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Michael P. Ramirez

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

<title>Daily Cartoon: Wednesday, April 10, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon: Wednesday, April 10, 2024

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

Clair McFarland

Politics

Government & Politics

Wyoming lawmakers started work Tuesday to lift the upper limit on county prosecutors' salaries from $153,700 to $180,000, and give judges substantial raises. 

If it becomes law, the bill now being drafted would raise Wyoming Supreme Court Justices’ salaries from $187,250 to nearly $225,000, district court judge salaries from $171,200 to almost $202,000, and circuit court judges from $153,700 to $180,000.

 Those figures would change over time based on economic metrics, as they’d be tethered to federal judge salaries, which have built-in escalators.

Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, asked for the draft at the Joint Appropriations Committee’s meeting Tuesday in Lander.

“This is mandated. This is what government does,” said Pendergraft. “We need to do it properly.”

The conversation focused primarily on prosecutors, many of whom have lamented their elected-official salary cap for years.

Loretta Howieson Kallas, who is Uinta County Attorney and also president of the Wyoming County and Prosecuting Attorneys Association, delivered a presentation about pay disparities in different prosecutors’ offices and between the government and private sector.

The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office tends to start new hires in the $80,000-$90,000 range, and the private sector – depending on region – at $130,000-$170,000, she said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Many county attorney offices start around $50,000-$70,000, Kallas added."}]

“I love what I do, and I do it for a reason that has little to do, per se, with my salary,” Kallas said. “But it does get difficult when I know there are no attorneys in my county, and I could be making four times my salary.”

The Wyoming Legislature's administrative arm, the Management Council, has directed the Appropriations Committee to undertake this pay study. But Pendergraft had voiced a need for the changes during this year's budget-planning marathon in January. 

The Legislature had, through its two-year budget, sent an extra $1.5 million per year to the 21 county attorneys' offices - a move expected to send $22,000 a year extra from the state toward county attorneys' salaries and around $13,800 each year for assistant county attorneys' salaries. 

But not all counties are answering that gesture by increasing county attorneys' pay, said Kallas, adding that they're likely concerned they won't be able to sustain a new, higher wage over their four-year budget terms if the state's current budget boost doesn't remain over time.

Wyoming has 23 counties but two of those, Laramie and Natrona, have district attorneys instead of dual-purpose county and prosecuting attorneys as the top prosecutor. Kallas said that's because those two counties align geographically with the judicial districts that serve them. 

[{"type":"text","text":"The state sets district attorney wages. "}]

Weston County has the lowest-paid prosecuting attorney at $75,000 annual salary, said Kallas. She said the county allows that prosecutor to take on private work to supplement his income, though she questioned what kind of ethical difficulties he has to juggle as a result.

Weston County is the state’s third least-populous county at 6,808 – after Niobrara County (2,365) and Hot Springs County (4,661).

The Niobrara County Attorney makes $106,798 and the Hot Springs County Attorney makes $110,000 a year, Kallas said.

These three along with the Big Horn County Attorney and the Fremont County Attorney make the lowest salaries in Wyoming, she said. The Big Horn County Attorney’s salary is $103,960 and the Fremont County Attorney’s salary is $117,600.

Fremont County generally lands around the fifth most populous in Wyoming. But it has the “fourth-highest case load as far as violent felonies particularly,” said Kallas.

, which uses FBI data, ranked Fremont County’s largest city of 

 in the state by far, at a violent-crime rate of 74.5 per 10,000 people in 2024.

Evanston was second-highest with roughly half the violence, at 39 violent crimes per 10,000 people.

County commissioners set county attorneys’ salaries, though the state pays either $50,000 or 50% toward them, whichever is less.

The state also pays up to 50% of the assistant county attorneys’ salaries or $30,000, whichever is less – and the counties make up the rest.

While the policy rationale there may be that county attorneys do civil work for their counties but also represent the state when they prosecute crimes, Kallas said her office’s civil work is miniscule compared to its prosecutorial work.

She has a deputy who only prosecutes crimes, a deputy whose workload is only about 10% civil and most of her work is in prosecution as well, she said.

The bill draft the committee advanced unanimously on Tuesday would eliminate the “whichever is less” language so that the state would pay half of prosecutors’ wages. It would also give the Legislature oversight in approving the routine escalations of salaries the bill envisions.

[{"type":"text","text":"Don’t Yank Our Chain"}]

But that bill might look completely different by the time the committee is done with it, Pendergraft told Cowboy State Daily in a follow-up interview.

After the meeting there was “some discussion by some of us, that it might be better not to cross between the executive, judicial, and legislative, for a number of reasons,” he said.

The escalating salaries federal judges enjoy are tied to various economic factors. Wyoming may want to devise its own factors, Pendergraft added.

“We don’t want – basically – the feds yanking our chain,” he said. “Our formula would be built by the state; to our liking. This all remains to be hashed out. This is just our discussion.”

The Joint Appropriations Committee’s next meeting is set for Aug. 27 in Cheyenne.

Lawmakers 6 24 26

<title>Wyoming Lawmakers Call For Raises For Prosecutors And Judges | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming lawmakers started work Tuesday to lift the upper limit on county prosecutors' salaries from $153,700 to $180,000. The bill would raise Wyoming Supreme Court Justices’ salaries to nearly $225,000 and district court judge salaries to almost $202,000.

Wyoming Lawmakers Call For Raises For Prosecutors And Judges

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Courts

[{"type":"text","text":"\"You know the drill.\""}]

That's how Fremont County Circuit Court Judge Jason Stebner greeted Kerri Johnson on Tuesday as she appeared for arraignment on the latest in a string of misdemeanor animal-at-large citations tied to her Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs.

Before calling individual cases, Stebner advised everyone in the courtroom of their constitutional rights.

When Johnson's case was called, the judge noted she was appearing on "another" animal-at-large citation before reading the charge.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I am guessing you want to enter a not guilty plea,\" Stebner said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Yes,\" Johnson replied."}]

The citation stems from a May 20 incident at Buckhorn Flats and carries a maximum penalty of $200.

Johnson is scheduled to return to court Wednesday for a status conference involving several additional animal-at-large citations that remain pending.

While Tuesday's proceeding was brief, the dispute behind it has consumed a rural neighborhood southwest of Kinnear for years.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Dead Calves"}]

What began as complaints about roaming dogs has evolved into one of Fremont County's most contentious rural disputes.

According to court records, neighboring ranchers have reported problems involving Johnson's dogs since at least 2021.

One neighbor, Anna Shurtleff, told investigators she amassed more than 700 photographs and videos documenting incidents involving the dogs.

The Shurtleffs, who raise cattle and horses, reported finding dead calves, injured cattle and cows so stressed by dog attacks they abandoned their young, according to court filings.

A Wyoming Game and Fish investigation into a dead calf on neighboring rancher Chris Eberline's property earlier this year found tracks investigators described as too large to be coyotes and too small to be wolves.

The affidavit says the tracks were believed to be from either domestic or feral dogs.

Court records show Johnson paid fines tied to animal-at-large citations in April 2024 and April 2025. Another citation was dismissed in April 2025.

Additional citations filed between September 2025 and March 2026 remain active.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Surveillance Cameras"}]

Court records show Johnson has been cited multiple times under Wyoming's animal-at-large statute.

Rancher Chris Eberline previously told Cowboy State Daily she has lost multiple calves and spent thousands of dollars installing surveillance cameras across her property in an attempt to catch the dogs on video.

The effort has included multiple cameras spread across roughly 1,000 acres, along with monthly subscription costs to store footage.

"We're just tired of it," Eberline said in a previous interview.

She estimated a market-ready calf can be worth nearly $3,000.

Last month, Eberline reported finding another dead calf on her property. A deputy with the Fremont County Sheriff's Office and an officer with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department responded to investigate.

The results of that investigation have not yet been released.

At one point, Eberline alleged tensions between neighbors became so heated that one confrontation included the statement: "You shoot my dogs, I'm shooting you."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Two Different Narratives"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Johnson has consistently disputed the allegations."}]

While neighboring ranchers portray the dogs as a persistent problem, Johnson has publicly described them as working livestock guardian dogs that have themselves become victims.

In social media posts reviewed by Cowboy State Daily, Johnson said a dog named Thor was shot and rushed to a veterinarian while protecting livestock.

In another post, she claimed another dog named Ed was found dead from a gunshot wound.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"My faith in humanity is beyond shattered,\" Johnson wrote."}]

Johnson has not responded to multiple requests for comment from Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","text":"For now, the legal battle continues."}]

Tuesday's arraignment lasted only a few minutes, but it represented another chapter in a dispute that has generated years of complaints, repeated citations, allegations of livestock losses and bitter divisions between neighbors.

Multiple citations arepending and another court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.

Dog cattle blur 6 23 26

<title>Kinnear Woman Pleads Not Guilty Again To Latest Citation Over Roving Guard Dogs | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Kinnear-area woman embroiled in a years-long feud over roaming livestock guardian dogs pleaded not guilty Tuesday to her latest animal-at-large charge. Several ranchers have alleged her dogs have harassed livestock and contributed to calf deaths.

Kinnear Woman Pleads Not Guilty Again To Latest Citation Over Roving Guard Dogs

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Agriculture

The situation with the Colorado River is dire, and likely will keep getting worse if the river continues to be managed according to arcane policies, officials representing the four Upper Basin states said Tuesday.

Water-management policy needs to shift away from legal wrangling and toward the realities of water availability, or hydrology, members of the Upper Colorado River Commission said during a meeting in Denver.

The commission didn’t make any policy decisions, and plans to meet again this summer.

At issue is whether the Upper Basin states – Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico – can keep meeting downriver demands according to water allocations drawn up under the 1922 Colorado River Compact.

The compact also includes the Lower Basin states – Arizona, Nevada and California – as well as Mexico and numerous Native American tribes.  

The headwaters of the Colorado River are in Colorado. Wyoming’s Green River is one of its main tributaries.

Wyoming and Utah share Flaming Gorge Reservoir. It’s facing a 

 in an effort to replenish desperately low Lake Powell, on the Utah-Arizona state line.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Worst Year On Record"}]

The conversation must shift from legal wrangling to managing the river according to what nature provides, commission members said.

“As I’ve been saying for years, this is a problem that needs to be settled by hydrology,” said state engineer Brandon Gebhart, Wyoming’s representative on the commission.

“This is one of the worst, if not the worst, hydrologic year on record,” he added.

Longstanding drought conditions across the West, coupled with the unusually dry 2025-2026 winter, have left ranchers, farmers and communities facing tough choices, commissioners said.

“It is dire; the pain is felt in every corner of every state in the Upper Basin, Colorado commissioner Beck Mitchell said.

In Utah, some small towns have already run out of water and are hauling it in, Utah commissioner Gene Shawcroft said.

There have been calls for a “statewide state of emergency” because of drought, he added.

Gebhart said all of Wyoming is also essentially in a state of drought.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bad News For Ag"}]

At one point, commission executive director Chuck Cullom displayed slides showing aerial photos of agricultural areas in each Upper Basin state.

There was stark contract between widespread greenery in images from 2024, when water was relatively abundant, and those from 2026. This year's photos show far more brownish, dry land and shrunken reservoirs.

Regarding images taken along South Piney Creek in Wyoming, Gebhart said more than just a lack of green crops is at stake.

South Piney Creek ranchers might have to cut back their cattle herds because of a lack of forage, he said.

Mitchell said farmers and ranchers in the Upper Basin states are facing conditions that can’t be ignored.

“In a year like this year, they’re impacted in ways that we can’t imagine sitting in a room in Denver, trying to keep cattle alive, trying to keep crops alive, trying to make it through one more day,” she said.

On one optimistic note, it was reported to the commission projects are underway in each state to curb secondary water losses during crop irrigation. That includes installing more efficient headgates on irrigation canals, and lining canals with concrete or other materials to keep water from leeching into the ground.

Wyoming has roughly $6 million earmarked for such projects, staff reported.

Management of dams and other infrastructure in the Colorado River Basin should be managed for long-term water conservation, Mitchell said.

“When we consistently release more than what is coming into our reservoirs, we drain the system,” she said.

And this is a pivotal year for Colorado River management. Water-use negotiations and infrastructure operations were last updated in 2007, and are up for renewal at the end of 2026.

The Upper Basin can’t be managed in a perpetual cycle of diminishing returns, Shawcroft said.

The effects of drawdowns to feed the Lower Basin accumulate on long-term storage, he said.

“There’s likely to be little to no carryover storage (this year),” he said.

And there will likely be even worse water shortages next year, “Unless we have a Snowmaggedon runoff,” he added.

Green river 6 23 26

<title>Colorado River's Dire Water Picture Expected To Hit Green River Ranchers Hard | Cowboy State Daily</title>

At a meeting in Denver on Tuesday, Wyoming's state engineer said 2026 is "one of the worst, if not the worst, hydrologic years on record" due to the dire water situation in the Colorado River's Upper Basin states. He said Green River Basin ranchers will be hit especially hard.

Colorado River's Dire Water Picture Expected To Hit Green River Ranchers Hard

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

During a lengthy meeting that grew contentious, the Kemmerer City Council on Monday approved an ordinance establishing regulations for a possible man camp inside city limits.

The ordinance allows for the conditional use of a temporary workforce and short-term housing hub of no more than 50 dwelling units. 

Multiple residents of the Antelope Ridge subdivision made their plea clear: not in my backyard.

City officials said opponents were putting the cart before the horse, as no man camp is guaranteed.

 groundwork’s been laid,” Kemmerer Mayor Robert Bowen said after the vote, which followed about two hours of public discussion. “That doesn’t mean it will ever happen. But if it does we have guidelines in place.”

Developers are proposing a temporary hub to house workers who will build the TerraPower nuclear power plant near Kemmerer.

The city of about 2,400 people is bracing for explosive growth with the first-of-its-kind sodium-cooled nuclear power plant under construction, 

Cowboy State Daily has previously reported

Multiple companies have been eyeing properties to house workers when the plant comes online sometime around 2030.

What the man camp looks like, what it will cost to build and where it is located would depend on who is awarded the contract, Bowen previously told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","text":"He estimated the project is being considered by five to seven bidders."}]

proposals according to their interest in a particular piece of land, what has drawn the most attention from residents is an undeveloped city-owned property between the justice center and the Antelope Ridge subdivision.

[{"type":"text","text":"Bowen said one developer has shown interest in that land."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Public Pushback"}]

Multiple residents of Antelope Ridge pushed back against the proposed ordinance Monday, citing concerns such as property value impacts, taxpayers bearing costs of infrastructure buildout, noise and safety if a man camp were to be built.

[{"type":"text","text":"The land in question is about a quarter-mile from Antelope Ridge."}]

Jannetta West, who lives in the subdivision, said a man camp so close to her neighborhood would threaten the community’s safety and infrastructure.

She urged council members to reject any proposals for the site near Antelope Ridge.

“Please don’t let the dollar signs cloud your moral and ethical judgment,” she said.

Several residents asked how property taxes would be affected by the TerraPower plant and potential man camp.

Brett Burt, also a resident of  Antelope Ridge, said to the council, “I don’t know if you’re going to respond to me or if this is just me saying words.”

[{"type":"text","text":"He paused, seeming to await an answer."}]

After a brief silence and the mayor beginning to respond, Burt called his questions rhetorical before asking why temporary workforce housing was not discussed by the city during the two years TerraPower was working through its project permitting.

He also posed a question other residents echoed: why not keep the project and temporary workforce housing on the same site?

Burt also asked: “Are you entertaining a data center? That’s a separate issue but I know most of us don’t want that either.”

Antelope Ridge resident Kodi Seamons questioned why the ordinance focused on a potential man camp specifically within city limits. She also wondered why the facility would have to be so close to an established neighborhood.

Seamons said she had reached out to a specific council member with those questions earlier. She did not name the council member.

“The response I received was, 'It’s none of your 

she told the council. “Respectfully, when a project has the potential to impact my neighborhood, my property value, my quality of life and the future of my community, it is my business. It is the business of every resident who lives here.”

Residents deserve the opportunity to ask questions without being dismissed, Seamons added.

“We deserve the opportunity to understand why decisions are being made,” she said.

[{"type":"text","text":"She also said asking questions is civic participation."}]

A resident who identified himself as Mike, who also lives in the subdivision, spoke multiple times, first stating the city has no way of regulating the type of temporary housing that could come in.

“We’re not ready for temporary housing inside city limits,” he said. “We don’t know how to do it yet. We have a huge project coming and one of the first things we do is possibly irresponsibly put temporary workforce housing right next to a neighborhood.”

[{"type":"text","text":"City-Owned Property"}]

Residents asked whether a man camp on city property showed a conflict of interest.

“The city is in direct competition with private entities,” Mike said. “We are all watching who votes to allow a man camp when we have no way to regulate it yet.”

Bowen clarified that the city did not put in a bid for a temporary workforce hub to be built on city-owned property.

[{"type":"text","text":"“We were approached by a contractor,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He added that other in-town properties are also possible."}]

That’s when the meeting grew more contentious.

“You’re elected to represent us and you’re not doing so," someone shouted from the audience.

“Anything else I say could be offensive so I won’t say it. Let’s just move on,” Bowen replied. “I think we’ve said enough for tonight. Anything else could get escalated. So we’ll just call it good where it’s at.”

Then, Bowen invited audience members to make additional comments on the record, in front of the microphone.

[{"type":"text","text":"Several did, including Braden Seamons."}]

“These people are being backed into a corner by the people that are supposed to represent us,” Seamons said. “We don’t need a man camp anywhere in this town.”

Seamons asked how the city could guarantee anyone living in a man camp in town was vetted.

The mayor said the city itself can’t vet the people who live in a man camp.

[{"type":"text","text":"“That’s not our place,” he said."}]

“If you can’t do it, then why should we put it in our backyard?” Seamons asked.

[{"type":"text","text":"Temporary Housing Not Guaranteed"}]

Bowen reiterated that a man camp was not inevitable.

“This is all conceptual,” he said. “This is not guaranteed. This ordinance gives the ability to have man camp in city limits. It does not guarantee that it is coming.”

Resident April Burt fired back, “Saying, ‘it may not happen’ is like saying, ‘it can happen'.”

To the assertion the city is not ready for it, the mayor said, “This is the ordinance that gets us ready.”

Housing conditions and choices that workers make could render a temporary housing hub unnecessary, he said.

He laid out projections that of the 1,600 workers expected on the project site, 15-25% are expected to stay in RVs. Another estimated 25% will stay in local housing because they’ll bring families.

[{"type":"text","text":"The is for sole workers, Bowen said."}]

“Realistically, we’re looking at about 400 people in a 

 not the scary 1,600 that’s being kicked around.”

Bowen also reiterated the hub will be built on-demand, to accommodate workers as needed. He assured community members the council is not talking about building a 1,600-person man camp.

“Our housing might catch up to where they don’t even need this,” he said.

He also rebutted other concerns, saying everything is a big “if” right now.

Considerations of temporary workforce housing have been in progress for years by TerraPower, he said. They just haven’t been brought to the city council until recently.

“I guarantee they were talking about this five years ago,” Bowen said. “This didn’t catch them off-guard. They’re way too invested, way too high-profile, too professional to have been caught at the last minute with, ‘Oh no, Kemmerer doesn’t have enough 

"We have to be angry about this,” Burt said. “We have to keep coming to these meetings. I’m really sad that we feel we are not being adequately heard.”

During a lengthy meeting that grew contentious, the Kemmerer City Council on Monday approved an ordinance establishing regulations for a possible man camp inside city limits. "The groundwork’s been laid,” Kemmerer Mayor Robert Bowen said after the vote.

Daily Cartoon: Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Michael P. Ramirez

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Daily Cartoon: Wednesday, April 10, 2024

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Michael P. Ramirez

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