Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Oh good. It's Rollie the hamster's birthday!!"}]

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

<title>Daily Smile: Tuesday, January 30, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Oh good. It's Rollie the hamster's birthday!!

Daily Smile: Tuesday, January 30, 2024

 Oh good. It's Rollie the hamster's birthday!!

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Government & Politics

Rock Springs city employees have been cleared of wrongdoing after a county investigation found no evidence the city's engineering contract selection process improperly favored a former mayor's engineering firm.

 by Rock Springs resident Shirley Cukale and City Councilman Rick Milonas, who claimed the city's request-for-proposal (RFP) process lacked transparency and unfairly benefited JFC Engineering, according to a letter from Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe.

The investigation's conclusion arrives as Mayor Max Mickelson and Milonas — longtime political adversaries — are both running for mayor alongside Katherine Phelps. The top two finishers in the August primary will advance to November's general election.

Mickelson announced the findings Tuesday in a video posted to the City of Rock Springs Government Facebook page.

“'Corrupt as hell’ — that's the accusation that got thrown around about our city," Mickelson said.

Mickelson said he doesn’t normally read from prepared statements, but “occasionally there is an issue that is severe enough that I need to read from a prepared statement to ensure I am being completely accurate.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bitter Creek Contract"}]

The county investigation centered on whether the city of Rock Springs demonstrated a conflict of interest when it awarded a $372,000 contract to JFC Corporation — the engineering company owned by former mayor Tim Kaumo – to manage the Bitter Creek Reconstruction Project.

Kaumo pleaded no contest in 2023 to official misconduct and conflict-of-interest charges after a joint FBI and Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation probe into city contract bidding. Investigators found Kaumo improperly used his position in 2020 to steer work to his engineering company.

In an October 2025 letter to then-Sweetwater County Lieutenant Rich Fischer, Milonas alleged Kaumo still maintained a financial interest in JFC and noted Kaumo, City Engineer Paul Kauchich and City Attorney Richard Beckwith were childhood friends.

Milonas also alleged Kauchich selected every member of the RFP evaluation committee and claimed the process lacked independent oversight.

[{"type":"text","text":"Erramouspe rejected those claims."}]

His investigation found the city issued 11 engineering-service RFPs between January 2023 and February 2026. JFC received three of those contracts.

"There is no evidence that any of these awards were made illegally or in violation of the statutory RFP process," Erramouspe wrote. "Additionally, the fact that JFC received only three of eleven contracts strongly suggests the process is not being manipulated to systematically favor the firm."

Erramouspe also denied Milonas' request for the names of RFP committee members.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"“Corrupt As Hell”"}]

Although Mickelson did not identify who called the city "corrupt as hell" in his video, Milonas sent Fischer an April 3 email stating the city's reputation had become tainted.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"A corrupt reputation makes us ALL look bad,\" Milonas wrote."}]

He alleged that Mickelson knew about a "corrupt RFP process" but "chooses to do nothing."

Mickelson told Cowboy State Daily those accusations unfairly targeted both city employees and elected officials.

"Not only does Councilman Milonas accuse our city employees of being complicit in corruption, but he states I am actively participating in it," Mickelson said. "Elected officials have a higher duty to ensure their statements are based in fact. ... It is a dereliction of duty to make statements like the one Councilman Milonas made based on nothing more than vapors."

He said the investigation demonstrated the city followed Wyoming law throughout its procurement process.

"Nothing was held back," Mickelson said. "We are following state statute on our RFP process."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Milonas Pushes Back"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Milonas responded Wednesday with a Facebook video of his own."}]

"Oh, Maxine's at it again," he said. "Corrupt as hell. I never said that. Never."

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he is trying to move forward and focus on solutions."}]

“But it’s extremely hard,” he said, “because I’m always defending myself.

"We need change. And that change is going to take a very special person. Very special, like myself. Mayor Rick Milonas, 2026."

Milonas also connected the investigation to a series of ethics complaints exchanged between himself and city officials over the past year.

Milonas said Fischer called him on March 30, 2026, to talk about the October 2025 letter.

A day later, he said, police showed up at his door and handed him a formal ethics complaint. The complaint, filed by Urban Renewal Agency Director Chad Banks, alleged that Milonas was abusive and created a hostile work environment for city employees after Milonas accused Banks, who is gay, of advancing a “gay agenda.”

The complaint came five months after the city council adopted a code of ethics that Milonas alone opposed.

Milonas retaliated with his own ethics complaint against the mayor, saying, “He ambushed me at a City Council meeting about a conversation he eavesdropped on and falsely accused me of saying things I didn’t say.”

In May, the Rock Springs City Council dismissed Milonas’ complaint, one week after finding that he had violated the city’s ethics code in Banks’ complaint against him.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Cost Beyond Dollars"}]

Mickelson said he addressed the investigation publicly because residents deserved to know the city had been accused and ultimately cleared.

"The office of the mayor has a duty and an obligation to keep the public aware of what its government is doing, good, bad and indifferent," he said. "Muckraking because of sour grapes is a disappointing position for an elected official to take."

While the city was cleared, Mickelson said the allegations still came at a cost.

It cost taxpayers money, and it weighed on the consciences of city employees, he said.

“The employees in our city get up every day and do this work honestly,” he said. “They heard ‘corrupt as hell’ applied to their jobs and applied to their work.

“I am incredibly tired of people throwing mud, for whatever reason, about who we are.” 

Rock Springs green sign 7 1 26

<title>Rock Springs Council Cleared Of Allegation City Favored Cronies On Contract Bids | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Sweetwater County Attorney's Office found no evidence the Rock Springs City Council illegally favored contract bids for a company. “'Corrupt as hell’ — that's the accusation that got thrown around about our city," said the mayor about the allegation.

Rock Springs Council Cleared Of Allegation City Favored Cronies On Contract Bids

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Politics

A 17-year-old Lander homeschooler who beat out 8,000 other students in what was billed as an “Impossible Civics Test” won the nation’s Presidential 1776 Award, collected a $150,000 scholarship, and then stood beside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office where he gave her a challenge coin.

“I just thought it was really amazing to get to meet the president in the Oval Office, because it’s something that I never thought that I would be able to do,” Miriam Washut told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. “It’s just a once-in-a lifetime opportunity.”

To get there, Washut had to plow through more than 5,000 pages of books, foundational documents and biographies, as well as know the facts on 10 Revolutionary War battles. She then was tested at state and regional levels before the national finals competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The finals competition was broadcast on CBS on Tuesday, but was taped a couple of weeks ago when 20 students gathered for the competition in the nation’s capital.

Washut is the daughter of Wyoming Catholic College President Kyle Washut and his wife, Erin. She said it was her dad who first saw on the competition announcement on social media, but she initially had only one week to prepare before testing for the state competition.

“I took the test the last day you could take it,” she said. “And then I had a month before regionals, so there was a little bit more time to get ready for that.”

Kyle Washut said his daughter has always been interested in history, and she was actually working as an intern during part of her study time this spring in the Wyoming Legislature where her grandfather, Art Washut, serves as a state representative for House District 36 in Casper.

The competition involved more than 8,000 students nationwide, and students took three 30-minute exams with a short break to qualify for the regionals. 

Miriam Washut said the exam questions became more difficult as she progressed through the “Impossible Civics Test.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Oval Office Handshake"}]

While in the Oval Office with the president during the short time they had with him, Trump asked her and the other students about their plans for the future, shook their hands, and then they posed for photos with him and Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Miriam said. 

She enjoyed seeing a copy of the Declaration of Independence there as part of the event.

It also was not lost on her that she had traveled from Lander, Wyoming, to the seat of the nation’s executive power and government.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Yeah, it was really cool,” she said."}]

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman and Wyoming State Superintendent of Education Megan Degenfelder were among those congratulating Washut on her accomplishment Wednesday.

“She competed against students from all 50 states and came out on top. Wyoming is proud,” Hageman wrote in a statement.

Degenfelder praised the 17-year-old’s dedication to “understanding the nation’s foundational values.”

“In Wyoming, our students grow up with a love for America and civics education,” Degenfelder said. “Congratulations, Miriam.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Regionals In Dallas"}]

She was one of the top four Wyoming participants sent to a regional competition at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. 

There, competitors had two rounds of questions on anything regarding the documents that made up the competition’s “library.”

Among the documents were the “Funeral Oration of Pericles Book II,” “Polybius, The Histories,” the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, James Madison’s notes on the Constitutional Convention, Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” biographies on Washington, Crispus Attucks, Benedict Arnold, and much more.

She was among the top four who advanced from Dallas to the nationals at the Kennedy Center. 

While 20 students were part of the finals competition, those competitors were whittled to eight when it was shown on CBS.

Miriam said questions in the finals involved topics such as the Alien and Seditions Acts, and buzz rounds on the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War battles and the Constitution.

One of the questions she tackled involved “why taxation without representation is the end of liberty,” she said.

The high school senior said she really enjoys history more than civics, but appreciates civics “when you get to put it in perspective.”

As a homeschooler, she has been reading a lot of American history and took an online class on the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

Kyle Washut said his daughter has become a fellow at The Heritage Academy, which offers online students an understanding of the nation’s founding ideals.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Pottery And Drama"}]

Additionally, Miriam has enjoyed taking pottery and woodworking classes at Lander’s high school and was involved in a play on C.S. Lewis’s Narnia book “The Horse and His Boy” while preparing for the regional competition.

“I think I just had time to read everything through once and take some notes because there was so much material and I was also really busy with softball and the play,” she said. “I gave it as much time as I had.”

Current plans call for her to finish her senior year and then attend Wyoming Catholic College. Beyond that, there are no certain career goals, yet, she said.

While in Washington as part of the competition, she and her family were able to tour the war memorials, U.S. Capitol and visit the National Archives.

“They took us there as part of the national competition, which was neat to see the documents that we’ve been reading for months,” she said. “I was able to get a Library of Congress card which was something I kind of wanted to do.” 

Kyle Washut said the family also took time to swing through Philadelphia on the way home and visit Constitutional Hall and other sites there. 

As someone in higher education, he views the competition and the students who competed as “basically doing a graduate course in American civics.”

He said he’s obviously proud of his daughter’s accomplishment and that she among the students whose “lights” are shining as they embraced their national roots.

“Miriam revealed herself to be in the top high school students in the country with her grasp of America civics,” he said. “The hours of study and thousands of pages that she read, and her deep love for the country and knowledge of what it means to be an American should give us great hope for the future.”

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<title>Lander Homeschooler Wins ‘Ultimate Civics Showdown,’ Wins $150,000 Scholarship | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 17-year-old Lander homeschooler who beat out 8,000 other students in what was billed as the “Ultimate Civics Showdown” stood beside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on national TV on Tuesday. Miriam Washut won a $150,000 scholarship in the effort.

Lander Homeschooler Wins ‘Ultimate Civics Showdown,’ Wins $150,000 Scholarship

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

A Cheyenne teen accused of firebombing the pickup of a rival for his ex-girlfriend with a Molotov cocktail built from a root beer bottle could get some serious prison time if convicted.

Court documents made publicly available Wednesday afternoon detail investigators' allegations that Seth S. Hayes, 18, threw the firebomb into another teenager's pickup after he began dating Hayes' former girlfriend.

Hayes is set for a Thursday preliminary hearing on a felony charge of third-degree arson. During his initial appearance in Laramie County Circuit Court late last week, a judge set his bond at $10,000 cash only.

An affidavit of probable cause filed in the case details how detectives spent weeks piecing together witness statements, surveillance video, social media activity and physical evidence before arresting Hayes nearly a month after the May 21 incendiary incident.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Black Rose "}]

Cheyenne Police Department investigators say the conflict that built up to the firebombing began months before the truck was set on fire.

According to the affidavit, Hayes and his girlfriend ended their relationship in January.

Police wrote that Hayes repeatedly contacted his ex-girlfriend after the breakup, leaving voicemails asking her to reconcile or insulting her when she refused.

"Seth often left things on (her) vehicle, including a pile of ashes and a black rose," the affidavit states.

Police also allege Hayes posted a video on social media showing himself and a friend burning one of her sweatshirts.

After she began dating another teenager, investigators say Hayes' attention shifted to him.

One of Hayes' coworkers told investigators Hayes had talked about wanting to "blow (his) truck up" several days before the fire.

According to the affidavit, the victim later told investigators he had heard Hayes make the same threat before his truck was destroyed.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Let It Burn' "}]

The teenager told investigators he woke around 2:30 a.m. May 21 to find his pickup engulfed in flames outside his Cheyenne home.

After speaking with officers, he said he drove past Hayes' residence "to see if his car was there."

When he arrived, he told investigators he saw a gas mask sitting on the hood of Hayes' vehicle, according to the affidavit.

Firefighters determined the blaze had been intentionally set and recovered what investigators believe was a Molotov cocktail made from a Sprecher's root beer bottle stuffed with a gasoline-soaked cloth.

Detectives traced the bottle to a Menards store, where investigators say surveillance video shows Hayes buying a four-pack of Sprecher root beer just days before the fire.

[{"type":"text","text":"Police also examined Hayes' social media activity."}]

About 25 minutes before the first 911 call reporting the blaze, investigators say Hayes posted Shaboozey's song "Let It Burn" on social media.

The affidavit states detectives combined surveillance video, witness statements, social media activity and physical evidence before concluding they had probable cause to arrest Hayes.

[{"type":"text","text":"Investigators estimated the pickup truck's value at about $10,000."}]

Hayes remains charged with third-degree arson. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday, when prosecutors must present enough evidence to show there is probable cause for the case to proceed to district court.

If convicted, he could get up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

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<title>Cheyenne Teen Accused Of Firebombing Truck With Molotov Cocktail After Breakup | Cowboy State Daily</title>

An 18-year-old Cheyenne man is accused of using a root beer bottle Molotov cocktail to firebomb the truck of another teen dating his ex-girlfriend. He also "often left things on (her) vehicle, including a pile of ashes and a black rose," police say.

Cheyenne Teen Accused Of Firebombing Truck With Molotov Cocktail After Breakup

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Around Wyoming

Lake Powell, a key reservoir on the Colorado River, is shrinking toward "dead pool," which means water won't flow downriver anymore — and that could in turn pinch Wyoming’s municipal and industrial water supplies with more demand from Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Lake Powell, on the Utah-Arizona state line, is in dire condition, 

By next spring, it’s expected to fall into “minimum power pool,” meaning having barely just enough water to generate hydroelectric power at Glen Canyon Dam.

If it falls even farther, that could put the reservoir at “dead pool,” or unable to generate hydroelectric power, according to reports.

That's despite roughly 1 million acre-feet expected to be 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Paper Water Rights’"}]

Dead pool is considered only a worst-case scenario among water managers.

But if it happens, it could lead to some stark choices, said Wyoming state Sen. Larry Hicks, who served on the Legislature’s Select Water Committee.

In such a scenario, “power generation is subservient” to irrigation water rights, he told Cowboy State Daily.

“Power Generation is important, but it’s not as important as maintaining peoples’ livelihood,” Hicks said. 

The looming dilemmas over Colorado River water rest in the fact that water management is rooted in “paper water rights,” he said.

Many of those are tied to the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which includes seven states, Mexico and numerous Native American Tribes.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Just Not Enough Water"}]

In Wyoming, many farmers’ and ranchers’ water rights predate the 1922 Compact, going as far back as the 1880s.

That means if spats break out over Compact water rights as the river’s supply dwindles, farms and ranches along the Green and Little Snake rivers would be largely unaffected, Hicks said.

The Compact designates roughly 15 million acre-feet per year, supposedly evenly split at 7.5 million acre-feet between the Upper Basin and Lower Basin.

The Upper Basin states are Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. Arizona, Nevada and California comprise the Lower Basin.

River flows in recent years have been as low as about 10 million acre-feet, Hicks said.

If the Lower Basin states made an emergency “call on the river” for more access to the Upper Basin allocation, Wyoming’s farmers and ranchers wouldn't catch the brunt of it, he said.

“The Trona industry and big municipalities in Wyoming” would be most at risk of losing vital water, he said.

For instance, even though Cheyenne isn’t physically connected to the Colorado River system, it still depends upon of it because of water-exchange agreements on the North Platte River.

“Arizona is the state that’s most likely to litigate and say, ‘We’re entitled to this water; you need to send it to us’,” Hicks said.

The growing crisis on the Colorado River “is a concern for Cheyenne and our board of public utility,” Mayor Patrick Collins told Cowboy State Daily.

The city gets about “two-thirds of our water” from sources tied to the Colorado River water contract exchange agreements, he said.

Cheyenne has been preparing for potential water shortages, Collins said.

“If they make a call on the river, it’s going to take a while to take effect,” he said, adding that Cheyenne has a roughly four-year backup storage supply.

Cheyenne has been frugal with its water, typically using about half of its full allocation, Collins added.

Despite growth, the city is using about the same amount of water it was 10 years ago, he said.

In the long term, Cheyenne also hopes to break away from Colorado River dependency.

“We have good leads on replacement water from other areas,” he said, without going into detail.

“There is an irrigation district that we’ve been working with, and some industrial users on the Platte River,” Collins said.

Rock Springs mayor Max Mickelson said the city has some water rights dating to 1871, and is therefore immune to any effects tied to the 1922 Colorado River Compact.

“Our system has never overdrawn its allocation the way the Lower Basin has. The current diversion data our Joint Powers Water Board presented to council shows zero deficit under today's conditions. 11,011 acre-feet of annual demand against roughly 2,413 acre-feet available on average, showing no shortfall in any month,” he stated in an email to Cowboy State Daily.

“That's not luck. That's a century of municipal water management that lived within its means. While states downstream built entire metro economies on water that was never really there in average years.” 

The local economy has felt the effects of increasing pressure on Flaming Gorge from the Lower Basin, Mickelson said. The city doesn’t draw from it directly, but is tied to the recreation economy.

“Our recreation, fishing, and marinas economies will all take a hit,” he said. "Our exposure so far has been to the regional environment and economy, not to the water coming out of our faucets.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘It’s A Concern’"}]

If Lake Powell hits dead pool, that would be a concern for Rock Springs, Mickelson said, noting the federal response to the crisis at Lake Powell is to pull from Flaming Gorge.  

“The Bureau of Reclamation's own modeling, presented to council this May, shows a projected shortfall of 2.0 to 2.3 million acre-feet by March 2027,” Mickelson wrote.

“So, yes, it's a concern, but it is fundamentally about fairness. The Flaming Gorge Reservoir is filled by our river and is treated as insurance for a 1922 compact built on flow numbers that were too generous from the start. We watch Powell's elevation because every foot drop is another argument for draining more from our basin,” he said.

Rock Springs, and Wyoming in general, has been proactive, passing voluntary conservation legislation while keeping underlying water rights protected, Mickelson said.

The Upper Basin should continue in that vein, he added.

“Wyoming has a seat at the table and needs to demand a storage agreement that lets Upper Basin states bank conserved water. We need an explicit federally acknowledged agreement that Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado hold unused apportionment under the original compact. We did not overbuild its claim,” Mickelson wrote.  

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<title>Lake Powell Water Critically Low; Wyoming Expects More Demand On Flaming Gorge | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Already at critically low levels, Lake Powell is close to being "dead pool," which means water won't flow downriver anymore. That has Wyoming cities and industries worried that will mean more demand for water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Lake Powell Water Critically Low; Wyoming Expects More Demand On Flaming Gorge

Public Safety

UPDATE 11:50 a.m.: This story has been updated to include more information from the Wyoming Highway Patrol about those injured in the crash.

A commercial tanker truck driver failing to stop for traffic waiting to enter a one-lane construction zone west of Casper on Friday afternoon 

, killing two people and injuring eight others, the Wyoming Highway Patrol reports in a fatal crash summary of the incident released Wednesday.

The crash happened at 1:50 p.m. Friday on U.S. Highway 20/26 near mile marker 58.3, about 45 miles northwest of Casper wit the WHP having identified driver inattention as a possible contributing factor in the crash.

[{"type":"text","text":"As of Wednesday, no criminal charges had been announced."}]

Responding to Cowboy State Daily requests for information about whether any arrests have been made in relation to the crash and if anyone has been criminally charged, the WHP said that the investigation into the crash is active and information about potential criminal charges won’t be released until that’s been completed.

The fatal crash summary says that the westbound 2024 Western Star tanker truck failed to stop at mile marker 58.3 for queued traffic waiting to enter the construction zone before striking a Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota Highlander, Toyota 4Runner, Subaru Outback, Chevrolet Camaro, Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Impala.

[{"type":"text","text":"The crash involved eight vehicles and 17 people."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Two people died, eight were injured and seven escaped injury."}]

A 3-year-old and an adult male in the Highlander were both transported to Banner Wyoming Medical Center via helicopter. Also, a 1-year-old and adult female in the same vehicle were taken to the hospital by ground ambulance, the WHP reports, adding they were treated and released.

Two others were also taken by ambulance to Casper, where they were treated and released.

The driver of the 4Runner and a passenger, an adult female and male, were also hospitalized at Banner Wyoming Medical Center in Casper. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Colorado Couple Identified"}]

The Natrona County Coroner's Office identified the two people killed as James Faris Cox, 74, and Susan Horn Cox, 69, of Golden, Colorado.

The cause of last week’s double fatal crash in remote Natrona County was due to a commercial tanker truck driver who failed to stop for traffic in a construction zone, the Wyoming Highway Patrol said Wednesday. The investigation is active.

Daily Smile: Tuesday, January 30, 2024

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