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

<title>Daily Smile: Tuesday, November 14, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Smile: Tuesday, November 14, 2023

 Now let's all watch a puppy, a baby pig, and some duckies sleeping in a flower pot...

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

A former assistant director at the Shoshoni Senior Center is accused of exploiting a 93-year-old woman who depended on the center for meals, transportation and other daily assistance, allegedly accepting and depositing $33,400 in checks from the woman over a 14-month period.

Jeannie Kroenke is charged with one count of exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a felony that alleges she used her position of trust to financially exploit an elderly client of the senior center.

A probable cause affidavit filed by Shoshoni Police Chief Christopher Konija claims the alleged victim lives alone, relies on the senior center for services and uses a wheelchair.

Investigators wrote that the woman became confused easily, sometimes mistook Kroenke for other people and was unable to manage her finances without assistance.

The allegations have shaken one of Shoshoni's most important community institutions, where older residents gather for meals, activities and transportation services.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bank Spots Suspicious Check"}]

The investigation began last Thursday after Wyoming Community Bank contacted the Shoshoni Police Department about suspected elder financial exploitation.

BMO Bank flagged one of the older woman's recent checks after an employee noticed handwriting that appeared inconsistent with the rest of the document.

Police allege nine checks totaling $33,400 were written between April 17, 2025, and June 23, 2026, ranging from $1,000 to $15,000, the affidavit says.

Investigators say all nine checks were deposited into Kroenke's personal bank account.

One of the checks appeared to have originally been written for $5,000 before being altered to $15,000, says the affidavit. 

Kroenke initially denied changing the amount. Later, investigators wrote that she acknowledged believing the check was for $5,000 until a bank teller told her it was worth $15,000.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I was overjoyed,\" Kroenke allegedly told investigators."}]

She later claimed she contacted the 93-year-old, who told her to go ahead and deposit the larger amount.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Go Have Fun'"}]

During an interview with police, Kroenke acknowledged receiving multiple checks from the senior center client, but said the money had been given voluntarily.

Kroenke told police that the woman wanted to help pay expenses related to the mental health treatment for a family member of Kroenke's and would sometimes hand her $1,000 while telling her to "go have fun."

Kroenke said she also used $10,000 of the 93-year-old's money repay money that she owed a family member. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Another disputed transaction involved a $6,200 check."}]

Konija wrote in the affidavit that the 93-year-old believed she had intended that money as a donation to the Shoshoni Senior Center's historical preservation project.

Kroenke told investigators the woman was confusing that check with another donation.

Near the end of the interview, police say Kroenke acknowledged that accepting money from a client looked inappropriate because of her position at the senior center and admitted no one else knew the older woman had been giving her money.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Layers Of Oversight "}]

For many residents, the Shoshoni Senior Center serves as far more than a place to eat lunch.

The center provides meals, transportation, home-delivered food and other support services while also hosting community events that draw seniors from across the region.

"It's really important part of our whole town," Shoshoni Mayor Joel Highsmith told Cowboy State Daily.

Highsmith said the center serves not only Shoshoni residents, but seniors from surrounding rural communities and Riverton, calling it "a great institution."

He urged residents not to judge the organization based on the allegations against one former employee.

"If the allegations are true, it was an act of one person and not an act of the senior center as a whole," Highsmith said. "It's one individual, it's not the senior center."

Highsmith added that smaller communities often have fewer layers of oversight than larger organizations, but said situations like this should prompt a review of internal safeguards to help prevent similar incidents in the future.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Board Meeting"}]

Shoshoni Senior Center Executive Director Rikki Neale confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that the center's board of directors was scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss the matter. She declined further comment ahead of the meeting.

Kroenke made her initial appearance Monday in Fremont County Circuit Court. Her bond was set at $10,000 cash only or a $25,000 surety bond.

As of Wednesday afternoon, she was no longer listed as an inmate at the Fremont County Detention Center.

[{"type":"text","text":"A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. July 22."}]

Shoshoni Senior Center 7 15 26

<title>Former Shoshoni Senior Center Official Accused Of Scamming $33K From 93-Year-Old | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The former assistant director of the Shoshoni Senior Center has been charged on suspicion of scamming more than $33,000 from a 93-year-old client. She told police the woman would sometimes hand her $1,000 and say, “Go have fun."

Former Shoshoni Senior Center Official Accused Of Scamming $33K From 93-Year-Old

Nearly three weeks after a commercial tanker 

in a construction zone west of Casper, killing two people and injuring eight others, no criminal charges have been filed as a Wyoming Highway Patrol investigation continues.

That isn't stopping a Casper attorney from pursuing the first civil lawsuit stemming from the deadly crash on behalf of a family hurt in the pileup.

The negligence lawsuit, filed Friday in Natrona County District Court, names Ryan Brothers Trucking Inc. and a John Doe defendant, identified as the tanker driver whose identity was not yet known to the plaintiffs when the complaint was filed.

The identity of the truck driver hasn’t been publicly released as the investigation is active, the Wyoming Highway Patrol has said.

Contacted by Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday, WHP spokesman Aaron Brown said the investigation has so far taken weeks because of the sheer amount of evidence investigators must review.

Unlike a typical fatal crash, this one involved a commercial tanker truck and seven other vehicles, which requires investigators to analyze electronic data from the truck and any available from all the civilian vehicles.

“It’s the scale. There’s a ton of data to be coming out of this thing,” Brown said. “We have a ton of data to sift through to try and get this thing done."

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Makensi Van Patten and Chantry Van Patten, individually and as parents and guardians of their two minor children.

A Wyoming Highway Patrol crash summary reports that the driver of a westbound Western Star tanker truck failed to stop for traffic queued to enter a one-lane construction zone on U.S. Highway 20/26 near mile marker 58.3, striking seven stopped vehicles.

The crash killed James Faris Cox, 74, and Susan Horn Cox, 69, of Golden, Colorado, and injured eight others. The Highway Patrol listed driver inattention as a possible contributing factor.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Family Seeks Damages"}]

The lawsuit alleges the tanker driver negligently failed to stop for traffic backed up at the construction zone, triggering the eight-vehicle chain-reaction crash.

It further claims the Van Patten family's Toyota Highlander was struck after the commercial truck plowed into the line of stopped vehicles.

Makensi and Chantry Van Patten, along with their two children, suffered physical injuries in the collision, according to the complaint. 

It also claims the parents and one of the children witnessed another family member suffer serious bodily injury, causing emotional trauma in addition to physical injuries.

The family is seeking compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional distress, permanent injuries, loss of enjoyment of life, lost earning capacity and other damages to be determined at trial.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Get This Case Going' "}]

Attorney Dallas Laird, who represents the family along with James Fitzgerald, said the lawsuit was filed to protect his clients' legal rights.

"The lawsuit was filed to get this case going and to preserve my client's rights," Laird told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.

Laird said it is too early to determine the full extent of the family's damages.

"We don't know at this point because they're still in treatment, and these are kind of long-term injuries," he said.

Asked what the family hopes to accomplish through the litigation, Laird answered simply: "A settlement of the case."

He added that the complaint could change as additional evidence becomes available.

"Our theory is, at this point, we may have to amend the complaint once we get the Highway Patrol report," Laird said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fifth Amendment "}]

Among the lawsuit's allegations is that the tanker driver invoked the Fifth Amendment right with law enforcement and declined to answer questions following the crash.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"That was told to me by the Highway Patrol,\" Laird said. "}]

Since the crash, Cowboy State Daily has repeatedly asked about the investigation and the potential for criminal charges to be filed. 

Among the unanswered questions are whether the tanker driver has been cited, arrested or could face criminal charges; whether investigators can confirm the lawsuit's allegation that the driver invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination; whether the case has been referred to prosecutors for criminal review; and when investigators expect to conclude the investigation.

The Highway Patrol did not respond except to say the investigation remains active and that it’s complicated and involved nature takes time to complete. 

Cowboy State Daily also reached out to Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen to ask whether the case has been submitted for criminal review or whether any charges are anticipated. He also did not respond before publication.

As of Wednesday afternoon, no criminal charges had been announced in connection with the crash.

Ryan Brothers Trucking said that it has "no comment on ongoing litigation at this time."

Double Fatal Crash Go Fund Me 7 15

<title>Family Hurt In Semi Crash That Killed 2 West Of Casper Sues Trucker, Company | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A family hurt in a crash west of Casper that killed two people when a semitruck plowed into a construction zone is suing the trucking company and the as-yet unidentified truck driver. No criminal charges have yet been filed as an investigation continues.

Family Hurt In Semi Crash That Killed 2 West Of Casper Sues Trucker, Company

Government & Politics

Politics

Wyoming U.S. House Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of 22 Republicans to vote against making daylight saving time permanent as the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday.

For Wyomingites tired of changing their clocks every spring and fall, the vote was a big step toward ending the twice-yearly ritual that has been a divisive issue in the Cowboy State and across the nation.

The 308-117 vote advances the act to the Senate, which if approved would make daylight saving time permanent.

Most Americans would stop changing their clocks twice a year and instead remain on daylight saving time year-round, although states could choose to observe permanent standard time instead.

Hageman told Cowboy State Daily in a statement that her vote was made with Wyoming in mind.

"The Sunshine Protection Act robs Wyoming farmers and ranchers of precious sunlight and ensures the first hours of a student's day is in darkness,” she said. "The government isn't funded, our elections aren't secure, and Wyoming's legacy industries need help. 

"I will not vote for a time-wasting bill that puts Wyoming in the dark."

If enacted, the legislation would mean later winter sunsets but also later winter sunrises, giving people more daylight in the evening while making mornings darker.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Another Opportunity "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming has been preparing for this possibility for years."}]

In 2020, the Wyoming Legislature approved a trigger law authorizing the state to adopt permanent daylight saving time if Congress first changes federal law and neighboring Mountain Time states enact similar laws.

As a result, Tuesday's House vote alone would not change anything for Wyoming.

Even if the bill ultimately becomes law, Wyoming would continue changing its clocks until the conditions outlined in state law are met.

Former state Rep. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, sponsored Wyoming's trigger law and spent years advocating for permanent daylight saving time.

When the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a similar version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, Laursen

he hoped Americans had changed their clocks for the last time that November.

Instead, the proposal stalled in the House before reaching then-President Joe Biden.

[{"type":"text","text":"Now, four years later, Laursen believes Congress has another opportunity."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's fantastic news,\" he said Tuesday. \"I'm feeling hopeful.\""}]

Laursen said he hopes the Senate can "get something figured out" after unanimously approving a similar bill four years ago.

Asked what message he would send senators, Laursen said, "Let's do it," he said. "Trump wants it. I want it."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Long-Running Debate"}]

Supporters of the legislation argue ending the twice-yearly clock changes would eliminate an unnecessary disruption while giving Americans more usable daylight after work and school.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Kentucky, said permanent daylight saving time would improve traffic safety, strengthen the economy and give people "more time to exercise outside, visit family, attend concerts and sporting events."

"It also means more sunlight at the end of the day so Americans can return safely from work and children can return safely from school," Guthrie said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Not everyone agrees."}]

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports ending the twice-yearly clock changes but argues that Congress should instead adopt permanent standard time, saying it better aligns with the body's natural circadian rhythms and promotes healthier sleep.

If daylight saving time became permanent, Wyoming would experience later winter sunrises and later sunsets, leaving many children and commuters traveling before sunrise while extending daylight later into the evening.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Senate Faces Familiar Decision"}]

The legislation now heads to the Senate, which unanimously approved a similar version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 before it stalled in the House.

[{"type":"text","text":"Its prospects this time are uncertain."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming's congressional delegation is split on the issue."}]

While Hageman voted against the House bill, Sen. Cynthia Lummis has 

backed making daylight saving time permanent, calling the twice-yearly clock changes "an unnecessary disruption" and saying advances in technology have made the original reasons for changing clocks obsolete.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sen. John Barrasso has taken a more cautious position."}]

Last spring he told Cowboy State Daily, "Every time we have to change the clocks, I hear about this issue at home in Wyoming. 

"While it would certainly be easier to not have to change our clocks, there are some real concerns with sending our kids to school in the dark. Congress must thoroughly debate all of the potential impacts before taking any action to change daylight saving time on the national level."

Asked Tuesday about the bill's chances in the Senate, Barrasso 

, "We'll see. You know, we had passed something like that once before, and then the House hit the snooze alarm on it, and we'll see what happens when it gets here."

Even if the Senate approves the bill and Trump signs it into law, Wyoming would not immediately stop changing its clocks. 

The state's trigger law requires not only congressional approval, but also neighboring Mountain Time states to adopt permanent daylight saving time before Wyoming could make the switch.

Cowboy State Daily reached out to Barrasso's office Tuesday for additional comment on the House-passed legislation but did not receive a response before publication.

Hageman clock tower 2 7 14 26

<title>House Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill, Hageman Votes Against | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The U.S. House passed a bill Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent, but Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of only 22 Republicans who voted against it, arguing it would put schoolchildren in the dark and take morning sunlight from farmers and ranchers.

House Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill, Hageman Votes Against

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

Renée Jean

Wyoming Life

Note: Gold Rush Days was held on July 11 - 12, 2026

On a hot July afternoon, the boom of an anvil blast rolls through South Pass City like distant thunder. The windows rattle, the chests shake, and a nervous border collie scrambles for cover under the knees of a kind stranger from Ireland, who has stumbled on this scene completely by accident.

Tom Murphy was just looking for a cooler spot in Wyoming to be than the 103 degrees forecast elsewhere. 

South Pass won at 87 degrees, and soon it had won his heart as well. He was loving what he saw. A place where history does not sit quietly behind glass. It explodes, it snorts, and it clanks, too. 

Sometimes, it even bolts — which almost happened when one gentleman’s hat blew under Randy Melton’s period-correct stagecoach, which was being pulled by four jet-black mules.

“Whoa up!” Melton said firmly, pulling back on the reins, urging the mules to stand still so the hat could be retrieved untrammeled. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The mules weren’t having it, though. "}]

The owner of the wayward hat had to wait for the stagecoach to leave the area before he could retrieve his hat.

Fortunately, it was only slightly battered and dusty for the escapade. It was back in place before the clatter of mule hooves on hardpan had quite faded away. 

The people on the streets returned to their chatter, and Murphy marveled at the full-on sensory experience that chance had lured him to. He’d had no idea when he set out that he was about to visit one of the West’s best-preserved Gold Rush towns. 

A young woman named Elizabeth Isenhart was soon floating across the dusty street toward Murphy and the stagecoach area, wearing a satiny green ballgown and hoop skirt that rippled in the breeze. 

It was as if she’d stepped from a daguerreotype into the 21st century right before his eyes.

History was alive on the streets of South Pass City, a place of gold dust and dreams — though never enough gold to satisfy all those fevered dreams. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"History That You Can See And Touch"}]

Isenhart more typically avoids standing out, but South Pass City’s Gold Rush Days is an exception to the rule. It’s the one day of the year where she takes out her cloak of history and time travels to another era.

In a crowd full of cavalry uniforms and calico, her satiny mint green ball gown made her an instant celebrity.

Children asked if she was a princess. Strangers complimented her dress and asked for selfies. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Isenhart, normally shy, eagerly complied."}]

The dress was a graduation gift from her mother to a high schooler obsessed with history. 

“I have always wanted an old-fashioned, hoop skirt — poofy dress,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “So that was her graduation present to me, making me one of those.”

Isenhart learned to love history in South Pass City as a fourth-grade girl. The first time her mother brought her, there was gold-panning by the riverside.

“She didn’t want to stop doing that,” her mother recalled with a chuckle. 

But there was so much more to do and see in South Pass City. 

“They had all this stuff going on,” she said. “Everyone’s dressed up. There were demonstrations.”

And there were exhibits, lots of exhibits, which started an endless stream of questions for her mother to answer.

“I’d be like, ‘Mom, why is this? Why is that?’ And she just explained to me how things were different back then.”

Teeny, tiny beds, for example, that two people would share. And stoves that sat so low to the floor, they were barely up to her waist. 

“It’s different than history class,” she said. “It’s being there, looking at it, and then having her say, ‘Yeah, this is how it all works. This is how it was.’”

In South Pass City, the “old days” aren’t some phrase in a textbook. They’re something Isenhart and other children like her could see and smell and touch.

She has loved history ever since, and South Pass City in particular.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"South Pass And The Story Of Our Nation"}]

People were coming to the South Pass region long before gold was discovered because it was a major western migration route.

“This is the convergence of the Rocky Mountains, the Continental Divide,” North Platte Bridge Company Commander Nick Salicky told Cowboy State Daily. “This is the one place where you can cross through without going over the mountains.”

Salicky brought a company of 24 reenactors to South Pass for Gold Rush Days, to help escort supply wagons and civilians, as well as help chase would-be robbers out of town — all roles that the military would have played when South Pass City was young.

Long before the cannon booms and stagecoaches of Gold Rush Days, thousands of emigrants crossed this same ground on the Oregon, Mormon and California trails. They were chasing dreams and hoping for fortune in a new land as they passed through its wide gentle gap — never realizing a literal fortune in gold lay under their feet.

When that gold was finally discovered, it may have been little more than a flash in the pan, but it still helped spur the new territory’s economy. It was also part of what helped bring people to Wyoming, to eventually create a state. 

“This is our story as a nation,” Salicky said. “You can’t put a price tag on this land. You can’t put a price tag on the stories of the people, these visitors walking around, learning how to do things the traditional way. 

“In a world where everything’s for sale, you’ve gotta have a place where that’s not the case. And historical places like this are significant for that right there.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Almost Wyoming’s Capital City"}]

South Pass City popped up nearly overnight in the summer of 1867, after a group of prospectors out of Fort Bridger located a massive, rich vein of gold-bearing quartz along the Willow Creek — not far from where visitors pan for gold today. They called it the Cariso lode, though early records spelled it different ways — Carisso or Carissa. Some say it was named for a miner’s sweetheart, but no one knows for sure now.

The air here might have been thin, the winters brutal, and food scarce. And the risk of conflict with Shoshone and Arapaho people was real. But nothing was going to stop thousands of men and women from surging into the area. By 1868, South Pass City stretched for a mile, with more than 300 buildings and nearly 3,000 people. 

It was barely contained chaos. Hotels, boarding houses, and saloons crowded together along the same kinds of dusty streets visitors walk today, and a simple pound of flour might cost more than a single day’s wages.

Just imagine the celebrations in this town, once considered for territorial capital, each time a rich pocket of gold was found. The overflow of cash and celebration washed through every South Pass saloon.

People had placed a bet on their future in South Pass City, and every gold strike seemed to prove them right. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"But the glory days wouldn’t last long."}]

By the early 1870s, deeper workings at the Carissa had hit hard rock, groundwater, and more chemically complex ore. 

Veins pinched out, capital grew skittish, and people began to drift away to other opportunities. 

By 1884, South Pass had lost its status as the county’s seat to Lander and fell into what some locals have called a “long sleep” — a slow fade from gold capital to near ghost town.

A few families stayed, scratching out a living on small placer claims or on nearby ranches. Others, like the Sherlock family, became the town’s quiet stewards, running a hotel, store, and post office for decades.

They were protective of South Pass and its old buildings. They’re why so many of them survived as long as they did.

But South Pass was slowly but surely coming apart. By the time Wyoming bought the core of the town in 1966 as a 75th anniversary present for the state’s citizens, its buildings were “leaning with the wind,” as South Pass City piano man John Mionczynski puts it. 

Instead of building a Wild West theme park, preservationists opted for authenticity as they preserved and restored the town. 

Wallpaper in the Sherlock Hotel was recreated from surviving fragments, for example. The blacksmith shop was restocked with tools that matched old photographs.

Today, the 1890s Dance Hall serves as an information center with introductory videos and exhibits, but it still looks just like the log community hall it once was. 

The Smith-Sherlock Co. Store, built in 1896 of logs salvaged from the 1870 Episcopal Church again functions as a general store, with a tiny post office tucked inside. 

Across the street from it, the South Pass Hotel and Restaurant, opened in 1868 and later run by the widowed mother of five, Janet Sherlock, shows what frontier hospitality at 8,000 feet looked like.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Lessons Of The Past For The Future"}]

All of that could make South pass feel like a static museum. But events like Gold Rush Days makes sure that the history lives.

Back behind the saloon, where Mionczynski is playing tune after 1800s tune, cannon man Tom Broadbent is loading black powder into a 5/8-scale Civil War-era gun he built himself. 

Throughout the day, he brings in re-enactors and other volunteers to fire off a round, teaching them how a crew of five would have done it in days gone by, so that they could fire three rounds every minute.

Once a roaring gold capital, South Pass City, Wyoming, comes to life for one summer weekend every year for Gold Rush Days. There's cannon fire, gold panning, and guests who look the part in one of the West’s best-preserved Gold Rush towns. 

Daily Smile: Tuesday, November 14, 2023

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