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

<title>You Still Here? Thursday, February 6, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

You Still Here? Thursday, February 6, 2025

 We really need Super Bowl commercials like this again.....

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

Andrew Rossi

Public Safety

A motorcyclist has died after an accident on the Beartooth Highway on Thursday morning.

Information acquired via WyoLink confirmed that a motorcycle incident was reported near the junction of U.S. 212 and Wyoming Highway 296, the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, around 10 a.m..

Details of the incident are still unclear, but one communication mentioned an individual was “down an embankment.”

A First Flight of Wyoming helicopter landed near the scene at 11:15 a.m. By then, first responders had been doing CPR on the victim for more than 50 minutes.

[{"type":"text","text":"By 11:22 a.m., a coroner from Red Lodge, Montana, was on the scene."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"No additional information was available as of noon."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Multiple Confirmations"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Cowboy State Daily confirmed this information through multiple sources."}]

Red Lodge Fire Rescue sent a fire truck and ambulance to the scene. A source with Red Lodge Fire Rescue confirmed they had responded to a report of an accident involving one motorcycle, but their first responders were still on the scene and couldn't provide any updates.

Monte McClain, a spokesman with the Park County Sheriff's Office, confirmed one fatality at the scene. He didn’t have any additional information, as the response and investigation were taken over by the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

The Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP) was not available for additional information at the time of publication.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Tragic Warning"}]

There's been a growing concern about the number of motorcycle incidents on the Beartooth and Chief Joseph Highways this summer. Cowboy State Daily published a story about these specific concerns 

Earlier this month, Park County Fire District 2 issued a statement urging motorcyclists to “consider the challenges” before embarking on the narrow, winding mountain passes. WHP spokesman Aaron Brown agreed, confirming a notable increase in motorcycle incidents on both highways this summer.

“The WHP has seen five motorcycle crashes on the Beartooth Highway this year, and all of them have been in July,” he told Cowboy State Daily on July 24. “A few had minor injuries and at one reported had serious injuries, but no fatalities.”

Colloquially, Brown has heard about the increase in motorcycle crashes from WHP troopers stationed in northwest Wyoming.

“One trooper was telling me they've heard reports of even more motorcycle crashes up there,” he said. “We don’t have all the reports because some of those were county responses.”

Brown said he believed there were multiple contributing factors to these accidents, including the narrow curves of the highways and excessive speed. However, he also believed many motorcyclists could be overestimating their abilities. 

 “I think, at the end of the day, we're seeing a lot of riders trying to go outside of their skill set,” he said. “That’s not to say they’re not good enough to do the Beartooth and Chief Joseph, but they need to ride within their skills. If you’re going to do the Beartooth or Chief Joseph, ride within your skills and slow down. It’s not a place you want to be crashing out on.”

This is an ongoing story. Updates will be provided as additional information is confirmed.

Beartooth highway 7 30 26

<title>Motorcycle Accident Results In Fatality Thursday Morning On Beartooth Highway | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Cowboy State Daily has confirmed that a motorcyclist died in an accident Thursday on the Beartooth Highway near the junction of U.S. 212 and WY 296. This comes after growing concerns about motorcycle safety on the Beartooth and Chief Joseph passes.

Motorcycle Accident Results In Fatality Thursday Morning On Beartooth Highway

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

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

CHEYENNE — It isn’t just illegal truck drivers who risk being caught in the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office’s Truck Around and Find Out highway enforcement operations.

Illegal drivers speeding in other vehicles while displaying lights that look enough like emergency responders that it prompts deputies to pull over for them will also get turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

That’s what happened to a man who got nabbed in the LCSO’s latest Truck Around roundup Tuesday and Thursday, said Sheriff Brian Kozak.

“Another funny story was one of our deputies was driving down one of the county roads and looks in the rearview mirror and sees blue lights coming up at a high rate of speed,” he said in an update on this week’s operation.

“So, he pulls over thinking maybe it’s an off-duty firefighter or something,” Kozak added. “As the vehicle passes, it’s a Ford Ranger. So, the deputy thinks, ‘Ah, that’s not an emergency vehicle,’ so he pulls it over.”

Turns out, the driver was an illegal immigrant and driving without a valid license, the sheriff said.

“So, the moral of the story is, ‘Hey, don’t bring attention to yourself in a situation like that, right?’” Kozak said. “Better yet, don’t commit a crime, especially here in Laramie County, where breaking the law is still illegal.”

He added that it was like the man was waving a big sign that said, “Arrest me!”

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

Overall, this week’s Truck Around and Find Out resulted in about 120 traffic stops, with 40 tickets issued to drivers and 10 arrested for being in the country illegally, said Kozak and Chief Deputy Chance Walkama.

That’s a dramatic drop from the previous three crackdowns, where 118 illegal drivers were handed over to ICE agents. That includes a record 46 during the last operation in April.

The total now since the first crackdown in November 2025, then called Operation Safe Haul, is 128 illegal drivers arrested and turned over to ICE.

That only 10 were caught in this latest effort shows “that the word is getting out” that Laramie County should be avoided if you’re an illegal or unlicensed trucker, Kozak said.

“We have had less illegal immigration arrests, which is a good sign,” he said. “People who are illegal aliens are afraid to come to Laramie County — and that’s what we want.”

While people focus on how many illegal drivers are arrested during the county’s Truck Around campaigns, that’s not the goal, said Walkama.

“Our focus is always on traffic safety and safety in and around big trucks,” he said. “And that includes those vehicles driving around trucks. Sometimes there’s idiots out there.

[{"type":"text","text":"“These are primarily traffic-focused and law-focused.”"}]

Probably the most dangerous driver taken off the road this week wasn’t immigration-related, Kozak said.

“One of the arrests that we made … was for an aggravated, or felony, DUI,” he said. “That’s because that person had previous convictions for driving under the influence of marijuana, and that’s what he was doing again.”

Along with marijuana, deputies found a stash of fake urine in that vehicle, Kozak said.

“Because this person’s on probation, he has to provide urine tests,” he said, adding that it compounds the problem for the driver because it’s illegal to have fake urine if you’re on probation.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Keep On Truckin’"}]

Kozak’s Truck Around and Find Out operations have also been the target of criticism from local and national groups.

In March, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a legal challenge against the sheriff claiming he bypassed the public process to enter into agreements with ICE.

The ACLU filed the challenge on behalf of Juntos, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cheyenne, and Drew’s Barbershop.

Kozak’s office has three agreements with ICE, which the agencies call 287(g) agreements. 

One lets jail officials investigate inmates for potential immigration violations. Another lets the sheriff’s deputies act as immigration task force agents and investigate federal immigration violations while they’re out enforcing laws. And another lets the Laramie County Detention Center house detainees for ICE.

Kozak signed all three agreements last May, the complaint says. His agency has 

The Cheyenne Tribune Eagle reports that a Laramie County judge 

 Monday, and hasn’t yet issued a ruling.

Despite the lawsuit, Kozak said he’s continuing with Truck Around and Find Out, adding that he knew the operations would generate some opposition and political fallout.

“We’re going to keep doing them,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday. “We knew when we started there would be these political groups that would be opposed to what we’re doing.

“But we’re going to continue to do these Truck Around and Find Out operations.”

Kozak said his interest is in public safety.

“You have these big trucks driving by people without licenses, and people are losing their lives,” he said.

Turck Around and Kozak 7 30 26

<title>Laramie County Sheriff Kozak Strikes Again: 10 More Illegal Drivers Busted | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Another 10 illegal drivers were busted in Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak’s latest Truck Around and Find Out operation this week. That includes one speeding with what looked like emergency lights. "We’re going to continue to do these," Kozak said.

Laramie County Sheriff Kozak Strikes Again: 10 More Illegal Drivers Busted

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

What began as an act of kindness for a pregnant woman new to Casper ended in months of anonymous threats, fake phone numbers and a digital trail investigators say stretched across Facebook, Google and multiple texting apps, prosecutors say.

A Natrona County woman is accused of stalking the foster mother who once drove her to prenatal appointments, took her grocery shopping and later cared for her infant son while she received mental health treatment.

Daji Carter, 27, was bound over to district court Tuesday after a preliminary hearing on two felony counts of stalking and two misdemeanor counts of violating a stalking protection order. She posted a $3,500 surety bond July 15 and was released from custody. 

Investigators say Carter spent months using anonymous texts, fake online accounts and spoofed phone numbers to continue contacting Ashley Monroe and members of her family after a court ordered Carter to have no contact with her.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'She Was My Friend'"}]

For Monroe, the allegations are especially painful because the relationship began with compassion.

[{"type":"text","text":"She met Carter in June 2024 while Carter was pregnant and new to Casper."}]

"I would have considered her one of my friends," Monroe told Cowboy State Daily. "She didn't have any mode of transportation, so I always offered to take her grocery shopping. We took her to do shopping for stuff she would need for the baby once he was born. She was fun to be around. She had a good sense of humor."

Monroe, a licensed foster parent, said she wasn't expecting to become Carter's foster placement.

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead, she simply wanted to help someone she knew was struggling."}]

"I was just trying to be there to support her and keep the baby safe if she needed help," Monroe said.

According to Monroe, she became concerned about Carter's well-being and requested a welfare check. After Carter agreed to seek help, the Department of Family Services arranged a voluntary placement, and Monroe began caring for the infant. Monroe said the arrangement was intended to be temporary, allowing Carter to regain custody when she was ready.

[{"type":"text","text":"The baby returned home within weeks."}]

Not long afterward, Monroe said Casper police contacted her after Carter made statements suggesting the infant had died. Officers eventually located the child safely, Monroe said, and the Department of Family Services placed him in her home again. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'That's When Things Turned South'"}]

Monroe said the relationship unraveled during a visitation dispute around Halloween 2024.

She recalled Carter becoming upset over visitation scheduling during one of the baby's medical appointments.

"She tried to take the baby and run with him from the doctor's office," Monroe said.

[{"type":"text","text":"That night, Monroe said, the messages began."}]

She said the first texts said "You're a c---, this is Daji," along with a knife and blood emojis.

The criminal affidavit similarly alleges Monroe began receiving threatening messages from anonymous Wyoming and Alabama phone numbers, many sent through internet-based texting services rather than traditional cellular numbers.

Investigators say the harassment continued for months and eventually spread to Monroe's husband and mother.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Living In Fear"}]

According to the affidavit, the messages escalated from vulgar insults to explicit threats. Monroe told investigators she received texts accusing her of taking Carter's child and messages warning that she was "going to die." 

[{"type":"text","text":"Monroe said the emotional impact reached far beyond her own safety."}]

At the time, she was caring not only for Carter's infant but for other foster children, in addition to her own family.

"I didn't sleep," she said. "Every time one of my dogs would bark ... is that Daji outside my door?"

She said the alleged harassment forced her family to install additional security measures and left her anxious.

"I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder, hesitant to engage in routine activities and struggling with stress and sleep disturbances," Monroe said.

"I didn't even feel safe letting my kids go to school," she told Cowboy State Daily.

The Department of Family Services ultimately moved Carter's son to another foster home in hopes the threats would stop.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They did not,\" Monroe said. "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Digital Trail "}]

Court records show the alleged stalking became an extensive digital investigation involving numerous search warrants.

The affidavit describes detectives obtaining records from Facebook, Google, TextNow, Pinger, AT&T and T-Mobile while also conducting forensic examinations of multiple electronic devices.

The various anonymous phone numbers, Gmail accounts and online messaging services ultimately pointed back to Carter, says the affidavit. 

During an interview with investigators, Carter acknowledged sending Monroe what she described as "mean" messages but denied sending many of the anonymous communications detailed in the affidavit.

"When you piss me off, I say what's on my heart," Carter allegedly told investigators.

Detectives also interviewed witnesses, reviewed phone records, and manually examined several electronic devices after extracting data from phones seized during the investigation.

Investigators concluded there was probable cause to charge Carter with felony stalking and two counts of violating a stalking protection order.

When reached by Cowboy State Daily for comment, Carter's public defender, Casper attorney Dylan Rosalez, declined to comment.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Maybe This Will Finally End'"}]

Monroe said she felt relief when Carter was charged earlier this month, believing the months of uncertainty might finally be over.

"It was just like a sigh of relief," she said. "She's being held accountable for what she's doing."

[{"type":"text","text":"But Monroe said that relief has been short-lived."}]

After Carter posted bond and the preliminary hearing concluded Tuesday, Monroe says the unwanted contact has continued, alleging that Carter even reached out to her work on Wednesday. 

"I'm feeling very frustrated currently," Monroe said. "Mostly, I worry for my kids because I'm a mama bear."

Monroe said she still believes in fostering despite everything that's happened.

She said most biological parents she has worked with eventually recognize foster parents are trying to help families reunite, not replace them.

"I'm wanting to help them, and I want them to have their children back," Monroe said. "I want them to be healthy."

Foster 3 7 30 26

<title>Casper Foster Parent Says She Was Terrorized By Bio Mom After She Took In Baby | Cowboy State Daily</title>

After taking in a friend's baby, a Casper foster mom says her family became the target of anonymous threats by the biological mother, who is charged with two stalking felonies. "I didn't even feel safe letting my kids go to school," Ashley Monroe said.

Casper Foster Parent Says She Was Terrorized By Bio Mom After She Took In Baby

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

As a young college student working as a graduate assistant at the University of Wyoming in 1976, Alan O’Hashi had landed a plum summer job along with his university gig.

He was a ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park.

A Cheyenne native, O’Hashi, now 73 and living in Boulder, Colorado, reflects on nearly a half century of being an author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker who continues to ponder and pursue topics of interest.

On the last day of July in 1976, however, his interest was just getting back to work after spending part of the weekend in Cheyenne at Cheyenne Frontier Days with a friend. Before that journey could be completed, the future news chronicler became part of one of the biggest stories of his life.

That’s when he got caught up in the sudden and devastating Big Thompson Flood, riding out the terrifying natural disaster in a Ford Pinto.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"On The Way To Work"}]

O’Hashi said his national park role first involved collecting fees at the front entrance, and then he was promoted to being a ranger at a campground.

The job came about with the help of the late U.S. Rep. Wayne Aspinall, a Democrat from Colorado.

Aspinall had taught a political science class at Hastings College in Nebraska, where O’Hashi earned his undergraduate degree.

“For whatever reason, we hit it off,” O’Hashi said. “And I asked him to write some letters to the Department of Interior on my behalf.”

Due back on duty at the park at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, O’Hashi decided to make the two-hour drive back to the park on Saturday evening, July 31, 1976.

He left Cheyenne and drove south to Loveland, Colorado, where he connected with U.S. Highway 34 to take him up to Estes Park. 

In the evening sky above the mountain peaks before him, O’Hashi said he could see a “brilliant orange stripe” with a “black ribbon on top” across the western horizon.

As he drove his Ford Pinto wagon up toward the “narrows” of Big Thompson canyon, he became aware that everybody else was driving east. He alone was going west.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Warning"}]

“A Colorado Highway Patrol officer, or maybe a county sheriff’s deputy, waved me down saying maybe I better turn around up at Drake, which wasn’t too far from where I was, saying there was some bad water ahead,” O’Hashi told Cowboy State Daily. “And so, I kind of drove up and there was a trickle of water, and I slowed down.”

He understood that U.S. Highway 34 runs alongside the Big Thompson River for its length into Estes Park.

As he continued toward Drake to find space enough to turn around on the narrow highway he was suddenly met with a “big wall of water” that slammed into his Pinto.

Looking out the window, he could see uprooted trees floating by, along with propane gas tanks. After that, rocks started thumping against his car.

He remembers being in a low part of the road and seeing a speed limit sign and the top “foot” of the sign.

He witnessed a “lovely car” coming toward him eastbound that went off the edge of the road across from him and into the river below.

Thinking about what he should do, O’Hashi said a floating portable toilet snagged onto his Pinto bumper and carried the car to the canyon wall instead of “over the edge.”

“So, I climbed out the driver’s-side window and waited,” he said. “I was in maybe knee-deep or not-quite-waist-deep water.”

O’Hashi said he started walking up an incline when a Colorado Department of Transportation truck showed up headed westbound looking for people who needed help.

He was able to join others in the back of the truck who had found themselves stranded with the waters rising.

The truck took them to higher ground at Rainbow Bend where there was a gas station, cabins and a little store. That’s where O’Hashi spent the rest of the night.

If that Department of Transportation truck had not shown up, O’Hashi said he would have had to try and climb up the canyon wall.

It wasn’t until the next day he got a true sense of what he had survived.

“We got up the next morning and saw the aftermath of the flood,” he said.

O’Hashi said he never learned what happened to the people in the car that went over the edge, but believes the car was from Loveland because of the license plate he observed before it vanished.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Disaster Unfolds"}]

That morning revealed to O’Hashi and the nation one of the worst floods in Colorado’s history. It happened as the state was preparing for its 100th birthday.

On Aug 2, 1976, The New York Times front page headline proclaimed: “65 Killed as Rains Flood Colorado Recreation Area.”

But the numbers would climb much higher in succeeding days until ultimately reaching 144 dead.

A story in the Grand Junction, Colorado, newspaper The Daily Sentinel on Aug. 5, 1976, projected total damage would hit $50 million.

That figure would be revised downward to $35 million to $40 million. Bridges and roadways, houses, and livelihoods were washed away in a matter of minutes. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Helicopter Drop Zone"}]

O’Hashi said that Sunday Aug. 1, his major concern was getting out of the flood zone.

He and some other flood survivors who were at the gas station and store noticed a Chinook helicopter flying around.

They got some white paint and created a circle for a drop zone. The helicopter saw it and landed, allowing him and several others to get flown down to Loveland, where they were housed in a gym.

He said it was in Sunday afternoon at that point and he knew his parents, who then lived in Laramie, would try to find him.

With all the roads closed and phone lines down, he looked for a solution. He found it in a group who had a car and were planning to drive to Cheyenne.

O’Hashi said he hitched a ride and was dropped off at a college classmate’s home in the city. He tried to call his parents in Laramie to learn that they had driven to Loveland to try and find him.

“My parents came down and found I wasn’t in Loveland,” he said. “And then they must have given them word that I was headed to my friend’s house, and that’s where we hooked up.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Second Chance"}]

About 10 days after being caught in the Big Thompson Flood, O’Hashi said he went back to Rocky Mountain National Park and continued to work the rest of the summer. He said the experience of being in the disaster changed him.

“I was actually given a second chance, and I was more grateful,” he said.

A memorial stone erected along Highway 34 on July 31, 2001, the 25th anniversary of the flood, recounted how a thunderstorm stalled over the canyon in 1976 sending the deluge down among the rocks and claiming the lives of dozens and changing the lives of many others.

O’Hashi said he thinks about the choices that led to him being part of that history.

He has made other choices in life that have put him in tight spots as well. On July 31, 1976, he said decided to try and get back to work Saturday night rather than drive in early Sunday morning.

As disasters continue to happen — such as the recent flooding in Kerr County, Texas, or a Dec. 30, 2021, Boulder County wildfire that claimed two lives, caused a massive evacuation and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes — O’Hashi said he’s come to understand that things happen in life, and the government will never act fast enough.

“It’s a matter of being prepared, like if you are in an urban area, get to know your neighbors and talk about what your options might be if something happens,” he said. “It’s hard to predict how everyone is going to react under pressure.

“I’m trying to figure out what we can do to make it less problematic when something like this happens.”

Following the summer of 1976, O’Hashi said he never completed his graduate degree at the University of Wyoming because before he finished his graduate thesis, he got his first “real job” in Gillette.

With his insurance settlement on the Pinto, he bought another Pinto station wagon.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Another Escape"}]

While working in Gillette, that Pinto was rear-ended. O’Hashi said it was known at the time that the car had a problem with exploding gas tanks. His did not explode.

Another twist of being in the right place at the wrong time happened in 1997 when he was flying out of Houston on Continental Airlines and had left his airline ticket in the men’s bathroom.

He nearly missed his plane but was allowed to board after a janitor found it and paged him. The gateway door to the plane had already been closed, but they opened it and allowed him to board.

Once in the air, the plane experienced an emergency and landed in Oklahoma City, he said. He later was told it was a cockpit fire.

“It’s absolute chaos inside of an airplane,” he said. “No one has time to barely put on their seat belts, put their trays back and their seats in an upright position. It was total mass chaos inside with flight attendants tumbling down the aisle and books flying all over the place.”

His pondering of the incident is that maybe by getting onboard it changed the outcome, that his “presence” on the plane may have resulted in it not going down.

Cheyenne native Alan O’Hashi vividly remembers being caught in the canyon when the Big Thompson Flood, the deadliest flood in Colorado history, hit on July 31, 1976. He survived when a floating portable toilet snagged his car and carried it to safety.

You Still Here? Thursday, February 6, 2025

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