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[{"type":"text","text":"They may not be the best plumbers, but their prices are really good...."}]

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

<title>You Still Here? Thursday, April 11, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

They may not be the best plumbers, but their prices are really good....

You Still Here? Thursday, April 11, 2024

 They may not be the best plumbers, but their prices are really good....

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Executive

Cheyenne’s Board of Public Utilities will not move forward with a press conference this week to discuss details surrounding the contamination of the city's wastewater reuse system by a Meta data center contractor, despite publicly saying last week that it would.

Frank Strong, BOPU’s engineering and water resource division manager, told Cowboy State Daily in a phone call Tuesday that the board is “not able to” do the information event as initially planned. 

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he's unable to discuss why."}]

Instead, BOPU is putting together a list of questions it has received from media and members of the public and is working on drafting concise answers.

“We’ve received a lot of questions, a lot of inquiries,” Strong said, adding that he hopes the document would be publicly released Wednesday or Thursday. 

The public upswell over the contamination has built for weeks after the BOPU made the contamination public months after it happened.

On July 2, the BOPU  announced that Goat Systems LLC, the corporate entity Meta uses during construction of its nearly 800,000-square-foot data center campus, was in "significant noncompliance" with the city's industrial pretreatment regulations after discharging wastewater contaminated with Cupriavidus gilardii bacteria into Cheyenne's municipal reuse water system. 

The board had issued a public notice June 26 that laboratory staff identified the contaminant in a February sampling from Meta’s closed-loop cooling system.

Meta would not comment publicly on the BOPU’s decision, nor would it comment on whether closed-loop cooling systems are safe and reliable for limiting water consumption from its data centers, whether it would publicly share the results of its own water quality tests and whether it plans any sort of community outreach in the wake of the incident.

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

sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

, asking pointed questions about the contamination and asking the company to release all information it has about the Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium that had been discharged into the city’s wastewater system.

Hageman's strongly-worded letter had demanded answers of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 

For example, she asked why the public announcement about the contamination came more than four months after the Meta contractor disrupted the city’s reclaimed wastewater system with the rare bacterial contaminant.

Meta called Hageman’s office within 24 hours, the representative said in a Tuesday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily.

“First of all, I want to commend them. They called us immediately,” said Hageman. 

That first phone call was between Meta personnel and Hageman staffers, she said. She took to X.com to call that first call “productive.” 

Hageman said Meta’s stance was essentially that, “We want to be a good neighbor, be responsive, we recognize this is something that’s been announced (as coming) from our facility and we’re doing the investigation to find out what happened and address it.”

Hageman said she joined a second call with Meta officials Tuesday afternoon in which the tech officials said they are working with the Board of Public Utilities to “figure out what happened here.”

The representative said she sees her approach to this issue less as a federal lawmaker and more as an advocate for Wyoming.

“One of the things I’ve encouraged them, and other people either wanting to come to Wyoming or who are in Wyoming bringing ... different types of businesses expanding our workforce is,  you need to work with the communities where you intend to go,” she said. 

“Talk with city leaders. Have public meetings. Talk about what you intend to do. Make sure you’re doing that public outreach so people can engage with you and understand what it is you intend to do in the state of Wyoming,” Hageman added.

Hageman said she has not been in touch with the BOPU on why it isn’t planning to have a press conference this week and doesn’t have insight there, but believes that the entity should engage with the public also.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Priced Out Of Transparency"}]

Erin Lamb, BOPU’s administrative and public affairs coordinator, has said that the company will pay for all remediation costs associated with the incident.

Exie Brown Jr., a Republican vying for a House District 9 seat in the Wyoming House of Representatives, submitted public records requests to the BOPU regarding the contamination, saying on social media, “These are legitimate questions about public infrastructure, water quality, and public health.”

Cost estimates to retrieve those records are estimated at $500 from the city of Cheyenne and more than $1,300 from the Department of Health, he said.

“These are not trivial amounts for an individual citizen seeking information that directly affects the community,” he said. “While agencies are permitted to recover reasonable costs for processing complex requests, fees of this magnitude on matters involving public health and ratepayer-funded infrastructure create real barriers to transparency.”

Brown expressed skepticism over BOPU’s decision against a press conference, saying it appears the board wants to craft its answers carefully. It also means it won’t be open to follow-up or other questions from those attending the press conference.

“It tells me they don’t want to have to try and answer any potential unexpected questions,” Brown told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday text message.

BOPU board member Jeff Fassett told Cowboy State Daily in an email Tuesday that he was checking with senior staff on the status of the agency's answers.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I had expected some replies before now,” Fassett said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘We Did Not Want To Create A Public Panic'"}]

More than four hours into Monday night’s lengthy Cheyenne City Council meeting, Laramie County resident David Knisely confronted Mayor Patrick Collins with a direct question: “Do you all promise to tell us anything that you know, immediately, that might affect us?”

The mayor responded he and the council would do everything they could to be transparent.

“So what happened with respect to contamination at Meta? Why was it five months or six months before we knew anything?”

After a pause, the mayor said, “I honestly don’t know why it took six months.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“When did you know?” Kniseley asked."}]

The mayor responded that he was told “sometime this spring that an incident had happened and that BOP was looking into it.

“And then I think all of us learned the extent of that just a week or so ago,” he added. “But honestly, I did hear that an incident had happened. Not a lot of details, sir.”

Bryce Dorr, an engineer with BOPU, said at the meeting that the board will provide a detailed timeline of what happened, “as well as some answers to some of the questions we have seen.”

[{"type":"text","text":"He reiterated that the issue was never with the city’s drinking water."}]

“We’re trying to get more answers,” he said. “We’re trying to understand further what has happened.”

Dorr addressed Knisely directly, saying that news about the contamination “has kind of been an explosion.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I get why you’re scared,” Dorr said."}]

The holdout of waiting four months before informing the public was because “There was not a risk,” he said. “We did not want to create public panic.”

“If there is not an immediate risk to public health, it’s not something we want to create public panic over,” Dorr said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Do It Immediately'"}]

Dorr said he has taken a pay cut to work for the city, and what he values most about his position is that he has a role in protecting the community.

“And I know that’s what these people are here to do, too,” he said, acknowledging the City Council.

“But there are only certain things that we can control,” he said. “We are doing our best to protect the community and do what’s best for this community.”

Council member Pete Laybourn told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday the BOPU has a clear responsibility “to detail every element of this and do it immediately. These circumstances certainly seed a narrative of complete distrust.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Laybourn questioned the way the BOPU is handling the situation."}]

“You should not raise expectations of a press conference and then say you’re going to study it some more,” he said. “My guess is there’s a lot of studying that’s been going on for the past five months.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“This couldn’t possibly have come at a worse time,” he added."}]

Mayor Collins said in an email to Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that the BOPU had notified him of its change of plans for the press conference and that he had not had a chance to follow up.

Meta aerial 7331 7 14 26

<title>On Second Thought, No Press Conference On Cheyenne Meta Data Center Contamination | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Despite promising a press conference this week to address the Meta data center contamination of Cheyenne’s wastewater system, the Board of Public Utilities now says it won’t, opting instead to release a statement addressing questions.

On Second Thought, No Press Conference On Cheyenne Meta Data Center Contamination

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Hunting

An outbreak of canine distemper and other setbacks has left northwest Wyoming’s wolf population at a 20-year low, so the quota for the upcoming wolf hunting seasons is less than half of last year’s.

As of Jan. 1, there were 132 wolves in the wolf management area in northwest Wyoming, state Game and Fish Department biologist Ken Mills told the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, during the commission’s meeting Tuesday in Sheridan.

The Game and Fish Department’s objective is for 160 wolves in that area, said Mills, a large carnivore biologist and wolf management specialist.

The department recommended setting the wolf mortality quota for the 2026 hunting season at 20, less than half of the 2025 44-wolf quota.

The mortality quota designates the number of wolves that can die, by any cause, before the hunt is shut down. 

If the mortality quota is met before the end date of the hunting season in that area, the hunting season is still shut down, regardless of how many hunters are left holding unfilled tags.

Hunters killed 31 wolves in 2025, falling short of the 44-wolf quota, Mills said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What About 1090F?"}]

Fans of Yellowstone National Park’s famous Wolf 1090F said her pack is denning in one of the hunt areas.

Some asked the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to carve out an exception to the proposed 2026 season regulations and suspend hunting in that area.

The commission voted unanimously to accept the wolf hunting seasons as proposed by the Game and Fish Department. Those include a quota of four wolves total in Hunt Areas 1 and 2 (Clarks Fork, North Fork).

Wolf 1090’s pack, the Mollie’s pack, is now denning on the Shoshone National Forest in Hunt Area 1.

The wolf hunt season there is set to run from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31.

In January, Wolf 1090F reached the age of 11 years, 9 months, making her the 

At that time, she surpassed the age of the legendary 907F, who died at roughly 11 years, 8 months old on Christmas Day in 2024 a few days after a fight with members of a rival wolf pack.

Just prior to the commission voting on the wolf seasons, Lisa Robertson of Wyoming Untrapped and Marke Cooke of Wolves of the Rockies called in to the meeting via Zoom to object.

Given the decline in the wolf population, Wyoming Untrapped and other wolf advocates would like to see wolf hunting suspended for two years, Robertson said.

Or, at least hunting should be suspended this year in Hunt Area 1 to protect Wolf 1090F and the rest of the Mollie’s pack, she said.

That would preserve an “internationally-recognized and highly-studied wolf pack,” she said.

Cooke also emphasized that the Mollie’s pack is prized by wolf researchers.

“Once they are gone, decades of irreplaceable knowledge are gone with them,” he told the commission.

Sparing the Mollie’s pack from being hunted could also bolster Wyoming’s image, Cooke said, adding that, "Wyoming is getting pretty beat up lately on some wildlife issues."

There have recently been high-profile cases of alleged wildlife abuse in Wyoming. 

Those include Daniel resident Cody Roberts capturing, tormenting and killing a wolf in February 2024. Also, a Unita County rancher allegedly videotaping two others 

Commissioner John Masterson noted that the Mollie’s pack is popular and frequently watched and photographed.

“From a pure management, scientific standpoint, is there anything substantially unique about that pack?” he asked the commission.

Mills responded that from the department’s perspective, “a breeding pair is a breeding pair, a pack is a pack” in terms of monitoring and managing wolves.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Numbers Down"}]

Wolves in Wyoming fall under three classifications, depending upon where they are in the state.

Inside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, they remain protected and may not be hunted.

In areas immediately adjacent to the park — in the Game and Fish wolf management zone — they may be shot by licensed hunters only during set seasons and within mortality quota limits.

Outside of the management zone, which is about 85% of Wyoming, wolves are classified as a predatory animal and may be killed at any time, with no limits or hunting tag required.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wyoming is “committed” to maintain a population of 100 wolves, including 10 breeding pairs, inside the management zone, Mills said.

A breeding pair is male and female wolf that successfully raise at least two pups through the end of December.

Game and Fish wolf objectives include a “buffer” above the federal commitment, Mills said.

The department’s objective is for 160 wolves and 13 or 14 breeding pairs inside the wolf management zone, he said.

At the beginning of the year, there were 132 wolves in 22 packs, including 10 breeding pairs, Mills said.

The decline in wolf numbers might be largely due to an outbreak of canine distemper, which started in the fall of 2025 and has been especially hard on wolf pups, Mills said.

Wolf populations tend to recover quickly, he added.

For the wolf population stabilize at 160 by the end of 2026, as many as 63 could die of all causes, he said.

Of those, 35 could be “human-caused” wolf deaths by year’s end, Mills said.

Allowing for 15 wolves to be killed for such things as attacking livestock, that leaves a hunters’ quota of 20 across the entire wolf management zone, he said.

Howling wolves 7 14 26

<title>Wyoming Game And Fish Commission Cuts Wolf Hunt Quotas By More Than Half | Cowboy State Daily</title>

With northwest Wyoming’s wolf population at a 20-year low, the state Game and Fish Commission on Tuesday cut the wolf hunt limits by more than half. Some advocates said that’s not enough, arguing to suspend hunting wolves altogether.

Wyoming Game And Fish Commission Cuts Wolf Hunt Quotas By More Than Half

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

A summer camp drive through Cody took a disturbing turn when, investigators say, a group of children allegedly found themselves looking out the windows of their van at a man driving alongside them without pants and pleasuring himself while making eye contact with those in the van.

Court records show that rather than let him disappear into traffic, two camp counselors followed the vehicle through Cody, photographed its license plate and called law enforcement.

Cody police officers say they quickly realized the registered owner was someone they already knew.

Andrew Crawford, a Cody resident born in 1988 and a registered sex offender, has been charged with felony indecent liberties with a minor and several public indecency misdemeanors spanning multiple years. 

who was convicted of public indecency in April 2023 after he repeatedly exposed himself to female baristas at Cody coffee kiosks during the fall of 2022.

Those incidents continued for weeks before one barista responded by dumping scalding 170-degree water into Crawford's lap after he exposed himself. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"6 Juveniles "}]

Park County dispatch got the report about Crawford's more recent allegations at about 4:34 p.m. on Friday, court records show.

One of the camp counselors told investigators that he and another counselor were traveling through Cody with six juveniles when a blue Chevrolet Impala pulled alongside their van.

The counselor reported that the driver had removed his pants and was masturbating while looking through the van's windows. He told deputies all six campers and both counselors witnessed the alleged conduct.

Dispatch identified the vehicle as being registered to Crawford, whom the investigating officer wrote he recognized from prior law enforcement contacts involving similar allegations.

Court records show he was accused of exposing himself to two girls and their mother in a Cody Walmart parking lot in 2011 — this while under investigation for allegedly possessing child pornography while serving in the U.S. Air Force in 2009. 

He was sentenced in 2012 to 72 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Witnesses Identified Crawford"}]

Investigators presented the counselors with a six-photo lineup, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

Before the officer had finished explaining the identification process, a counselor said he already knew who the suspect was and immediately identified Crawford's photograph. 

He told investigators he recognized him by his bald head, facial hair and face shape, saying the only difference was that the driver had been wearing glasses.

The other counselor also identified Crawford as the man he said he made eye contact with during the incident, says the affidavit.

The following morning, investigators reviewed the counselors' written statements. 

"Both witness statements corroborate the emotional distress and shock of the juvenile campers after they all witnessed the same exposed genitalia and masturbating motions with his hand on his penis," says the affidavit. 

Investigators also confirmed with camp's operations director that the van's windows were not tinted and that passengers inside were clearly visible from outside.

Because Crawford has prior military and Wyoming convictions involving public indecency and sex offender registration violations, the investigating officer asked prosecutors to expedite an arrest warrant, he wrote. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Deputies arrested Crawford later that afternoon without incident."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Court Proceedings"}]

Crawford made his initial appearance in Park County Circuit Court on Monday, where a judge set his bond at $100,000 cash only.

[{"type":"text","text":"If released, Crawford must remain in Park County as a condition of bond."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 22 in Cody."}]

Andrew Crawford Cody sign 7 14 26

<title>Repeat Cody Sex Offender Accused Of Pleasuring Himself Next To Van Of Camp Kids | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A registered Cody sex offender is accused of exposing and masturbating alongside a van of camp kids while making direct eye contact with those in the van. He’s the same man convicted in 2023 for repeatedly exposing himself to female coffee baristas.

Repeat Cody Sex Offender Accused Of Pleasuring Himself Next To Van Of Camp Kids

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

Greg Johnson

Despite a Wheatland police officer running out of gas during a harrowing chase of up to 112 mph through two towns, the driver of a white BMW failed his second attempt to elude law enforcement.

Taron Hunziker-Ford, 27, had already eluded Colorado State Troopers prior to driving north on Interstate 25 to Wheatland on Sunday, Wheatland Police Department Officer Jesse Walton says in an affidavit filed Monday in Platte County Circuit Court.

Walton wrote that Wyoming officials had been alerted to watch out for Hunziker-Ford, who was wanted on “multiple felony warrants out of Colorado.”

When he saw the white BMW with no back bumper and a temporary Colorado registration tag driving north on I-25 at about 7:09 p.m. Sunday “traveling at excessive rates of speed,” Walton says in his affidavit the pursuit was on.

At one point, Hunziker-Ford attempted to get off the interstate at exit 87, “but the exit is too sharp and his speeds were too fast,” the affidavit says. “He pulled out of the turn and continued northbound.”

By that time, Walton wrote that he was driving more than 100 mph and having trouble keeping up with the BMW.

When Hunziker-Ford got to highway 26, he took it east toward Guernsey, and Walton followed, the affidavit says.

[{"type":"text","text":"From there, the BMW led police on a dangerous 26-mile ride to Guernsey."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ran Out Of Gas"}]

“I could see the vehicle still ahead of me and what appeared to be passing other vehicles on the right shoulder — and my speed was at 111 mph shortly there (when) the BMW turned southbound on Highway 320 and continued back south toward Wheatland,” Walton wrote.

While topping 112 mph, the officer reports that he was having a hard time trying to catch this vehicle.

In the meantime, the BMW also failed to stop for other law enforcement in pursuit and set up in its path, the affidavit says.

When Hunziker-Ford got back into Wheatland, Walton hit another obstacle in the chase.

“At about this time I reached Oak Street and my vehicle ran out of fuel and I lost site (sic) of the vehicle,” he wrote.

Walton was not out of the chase for long, as Wheatland Police Chief Bradley Otte picked him up and they continued after the BMW, as was a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper and Guernsey police.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Gave Us A Shoulder Shrug’"}]

With the BMW ahead of Walton and the police chief, and other officers in front of the fleeing vehicle, “we tried to attempt to make a stop on him,” the affidavit says.

That’s when Hunziker-Ford “stopped at the stop sign there at 317 and looked at us, gave us a shoulder shrug, and continued eastbound,” Walton wrote.

By then, the end was near for Hunziker-Ford because Guernsey police officers had set up spike strips in his path ahead, which he ran over.

“(The chief) and I continued to follow the vehicle for another 3 to 4 miles when he finally was unable to keep the vehicle on the road and he drove it off the south side of 27 into the ditch, through the fence, spun out about 75 yards into the field,” the affidavit says.

Law enforcement was right behind and approached the BMW with their weapons drawn, but “the driver did not respond to any commands,” the affidavit says.

Hunziker-Ford appeared incoherent and was unresponsive, so was pulled from the BMW and handcuffed.

After being evaluated at a hospital in Torrington, Hunziker-Ford was booked into the Platte County Jail on suspicion of fleeing or attempting to elude police and reckless driving.

Both are misdemeanor charges, punishable by up to six months in jail and fines of up to $750.

He was arraigned Monday and remains in the Platte County jail on a $3,000 cash bond, according to court records.

Taron Hunziker Ford and Wheatland sign 7 14 26

<title>Wheatland Officer Runs Out Of Gas During 112 MPH Chase, Still Gets Driver | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Despite a Wheatland police officer running out of gas during a chase of up to 112 mph through two towns Sunday, the driver of a white BMW failed to elude law enforcement. The driver also at one point looked at pursuing officers and shrugged.

Wheatland Officer Runs Out Of Gas During 112 MPH Chase, Still Gets Driver

A 70-year-old Gillette man's treasured classic 1965 Ford Mustang disappeared from his driveway, then turned up about 100 yards away in a neighbor's shop with its hood open and connected to a battery charger.

By then, investigators say the older man — who Campbell County Sheriff’s Office deputies describe as frail, having dementia and living in squalor — had allegedly signed paperwork transferring the car to the neighbors for $500 and a promise that his lawn would be mowed every weekend until he died.

Deputies now allege that wasn't a bargain, they believe it was exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a felony.

Jeremy Talon Boggs and Jazlyn V. Foltz are accused of taking advantage of the man's declining mental condition to get the classic Mustang, which investigators estimated is worth anywhere between $30,000 and $44,600.

Court documents show the couple allegedly insisted the man willingly sold them the vehicle. 

The 70-year-old, however, told deputies he didn't know who they were and never gave anyone permission to take his car.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Neighbor's Call"}]

The investigation began Saturday afternoon after other neighbors of the man on Peaceful Valley Drive called the Campbell County Sheriff's Office.

They told deputies he suffered from dementia and believed Boggs and Foltz had recently begun spending an unusual amount of time at his home.

One neighbor reported seeing flashlights moving around the man's property the previous night. The following morning, the man's classic green Ford Mustang was parked at the home of a nearby residence occupied by Boggs and Foltz.

A Gillette couple is accused of exploiting a 70-year-old neighbor with dementia into giving them his classic 1965 Mustang worth more than $44,000. In return, they allegedly said they’d give the man $500 and promised to mow his lawn once a week for life.

You Still Here? Thursday, April 11, 2024

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