Image of Cowboy State Daily's advertising operations coordinator, Abby Roich fishing on a boat in a lake.

Abby Roich

Same Guys Dancing

[{"type":"text","text":"The Doors -- Gloria"}]

Mix Collage 29 Jun 2024 02 06 PM 3606

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

<title>Sunday Morning Dance Party: The Doors -- Gloria | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Doors -- Gloria

Sunday Morning Dance Party: The Doors -- Gloria

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

Four candidates are running for the Republican nomination to a legislative House seat in north-central Wyoming – and they all say they won’t join the Freedom Caucus.

That seat’s incumbent and outgoing Rep. John Winter, R-Thermopolis, is a founding member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

But the four men vying to replace him in House District 28 all told Cowboy State Daily on Monday they don’t intend to join the group.

Those are Meeteetse rancher Allen Hogg, Otto rancher Carlin Jones, Thermopolis attorney and former Navy SEAL Marshall Keller, and 

 hot springs pool operator Roland Luehne.

“I don’t believe I should be taking orders from a caucus,” said Keller. “I believe I should be listening to my constituents, for one.”

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is a controversial group of state House Republicans. Its proponents say it’s the true voice of the Wyoming right; its detractors accuse it of sloppy legislating and groupthink.

[{"type":"text","text":"It’s part of a larger national network of Freedom Caucus groups."}]

, its members have coordinated floor maneuvers in a group text with the state group’s director, 

“A lot of the stances in the Freedom Caucus, in my opinion, are more based on trying to get newspaper articles and time in front of social media and TV,” said Keller. “To pound their chests and say, ‘Look what I’m doing, and the courts and everybody else is against us.’ Instead of, looking at the Constitution and the laws we have and adjusting them based on what we can do.”

Keller, 54, said he’s an orthodox Christian and respects both the U.S. Constitution and Wyoming Constitution. He said he’ll follow the Wyoming Republican Party platform insofar as it doesn’t conflict with his faith or either constitution.

Jones, 33, said the caucus “muddies the waters” and it’s time for Republicans to unite around the state platform and curb division.

[{"type":"text","text":"The division is not always the caucus’ fault, said Jones."}]

“At this point it’s creating a division that is harmful,” he said. “I don’t know whether it’s justified or not. But it’s there.”

Jones emphasized in a later text message that he finds the caucus’ planks “logical and sound.”

Luehne, 62, said he’s willing to vote with the caucus at times but “won’t be owned by them.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“I don’t want to be owned by any interest groups,” said Luehne."}]

Hogg, 66, said he likes the caucus position on a lot of issues, but dislikes its methods. Secondly, he said, “they speak out of one side of their mouth when they say, ‘We want to maintain local control,’” but they counter that by voting to cut property taxes.

House District 28 covers all of Hot Springs County and parts of Park, Big Horn and Fremont counties. The primary election is Aug. 18. 

State Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, said on behalf of the caucus, "The new representative for HD 28 has big shoes to fill."

[{"type":"text","text":"Winter has served in the House since 2019."}]

"At the end of the day," continued Bear, "there are only ever two votes: aye or nay."

Bear asserted that if people are voting with the Freedom Caucus, "they'll be voting for tax relief, parental rights, and smaller government."

The "smaller government" claim sits differently with different people. On the one hand, cutting property taxes cuts government. On the other hand, Hogg noted, it could prompt more state-controlled revenue structures and erode local governments' autonomy.

Bear added: "I find it curious how you characterized Carlin's response. We have a very different statement from him." 

[{"type":"text","text":"And There’s The Difference"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"All four men cast themselves as conservative."}]

Jones, Hogg and Keller said they’re pro-life. Luehne said he’s pro-life but up to about 90 days’ gestation,. “I like women to be able to choose,” he said.

They gave varying thoughts on the 50% residential property tax cut slated to appear on the November general election ballot.

[{"type":"text","text":"Here Keller and Hogg diverged from Luehne and Jones."}]

“I’m not a fan,” said Keller. He noted that the Legislature delivered a 25% residential property cut last year. Property taxes fund schools and local governments. Firefighters rely heavily on those revenues, as do other county services.

“We haven’t even had time to observe fully the effect of the current reduction in taxes,” said Keller, who’s a trustee for the Hot Springs County School Board. “We’re still figuring out how to deal with that.”

Hogg said he agreed with the 25% cut when it passed, but as he learns more about what property taxes fund, he’s opposed to the ballot initiative.

“That’s going to hit way too hard, especially on the smaller communities,” said Hogg. “It takes away from the local control.”

Hogg said shifting the state’s revenues onto other kinds of taxes also shifts power to the state government, away from county governments.

[{"type":"text","text":"Starting Point"}]

Jones favors the 50% proposed cut and said cutting residential property taxes altogether would be a good starting point in the broader war against property taxes. He cast property taxes as unjust.

“We have to take a serious look at government expenditures, a serious look at waste and overspending,” said Jones, adding that Wyoming doesn’t have a revenue problem but a spending problem.

“I’m not even sure it’d be necessary to issue an alternative tax,” he said.

Luehne told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that property taxes have gotten out of hand, and questioned why a person should still have to pay the government to live in a home once that home is paid off.

“I’d like to get rid of it if possible,” said Luehne of property taxes. “We need to cut it as far back as humanly possible.”

Like Jones, Luehne said the government should accommodate property tax cuts by downsizing.  

“If it means losing a few state jobs I think that might be the right thing to do,” he said. “I’m sure they can find money other places than just property taxes. I think we can be creative enough.”

When lawmakers considered a bill to eliminate property taxes altogether in November, analysts anticipated it would remove roughly $644 million per year from local governments and schools.

Each new “penny” or 1% sales tax brings the state about $237.5 million based on the 2025 distribution, Wyoming Department of Revenue Director Brett Fanning told lawmakers at the time.

So a 2% sales tax increase would bring the state $475 million “give or take,” he said.

 from the Wyoming Department of Audit says counties’ collective revenues outpaced expenditures by about $199.4 million in fiscal year 2025. Special districts’ revenue outpaced expense by about $55.3 million, reportedly.  

[{"type":"text","text":"The picture was bleaker for Hot Springs County."}]

 in revenues and more than $11 million in total costs.

 in total revenue and more than $6.9 million in total expenses in fiscal 2025.

Jones said he’s concerned about data centers and potential power rate and water utility rate hikes.

“They seem to promise the world and fall short,” said Jones. “Right now they have their eyes on Wyoming because we’re rich in energy. We have wide open spaces.”

Jones said he wants to protect Wyomingites from those potential cost fallouts and has concerns about “what data are they even processing?”

Keller, Jones, and Hogg all agreed: they want to end 

 for large data center projects. Keller called the break “a bunch of horse shit” and said he too wants to insulate power users and residents from unfair costs brought by data centers.

Luehne did not immediately return a follow-up inquiry about data centers. 

Keller said he wouldn’t take data center opposition so far as to violate private landowners’ rights, however.

“If you have a complete ban, that’s the ultimate regulation, in my opinion,” said Keller. “I believe it violates private property rights, of people that own the land that may want to do business with them.”

Hogg also said a total ban isn’t feasible. The businesses have already set up shop in Wyoming.

But, Hogg emphasized Wyoming’s state agencies should regulate data centers, and its local governments should vet them as they approach each community.

[{"type":"text","text":"Again, Hogg urged local control."}]

And beyond cutting the tax break, he said he’d like to find ways to lift more revenue off data centers.

Hogg and Keller both disagree with the Legislature’s new “silo” barring school districts from using a sizable influx of public money in areas besides classroom instruction, largely teacher pay.

That erodes the ability of school districts closest to the students to put money where needed, said Hogg.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Let the local boards decide where that goes,” said Hogg."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"For Keller, the silo was “probably the breaking straw.”"}]

“I didn’t see how it was fair to our bus drivers and custodians, and those type of people, to have them not be able to get a pay raise,” said Keller.

Teachers are slated for a roughly 12% pay raise under the silo system, while many schools are seeing other budget areas, and activities funding, drop.  

“You can’t tell me that doesn’t instantly create division,” Keller said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Economic Development"}]

Luehne told Cowboy State Daily he’s running to boost private sector jobs. His economic vision prioritizes jobs, then taking care of seniors, farmers and ranchers, he said.

As operator of Star Plunge, Luehne has been involved in a lengthy battle with the State of Wyoming, in which he’s accused of 

cheating his company out of a lease deal.

“I’ve had so many people ask me to run because of my situation in the Hot Springs State Park,” said Luehne. “I personally have seen how the executive branch has overstepped with land grabs. I want to make sure something like that never happens to somebody else.”

He said he wants to create things to help economic development of communities, especially by paring back rules and regulations.

Jones also lamented what he called executive-branch overreach. He said the state engineer’s office has put rigid restrictions on his ranch, which took him a year and a half to resolve.

Jones also decried the long-running battle between the Thermopolis owners of the Tipi Resort and an earlier iteration of the Hot Springs County Commission, whose permit denial persisted through court challenges.  

Hogg said he stands out from his opponents through his lengthy ranching experience. His grandparents settled in the Meeteetse area in 1918 and his family has ranched the land since, he said.

“I think compared to my competitors, especially, I think I’ve got a much better idea of the issues surrounding agriculture in Wyoming,” he said. “I think that’s one of my strong suits.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Hogg and Jones are both multi-generation Wyoming ranchers."}]

Keller moved to Gillette in 2011 and has remained in Wyoming since. That followed his military career, graduation from Montana Tech University and a boom-bust brush with gold mining in Nevada working as an exploration geologist.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I got tired of chasing the commodity cycles,” he said."}]

He pivoted and earned his law degree from the University of Wyoming in 2019, he said.

Cowboy State Daily has reviewed documents confirming Keller served as a Navy SEAL.

Jones said he’s a lifelong Wyoming resident and fourth-generation rancher.

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he hopes his youth brings fresh perspective."}]

“I feel that young energy paired with the wisdom of the other people in Cheyenne could be of great benefit to the people of Wyoming,” Jones said.

Luehne said he’s lived in Thermopolis since he was 10 years old, and has been helping to run the park since that time. He said he’s running to restore balance to the three branches of government and curb what he called the oversteps of the executive branch.

Hot Springs House Seat 7 28 26

<title>All Four Candidates For Hot Springs House Seat Say They Won't Join Freedom Caucus | Cowboy State Daily</title>

All four GOP candidates running for the state House seat spanning north-central Wyoming say they won't join the Freedom Caucus, though the incumbent was an early founder of it. “I don’t believe I should be taking orders from a caucus," one candidate said.

All Four Candidates For Hot Springs House Seat Say They Won't Join Freedom Caucus

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, July 28th.  I’m Mac Watson.

This newscast is brought to you by the Wyoming State Fair. Wrap up your summer at the Wyoming State Fair, August 11th through the 15th in Douglas!

Rodeo, Demolition Derby, live music, entertainment and fair food await. Learn more at W-Y State Fair dot com. See you at the fair! This ad was paid for by Converse County Tourism.

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

Just hours after news broke Monday that a Uinta County brand inspector had pleaded guilty to helping torture a moose, the state livestock director fired him. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Gov. Gordon had strong words about the situation.

“Governor Gordon said this is absolutely irresponsible behavior unbefitting a brand inspector, and he said that Martin is no longer working for the state, and you know hours earlier, the Wyoming Livestock Board director Steve True had said that Martin was a brand inspector. So I called True back, and he said, "Yeah, in the couple hours since this story broke, I fired him. True said that it was his decision to fire Martin. The governor didn't influence that decision.”

Martin has not been sentenced and he reserves the right to appeal how law enforcement pulled evidence from his phone. At the preliminary hearing, Evanston Circuit Court Michael Greer said, “this was done for the sheer joy of dominating a wild animal who appeared to be already in poor health and possibly blind.” 

Retired Wyoming employees of Peabody Energy say they feel betrayed by its decision to end a medical retirement benefits program. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that the company says the program no longer fits “market competitive practices.”

“Letters from Peabody Energy started showing up in mailboxes of retirees a couple weeks ago, announcing the termination of their retired medical program, and Peabody Energy is saying that they're doing this because they're terminating this program. Peabody Energy is saying that they're terminating this program because it no longer aligns with the market and the competition. They did not give any more specifics, nor did they answer our questions about how many retired employees does this affect?” 

In 2020, the company cut health benefits and terminated life insurance for retirees older than 65 as part of a cost-cutting strategy. Retirees younger than 65 could maintain their coverage.

Charges on a stolen credit card tracked a Wyoming man wanted on 72 child sex abuse charges to Colorado last week. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that his former landlord reported to the Converse County Sheriff’s Office on July 20 that John Smallbone was using his credit card without permission. 

“When a charge came through from Expedia for hotel rooms down in Colorado. The first thing that hit his mind is he running? Is he running from these charges? And he texted the guy and said, ‘Hey, are you running?’ And he says that the guy texted back to him and says, ‘No, I'm I'm here in town.’ This is what put Wyoming law enforcement on the radar that he wasn't in the state anymore, which is not allowed according to the $250,000 bond that he posted.”

The $250,000 question now is will John Smallbone show up for his arraignment in Converse County District Court on Tuesday afternoon? A call to a phone number linked to Smallbone in his court file went to voicemail. His former landlord isn’t holding his breath.

Scenic boat tours on Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park have shut down two months early due to low water levels as southern Idaho agricultural users draw from the lake. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that according to park authorities, large boats are unable to get out of Colter Bay Marina onto the main lake.

“They're going to feel it this year because you know they had to quit two months early, and then the Bureau of Rec guys said for folks with like average size motorboats and smaller motorboats, you should be okay kind of until that September timeframe, and then after that, it's going to be pretty much canoes and kayaks. Pretty much by then, the water will have dropped far enough. You're not going to be able to use boat ramps. So, long story short, the boating season on Lake Jackson is coming to an end.”

The natural lake, fed by the Snake River, was already one of the largest in the West when it was enlarged by a dam in 1911. That dam was enlarged in 1916 and rebuilt in 1989. 

I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"–"}]

In reflecting on Wyoming's U.S. house race, departed candidate Frank Chapman on Monday said both Chuck Gray and Steve Friess haven't had significant careers. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Chapman says, “We’re being given choices of people that haven’t really achieved anything in life.”

“He said that the candidate that peels votes away from Gray is Beau Biteman, a conservative legislator currently president of the Senate. He casts Friess’ and Gray's professional legacies as unimpressive. He said that Jillian Baylow is doing well, and he also waited on the governor's race, which he said he took pull in for earlier in his own race, and said Eric Barlow is doing well.”

, leaving nine Republican candidates still vying for the GOP nomination to the U.S. House seat Rep. Harriet Hageman is leaving to run for U.S. Senate.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"–"}]

A man accused of triggering an hourslong standoff outside the Casper Police Department refused to appear in court Monday. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that the judge set William Randall Patricelli’s bond high at $50,000 because his “effect and danger to the community is significant.”

“This was near the police department, just adjacent to it, in David Street in downtown Casper, on Monday he refused to appear before the judge for his first hearing. The sheriff's deputy from the jail said that Patrice Celly was being uncooperative. The judge said she would see him on Tuesday, and declined to tell reporters what his two misdemeanor charges are until he has been formally charged.”

Patricelli was arrested Saturday evening after Casper police responded to what they described as an active incident involving a barricaded subject in the 200 block of North David Street. The response closed multiple streets and intersections for several hours as officers worked to resolve the situation. Police ultimately took Patricelli into custody.

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

A Wyoming eagle called Aurum was barely a year old and suffering from lead poisoning when she was hit by a car near Meeteetse. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that she somehow survived both and is now beating the odds by raising her young in the Bighorn Basin.

“So I went to Ironside Bird Rescue in Cody and that lady Susan who runs that place she's been for over three decades The bird was in pretty bad shape but fortunately as it been hit by a car but it was bruised nothing was broken so that was a huge plus and then yes it had a serious lead poisoning infection. Like it was, it needed to be treated. But it wasn't so bad that they had to take it all the way to injections. Like the counter, the counter agent. They were able to treat this eagle with pills in the way she did. He said, "I just took a dead rat, cut the belly open, tossed a pill in there, and then fed that to the eagle." That's how you get pills to an eagle.” 

Wyoming is prime golden eagle habitat, both for resident eagles and those that migrate in from the north during the fall to spend winters here. Golden eagles prefer small game such as prairie dogs and rabbits, so they’re drawn to open prairies or vast sagebrush steppes. 

How do you get vehicles stuck up to their axles in mud on the bottom of a lake bed? You call a tow company that has remote-controlled winches, a custom-built winch foot, and hundreds of feet of tow straps. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the owner of Alpine Redneck Rescue says, “This is a normal situation for us.”

“What they did was they set up their truck pretty far away and used these long 1000, like 30,000 pound capacity tow straps to get the Jeep out using one of the other stuck vehicles as an anchor because you need an anchor in these things, they haul the Jeep out, and then with a custom rig that they have that distributes the energy, they use a 1994 F250 to get those much larger, heavier pickup trucks out of the mud. So I spoke to Jim Cummings, who's the owner of Redneck Rescue, and he said that on every call you have to get creative.”

Redneck Rescue has “yet to be unsuccessful” with any of its calls, Cummings tells Cowboy State Daily. He chalks a lot of that up to being over-prepared with the right equipment but anticipates the inevitable call that won’t go according to plan.

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

And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image 7 28 26

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Tuesday, July 28, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Tuesday's headlines include:
* Retiree Medical Benefits Cancelled
* Brand Inspector Fired For Moose Torture
* Former Candidate Says Gray, Friess Unimpressive

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Tuesday, July 28, 2026

In the roughly three hours after news broke Monday that a Uinta County brand inspector 

to helping people torture a moose, the brand inspector was fired, a public official says.

Also, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon condemned the act by Justin Martin, who pleaded guilty June 17 to one count of accessory before the act to felony animal cruelty.

Martin has not been sentenced and he reserves the right to appeal how law enforcement pulled evidence from his phone. Court documents say Martin was featured in a cellphone video encouraging Kylan Platt, as the latter aggressively spurred a female moose in ill health at a Uinta County ranch.

“This is absolutely irresponsible behavior unbefitting a brand inspector,” said Gordon in a Monday afternoon statement to Cowboy State Daily. “I hold brand inspectors to a very high standard. Mr. Martin is no longer an employee of the state of Wyoming.”

Wyoming Livestock Board Director Steve True had confirmed to Cowboy State Daily at about 1:44 p.m. Monday that Martin remained a brand inspector.

Gordon’s statement that he is no longer employed by the state came at about 4:05 p.m.

Pressed for more particulars on who terminated Martin and when, Gordon’s spokeswoman Amy Edmonds referred Cowboy State Daily back to True.

[{"type":"text","text":"True said that he terminated Martin within that more-than-two-hour span."}]

“In that meantime, I have terminated him,” True said, adding that it was his own decision, and that Gordon did not influence that decision.

[{"type":"text","text":"“(It was) my determination,” said True."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"True declined to elaborate further on the personnel matter."}]

Cowboy State Daily reached out to Martin for comment via his attorney Joe Hampton, and will update this story should he comment on the termination.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"About The Case"}]

The case began after Wyoming Game and Fish Department investigators seized Martin's cellphone during an unrelated investigation in 2022. While searching, investigators discovered videos and screenshots that ultimately launched the moose abuse case. 

After getting an additional search warrant specific to the wildlife investigation, officers recovered four videos tied to the May 2021 incidents, court documents say.

 the videos showed a cow moose that appeared emaciated, elderly or sick. She told the court one eye appeared sunken, suggesting the animal might have been blind. 

One video showed Kylan Platt climbing onto the moose's back and digging his spurs into the animal aggressively while smiling.

"He doesn't seem to have an issue in participating in this activity at all," Sterling said, comparing the scene to someone breaking a horse to ride. 

Investigators said ropes were placed around both the moose's neck and one of its hind legs.

Prosecutors said Martin can be heard on the video saying, "Spur that son of a bitch" as he laughed and encouraged Platt.

Sterling testified investigators found Martin had sent the video to more than 20 phone numbers. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Done For The Sheer Joy' "}]

Another video, prosecutors said, showed Range Martin on horseback dragging the cow moose by a lariat through chest-high sagebrush until it fell while struggling to regain its footing. 

Evanston Circuit Court Judge Michael Greer ruled at the preliminary hearing that prosecutors had presented enough evidence for a jury to decide whether the men intended to torture or torment the animal.

"When I look at the context of what appears in the screenshots of the videos and the comments made by onlookers and the photographer there at the time, this was done for the sheer joy of dominating a wild animal who appeared to be already in poor health and possibly blind," Greer said in binding the case over to district court.

, Range Martin and Platt each accepted plea agreements, pleading guilty to felony cruelty to animals. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed wildlife misdemeanor charges.

As part of those agreements, both men acknowledged Justin Martin was the person filming the videos and making statements heard on the recordings. 

Their plea agreements recommend deferred felony sentences, three years of supervised probation, a $1,000 fine and a prohibition on hunting, trapping and fishing while on probation, although Judge Kaste will make the final decision at sentencing.

Justin Martin was the lone defendant preparing for trial until filing his conditional guilty plea.

His plea means every defendant charged in the case has now admitted guilt to at least one offense, avoiding what was expected to be a four-day jury trial next month.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Conditional Plea "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Hampton said the guilty plea does not end the legal fight."}]

Instead, it preserves a single constitutional issue for appeal: whether Game and Fish investigators exceeded the scope of a search warrant when they discovered the cellphone videos.

Hampton said investigators obtained Martin's phone during an unrelated investigation under a warrant authorizing a search of data created between September 2021 and June 2022. 

Because the alleged moose abuse happened in May 2021, he argues investigators should not have been reviewing material outside the warrant's authorized date range.

"If we're successful in the appeal, then the case would be dismissed, and the conviction would be reversed," Hampton said. "If we're not successful, then the conviction sticks."

Hampton said Martin accepts responsibility for the accessory charge and regrets how the incident unfolded.

"They were just trying to get the moose off their property," Hampton said, explaining ranchers wanted to move cattle into the pasture. "Martin agrees that he didn't do it in the right way and regrets that."

Hampton said Martin has changed how he handles similar situations in the nearly five years since the incident.

He also said the negotiated plea calls for two years of supervised probation and that he does not anticipate prison time, though he acknowledged the judge is free to impose any lawful sentence.

Judge James Kaste accepted Martin's guilty plea but reserved ruling on the parties' sentencing recommendation until the Oct. 2 hearing.

Gordon true moose 2 7 27 26

<title>State Livestock Director Fires Brand Inspector After Guilty Plea In Moose Torture Case | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Just hours after news broke Monday that a Uinta County brand inspector had pleaded guilty to helping torture a moose, the state livestock director fired him. “This is absolutely irresponsible behavior unbefitting a brand inspector,” Gov. Gordon said.

State Livestock Director Fires Brand Inspector After Guilty Plea In Moose Torture Case

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Around Wyoming

When a Jeep got stuck up to its axles in mud driving on the bottom of Palisades Reservoir on the Wyoming-Idaho border, a pair of trucks owned by family friends came to the rescue.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then they also got mired in muck up to their fenders."}]

That’s when Alpine’s Redneck Rescue responded to the call to somehow pull all three vehicles out of a multi-person rescue effort that had gone wrong twice already.

“The first vehicle, a Jeep, was driving across the lake bottom, noticed that it was getting soft, went to turn, and got buried,” 

How do you get vehicles stuck up to their axles in mud on the bottom of a lake bed? You call a tow company that has remote-controlled winches, a custom-built winch foot, and hundreds of feet of tow straps. “This is a normal situation for us,” the owner said.

Sunday Morning Dance Party: The Doors -- Gloria

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