It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, June 29th. I’m Mac Watson
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“A huge tanker plowed into what I thought was about 6 cars,” is how one witness described the scene of a devastating double-fatal crash Friday on Highway 20/26 in Natrona County. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that it was a very chaotic scene with many damaged vehicles, multiple victims, and a large bystander presence.
“The deceased haven't been identified yet, so we don't really know much about this crash, whether there's any criminal charges that could possibly come from it, or anything like that. All we know is it was a pretty bad scene. The highway was closed for a good 12 hours. It didn't open up again until after 2am on Saturday.”
Krista Nethercott, who witnessed the crash and is a funeral director, tells Cowboy State Daily, “I’m used to seeing stuff like this, but it was one of the worst accidents I’ve witnessed in person.”
Read the full story HERE.
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The Johnson County Sheriff's Office on Friday released body camera video of state Rep. Bill Allemand's December DUI arrest. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Allemand grew more adversarial toward the deputy throughout his arrest, ultimately calling him an “asshole.”
“In the video you can see Allemand speaking with the officer, and a lot of people are going to be tempted to make judgment calls based upon his speech, whether the DUI charge is justified. He does speak loudly and with a unique cadence. Normally, he sounds less articulate than usual during the video. The deputy reported that his speech was slurred, so that's going to be a major question that now the public has access to the evidence involved in answering that question.”
Allemand’s attorney Mike Vang tells Cowboy State Daily that Allemand was likely growing frustrated with the deputy because he thought he was being falsely arrested.
Read the full story HERE.
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When Gillette's Kimberly Fry got a phone call at 8:15 a.m. that someone had found their 14-year-old corgi in Wisconsin, she started crying. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that an hour later, her family was on the road and drove more than 1,000 miles straight to get their rescued dog.
“Apparently, a couple that was moving from Wyoming to Wisconsin found the Corgi, they said they tried to figure out who it belonged to, and then took it with them, and then once they realized that she was 14-years old and deaf and needed a special diet, they put her on Facebook, classified for free to anyone who take her, so they, the owner, told me she believes that they potentially stole her dog, and then once they realized it was more trouble than it was worth, they just tried to get rid of it any way that they could.”
Fry is still trying to figure out what happened. She believes her corgi was stolen and abandoned by the people who stole her, making their reunion a miracle.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming was once a top apple producer in the United States. Cowboy State Renee Jean reports that now those forgotten apple trees are being rediscovered by John Magney, who is mapping out all the varieties that can be grown in the Cowboy State.
“At one time Wyoming was at the top of the charts when it comes to apples. It wasn't always all about Washington, right? We once were big in apples too. We were held up as the example. ‘Look, if they can grow apples in Wyoming, you can grow apples anywhere.’ Jonathan Magney has this little project where he's going around, kind of mapping out all the different varieties of apples that grow in Wyoming, which ones grow the best. Part of his thinking there is, it could be a little industry for Wyoming, another kind of value-added agriculture industry that the state could look into, because apples grow really well here in Wyoming.”
That history is being rediscovered thanks to a project called the Wyoming Apple Project. Through it, researchers have been cataloguing a hidden network of heritage and volunteer trees that have somehow survived a century or so of drought and neglect.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.
Cowboy State Daily News continues now….
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Authorities are working to unravel the mysterious deaths of a man and woman who were found in Laramie County earlier this year within three months of one another in unrelated incidents. However, Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that distinctive tattoos on the individuals have caught the attention of sisters who are genealogists who are working on the case.
“On the John Doe, there's a distinctive pool ball, an eight ball, and what looks to be like a bird, and also the. Letter C, but very, very distinguishable, and the Jane Doe has what appears to be a sun and moon. It looks like rain clouds. So, in any case, something that would be identifiable by those who knew those two people. The two sisters started a company called Genetics Uncovered. In fact, they have a project called Not Forgotten, which is a national project, and they're looking for people all over the country.”
The first person, a woman thought to be between 30 and 50 years old, was struck by a vehicle and killed on the side of Interstate 25 outside Cheyenne in late April, according to Wyoming Highway Patrol. The second is an unknown man found near a commercial building on South Greeley Avenue earlier this month, according to the Laramie County Sheriff's Department.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming group says they will alter their billboards after the Wyoming Republican Party warned it could be a violation to use the official GOP elephant logo. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that other candidates and groups are doing the same.
“The RNC, the Republican National Committee, has been cracking down, reportedly on unauthorized use of its little elephant logo, and that has filtered down to Wyoming through the Wyoming GOP, which is contacting candidates like, hey, that elephant is too close to the. Will go. Hey, do you have a license to use that elephant? And so you see some candidates are putting stickers over their signs, some are just close enough to pass the smell test. Wyoming Republican Party Chair Brian Miller said, ‘Look, we've done crackdowns before, but yeah, the RNC is being very protective of its logo.’”
The Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming started a political action committee (PAC) in March to combat the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which is a controversial and populist-leaning group of state House Republicans.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming hunters who didn’t draw antelope tags this year aren't alone. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that hunters are blaming the winter of 2022-23.
“I talked to Larry Hicks, who's really knowledgeable about antelope, both as a hunter, and then also as he's a senator in the Wyoming legislature, and so he's dealt with a lot of wildlife policy issues. So he has a pretty good overview, and he said really, we still, we had that horrific winter, you know, 2223 where 10s of 1000s of antelope died. He said the population is still trying to recover from that, so game and fish, just out of good practice, had to cut a lot of the tags in some of these areas.”
Hicks tells Cowboy State Daily it could take up to eight years for antelope herds to recover from the devastating winterkill losses, “and we’re about three years in.”
Read the full story HERE.
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The Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana’s Glacier National Park, which opened for the summer Monday, is considered by many to be the most beautiful road in America. Cowboy State Daily’s Anna-Louise Jackson reports that visitors should prepare to have plenty of company, human and otherwise, on the way to Logan Pass.
“It takes you above onto the Continental Divide, over a pass, you can see the glaciers, you can see waterfalls, you can see wildlife. It's considered this engineering marvel because it is cut right into the side of the mountain. This road has just one major switchback, and you are hugging the side of the cliff and just getting this perspective of this park that you wouldn't have any other way, so it's really popular. If you go to Glacier Park, it's kind of like if you don't go on this road, you may not have fully seen the park.”
Ranked the third most-scenic drive in the U.S. by Tripadvisor reviewers, people tend to throw around superlatives like “stunning,” “spectacular,” or “unforgettable” to describe it.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.
