It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, October 31st. 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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However the world remembers Wyoming’s beloved Grizzly 399, some of her most devoted fans said a full-body taxidermy mount of her in a museum isn’t the way to do it.
Outdoors reporter Mark Heinz has been fielding comments from fans of the most famous bear in the world, who was killed last week when it was struck by a car south of Jackson. He reports that many of the bear’s followers are opposed to the idea of displaying her remains.
“A lot of her fans or admirers don't like the idea of taxidermy. They think it's too gaudy, too fake and too cheesy. They don't want to see that… the people I talk to mostly they favor cremating her and spreading the ashes back up pilgrim Creek, where she used to hang out. So it's just differing points of view.”
Heinz said there are also those who feel that returning her remains to the wild for scavengers and insects to feed on is an honorable way for 399 to be returned to nature.
Read the full story HERE.
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A ballot measure that would shut down the only slaughterhouse in Denver, operated by Superior Farms, goes far beyond being an issue local to Colorado’s capital city. Opponents of the measure told Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy that they feel it’s part of a concentrated attack on the agriculture industry that would directly affect Wyoming.
“What the animal activists actually said in a statement to Cowboy State daily was that they are looking at this as the beginning of the end for agriculture. It's the industry of eating meat. They say it's cruelty to animals. It's cruel to people. They say it pollutes. And I've talked to the Wyoming ranchers and those in charge of the sheep Association, and they counter that meat protein belongs in our diets, and until they can come up with something that will replace it, meat is part of the American culture and is part of our rights, and unfortunately, that involves these slaughterhouses ...About 50% of our lambs go to this slaughterhouse, in Wyoming.”
If the plant were to close, opponents say it could be devastating financially for ranchers to ship their sheep to slaughterhouses farther away.
Read the full story HERE.
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The winter weather system that moved across Wyoming overnight Tuesday into Wednesday dumped a lot of wet, heavy snow across much of Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that it’s the first significant snowfall of what’s already anticipated to be a colder, snowier season.
“The heavy wet snow is pretty typical this time of the season, especially for the first significant snowfall of the season… This was the sign of the seasonal change, that it's finally cold enough that not only can this kind of weather happen, but the snow sticks around, the cold temperatures stick around, and that's what we can expect moving forward.”
One impact of the storm that will remain is the drop in temperature that the system helped usher in. It will be bone-chillingly cold on All Hallow’s Eve, with overnight temperatures ranging from the mid-30s to the low 20s.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Riverton man who has been running for a seat on his school board is facing five felony charges after police say he molested a young boy for more than a year.
23-year-old Hunter DeVries was charged Monday with five counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, each punishable by between 25 and 50 years in prison. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that DeVries is well-known in the school system.
“He's been a paraprofessional. He's been a substitute teacher. He worked at Boys and Girls Club. He, you know, just all over the school system for years, and so recognizable in that way. And even though he's no longer with the district, he was running as a candidate, and these allegations came to light by a police report on Friday… sometime the day that that he was reported, he canceled his candidacy, And then he goes to the police station late evening and gives an interview, and then he goes to jail.”
The victim told police he met DeVries at a local youth organization two or three years prior. The affidavit says DeVries later babysat the boy.
Read the full story HERE.
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Discontent over the federal government’s ownership of land in the West bubbled over this fall when Utah petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to gain control over millions of acres of Bureau of Land Management land - and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, Gov. Mark Gordon and 26 members of the Wyoming Legislature filed briefs in support of Utah’s fight last week.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the fight is sparking another question: If Utah wins, can it and other states like Wyoming handle managing all that extra real estate?
“US Representative Harriet Hageman really believes that this lawsuit is worth fighting for… but other people, like Casper attorney Ryan Semerad… is very against Wyoming taking any part in this effort, and he thinks it's a big waste of taxpayer money. He said legal precedent is overwhelmingly on the federal government side when it comes to this issue based off a number of different lawsuits.”
Even if Utah wins the lawsuit, it may be unlikely Wyoming could gain control of BLM land in its boundaries because of its own state constitution.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Logan family in Hot Springs County are a true Wyoming ranching family.
So when 10-year-old Levi Logan was given the chance to pick out his costume for Halloween this year, it was only natural that he wanted a costume that included his horse, Snip. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy spoke to Levi’s mom, Jill, about what it took to transform Levi and Snip into a classic creepy character.
“She said it was all his idea, and they had to come up with an idea of how to incorporate his horse into the costume. So … She came up with the Headless Horseman. And it was a classic that she actually introduced him to, and he loved the idea. So this Halloween, Levi Logan is going to be galloping from house to house on snip the horse.”
To make the costume complete, the brown-colored horse was sprayed black with special paint made for showing cattle, except for the white snip of color on his nose.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming bears could learn a thing or two about tenacity from a tiny Idaho black bear cub that trekked 120 miles through some of the most remote and rugged country in the Lower 48, just to gobble some backyard apples in the small town of Hailey.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the 10-month-old grizzly had already been trapped and relocated Oct. 3 in the Salmon, Idaho region, well to the north. That meant that in about 17 days, the cub had crossed mountain ranges, rivers, streams, highways and county roads.
“This Bear's mother and his sibling, they'd been getting into some real trouble up in Haley, and unfortunately they had to put down the mother and the sibling. But they thought that this, this second cub, had a chance. And so the Game and Fish people up in salmon had trapped that bear and taken it way up a remote basin and set it loose… And apparently this bear got it in its head that it needed to start heading south. So it went all the way south. But, you know, came popped out of the mountains down by Hailey and was eating apples there. And they were amazed that that little guy had, or girl, had made it that far on its own.”
Under normal circumstances, the cub would have spent about another year with its mother. But despite being left on its own early, it has decent chances of survival.
Read the full story HERE.
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And Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum bills itself as the place where the Old West comes alive. But that’s not all that comes to life in the museum.
Sometimes, late at night after the museum lights have been shut off and it’s time to go home, museum staff — even the skeptics, like museum director Mike Kassel — told Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean that things have happened that they can’t quite explain.
“One day, an employee was walking by a glass display case with Thunderbirds memorabilia in it… and all of a sudden this glass just breaks. It explodes. But not only that, it came rushing out at her and pelted her with glass. And so when Mike came back to look at it, there's like an outline of where she was standing when the glass blew five feet away from the wall and hit her… when Mike looked there was no glass in the case. It was all pushed out five feet away at this woman who had walked by.”
Other unexplained incidents include hats flying inside an enclosed display case, as well as an antique doll that kept reappearing in the museum, no matter how many times it had been taken out of the building.
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! And don’t forget to drop in on the Cowboy State Daily morning show with Jake Nichols, Monday through Friday from 6 to 10 a.m.! Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
