It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, October 25th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by 4 Wyoming Pack. 4 Wyoming Pack says, “This November, Wyoming will vote to allow residential homes to be taxed at a lower, fairer rate, even the playing field, and give families a much-needed break.” 4 Wyoming Pack wants you to Vote Yes on Amendment A.
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A nameless bear given a research number launched onto the world stage doing what bears do — having babies and protecting them.
During an interview with award-winning journalist and author Todd Wilkinson on Cowboy State Daily’s Morning Show with Jake Nichols on Thursday, he spoke about how Grizzly 399, the 28-year-old mother of 18 known cubs, captured the public’s attention over the years. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck highlights just one of many stories about the legendary grizzly.
“There was an incident in 2007 where… she had her cubs with her, and they were eating on an elk carcass near Jackson Lodge, and apparently a man walked out and was wandering on a trail, but there had been warnings about, you know, not going on the trails. And he ended up getting bitten by 399 and her cubs and he told authorities later… that he didn't want anything done to the bear because she was doing her thing as a mama bear. And the wildlife officials, the park officials, decided that they were not going to do anything… So if the park had made that decision, then 399 wouldn't have become the 399 that we all know and love.”
The most popular bear momma in the world was killed Tuesday night when she was hit by a car on Highway 216/89 in Lincoln County. The local sheriff’s office has deemed the incident an accident and didn’t ticket the driver.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wildlife photographer Kelly Ogilvie learned that Grizzly 399 was dead Wednesday afternoon. After the initial shock wore off, there was only one thing on her mind — the status and location of Grizzly 399’s body.
Ogilvie spoke to Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi about what she and others would like to see done with the body of the world-famous mama bear.
“They don't want the head and the paws to be cut off like that grizzly up in Gardiner back in July. They don't want the body to end up in a dump. They want 399 to be treated with dignity and respect… the telling thing is, every one that I have spoken to, everywhere that you go - you know, when a bear gets hit by a car, this isn't the first bear that's gotten hit by a car or been poached or anything like that - it's a ‘carcass.’ So it's the ‘disposal of the carcass.’ Everyone's saying we need to be dignified and respectful of 399’s ‘body,’ which just shows the emotional investment that everybody has in this bear.”
Ultimately, the USFWS will decide what will happen to Grizzly 399. Regardless of what happens to Grizzly 399’s body, the unanimous consensus is that people want to be informed throughout the decision-making process.
Read the full story HERE.
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For the second time in five days, Wyoming law enforcement Thursday rescued a teen girl kidnapped in another state.
The Cheyenne Police Department, with help from the Wyoming Highway Patrol, recovered a teen girl reported as a runaway from Westminster, Colorado. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the girl was riding with an 18-year-old who led law enforcement on a high-speed chase up and down Interstate 25 near Cheyenne.
“They went several miles north on I 25 then for some reason that law enforcement said that, that a state trooper said they really can't fathom, he turned around and went back south… and right into the the waiting pursuit that was behind him, with state troopers, the Cheyenne police, Laramie County Sheriff's Office, they use spike strips to get him stopped.”
Thursday’s highway stop in Cheyenne was the second in five days in which a Wyoming highway stop ended with the safe recovery of a kidnapped teen girl.
On Sunday, WHP troopers and Rawlins police stopped a registered sex offender from Nebraska who was suspected of abducting a 13-year-old girl from her home in South Dakota.
Read the full story HERE.
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U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, Gov. Mark Gordon and 26 members of the Wyoming Legislature filed briefs this week, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a lawsuit brought by the state of Utah that could result in more than 200 million acres of federal lands being turned over to Western states.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the argument is in regards to the federal government’s ownership of land in Western states - which, according to the Utah lawsuit, denies them equal statehood and representation when compared to other states with less federal acreage.
“They believe the ownership of lands that are not being used for national parks, monuments or tribal lands, is unconstitutional and should be returned to the state. Even though it doesn't directly affect Wyoming immediately with the lawsuit, the result of the lawsuit could absolutely have an effect on Wyoming as far as overturning the BLM’s right to manage and control these public lands.”
Some have called the lawsuit the latest chapter in the Sagebrush Rebellion, a revolt against federal land ownership that arose in the 1970s.
Read the full story HERE.
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The treasurer of a Thermopolis Future Farmers of America fundraising committee admitted to stealing more than $15,000 from the group.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that 36-year-old Cody Stewart now faces 11 felony counts of forgery and one of felony theft, all of which allegedly occurred between autumn of 2021 and September of this year.
“She's been president of this FFA alumni committee for more than four years, and the other committee members got together and met with the police chief, and according to court documents, they splayed out all of their bank records and showed just this depletion with Stewart allegedly writing checks to herself. These require two signatures, but 11 of the dozen charges, felony charges she faces, say that she forged the President's signature repeatedly… court documents say that she completely depleted this account from 1000s in the black to down in the negative.”
Each charge is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. Stewart is set for a preliminary hearing Oct. 30 in Thermopolis Circuit Court.
Read the full story HERE.
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Cowboy State Daily is visiting coffee klatches across Wyoming before the election to see what topics are being discussed. The Fox News All-Stars, in Lander, is one of the state's oldest groups. Politics dominates the conversation, mostly leaning right — but not all the time, reports Bill Sniffin, who’s been a member of this group for over 50 years.
“I've been going to it for over 50 years, and back when we started, it was probably 50/50, Democrat, Republican. But just like the state of Wyoming, it's shifted more to where now it's pretty much all Republican. But it was interesting when we talked about it, Stan Cannon, who used to be press secretary for Al Simpson, he says, whoa, folks, I'm not going to vote for Trump. And we all got really - and his reasoning was that he was one of only 15 congressional staffers that had privileges to go on the Senate floor. And he said, ‘Boy, after January 6,’ he said, ‘I'm never going to vote for Trump.’ So anyway, even though we still are the Fox News all stars, we did have one dissenter. He didn't say whether he was going to vote for Kamala or not, but he just wasn't going to vote for Trump.”
Read the full story HERE.
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An effort to limit press photography at the Wyoming Legislature has been scrapped, for now.
On Thursday the Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technology and Process voted unanimously to recommend not enacting a policy that would prohibit photo and video journalists from entering the halls that run next to the House and Senate floors.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the proposal had originally passed at the committee’s meeting in September but was brought back up on Thursday after a large outcry from the public.
“The proposal was originally brought as a way to allow lawmakers to have more privacy at the Capitol and basically close off the hallways that surround the chambers that to some or seem should not be open to the press. This would have been a major blow to press access at the Wyoming Legislature… Many people spoke on behalf of rejecting this proposal on Thursday, and it seemed that the committee had already changed its mind about it, even before the discussion had started.”
Sen. Chris Rothfuss of Laramie, who originally supported the recommendation, said the substantive purpose of the policy change was far outweighed by the public’s concern on the issue.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Cheyenne Police Department is asking a federal judge to dismiss a Black man’s racial discrimination lawsuit, saying the man didn’t stay within the rules for making that claim.
In Gene Clemetson’s lawsuit, he claims he was harassed and falsely accused of drunk driving after making a haphazard stop as he turned right on a red light two years ago.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the police department is asking the U.S. District Court for Wyoming to dismiss his allegations, saying they don’t fit the proper legal framework.
“It's a lot harder to sue the government in Wyoming than anyone else. There's a set of rules you have to follow. You don't follow those rules. You have to make certain showings, and they're saying, ‘you didn't do that. You have these bald legal assertions and that part should be thrown out.’”
The department is also asking the court to remove Clemetson’s request for punitive damages.
Read the full story HERE.
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And Cowboy State Daily has been running a series of stories about haunted places and ghostly experiences. On tomorrow’s episode of The Roundup, we’ll take a journey to some of the most haunted places - and hear some of the spookiest stories - in the Cowboy State. One of those stories is told by Cowboy State Daily’s executive editor, Jimmy Orr, about a ghostly encounter he had in 1996, when he was the incoming press secretary for Governor Jim Geringer.
“There was a wall that just had the photo of every governor in Wyoming, and they were all the same. They all were the photo and the glass pane over it and everything. And I noticed one of the photos didn't have a glass pane, so I said, Why doesn't Alonzo Clark have a glass pane on it? He goes, it's haunted. And what? What do you mean? He goes, Listen, we have tried to put the glass back on the pane numerous times. Whenever we do it, it falls. So he doesn't like having a glass pane over him… And so what I did is, I bought a new frame for Alonzo Clark, put it over, and nothing happened… And one night I hear a crash, true story, Wendy, I hear a crash… And I walk up to the office, it's probably about 9:30 at night or whatever, and sure enough, Alonzo Clark's photo is on the ground and glass all over the place.”
Tune in to the Roundup this weekend, and you’ll hear the full story - and more! Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
