on his person because he wanted to “get a $5 bill to contribute to the Red Cross.” 

He exchanged a $20 bill for four fives that were in the envelope, he said.

West’s daughter testified at the trial and said she paid $100 on two different dates to police for protection. 

One of the officers on trial told her that if she received a phone call and “told us to wash our necks, there was going to be a raid,” the newspaper said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Ewig said all four men were convicted."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sentenced And Commutation"}]

The Casper Herald-Tribune reported on May 7, 1944, that both Hanna and Ekdall were sentenced to not less than seven or more than 10 years in prison on charges of soliciting and accepting a bribe. 

The officers and E.K. Violette received a sentence of two to three years, and officer G.J. Morris a one to two years.

However, on Oct. 4, 1945, the Casper Tribune-Herald reported that both Hanna’s and Ekdall’s sentences had been commuted by a state board of pardons and they would be eligible for parole on Dec. 15, 1945, and discharged from parole on Dec. 15, 1946.

The newspaper reported the board of pardons had received more than 200 letters encouraging the commutation of their sentences. 

While in prison, both men quickly obtained trustee status with Hanna keeping the books for prisoner accounts at the prison and Ekdall serving as a caretaker for the governor’s mansion.

Ewig said his research did not corroborate something that Hirst had told him a couple of decades ago about mafia from Denver and Chicago being involved with criminal activities as well. 

He said there is a chapter devoted to one individual who may have had ties to the mafia, but he could not prove it.

The book is about more than the corruption of the mayor. 

Ewig said he tried to portray the whole atmosphere of Cheyenne during that time in the war.

“I’ve done a lot of Wyoming history, and this one was so Cheyenne specific that it was fascinating about life in World War II Cheyenne,” he said. “It’s not only the story about Ira Hanna and Lola West, I also look at what Cheyenne was like during World War II. 

"It was a boomtown, and there was a housing shortage, and all these issues come up.”

The book, Ewig’s third, is published by WordsWorth Publishing of Cody and will be available in bookstores in the next week or two, he said. It can be ordered now from 

A bonus from his research led to a friendship with Lola West’s grandson, Leon Reed of Cheyenne, Ewig said.

“He allowed me to use some of the family photographs in the book,” he said. “I’m going to sit with Mr. Reed and do and oral history with him because he would like the story of the African American community in Cheyenne to be better known, and to be explored more. So, that is going to come out of this research as well.”

Black and Tan Cafe inset 5 31 26

<title>Wyoming History: Cheyenne's Mayor, Police Chief Convicted Of Extorting Black Bar Owners | Cowboy State Daily</title>

It was 80 years ago that Cheyenne’s mayor and police chief were convicted of running a protection racket and extorting black bar owners. "You have to pay us. If you don’t pay us we are going to shut down your business,” federal agents recorded them saying.

Wyoming History: Cheyenne's Mayor, Police Chief Convicted Of Extorting Black Bar Owners

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Wildlife

A rare all-white pronghorn made a brief appearance in Goshen County, much to the delight of a couple of local wildlife watcher. But whether the animal is an actual albino remains a mystery.

Matthew Pancake and his wife, Maricela, make a regular habit of taking walks to admire wildlife, including small local herds of pronghorn, commonly called antelope.

“We’re old people, we like to get our exercise by walking,” he quipped during a telephone interview with Cowboy State Daily.

They were out on Memorial Day when they spotted a buck pronghorn with two does, and one of the does was completely white.

“I said, ‘That sucker’s white. Is that an albino?’” he said.

Albinism occurs in humans and numerous animal species. It’s essentially a complete lack of pigmentation, wildlife biologist Rich Guenzel told Cowboy State Daily.

In some animals, including pronghorn, a recessive gene can also cause a few rare individuals to have all-white hair or fur. But they’re not actual albinos, said Guenzel, who worked for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department from 1986-2011 and has a special interest in pronghorn.

It’s most likely that the Goshen County doe has the recessive gene, but isn’t an albino, he said.

Pancake said the antelope in his area seem to be a bit sparse. He wonders if herds are still trying to recover from an especially harsh winter a few years ago.

The white doe he saw on Memorial Day and the other two antelope with her all looked lively and healthy, Pancake said.

“She looked at us for a little while and then started running,” typical of what antelope do when humans are near, he said.

He’d never seen the white doe before. On Wednesday, he said he hasn’t seen her since.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Answer Is In The Eyes"}]

True albino animals have strange-looking eyes. In pronghorn, an albino’s eyes will be “reddish-pinkish,” Guenzel said.

Pancake said he "didn’t get close enough to see the eyeballs of that antelope,” so he can’t be sure whether she had that tell-tale feature.

Pronghorn rely heavily upon their vision, and albinism not only makes the eyes strange colors, it can sometimes affect an animal’s vision.

That’s more reason to think that the Goshen County doe is a recessive gene white specimen, he said.

“That’s an adult that’s survived at least one winter,” Pancake said.

He added that he’s seen only “one specimen” of an albino pronghorn, but has never seen such an animal in the wild.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Air Force Base Buck"}]

Guenzel has seen white, nonalbino pronghorn in a few places in Wyoming, including in the Shirley Basin and the Buffalo area.

“They’re neat to see, they’re a rare animal,” he said.

In the early 2000s, an all-white pronghorn buck that hung out around F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne became something of a local wildlife celebrity, Guenzel said.

Sadly, that buck was struck and killed by a vehicle, he said.

The recessive gene that causes all-white fur apparently doesn’t directly manifest from one generation to the next, Guenzel said.

So, if the Goshen County doe ever has fawns, odds are good they’ll have normal-colored fur, white in the belly area, and tannish on the back and flanks, he said.

That pattern has served pronghorn well over the ages, causing them to “blend in” with the landscapes they inhabit.

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

An all-white pronghorn might be easier for predators to spot. But since she’s a full-grown doe, good luck catching her, Guenzel said.

Pronghorn fawns might be vulnerable. The adults can run at roughly 55 miles per hour for extended periods. They developed that speediness ages ago, when their ancestors had to evade 

But those lightning-fast cats, which weren’t actually cheetahs, are long since extinct. And nothing else alive today with teeth, claws and a taste for meat can keep up with pronghorn.

And pronghorn also have exceptional vision, said to be about as good as a human looking through a powerful set of binoculars.

Pronghorn are designed to deal with predation. Once they get to be a yearling or above, their survival rate is pretty good, because they can out-run everything and out-see everything, Guenzel said.

All-white bison are also head-turners, and are regarded as sacred by Native Americans.

 born in Yellowstone in June 2024 caused a stir as many visitors rushed to catch a glimpse of the rare animal.

Albino antelope 1 5 31 26

<title>‘Extremely Rare’ All-White Antelope Captured On Video In Goshen County | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wildlife watchers in Goshen County got a rare treat on Memorial Day — a brief encounter captured on video of an all-white pronghorn. Such animals are “extremely rare," but usually not actual albinos, a biologist said.

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