It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, September 12th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by ServeWyoming - Wyoming's center for volunteerism and AmeriCorps service for the last 30 years! For volunteer opportunities, visit ServeWyoming dot org.
A Hudson man who became the subject of a YouTube vigilante’s pedophile sex-crime sting operation Friday was booked into the local jail later that day.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that 57-year-old Sean Brennan was confronted by Tommy Fellows, of Colorado Ped Patrol, who posted a video to his YouTube channel Friday showcasing the confrontation at Brennan’s place of work in Lander.
“Fellows confronts the guy immediately with a binder that he says is transcripts of his of Brennan's chats with minors, well with decoys as miners, and they take the conversation outside… the boss, immediately, he fires the guy, Brennan's not allowed back inside. Police actually retrieve his things… at the end of the video, Fellows, the sort of vigilante guy says, if you guys are in this area, you should support this local business. What a great owner.”
Brennan was still in jail as of Wednesday afternoon, held on charges that have not yet been disclosed publicly.
Read the full story HERE.
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The suspect in an alleged archery killing spree that left nine mule deer carcasses scattered around Cody remains in the Park County jail, and as the news has spread around town, locals are outraged.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that 20-year-old Joshua Wielhouwer, a resident of Jenson, Michigan, faces nine counts of taking a big game animal without a license and nine counts of wanton destruction of a big game animal.
“Over about a week or two week period, he was out with a compound bow, illegally shooting and killing mule deer right there in town… the suspect is being held, I think, on $36,000 bond… as one might expect, this is apparently being taken very seriously by the authorities, and there's going to be some pretty heavy consequences coming out of this.”
Several locals contacted by Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday and Wednesday said they hadn’t heard of the incident. Upon finding out more details, Jim Zumbo, an avid hunter and noted outdoors writer who lives in Park County, called the alleged acts “despicable.”
Read the full story HERE.
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It’s not unheard of for political yard signs to be stolen during election season, but what’s more rare is purposeful vandalism and alteration to the signs.
That’s what’s happened in Laramie, where Republican state Senate candidate Gary Crum said 16 of his political signs were marred with vulgar changes. He told Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson that the defacing of the signs goes far past simple vandalism.
“He believes this is emblematic of why he's running for the Wyoming Legislature in first place, to bring common sense solutions and civility back to the chamber. Spoke to Mike Selmer, who's his Democratic opponent. Selmer said he has no idea who's behind the vandalism, but he does not support it. He also said he wouldn't be surprised if he found out it was a member of the farther right Republican group of Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams of Cody, who is the Freedom Caucus chair, said she's offended by the insinuation. She said, quote, "Conservatives don't vandalize signs or condone vandalism.”
Read the full story HERE.
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Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris leaned into the Biden administration’s platform on fossil fuel production in her debate Tuesday evening with Republican opponent and former President Donald Trump.
While insisting she’s reversed her previous promise to ban fracking for oil in the United States, energy reporter Pat Maio said she also reaffirmed her support of policies in the current administration that aim to do that.
“Back in ‘19, she was saying that she would ban fracking. Her position shifted, and that's a pretty dramatic shift… She may not ban it, however, she may slow down oil and gas drilling, especially on public lands, which is an effective way of, kind of killing it, you know, because you I mean, it's already been halted a lot… the Biden administration, is doing what it can to discourage oil and gas drilling on public land, especially federal lands.”
During the debate, former Trump questioned Harris’ sincerity, criticizing a range of Biden-era oil and natural gas policies and predicting that if she wins the election, quote, “fracking in Pennsylvania will end on Day One.”
Read the full story HERE.
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A fire burning 5 miles southeast of Thermopolis remains uncontained, but no evacuations or alerts have been issued for the town.
The Warm Springs Fire erupted Monday, ignited by lightning from a sudden thunderstorm, local firefighters report. Although the fire is 0% contained, Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that the blaze is not believed to be a threat to the town.
“One of the factors that they're taking in account is the winds. We had some high winds this afternoon that concerned the people watching the fire, so they were keeping a close eye on it to maintain and make sure that this fire stayed at least within its boundaries. We did have an area that had burned back in 2019 and that burn area has helped with this fight against the fire.”
The Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department is battling the fire with the Bureau of Land Management fire crews. BLM has diverted some of the air support from the Wood Ridge and Badger Creek fires to fire containment efforts in Hot Springs County.
Read the full story HERE.
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While Wyoming ponders a legislative response to the abuse and killing of a wolf in Daniel that sparked nationwide outrage, an animal welfare group is pushing a bi-partisan bill for a federal ban chasing predators on snowmobiles.
In a case of a hot-button issue making strange political bedfellows, a high-profile conservative firebrand is joining with Congressional Democrats to introduce the Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons (SAW) Act. That’s according to outdoors reporter Mark Heinz.
“Representative Matt Gaetz from Florida, who is a well known, really hardcore Republican, hardcore conservative, doesn't want to touch Democrats with a 10 foot pole, and yet, he is joining congressional Democrats in introducing this bill to get the pursuit or the whacking of predators banned on a nationwide level, all across federal lands…the Wyoming Legislature, totally separate, is also working on a bill in response to this whole thing, and the Wyoming bill is more along the lines of, yes, we will still allow the pursuit of predators with snowmobiles or vehicles, but the animal must be killed as quickly as possible.”
The working group, an offshoot of the Legislature’s Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee, will likely recommend a proposed bill when the full committee meets in October.
Read the full story HERE.
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A crowd of about 20 loved ones filed into a courtroom on Monday to support a now-former Riverton police officer facing up to five years in prison on a steroids possession charge.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland attended the initial hearing for 25-year-old Logan Alley, in which he was formally charged with one count of steroids possession of liquid trenbolone, an illegal growth stimulant.
“Probably 20, possibly more people showed up into the gallery of port on Wednesday morning for his initial appearance. And you know, they were somber. Some were weeping. They were all coordinating wearing pink. I'm not sure what that was in reference to because all but one declined a comment. One said, you know, we're here to support him. Our presence here should be your comment.”
Felony possession of liquid trenbolone is punishable by up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines. Alley is no longer employed with the Riverton Police Department.
Read the full story HERE.
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A vocal number of Casper residents opposed to a proposed gravel mining operation on state-owned land at the base of Casper Mountain were shot down Tuesday night when they tried to kill the company’s ability to get a county permit.
Natrona County Planning and Zoning Board rejected the effort by a 4-1 vote. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck said the public hearing that preceded the vote was attended by more than two-dozen people, who pushed the board to revoke any opportunity for a conditional use permit in the 30-square-mile mountain residential zone.
“After the rejection, the man that brought the proposal told the commission … they have 18,000 signatures on petitions against the gravel pit. And he just confronted the board and said, you know, we are all the people basically that are in this zoning area. So how can you refuse this? So there's still a lot of emotion taking place over this issue.”
The Commissioners’ recommendation to approve the gravel pit moves on to the Natrona County Board of Commissioners at a future meeting.
Read the full story .
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A “miscommunication” that left military families standing alone without a service to honor their loved ones at Wyoming’s only national cemetery this past Memorial Day won’t happen again.
That’s the promise leaders at the Denver-based Fort Logan National Cemetery complex are making to those families. Cowboy State Daily’s Pat Maio spoke to Fort Logan Director Tony Thomas, who said that VA officials have met with the National Cemetery Administration to discuss the oversight and prevent future miscommunications.
“The VA basically falls on the sword on this one, you know, they take full responsibility, and they own up to it… the director was very candid with me, and he said that, you know, he's held, he held a town hall meeting, met the mayor, what, met several people in the community, and he assured them that this will not happen again.”
As many as 100 people showed up to the observance in May to remember America’s fallen heroes and loved ones.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel.
I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
