Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Say what you will about Dog, but he's got a mean right hook..."}]

Smile 11 22 23

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

<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, November 22, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Say what you will about Dog, but he's got a mean right hook...

Daily Smile: Wednesday, November 22, 2023

 Say what you will about Dog, but he's got a mean right hook...

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Two tourists were seen getting dangerously and illegally close to Grand Prismatic Spring on Sunday in Yellowstone National Park, enraging hundreds of spectators and millions of internet onlookers.

Tanya Saueressig of Livingston, Montana, was visiting Yellowstone with a friend when she witnessed the incident. She was standing on the Grand Prismatic boardwalk around 7 p.m. during what was otherwise a pleasant evening.

“It was a really nice crowd,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “People on the boardwalk were being lovely, giving each other space, and being quiet. It was a really nice experience.”

Saueressig was getting her final look of the evening when she saw something moving across the expansive microbial mats toward Grand Prismatic.

“I stopped in my tracks and was like, ‘Is that people? That can't be people. Nobody's that dumb,’” she said. 

[{"type":"text","text":"After all, temperatures in the spring run from 145 - 188 degrees. Deadly."}]

But, it was people. Two women, who appeared to be approaching the massive hot spring from the Fairy Falls Trail, which runs along the western edge of Grand Prismatic.

Saueressig's lovely evening quickly soured, as she was immediately overwhelmed by a wave of different emotions.

“I started getting scared because I thought they were going to fall in and get really, really hurt,” she said. “I worried people at the overlook were going to watch someone die that day. They were out there where nobody could help them.”

Concern quickly turned to anger. As she watched the women nonchalantly walk along the edge of Grand Prismatic, within 50 feet of its scalding-hot water, she got “so furious that I literally had tears in my eyes.”

“You could tell they were just strolling along, taking their selfies, without a care in the world,” she said. “They were totally oblivious to what was right under their feet. You're causing so much damage with every step you take, and you don't care.”

Someone else filmed the dark-haired duo 

. That video has been viewed millions of times in less than 24 hours. 

There’s no word on whether the individuals in the videos were identified or reported to Yellowstone's law enforcement rangers.

“I was so angry,” Saueressig said. “It was so mind-boggling to me that they would be out there in the first place.”

Walking on the fragile microbial mats around Grand Prismatic Spring and Yellowstone's many thermal features is a crime, punishable by fines, incarceration, and a multi-year ban from Yellowstone.

 in the park. That hasn’t stopped others from 

Greg Jackson, a former deputy chief for the National Park Service’s Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services in Washington, D.C., called this type of tourist “the 0.1%.”

“Some people see the world differently than the mainstream,” he said. “You build an infrastructure that's dedicated to the 99.9% of people that don’t do this, and then you get people who don’t see that infrastructure or decide it doesn’t apply to them.”

Many people plead ignorance when charged with thermal trespass, saying they weren’t aware they were violating any rules or that they saw no signs in the immediate area where they were caught.

In Jackson’s opinion, it doesn’t matter how much the National Park Service does to prevent this kind of behavior. Nothing stops the 0.1%.

“I’ve seen people climb over guardrails to keep them from falling off a cliff for a better picture,” he said. “You can create as much of a deterrent as you can, but some people aren’t deterred by what would deter most people. Those outliers walk among us.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“Helpless”"}]

Saueressig wanted to immediately report the Sunday evening incident to a Yellowstone ranger. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find one.

“There weren't any rangers on the boardwalk, which there rarely are,” she said. “I think they only show up if an incident is called in, because they have so many other places to be and there's so few of them.”

That left Saueressig even more despondent in the moment. She felt “helpless” to do anything about the egregious act she was witnessing.

“You can help them or stop them because it’s already happening,” she said. “I didn’t have cell reception, so I couldn't call anybody. There wasn't anybody I could run up to and notify. I didn’t know what to do.”

With no other options, Saueressig did the best thing she could by filming and sharing the video on social media. While not a guarantee, it could lead to the identification of the perpetrators.

[{"type":"text","text":"Still, it did little to comfort her in the moment."}]

“The anger I was feeling was awful, and feeling helpless made it worse,” she said.

[{"type":"text","text":"How Vs. Why Not?"}]

Can anything be done to stop “the 0.1%”? Jackson doesn’t see a viable solution that hasn’t already been tried.

“If I could find a way of fixing that, I certainly would,” he said. “It creates a problem for everyone.”

In Jackson’s view, the National Park Service has made “reasonable and good efforts” to curtail the brazen behavior of the small number of tourists who choose to do these things. After all, the vast majority of Yellowstone’s visitors enjoy the park without incident.

[{"type":"text","text":"Would more signage, boardwalks, and barricades help?"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Yes, but in Jackson’s experience, only to a point."}]

“I think they’ve done everything they can, but somebody's always going to think in a way you hadn't thought of before,” he said. “If you build a barricade, people will jump over it. If you build a wall, someone will hang-glide or parachute in.”

Having a ranger in the vicinity, visibly keeping an eye out for miscreants, might help stop this behavior. However, Jackson still didn’t think that would be enough.

“I’ve seen people do things right in front of me that you wouldn't think they would do, and they don’t have a clue,” he said. “A ranger might deter some people, but some people aren't deterred by the things that would deter most people.”

Most people, including Jackson, don’t think like this. That’s why trying to prevent this behavior is often futile.

“We can't see how, and they can't see why not,” he said. “That’s what makes people different. It’s a strange world we live in.”

When Saueressig started filming the two tourists, there was more on her mind than justice.

She recalled the incident at Grand Prismatic in June 2025, when 

 and was scalded to death by the 160-degree thermal water. One wrong step or a small crack in the thin crust could quickly prove fatal.

 to the microbial mats surrounding Grand Prismatic. These delicate living masses of thermophilic bacteria are what give the pool its vibrant colors.

“If they didn’t die, they were leaving permanent scars on the microbial mats,” she said. “They were causing so much damage with every step they took, and they literally didn’t care at all.”

People charged with thermal trespass can, and often do, plead ignorance. That usually isn’t enough to get them off the hook for fines, although it can be enough to avoid a few days at the Yellowstone Detention Center at Mammoth Hot Springs.

Ultimately, the damage is already done. No amount of money or jail time can remove the footprints and other scars left behind by people walking on Yellowstone’s thermal features.

“Ignorance may be a reason, but it’s no excuse,” Jackson said. “The resource doesn't care whether it's been damaged by people who are unaware or malicious. It’s still damage.”

Even the worst sentences can be seen as lucky breaks. Several people have been seriously injured or killed after getting too close to Yellowstone’s thermal features.

One would think a high risk of death might be enough to dissuade tourists from tempting their luck. That mentality’s been proven, time and time again, to not be enough to stop “the 0.1%”

“People still die whether they’re aware they’re intentionally violating the law or not,” Jackson said. “Sometimes, life's a little harder if you're clueless or decide the danger doesn’t apply to you.”

Tourists grand prismatic spring 7 20 26

<title>Tourists Again Illegally Walk On Dangerous Grand Prismatic Spring In Yellowstone | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Two tourists got dangerously and illegally close to Grand Prismatic Spring on Sunday in Yellowstone. Montana resident Tanya Saueressig, who filmed them taking selfies right next to the scalding water, said she "was so furious" she had tears in her eyes.

Tourists Again Illegally Walk On Dangerous Grand Prismatic Spring In Yellowstone

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

Greg Johnson

Government & Politics

Executive

CHEYENNE — That something may be wrong with wastewater discharged from the closed-loop cooling system of a huge Meta data center being built in south Cheyenne first hit the radar of the city’s Board of Public Utilities in mid-January.

[{"type":"text","text":"The public was first made aware of the contamination on June 25."}]

In a 13-page timeline of events leading up to the Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) issuing a notice of violation against a Meta contractor released Monday, the agency says it first observed “an unknown bacteria” — later identified as Cupriavidus gilardii — on Jan. 15.

It also details the multiple steps the agency took with Meta contractors Goat Systems LLC and Fortis over about five months to fix the situation.

 along with a lengthy question and answer sheet also put out Monday, addresses why the public was kept in the dark about the contamination for months.

The agency has been scrutinized by some residents and city officials about why people weren’t told earlier of the contamination of the waste reuse system — which isn’t the city’s drinking water.

[{"type":"text","text":"The answer is simple, the BOPU reports in the Q&A."}]

“BOPU determined there was a low risk to public health, which did not justify a public notification that could result in public panic,” the Q&A says.

“As a public agency, BOPU must weigh public safety, impacted area, and level of risk when determining the appropriate nature and extent of public notifications,” the document continues.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Who Knew What And When?"}]

While Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins and the city’s chief of staff were made aware of the situation via email on March 25, it wasn’t until June 26 that the BOPU issued a statement making the public aware of the contamination and that it had been rectified, according to the timeline.

In the meantime, City Councilman Pete Laybourn told Cowboy State Daily after that initial public statement that he was disappointed to learn about the contamination that way.

"It's a very, very unpleasant surprise," Laybourn said.

Laybourn said he had already expressed concerns about some of the arrangements the city has made with data center operators, adding that he expects the disclosure will prompt additional discussion.

"It's about the last thing we need right now," he said. "But it's a reality we're going to have to work through.”

After the BOPU’s first press release, Collins called the contamination “regrettable,” and also praised the agency for catching the contamination and cleaning up the city’s sewage reuse system.

 over a perceived lack of transparency was Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, who dispatched a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“Many are rightfully concerned about high water consumption rates by data centers in our communities where every drop of water is accounted for and needed,” wrote Hageman, “so I am even more concerned that this contamination seemingly came from your facility’s closed-loop cooling system, a technology that is marketed as being a solution to high data center water consumption rates.”

Hageman added that, “Many Wyomingites are also rightfully concerned that they learned about this contamination on June 26 and that the Meta Cheyenne facility was identified as the culprit on July 2nd, when the discharge privileges for Goat Systems were revoked on March 24th.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Meta Appeals"}]

The BOPU documents released Monday also give more detail about the situation, including that it involved a little more than 800,000 gallons of wastewater discharged during January, February and March.

Goat Systems was hit with a $10,000 administrative fine, along with the promise of “a surcharge to cover costs incurred in the investigation and treatment of the bacteria,” according to the Q&A.

[{"type":"text","text":"That cost hasn’t yet been determined."}]

 the notice of violation, arguing that the BOPU hasn’t provided evidence that it was the company’s construction that contaminated the water reuse system.

The appeal was filed last week by Goat Systems, 11 days after the BOPU publicly identified it as the industrial user responsible for introducing the bacteria into the system.

In a statement to Cowboy State Daily last week, Meta claims the BOPU has not shared all of its testing data or supporting documentation with Meta, its contractor Fortis Construction or the public.

"It is important that the community has all the information about what happened," the statement says.

Meta said it is seeking review "so the facts and cause can be fully and accurately evaluated through the appropriate process."

A call and email to a Meta spokesperson on Monday weren’t returned by publication.

Meta 7337 7 15 26

<title>Public Not Informed Earlier Of Wastewater Contamination Because It Was ‘Low Risk’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities didn't inform the public earlier that Cheyenne's wastewater system was contaminated by a Meta data center because they deemed it a "low risk to public health." The agency released a timeline and Q&A on Monday.

Public Not Informed Earlier Of Wastewater Contamination Because It Was ‘Low Risk’

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

CHEYENNE — There are plenty of theories swirling around about just how a $5 bill seemed to appear out of nowhere and float onto the bar at VFW Post 1881, ranging from the practical to supernatural.

If you ask post member Dan Dial, it was the ghost of Darrel Anderson, a longtime VFW member who died about 10 years ago.

Anderson was just buying Dial another beer for old time’s sake, he said.

“Yeah, I like to think of it as Darrell just bought us a beer,” Dial told Cowboy State Daily about the unsettling experience last Wednesday night.

A video from surveillance cameras inside Post 1881 captured the scene, where Dial is standing at the bar with another member when an errant $5 bill seems to float in out of nowhere and land right next to him on the bar.

“It certainly was surprising, because there was nobody behind us or around us,” Dial said. “The first inclination was there used to be this old veteran who I used to take care of who passed away about 10 years ago.”

[{"type":"text","text":"That was Anderson."}]

Judging by the video, maybe that was Dial’s second thought. His first seems to be total bewilderment, along with his drinking partner.

The bill floats in, lands on the bar, and the two men turn in tandem to look behind them with confusion on their faces.

“You could certainly see our surprise,” said Dial, who’s since reviewed the video multiple times.

A male voice on the video laughs as he comments, “it just come from nowhere, bro. Isn’t that the damnedest thing?”

Jason Harper, the post’s senior vice commander, was next to Dial at the bar when the ghost bill appeared.

[{"type":"text","text":"Harper said he was every bit as bewildered as the video shows."}]

“I thought maybe somebody was behind us throwing money at us,” he said. “But nobody was there, it was just a ghost who came out of nowhere.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Had To Have Come From Somewhere"}]

After Post 1881 shared the video, people weighed in online about the origins of the five-spot.

“Watch closely — a wild $5 bill literally manifests out of thin air right onto the bar!” the post exclaims. “We’re currently looking into whether this counts as ‘unexpected revenue’ or if we need to set up a membership card for the supernatural.”

A couple theorized that the bar must have dollars and other bills tacked to the ceiling.

“Nope,” Dial said. “There are no bills on the ceiling. The only thing on the ceiling are some military tiles.

“In fact, above that seat is my tile. There are absolutely no dollar bills on the ceiling.”

Another eagle-eyed observer said the bill fell from something hanging over the bar, which was being blown by the air conditioning. On closer inspection, it does seem to come from there.

That makes sense, Dial said, because he knows of some people who will stash things out of the way in little nooks above the bar. It’s possible someone had left it there earlier.

“There’s an overhan above that bar and a few of us tend to store things there, and the fans were running that night,” he said. “That’s the only solution we can come up with.”

Harper agrees, adding that the fans in the post were blowing the air around pretty good that evening.

“I’m sure there was a $5 bill on that little ledge there,” he said. “But the timing of it was just perfect, and it landed just where the only two people at the bar were standing. There was nobody else at the bar.”

He also added his own theory: “Maybe it was some sort of time machine from the future.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Yeah, It’s Haunted"}]

Even if that’s what happened, Dial still likes to think it was a sign from the ghost of a former veteran and Post 1881 member, “just saying hi.”

That the $5 floated down on what used to be Anderson’s normal seat when he drank at the VFW says something, Dial believes.

“He’s very missed, absolutely, and was a character,” he said, adding that now he feels that seat at the bar is his lucky spot.

[{"type":"text","text":"“That’s my normal seat, so yeah, it’s lucky,” Dial said."}]

“It couldn’t have landed more perfect between us, like somebody put it there for a reason,” he said.

Besides, people have been saying for years that the post is haunted, Dial added.

“Oh goodness, people have been (having encounters) with ghosts for years,” he said. “There’s a bartender here who’s scared to death of ghosts.

“He hasn’t seen the video yet, so we’re anxious to share it with him. He may not come back to work.”

Did Dial take Anderson up on his offer from the other side to buy him a beer?

“Nope. We were afraid to spend it,” he said. “So, we framed it and put it up on the wall.”

Ghost money reaction 7 20 26

<title>Next Round’s On The Ghost: $5 Bill ‘Out Of Thin Air’ Lands On Cheyenne VFW Bar | Cowboy State Daily</title>

There are plenty of theories about just how a $5 bill seemed to appear "out of thin air" and float onto the bar at Cheyenne VFW Post 1881. “I like to think of it as Darrell just bought us a beer,” said a member about another who died years ago.

Next Round’s On The Ghost: $5 Bill ‘Out Of Thin Air’ Lands On Cheyenne VFW Bar

A semi-truck caused extensive damage to a bridge over Interstate 80 near Rawlins on Monday morning.

According to the Wyoming Highway Patrol, the semi-truck was headed westbound when it drifted off the pavement, into the median, and struck a cable barrier and a guardrail before hitting the concrete supports on the underside of the bridge at exit 214.

The impact was so intense that the tractor-trailer bounced up, damaging one of the bridge’s arches, and embedded into the three supports. The semi-truck broke free and continued careening along the guardrail.

Two people, the driver and co-driver of the semi-truck, escaped with non-life-threatening injuries. There was no mention of what caused the crash or whether any citations were issued.

The westbound lanes of I-80 near the bridge were closed, and traffic was diverted onto the exit ramps.

Doug McGee, public affairs officer for the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT), told Cowboy State Daily that bridge engineers from Cheyenne were en route to the location. 

An assessment of the bridge’s condition “could take some time due to the extensive damage.”

The Wyoming Highway Patrol could not be reached for additional information at the time of publication.

[{"type":"text","text":"Abnormal And Inconvenient"}]

Mira Miller, the public information officer for the city of Rawlins, said this was the first time that anyone has hit the bridge at exit 214. That presented a straightforward solution for traffic control.

“This is a very unique incident in that we don’t have any stuck traffic,” she said. “Instead of going under the bridge, you just go onto the ramps and then back off again.”

The greatest burden will be borne by Rawlins residents. The bridge, which is part of Rawlins’s Higley Boulevard, was completely closed after the incident.

Until WYDOT’s engineers have fully evaluated the bridge, it’s likely to remain closed. If the damage was serious enough, it might be closed for a while longer.

“The Wyoming State Penitentiary, TA Travel Center and Truck Service, and a hotel are on the south side of that exit,” Miller said. “People traveling to any of these locations through Rawlins will have to go to the 211 exit, on the west side of town, and drive to the 214 exit to get there.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Miller described the incident as “abnormal.”"}]

“I've never heard of this bridge being closed for something like this,” she said. “I know WYDOT is working very quickly to figure out what to do and to keep everybody safe while they're in that process.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Who’s Responsible?"}]

Bridge and underpass crashes are rare in Wyoming, but they can cause tremendous disruption to traffic, especially on a highway as busy as I-80. 

It also costs millions of dollars to repair the bridges after these incidents, adding further traffic disruption. 

Usually, incidents are caused when a truck’s load exceeds the clearance height underneath the bridge, damaging the overhead structure. In that case, the blame usually goes to the driver.

, a low-boy truck and trailer carrying the mast of a forklift exceeded the posted clearance height of 15 feet 11 inches of the overpass at Beulah along I-90, damaging several girders and braces.

A preliminary inspection by WYDOT’s bridge engineers revealed that the damage compromised the integrity of the bridge, but it reopened shortly afterward, and traffic resumed without incident.

“It is a driver’s responsibility to make sure there is clearance for their truck and load,” McGee said in October 2025. “When a bridge strike happens, it can affect traffic flow for people and cost transportation companies a great deal of money (for repairs).”

McGee added that many strikes happen due to driver inattention. Many drivers ignore the signage listing height restrictions, leading to these incidents.

Earlier that year, WYDOT finished repairing damage to the same bridge from a similar incident in 2023. It cost $1.9 million.

“Regarding bridge strikes, there are more than anyone wishes,” said former WYDOT executive director Luke Reiner. "It is a responsibility of those who use the road to know the dimensions of their loads, understand the potential friction points, and plan their route accordingly.”

I 80 Semi crash into overpass at Rawlins 751720272 903109525558157 4564473789186149128 n 7 20 26 png

<title>Semitrailer Plows Into Bridge Over I-80 In Rawlins, Causes Extensive Damage | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A semitrailer caused extensive damage to a bridge over I-80 near Rawlins on Monday morning when it drifted off the pavement, into the median, and took out a concrete support. Westbound lanes of I-80 near the bridge are closed and traffic is being diverted.

Semitrailer Plows Into Bridge Over I-80 In Rawlins, Causes Extensive Damage

Wildlife

[{"type":"text","text":"How many wolverines are in Yellowstone National Park?"}]

The National Park Service doesn’t have an easy answer for a census of these 

Neither does biologist Jim Halfpenny, but he does have an estimate based on decades of confirmed evidence — and it’s a lot more than most people think.

 seven “documented” wolverines in the region from 2006-2009. Halfpenny’s nearly 50 years of research says there are dozens more, at least 31 verified in the last five years and "83 absolute verified wolverines” since 1990.

That was the story Halfpenny shared recently at the historic Range Riders Lodge in Silver Gate, Montana. Dozens of people attended his presentation on what he calls the “elusive, sparse, and downright rare wolverine.”

“Tonight, I’m dealing with verified reports only,” he said. “No matter how much I trust somebody who says they saw a wolverine, that's not counted. This is where I have positive verification.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bad PR"}]

The wolverine, in Halfpenny’s opinion, has a bad reputation through no fault of its own. He’s spent decades reversing their public image by fastidiously learning more about them.

“We're going to talk about the real wolverine,” he said. “The real wolverine is quite a different creature than the stories you probably grew up with.”

The wolverine has been known by many names, among them “the Devil Bear,” “the Glutton,” and “The Evil One.”

Even Peter Krott, a biologist who hand-raised wolverines alongside his own children, titled his 1959 book on wolverines “Demon of the North.”

“I hate to say it, (but) the wolverine is a plain out-and-out victim of bad PR,” Halfpenny said.

Halfpenny has been tracking and studying wolverines in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem since 1979. In that time, he said he’s seen the truth about “the curious big weasel.”

“Dave Need and I picked up a grant for $80,000, which was a lot of money then, for three years of chasing lynx and wolverine,” he said. “That was the start of the wolverine hair snagging for the United States.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fact And Fiction"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wolverines have long been depicted as almost mythical creatures. "}]

The earliest accounts from North American explorers depict them as fearless, vicious, and ill-tempered animals that battle bears and eviscerate anything in their path.

Halfpenny has always been focused on verification. When it comes to understanding the truth of the wolverine, everything else is pointless.

“There's two basic eras of wolverine knowledge: the natural history books and things that we read there, and the modern science,” he said.

The natural history books say a wolverine could grow up to 80 pounds. Modern science, in the form of over 700 in-the-field weighings of wild wolverines in North America, reached a much more conservative conclusion.

A prominent biologist with 50 years of research says there are dozens more confirmed wolverines in Yellowstone than are reported by the National Park Service. He says there at least 31 verified wolverines in the last five years and 83 since 1990.

Daily Smile: Wednesday, November 22, 2023

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