Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"No one's more excited to see a pile of leaves than this dog..."}]

Smile 11 20 23

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

<title>Daily Smile: Monday, November 20, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

No one's more excited to see a pile of leaves than this dog...

Daily Smile: Monday, November 20, 2023

 No one's more excited to see a pile of leaves than this dog...

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

It’s easy for most people to avoid committing crimes while visiting Yellowstone National Park.

For anyone willing to push their luck, it’s just as easy to get caught in an act. One photo could lead to $2,000 in fines and a week in jail. 

Dane Eyerly of Highland, Utah, was visiting Yellowstone with his family when he spotted someone trying to get a better selfie. The problem was that they did so by stepping onto the fragile terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs.

If that person knew they’d been caught on camera committing a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by fines or a week in jail, maybe they’d have stayed on the boardwalk.

 in a Thursday post, adding that he had informed Yellowstone rangers of the incident.

Cowboy State Daily was unable to reach Dane Eyerly by the time of publication.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Thermal Trespass"}]

“Foot travel in all thermal areas and within the Yellowstone Canyon between the Upper Falls and Inspiration Point must be confined to boardwalks or trails that are maintained for such travel and are marked by official signs.”

 according to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Title 36, Section 7.13, specifically regarding Yellowstone National Park. Violating that statute can and has been 

All the signs and boardwalks throughout Yellowstone are designed to ensure nobody violates that rule. It ensures they protect themselves and the delicate landscape, as one wrong step can lead to serious injury or death.

do so anyway in the pursuit of better selfies — 

Earlier this year, Eric Bedient, 50, was 

for walking directly across Canary Spring, Mound Terrace, Palette Hot Spring, and Jupiter Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs in November 2025.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming said Bedient’s sentence “reflected the extensive nature of the violation (and) the damage his footprints left behind.” He left behind several footprints that were as deep as 12 centimeters.

“Yellowstone’s thermal areas are among the most dangerous natural features in the world,” said U.S. Attorney Darin Smith in a statement. “Mr. Bedient’s disregard for the law could have cost him his life. 

"Prosecuting crimes like this deters others from similar conduct — and from risking becoming thermal soup.”

Mammoth Hot Springs has been frequently cited as an especially fragile thermal area. Any damage may be evident for months or years after the incident, unless it’s permanent.

“Foot traffic can easily destroy very fragile carbonate terrace structures,” Jeffrey Hungerford, Yellowstone’s geologist, wrote in a report assessing the damage caused by Bedient. “Recently formed structures (less than a year old) are very fragile and unstable. 

"They cannot withstand the weight of a human without failing or breaking. It may take years for hydrothermal waters to flow over and rebuild terrace structures in Mammoth.”

Mammoth Hot Springs was the same spot where Eyerly saw the selfie seeker stepping off the boardwalk.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Crime And Punishment"}]

, Washington resident Viktor Pyshniuk was sentenced to seven days in jail and 

 $1,500 in fines after leaving the boardwalk at Steamboat Geyser for “better photos.” A ranger found him standing within 20 feet of the geyser’s steam vent.

Pyshniuk was also placed on two years of unsupervised release and was banned from visiting Yellowstone for the same duration.

, James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan pleaded guilty to foot travel in a thermal area. He also stepped off the boardwalk at Mammoth Hot Springs to pose for a photo standing on Palette Springs.

Brosnan agreed to pay a $5,000 fine and two years of unsupervised probation. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie A. Hambrick reduced the sentence to a $1,500 fine and no probation, citing his remorse and frequent public apologies.

“Mr. Brosnan isn’t proud of himself,” she said during his sentencing hearing. “We’ve seen his remorse. It’s genuine.”

Aaron E. Merritt wasn’t so fortunate. He 

 after pleading guilty to thermal trespass in July 2021.

The previous summer, Merritt ran up to Old Faithful with an American flag and a raccoon skin hat. He was also banned from visiting Yellowstone as a condition of his sentence, though the duration wasn’t specified.

Despite the desire for thermal trespass sentences to deter others from doing the same, none of the recent sentences have exceeded seven days in jail and/or $2,000 in fines.

“I don't know if jail actually gets through to their heads, but the dollar bill does,” Cody resident and photographer Tara Posey 

. “When you hit their pocketbook, it seems to register with them, and I don't think they put enough of a fine on these people for doing this stuff. The fines need to be way stiffer.”

Selfie Yellowstone Thermal 726294997 10165331862846757 1165246136924944896 n 6 18 26

<title>'Don't Be This Guy': Yellowstone Selfie Seeker Steps Illegally Onto Hot Spring | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A man in Yellowstone was caught stepping illegally onto a fragile hot spring could get jail time and a hefty fine when park rangers catch up to him. “Don’t be this guy,” said a visitor who posted a photo of the offender on Thursday.

'Don't Be This Guy': Yellowstone Selfie Seeker Steps Illegally Onto Hot Spring

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Government & Politics

Politics

Pushing back against any more attempts to sell large swaths of federal lands, a pair of Democrats are pushing bills in the U.S. House and Senate to forbid such sales.

The lead bill is H.R. 9176, the Public Lands Integrity Act, introduced to the House earlier this month by Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico. A mirror bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado.

Wyoming Republicans Rep. Harriet Hageman and Sen. John Barrasso oppose the bills, while Sen. Cynthia Lummis’ office did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Aaron Bannon, executive director of the Wyoming Wilderness Association, told Cowboy State Daily that he thinks this is one time Wyoming’s congressional delegation should cross party lines.

“They might not want to sign on to a bill that came from a Democrat,” Bannon said.

He added that if they do, “They would not be disappointing the people of this state” but rather supporting the bill.

As evidence, he cited widespread pushback to a 2025 attempt by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to include federal land sales in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

After criticism from hunters, hikers, environmentalists and many others, Lee 

At the time Hageman backed Lee, arguing that the lands he wanted to put up for sale weren’t in good hunting or recreation areas, and could have been used for housing development and the like.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What The Bill Proposes"}]

The Public Lands Integrity Act aims to block any future attempts to propose federal land sales through the budget reconciliation process, which allows measures to be passed by a simple majority in the Senate.

It would therefore “close a loophole” allowing sales attempts like Lee’s to be slipped into budgetary procedures, according to Vasquez

“The Public Lands Integrity Act would amend a section of the Congressional Budget Act — commonly known as the Byrd Rule — to clarify that any provision resulting in the sale, transfer, or disposal of federal public lands is considered extraneous and outside the scope of budget reconciliation,” according to a statement from Vasquez.

That doesn’t mean federal land sales or exchanges would be shut down altogether, he argued.

The act “would not affect legitimate land exchanges, local conveyances, permitting reforms, grazing, timber management, energy development, or other public land management decisions,” Vasquez stated.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Barrasso And Hagman Say No"}]

In statements to Cowboy State Daily, Hageman and Barrasso both said they’ll oppose the Public Lands Integrity Act.

Barrasso stated that it would undermine best land management practices at local levels.

“Local communities, not broad federal legislation, should determine how land is managed,” he said. "I remain committed to responsible, multiple-use management of our federal lands — including energy development, grazing, recreation, and timber management.”

Hageman stated that the bill takes the focus off of what she sees as a push to restore sound management to federal lands, including rescinding or nullifying the 2001 Roadless Rule.

Nullifying the Roadless Rule will make lands “manageable again,” Hageman stated.

“This bill ignores the reality facing public lands that continue to suffer under federal mismanagement,” she said. "It recklessly disregards the catastrophic wildfires and beetle outbreaks which have devastated forests across the country.

“I oppose any effort to make public land management more difficult with additional layers of red tape that threaten our Western way of life."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Where We Go For Day Hikes"}]

Bannon said the Public Lands Integrity Act would prevent the sales of “large swaths” of federal land.

He added that the attempts by Hageman and others to end the Roadless Rule go against many Wyomingite’s wishes.

“Hageman’s bill has a road-building mandate in it. That’s not what Wyoming people want,” he said. “I don’t think many people realize that the place they go for their daily hike is in a roadless area."

Craig Benjamin, executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, said his organization hasn’t taken an official stance on the Public Lands Integrity Act. But it seems to lean in the right direction.

“We haven’t done a deep review yet, but the basic principle lines up with where WWF has long stood: public lands decisions should be made in the open, with hunters, anglers, local communities, and wildlife interests at the table,” he said.

“Wyoming’s public lands are important to our wildlife, outdoor heritage, and way of life,” he added. "Decisions about their future deserve public scrutiny and full debate, not a shortcut through a federal budget bill."

Public lands sign 9 14 24

<title>Hageman, Barrasso Don’t Support Democrat Bill To Stop Federal Land Sales | Cowboy State Daily</title>

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and Rep. Harriet Hageman say they don't support Democrat bills that ban large swaths of federal lands. “I oppose any effort to make public land management more difficult ... and threaten our Western way of life," Hageman said.

Hageman, Barrasso Don’t Support Democrat Bill To Stop Federal Land Sales

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

CHEYENNE — A jury trial remains scheduled to start in less than two months for a 14-year-old charged as an adult with first-degree murder, accused of shooting his mother in the head after an argument over a stolen electronic tablet.

Laramie County Sheriff’s Office investigators say Havoc Leone admitted to shooting his mother, 41-year-old Theresa McIntosh, after she had called him “retarded” and a “thief” on March 6.

If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. The death penalty isn’t an option in this case because of Leone’s age.

, one of Leone’s attorneys outlined an alleged pattern of emotional abuse that may have driven the teen to act out.

Leone is an emotionally vulnerable child who had been subjected to a pattern of degrading treatment by a mentally ill mother, argued defense attorney Jonathan Foreman.

“If I called you ‘retarded,’ would you believe it?” Foreman asked Laramie County Sheriff’s Office Detective Miles DePrimo, who testified about the details of the case during the March 18 preliminary hearing.

Those details included Leone admitting to hating his mother and shooting her.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"DePrimo answered, “No.”"}]

“Would a child who had been hearing that his whole childhood start to question that?” Foreman followed up.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Maybe,” the detective answered."}]

“Ms. McIntosh, who was mentally ill … regularly called him ‘retarded,’ pulled his hair,” and slapped him, said Foreman.

Conversely, Laramie County Assistant District Attorney Kelly Strickland argued that Leone expressed a long-simmering hatred for his mother, had thoughts about killing her, and then followed through when presented an opportunity.

“Right before pulling the trigger on the gun, Theresa yelled at him again if he was ‘retarded,’” Strickland said, recounting an interview Leone had with an investigator. “He said, ‘Yes mom,’ and pulled the trigger.”

 to the first-degree murder charge, setting up a jury trial scheduled to begin Aug. 10.

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

McIntosh was still alive when sheriff’s deputies arrived at their house, summoned by a 911 call from his father, who heard the shot while he was playing video games in the basement of their home, according to DePrimo’s court testimony and an affidavit of probable cause he wrote and filed in the case.

After Leone, his mother, and father argued about the electronic tablet he allegedly stole from a client of his mother’s cleaning business, they all went their separate ways in their three-level home just south of the Cheyenne city limits, according to DePrimo’s affidavit.

The father went into the basement to play video games, McIntosh was upstairs in Leone’s room doing a puzzle on the floor, while Leone was at the kitchen table doing homework.

At some point, Leone went up to his room where McIntosh was, and they began arguing again, DePrimo wrote.

A gun the teen stole from his mother’s car the week prior, a Taurus 9mm pistol, had been stashed in a boot in Leone’s closet, the detective wrote. 

At one point during their argument, Leone went to the closet to retrieve a notebook that supposedly had a password to access the stolen tablet, the affidavit says. Leone also pulled the gun out of the boot and held it by his side to hide it from McIntosh.

With McIntosh sitting back on her knees on the floor, Leone told detectives that he tossed the notebook at her, which forced the woman to lean forward away from him, exposing the back of her head, DePrimo testified at the preliminary hearing.

“As she knelt forward, he revealed the gun and shot her,” he said, adding that being called “retarded” seemed to be a trigger for the teen.

“By tossing that notebook, he put her in a position to be shot in the back of the head?” Strickland asked, to which DePrimo answered in the affirmative.

McIntosh was shot once in the head behind her left ear, he added.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What Dad Heard And Saw"}]

Leone’s father heard the gunshot from the basement and went upstairs to see what had happened. There, he encountered his son outside the bedroom, DePrimo wrote.

When he asked the teen what happened, the father told detectives Leone answered, “I don’t know, it just went off,” DePrimo said.

Leone himself at first told detectives that McIntosh had the gun and handed it to him, the detective testified. During that act, he said that “his finger slipped” and the gun fired.

Later, he told another detective the account involving getting the gun out of the boot.

Leone also said that “he had thought about killing Theresa then” at the time he stole the gun from his mother’s car, “but he didn’t,” DePrimo testified.

“He didn’t like to be called names and didn’t know how to express his anger and hatred to her,” he added.

When cross-examined by Foreman, DePrimo admitted that while Leone was asked about his negative feelings toward his mother, he wasn’t asked about the opposite.

“Did you ever ask him if he loved his mother?” Foreman asked. “Are you familiar with the term ‘love-hate relationship?’”

Foreman also explored the initial report to 911 by McIntosh’s common-law husband that she may have tried to kill herself.

“But the initial assumption by her husband was that she killed herself, is that right?” he asked, to which DePrimo answered he didn’t know.

Leone remains at the Laramie County Detention Center on a $500,000 bond.

Havoc Leones house and Theresa Mc Intosh 3 18 26

<title>Cheyenne 14-Year-Old Charged As Adult In Mom’s Shooting Set For Trial | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Cheyenne 14-year-old charged as an adult with first-degree murder in the death of his mother is set for a jury trial in less than two months. His defense claims he was emotionally abused, while investigators say he admitted he hated his mother.

Cheyenne 14-Year-Old Charged As Adult In Mom’s Shooting Set For Trial

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Wyoming Life

A Montana police officer spotted the giant banana rolling through Billings on Wednesday afternoon and did what countless law enforcement officers have done before him.

[{"type":"text","text":"He turned around and pulled it over."}]

For Steve Braithwaite, owner, builder and full-time driver of the 23-foot-long Big Banana Car, the stop was less of a surprise than a tradition.

"I would see a police car going the other way and get my documents ready," Braithwaite told Cowboy State Daily from Seattle on Thursday morning. "I knew they were going to loop around and pull me over." 

After 15 years, more than 250,000 miles and enough roadside conversations to fill a produce aisle, Braithwaite has learned that driving a giant banana attracts attention.

[{"type":"text","text":"Especially from cops."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They always find a reason to pull me over,\" Braithwaite said. "}]

in this case it was an issue with the license plate, but ultimately he was not given a ticket.  

Braithwaite figures he may have spent the better part of a decade as one of the most frequently pulled-over drivers in America.

[{"type":"text","text":"Not for speeding, but simply because he was driving a giant banana."}]

"For the first eight or nine years I was the most pulled-over man in America," he said. "It was constant."

[{"type":"text","text":"Often officers simply wanted photographs."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Other times they invented reasons to start a conversation."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"His favorite stop happened in a small mountain town in West Virginia."}]

A traffic light turned red. Braithwaite stopped. The light turned green and he made a leisurely turn through the intersection.

[{"type":"text","text":"A few moments later, flashing lights appeared behind him."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A police officer marched up to the banana and delivered the news."}]

"'The reason I pulled you over, that light back there, you peeled out.'"

[{"type":"text","text":"For a moment, Braithwaite didn't know if he was being serious or not."}]

"He said it so straight-faced," Braithwaite recalled. "And I'm like, 'Oh yeah.'"

[{"type":"text","text":"The banana jokes, he said, are \"never-ending.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Fortunately, so are the laughs."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"How It All Started"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The whole thing began in a gas station in 2008."}]

Braithwaite, a lifelong hot-rod enthusiast, had become bored attending car shows.

Then he watched an episode of the British television show "Top Gear" featuring bizarre custom-built vehicles, including a street-legal garden shed and a drivable couch.

[{"type":"text","text":"For the next month, his brain worked overtime."}]

"Everything I looked at, I thought, 'can I turn that into a car?'" he said. "My drill, my neighbor's lawn mower, everything."

Then one day he found himself standing beside a bowl of fruit in a gas station. 

[{"type":"text","text":"On top sat a banana."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Not the curved cartoon banana he'd always pictured, but a straighter one."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Suddenly, he could see it."}]

"The windshield would go there. The wheels would go there."

[{"type":"text","text":"Then came the moment that changed everything."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I pictured it driving down the road and died laughing,\" he said."}]

The image captivated him so completely that the checkout line moved without him noticing.

"The lady directly behind me had to tap me on the shoulder," he said. "They must have been thinking, 'Oh my God, is that the first banana he's ever seen?'"

[{"type":"text","text":"His rule was simple."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"If it makes me laugh now, I'm going to do it.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"It still made him laugh."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"So he built it."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"What he expected to be a parade novelty became his daily driver."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The truck beneath the banana has now traveled more than 250,000 miles."}]

"I didn't think I'd be driving it anywhere near as much as I am," he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Roaming In Wyoming"}]

Braithwaite didn't stop in Wyoming on this trip. He was headed west toward Washington.

[{"type":"text","text":"But Wyoming still occupies an important place in banana history."}]

Several years ago, while crossing the state, the Big Banana Car suddenly died alongside a lonely stretch of highway.

"I hadn't realized the distances between towns," he said. "I was in the middle of nowhere."

Parked beside the highway, luggage scattered around him. He "managed to get it running again."

By then he was running out of time to get to Los Angeles for a TV appearance, so he left in a hurry. 

[{"type":"text","text":"But he says there's a chance he might come back."}]

Braithwaite wants to race the famous Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, and why not in the Rockies?

He has already challenged it, but he says he thinks Kraft won't go for it. 

Sooner or later, he figures, some reporter would ask a dangerous question.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Instead of which is the quicker vehicle, which is the healthier food?\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then he laughs."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"And they're going to lose that.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"World Needs More Whimsy"}]

Casper car enthusiast Tom Morton says he is curious about the drag race with Oscar Mayer's wiener. 

"What's next?" Morton asks, "Asparagus street rods?" Overall, he says "I like it." 

[{"type":"text","text":"What began as a joke has evolved into something larger."}]

Braithwaite recently drove the banana into Mexico, where he was pulled over five times in three days.

[{"type":"text","text":"Every encounter was friendly, he says. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Now he's thinking much bigger."}]

His goal is to drive the Big Banana Car through Central America; somehow get it shipped across oceans and eventually circle the globe.

For 15 years, Steve Braithwaite has driven a 23-foot banana across the country and, on Wednesday, just like hundreds of times before, he was pulled over by law enforcement. "They always find a reason to pull me over," Braithwaite said.

Daily Smile: Monday, November 20, 2023

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