Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"Because one Darwin is never enough, here's a collection of Darwins....."}]

Darwin 9 24 24

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Tuesday, September 24, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Because one Darwin is never enough, here's a collection of Darwins.....

Daily Darwin: Tuesday, September 24, 2024

 Because one Darwin is never enough, here's a collection of Darwins.....

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

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

Letters to the Editor

On July 28th, 2026, I’d like to ask everyone to take a moment of silence to remember and honor Deputy Bryan P. Gross and his family. If you’ve lived here since July 28, 2011, you probably remember that day. 

If not, I hope this message helps you understand the incredible bravery of someone right here in Douglas, Wyoming.

Deputy Gross gave his life in the line of duty while serving our community that day, trying to rescue a young girl from the swollen fast moving North Platte River. 

His heroism deeply affected all of us, especially his wife Amy and their family.  

Bryan was recognized many times for his bravery and selflessness. 

In 2013, his wife Amy accepted the Congressional Badge of Bravery on his behalf—this is one of the highest awards given to law enforcement officers for their courageous actions while on duty. 

His name is also forever inscribed at the Police Officer’s Memorial in Washington D.C., alongside many other officers who lost their lives protecting us. 

Bryan was not only a respected Deputy but also a beloved person. We still miss him and keep him in our hearts. 

Even after 15 years, it sometimes feels like yesterday. 

Many of us have our own stories about the day Bryan disappeared in the river and the three days spent searching for him. 

I especially remember the gathering at the park by the Richards St. Bridge, where Sgt. Justin Scott led the Search and Rescue efforts of our Converse County Seach and Rescue team along with several other Search and Rescue members from other counties across the state. 

Bryan’s wife Amy and his family showed incredible strength — always supportive, never interfering, and full of hope and trust in us. Their compassion and resilience continue to inspire us. 

I am forever grateful to them for their support during that difficult time. 

I know I speak for everyone when I say thank you to Amy and the Gross family for standing with us and helping us through it.

I want to recognize the community members and other agencies who helped during the search for Bryan. 

The support from our community and agencies from across Wyoming and the country was truly amazing, then and now. 

Even in these challenging times for law enforcement, I see the ongoing support and appreciation for our officers, and it means the world to us.

In closing, I want to share that on the 10th anniversary of Bryan’s passing, July 28, 2011, the Yellow Stone Street Bridge here in Douglas was dedicated to Deputy Bryan Gross. 

So, next time you cross that bridge and see his name, take a moment to remember Bryan and his family. 

This special tribute was made possible thanks to the help and cooperation of Senator Brian Boner, our Governor Matt Mead, the Wyoming Department of Transportation, and Bryan’s family.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Respectfully,  "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Sheriff Clint Becker"}]

Letter to editor smaller version 7 28 26

<title>Letter To The Editor: Honoring Fallen Converse County Deputy Bryan P. Gross | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Dear editor: On July 28th, 2026, I’d like to ask everyone to take a moment of silence to remember and honor Deputy Bryan P. Gross and his family. Deputy Gross gave his life in the line of duty while serving our community that day, trying to rescue a young girl from the swollen fast moving North Platte River."

Letter To The Editor: Honoring Fallen Converse County Deputy Bryan P. Gross

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

Around Wyoming

 in Hot Springs County that was becoming a ghost town by the time World War II broke out. 

Beginning in 1932, the once busy mines were being closed permanently and families were moving away, with only a few remaining to work in smaller private mines. Then World War II called away the young men of Gebo to serve as soldiers, many of them still teenagers.

and his friends formed the Junior Marines and

re just as dedicated as any who were serving abroad.

“We all tried to be good soldiers, and whenever any of us got out of line, you sure heard about it from the rest of the group,” Bolich, 93, told Cowboy State Daily. “I think the added discipline was good for all of us.”

Bolich said that whenever they heard of a soldier coming home on furlough, the Junior Marines would gather at the schoolhouse and march to the soldier's home to sing the Marines' Hymn.

“When the family would come outside to see what was going on, we would salute the soldier and then march back to the school,” Bolich said. “We never gave any thought to the fact that they might have been in the Army, Air Force or Navy.”

Bolich chuckled at his youthful ignorance and said that when he was older he learned the soldiers and their parents got a kick out of watching the Junior Marines perform, especially if the soldier being serenaded was not an actual Marine.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Teenage Soldiers"}]

The Junior Marines were inspired by two Gebo teenagers who had both enlisted on the same day. 

Stanley "Dutch" Wedlock, 18, had graduated from Thermopolis High School and volunteered in the Marines. His younger brother, Lee, also volunteered to the Marines although he was only 16.

“Lee lied about his age so he could volunteer,” Bolich wrote in his memoirs, “Gebo, Living in a Coal Camp”. “At that time, there was such a demand for manpower that the War Department did not take the time to examine everyone's birth certificate. In fact, many of the soldiers could not produce a birth certificate, so if you looked 18, you were accepted.”

After their boot camp, Dutch and Lee were assigned to different Marine divisions. They were not to see each other for the next three years.

A miraculous story about the two young soldiers was broadcast to the world by the Denver Radio Station KOA and picked up by The Associated Press in July 1944.

“A story of Gebo boys comes out of Saipan, Marianas Islands,” Staff Sgt. Hy Hurwitz, a Marine Corps staff correspondent, reported. “Two brothers from Gebo, Wyo., met here by accident today just as Marines were about to start a push over one of the heavily fortified Jap-held hills.”

Marine Cpl. Stanley Wedlock had run out of ammunition and turned for help from another ‘Leatherneck’ who was unloading supplies on the beach.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Got any ammunition?” Wedlock asked."}]

When the Marine unloading ammunition turned around, Wedlock discovered it was his younger brother, Pvt. Leland R. Wedlock, whom he had not seen since they enlisted together in August, 1941.

Hurwitz, one of the official correspondents for the 18th Marines

, wrote dozens of human-interest stories from Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and later campaigns. 

He was so impressed with this chance encounter that Hurwitz sent a press release and the story 

 the world, including as the first presented on a new Marine program airing on KOA radio in Denver the following Monday.

“It was a rare experience that two Marines from a little town in Wyoming should meet during a battle on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,” Bolich said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Young Marines"}]

Their youngest brother, Bob Wedlock, 12, was instrumental in forming the Junior Marines, according to Bolich.

“As patriotic youngsters, we all decided that we would join this group,” Bolich said. “All of the boys in the camp wanted to join.”

Bolich was one of the youngest at age 10 and the other boys who joined he named as Jack Toth, Fritz Jurovich, Joe Bandich, Pete Cavalli, Kenny Halbert, Jack Bretthauer, Buddy Cammock, Jim Hughes, Ken Bolich and Jim Isbell.

“In order to be sworn in, you had to be able to sing the Marines' Hymn,” Bolich said. “Once you did your performance, they would allow you to be a Junior Marine.”

found Navy officer caps in a catalog for about a dollar. The boys all saved money so they would have their ‘uniform dress.’

“They weren’t Marine hats but were Navy officer hats, but we got them and wore them,” Bolich said. “Boy, we were something. We felt like we were helping because people we knew were in the war.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Rubber Gun Rifle"}]

Once accepted as a Junior Marine, the boys were required to build a rubber gun rifle they would hold against their shoulders as they marched.

The boys would draw the outline of a rifle on boards they salvaged from the houses being torn down in Gebo. Sig Nelson, the grocer in Kirby, was also recruited into their wartime efforts. He would bring them wooden boxes from his store specifically for their guns.

“We would take a small axe and chop away a lot of the wood,” Bolich said. “When that was done, we moved on to using a knife to make a nicer finish.”

When the rifle was smooth, the boys would nail a heavy piece of string to the end of the "barrel" of the rifle. Four notches 

carved on the top of part of the barrel. Their ammunitions was from old inner tubes from the inside of car tires. The Junior Marines would then cut pieces out of the rubber about an inch wide.

“One tube gave us enough ammunition for our whole squad,” Bolich said.

To fire their guns, they would place one end of the rubber across the front of the barrel, stretch it backward, and place the band into one of the notches over the string. They could pull up on the string, which released the stretched inner tube.

They used the rubber gun rifles when they played war, and if you were hit by the rubber tube piece, you were out of the fight.

“We drilled regularly in the flat area just north of the town, on the old football field, which was used by the high school before the high school was closed,” Bolich said.

They would pick teams, then head up into the hills behind Gebo Hill for their wars.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Scrap Metal Effort"}]

“Our job was to help the war situation,” Bolich said. “We were really busy.”

Aside from singing the Marines’ Hymn to returning soldiers, waging their own wars in the Gebo hills and playing basketball, the Junior Marines were salvaging iron.

“The county was directing a scrap iron drive for the war, so we, as Junior Marines, worked hard to do whatever we could to help,” Bolich said. “We always got together, and our job was to help the war effort. We went up to the mine in Gebo and started hauling stuff away.”

They got spikes out of the railroad, and would haul a rail over to the vacant lot where the old basketball gym used to be to pile up the scrap metal. Once a month, a big truck would come to Gebo to gather it all.

“Since Gebo was being dismantled as a coal mining town, there were lots of items left that people did not take with them,” Bolich said. “We went into abandoned houses, collected whatever metal was left there.”

[{"type":"text","text":"They also got the privilege of legally breaking windows."}]

“We were always aware of any house that was being torn down and obtained permission to get rocks and throw them to break windows,” Bolich said. “We would line up like baseball pitchers do and see who had the most accurate arm.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Bolich said Pete Cavalli had the best pitching arm of the Junior Marines."}]

“Since the mine was no longer working, we were very efficient in picking up pieces of metal there,” Bolich said.  

[{"type":"text","text":"They would all pitch in to carry a rail and made it a military endeavor."}]

“When we all were in position, someone would call out, ‘lift' and we would lift the rail altogether and then wait for the 'forward march, hut, hut, hut' orders,” Bolich said. “We would all march in step to take the rail to the metal stockpile. I often wonder if some Gebo people saw us and just laughed.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Proud To Be Junior Marine"}]

Bolich recalled trying to get the wheel off an ore car and being chased off by a worker who was on the tipple.

"You get the hell out of there — we use those wheels," the worker yelled. “Leave that alone!”

Bolich said he took his wagon and hurried home with what little scrap he was able to salvag

His time as a Junior Marine soon came to an end, despite the war still being fought. Bolich’s own family moved into Thermopolis when he was in the fifth grade. Despite no longer being in the Junior Marines, Bolich said their wartime efforts continued.

“When we left Gebo, my brother got a job because so many men were in the Army, Navy or Marines,” Bolich said. “Ken started washing dishes at the Manhattan Café and I shined shoes for Steve Ely because it was hard to buy shoes.

“Leather went to the military, so Steve would repair the shoes, and I would shine them up. I got a dollar a day.”

As Bolich looked back at his childhood war efforts, he said that he was proud to be a Junior Marine. He would still sing the Marines' Hymn, no matter which branch the soldier

Gebo and young marines inset 7 26 26

<title>Wyoming History: How Gebo’s Gung-Ho Junior Marines Served During World War II | Cowboy State Daily</title>

In the dying coal town of Gebo during World War II, the patriotic Junior Marines were gung-ho in their wartime efforts of gathering scrap iron, marching and singing. They were inspired by the Wedlock brothers, two teens who left Gebo to fight the war.

Wyoming History: How Gebo’s Gung-Ho Junior Marines Served During World War II

Wyoming Life

In the early 2000s, Zariah Whiteplume recalls how she would have to go to the "water hole" on the Navajo Reservation just so her family could wash dishes and have water to drink.

“I remember visiting my great-grandmother in New Mexico and we barely had any electricity,” Whiteplume said. “We had no running water, and it's so crazy that we used to go in an outhouse, and haul water.”

Whiteplume, 22, has known poverty all her life in two places: The Navajo and Wind River reservations. The experiences have led her on a quest to make life better for both her tribes, the Northern Arapaho and Diné (Navajo).

“I know there's still so many tribal members who live like that out on the reservation,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “I feel like I came a long way but when you're young you don't really realize that you are poor. It’s just the way it is.”

Whiteplume wanted to change that, so she began 

lectrical engineering degree with a focus on renewable energy. 

Members of her Diné family attended United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota, and persuaded her to visit. 

discovered her love for math was a strong asse

as recruited to the engineering program. 

[{"type":"text","text":"This past spring, she graduated with her pre-engineering degree."}]

“It's a very demanding degree, but I'm also proud to say that I'm one of a few of the young women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math),” Whiteplume said. “United Tribes brought me opportunities I thought I would never have.”

Thanks to her Diné connections, Whiteplume was able to intern at the Los Alamos Nationa

o summers. This year, she transferred to the Sandia National Laboratori

“I want to come back to my community and engage with the youth,” she said. “We need to introduce more of our kids at earlier ages to the sciences but also incorporate our cultural ways.”

Whiteplume said she hopes to build a bridge between h

This process is called Traditional Ecological Knowledge, or TEK, and can be used to ensure proposed renewable energy fits community priorities, respects culturally significant places, and meets local needs rather than imposing outside solutions.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sharing Her Culture"}]

As she pursues her education and dreams of a future sharing her passion of math and science to children on the reservations, Whiteplume is also staying in touch with her cultural identity through hoop dancing.

She has performed before various audiences, including

“The elementary kids from around the Bismarck school districts get most excited whenever I come out,” Whiteplume said. “That means a lot to me.”

Whiteplume was 8 when she first began learning to hoop dance with Jasmine Bell and her team of young girls on the Wind River Reservation. Over the years, she has had numerous mentors. In middle school, her teacher was Ann Abeyta in Fort Washakie. 

“Hoop dancing is a healing dance and people enjoy watching because of how skilled you have to be to do the dance,” Whiteplume said. “When I dance, I pick up the hoops with my feet and I don't ever bend down to pick up the hoops off the ground.”

Whiteplume said what makes the dance so special is telling her own story. Each year, she adds a hoop; she 

“I always get nervous before I dance and my parents always remind me that when I dance I'm not only healing myself but I'm healing everybody else around me and to keep my family members in mind,” she said.

Whiteplume said she makes a purposeful effort to always have positive vibes when dancing. Once she begins, rather than concern herself with the technical aspects, she pays attention to the drum group and its music while keeping her thoughts centered on family.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It just flows naturally,” she said."}]

Whiteplume spent her early years dancing around Lander and the Wind River Reservation. After she graduated, she said it was heartwarming to hear from locals who said they had watched her grow up through her hoop dancing.

When Whiteplume was in high school, she was asked to hoop dance for the opening of a show.  Red Berry Woman, a contemporary fashion design company owned by a Hidatsa Sioux. Assiniboine and Crow woman named 

, then asked her to model in the show, leading to another opportunity to showcase her heritage with others.

“Indigenous designers are telling their story and representing their own tribes in their art,” Whiteplume said. “They will use geometrics and florals and just intricate designs that they create themselves, which I think is beautiful.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Cultural Exchange"}]

Whiteplume said that the biggest performance of her life came when she hoop danced in June in Tokyo. She was invited to perform at an all-Indigenous international fashion show.

Whiteplume performed and modeled as part of the Cultural Enrichment Segment for Hitechmoda Productions, a fashion show for Indigenous designers to showcase their art. She was invited to dance specifically by “Ally’s Ribbons,” a designer from the First Nations in Canada who specializes in ribbon designs.

Because Whiteplume didn’t dance until the second segment of the show, she was also able to model for C. Lysias Designs of the First Nations of Canada in the first segment. She described the outfit as a beautiful leather skirt paired with a Pendleton heart neckline top.

“It was cool to see a mixture between Japanese designers and our Native designers,” Whiteplume said, explaining that geishas and other Japanese-themed artists were also featured alongside the Native artists.

Whiteplume said one of her most memorable experiences wasn’t at the show itself but came afterward when she visited an otter café and was able to have an experience that tied her back to the pow wows of her childhood.

“One of our pieces of regalia that we dance with as Native people are otters,” Whiteplume said. “I always wanted to interact with a live otter, and it was so special to be able to pet and feed some of these creatures.”

Whiteplume said she will continue to hoop dance and model to keep in touch with her cultural identity and share it with others. She has been invited to be the head lady dancer at the Fremont County Fair on July 27.

But her main passion is showing kids on the reservation that it is cool to be a young woman in STEM and to use her engineering skills to better their lives by introducing renewable resources in a culturally sensitive way. 

"Engineering is a lot of hands-on work and solving problems using math," Whiteplume said. "I am still in a bit of shock when I realize that I'm doing it. I'm going to be an engineer."

Contact Jackie Dorothy at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com

Zariah Whiteplume 3 Zariah in Tokyo 7 26 26

<title>Wyoming People: International Model Grew Up On Reservations Without Running Water | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Zariah Whiteplume grew up without running water or much electricity on the Wind River and Navajo reservations. This summer, she was hoop dancing and modeling in Tokyo. “I want to come back to my community and engage with the youth,” she said.

Wyoming People: International Model Grew Up On Reservations Without Running Water

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

Renée Jean

LANDER — Sophal Thompson put her Fourth of July flags out early this year. By early May, she had one on each of her handmade tables, because she was that excited to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary.

Sophal Thompson grew up in Cambodia and remembers hiding underground when bombs came. She saved every penny to take English lessons and had $10 when she arrived in the U.S. Now, a successful business owner in Lander, she says: “I really, really love America."

Daily Darwin: Tuesday, September 24, 2024

In case you missed it

More in Daily Darwin

Daily Darwin: Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Daily Darwin: Monday, July 27, 2026

Daily Darwin: Sunday, July 26, 2026

Daily Darwin: Saturday, July 25, 2026

Most read