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

<title>Daily Cartoon: Thursday, December 19, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, December 19, 2024

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Agriculture

Two months after John Deere agreed to pay $99 million in a 

 over claims it monopolized repairs on its agricultural equipment, some Wyoming farmers and ranchers say the agreement falls far short of solving the problem.

“We think it is an unfair settlement,” said Chad Franke, a Lander-area rancher and president of the Rocky Mountain Farmer’s Union.

Jared Wilson of Wilson Farms Land and Cattle Co. in Missouri formally objected to the settlement this week, claiming it would harm the interests of every farmer in America. He argues the settlement will actually strengthen John Deere’s repair monopoly rather than dismantle it.

The class-action lawsuit claimed the tractor giant was monopolizing the repair market. Right-to-repair advocates say farmers should be able to fix tractors themselves or go to an independent repair shop.

Members of the lawsuit can opt out of the proposed settlement agreement between July 14 and Sept. 14, said Willie Cade, a board member for The Repair Association, which works with farmers unions and others in several states to push right-to-repair legislation. A final court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 29 in Rockford, Illinois.

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

For years, farmers and ranchers have argued that agriculture equipment such as tractors and combines have become so technologically advanced they’re nearly impossible to fix themselves. They are often left with no choice but to pay John Deere dealerships when equipment fails.

[{"type":"text","text":"That costs farmers time and money they often do not have."}]

The lawsuit alleges John Deere used its control over software and diagnostic tools to monopolize repairs on its equipment. Right-to-repair advocates contend owners should be able to repair their own machinery or hire independent mechanics.

According to legal filings, “America’s farmers have become dependent on the whim of these distant corporations and their agents for access to repair tools, repair services, and replacement parts.”

[{"type":"text","text":"John Deere has denied any wrongdoing."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Details of the Settlement"}]

The proposed settlement would compensate equipment owners who can show they paid more for repairs at a John Deere dealership than they would have paid if they had been allowed to perform the repair themselves or use an independent shop.

John Deere also agreed to support owner repairs and provide access to certain software, tools and diagnostic systems for the next 10 years.

[{"type":"text","text":"But critics say the agreement doesn't go nearly far enough."}]

Court filings objecting to the settlement note that attorneys could seek about $51 million in legal fees, leaving substantially less for class members.

"Meanwhile, the average member of the Class will get, at best, a $400 check, remain under Deere's thumb, and see no meaningful change in their independence to repair their equipment," Wilson’s legal objection states.

"The cost in loss of independence and liberty to our farmers and our rural communities is incalculable."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ranchers Respond"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Monetarily, the settlement is a pittance, according to Franke."}]

“Ninety-nine million sounds like a lot of money, until you realize that a new combine is a million dollars,” he said.

By some estimates, the settlement would amount to roughly 79 cents per acre for about eight years of claims.

John Deere customers would have to prove through John Deere’s own system that they were overcharged, Franke said. That would mean the tractor company would determine who was and who was not overcharged, leading Franke to wonder about conflict of interest.

“It basically absolves John Deere of any liability,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

Franke also questioned why the company’s promise to support software and owners’ repairs was only good for 10 years, when equipment typically lasts much longer.  

[{"type":"text","text":"“It seems disingenuous,” he said."}]

Franke stopped short of saying whether the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union would encourage its members to opt out of the settlement. The National Farmers Union, of which the state organization is a member, is separately suing John Deere alongside the Federal Trade Commission in a pending antitrust case that is paused while the parties pursue settlement talks.

"There's a lot going on with this," Franke said. "But I am confident saying we're not happy with the settlement." 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"From Corporate to Independent"}]

Brad Sage, owner of Sage Repair in Florence, Montana, spent more than 30 years working for John Deere dealerships before opening his own independent repair business.

He said he left because the company became increasingly corporate and restrictive.

Today, Sage said he can often repair equipment for about half what dealerships charge. But independent mechanics remain limited by their inability to access all of Deere's proprietary software and diagnostic tools.

“You don’t need to pay four people to do one job,” he previously told Cowboy State Daily.

Sage said farmers typically would go to the John Deere dealership for a problem when something strange, highly technical, or unusually time-consuming arose.

“That was the scenario before,” Sage said. “Now farmers are locked out (of solving equipment problems) because the information is too hard or cumbersome to come by.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Right to Repair Momentum"}]

The dispute comes as right-to-repair momentum continues to build nationally.

 In 2025, 20 states introduced legislation aimed at including agricultural equipment under right-to-repair laws.

President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order to expand Americans' ability to repair their own vehicles by improving access to diagnostic information and repair tools.

Similar to the John Deere ordeal, access to repair information, diagnostic software and specialized tools have long hampered mechanics’ troubleshooting , which right-to-repair advocates say causes repairs to be more expensive.

In May, a separate federal antitrust lawsuit was filed against John Deere by a Chicago construction-equipment owner alleging the company employs similar repair restrictions on construction and forestry equipment. The suit alleges anti-competitive rules force owners to use authorized dealers, which has caused inflated repair costs and longer wait times since May 2022.

John Deere hay 7 2 26

<title>Wyoming Ranchers: $99M John Deere Right-To-Repair Settlement Doesn't Go Far Enough | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming ranchers say a $99 million John Deere right-to-repair settlement doesn't go far enough. They'll get small payouts while while John Deere keeps control over repair software. "We think it is an unfair settlement,” said a Lander-area rancher.

Wyoming Ranchers: $99M John Deere Right-To-Repair Settlement Doesn't Go Far Enough

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

A lucky photographer managed to get a once-in-a-lifetime photograph of a solar halo 

 in case of being in just the right place at just the right time.

The Beyond Earth Institute shared the photo

 of the 22-degree solar halo that appeared Wednesday when the sun was directly over Devils Tower. 

"One of nature's most beautiful optical displays" lasted for only a few minutes before the clouds changed, and the halo faded away,” said the nonprofit group, which says it’s mission is "enabling human migration into the solar system."

When Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day saw the photo, he was immediately concerned it might be an AI-generated image. After review, this one checks out 

and has a scientific — not science fiction — explanation.

It’s not a callback to the time an alien ship famously hovered over Devils Tower in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

“It’s the clouds,” Day said. “Those are the perfect clouds at the right altitude and the right sun angle. It's a spectacular picture.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Perfect Angle"}]

The phenomenon in the photo is a 22-degree solar halo. Day said that 22-degree angle is the crucial component.

“Those are cirrostratus clouds,” he said. “They’re thin, high-altitude clouds with hexagonal-shaped ice crystals inside because they’re so high, and that hexagonal shape causes 22-degree angles. That’s how you end up getting a circle.”

Cirrostratus clouds tend to form between 20,000 and 43,000 feet in the atmosphere. They’re well known for 

 and other optical phenomena when sunlight shines through them.

What’s remarkable about the Beyond Earth 

 image is that the sun was at the perfect angle for the photographer to see the full circle, Day said. That’s the trickiest part of capturing a full solar halo.

“The best analogy I have is a rainbow,” Day said. “If you’re in the right spit with the right sun angle, you’ll see the whole rainbow from end to end. Solar halos happen more often than you’d think, but the cloud conditions and sun angle might only give you a partial halo.”

The sun is always at the center of a solar halo. The fact that this solar halo appeared when the sun was perched 

 the summit of Devils Tower was a brilliant stroke of luck for the photographer.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Cloudy With A Chance"}]

Most atmospheric halos are the result of light shining through ice-laden clouds. Even rainbows and 

 are halos, though they appear as arcs because the light is diffracted from water droplets above the ground.

“We get halos through water droplets like in the fog, ice crystals from clouds, or ice crystals in really cold air,” Day said. “For 22-degree solar halos, you need the right sun angle and these high cirrostratus clouds, and you don’t get them all the time.”

Even in the heat of summer, Day said it can easily be cold enough for clouds loaded with ice crystals to form over Wyoming.

“You'd be surprised how quickly it gets cold at this time of year,” he said. “It’s usually around freezing at 15,000 feet and well below freezing at 20,000 feet and above.”

Day expected that many of Wyoming’s outdoor and wildlife photographers have seen partial or full solar halos during their long sojourns in the wilderness. Nevertheless, this solar halo above Devils Tower is something special.

“They probably see these things more often than your average Joe, just because they put themselves in those situations,” he said. “But I'm sure all those photographers will tell you that their best photos were the ones they didn't plan, and this is definitely one of those. It’s a gorgeous photo.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Angels, Devils, Or Extraterrestrials"}]

Hundreds of thousands of people reacted to Beyond Earth’s solar halo photo with varying perspectives.

Many saw it as an angelic symbol crowning Devils Tower with divinity, while others wondered if this was a harbinger of what Steven Spielberg depicted at Devils Tower in 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Day’s expertise on sky-related systems doesn’t extend to celestial, extraterrestrial, or heavenly forces, but he didn’t require any of them to understand the solar halo.

“When you get these cirrostratus clouds moving in, there’s the opportunity that this will happen,” he said. “This appears to be an earth-based phenomenon.”

Devils Tower halo 7 2 26

<title>‘Spectacular' Solar Halo Spotted Over Devils Tower | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A lucky photographer got a once-in-a-lifetime shot of a solar halo over Devils Tower on Wednesday. “It’s a spectacular picture,” said meteorologist Don Day. “Those are the perfect clouds at the right altitude at the right sun angle."

‘Spectacular' Solar Halo Spotted Over Devils Tower

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

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

with a Cheyenne-based investigator is suing the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office 

 is obstructing justice by withholding important evidence 

Colorado-based immigration firm Lichter and Associates, and its Cheyenne-based investigator Kevin Lewis, filed the lawsuit complaint Tuesday in the Laramie County District Court.

It accuses the sheriff’s office of producing a report of an April 23 encounter and arrest that one Cheyenne Police Department records clerk called a “complete fabrication.”

It also accuses the sheriff’s office of withholding body camera and dash cam video of the incident, though the Mexican national involved in it, Mario Fabian Valenzuela Robles, allegedly needs that video to fight his ongoing immigration deportation case — and a federal 

case he’s waging in the U.S. District Court for Colorado.

Cheyenne-based attorney Drake Hill filed the suit on the 

behalf. Hill is the husband of former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill and recently has also represented the right-leaning political group Honor Wyoming.

The lawsuit says that Lewis set out to investigate Valenzuela Robles’ law enforcement encounter and arrest, but met obstacles at nearly every juncture.

“This case presents a clear abuse of power and the violation of Wyoming statues by the Laramie County sheriff, Brian Kozak, and the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, in willfully denying access to critical evidence material to immigration proceedings and (the habeas case),” says the complaint.

On Wednesday, Hill also asked Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher to recuse himself from the case, saying Froelicher represented the sheriff’s office when he was still a litigator.

Froelicher’s response, if he’s filed one, wasn’t in the public-facing court file as of Thursday.

The lawsuit seeks to levy public records violation fines against the sheriff’s office, and urges the court to declare the sheriff’s office violated the law.

[{"type":"text","text":"First, The Detention"}]

The complaint says Lewis sought to gather evidence on Valenzuela Robles’ case for the Lichter firm and on Valenzuela Robles’ behalf.

The sheriff’s office had detained Valenzuela Robles on April 23 “as part of a wider effort directed by Defendant Kozak,” says the complaint.

An order in Valenzuela Robles’ federal wrongful-detention case says he was detained starting about April 23, through at least May 27, after a 

 police officer initiated a traffic stop on him because his taillights were “kind of dark” and his truck had “tinted windows.”

ICE agents were on scene within the span of time Valenzuela Robles took to provide his ID to the officer, he order says, adding that Valenzuela Robles asserts he was given a choice between $2,600 to return to Mexico or face ICE detention. He opted for detention, the order says.

The order recounts assertions by Valenzuela Robles that he’s lived in the U.S. for 20 years and has no criminal history, plus has three children who are U.S. citizens.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Next, The Investigator"}]

Lewis went to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office’s records department April 24 and encountered a paper sign saying it was closed, the complaint says. 

Then he went to the Cheyenne Police Department to request records. An officer whose name Hill related by the uncertain spelling of “Mooske” searched for data of the detention and found none, reportedly.

The searcher also “said the computer system also showed the sheriff’s office records and there was nothing to be found there either,” wrote Hill.

The next Monday, April 27, Lewis took a written records request to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, the complaint says. There, a staffer told him Lewis needed to show he actually represented Valenzuela Robles to view the records, says the document.

Lewis sent that letter of confirmation two days later, according to the court file.

The complaint alleges that the staffer told Lewis they “still did not have a report” on Valenzuela Robles’ arrest or detention, and for Lewis to return in a couple days.

“In the meantime,” laments the complaint, “immigration proceedings that could lead to Mr. Valenzuela Robles’ removal were moving at a very fast pace and the records were vital to his defense.”

Lewis found the sheriff’s records office closed May 1, and returned three days later, the complaint says.

A staffer again said they lacked records, the document alleges. The staffer told Lewis to provide a birth date for Valenzuela Robles, reportedly. 

The complaint claims the staffer said that there wouldn’t be arrest records if the detainee wasn’t booked physically into the jail; and that even if the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office provided a field “assist” to ICE, then ICE would be the custodian of that detainee.

Lewis asked for body and dash camera video, and the staffer allegedly said the office wouldn’t release such footage without a definitive identification of the subject. The complaint says that identification had already been provided.  

Body and dash camera video fall into a special category under Wyoming public records law.

[{"type":"text","text":"The keeper of that video shall deny release of that video except:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Where the incident involves deadly force."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Where the person asking for it is the “person of interest.”"}]

• In response to a complaint against law enforcement personnel, and where the keeper of the video finds release is not contrary to the public interest.

• Or where “the interest of public safety” permits releasing that video.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Part About Cheyenne PD"}]

On May 21, says Lewis’ complaint, he visited the Cheyenne Police Department again and a staffer said CPD wasn’t involved in Valenzuela Robles’ arrest or detention.

[{"type":"text","text":"So Lewis circled back to the sheriff’s office."}]

A staffer there gave Lewis a report “purporting to document the encounter, arrest and detention of Mario Fabian Valenzuela Robles,” says the complaint.

That report, the complaint alleges, “specifically indicated there was no body camera footage,” and the report detailed the identity of a CPD officer reportedly involved in the encounter.

Lewis went back to the police department to ask about any video the agency had from that incident, says the 

. There, a Cheyenne PD staffer called “Tiffany” looked over the report and “in an emphatic manner declared the Defendants’ report to be a ‘complete fabrication,’” says the complaint.

In a Wednesday email to Cowboy State Daily, the Cheyenne Police Department acknowledged that the initial sheriff’s office report was flawed.

“Our records clerk was able to ascertain that the Cheyenne Police Department was not involved in the traffic stop on April 23,” wrote CPD spokeswoman Alexandra Farkas in the email. “The officer identified in the Laramie County Sheriff's Office report (P76) was off duty at the time. The report also incorrectly identified her as a male.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Sheriff Responds"}]

Laramie County Sheriff Kozak responded Thursday in a brief phone interview with Cowboy State Daily, saying this matter has been referred to the Laramie County Attorney.

Laramie County Attorney Mark Voss did not respond by publication to a Wednesday-afternoon phone message request for comment.

Kozak said in his own interview that when his office got Lewis’ request, “there was nothing that said this person was actually representing the immigrant,” and that the county attorney asked for that proof.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lewis’ case filings say he provided that proof."}]

Kozak said, “We never received that. That’s just a major issue that’ll be resolved in the court hearing that’s coming up.”

As for the report, Kozak said the deputy made a mistake with it and corrected that mistake later — before the litigation was filed.

“That happens occasionally,” he said. "But the supervisors caught that and had the deputy correct it."

[{"type":"text","text":"The Saga Continues"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The complaint details more interactions between Lewis and records staff."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Tiffany” told Lewis the sheriff’s office was rewriting the report."}]

Lewis was “stunned by the assertion” that the initial report had been a complete fabrication, says the complaint.

After the Laramie County Sheriff’s records office closed over the Memorial Day holiday, Lewis returned and asked about a new report.

This new report gave “a completely different narration of events,” says the complaint, “including a statement that body camera footage was recorded and stored with the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, contradicting what the defendants had before repeatedly stated.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Lewis kept asking to see the video."}]

 Haskins at the sheriff’s office told him he could watch it in person June 1.

[{"type":"text","text":"Meanwhile, The Wrongful Detention Case"}]

Valenzuela Robles was then waging a wrongful detention case and had won back the right to have a bond hearing, while immigration authorities had invoked a 

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Kathryn Starnella, of Colorado, ordered immigration authorities to grant Valenzuela Robles a bond hearing no later than June 4.

Lewis’ lawsuit says that hearing was set for June 1, the same day he was to review body camera footage.

The timing, says the lawsuit complaint, “Ensured that no digital media would be available to assist in Mr. Valenzuela Robles’ defense and Mr. Valenzuela Robles’ position that the stop had been unlawfully conducted.”

Still, Lewis went to the sheriff’s office June 1, says the document. He was told Haskins would be sending him an email denying the opportunity to view the video, the complaint says, adding that Lewis never saw such an email.

Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak 7

<title>Colorado Immigration Firm Accuses Sheriff Kozak Of Blocking Vital Evidence | Cowboy State Daily</title>

An immigration advocacy firm is suing the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office claiming the agency is withholding important evidence in a deportation case. The Cheyenne Police Department confirmed Wednesday that the sheriff's office had issued an inaccurate report.

Colorado Immigration Firm Accuses Sheriff Kozak Of Blocking Vital Evidence

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

For nearly a year, the man known only by his scattered bones on a remote Wyoming mountainside remained a mystery.

Investigators found pieces of his skeleton spread across rugged country near the Sweetwater Gap Guard Station, along with a tent and personal belongings. 

An identification card hinted at who he might be, but proving it would require an investigation stretching from Sublette County to Scotland, involving Interpol, foreign police agencies and DNA collected half a world away.

On Thursday, the Sublette County Sheriff's Office announced the mystery has finally been solved.

The remains belong to John Gillies, a Scottish man who would have been 69 years old this year.

"This case is a testament to the dedication of everyone involved and the strength of partnerships that extend well beyond our county and even our nation's borders," Sheriff K.C. Lehr said in a statement.

"What began as the discovery of unidentified remains in a remote area of Wyoming ultimately brought together local, state, federal and international partners with one shared goal — to give a family answers,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Very Remote'"}]

The investigation began Sept. 6, 2025, when Wyoming Game and Fish personnel 

discovered scattered human skeletal remains

 in a remote section of the Wind River Mountains near the Sweetwater Gap Guard Station.

Authorities later described the location as "very remote," in an area that sees little traffic outside of occasional search-and-rescue missions.

Deputies found disarticulated skeletal remains, a tent, and personal belongings. At the time, authorities said foul play did not appear to be a factor.

Four days later, a 14-member search team made up of deputies, detectives, Sublette County Search and Rescue volunteers and U.S. Forest Service personnel combed roughly 20 miles of rugged terrain, recovering additional skeletal remains.

By late December, a forensic anthropologist estimated investigators had recovered about 85% of the skeleton and concluded the remains had likely been in the wilderness for about six years.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'More Than Bones'"}]

Among the items recovered at the scene were personal effects that eventually led investigators to believe the man could be Gillies.

With no immediate next of kin in the United States, detectives contacted Gillies' ex-wife on Sept. 16, 2025.

Although she had not yet received confirmation that the remains belonged to her former husband, she provided photographs, medical history and details about his life.

[{"type":"text","text":"One message stayed with investigators throughout the case."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I wanted you to know he was more than bones\" she had said. "}]

The sheriff's office called her compassion and willingness to help "a powerful reminder that every unidentified person is someone's loved one."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Investigation Crosses An Ocean"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The investigation soon expanded across the Atlantic."}]

Detectives contacted Saint Mary's Church in Kirkintilloch, Scotland, which helped locate Gillies' surviving relatives and assisted with an international death notification.

Through Interpol, Police Scotland and the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement International Bureau, investigators obtained DNA reference samples from Gillies’ family, the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office reports.

Those samples arrived in Wyoming on Feb. 10. The following day, investigators personally transported the family DNA and the recovered skeletal remains to the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory in Cheyenne for comparison.

On Tuesday, the lab confirmed the remains were biologically related to Gillies' surviving family members, bringing the nearly yearlong investigation to a close, along with six years of limbo overall for the family.

[{"type":"text","text":"Investigators immediately notified his family in Scotland."}]

Scattered human bones found in Wyoming's rugged Wind River Mountains nearly a year ago have been identified as a Scottish man. "I wanted you to know he was more than bones,” his ex-wife said when contacted by investigators.

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, December 19, 2024

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