Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"Friendly reminder: winter is not over....."}]

Darwin 4 5 25

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Saturday, April 5, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Friendly reminder: winter is not over.....

Daily Darwin: Saturday, April 5, 2025

 Friendly reminder: winter is not over.....

Julie Mankin

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

GILLETTE — Fire danger may have killed Gillette’s annual fireworks show Saturday, but didn’t stop the city from celebrating America’s 250th like it’s always celebrated the Fourth of July — loud, proud, and with thousands of free hot dogs.

Gillette kicked off a day of celebration with a giant pancake feed at Campbell County’s main fire station as a record 118 floats prepared to parade nearby.

This year’s procession, which ran east to west on Highway 14/16, included a woman walking while holding two snakes, a full band, dozens of horses and many more creative floats.

[{"type":"text","text":"And locals were dresses in their best red, white and blue."}]

Two of the most patriotic-looking parade-goers became friends working at the local Sonic fast-food restaurant. They dyed each other’s hair red and blue the night prior.

“I’m not very political,” said 14-year-old Reagen Arguello. “I don’t really believe in politics. But I wanted to be here in support of our fallen soldiers and to celebrate our country’s history.”

Foster Golightly, 17, was decked out in a full-flag jumpsuit under red, white and blue swim trunks — and Spider-Man socks.

“This is the only holiday I enjoy,” said the Thunder Basin High School student. “I have a lot of pride in my country. I think we do a lot of good. We do a lot of bad, also.

“But we should always celebrate what we’ve done for other countries and for ourselves. It’s about gaining our freedom! If we hadn’t done that, our world would go nowhere.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Party Like It’s 1776"}]

Nearly an hour before the town’s famous outdoor party started at Bicentennial Park, people were already forming a huge line.

Campbell County Parks and Recreation estimated 4,000 free hot dogs were scarfed down throughout the afternoon.

The dog-friendly park — a massive 80 acres containing baseball and soccer fields, basketball courts, picnic tables, shelters, tennis courts and walking paths — also offers ample shade trees, tables and shelters for people to host their own picnics.

On Saturday, there was ice cream, cotton candy and cold-drink vendors while a disc jockey kept hours of music playing.

All afternoon, fans watched a mud volleyball tournament, strongman and strongwoman competitions, a pie-eating contest, and a lineup of games for kids — including a busy slip-n-slide set up on a hill.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘I Love Hot Dogs’"}]

One of the first to the party was 75-year-old Susan Recker, who has lived in Gillette 40 years and been to all 40 Independence Day celebrations. That includes 2020, when the city went forward with its plans while cities and towns across the U.S. were cancelling theirs.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I love it,” she said. “It brings out the kid in me!”"}]

Her friend Early Blohm, 77, laughed and said the real kids were making sure grandma got her hands on plenty of candy.

He and Recker then made their way to the American Legion, where free brats and burgers were being grilled near a live band set up out in the street.

Over at Bicentennial Park, the music was held up for a moment while the deejay shared the microphone with U.S. Sen. John Barrasso. The longtime senator and orthopedic surgeon from Casper had chosen to celebrate the holiday in Gillette.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I love hot dogs,” he said."}]

Barasso told the crowd about the advice his father — a veteran — gave him: always thank God they live in America.

He also said he relished celebrating with people who “keep the lights on and the food on the table.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Chancey Plays For Trump"}]

Barrasso also told Cowboy State Daily that Crook County country-music artist Chancey Williams had played for President Trump the night prior at Mount Rushmore.

“The president had invited me, but I was in Cody last night at the rodeo,” said Barrasso, who sent Williams an attaboy text.

Williams’ band, featuring breakout violinist Brooke Latka, on Friday revived a rain-soaked crowd as the sun set behind the four former presidents carved into Mount Rushmore.

Then came military flyovers and “USA!” chants before the president spoke to roughly 4,800 ticket-holders from around the world.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A First Fourth Of July"}]

In Gillette, the Fourth of July festivities were the first for 12-year-old Danika Pretorius, who has only lived in America since March.

The Sage Valley Junior High seventh grader was decked out in a patriotic hat and shorts with matching sunglasses. Danika and her brother Eckhard, with their parents Rubin and Leana, just moved to Gillette from South Africa.

“We had friends here and finally decided we’d move here for a better future for our kids,” said Leana, in a soft accent. “This is really special for us. You can feel the emotion and the proudness of it all.”

Gillette Fourth of July Gillette parade 7 4 26

<title>Gillette Celebrates Fourth Of July With Flyovers, Parade And 4,000 Free Hot Dogs | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Although fire danger killed Gillette’s annual fireworks show, it didn’t stop the city from celebrating America’s 250th like it’s always celebrated the Fourth of July — loud, proud, and with thousands of free hot dogs. "I love hot dogs," U.S. Sen John Barrasso said.

Gillette Celebrates Fourth Of July With Flyovers, Parade And 4,000 Free Hot Dogs

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

ALTA — Seeing the sun rise over Grand Teton and the lesser peaks in the national park definitely is a perk for those in Alta.

They live on the back side of the mountains photographed and inundated by summer tourists in Jackson Hole.

The 429-resident community sits in the Teton Valley along the road to Grand Targhee Resort ski area. There are no bumper-to-bumper traffic lines that back up as tourists vie for views of a bison in Grand Teton National Park or the mountain scenes around Jackson Hole.

“It’s always been interesting living in a part of Wyoming where you couldn’t get to any other part of Wyoming unless you drove through Idaho,” said Jim Wilson, a fourth-generation farmer on the north side of Teton Creek. “Unless you hike or ride horses over the mountain, which many of us have done, you have to drive through Idaho to get to us.”

That hike over the Tetons involves 21 miles and 4,000 feet of elevation from Teton Canyon to Jenny Lake in Jackson Hole. Make sure to bring bear spray.

As a resident of Teton County, Wilson, along with fellow residents Steve Green and Hunter Christensen, knows that to get his license plates or go to the county clerk’s office involves at least a 40-mile drive with 20 miles through Idaho before re-entering the state over Teton Pass. 

And shopping — well, you do what you need to do.

“I’ve always claimed Wyoming,” said Green, a fourth-generation farmer on a 160-acre homestead in Alta. “(But) the only thing we do in Wyoming is pay taxes and license vehicles.”

Green, 70, who grows barley and hay on his farm south of Teton Creek and a few other leased properties, understands that having a view of the Tetons in his backyard is something to appreciate. But it’s also all he has ever known.

He characterizes his community and view as “the better side of Idaho.”

Christensen, 36, senior vice president at Hughes Foundation based in Jackson, grew up in Alta and went to school in the little elementary building that still serves students off of Ski Hill Road and then spent his middle school and high school years in Driggs, Idaho.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Driving Teton Pass"}]

Unlike Green and Wilson, he drives Teton Pass most work days in his front-wheel drive Toyota Camry through all of its seasons, and characterizes the commute as just the way of life for many who live in Alta.

“It’s a beautiful drive every day,” he said. “You never go over that pass and think, ‘Oh, this is terrible.’”

Christensen said there are days when traffic backs up entering Jackson in the morning or leaving in the afternoons. Commuters plan for it. The winter weather in recent years has not been as heavy as when he was growing up, but there are days when he might have to work from home.

Christensen said he knows Alta residents who work in Wyoming and others who work in Idaho. But their identity, though a border community, remains rooted in Wyoming.

“Sometimes they call it ‘Wydaho',” he said. “We have a lot of wonderful neighbors in Idaho, a lot of good heritage and community with our neighbors across the border, and then we still get to be part of Wyoming.”

Christensen, Wilson, and Green all agree that shopping for the vast majority of people who live in Alta takes place in Idaho. Driggs offers a well-stocked supermarket and gas stations as well as a few other services.

To find the box stores, such as Walmart or Costco, residents travel to Rexburg or Idaho Falls, rather than pay the “resort town” prices at stores in Jackson, Christensen said.

Green, who worked at a lumberyard in Driggs for several years in addition to farming, said he contracts with Great Western Malting in Blackfoot, Idaho, to sell his barley. Much of his hay is sold to livestock owners in the Teton Valley and some to horse ranches in Jackson.

The farm he works was homesteaded by his great-grandfather and he has a son who might take it over as a sideline when Green is done. Making money off the farm is more difficult than ever due to the costs of fertilizer and the taxes on his home and barns as part of Teton County, Wyoming.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Paying Taxes"}]

“I suspect there is always some kind of benefit to living in Wyoming versus Idaho, or Idaho versus Wyoming,” Green said. “For years, our property taxes and stuff were quite a bit higher than Idaho. Now Idaho, about 10 years ago, caught up. They kind of figured out they could charge more money, just like they do here.”

Green said he sold his cow herd about 25 years ago, but in recent years has purchased a steer or two in the spring to fatten up the family freezers. Predators have not been a problem.

Wilson works on the family farm run by his brother. They have the 160-acre homestead and have leased several properties to farm 1,500 acres of alfalfa, grass hay, barley, and a heritage wheat that has unaltered seed genetics from the wheat planted in the 1800s.

“We sell the wheat online or at farmer’s markets,” he said. The barley is sold in Idaho and the hay in Jackson and Teton Valley.

Wilson said he's often asked if he resents people moving into the community from other areas of the country to enjoy the scenery, skiing, hiking, or just walking their dog up the canyon.

He tells them he’s enjoyed the valley and the view for his entire life and certainly is willing to share it.

“I would describe it as heaven,” he said. “What I do resent is if they come in and try to change it to be like where they came from.”

Christensen said the community has elk on the outskirts, an occasional moose wandering through, and many black bears in recent years. During the winter, the traffic on Ski Hill Road to Grand Targhee picks up on the weekends.

On a recent weekday, Grand Targhee was hosting a mountain bike gathering that had cars going up and down the mountain and past an off-duty 

 Teton County Sheriff’s patrol car parked at the end of a driveway as if waiting for speeders to exceed the 25 mph limit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Deputies In Community"}]

Teton County Sheriff’s Office Operations Lt. Mark Priest said he has two deputies who live in Alta, and other deputies live in Idaho. They typically drive through the community as part of their shifts before heading over the pass to do law enforcement in the more populated Jackson Hole region and other parts of the county.

In addition to Alta, the department is responsible for covering the popular hiking destination in nearby Darby Canyon as well as other remote spots on the west side of the Tetons. Those require deputies to traverse the pass and drive Idaho roads before crossing back into Wyoming and the county to respond to any issues.

Priest said his department has strong relations with the Idaho counties. If needed they sometimes secure a scene or provide an initial response to an incident if his department can’t get there immediately.

“Recently we have asked them less and less because of the fact we have two guys living (in Alta) and then our guys in Idaho who are able to respond from home as well,” he said.

Wilson said residents receive good service from the county and even in the winter the roads will be plowed while Idaho communities experience closures due to snow.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Good Neighbors"}]

All three of the Alta residents spoke of a community that looks out for one another and helps in time of need.

“The people who live here are by far salt-of-the-earth-good people that have a lot of love for their neighbors,” Christensen said. “That’s what makes living in Alta, for sure, and Wyoming in general, wonderful for me.”

Wilson said he recalled a time in the 1960s when an Idaho senator wanted to annex Alta.

A story in the Casper Morning Star on Feb. 13, 1965, stated that the senator had advocated that “many residents of Wyoming’s Teton Valley would like to be come Idahoans because the mountains cut their communication with Wyoming business centers.”

It apparently was more fancy than fact. Residents voted it down, the newspaper reported.

Wilson said there is no other place on Earth that he would rather be and made clear there is no identity crisis in the community. In the 1990s, Alta successfully lobbied to get its own ZIP code to distinguish it from the Driggs-based rural route that defined the community for years.

Now the Driggs Post Office serves two ZIP codes: 83422 for the Idaho side and 83414 on mail that carriers deliver across the state line.

“We have considered ourselves citizens of Wyoming since the day I was born, and my dad was born, and my grandpa was born and my great-grandpa homesteaded up there,” Wilson said.

Steve Green 1 7 4 26

<title>Alta, Wyoming: The Town Cut Off From The Rest Of The State By Idaho & Mountains | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Residents of remote Alta, Wyoming, say they don't feel disconnected even though the only way to get to the rest of Wyoming (outside of riding a horse or hiking over the mountain) is a 20-mile drive through Idaho and over Teton Pass.

Alta, Wyoming: The Town Cut Off From The Rest Of The State By Idaho & Mountains

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

Greg Johnson

CHEYENNE — Aiden Gunn knows exactly why this year’s Fourth of July is such a big deal across America.

“This is when everyone celebrates ME with fireworks,” the 12-year-old said with a cheeky grin. “At least it kind of feels that way.”

That he shares a birthday with the United States is a bonus, he said. They’re only 238 years apart.

Celebrating his birthday, along with America’s 250

, brought Gunn and his family to downtown Cheyenne on Saturday morning for a special Fourth of July parade.

Wyoming’s capital city usually doesn’t have an Independence Day parade, instead going all-out for the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days Parades, which are July 18, 21, 23 and 25 this year.

Aiden also has his 9-year-old sister Rebeka Gunn beat by a day — her birthday is July 3.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘These Freedoms’"}]

Celebrating America on a landmark anniversary wasn’t lost on the enthusiastic and patriotic crowd, most dressed head-to-toe in red, white and blue, and stars and stripes.

Walter Lorenzo also proudly wore his military service baseball cap, announcing the presence of a Vietnam veteran.

Now 79, Lorenzo was a young man when he was deployed to serve during the Vietnam War in 1967-1968. He was one of hundreds to stake out a good parade-watching spot hours in advance.

He said the Fourth of July means much more than barbecues, and he was pleased that Saturday’s parade had a heavy military presence, including eight stars’ worth of generals.

“We like patriotism and all the military in these parades,” said the Army veteran. “This is great that they have this and that people are really into it.”

Lorenzo also said he hopes the kids at the parade remember all the soldiers and vehicles that march and roll by.

“They can see how important the military is — unfortunately, sometimes — and the reason they have all these freedoms,” he said.

His wife Theresa, 73, also lamented how fast time flies, saying she marvels that it’s been 50 years since America celebrated its 200

“I can’t believe it’s been 50 years,” she said. “I still remember doing the bicentennial thing, but it doesn’t seem like that much time has passed.”

Along with being grateful for living in the United States, Theresa said she’s almost as thankful to be in Wyoming.

Asked when the couple moved to the Cowboy State, she said it was exactly “on Aug. 21 at 3:02 p.m.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Where’d they come from?"}]

“Brooklyn, New York,” she said in almost a whisper. “But don’t tell anyone that. We’re ashamed.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Coolest One Here’"}]

About 20 feet south on Carey Avenue, Brehanna Fisher was busy wrangling four young children ahead of the parade, all in their best red, white and blue — even if they’re not yet old enough to fully understand the 250

“One day you all will appreciate this when you’re older,” she commented while trying to take photos of fussy and distracted kids.

Young Knightson Fisher, 3, was a walking tribute to the USA, sporting bug-eyed sunglasses and cruising around on a little red scooter.

“Man, that kid’s the coolest one here,” another paradegoer commented loudly, drawing laughter from those within earshot.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I agree,” mom Brehanna said. “I also think he’s the coolest.”"}]

The military brought the Fisher family to Cheyenne, and parades like Saturday’s are prime opportunities “to make memories,” she said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"At Least He Wore A Shirt"}]

 Street and Carey Avenue, Kyler Bennetts was amped up for the Fourth of July and the parade.

Wearing new America-themed overalls, near the top of his mind was whether the T-shirt underneath would stay on for the duration.

“I guess I have to stay ‘downtown appropriate,’” he said, adding that going shirtless probably wouldn’t turn many heads in Cheyenne.

Jokes aside, he observed much of downtown being closed tight for the parade “makes it feel like the old movies when the whole town shuts down,” he said.

Standing next to him, Becky Hoover — “like the vacuum or the president” — said they “might celebrate a little harder” for the Fourth of July “because we have a lot of military in our family.”

After the parade, they had planned a large barbecue with family and friends. Whether the kids at the barbecue would celebrate as enthusiastically as their parents was doubtful, Bennetts said.

“That’s because it’s cellphone- and tablet-free,” he said. “None of that’s allowed.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Celebrate It’"}]

The Brazeltons were represented by three generations, but the family matriarch Amy was the only one of the bunch who was around to remember the bicentennial in 1976.

“Don’t remind me,” she said. “Yeah, I definitely remember it. I was 19 or 20 at the time.”

She said that five decades removed from then, she has a deeper appreciation for the USA and what the Fourth of July means.

“Now I can see my grandchildren see the 250

,” she said. “That makes it special. I can remember where I was when it dawned on me what bicentennial really meant.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Son Ben was gung-ho for the Fourth."}]

 birthday, and America is an amazing place and something to celebrate,” he said. “You can’t do nothing less than celebrate it.”

Arayia Brazelton, 6, could sense the excitement. When asked what the Fourth means, she pointed to the fireworks on her Fourth-of-July-themed Capri-Sun juice pouch.

Arayia loves sparkers, her grandmother clarified, adding that “she calls them ‘fairy wands.’”

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

The parade itself was relatively short at 35 minutes, but had a distinct military theme.

Columns of military servicemen and women marching in perfect formation and sounding off cadences drew the loudest cheers.

There were the usual politicians waving and handing out candy, along with plenty of horses and hogs — aka Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Although the spring school term is long over, Cheyenne’s high schools were still in practice with their marching bands, with more music from a group of fiddlers and a ripping rock band.

While there was little law enforcement in the parade itself, there was a considerable presence in and around downtown Cheyenne. That includes at least three officers with K-9s walking along the route.

Cheyenne Fourth Parade 1 7 4 26

<title>Sea Of Red, White And Blue: Cheyenne Salutes Military In America's 250th Parade | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Thousands of people wearing red, white and blue packed downtown Cheyenne on Saturday to celebrate America's 250th birthday. One Vietnam veteran said he was pleased the parade had a heavy military presence, including eight stars’ worth of generals.

Sea Of Red, White And Blue: Cheyenne Salutes Military In America's 250th Parade

Jen kocher

Jen Kocher

Crime & Courts

Belynda May Grantham was a 20-year-old single mother still finding her footing when her partially clothed body was recovered from the bottom of the North Platte River outside of Glenrock, a rock tied to her neck, in August 1982. 

Grantham had been strangled. She lay submerged for days before a passing bicyclist spotted her.

It would take nearly a month and a newspaper sketch before anyone could identify her.

[{"type":"text","text":"Her murder has never been solved."}]

For her only remaining sibling, Rebecca Grantham, her sister’s death remains a source of pain. At 67 and in ailing health, she’d like to see someone brought to justice.

“She was a really good, smart girl who could have literally done anything with her life if given the chance,” Rebecca said of her younger sister.

[{"type":"text","text":"Her hope is to get answers before she dies."}]

The investigation remains active and ongoing, according to Ryan Cox, a commander with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation who also oversees the agency’s cold-case team.

Cox, too, said he believes it’s not too late to finally solve this crime and asks anyone with information to come forward.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Push For Answers"}]

The murder has never stopped haunting her. Now living in Sacramento, California, Rebecca has teamed with Amanda Patterson in her quest for answers.

Patterson is the daughter of Bonnie Jones, Grantham’s best friend from their teenage years in Casper.

The two women were each carrying their own unresolved grief when they first connected on Facebook. Patterson had been helping her ailing mother type messages online and, through that, formed a bond with Rebecca.

After Jones passed away in February, they remained in touch. In early June, the two created 

the Facebook page “Justice for Belinda May Grantham

At some point during her teens, Grantham began spelling her first name “Belinda,” though never had it legally changed. For this reason, her name appears both ways in news stories about her murder.

The page shares news articles about the murder and the long-unidentified body, along with pleas for anyone with information to reach out to authorities.

Their hope was to renew interest in Grantham’s case and to invite people who knew her to share their memories and photographs — something Rebecca is especially eager for, as she has only one of her sister from childhood.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Putting Together Pieces"}]

Much like her death, the details of Grantham’s life in her final years remain a mystery to those who loved her. 

She was born in Washington state and her family moved through the Pacific Northwest before settling in Casper in 1963.

When Grantham and her siblings were teenagers, their mother, Jeanette, died, upending their lives. According to her obituary, Jeanette died after a lengthy illness at age 36 in November 1974.

Before her mother’s death, Grantham had been a straight-A student. She competed in the Future Farmers of America and took home ribbons for her homemade clothing at the 1977 Central Wyoming Fair. She made the honor roll at East Junior High School.

After losing her mother, Grantham struggled to find her bearings and ran away from time to time.

Their father remarried quickly, and the children, unable to get along with their new stepmother, scattered to relatives’ homes. They drifted in and out of group homes and foster care.

[{"type":"text","text":"There she met a tight group of friends, including Bonnie Jones."}]

Grantham and Jones had an instant connection, Patterson said. In fact, they were so close that Jones gave Grantham a friendship ring, which would be used to help identify her later.

Somewhere around 1978 and 1979, Grantham left Casper to work with a traveling carnival headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She did that for two years before returning to Wyoming.

 By then, Jones had moved to Wichita, Kansas, and the best friends stayed in touch through letters and phone calls.

In April 1981, Grantham gave birth to a baby girl, according to a birth announcement in the Casper-Star Tribune, which listed her address as Mills, Wyoming. It’s unclear if the father of the child was in her life at the time.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Piecing Together Mystery"}]

More than 40 years later, Belinda’s final days continue to baffle her family.

Just as mysterious as her murder is what Grantham’s life was like during that time. This was the era before cell phones, social media and surveillance cameras and the modern trappings that log peoples’ every move and help them stay connected to friends and family.

In 1980s, people communicated with landline telephones in their home and through letters.

Because Grantham tended to move around a lot, her loved ones didn’t piece together that she was missing.

“Because of this established pattern, her absence did not immediately alarm her family and friends,” Cox said.

Then they saw the sketch of the unidentified dead women in the paper and reality hit them hard.

Writing about that moment years later, the girls’ aunt, Jean Henry Mead, spoke of the shock of seeing the drawing in the paper.

It’s been 44 years since a young Casper woman was found dead in the North Platte River with a rock tied around her neck. The murder has never stopped haunting her older sister Rebecca. In failing health, Rebecca is hoping to find answers before she dies.

Daily Darwin: Saturday, April 5, 2025

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