Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"Husband of the year....."}]

Darwin 10 12 25

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Sunday, October 12, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Husband of the year.....

Daily Darwin: Sunday, October 12, 2025

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

A Casper man says he's being forced to part ways with his beloved Bigfoot-hunting rig at his wife's behest, blaming the vehicle's irresistible appeal to the opposite sex.

"I knew this day would come, but that doesn't make it hurt any less," Austin Griess wrote in a tongue-in-cheek Facebook post advertising his lifted 1984 AMC Eagle wagon for sale. "My wife is making me sell my lifted AMC Eagle because of all the attention it brings. 

"I only have eyes for her, yet this car seems to draw in way too many female lookers for my comfort."

Austin Griess found the 1984 AMC Eagle 4X4 Wagon on Facebook Marketplace during the dead of winter.

During the cold months he worked on it, installing a lift kit, tuning it up and making it reliable enough to serve as a daily driver. Then he said he turned it into a true “chick magnet” by added a modern stereo.

The goal was to debut the finished wagon with 150,000 original miles on it at a Memorial Day car show.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We didn't make it in time for entry,\" Griess said."}]

"The payment is due here in June," he joked. "No trophy making a payment."

After months of wrenching and modifying the Oldsmobile, he said that his wife has had enough of competing with the AMC for attention.

[{"type":"text","text":"“The wife just kind of had enough of me at that point,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"So, the Eagle is now looking for its next owner."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Finding Bigfoot"}]

Along with making whoever drives it irresistible, "This would be a perfect Bigfoot hunting rig,” said Griess, adding that his day job is in sales.

[{"type":"text","text":"The four-door Eagle is rugged, practical, and weird. "}]

"That's the ideal car to take your wife and two kids and throw all your crap in the back, go to the mountains for a picnic, and go fishing" says mechanical philosopher Ron Gordon. 

The Eagle is powered by a 4.2-liter inline-six engine shared with old Jeeps.

The original muffler is still hanging on, although Griess admits it's become a little rough around the edges.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's a little bit raspy,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Perfect For Wyoming"}]

Long before crossovers filled dealership lots, vehicles like the AMC Eagle were doing much of the same work.

Ron Gordon owned an auto shop in Big Piney for 15 years and has spent nearly 70 years around cars. When shown photos of Griess’ golden Eagle, his first reaction was blunt.

"One of the Lee brothers made it: Ug Lee or Home Lee," Gordon said with a laugh.

[{"type":"text","text":"But beneath the humor was genuine admiration."}]

"It was a pretty unique car in its day," he said. "It was the first real sport utility vehicle on the market."

[{"type":"text","text":"The Eagle debuted years before today's crossover craze."}]

It combined station wagon practicality with four-wheel-drive capability, making it particularly appealing in places where winter weather and rough roads were facts of life.

"It'd be good for anything from going fishing or to sheep ranch," Gordon said.

That versatility made vehicles like the Eagle a natural fit in the Cowboy State. 

Griess agrees, calling it "the perfect Wyoming car — great for snow, inclement weather and getting off the paved roads."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Before SUVs"}]

To understand why people get nostalgic about station wagons, Gordon said you have to remember what Wyoming life looked like decades ago.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then, a trip to town wasn't a quick errand."}]

"It was 60 miles to go buy groceries," Gordon recalled. "When you got in the car to go someplace, it was an event."

Station wagons weren't fashion statements, he added, "They were tools. They hauled groceries, hauled kids, and camping gear." 

Gordon remembers one summer when his family traveled to Idaho, where his father was working in the mountains.

The family camped, and he and his brothers slept in the back of a station wagon.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"There was a bear come in one night,\" Gordon said."}]

The animal poked holes in juice cans before dogs chased it away and up a tree. Looking back, Gordon laughs at the memory.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I guess the station wagon was a safe haven for me,” he said."}]

For families throughout the West, station wagons were simply part of life before minivans hit the scene.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Everybody that had a big family had a station wagon,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Time Machine "}]

Griess was born in 1988, but said he grew up surrounded by remnants of the decade. 

His parents were older. His uncles still wore the giant mustaches that survived long after the 1980s were over. 

"Life was simpler back then," says Griess. "If you wanted to do something, you just did it." 

[{"type":"text","text":"The AMC Eagle was meant to embody that mindset. "}]

"It just screams going out and camping with just the necessities," he said.

Music helps complete the vision. The Eagle has speakers — of course. Its soundtrack, according to Griess, has plenty of Molly Hatchet, Ted Nugent, and old-school rock.

It’s the kind of music that sounds best with the windows down and a dirt road ahead.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Let The Eagle Fly'"}]

Selling a lifted 1984 AMC Eagle won't be easy. Building it was part of the fun, said Griess, and bringing it to life was the reward. 

"It's hard to part with,” he added. "But when you have limited space, you've got to let go sometimes. Let the Eagle fly free."

Its next owner will get a lifted station wagon, a conversation starter, a piece of nostalgia, and a camper.

Or, as Gordon puts it, they'll get exactly what station wagons were always meant to be, "a helluva good car." 

AMC Eagle IMG 5493 6 20 26

<title>Casper Man Selling His 1984 AMC Eagle 'Chick Magnet' Because Wife Wants It Gone | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Casper man says his wife is making him sell his beloved Bigfoot-hunting rig — a lifted 1984 AMC Eagle wagon with 150,000 miles he says attracts too much female attention. "I knew this day would come, but that doesn't make it hurt any less,” he said.

Casper Man Selling His 1984 AMC Eagle 'Chick Magnet' Because Wife Wants It Gone

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

Andrew Rossi

There was a lot of wet weather and strong winds across Wyoming on Saturday, and they combined to produce a short-lived but threatening landspout tornado in Sublette County.

Big Piney resident Stephen Nelson was out on his deck when he noticed something swirling around north of town.

“I was doing something and thought, ‘That’s a dust devil.’ Then it was a big dust devil. Then it was a funnel cloud," Nelson told Cowboy State Daily.

The funnel cloud snaked its way from the ground up to the ominous storm clouds overhead. Nelson spotted it around 11:55 a.m., and it was gone by noon.

“The storm has moved over towards the Pinedale area,” he said. “I’ve heard, second and third hand, that they’ve lost power in Pinedale.”

, over 732 Rocky Mountain Power customers reported power outages in Sublette County around 1:30 p.m. The issue had been addressed by 2 p.m.

However, landspout tornadoes weren’t the primary concern of Wyoming’s meteorologists on Saturday. They were keeping a closer eye on potential 70-mph wind gusts and whether this weather would bring any precipitation.

“We’re busy today,” said meteorologist Taylor Wittman with the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Riverton. “We’ve got some active weather, but the tornado was a bit of an anomaly. Our major concern is 50 to 70 mph wind gusts across Wyoming Saturday."

[{"type":"text","text":"It’s A Twister?"}]

Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said the funnel cloud spotted near Big Piney was “a well-formed landspout.” It’s like, but not exactly, a tornado.

“A landspout is defined as a tornado that does not arise from organized storm-scale rotation,” he said. “You get a circulation near the ground that is brought into an updraft, that then causes that funnel situation.”

Even though they tend not to be long-lived, landspouts should be taken seriously. Day said they have a destructive potential comparable to that of a regular tornado.

“You can get 70, 80, 90 mph wind gusts in a landspout,” he said. “They're not going to bring the intensity of the wind and the destructive power of a tornado, but they can certainly cause damage.”

Landspouts tend to be more common in the spring and summer, especially when Wyoming’s area gets humid. When summer thunderstorms carry moisture into Wyoming, the likelihood of landspouts increases, as was seen in Sublette County on Saturday.

As the system moves, there’s a chance more landspouts could form. Day believes it’s a risk worth taking seriously.

“We should be on our guard for more of these, especially in northern and far-eastern Wyoming, for the next 36 hours,” he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Watches And Warnings"}]

for Riverton and Lander on Saturday afternoon, anticipating penny-sized hail and wind gusts as high as 60 mph.

Meanwhile, 15 counties in central and eastern Wyoming were under a 

 until 9 p.m. Saturday. The NWS was monitoring “a cluster of strong thunderstorms” with gusty winds and hail.

By 2 p.m., there were thunderstorm storm clouds over northwest Wyoming, too.

Wittman said the sudden surge of severe weather is primarily due to an abundance of moisture, which is what most of Wyoming needs.

“We actually have some okay moisture in the area today, by Wyoming standards,” he said. “The system moving in is bringing enough moisture to make clouds and produce storms. The physics in the air is enough for some of the stronger storms we’re watching.”

Some spots in Wyoming, like Johnson County and the Bighorn Basin, might get 0.1 inches of precipitation from this system. It's not a lot, but every drop is welcome.

Severe summer thunderstorms often come with a higher risk of strong winds and hail, which is exactly what Wittman and his colleagues were watching on Saturday.

“The main hazard will be Saturday afternoon and evening,” he said. “We’ve already seen some 60-mph gusts, but the primary threat will be along western Fremont County, and the Wind River Range, down to Rock Springs and the South Pass area, and that will move eastwards toward Casper.”

Wittman emphasized that this was a dynamic system that was being closely monitored. The timing and severity of its impacts can change quickly, so everyone in the affected area needs to be on their toes.

[{"type":"text","text":"“These storms can intensify as the day continues,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Sunnier Sunday"}]

All the watches and warnings issued by the NWS end before midnight, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be sunny and dry on Sunday. Wittman said the Saturday system might continue impacting Sunday’s weather.

“Saturday should be the bigger day for thunderstorms, hail, and wind, but we do have the chance of showers lingering overnight, and storms again on Sunday,” he said.

However, Wittman doesn’t anticipate an ongoing threat of landspouts. The Sublette County landspout was an oddity during a day of active summer weather in Wyoming.

“That landspout was probably the result of a storm initiation,” he said. “That’s how you might get a little spin-up, but the bigger risk is strong winds, not landspouts.”

Sublette county tornado 6 20 26

<title>Rare Tornado Spotted In Sublette County On Saturday | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A tornado made a rare appearance in Sublette County on Saturday, bringing with it more than 700 power outages. Meteorologist Don Day called it a "landspout" tornado which has the capability of 90 mph winds. "They can certainly cause damage," Day said.

Rare Tornado Spotted In Sublette County On Saturday

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

Renée Jean

Business & Tourism

Business

Some of Wyoming’s 1860s prospectors would be rolling over in their graves if they knew just how narrowly they might have missed striking it rich in South Pass City and other 19th-century gold hotspots.

Gold was there in those arid hills. All those poor pioneers really needed to find it was a helicopter and some artificial intelligence.

Not to mention modern geological science, which has led Relevant Gold founder and CEO Rob Bergmann down a multi-billion-year-old channel called the Abitibi Belt, to what he believes is a hidden gold belt underneath Wyoming.

“We can’t promise anything,” Bergmann told Cowboy State Daily. “But we do believe that all of the data indicates there’s a lot of opportunity that has really just never been tested in Wyoming — especially along these Archean belts that were once connected to the Abitibi.”

The hypothesis that those were once connected is the geological theory that’s brought Bergmann to Wyoming. 

The Archean belts arc from the CK Gold Project in southeast Wyoming, sweep through South Pass near Lander, and continue on to Bradley Peak near Rawlins. 

All three areas once drew gold seekers when the West was still untamed, from about 1867 to 1881. Each fizzled long before living up to their hype — even at the comparatively successful Carissa Mine in 

 with a toolkit the state’s pioneer miners could scarcely have imagined.

Instead of panning streams and digging random holes in the rock to find gold veins they could mine with hand tools and dynamite, Bergmann’s crews are flying helicopters to conduct geophysical surveys over the company’s projects at South Pass and Bradley Peak. 

The surveys can see hundreds of meters beneath the surface, mapping out rock types and identifying structures that commonly travel with gold and other precious metals. 

“It’s an incredible data set that’s never existed in the state of Wyoming before,” Bergmann said. “It allowed us to see up to 400 meters below the surface of some of these rock characteristics. It doesn’t necessarily find the gold, but it helps us find the things that might be associated with the gold.”

A Wyoming state grant helped fund the airborne surveys at Bradley Peak and South Pass, creating the new, high-resolution, geophysical picture of grounds that have been prospected off and on for more than 150 years.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Big Drilling Plans"}]

This summer, Relevant Gold will stage large drilling programs at Bradley Peak and in the South Pass area, fresh off raising more than $12 million in Canadian dollars. 

The drilling is about collecting sample cores from likely areas to map out where a mine might be economically feasible.

The company will focus on two targets this summer, but there are 17 targets in all. That’s a multi-year runway of possible follow-up work if the results remain encouraging. 

High-grade ore samples have already been collected, Bergmann added — samples that also contained significant percentages of silver, copper and lead. 

“We’ve already drilled gold, found gold,” he said. “What we have to start defining is whether there’s something over, say, a million ounces. We’re really targeting larger-scale gold and critical metal opportunities.”

While the word “mining” might conjure images of vast coal pits or 

 Relevant Gold’s footprint will look different. 

“Gold can be mined a lot of different ways,” Bergmann said. “But underground mining is the most common type.”

Those tunnels will likely be much narrower than trona or coal-mining tunnels. 

The company has set up a field office in Riverton, and has been working extensively with local contractors for drill-pad construction and reclamation. Its headquarters is in Canada, and it has an operational office in Minnesota.

Under state rules and bonding requirements, all the baseball-sized drill holes must be reclaimed and reseeded within a year, which will make it difficult to tell a rig was ever there.

Right now, Bergmann has a staff of between six to 12 local workers in Wyoming, along with support from three outside geologists and a small array of local suppliers and services.

Ultimately, if a mine is realized, that could balloon to a hundred or more workers.

South Pass City Witold Skrypczak via Alamy 6 20 26

<title>How Modern Technology Is Reshaping The Search For Gold In Historic Wyoming Mines | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Helicopters, artificial intelligence, and geology are giving a modern mining company a second shot at finding gold in historic Wyoming mines. The company believes there's a hidden gold belt and technology allows them to see 400 meters below the surface.

How Modern Technology Is Reshaping The Search For Gold In Historic Wyoming Mines

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Government & Politics

Politics

In the latest twist in efforts to ban 3D-printed “ghost guns,” New York state and California have moved to ban printers capable of making them. 

A New York law signed last month states that 3D printers should come with technology blocking them from making firearms or firearms parts. A similar measure is before the California Legislature. 

The gun-blocking technology for printers might not be available until 2029 at the earliest, the 

Gun control advocates are hailing the printer ban as a way to get a handle on so-called “ghost guns,” or untraceable firearms made with 3D printers and lacking serial numbers.

Advocates for banning 3D-printed guns argue that those guns are increasingly being used in crimes.

In Wyoming, a gun rights advocate and 3D printing business owner told Cowboy State Daily that the California and New York measures are pointless. 

People have always made their own firearms and should have the right to do so, said Mark Jones of Buffalo, a national director for Gun Owners of America (GOA). 

Banning 3D-printed guns, or the printers that make them, won’t change that, he said. 

From a technical standpoint, the bans won’t work, said Kevin Thomas, owner of T&G 3D Printing in Basin.

As he sees it, there’s no way to make printers that won’t produce certain items. Printers will produce whatever they’re programed to.

“The printer itself can’t determine what is being printed,” he said. 

The New York law and California bill direct experts to craft algorithms that could detect firearm blueprints. 

Hypothetically, the technology would analyze 3D printing designs against a digital library of firearm parts, and reject those that match the parts. 

Some industry experts have told lawmakers in those states that won’t work. 

Thomas agreed, saying that’s because 3D printer operators would still have the final say through “G-codes” they enter in their machines telling them what geometric shapes to cut. 

Trying to control G-codes would not only be impractical, but it would also amount to an infringement on freedom of speech and expression, Thomas said. 

Moreover, major firearms manufacturers such as Smith & Wesson also use gun-design software, he said, adding that efforts to regulate firearms out of the 3D printing world will backfire. 

“What will end up happening is there just won’t be any 3D printers for sale in California, so people there will just go across state lines to get them,” he said.

Firearms parts or accessories can be 3D-printed for sale, except lower receivers, Thomas said. The lower receiver is the part of the firearm including, for instance, the trigger assembly. 

Lower receivers can be created for personal use only. 

Thomas said he doesn’t print firearms parts or accessories because of possible legal complications.

For example, if he made a rifle stock for a customer, and that stock became part of a firearm that was later used in a murder, that might come back on him, he said. 

Jones said that concern over “ghost guns” is hyperbolic. 

“People have been making their own firearms since 1776,” he said. 

Democrats have also tried using firearms serial numbers to create databases for a national firearms registry, Jones added.

“It’s actually illegal to keep a registry of what guns people have, and we think it should be,” he said. 

Ghost gun 6 19 26

<title>California, New York Aim To Ban 3D Printers That Can Make ‘Ghost Guns’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

In the latest twist in efforts to ban 3D-printed “ghost guns,” lawmakers in New York and California are pushing to ban printers capable of making them.  From a technical standpoint, the bans won’t work, said Kevin Thomas, owner of T&G 3D Printing in Basin.

California, New York Aim To Ban 3D Printers That Can Make ‘Ghost Guns’

Crime & Courts

Courts

A Rock Springs man accused of holding his girlfriend captive for days, cutting her with a razor blade, stabbing her with a kitchen fork and threatening to kill her is being held on a six-figure bond.

Jake Thomas Canestrini, 24, made his initial appearance Thursday afternoon in Sweetwater County Circuit Court, where he was charged with a handful of felonies, including kidnapping, three counts of aggravated assault and battery with a deadly weapon, strangulation of a household member, interference with a peace officer, three counts of domestic battery and cruelty to animals.

Court records show bond was set at $300,000 cash or surety, or $100,000 cash-only.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Parents Leave Town"}]

The alleged abuse began after the victim's parents left town on May 30, according to an affidavit written by Rock Springs Police Officer Tiffany Harris.

The victim and Canestrini had been in a relationship for about three years and were living together at her parents' home in Rock Springs.

Shortly after her parents left, Canestrini allegedly threw her to the ground multiple times and prevented her from leaving the residence, the affidavit says.

"Canestrini held her on the ground for several hours and continued to hit her on the head," Harris wrote.

Every time the woman tried to get up and run, "Canestrini would yank her by the hair to keep her down," according to the affidavit.

On June 2, Canestrini allegedly called the woman's employer and told them she would not be coming to work.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Razor Blade, Fork And Knife"}]

The victim described a series of assaults involving household items that investigators later sought when executing a search warrant at the home.

According to court records, Canestrini reportedly used a razor blade to make cuts on her thighs, hips, stomach, and arm. She also reported being stabbed in the upper back and "butt cheek" with a kitchen fork.

The alleged victim told investigators that during one confrontation, Canestrini held a kitchen knife against her throat while threatening to kill her.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I will f***ing murder you,\" he allegedly told her."}]

At one point during the ordeal, Canestrini reportedly told the woman he loved her and "did not want to do this but because she was being a bitch to him, she deserved the punishment,” the affidavit says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Extensive Injuries"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The victim told investigators he also threatened her family and pet."}]

"I will murder your cat. I will murder your f***ing family if you get the cops involved,” he allegedly said, according to the affidavit. "I will wait 20 years so I can kill you."

Court records indicate Canestrini reportedly strangled the woman multiple times during the ordeal. She told investigators there were times she could not breathe and feared for her life.

Medical records cited in the affidavit indicate a physician later advised her she had suffered a concussion.

Investigators documented bruising across much of the woman's body. Photographs attached to the case file show injuries to her face, arms, shoulders, legs, and knees, along with dried blood on her lips.

A Rock Springs man was in court Thursday, accused of holding a woman captive for days and torturing her with a razor blade and fork. "I will murder your cat,” police say he told her. "I will murder your ... family if you get the cops involved."

Daily Darwin: Sunday, October 12, 2025

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