One More For The Road

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<title>One More For The Road: Saturday, November 25, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

One More For The Road: Saturday, November 25, 2023

 Everything was going great for Bill Sniffin and his new RV and then a cyclist appeared...

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

Greg Johnson

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

RAWLINS — Six weeks ago, Carbon County Sheriff’s Sgt. Zach Burns was fighting for his life in the dirt parking lot of a Baggs apartment building after 

 from a gunman who later died in a shootout with law enforcement.

Wednesday, he was discharged from a Colorado hospital and got a hero’s welcome as he was escorted roughly 230 miles home by a long procession of law enforcement representing agencies across two states.

 streets through downtown Rawlins were lined with pockets of people who paused their workdays to wave and yell as Burns was driven by with a loud chorus of sirens following.

“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” said local resident Deanna Deffenbaugh about the turnout. “We take care of our own around here.

“Anytime an officer has gotten hurt in the line of duty — even his family — we get the community involved to step up and help take care of them.”

Deffenbaugh said she doesn’t know the Burns family personally, “but that doesn’t matter. If they’re willing to put their lives at risk for us, we need to take care of them.”

Maybe Deffenbaugh doesn’t know Burns, his wife and two young children, but the folks at the Carbon County Courthouse do. He’s their courtroom bailiff, said Jo Rieger, who had staked out a small patch of shade along 3

“Woo-hoo. He’s coming home!” she shouted. “This is cool and very inspiring. He deserves it. He deserves the biggest hero’s welcome ever.”

For Micah Johnson, who also works with Burns at the courthouse, Wednesday was 

, when Burns took bullets in the neck, arm and hip.

“You fear the worst when you first hear about that, you know?” he said. “I think a lot of us were just waiting to hear any kind of piece of news, right? Then I saw the post that he’s coming home today.”

He was referring to a Facebook post Sheriff Alex Bakken made earlier Wednesday telling people that Burns had been discharged from a Colorado hospital and was on his way home.

At 3:31 p.m., the small groups stationed at street corners and in front of the Carbon Building on the corner of 3

 and Pine streets began to cheer as they heard the sirens blaring louder, along with a medical helicopter circling the procession.

“There he is. I see him,” said a woman in the crowd as a Carbon County Sheriff’s Office truck slowly passed.

Sergeant Burns was sitting in the passenger side with the window rolled down and enthusiastically waving to those who gathered for him.

His beaming smile got just a little bit bigger when he saw a giant red, white and blue “Welcome Home Zach” banner.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘We’re All Family’"}]

About an hour earlier, Valeta Rogabaugh was anxious for the procession to get to Rawlins.

The longtime dispatch supervisor for the Rawlins Police Department walked into the bullpen at the department with tears in her eyes.

She had just heard a county dispatch bulletin that Burns and the procession had “come home” and had just passed into Carbon County on westbound Interstate 80.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said when Chief Michael Ward asked how she was holding up. “It’s just emotional. They even talked to (Burns’ wife) and told her welcome home too.”

Although Burns works for the county sheriff’s office, there are deep connections with the Rawlins PD and other agencies, she said.

“We’re all a team and we’re all family,” Rogabaugh said, adding that Burns’ wife also is a dispatcher for the sheriff’s office.

There are no lines between agencies, said Rawlins Police Sgt. Thom Gamblin, adding that he’s good friends with Burns.

“This isn’t just a guy in uniform coming home, he’s a guy who works and lives here. I’m saying that this is a community, this is home, and it isn’t just his workplace,” Gamblin said.

“This isn’t just his work office, it’s people who love him,” he continued. “These are the people who care for him. It’s the people he meets every day when he serves.”

There’s a reason close to 100 officers from multiple jurisdictions around Wyoming and Colorado responded to Baggs that afternoon when the bulletin went out about an officer down and a gunman was on the run, Gamblin said.

“This is personal,” he said. “He did his job and nearly lost his life over it. He didn’t — thankfully — and now he’s back here where we can protect him.”

Without the quick action of a pair of Baggs residents who 

, he likely would have died, said Chief Ward. Wednesday’s procession was for them as well.

[{"type":"text","text":"“They’re heroes, too,” he told Cowboy State Daily."}]

“It’s a miracle that he’s still with us,” Ward added. “All of us are grateful for that, every minute of every day. His daughter still has a father. His wife still has a husband. He’s still with all of us.

“We could not be more relieved, grateful and excited he’s coming home today.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Stopped ‘Large-Scale Act’"}]

The scope of the potential carnage Burns may have prevented unfolded in the days following, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken has said.

That includes Burns interrupting the suspect carrying out what appeared to be a devastating plan, the sheriff said

The man had a stockpile of semiautomatic weapon ammunition in his Baggs apartment and was likely planning a "large-scale act," Bakken reported June 17.

Burns was in the area June 8 when dispatchers relayed information about a suspect in an active shooting incident. Burns located the suspect driving in town and conducted a traffic stop at his apartment, the CCSO has reported.

“Upon coming to a stop, the suspect immediately exited his vehicle and opened fire on Sergeant Burns with a semiautomatic rifle,” Bakken said in the report.

The suspect — who so far has not been publicly identified — then 

The suspect tried to start his apartment complex on fire with numerous propane tanks inside, then sped away in his car again, according to the CCSO.

He was eventually killed in a shootout with law enforcement after crashing his car north of town off state Highway 789.

“Thanks to his bravery, (Burns) saved the lives of countless first responders and community members,” Bakken says in the report. “The gunman had stockpiled hundreds of AR-15 magazines in his apartment and, by all appearances, had been prepared to initiate a large-scale act of violence.”

At the Hilltop Conoco station along Cedar Avenue, Paige Garwood and Heather Stalinski were working Wednesday afternoon, handling a steady stream of locals and visitors driving through just off I-80.

They both said they were excited to learn that the long procession of emergency responders for Burns would go past their station.

Neither knows Burns or his family, but both said that Rawlins is a small town, and when one person is in trouble, everyone knows and responds.

“I’ve been reading about him and heard what happened to him. He’s a hero,” said Stalinski. “That he’s coming home is really good, and great for his family, his wife.

“I think he was really brave for what he did. He’s a brave, brave man. I think she should get a lot of (accolades). Would I call him a hero? Absolutely.”

Garwood said that Burns getting out of the hospital and getting back to Rawlins is a great boost for the whole town.

“I think it’s great that he’s coming home, because he almost died because of that idiot,” she said. “He deserves it.”

For Chief Ward and other law enforcement officers, the risk is always there, he said. While running toward danger while others run from it is what they sign up for, the hope is that they won’t have to.

“He took an oath to protect our community, and he almost gave his life doing so,” Ward said about Burns. “On the scale of heroism, that’s pretty far up there.”

Sgt Burns Home 1

<title>Hero’s Welcome In Rawlins: Deputy Nearly Killed In Baggs Shootout Comes Home | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Sgt. Zach Burns — shot three times by a gunman in Baggs last month — got a hero’s welcome in Rawlins after a 230-mile escort from a Colorado hospital Wednesday. “On the scale of heroism, that’s pretty far up there,” said the Rawlins police chief.

Hero’s Welcome In Rawlins: Deputy Nearly Killed In Baggs Shootout Comes Home

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Wildlife

A hiker probably couldn't have done anything more to save himself when he surprised a grizzly at close range in the dark in Glacier National Park on May 3 and was subsequently killed, a seasoned bear-country trekker told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.

Anthony Pollio, 33, of Davie, Florida, used bear spray at some point during the attack “but it is unknown if and where the spray contacted the bear,” according to an incident report from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. 

The attack likely occurred between 9:15 and 10 p.m., when Pollio was hiking down the Mt. Brown lookout trail, the report states. He suffered fatal bit wounds to his head. 

“Darkness and deadfall on the trail would have prevented the bear and Mr. Pollio from seeing each other until they were very close,” according to the report. 

Pollio might have been using his cell phone light to illuminate his path, but it isn’t known whether he was making any noise before encountering the bear, the report says. 

Outdoor adventurer Michael Hodges was in Glacier at the time, and said he avoids hiking before dawn or after dark whenever possible. 

“I’m not saying he (Pollio) did anything wrong,” said Hodges, a novelist and internet personality.

He said Pollio, who was described by friends and family as an experienced outdoorsman, probably didn’t set out with the intent of staying out past dark. 

Letting the day get away while enjoying the backcountry and hiking out later than planned is a mistake even experienced outdoors people sometimes make, Hodges said.   

Running into a grizzly on a narrow trail in the dark is a “worst-case scenario,” Hodges said. “That’s a nightmare scenario.” 

“No bear spray, no gun is going to save you in a situation like that,” he added. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Brief, Intense Attack"}]

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee includes officials from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the National Park Service and other agencies. 

The committee’s report on the investigation of the site where Pollio’s body was found May 6 indicate 

, by an adult male grizzly, was brief and intense. 

His body was found about 69 feet below the trail and about 2.5 miles from the trailhead. 

During the attack, Pollio “fell or was thrown downhill” off the trail about 93 feet during the initial contact with the bear, according to a detailed incident report from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. 

“His path was littered with personal effects beginning 10 ft (feet) below the trail. We believe the bear followed Mr. Pollio downhill, continuing the attack. Spatters of blood increased in frequency and volume down the hill,” according to the report. 

One of Pollio’s ears was found about 40 feet downslope and a large pool of blood marked the end of his descent, the report states. 

“Based on blood marks and the orientation of branches, it appears as though Mr. Pollio managed to climb back up slope approximately 18 ft, at which point the bear re-engaged and inflicted the fatal bites to Mr. Pollio’s head,” the report states. 

There was no evidence of “predation” on Pollio’s body and the bear apparently left immediately after the attack, the committee reported. 

Pollio’s last known communication was a text message sent to girlfriend at 8:20 p.m. May 3 from about .9 miles up the trail from the attack site, according to the report. The text indicated that he expected to make it back to the trailhead around 11 p.m.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Bears Use Trails Too"}]

Bears are smart enough to “take the path of least resistance,” so they like using hiking trails, Kim Titchener, founder of the Bear Safety and More organization in Canada, told Cowboy State Daily. 

Bears like to avoid people and will use hiking trails at times when people typically don’t, such as before dawn or after dark, she said.

That’s can make hiking on trails during those times particularly dangerous, she said. 

The trails in Glacier  have “lots of switchbacks” and blind corners with thick vegetation, she said. 

That can make surprise close encounters more likely, and bears might react defensively in those situations, Titchener said. 

Grizzlies usually attack to “neutralize a perceived threat” and will stop once they realize a person is no longer a threat, she added. 

In many cases, “playing dead” will stop a grizzly attack, she said.

It’s best to hike during the daylight, in groups, “making lots of noise,” Titchener said. 

Hodges agreed that bears in Glacier like using hiking trails at odd hours, usually in the dark, and so he tries to avoid being on the trails at those times. 

The attack on Pollio was most likely the result of bad circumstances, he said. 

But he’s observed other hikers in Glacier displaying bad behavior. 

“They’re spending 10 minutes filming themselves out hiking and not paying attention to what’s going on around them,” he said. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Glacier is no place for that, Hodges said."}]

“This is a national park that has the same number of bears as Yellowstone, in an area that’s about half the size of Yellowstone,” he said. 

Glacier grizzly v2 7 22 26

<title>"Nightmare Scenario": Victim Of Glacier Grizzly Attack Likely Surprised Bear In The Dark | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Officials concluded Tuesday that a 33-year-old man likely surprised a grizzly in the dark before he was killed in Glacier National Park in May. Running into a bear in the dark is a “nightmare scenario,” said an outdoorsman who was in the park at the time.

"Nightmare Scenario": Victim Of Glacier Grizzly Attack Likely Surprised Bear In The Dark

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

A Jackson man is accused of twice blasting another driver in the face with bear spray during a road rage showdown, leaving the victim temporarily blind and gasping for air.

Police say the second burst is what turned an angry traffic dispute into a felony.

Leonardo Enrique Dominguez was arrested Sunday and charged with aggravated battery after investigators allege he intentionally caused serious bodily injury, as stated in a probable cause affidavit filed Monday in Teton County Circuit Court.

Prosecutors have charged Dominguez with aggravated battery, claiming he intentionally caused serious bodily injury "under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Road Rage Call"}]

The confrontation unfolded shortly before noon Sunday near the Loaf 'N Jug gas station along West Broadway Avenue in Jackson.

Police responded to reports of a road rage assault involving bear spray and found a man kneeling beside his white Dodge Caravan.

The affidavit says the man was coughing violently, his eyes were burning and he was unable to answer officers' questions. Mucus and tears streamed down his face as emergency responders treated him before transporting him to the hospital.

Witnesses told police they had been driving behind the man when a gray Toyota Tacoma pulled alongside his stopped van.

They said someone inside the truck sprayed bear spray through the passenger-side window of the van, the affidavit says. As the man stood in the doorway of his van, they said he was sprayed a second time directly in the face before the truck sped away.

Officers later noted the interior of the man's van still reeked of bear spray, which made one of the corporal's "eyes burn" and caused them to cough, according to the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Pulled Over "}]

At the hospital, the man who had been sprayed told investigators the road rage encounter began after another truck tried merging into his lane, nearly forcing him onto the sidewalk.

He said he pulled over simply to ask the other driver what he was doing. Instead of an explanation, he said he was immediately blasted with bear spray.

The man denied threatening the other driver and said he had never seen him before.

A request for further comment from the driver of the van was not returned by publication. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Self Defense Argument"}]

Investigators reviewed surveillance video and license plate camera data that led them to a gray vehicle registered to Dominguez.

Officers found the truck parked outside his apartment later that afternoon, the affidavit says.

Dominguez agreed to speak with police and acknowledged spraying the man twice, but insisted he acted in self-defense.

The affidavit says Dominguez claimed the man sped up to block him, brake-checked him, yelled profanities and aggressively approached his driver's window.

He said he displayed the bear spray first as a warning before using it, the affidavit says.

Dominguez admitted spraying the man once through the driver's window of the van and a second time after he returned to his own vehicle, saying he feared the confrontation was continuing.

He also told officers he didn't call police because he believed surveillance cameras had captured the encounter and assumed officers would eventually contact him.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Felony Charge "}]

When officers located Dominguez's vehicle, they reported seeing rags inside "as if the vehicle had been cleaned,” the affidavit says. 

They also observed tactical gear, flashlights, a knife and patches mounted throughout the truck's interior.

Dominguez told investigators his truck was equipped with a dash cam that may have recorded the incident.

The investigating officer wrote that bear spray is intended to stop bears — not people — and can cause severe eye injuries, swelling, airway constriction and potentially life-threatening respiratory complications when used at close range.

Police concluded there was probable cause to arrest Dominguez after considering witness statements, the alleged victim's account and Dominguez's own admission that he sprayed the man a second time.

Investigators say that second burst came after Bilen had already returned to his own vehicle, leading them to conclude the use of force was no longer justified and supported a charge of aggravated battery.

Dominguez made his initial appearance Monday afternoon before Teton County Circuit Court Judge Erin Weisman, who set his bond at $5,000 cash. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 31.

Jackson Loaf N Jug green sign 7 21 26

<title>Jackson Man Accused Of Blasting Driver With Bear Spray In Road Rage Showdown | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Jackson man is accused of blasting another driver twice with bear spray during a Sunday road rage showdown, leaving the victim struggling to breathe. He admitted using bear spray on the other driver, but told police it was self-defense.

Jackson Man Accused Of Blasting Driver With Bear Spray In Road Rage Showdown

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

Clair McFarland

Politics

Days after a religious clash exploded on the Wind River Indian Reservation, the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s government says it has adopted a new policy requiring ministry and charitable groups to get tribal authorization for their work on the reservation.

The Northern Arapaho Business Council (NABC), which is the tribe’s six-person leadership board, posted an announcement about the new policy to social media Monday.

The announcement says the policy is “reaffirming the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s inherent sovereign authority to require consultation and governmental authorizations seeking to conduct recurring ministries, charitable services, outreach programs, and other organized activities on lands under the jurisdiction of the Northern Arapaho Tribe.”

This controversy started July 5, when Christian pastor Sarah Lucas, of Foundations for Nations, preached 

against some of the tribe’s Sundance ceremonies

 involving a pipe relic as a prayer centerpiece. She had indicated praying "to pipes" is idolatry. 

She had said, “a pipe cannot hear your prayers,” and “we know that Jesus is enough.”

Foundations for Nations falls within the exterior boundaries of the Wind River Indian Reservation but it sits on private, not tribal land. It has been ministering in Fremont County for nearly a decade, and runs a food pantry in town as well as kids' programs. 

. Lucas refused, telling Cowboy State Daily she’s sorry the sermon came off as an attack, but not sorry for preaching from the Bible.

[{"type":"text","text":" “Jesus is the only way,” she said."}]

The board’s announcement says that the tribe’s records department reviewed records to see if Foundations for Nations had ever received authorization from the tribal government “to conduct recurring organized ministry or outreach activities on the Reservation.”

The review found no documentation that the church is authorized to work on the reservation, says the announcement.

NABC Chair Keenan Groesbeck has told the church that the tribe requests consultation “before any expansion of recurring ministry activities under the new policy,” the announcement says. 

The tribe has invited “the organization” to meet with the NABC by July 25 to discuss its mission, leadership, funding, activities, and “any documentation it believes demonstrates authorization to operate on lands under Tribal jurisdiction.”

It may be a point of debate whether private land surrounded by tribal trust lands falls within tribal jurisdiction, and if so, for what purposes. It’s unclear if the tribe’s new policy is constitutional.

“This policy is not about preventing anyone from practicing their religion,” Groesbeck said in the statement. “It is about respecting the sovereign government of the Northern Arapaho Tribe. Any outside organization seeking to conduct organized activities within our jurisdiction should first communicate with the elected leadership of our Nation and work in partnership with the Tribe.”

NABC says in the statement that the policy will apply uniformly to outside groups.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lucas declined Tuesday to comment. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Constitution, Law"}]

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says, in part, that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech or the freedom of the people to assemble peaceably.

After the American Civil War, Congress passed the 14th Amendment to expand those prohibitions to state governments. Neither amendment imposed restrictions on tribal governments’ ability to impede the free exercise of religion or speech, or other listed rights.

A century later in 1968, Congress imposed some – but not all – Bill of Rights restrictions on tribal governments through the Indian Civil Rights Act. The law protects rights similar to the U.S. Constitution’s first, fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth amendments, and portions of the 14th Amendment.

“No Indian tribe in exercising powers of self-government shall… make or enforce any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition for a redress of grievances,” the law says. 

Disputes have surfaced over the years, regarding just how much Congress can regulate tribal governments.

The U.S. Constitution delegates just one congressional authority over tribes: “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”

Curiously, tribal governments were some of the strongest proponents of interpreting the “Indian Commerce Clause” to give Congress broad power over American Indian tribes.  

That advocacy unfolded during the U.S. Supreme Court case Brackeen v. Haaland, which contemplated whether a federal law giving tribes primacy over Native child custody matters is constitutional.

The high court found it constitutional. It took a broad view of the Indian Commerce Clause to do so.

“As we already explained, our precedent states that Congress’s power under the Indian Commerce Clause encompasses not only trade but also ‘Indian affairs,’” says the majority opinion, by Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

[{"type":"text","text":"Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a dissenting opinion proclaiming overreach."}]

By passing a law governing tribal custody matters, “Congress ignored the normal limits on the Federal Government’s power and prescribed rules to regulate state child custody proceedings in one circumstance: when the child in volved happens to be an Indian,” he wrote.  

Thomas said the majority opinion “gets things backwards. When Congress has so clearly intruded upon a longstanding domain of exclusive state powers, we must ask not whether a constitutional provision prohibits that intrusion, but whether a constitutional provision authorizes it.”

Foundations for nations 7 21 26

<title>After Church Blowup, Arapaho Tribe Says No 'Ministries' Without Permission | Cowboy State Daily</title>

After Church Blowup, Arapaho Tribe Says No 'Ministries' Without Permission

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One More For The Road: Saturday, November 25, 2023

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