Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"There's nothing wrong with being optimistic...."}]

Darwin 4 30 24

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Tuesday, April 30, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

There's nothing wrong with being optimistic....

Daily Darwin: Tuesday, April 30, 2024

 There's nothing wrong with being optimistic....

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

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

Wyoming, 14 other states, a handful of gun advocacy groups, and individuals beat the Trump administration in court this week when a Texas-based federal judge called significant portions of the 1934 National Firearms Act unconstitutional.

U.S. District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix ruled Wednesday that major portions of the act are unconstitutional and can’t be enforced on Wyoming’s government and a number of other plaintiffs. 

Those provisions restrict suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and firearms classified as “any other weapons.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Gov. Mark Gordon called the ruling a win."}]

“This is a great win for gun owners across the country, including here in Wyoming where our gun rights are an important part of our heritage,” said Gordon in a Friday email statement. “It is absolutely essential that the 2nd Amendment be respected and protected. I am delighted to see a judge recognize overreach when it is this clear.”

Gordon congratulated Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz and Kautz’s team “for their solid work and wish them the best as this case continues moving forward.”

Hendrix stayed his order until at least Aug. 12, in case the federal government wants to appeal. It hadn’t appealed as of Friday morning.

The judge also did not overturn the NFA’s restrictions on machine guns and destructive devices.

Mark Jones, Wyoming resident and national director of Gun Owners of America, told Cowboy State Daily the ruling represents a big win — but not an invitation to go make short-barreled rifles, at least until the dust settles.

“We’re advising people to be very careful about looking at a headline and running out and engaging in practices related to this until we get more information and there’s some decision on this appeal,” said Jones. 

He also said that though Wyoming is a plaintiff, he doesn’t believe the injunction extends to every Wyoming citizen.

But, added Jones, “I still think it’s the biggest win against the NFA in the NFA’s history, and we'll see what happens.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Trump Stance ‘Frustrating’"}]

Gun Owners of America is one of the plaintiffs.

Hendrix’s order bars the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) from enforcing the enjoined parts of the National Firearms Act against plaintiffs and the plaintiffs’ “agencies, political subdivisions, members, and customers — both current and future.”

Jones said that leaves protections for Wyoming residents in doubt because “residents” aren’t listed under the people the order protects. But, he said, a Wyomingite who is a member of the Gun Owners of America will be protected if the order is upheld.

It’s been frustrating that the Trump administration has been defending the National Firearms Act, said Jones.

“Very frustrating,” he said. “Because the president ran, obviously, as a strong 2nd Amendment supporter.”

Jones said GOA has been “openly concerned about that: why his administration is defending the National Firearms Act.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Gun Control Act Remains"}]

David Kopel, a senior fellow at the University of Wyoming College of Law Firearms Research Center, emphasized that though the NFA will be diminished if the injunction is upheld or remains in place, the Gun Control Act of 1968 is still law.

“Even if the National Firearms Act of 1934 had never been passed, if you wanted to go into a store and buy a short-barreled rifle or short-barreled shotgun or even a suppressor, you’d have to go through the same process as to buy any other gun,” said Kopel. 

[{"type":"text","text":"That includes background checks and federal paperwork."}]

But this ruling removes a noteworthy layer of federal paperwork, requirements and delays, added Jones.

Congress passed the NFA in 1934 to tax and regulate Prohibition-era “gangster weapons,” including short-barreled shotguns and rifles, silencers, and “any other weapons” – a term the government has treated flexibly over the years.

[{"type":"text","text":"The law also covers machineguns and destructive devices."}]

It imposes taxes, but also recordkeeping and registration requirements geared toward enforcing the tax.

A person who violates the law by owning or transferring one of the covered firearms without fulfilling the requirements can face up to 10 years in federal prison and $10,000 in fines, plus the loss of gun rights for life.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1937 upheld the act because the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to tax.

The Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 lifted the taxes from the short-barreled rifles and shotguns, silencers and “any other weapons.”

Hendrix ruled Wednesday that removing the taxes also removes constitutional justifications for law’s other paperwork, registration and recordkeeping requirements, which were ostensibly in place to enforce the tax.

He also wrote that in 1934 the commerce clause — the portion of the Constitution giving Congress authority over interstate commerce — would not have been seen as justifying the NFA in 1934.

But the Gun Control Act of 1968, regulating gun commerce, remains in place. It’s based on the commerce clause.

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming’s Defiant Little Law"}]

Wyoming law says a personal firearm, accessory or ammunition manufactured in the state, that stays in the borders of the state is not subject to federal law, taxation or regulation, “under the authority of the United States congress to regulate interstate commerce.”

Kopel had opined, however, that a person who makes a short-barreled rifle in Wyoming still cannot sell it to his next-door neighbor, because intrastate commerce affects interstate commerce.

[{"type":"text","text":"Jones said Kopel is probably right."}]

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<title>Wyoming Scores 'Win' In Landmark Gun Rights Case Against Trump Administration | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A federal judge overturned parts of the National Firearms Act this week after Wyoming and other plaintiffs sued the Trump administration, which had defended the act. Gov. Mark Gordon on Friday called it a "great win for gun owners across the country."

Wyoming Scores 'Win' In Landmark Gun Rights Case Against Trump Administration

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

Greg Johnson

Law Enforcement

CHEYENNE — A man trying to run away from police after crashing a car near downtown Cheyenne in the early hours of Thursday morning made the chase easy for law enforcement by unknowingly trying to break into the Laramie County jail.

“You ever wonder what happened to that kid that always lost at hide-and-seek?” asks an amused Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak in a video response to the incident.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I think he’s in our jail,” he quips."}]

Kozak goes on to explain that the man came onto the radar of sheriff’s office deputies when they saw him running around the detention center at the intersection of 20

 Street and Pioneer Avenue in downtown Cheyenne.

The man seemed frantic and was trying all the doors around the building, trying to get in, he said.

“On the camera system, they saw some guy running from door to door on the outside of our jail trying to get in — wiggling the doors and just trying to get in the jail,” the sheriff said.

Those watching the cameras alerted jail deputies, “who went outside and found this guy hiding near the intake door,” Kozak said. “You know, where the police officers drive into the sally port to book people into the jail.”

The man was “hiding there in a corner” when deputies found him, then gave a false name when asked for identification, Kozak said.

‘Didn’t Have Far To Take Him Into The Jail’

That’s when the deputies learned that there had been a vehicle crash a few blocks away, “and the police department was looking for the suspect who fled,” the sheriff said.

So, the Cheyenne Police Department was contacted to arrest the guy, after which they “didn’t have far to take him into the jail, so that’s one good thing,” Kozak said.

The driver, later identified as a 44-year-old transient named Adam Scott, was arrested on suspicion of falsely identifying himself, driving under suspension, driving the wrong way on a one-way street, no proof of insurance, and hit and run, reports CPD spokesperson Alexandra Farkas-Schulz.

Cheyenne police were dispatched just before 12 a.m. Thursday to a report of a vehicled that crashed near the intersection of West 19th Street and Brent Avenue, she says in an email to Cowboy State Daily.

"The preliminary investigation shows the vehicle was traveling in the wrong direction on West 20th Street before attempting to turn south onto Brent Avenue," Farkas-Schulz wrote. "The driver failed to make the turn, causing the vehicle to leave the roadway and strick a building.

"The vehicle continued into a parking lot south of the building, where it came to a stop."

Scott, fled the scene and asked a passerby to report the crash, and he was later found outside the jail. He was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center for an evaluation before being booked into the local jail.

Kozak said that besides the incredibly bad luck of trying to get away from police by attempting to break into the jail, the suspect may have been guided there.

“I’m guessing maybe what happened was he saw the flashing ‘VACANCY’ sign and thought maybe it was a hotel,” he said. “But it wasn’t.”

 that’s perpetually flashing above the northeast door to the jail.

“However, he did find out the ‘vacancy’ thing – that’s legit,” the sheriff added. “So, he’s in our jail.”

Vacancy at jail IMG 2027 1 8 24

<title>Oops! Man Running From Cheyenne Cops Tries To Break Into Laramie County Jail | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A man trying to run from police in Cheyenne early Thursday morning made the chase easy by unknowingly trying to break into the Laramie County jail. “You ever wonder what happened to that kid that always lost at hide-and-seek?” the sheriff asked.

Oops! Man Running From Cheyenne Cops Tries To Break Into Laramie County Jail

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Around Wyoming

Legislature

Students in Lincoln County School District No. 1 will have to leave their smartphones, smartwatches and other internet-connected devices behind during the school day starting this fall — and those who repeatedly violate the rule could end up paying for it.

The district's board of trustees has adopted a Smart Device Policy for the 2026-27 school year that prohibits students from possessing smart devices on campus during school hours. 

Students caught violating the policy three times will face a $25 fine, a provision district leaders say is intended to change behavior rather than generate revenue.

School districts across the state are enacting smart-device policies after the Wyoming Legislature passed a bill earlier this year requiring the adoption of formal policies to address the possession and use of smart devices by students while on school grounds. 

However, district board chair Kristi Dearden said she is not aware of any other school districts whose policies include a fee for repeat offenders.

“In education, you have to be able to gain and keep students’ attention for them to learn,” said Shawn Rogers, principal of Kemmerer Junior-Senior High School. “When you’re competing with a cellphone, you’re going to lose every time.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Legislature Puts Districts in Charge"}]

The move comes as schools across the state consider how to monitor smart-device usage.

Campbell County School District in June approved a ban for K–8 students between opening and end-of-day bells, with high school students allowed to use their cellphones between class periods and during lunch.

Cody High School in Park County School District 6 also implemented a total ban.

Last year, Cowboy State Daily reported on 

a total ban implemented at Evanston High School

EHS English teacher Laura Clarito said the ban changed the attitudes of students.

“Since cellphones were disallowed, I have seen more engagement in coursework and more conversation during downtime,” Clarito said. “Kids aren't phone zombies now, they are humans.”

Both Rogers and Dearden said Lincoln County School District No. 1’s new policy is a direct result of the recent legislation.

“There was a need for it,” Rogers said. “We were really happy that our Legislature finally gave us something to go on. We feel like we battle with those phones so much it’s definitely a distraction.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The $25 Fee"}]

Rogers said school administrators and board members researched what other states were doing to implement smart-device policies. In Texas, they learned, some districts are imposing fines for policy violations.

As the Lincoln County district considered how to change behavior, leaders thought a fee on a third offense made sense.  

“On the third offense, the behavior’s not changing,” Rogers said. “We would hope that it doesn’t get to that point.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Student Council To Receive Money"}]

Dearden said any fines collected will be deposited into the district’s student council fund.

[{"type":"text","text":"Rogers said he hopes the council won’t see much money from this source."}]

“I’m hoping it’s not going to be that big of a deal,” Rogers said. “Even if the fund collects $300, that means 12 students pushed it to three offenses.”

[{"type":"text","text":"That, he said, would signal a larger problem."}]

“I would hope that parents would make kids pay their own fine if it gets to that level,” he added.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Community Feedback"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The policy has generated spirited debate within the community."}]

Discussions on social media revealed sharply divided opinions, though no one spoke directly to Cowboy State Daily when asked to share their thoughts.

Some argued a ban on smart devices violated personal property rights. Others questioned how students would contact their parents in an emergency such as a shooting.

Others said the school office should be in charge of communicating with parents as necessary. Many supported the policy, saying students have the right to an education, not a right to a cellphone.

“Everyone I’ve spoken to is in support of it,” Rogers said, “though I’m not naïve enough to believe there aren’t naysayers.”

Dearden said no community members have spoken publicly at board meetings about the policy. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Win Back Education’"}]

The Lincoln County district’s policy points to research showing the mere presence of a cellphone reduces cognitive capacity.

 suggesting that banning smartphones in schools has a positive impact. She also shared a 

study from the National Library of Medicine

 that explored the impact of smartphone use on a student’s understanding of course material and psychological well-being in the classroom.

The policy declares Kemmerer Junior-Senior High School a “smart device free zone” from the first bell to the final bell.

It defines a smart device as “any portable electronic tool capable of connecting to external networks (including but not limited to Wi-Fi, cellular data or Bluetooth) or possessing independent processing power to store, record, or transmit data. This includes, but is not limited to, cellular phones, smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, e-readers, handheld gaming consoles, and wearable technology.”

Students can leave their devices in a locked vehicle or place them in a secure lockbox at the front office before school begins.

A first violation results in confiscation of a device until the end of the school day. A second offense requires a parent or guardian to retrieve it from the school.

[{"type":"text","text":"A third violation carries the $25 fine."}]

The policy also includes what administrators call a "burner device" provision. Students who place a dummy or decoy phone in a lockbox while secretly keeping their primary device will automatically receive a third offense.

With the new school year looming, administrators are optimistic that the policy will produce positive results.

[{"type":"text","text":"We call it “win back education,” Rogers said."}]

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<title>Lincoln County Students Face $25 Fines If They Keep Bringing Phones To School | Cowboy State Daily</title>

If stern warnings and rules won’t keep kids from bringing their cellphones and devices to school, maybe cash fines will get their attention. That’s the idea behind a new Lincoln County rule that will fine students $25 if they keep bringing them to school.

Lincoln County Students Face $25 Fines If They Keep Bringing Phones To School

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

The wave of legacy ranches for sale in Wyoming is continuing with yet another historic ranch hitting the market for the first time.

This time, it is the 1,542-acre Quarter Circle Lazy B, owned for four generations by the Wallop family, which has ties to British nobility, as well as historic prominence in both Wyoming and American politics. 

The Quarter Circle Lazy B, listed for $24.5 million and on the market for the first time in 135 years, is tucked just under the Bighorn Mountains at the mouth of Little Goose Canyon. Its sale will mark the end of an era for one of Wyoming’s best-known legacy ranches.

Owner Paul Wallop told Cowboy State Daily he and his wife, Sandra, have decided this is the right time to start a search for the ranch’s next steward because none of the children have an interest in taking over the ranch. 

“We’re not ancient,” Paul Wallop said. “But we’re in our mid-60s, and we could easily do another 10-plus years. But in that 10 years, one health event and you’re not keeping up with it.”

Sandra Wallop told Cowboy State Daily she fears it will be more difficult to be “picky” about a successor if they wait. Now is the right time so they can be selective.

“It’s important,” she said. “We want them to have good Wyoming values, be good neighbors. I hate to say it in this fashion, but we want to kind of interview them before we sell to them.”

That doesn’t mean the couple will be “hovering” over their new neighbors, she added. 

“We’re not going to be that kind of neighbor,” Sandra said. “We deeply and passionately love this place … So we’re hoping the next family has the same attitude and perspective that we do.”

The Wallop family first began assembling its ranch in 1889, when English-born Oliver Henry Wallop bought the first piece of what would become the Quarter Circle Lazy B. 

Oliver was the third and youngest son of a titled line in Britain. He took a shine to the American West after graduating from an English university, and decided that would be how he would make his way in the world.

As the youngest son of Isaac Newton Wallop, the fifth Earl of Portsmouth in Great Britain’s Victorian era, Oliver never expected he would inherit land or title. Such young men were, at the time, known as “remittance” men, because they typically left home to make their way in the world and were given a remittance from their family. 

His father’s name, Isaac Newton, does have an indirect tie to the famous physicist of the same name. A relative of Newton’s married into the Wallop family, and many of its sons were subsequently given names to honor that heritage.

Oliver came to America soon after graduating from Oxford in 1883, first buying a ranch in Montana, where he introduced the region’s first thoroughbred horses. He then migrated south to Wyoming in 1889, establishing the Canyon Ranch, which included the Quarter Circle Lazy B.

Oliver was ultimately wrong about his chances for succession. He returned to England after his second brother died, becoming the Earl of Portsmouth in 1925. 

“He had to renounce his U.S. citizenship, and then he served in the House of Lords,” Paul Wallop said. “And I don’t know if there’s any other member of the House of Lords what has ever served in a foreign government — it’s a very unique thing.”

Polo has a long history in Sheridan County, and the Wallops are integral to that story, along with the Scottish brothers William and Malcom Moncrieffe. 

“Malcom Moncrieffe had what was called the Polo Ranch, and then William had the Quarter Circle A Ranch, which is the Brinton Museum now,” Paul Wallop said. “Quarter Circle Lazy B is the neighboring ranch to the Quarter Circle Lazy A.” 

Together, these ranches got a contract with the British cavalry for horses, shipping 20,000 to South Africa for the Boer War.

“They were selling to the U.S. cavalry as well,” Paul Wallop added. “Part of their training for all the horses was just to get them started playing polo.”

Historical records show Sheridan’s first big polo match was July 4, 1893, which played to a crowd of several thousand spectators after a warmup from a military band.

The teams featured five mostly British players on each side, listed as Beckton vs. Sheridan. 

“Polo has always been a big deal here, and it’s still a big deal,” Paul Wallop said. “And that’s partly because of my great-grandfather.”

By the end of World War I, militaries were trending toward mechanical vehicles, collapsing that industry. The remount program died away, and the ranch shifted toward cattle markets.

“My grandfather began in registered Herefords, and he did really well with that up until he passed in the spring of 1980,” Paul Wallop said. 

Some of Oliver Malcom Wallop’s herd were even shipped to Japan, Sandra added, thanks to their elite genetics. 

Japan was crossing its smaller draft cattle with western breeds until about 1910 to increase their size and make them better-suited to meat production. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Royal Guest List"}]

For all its remoteness, the Quarter Circle Lazy B has long attracted an international roster of guests, thanks in part to the family’s enduring ties to British nobility. 

While Oliver Henry Wallop returned to England to serve in the House of Lords, he maintained close ties to his family in Wyoming and his ranch was a quiet magnet for many high-profile visitors, ranging from Buffalo Bill Cody and President Theodore Roosevelt — who designated the Bighorn National Forest after his visit — to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and, in more recent times, Princess Anne. 

Sports legend John Elway, former French President Valery Giscard D’Estaing, and American political leaders such as Vice President Dan Quayle are also among the high-profile guests.

“I mean, we’ve served tea to Princess Diana’s sister,” Sandra Wallop said. “This ranch has been host to a huge long list of princes and princesses and queens and vice presidents and senators and on and on and on.”

 a popular PBS British historical drama set at Highclere Castle, through an aunt who married the queen’s manager for thoroughbred racing, Lord Porchester.

“He became the Earl of Carnarvon and Paul’s aunt became the Countess of Carnarvon,” Sandra said. “And they owned Highclere, which Paul’s cousin now has, and is where Downton Abbey was filmed.”

The buildings on the ranch reflect its layered history. There’s the historic stone barn, constructed in the 1930s, which once served as a show barn for registered Hereford sales and which today serves as a horse barn and tack space. 

There’s the foreman’s or manager’s house, dating to around the turn of the 20th century. It has three bedrooms and two baths, and is likely the oldest building on the property. 

There’s the Orvis-endorsed fly-fishing lodge, featured in Great American Fishing Lodges, built in 1993. It’s a two-bedroom, four-bath home with a panoramic view of Little Goose Canyon and Moncrieffe Ridge.

And there’s Johnnie’s mountain cabin, a remote two-bedroom, one-bath mountain home. 

Other structures include a heated mechanics shop, a newer Morton building for horses and storing equipment, a farm shed for storage with dog kennels at the south end, a Scale House complete with a 10-ton 1965 Fairbanks Morse Scale and a 100-by-200-foot outdoor riding arena complete with lighting, advanced drainage, tack areas and wash bays.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"More Than Land, Buildings"}]

All this set in an area that boasts trophy wildlife of all kinds — moose, elk, deer, mountain lion, bear, and upland game birds. The ranch still has one of Wyoming’s original private game-bird farm licenses, and it’s also one of the first conservation easements written in the state.

Little Goose Creek offers 600 feet of trout stream to go with the property’s four mountain ponds. 

What’s for sale, the Wallops say, is more than just a collection of historic buildings and some scenic acres. To them, it’s a way of life their family has spent four generations protecting.

That’s why they’re less focused on how fast the ranch sells than on who ultimately buys it. They hope for someone who will treasure both its history and its future, helping with the next three or four generations of stewardship. 

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<title>Wallop Family’s Quarter Circle Lazy B Ranch For Sale After 135 Years For $24.5M | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Wallop family's legacy Quarter Circle Lazy B Ranch in Sheridan County is for sale for the first time in 135 years, listing for $24.5 million. It hosted Queen Elizabeth II, supplied cavalry horses to Britain and helped build Wyoming's polo scene.

Wallop Family’s Quarter Circle Lazy B Ranch For Sale After 135 Years For $24.5M

Agriculture

While Wyoming cattle appear to have endured the state’s 

, a recent heat wave in neighboring South Dakota has killed upward of 2,000 cattle, threatening producers’ livelihoods in an already tough market.

A combination of scorching temperatures and high humidity proved deadly, depleting herd numbers and highlighting just how vulnerable livestock can be during extreme weather.

While not as extreme as in South Dakota, Wyoming ranchers say heat stress has been common this summer.

"We see it all the time," said Trad Williamson of Williamson Land and Cattle in Moorcroft. "Absolutely, we keep a closer eye on our cattle because of the heat."

However, Wyoming ranchers said they aren't aware of widespread cattle deaths. That’s because the state's drier climate, cooler nighttime temperatures and relatively small number of feedlots appear to have spared producers from the catastrophic losses seen to the state's northeastern neighbor.

July's heat wave shattered records across Wyoming. Worland reached 110 degrees on one day and Sheridan climbed to 109, both all-time highs.

"Heat is just as much of a risk in Wyoming as it is in other states," Williamson said.

Although he hasn't heard of Wyoming cattle dying, some of his customers in South Dakota have suffered devastating losses, including one producer near Midland, South Dakota, who lost more than 100 cows and calves.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Deadly Combination"}]

The losses in South Dakota came from a one-two punch of extreme heat and unusually high humidity.

Warren Rusche, a feedlot management specialist with South Dakota State University Extension, said warm overnight temperatures prevented cattle from cooling off after enduring sweltering afternoons. Limited airflow with little wind compounded the problem.

"What that ended up causing was a pretty significant death loss," Rusche said.

Lower humidity and relatively cool nights helped Wyoming cattle endure a record heat wave, ranchers say. South Dakota wasn't so fortunate, losing as many as 2,000 head to heat and humidity at a time when America's herd is at a 75-year low.

Daily Darwin: Tuesday, April 30, 2024

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