One More For The Road

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

<title>One More For The Road: Sunday, May 12, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

One More For The Road: Sunday, May 12, 2024

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

A vocal crowd of Green River residents opposed a nearly $112,000 anti-terrorism 

 Tuesday, and the City Council and mayor voted 6-1 against approving the grant award.

That means the Green River Police Department will not receive the $111,956 in federal Department of Homeland Security money that the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security had awarded it.

Green River Police Chief Shawn Sturlaugson had planned to install around four Motorola brand license-plate readers, largely at city entrances, to respond quickly to criminal getaway or vulnerable-person situations, he told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.

He defended the plan at the City Council meeting Tuesday evening, saying a guardrail policy is in progress. He hoped to limit data storage to 30 days and he had no intention of using the cameras proactively or on things like expired registration.

Green River City Councilman Gary Killpack moved to accept the grant award. Councilman Robert Berg seconded the motion for the sake of holding a vote, he said. Then Berg, Mayor Pete Rust, and the other four council members – Jessica Maser, Mike Shutran, Sherry Bushman, and Ron Williams – voted nay. Some of them applauded with the crowd after their nay votes.

The people's proactive shutdown is unique. Oftener in Wyoming cities such as Cheyenne, Jackson and Glenrock, the major outcry against license-plate reader cameras unfolds after the cameras are already in place.

In the case of license-plate readers that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Wind River Intertribal Council had installed at the entrances to the Wind River Indian Reservation, it is unknown if any public meeting was held on the topics prior to installation. 

But first, numerous people attended the meeting and 10 spoke against the cameras.

No one spoke in favor of the license plate reader grant or installation effort.

Marshall Burt – a former lawmaker and the first Libertarian elected to the Wyoming Legislature – acknowledged that he’d “kicked the hornet’s nest” by raising awareness of the meeting and urging people to attend.

“I don’t know you, chief; I want to say you’re a good person and I believe you have good intentions,” Burt said to Sturlaugson.

Yet, he warned, Motorola would store the license-plate reader data and could aggregate or share it. Litigation is unfolding on these data problems nationwide. And the government can work around the Fourth Amendment by going through third-party data holders, said Burt.

“Now yes, I’d say we are more than (surveilled) every day of our lives,” he said. “A lot of those choices come from myself. If I use my phone and I add an app, and it says I’m going to be monitored, then I make the choice to be monitored myself, right?”

Burt suggested “strongly” that the city study Motorola’s software system closely.

Gregory Sherwin, who identified himself as a lifelong resident of Green River, cast the system as just another slow, well-intentioned erosion of freedom.

He urged the City Council to “defend these principles of due process, presumption of innocence and freedom of association – and the simple right to move about our communities without being constantly monitored, analyzed and profiled.”

Sherwin added, “These are not outdated ideals. They’re the foundation of a free people.”

[{"type":"text","text":"As with many speakers, robust applause followed."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Another resident, Dr. Blaine Saunders, reflected on others’ comments."}]

“I’m grateful to be in this town. It’s nice to hear people stand up for their rights. Nice to hear they’re standing up for the Constitution,” said Saunders. “My grandfather was a Wyoming pioneer, and I think he’d be proud of what we heard tonight.”

Multiple people paid respects to Sturlaugson or thanked him for his service. He acknowledged their concerns and their passion.

“Ther’s no one who takes the Constitution and civil liberties more seriously than me,” said Sturlaugson, adding, “I also took an oath to protect the citizens of Green River … This is my job.”

He later said, “Outside of my uniform, I might be sitting with them (the critics).”

Some council members apologized for voting in favor of the grant application months earlier.

“I also want to kind of issue an apology on my part,” said Councilwoman Jessica Maser. “Because when we applied for this grant – I know I voted in favor of it – I did not fully understand what this was.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Councilman Mike Shutran said he wanted to echo Maser’s comments."}]

“This type of a situation I think the gravity’s probably a little bit more than we anticipated. I think public safety is always at the forefront, but undermining the trust of the citizens is something we probably can’t undo,” said Shutran.

Councilman Berg touted the advances of technology. But, he said, “I cannot vote for this due to the fact I’d be telling the citizens of Green River that I think I know what’s best for them. And they have spoken.”

Councilwoman Bushman gave an example of the cameras’ potential benefits – of flagging a sex offender near a school – but she voiced concerns about the potential for a data breach of Motorola’s system.

Ten people urged against the camera installation during the public comment segment. Several more sat in the room and watched. As of Wednesday morning, the YouTube stream of the meeting had garnered 118 views.

Rust and Killpack both speculated that though they heard staunch opposition Tuesday evening, “another side” would emerge from the residents with time.

Rust theorized some people with children want the cameras and will trade their privacy concerns for that safety reassurance.

[{"type":"text","text":"“We are only hearing one side tonight,” said Rust."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Berg countered: “The other side had the same opportunity.”"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Spectators erupted with applause."}]

Killpack moved to table the vote to a workshop to draw out that other side. His motion died without a second.

Though Rust defended the cameras and speculated about the silent “other side,” he explained his later nay vote on the grant approval by saying he’s concerned about the third-party data holding issues.

Green river council meeting 7 7 26

<title>Green River Residents Shut Down License Plate Reader Camera Project | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A vocal crowd converged Tuesday on the Green River City Council meeting and opposed a $112,000 federal grant for the police department to install license plate reader cameras. Then the City Council and mayor voted 6-1 against finalizing the grant.

Green River Residents Shut Down License Plate Reader Camera Project

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Public Safety

Crime & Courts

A Jackson airport taxi owner had just dropped off passengers in Victor, Idaho, and was heading home over Teton Pass when traffic slowed behind a dump truck hauling asphalt Tuesday. 

Motorcycles slipped around it. A camper pulled to the shoulder near the 8,431-foot summit to let vehicles by. A few pickups followed.

[{"type":"text","text":"Dumitru Cebotari was next. Instead, he hesitated."}]

Moments later, he watched a deadly highway crash unfold just seconds in front of him.

"I feel like I had an angel protecting me," Cebotari told Cowboy State Daily. "One second changed everything."

Just before 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, the Kenworth dump truck lost its brakes while descending WY 22 on the east side of Teton Pass near milepost 6.8, wrote the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

[{"type":"text","text":"The truck struck six vehicles before flipping onto its side."}]

Two people — 66-year-old Nicholas Besobrasow of Tetonia, Idaho, and 57-year-old David Page of Mammoth Lakes, California — were killed. Four others were injured.

Besobrasow founded Alupka Asset Management in Driggs, Idaho. Page was executive director of the Winter Wildlands Alliance based in Boise, Idaho.

[{"type":"text","text":"For Cebotari, the horror began before the first impact."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Something Was Wrong"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Cebotari said traffic was climbing the steep grade slowly. "}]

"We almost reached the top," he said. "The motorcycles passed him because we were going so slow."

[{"type":"text","text":"A camper then pulled over near the summit."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I thought the dump truck was going to do the same,\" he said. "}]

Instead, it accelerated on the sustained 10% descent.

"I was about to pass him too, but he started rushing down the hill super fast,” Cebotari said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Cebotari immediately sensed something wasn't right."}]

"I saw smoke coming out of his tires, and they started smoking worse and worse and worse,” he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They started smelling so bad,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Oncoming motorists appeared to notice it too."}]

"Everybody who was driving from downhill passing him were looking at him because they realized he was driving way too fast,” Cebotari said.

Cebotari stayed back, leaving roughly five or six seconds between his SUV and the truck, he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Around The Corner"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"When he rounded the next curve, the crash had already begun."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I saw the motorcycle on the road.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Ahead of it sat mangled pickup trucks."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He pulled over and jumped out."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I went to the cars to see if there were any survivors,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"One pickup had begun smoking."}]

Another man stopped with him, and together they called 911 while checking the damaged vehicles.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I only saw a lady moving,\" Cebotari said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Gasoline covered parts of the roadway, he said."}]

"There were people crashed and smashed inside," Cebotari said quietly. "I couldn't stay there anymore."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Crash Summary"}]

In a preliminary crash summary, the Wyoming Highway Patrol said the dump truck first rear-ended a Triumph motorcycle, causing the rider to lose control and slide across the highway.

The truck then slammed into a Chevrolet Silverado, pushing it head-on into a Ford F-150.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Ford overturned, left the road and struck an electronic message sign."}]

The dump truck continued downhill, struck a guardrail, rolled onto its driver's side and slid across both lanes.

A Chevrolet Equinox swerved almost entirely off the roadway but was sideswiped by the truck as it slid past.

The truck then struck a Subaru Outback, pushing it into a drainage ditch before going airborne over the Subaru and finally coming to rest on its passenger side.

The Highway Patrol said preliminary evidence indicates the truck suffered a brake failure while descending the steep mountain pass.

The truck was owned by Avail Valley Construction-ID, LLC, of Victor, Idaho.

Investigators continue examining the vehicle and other evidence to determine the cause of the crash and whether citations or criminal charges are warranted.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Happy To Be Alive'"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"After leaving the scene, Cebotari called his wife."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I told her what happened,\" he said. \"'I'm happy to be alive.'\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He couldn't bring himself to drive for the rest of the day."}]

Now, he keeps thinking about how close he came to being directly in front of the dump truck instead of behind it.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I was supposed to be right in front of the truck,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"His wife encouraged him to share what he witnessed."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I was there,\" he said. \"People deserve to know what happened.\""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Motorcyclist struck first"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The motorcyclist struck first also survived."}]

Caleb Rodriguez, who said he had ridden from Austin, Texas, to Jackson, wrote 

 that he was less than 10 minutes from finishing the trip when the dump truck hit him from behind.

"I was the first one the dump truck hit on the way down," Rodriguez wrote.

He said he suffered a dislocated shoulder and a broken foot but credited his riding gear with saving his life.

"I don't know how he didn't run me over," Rodriguez wrote. "I'm just lucky to be alive."

[{"type":"text","text":"For Cebotari, the images from Tuesday continue to replay in his mind."}]

He thinks about the families who lost loved ones and about the split-second decision he made not to pass.

"I definitely feel their pain," he said. "I'm really sorry for what happened. I wish it didn't happen that way."

Teton crash 7 8 26

<title>Eyewitness: Dump Truck Driver In Deadly Crash On Teton Pass "Driving Way Too Fast" | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Jackson driver who watched Tuesday's deadly Teton Pass crash unfold says he nearly passed the dump truck moments before its brakes failed and crashed into six vehicles, killing two people. "He was driving way too fast,” the eyewitness said.

Eyewitness: Dump Truck Driver In Deadly Crash On Teton Pass "Driving Way Too Fast"

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

Greg Johnson

Courts

Allegedly outraged by an aggressive dirt bike rider zipping around his Albany County campsite, a man is accused of pulling two guns on three other campers he brawled with over the holiday weekend.

Tyler James McGill, born in 1996, could get more than 15 years in prison if convicted of felony aggravated assault and battery and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent.

He’s also charged with three misdemeanor counts of battery for fighting with the other campers, according to records filed Monday in Albany County Circuit Court.

McGill was camping to an area in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest southeast of Rob Roy Reservoir a little after 5 p.m. on July 4.

He sought out the other campers when one of them was “riding a dirt bike aggressively around McGill’s campsite and kicking up rocks,” Albany County Undersheriff John Beeston writes in an affidavit of probable cause filed in McGill’s case.

“McGill stated that he went to confront the male subject at another campsite, (and) he became involved in a physical altercation with three adult males,” Beeston wrote.

As deputies investigated the altercation, a pair of videos of the fight were produced by witnesses which, along with accounts of those involved, elicit images of a Hollywood fight sequence.

While McGill was engaged with the first two campers, the third intervened to fight with him, the affidavit says.

During that scuffle, McGill allegedly retrieved a handgun that was in the back waistband of the third camper, Beeston wrote.

“While McGill and TL (initials for the third camper) were engaged in a physical fight, McGill reached into TL’s waistband and removed TL’s firearm and pointed it at FR (the second camper),” the affidavit says.

McGill then “stepped back and racked the slide, and pointed the firearm at FR,” Beeston continues in his affidavit. “TL then attempted to regain control of the firearm.”

As they fought over possession of the gun, a round was fired, but didn’t hit anybody.

[{"type":"text","text":"‘Exchanging Punches’"}]

Also during that tussle, TL and FR got possession of the gun back, the affidavit says. But that wasn’t the end of the fight.

“McGill then returned to his vehicle at his campsite, retrieved another firearm, and stood behind the vehicle holding the firearm at his waist,” Beeston wrote.

The affidavit doesn’t say if they argued or fought more after that point.

However, it does detail some of what investigators saw on the witness videos. A video obtained by the sheriff’s office the next day shows the first part of the fight, according to the affidavit.

“In the video, (a deputy) observed McGill punch FR while FR was kneeling on the ground and again after FR stood up,” the document says. “TL came to assist FR, at which point McGill and TL began exchanging punches.”

The investigation, along with the witness videos of the physical brawl between the four men, led the undersheriff to conclude that there is enough evidence to support McGill’s charges.

McGill had his initial circuit court appearance Monday, where he was advised of the charges against him and a July 14 preliminary hearing was set.

Medicine Bow National Forest

<title>Albany County Camper Charged With Pulling 2 Guns During Brawl With 3 Other Campers | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Allegedly outraged by a dirt bike zipping around his Albany County campsite, a man is accused of pulling two guns and brawling with three other campers over the weekend. At one point, he “stepped back and racked the slide, and pointed,” investigators say.

Albany County Camper Charged With Pulling 2 Guns During Brawl With 3 Other Campers

Around Wyoming

 outside a Gillette bar, Matthew Lynch stood onstage at the American Legion with an electric guitar slung across his shoulder, living a dream he'd chased for most of his life.

Lynch, a 41-year-old carpenter, potter and musician, spent Independence Day doing what he loved most — playing rock and roll with friends before a hometown crowd.

By midnight, he was staring at what remained of his right hand, unable to hear, his vision awash in "red, purple and stars."

"I looked down on my hand, and it was just the most mangled, crazy-looking thing I've ever seen," Lynch told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday. "I was instantly in shock." 

The explosion outside the Otherside Bar & Grill injured Lynch and four other people after what he described as an old firecracker he carried in his back pocket for years detonated instantly when he lit it rather than giving him time to throw it.

The blast severed most of Lynch's right hand, shattered bones throughout his left hand, peppered his face, neck and chest with shrapnel and burns, and sent him by Life Flight to Billings, Montana. In the days since, Lynch has publicly apologized, saying he feels terrible for the people who were injured alongside him.

Now recovering at home with both arms wrapped in bandages, Lynch said he keeps returning to two thoughts: the people he endangered and the life he's determined to rebuild.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Tourniquet "}]

After finishing the American Legion concert, Lynch said he spent the evening downtown with friends before hearing about a benefit concert at Otherside.

By the time he arrived, the music was over. People stood outside talking, catching up and deciding where the night would go next.

"I had found this old firecracker I had laying around for a few years and I had it in my back pocket," he said. "I thought, 'Well, I'm just gonna be a little adventurous here, light this off', and then it just blew up right in my face. The fuse was just instant." 

[{"type":"text","text":"The blast left him deafened, nearly blinded and in shock."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He remembers seeing nothing but flashes of color."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then he looked down."}]

"I kept thinking this is never going to go away," he said. "I made a mistake I could never undo." 

His friend AJ immediately recognized how badly he was bleeding and shouted for a tourniquet.

Someone pulled off a belt and cinched it around Lynch's arm while they waited for first responders.

A woman Lynch had never met knelt beside him, gently held his face in her hands and kept him from looking at his injuries.

"She kept saying, 'You're gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine. Just don't look at it,'" Lynch recalled. "'Just look in my eyes. Everything's gonna be OK'." 

He also praised the doctors, nurses and staff at Campbell County Memorial Hospital, saying they treated him "like family" before he was flown to Billings for emergency surgery. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Artist and Carpenter "}]

Before the explosion, Lynch spent his days building houses, creating pottery, painting and playing guitar.

[{"type":"text","text":"He's a carpenter following in his father's footsteps."}]

He's an artist whose work is featured in a monthlong exhibition at AVA Community Art Center in Gillette — a show he spent more than a year preparing.

Despite his injuries, Lynch plans to attend the opening reception for from 6-8 p.m. Thursday.

For four years, he also hosted an open jam session at Legends Lounge, welcoming musicians of every skill level to climb onstage and play.

"I've always believed in everybody's own success," he said. "Anybody can do anything." 

His mother, Patricia David, said those qualities have defined him since childhood.

"His name means ‘Gift of God', and it was the perfect name for him," she said. "He has been the brightest, most joyful child you could imagine ... always kind." 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Shattered Bones "}]

"The first thing that hit me was I'm not going to be able to pick up my beautiful son and hold him for quite a while," Lynch said. "He's my whole world." 

[{"type":"text","text":"Then came another realization."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He wouldn't be able to go fly fishing with his brothers."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then came the one that hurt most."}]

"My lifelong dream and mission my entire life has been to be a professional guitar player," he said. 

One of the final photographs taken before the explosion shows Lynch gripping the neck of his guitar as he performed at the American Legion that afternoon.

[{"type":"text","text":"Today, most of his right hand is gone."}]

His left hand is held together with pins and hardware after surgeons repaired shattered bones.

Lynch's mother, a retired nurse, said the injuries are among the worst she has seen.

She said she was equally moved by the apology Lynch posted publicly after the accident.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Strong Support System "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Despite everything, Lynch refuses to believe his music is over."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He said doctors are optimistic that his left hand will recover."}]

"I'm going to get a bionic prosthetic, and I'm going to be playing guitar again someday," he said. "It's going to be awesome." 

[{"type":"text","text":"His optimism has been strengthened by the people around him."}]

His twin brother immediately drove to Billings after hearing what happened.

[{"type":"text","text":"His mother has helped care for him."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Most of all, he credits Kathryn Schwartz, the mother of their son."}]

"I've got to spend so much time with the mother of my child," Lynch said. "We've just been reconnected, and that's awesome."

Matthew Lynch lost most of his right hand in a fireworks explosion on July 4. But the Gillette carpenter, potter and musician is counting his blessings and refusing to give up on his electric-guitar dreams. "It's going to be awesome," Lynch said.

One More For The Road: Sunday, May 12, 2024

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