Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Now let's all enjoy a hedgehog having a snack....."}]

Smile 5 4 25

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

<title>Daily Smile: Sunday, May 4, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Now let's all enjoy a hedgehog having a snack.....

Daily Smile: Sunday, May 4, 2025

 Now let's all enjoy a hedgehog having a snack.....

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

The removal of a placard mentioning a massacre of Native Americans from the Grand Teton National Park's Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center is an example of censorship by the Trump administration, says a former Park Service ranger who quit in protest over similar decisions across the country.

In April, Melissa Dalley left her job at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in New York and joined the Resistance Rangers, a group of current and former Park Service personnel opposed to Trump’s policies related to sites managed by the Park Service.

She also helped form America 443+, an anti-censorship group named in reference to the Park Service's 433 sites around the country.

She was in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks July 21-27 on a family vacation but also to spread her message.

“We’re not advocating for any action or any political candidate; we’re saying (to park visitors), ‘You deserve to have the whole story,’” including parts that the Trump administration apparently doesn’t like, she said.

Richard Jones, a rural Park County resident and retired Forest Service and Park Service ranger, has a different view of the administration’s actions.

He said he thinks Trump and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are trying to set right the Park Service’s historical mission after years of “woke” misguidance.

“I’m certainly happy to see the Trump administration ask for these things in parks, look at them with another eye, and maybe get rid of things that aren’t really part of the story,” Jones told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Controversial Order"}]

The controversy traces back to Trump’s March 2025 executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

It called upon the Park Service to remove or revise exhibits, signs and educational materials that the administration deemed negative toward the United States by promoting “false revision of history.”

Burgum followed up in May 2025, directing implementation of the policy. That included reviews and QR codes calling for public complaints about “negative” material.

On June 12, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley blocked the administration’s policy and ordered the restoration of dismantled signs and exhibits within 21 days.

The administration filed an appeal shortly after the ruling to block the mandated restoration.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Chilling Effect"}]

Dalley said that while she was still working for the Park Service, personnel were ordered to document displays or signs that might be deemed inappropriate under the executive order and send that information up the Interior Department chain of command.

She said that was mostly done quietly until somebody leaked the database of inappropriate material.

Dalley said she started tracking the censorship herself and noticed a chilling effect among Park Service employees.

She said when it got to where she felt she was being asked to lie to the public, she quit in protest.

“I do hope to go back, and plan to go back to the Park Service after this administration,” she said.

She said current employees have reached out to her and reported terrible morale in the Park Service.

She added that when she was in Yellowstone and Grand Teton, she didn’t pry into park employees’ feelings and opinions because she didn’t want to put them in an “uncomfortable position.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Ghost Of The Sign’"}]

Dalley said that, to her knowledge, when the call went out to the Park Service for an inventory of problematic material, Yellowstone “had nothing to report.”

However, the placard in the Grand Teton visitor center was deemed inappropriate and removed, she said.

It mentioned 19th-century explorer and U.S. Army officer Gustavus Cheyney Doane.

Doane was remembered for the 1870 Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition to the Yellowstone region, which helped lay the groundwork for the national parks.

The placard also mentioned Doane’s involvement in the massacre of Piegan Blackfeet people near the Marias River in Montana on Jan. 23, 1870. Soldiers killed 173 to 200 Native Americans.

Doane is said to have bragged about his involvement in the massacre.

“In the visitor center, you can still see the ghost of the sign,” or the place on the wall where the placard was mounted, Dalley said.

During her visit, Dalley said she handed out printouts depicting the placard before it was removed and invited people to have conversations about it.

“The Blackfeet are still around, they are active and they are American citizens, they deserve to have their story told along with everyone else,” she said.

She hopes that her actions can “inspire other people” to start pushing back against censorship.

Jones said he doesn’t consider actions such as removing the Doane placard to be censorship.

Rather, the Trump administration is trying to restore the Park Service’s mission of preserving history directly relevant to national parks and other sites.

“The Park Service was always one of the best agencies for interpreting the history of each area,” he said.

However, he said he thinks that over the past decade or so, other material has been added to historical accounts to push a “woke” narrative.

Materials such as the Doane placard added details that were “minor, irrelevant and derogatory to the story that was being told,” he said.

Trump former ranger and Grand Teton sign headquarters MN via Alamy 8 3 26

<title>Ranger Who Quit Over Trump Policies Calls Removing Grand Teton Placard Censorship | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Park Service ranger who quit over Trump's policies says removing a placard at the Grand Teton visitor center about a massacre of Blackfeet was censorship. A retired ranger from Wyoming says Trump's just doing away with years of “woke” misguidance.

Ranger Who Quit Over Trump Policies Calls Removing Grand Teton Placard Censorship

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

[{"type":"text","text":"The attack ads against governor candidate Sen. Eric Barlow continue."}]

A federal PAC earlier this summer dispatched a TV commercial saying Barlow had voted to allow sex change procedures “to be done on kids” in 2023. The record, conversely, shows that Barlow voted in favor of a child sex-change ban that year.

The new attack ads say Barlow voted to send money to illegal immigrants. He denies making such a gesture, saying his nay votes on two immigration bills were due to the short, rushed nature of the budget-planning sessions that fall on even-numbered years.

“This is getting super wonky,” said Barlow in a Monday phone interview. “It truly is.”

He said the bills he's now being criticized for opposing were either poorly written or rushed - sometimes both. 

"So look, good bills make strong laws that work for the state of Wyoming," said Barlow. "Hastily done things that are less than complete in both their policy approach and their consideration just need more time." 

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

The race for the GOP nomination for governor pits Barlow against Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, retired Marine Corps Col. Brent Bien, and Curt Blake.

[{"type":"text","text":"Barlow, Bien and Degenfelder each gained bragging points last month."}]

Bien won the Wyoming Republican Party’s endorsement, as about 50 members of the party’s state central committee broke tradition to endorse him and other statewide candidates.

For Degenfelder, President Donald Trump reiterated the endorsement he gave her in January.

And Barlow touted the results of a poll, which Cowboy State Daily has reviewed, showing him with a 42% support rating and well above the other candidates.

[{"type":"text","text":"The primary election is Aug. 18."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Second, The Ads"}]

A federally registered 501(c)4 issue group called Women For Responsible Government Action produced attack ads earlier this summer casting Barlow as liberal on social issues involving kids.

The group claimed Barlow voted to allow sexual orientation and gender identity to be taught to kindergarteners and to allow sex change procedures “to be done on kids.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The record tells a different story."}]

Barlow voted against the 2023 Senate File 111, which would have applied a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison to anyone involved in medically transitioning a child from one gender to another, with exceptions for intersex and other unique situations.

Barlow criticized the bill’s definitions, calling it imprecise. But that same year he voted in favor of “Chloe’s Law” – which sought to strip medical professionals of their licenses for medically transitioning kids.

Barlow had, as the ad notes in a subtext, voted against the 2023 Senate File 117. The bill sought to ban teaching of gender ideology to public-school kids in grades kindergarten through third grade.

But Barlow voted in favor of that bill’s 2024 successor, Senate File 9, which became law.

The sequel legislation bans schools from teaching sexual orientation or gender identity without permission, and compels schools to notify parents if their children experience psychological changes, which may include a newly-voiced transgender identity.

[{"type":"text","text":"He told Cowboy State Daily that the 2024 bill was simply written better."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The PAC Talking About Immigration"}]

Barlow supporters voiced consternation on social media last week and over the weekend, in response to fliers and commercials characterizing him as liberal on immigration.

“Liberal Eric Barlow can’t be trusted with your money,” begins the TV commercial. “Barlow voted to spend Wyoming tax dollars on illegal immigrants.”

The ad cites two bills: the 2016 House Bill 135 and the 2018 House Bill 105.

“Eric Barlow keeps sending your money to illegals,” says the ad, after saying Barlow voted to fund sanctuary communities.

[{"type":"text","text":"Barlow countered in a Monday interview."}]

“None of these votes were about sending money to anybody. They were about restricting how money could be spent,” he said. “I’ve never voted to send money to illegal immigrants. Period. I’ve never had that bill.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The ad touts Degenfelder as fighting for Wyoming families and businesses."}]

Those ads are from a Wyoming-based group, Wyoming’s Turn PAC, which Cheyenne resident Joe Milczewski incorporated on Jan. 14.

Milczewski serves on the board of directors for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

The association has endorsed Degenfelder but has nothing to do with this PAC, its spokesman Ryan McConnaughey told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday phone interview.

Barlow said he has had business dealings with Milczewski and thought those went well.

Milczewski did not respond by publication to phone messages placed with the number he listed as an incorporator, or another one listed to him online.

[{"type":"text","text":"Degenfelder is not listed as an incorporator or director of the PAC."}]

Her campaign said prior that she is not affiliated with the federal issues group that had spoken to gender issues. Regarding the state-level PAC with the immigration ads, Degenfelder’s campaign manager Charlotte Jones said, “The campaign has not and is not permitted to communicate or coordinate with outside groups."

“Megan Degenfelder is the only candidate for governor with a proven record of delivering wins for conservatives,” added Jones.

[{"type":"text","text":"Break Down The Bills"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Both immigration votes the ad highlights happened on even-numbered years."}]

That means the legislative session was about 20 days long rather than 40. The Legislature’s top priority in even-numbered years is passing a two-year budget for the state.

Barlow said the rush of a budget session drove both his nay votes, which he cast on the introductory votes before either bill had entered the chamber for full debate.

The Legislature numbered 275 proposed bills in 2016, and 118 of those became law.

Then-Rep. Mark Jennings, R-Sheridan, brought the 2016 bill seeking to ban public benefits for illegal immigrants.

[{"type":"text","text":"Barack Obama was president."}]

Jennings told the House of Representatives on Feb. 12, 2016, that the bill was a response to other states acting to condition eligibility for public benefits on lawful presence in the U.S. The bill had carveouts for emergency medical conditions, disaster relief, public health, soup kitchens, crisis counseling, and short-term shelters.

Rep. Ken Esquibel, D-Cheyenne, asked why the bill didn’t exempt prenatal care as well, since women afraid of seeking prenatal care might end up in emergency birth situations that also cost the public more via Medicaid bills.

[{"type":"text","text":"Jennings said he wanted to add that exemption."}]

The bill died on a 26-33 vote. It needed two-thirds approval to enter the chamber during the budget session. Only Republicans backed it. A mix of Democrats and Republicans opposed it.

That bill was numbered two days before its introduction vote, Barlow noted in his Monday interview.

“This is a significant issue that had implications for local governments,” said Barlow. “We got that bill literally two days before that vote was taken.”

Had it passed, the bill would have added to the duties of local governments by requiring them to verify the lawful presence of each person age 14 or older applying for state, local, or federal public benefits.

Barlow voted in favor this year of a bill, by Senate President Bo Biteman, restricting public welfare benefits across health and family services programs like food stamps, Medicaid and the Power program. He said Biteman worked this bill more carefully during the non-session months.

[{"type":"text","text":"Biteman did not immediately return a voicemail request for comment."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then Came 2018"}]

In 2018, then-Rep. Chuck Gray, who is now secretary of state, brought a House Bill 105 seeking to ban sanctuary communities by withholding state money from local governments with any sanctuary-style policies.

“We’ve seen a disturbing trend where … cities and counties and states are refusing to follow immigration law and trying to use that as leverage to gain concessions,” said Gray on Feb. 14, 2018.

Two Democratic legislators pressed Gray on whether that was an issue in Wyoming.

[{"type":"text","text":"Gray said he had seen it."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The bill fell short of the two-thirds threshold, 33-26."}]

“There were just big implications in both of these bills,” said Barlow, referencing again the short budget session and, for HB105, the eight-day window from its numbering to its introductory vote.

When Gray resurrected the bill in another budget session in 2020, Barlow voted nay again.

Barlow in the longer 2025 general session voted in favor of a bill to ban sanctuary cities. That bill became law.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Bill The Sheriffs Hated"}]

A Wyoming’s Turn PAC mail flier Cowboy State Daily received Monday also criticizes Barlow for his nay vote on the 2025 bill Senate File 124.

That was a huge immigration bill that would have required all Wyoming sheriffs to work with federal immigration authorities. Even sheriffs who work well with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 

Sheriffs said by requiring them to contract with ICE, the bill put them at a negotiating disadvantage. They also feared small-town sheriffs couldn’t afford ICE’s contracting requirements, which could involve mandatory jail housing.

The bill proved unpopular in the Senate: 10 Republican senators voted in its favor while 20 senators – 18 Republicans, including Barlow – voted to kill it.

Within days of his nay vote on SF 124, Barlow voted in favor of House Bill 133, banning sanctuary cities. He called the latter bill better-written.

Barlow during session 8 3 26

<title>Barlow Says Attack Ads On Sex Changes And Illegal Immigrants Aren't True | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Sen. Eric Barlow on Monday said attack ads accusing him of voting to allow sex changes and voting to send money to illegal immigrants are not true. He said the bills he voted against were poorly written or rushed and are being twisted against him.

Barlow Says Attack Ads On Sex Changes And Illegal Immigrants Aren't True

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

Andrew Rossi

Public Safety

Wildfires are burning homes and habitat across the western U.S., filling the skies with smoke, but even these fearsome flames can have incredible moments of beauty.

 witnessed along the banks of the Snake River in eastern Idaho on Sunday. As the fire raged near Heise, the conflicting wind currents came together into a twirling spire of destruction.

“It came and went for a couple of minutes, at least,” Duke told Cowboy State Daily. “It would spin up and die down, and then do it again.”

The Big Rock Fire started on the north bank of the Snake River, 30 miles west of the Wyoming state line, on July 31. As of Monday afternoon, the lightning-strike fire had burned nearly 2,500 acres and was 0% contained.

Duke lives around three miles from where the first flames were spotted. Since it was burning away from him, he decided to step outside to get some photos.

“I was working in the yard and could see the fire off in the distance,” he said. “I've got a pretty big wildlife lens on my camera, so I figured I’d try to go get a few action shots of helicopters dumping water buckets.”

From across the river, Duke could see the fire spreading and brush spontaneously bursting into flames from the surrounding heat.

As he watched and documented, the flames suddenly started swirling together. As multiple spokes of flame came together, they were thrust into the air.

“I was about a mile away from the spin,” he said. “It's hard to say how high it went, but I would guess a couple hundred feet.”

The spiral would slow down and collapse, only to surge upward again with renewed intensity.

“It was changing pretty quickly,” he said. “The sun was going down, temperatures and humidity were changing, and it was going uphill. That all affected how fast it was moving.”

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/jduke8/reel/DbhEfHYPnfu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="display:block;text-decoration:none;color:inherit;width:100%;max-width:460px;background:#ffffff;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;border:1px solid #dedede;box-shadow:0 1px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><div style="width:100%;aspect-ratio:16 / 9;background:rgba(0,0,0,0.05);overflow:hidden"><img src="https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.71878-15/762864159_3272173343170551_6548764045925133745_n.jpg?stp=cmp1_dst-jpg_e35_s640x640_tt6&amp;_nc_cat=106&amp;ccb=7-5&amp;_nc_sid=18de74&amp;efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiQ0xJUFMuYmVzdF9pbWFnZV91cmxnZW4uQzIifQ%3D%3D&amp;_nc_ohc=5FNZo_pwvpgQ7kNvwGyBTVr&amp;_nc_oc=AdrgLBzSnjRELwx22kMgw4xQRLa1LpxeGfuMrBezQ4JMxYHI87v-Uxz9YXvxhEixvZQ&amp;_nc_zt=23&amp;_nc_ht=scontent.cdninstagram.com&amp;_nc_gid=2dkfk_SIZ8mIYJeyZIR6hw&amp;_nc_ss=70689&amp;oh=00_AQHdquCkKLmclx4ZhDHryBm-Osp5zT7jgaVqDE331avfDQ&amp;oe=6A76BBFA" alt="" onerror="this.onerror=null;this.src='https://static.cdninstagram.com/rsrc.php/yr/r/rzWiSjZRxk5.webp';this.style.objectFit='contain';this.style.padding='15%'" style="width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;display:block" /></div><div style="padding:14px 16px;display:flex;flex-direction:column;gap:6px"><div style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:8px;flex-wrap:wrap;min-height:15px"><img src="https://static.cdninstagram.com/rsrc.php/yr/r/rzWiSjZRxk5.webp" alt="" style="width:15px;height:15px;border-radius:4px;flex-shrink:0" /><span style="font-size:11px;font-weight:400;color:#999999;letter-spacing:0.5px;text-transform:uppercase">Instagram</span></div><div style="font-size:16px;font-weight:400;color:#000000;line-height:1.4;margin:0">Justin Duke (@jduke8) • Instagram reel</div><div style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;line-height:1.4;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;overflow:hidden;margin:0">108 likes, 4 comments - jduke8 on August 1, 2026: “The Big Rock fire spun up this little guy. Check out the trees for scale. #fire #seidaho #fireseason #wildfire”.</div></div></a>

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fire Devils"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"These swirling spirals of fire are seen during many wildfires."}]

Many people call them “fire tornadoes.” Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day would prefer they didn’t.

“It’s not a tornado moving into a wildfire,” Day said. “It’s not a fire strong enough to create a tornado, in terms of what a tornado actually is. Putting ‘-nado’ at the end of things isn’t the correct thing to do.”

Nevertheless, these “fire devils,” as Day prefers to call them, can be extremely dangerous. They result from a wildfire strong enough to essentially create its own weather as it burns and intensifies.

“The heat from the fire generates a lot of rising motion, because hot air has to lift,” Day said. “There’s a natural spin motion in the atmosphere that these tap into. When you combine that vertical motion of the heat and flame with the natural horizontal motion of the wind, you get a ‘fire devil.’”

That’s a distinctly different phenomenon from a tornado, even if they have some superficial similarities.

According to Day, fire devils are a signal that a wildfire is getting worse. As they form, they feed the flames burning at their base.

“These vertical motions draw air up, and when you draw air up, you're pulling oxygen into the fire, which makes it worse,” Day said. “If fire devils pop up, it’s a very dangerous situation for firefighters, and there's nothing you're going to be able to do to mitigate them.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Exorcising Devils"}]

 in southern Utah in July 2025. Jerod DeLay, assistant state forester and fire management officer with the Wyoming State Forestry Division, said he’d “never seen one as large as that.”

When firefighters respond to a wildfire, they don’t try to engage with the flames directly. They attempt to anticipate the fire’s next move and establish fire lines that will, hopefully, cut it off or redirect it into another line.

According to DeLay, fire devils tend to break through fire lines, making them even more dangerous and unpredictable.

“You have to make sure to see if your lines held,” he said in July 2025. “If your lines didn't hold, you make another plan to see where you can go. If they hold, you continue to strengthen and improve the lines that you already have.”

The one thing firefighters won’t do is attack the fire devil. It’s not worth the risk.

“You make sure you’re in a good, safe place and let it run its course,” DeLay said. “It adds another element that you probably weren't expecting.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fire Season In Full Swing"}]

As of Monday, four confirmed wildfires were burning in northeastern Wyoming. Two, the Left Creek and Newton fires, sparked within 

Day, without wanting to jinx anything, said Wyoming was “lucky” to get through a dry July with only a few wildfires.

“I think that the higher humidity and thunderstorm activity we did see really kept the activity down in July,” he said. “We had a lot of thunderstorms that kept the mountains in northwest and western Wyoming very active. Where it fell, that July rain really helped.”

That said, Wyoming’s fire season extends from July through October. If the first days of August are any indication, many potentially dangerous months are ahead.

Duke wasn’t anticipating an evacuation from his Heise home. The fire’s still 0% contained, but responding agencies seem confident they’ll be able to protect people and structures.

“It’s just burning through trees and stuff on public land,” he said. “I don’t think the situation’s improved much, but I know they've got the structures protected, and that's the main concern.”

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. And where there’s fire, there’s a chance that a fire devil will spiral up and out of control.

Not every wildfire creates fire devils, but they’re real and potent threats that shouldn’t be underestimated.

“It was remarkable that we got through the month of July with very little activity in terms of wildfires in Wyoming,” Day said. “We dodged the bullet there, but I don't want to shout from the mountaintop that fire season's over. We’re not done, by a long shot.”

Fire tornado 1

<title>100-Foot ‘Fire Devil’ Spirals Out Of Control In Eastern Idaho Wildfire | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A wildfire watcher observing the Big Draw Fire in eastern Idaho on Sunday captured video of a spiraling tower of flame rising more than 100 feet into the air. "Fire devils" are created when flames reach high enough that they swirl.

100-Foot ‘Fire Devil’ Spirals Out Of Control In Eastern Idaho Wildfire

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

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

 an 87-pound elderly man with cerebral palsy in her care who’s mostly deaf, mostly blind and wears adult diapers that allegedly hadn’t been changed in 10-14 days has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The deal would knock down a felony charge of intentional neglect of a vulnerable adult to a misdemeanor neglect charge.

Under the deal, Colleen Blakesley, 67, will plead guilty or no contest to the lesser charge and, if the judge follows the sentencing recommendation outlined in the agreement, avoid jail time and have a year of unsupervised probation.

A no-contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt, but acknowledges there’s enough evidence to secure a conviction.

Had she been convicted of the felony, Blakesley faced up to 10 years in prison.

She had a hearing on the plea Friday, but paperwork on whether the deal was accepted, and if so, if sentencing had been set, hadn’t been filed by Monday, according to the Hot Springs County District Court.

A call to the county attorney to clarify wasn’t immediately returned. This story will be updated when the results of Friday's hearing are available.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Started With A DFS Report"}]

The man’s condition came to the attention of the Thermopolis Police Department on Feb. 24 when a doctor doing a home visit for the man reported his condition to the Department of Family Services, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Sgt. Nicole Andersen filed in the case.

Andersen and a DFS agent “received a complaint regarding an elderly male being neglected,” the affidavit says. “The complaint included that the male, who wears diapers, had not been changed for 10-14 days. This complaint came from a trained professional.”

They arrived to be hit with “a pungent, strong, foul smell in the home, although the living room area seemed relatively clean,” the affidavit says. “At this time, the victim … was in clean clothes.”

The elderly man isn’t vocal, and a family member told Andersen that he’s deaf, nearly blind and that they communicate with him by tracing letters in his hand, she wrote.

“I observed Robert was very skinny and not mobile,” she added, later documenting that at the hospital, the man “weighed approximately 87 pounds at the time of admission.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Man Was Combative"}]

Blakesley is the legal caregiver for the man, Andersen wrote, adding that Blakesley said he was last changed three days before.

“Upon speaking with Colleen, she advised she had last changed his diaper on Sunday afternoon, but also stated that he had been in the clothing he was observed in by the complainant for approximately two weeks due to him being combative and her not being able to change him,” according to the affidavit.

Blakesley also told police she was aware that the man had multiple sores on his body and had not seen a doctor since August 2024.

While Andersen observed the man in clean clothes, that wasn’t the case when the visiting doctor was at the home earlier that day, the affidavit says. The doctor also provided a photo of the man’s condition.

“In this photo, I observed (the man’s) pants to be extremely soiled and having the appearance of being wet, along with stains on his shirt — to include what appears to be staining near the bottom of the shirt of urine, feces, or both,” the affidavit says.

As the man was transported to a local hospital by ambulance, “I was advised that his condition was highly concerning to both EMS staff and the doctor,” Sergeant Andersen wrote. “I took photos of his wounds while in the hospital, while wearing protective gear as there was a concern of scabies.”

A Thermopolis woman accused of neglecting an 87-pound elderly man who’s mostly deaf and blind, and wears diapers that allegedly hadn’t been changed in 10-14 days has reached a plea agreement. The deal calls for no jail time and a year of probation.

Daily Smile: Sunday, May 4, 2025

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