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[{"type":"text","text":"When the spiked eggnog kicks in......"}]

Herald 12 29 24

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

<title>Hark The Herald: Sunday, December 29, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

When the spiked eggnog kicks in......

Hark The Herald: Sunday, December 29, 2024

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Law Enforcement

Federal and state investigators spent more than seven months building a drug trafficking case against a Jackson man before launching coordinated predawn raids across southwest Wyoming and southeast Idaho that uncovered methamphetamine, cocaine, cash and two AR-15 rifles, newly filed court documents reveal.

The investigation culminated shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday, when agents executed simultaneous search warrants at homes in Etna, Jackson and Victor, Idaho, arresting 42-year-old Julio Jaimes Angeles.

At first authorities released few details about the operation, saying only that "large amounts" of methamphetamine and cocaine had been seized.

[{"type":"text","text":"A probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday paints a much fuller picture."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Months Of Investigation"}]

The affidavit shows DEA Task Force Officer Jeffery Allison opened a narcotics investigation into Angeles in December after investigators suspected he was selling methamphetamine and cocaine throughout southwest Wyoming and southeast Idaho.

Working with a confidential informant and an undercover officer, investigators completed three controlled drug purchases from Angeles between January and April.

Those purchases totaled roughly 84 grams of methamphetamine and 90 grams of cocaine, the affidavit states.

When an undercover officer later tried to arrange another methamphetamine purchase in May, investigators say Angeles referred the buyer to another person in Victor, where about 56 grams of methamphetamine were purchased.

Meanwhile, investigators obtained court approval to install a GPS tracking device on Angeles' pickup truck.

From January through July, agents monitored the truck's movements and learned Angeles regularly visited a second home he owned at 445 Pinto Lane in Etna, often for brief visits inconsistent with someone living there full-time.

Investigators also conducted surveillance and trash pulls at the property.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Simultaneous Raids"}]

On Tuesday, officers executed search warrants at the Etna home, Angeles' primary residence in Jackson, and a third residence in Victor.

The affidavit says investigators found 40 grams of cocaine, 30 grams of methamphetamine, two AR-15 rifles and about $58,000 in cash at the Jackson residence.

After the arrest, investigators say Angeles admitted selling methamphetamine and cocaine and directed officers to additional narcotics stored at the Etna property.

There, officers recovered 54.1 grams of cocaine and 141.1 grams of methamphetamine.

Investigators say the drugs were hidden inside a garage closet connected to an entertainment room furnished with a pool table, foosball table, couch and television.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Children Visiting "}]

During the Etna search, officers encountered four adults and two children, ages 6 and 9, inside the home.

The children's father told investigators they were visiting from Pennsylvania for a birthday party and had spent the previous night at the house after Angeles offered them a place to stay.

The father reportedly told investigators he was unaware drugs were inside the home.

The affidavit says investigators believe Angeles knowingly allowed the children to remain inside a residence containing methamphetamine, forming the basis for a child endangerment charge.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Charges Filed"}]

Angeles made his initial appearance at a preliminary hearing Wednesday morning in Lincoln County Circuit Court, where Judge Thomas O. Deering advised him of the charges and set his bond at $250,000 cash only. 

He is charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance — one involving methamphetamine and the other cocaine — as well as felony possession of both drugs and one count of child endangerment.

Julio James Angeles 7 23 26

<title>Multi-State Drug Raid Shows Kids Slept in Home With Hidden Meth, Cocaine | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A monthslong investigation ended with coordinated raids in southwest Wyoming and southeast Idaho, where investigators found meth, cocaine and two AR-15s. They also allege children ages 6 and 9 stayed overnight in an Etna home where drugs were hidden.

Multi-State Drug Raid Shows Kids Slept in Home With Hidden Meth, Cocaine

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

Renée Jean

Around Wyoming

For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the Hoback River Homestead — a legacy Wyoming ranch that brokers say has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River — has hit the market.

The 2,062-acre ranch located just south of Bondurant doesn’t boast a $20 million mansion, but is still listing as one of Wyoming’s most expensive properties on the market today at $59.5 million. 

That’s because it’s one of the rarest opportunities Hall and Hall real estate broker Pete Widener says he’s ever seen.

Widener, who specializes in high-end ranch properties, says the ranch’s size and its intact nature — including the original homestead — make it almost impossible to compare to anything else on the market. The ranch’s size is particularly notable given its proximity to heavily carved-up valleys near Jackson Hole. 

“If you took a ruler and made a line and had a radius around Jackson Hole and you did 100 miles out, this would probably be the largest ranch without encumbrances on it,” he said. “It’s probably one of the larger ranches in existence without easements on it — no encumbrances — and it’s certainly the only one I know of that’s never been sold since homesteading.”

The ranch’s marquee feature is its live water. The 2-mile stretch of the Hoback River means private access to a productive cutthroat trout fishery, all surrounded on three sides by mountains and federally managed land. 

“Every corner you go around that looks like the fish will be in it — they’re in it,” Widener said. “They’re nice-size cutthroat rising to dry flies … It’s just really fun, visual fishing, with the river and the mountains in the background.”

The Hoback isn’t the only live water on the ranch, either. Fisherman’s Creek provides important irrigation diversions that support large meadows across the valley floor, which in turn supports 45 to 100 livestock.

Today the ranch runs about 45 horses for one of the owners. In earlier times, from 80 to 150 cattle grazed there. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Wildlife And Wilderness"}]

The ranch lies in a major elk migration corner, and animals have been visible on most of Widener’s visits, from calving cows to bugling bulls in the fall. 

Widener has also seen sage-grouse and sandhill cranes. Grizzly bears and wolves use the property and the surrounding national forest.

The outdoor recreation opportunities are “massive,” Widener said. They range from off-roading, hiking, mountain biking and swimming in freshwater springs to horseback riding. 

There’s also a spot where previous owners maintained a private airstrip. The old windsock is still there, fluttering in the valley breeze.

The homestead’s historic bones are still visible, Widener said. That includes the original homestead and its associated cabins. Some of those cabins still have spent cartridge casings hammered into the walls after they were used to carve the occupants’ initials. 

Widener said the family selling the ranch has chosen not to be identified, but said they are well-known locally and have decided to go in a different direction after the passing of the family’s patriarch a few years ago. 

That history includes a lightning-struck tree near the entrance.

“It looks like a limber pine, but it could be a ponderosa,” Widener said. “It’s really big and old.”

The lightning bolt came straight down, striking the tree in the 1940s, leaving it half-dead. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A 'Show Ranch' Opportunity"}]

In an era when many legacy ranches are getting chopped into smaller luxury parcels, Widener said he sees Hoback River Homestead as a “show ranch” opportunity — the kind that doesn’t come around in every generation.

Other big ranches in the region, such as the Little Jenny, which sold 8 to 10 years ago, contend with public roads slicing through their heart. The Hoback River Homestead does not have that. It sits behind a locked gate on one side, and is surrounded by national forests on the other three sides.

Widener remembers thinking when he first visited how remote the ranch felt. 

“I remember looking around thinking, ‘Man, there’s nobody here,’” he said. “We see this ranch as far more valuable due to its privacy.”

The ranch sits halfway between Jackson and Pinedale, however, and is a short drive from either community, making it convenient for last-minute dinner decisions like sushi in Jackson or steak in Pinedale.

“This is a rare deal, and it would be a shame to see someone not continue on with keeping it as a large parcel — if not making it larger,” he said. “Very few landowners are making ranches larger. A lot of them are getting split up. I’d certainly like to never see this one get split up.”

Hoback 007 7 23 26

<title>2,000-Acre Sublette County Ranch On Market For First Time Ever At $59.5 Million | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the Hoback River Homestead — a legacy Sublette County, Wyoming, ranch that brokers say has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River — has hit the market for $59.5 million.

2,000-Acre Sublette County Ranch On Market For First Time Ever At $59.5 Million

Public Safety

Skeletal human remains found in an abandoned building west of Cheyenne on Wednesday have prompted a lengthy identification process that investigators say could take months, while renewing hope and fear among families of Wyoming's missing.

Deputies with the Laramie County Sheriff's Office say a deceased individual was discovered in a building on Happy Jack Road. The remains were "essentially skeletal."

The sheriff's office, working with the Laramie County Coroner's Office, said there is no evidence of foul play or any threat to the public.

The discovery has already stirred emotions across Wyoming's missing persons community.

"You're excited because you want closure," said Desirée Tinoco, founder of Missing People of Wyoming. "You want one of those cases that, for years, has been forgotten."

Then comes the realization that every identification also brings devastating news to someone.

"You start to really sympathize and understand this is going to be terrible news also for somebody," Tinoco said. "They are going to get answers, and it's obviously not what they want to hear."

Stacy Koester, president of the Gillette-based nonprofit WyoFind Search, Rescue and Recovery of the Missing, said families across the state experience the same emotional conflict whenever unidentified remains are found.

Loved ones "are both anxious and terrified," she said. "They're hopeful that it could be their person, but they're also terrified that it's their person. They're hopeful because then they'd have answers, but they're terrified because those answers could be devastating."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Who Could It Be?"}]

Both Tinoco and Koester said the location immediately made them think of Nash Quinn, the Laramie-area man who vanished July 8, 2024.

Quinn frequently rode his bicycle in the Pilot Hill, Rogers Canyon and Happy Jack Road areas. Deputies and aerial search teams spent days combing those locations after he disappeared.

Both women, however, stressed there is no evidence connecting the newly discovered remains to Quinn.

Tinoco said that after hearing a dispatch call that the clothing found with the remains might date to the 1990s, she realized the remains could just as easily belong to someone who disappeared decades ago or even someone merely passing through Wyoming.

Before investigators had released many details, she had already received a call from a woman in Colorado whose missing friend was last seen wearing clothing similar to what early reports described.

"Could it be related? We don't know," Tinoco said. "I told her to contact the sheriff's office. That's what you always want to do."

[{"type":"text","text":"Koester likewise cautioned against speculation."}]

"Rumors tend to fly like wildfire," she said. "Nobody knows anything except for law enforcement, and everybody needs to be patient and wait for law enforcement to do what they have to do."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Long Wait Ahead"}]

Every discovery, Tinoco said, has the potential to unlock something that had long been buried.

"Getting those new tips, getting that new traction on cases, is what we want," she said. "Even if it isn't for that case, it'll get some good attention on it."

Investigators say the identification process may take several months because of the condition of the remains. No additional information will be released until authorities positively identify the deceased and notify next of kin.

Tinoco said cases like this also remind people how many Wyoming disappearances remain unsolved, some dating back decades.

She noted that many of those investigations are so old the original investigators have retired or died, leaving families and nonprofit organizations to continue pushing for answers.

For now, investigators are asking for patience while they work to determine who was found inside the abandoned building. 

Body found on Happy Jack 7 23 26

<title>Skeletal Remains Found In Abandoned Building West Of Cheyenne | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Skeletal human remains found in an abandoned building west of Cheyenne on Wednesday could take months to identify, investigators say. The discovery has renewed hope and fear among families of Wyoming's missing.

Skeletal Remains Found In Abandoned Building West Of Cheyenne

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Government & Politics

Politics

CHEYENNE — the U.S. Department of the Interior is ready to intervene in the more than 100-year-old dispute over Colorado River water if the seven Western states involved can’t come together on a realistic plan to manage the resource.

That was part of the message U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared during a Thursday visit to Cheyenne Frontier Days with a large number of his department heads.

Burgum also said that after multiple meetings with governors of the Colorado River upper and lower basin states, he’s confident they’ll come to a new agreement that can replace the 1922 compact now in place.

“I’ve said before … if we come up with a plan that nobody likes, we probably have the right plan,” said Burgum, who was North Dakota’s governor before tapped by President Trump to head the Department of the Interior.

“Because when you have a shortage (of Colorado River water) that’s this severe, if somebody was happy and somebody was unhappy, then it’s not the right amount of sharing the pain or shouldering the responsibility,” he continued.

A July 31 deadline to comment on his department’s plan for the Colorado is a little more than a week out, he said, adding that something has to be ready by the time the new water year starts Oct. 1.

“There has been no consensus among the seven states,” Burgum said. “There are disagreements between the upper and lower basin. When they can’t agree, then it kicks it back to the federal (level), and the federal government essentially becomes the water master.”

Even if that happens, Gov. Mark Gordon, who hosted Burgum and his staff, said Wyoming’s share of water is protected by water rights that are senior to the 1922 compact.

“The water rights prior to that are going to be unaffected,” he said. “The Bureau of Reclamation owns the water, we don’t own water in Flaming Gorge. They control that.”

But so far, he said the second Trump administration has been listening to states, farmers “and listen to the people who actually use the resource, and they’ll use their judgment as they can.

“But I want to make sure people understand that Wyoming water law is sacrosanct, and it’s not going to be affected.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Numbers Crunch"}]

A sort of perfect storm of issues is bringing the long-debated Colorado River crisis into focus.

The guidelines of the compact were set more than a century ago during a wet year with plenty of water, setting a baseline that’s just not there every year, Burgum said. Added to that is this past record dry winter and low snowpack in the upper basin.

When the water was divided up in 1922, there were 16 million acre-feet of water available from the Colorado River, he said. This year there’s only 3.5 million available, which increases pressure from lower basin states for the upper basin — which includes Wyoming — to release more water.

“This year, we think that the amount of new water coming into this thing is going to be 3.5 million,” he said. “So, there’s the idea that everybody wants their appropriated share. The water isn’t there.”

Adding to the crisis is the sheer number of people who depend on the Colorado River for drinking water, irrigation, power generation and recreation, Burgum said.

“There are 42 million people that live in an area served by this, and then we ship water out to places like Denver and Salt Lake to serve those other metro areas,” he said. “So, the number of people that are depending on the Colorado is, like, quadruple what it was.

“So, we have one-fourth the water and four times the people — and we’re going to figure it out.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"On Energy"}]

Burgum’s Thursday visit coincides with the Day of the American West at Cheyenne Frontier Days.

He and Gordon also highlighted Wyoming’s place as one of the nation’s energy-producing leaders and the need to continue developing that.

“The American West today … really powers our nation and it feeds our nation,” Burgum said. “And you can’t have national security without energy security.

“We (also) know we’re not going to have national security if we don’t have mineral security. And, of course, the West has historically been a place where we’ve had mining and management of critical minerals.”

He reassured people that his agency works for its “customers,” which he describes as people who use federal lands for a lot of different things — including grazing, minerals development and recreation.

“There has been kind of a trend the last 30 years where across these states with (large swaths) of public lands that we’re going to stop mining, we’re going to stop grazing, we’re going to stop doing timber,” Burgum said.

 “All of that effort around some false ideal that by moving those activities to other countries or other parts of the world is going to be good for the world or good for the environment,” he added.

When it comes to energy, “Wyoming really is a powerhouse,” Gordon said. “We have all kinds of energy and we’re very anxious to be able to get more of it developed and out. And we do that here in Wyoming with an incredible amount of care.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Local Control"}]

Fresh off an announcement last week that the Department of the Interior wants to hand management of 

 Burgum said Thursday that’s part of a larger philosophy of putting local control first.

“It’s a basic belief, and that's why we're moving back towards local control,” he told the small crowd of reporters and onlookers in a corner of the Old West Museum on the CFD campus.

“The people that live on the land know it best, and we should be a partner and a supporter, not a barrier to that,” he said. “And the law for most of the public lands are multiple use, and that includes grazing, recreation, energy, timber and wildlife.”

Burgum and Gordon 3 7 23 26

<title>In Cheyenne, Interior Secretary Says He'll Act On Colorado River Crisis, If He Has To | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Thursday that he'll intervene in the Colorado River crisis — if he has to. “We have one-fourth the water and four times the people,” he said during a visit to Cheyenne Frontier Days with many of his top-level staff.

In Cheyenne, Interior Secretary Says He'll Act On Colorado River Crisis, If He Has To

Elder Louis and Sister Debra Fico, a Casper couple serving as missionaries at Batel Ranch west of Tie Siding, had just finished preparing the church camp for another week of teenage campers when they saw lightning crack across the sky.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We saw the flash,\" Louis said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Almost instantly, smoke began rising from the forest."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The couple called 911, realizing a wildfire had likely ignited nearby."}]

Within minutes, the peaceful mountain retreat shifted into emergency mode.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's time to get out,\" Louis remembered thinking."}]

As camp leaders hurried teenagers into vehicles and drove away from the ranch, they looked back toward the mountains.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We saw the mountain burning,\" he said."}]

The blaze, now known as the Fish Creek Fire, prompted evacuations Tuesday and sent firefighters racing into the Medicine Bow National Forest.

As of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the Albany County Sheriff's Office reported the fire was 50% contained. Batel Ranch remained under a GO (Evacuate Now) order, while all other previously evacuated areas were in SET status, meaning residents should remain prepared to leave if conditions worsen.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'A Tinderbox' "}]

Just across the area at Fish Creek Ranch, Bill Fuller Jr. witnessed the same unfolding emergency.

[{"type":"text","text":"A homeowner called Fuller after hearing a loud crack."}]

"She said, 'I think our tree got struck by lightning,'" Fuller recalled.

The homeowner had looked toward the northwest corner of the roughly 4,600-acre ranch and noticed what he described as a small trickle of smoke.

[{"type":"text","text":"Fuller and the ranch manager drove to investigate."}]

"Within minutes that tree was up in flames," he said. "By the time I got there it was obvious it was going to be big."

[{"type":"text","text":"Fire crews were already arriving as the flames began spreading."}]

Fish Creek Ranch includes 13 homeowner partners and serves as a wildlife preserve. Fortunately, Fuller said, the apparent ignition point was on the ranch's northwest corner, meaning the fire would have had to cross multiple ridges before reaching homes.

[{"type":"text","text":"Still, the danger was obvious."}]

"It could happen," Fuller said. "Right now it's a tinderbox. It's as dry as it's ever been."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"No Time To Pack "}]

Batel Ranch hosts spiritual retreats for young women, blending scripture study with outdoor adventure.

Campers spend their days reading scripture, participating in faith lessons, playing games and learning wilderness skills, including building shelters from natural materials gathered in the forest and weaving rope from reeds collected around a nearby pond.

About 20 girls, ages 16 and 17, most from the Denver area, were attending camp when the fire broke out. Five adult leaders were also there.

[{"type":"text","text":"Another 80 girls were scheduled to arrive Wednesday."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"They never did."}]

The Ficos had spent days helping prepare the camp. Cabins were ready. Activities had been organized. Everything was in place for the next group of campers.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then the evacuation order came."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"There wasn't time to pack things up,\" Debra said."}]

Camp leaders focused solely on getting everyone safely off the mountain, leaving the camp almost exactly as it had been prepared.

Despite the urgency, every camper and leader evacuated safely, and no injuries were reported.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ranchers Stay To Help"}]

While some residents left immediately, Fuller said others stayed as long as it was safe to do so.

[{"type":"text","text":"They had horses, equipment and neighbors to look after."}]

"We basically told them, 'We're not leaving,'" Fuller said. "If you know ranchers, you know we're gonna stay until we can't stay."

The ranch had 23 horses on the property, and neighboring ranchers quickly began checking whether livestock needed to be moved.

Homeowners worked together to make sure families and animals were safe while firefighters battled the growing blaze.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's Wyoming,\" Fuller said. \"That's how it is.\""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Homeowners Pulled Together"}]

The following day, Louis and Debra returned to Batel Ranch to assess the damage.

[{"type":"text","text":"To their relief, the camp was still standing."}]

No buildings had been destroyed, and they found no visible damage from flames or smoke.

For Fuller, the outcome reflected the work of firefighters and the community that rallied around them.

"Our main goal is to express our unbelievable appreciation for the men and women who came and got it out and stayed all night," he said.

Firefighters remained on scene overnight watching for flare-ups after containing the blaze.

Fuller also praised the volunteers, sheriff's deputies, emergency responders and neighboring ranchers who worked together throughout the incident.

"It was a great community," he said. "All the homeowners pulled together to make sure neighbors were safe and horses were safe. Ranchers in the area all came together to see if people needed help moving livestock."

As firefighters continue working to fully contain the Fish Creek Fire, officials are asking the public to avoid the area so emergency crews can safely continue their work.

Tie siding fire 7 23 26

<title>20 Teenage Campers Evacuated As Fish Creek Fire Explodes; Ranchers Won't Leave | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Moments after lightning struck, Casper missionaries watched the Fish Creek Fire explode to life and rushed 20 teen campers to safety. Meanwhile, residents stayed behind to look after neighbors and horses. "It's Wyoming. That's how it is," one said.

20 Teenage Campers Evacuated As Fish Creek Fire Explodes; Ranchers Won't Leave

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

Andrew Rossi

Wyoming ranchers are struggling with an existential problem out of their control. Hay has become harder to find, harder to grow, and more expensive to buy. Some say this will hasten the end of family farms and ranches that can’t afford to feed their animals.

Hark The Herald: Sunday, December 29, 2024

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