It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, September 25th. I’m Mac Watson.
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Cheyenne police said Thursday that they're recommending criminal charges for a dozen teens ages 13-17 involved in a brawl at a Cheyenne Central High School football game earlier this month. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that one witness described the scene as “total chaos.”
“They described girls, one girl being restrained by a police officer, while the other girl kept charging that situation repeatedly, a parent got involved. Other bystander spectators formed like a human wall to prevent other teens from rushing into the fray. Meanwhile, two boys are up on a hill in a fight. One had the other in a chokehold, reportedly, and a football player's dad went up there to handle that situation because they were near a precipice at the bottom of which is a concrete pad for a fireplace.”
Police announced Thursday that they're recommending charges against 12 teenagers aged 13 through 17, on allegations including battery, assault of a police officer, trespassing, breach of peace, and interference.
Read the full story HERE.
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On Day 3 of a Cheyenne man's trial for allegedly starving his son almost to death last year, Darrick Mittlestadt testified Thursday that the 13-year-old’s severe condition was his wife’s fault. Cowboy State Daily’s Kerry Drake was in the courtroom and witnessed Middlestadt admit that he was deceived by his wife, Angela.
“At one point in the trial, Derek Middlestad said that if he had known about the condition of his child and that he had been near death and starving, that he would have immediately taken him to the get medical help and mental health care help too, but he claimed that he did not know what the condition of his child was because he had been misled and deceived and lied to by his his wife Angela, who has already pleaded guilty to this crime.”
Both the prosecution and defense rested their cases Thursday morning, with Laramie County District Judge Peter Froelicher expected to give the jury his instructions, then the 10-man, four-woman panel will hear closing arguments.
Read the full story HERE.
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A city worker caught doing an epically bad curb-painting job in Laramie’s downtown district has locals saying they’re “embarrassed,” and the city apologizing for botching the job. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that one local resident says, “The employee obviously doesn’t give a (crap).”
“This is in downtown Laramie, a very historic downtown. The people I talked to pointed out that hate. While it's it's fun to kind of make fun of just how bad it is, we're not happy with the fact that not only was it done wrong in the first place, when they tried to fix it, they tried to fix it by painting over the overspray with gray paint, figuring it would match the cement, and it didn't, and it looked even worse. And the city admitted, ‘Hey, that that was terrible too.’ And so they went back and they pressure washed the areas where the overspray was to finally get it right. So basically, they had to do it three times. So the taxpayers were paying three times to do that single job, and some of the people in Laramie aren't very happy about it.”
The city issued a public acknowledgement of the bad work and an apology Thursday morning.
Read the full story HERE.
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Visitors in Yellowstone are worried about what’s wrong with “the spinning bison” which is circling endlessly in a pond. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi spoke to a wildlife photographer who said the bull has “either injuries from a fight, near total blindness, neurological damage, or all the above.”
“The most likely explanation, just based on probability of occurrence, is that this bison got injured while running with another male. As everything that all the signs that it's showing suggests that it might be some kind of physical, if not a neurological, injury that's altering its behavior. It's not in a good way, and unfortunately, people are going to see this bison struggle because the whole idea is to let Yellowstone be Yellowstone. The whole premise behind the National Park Service is let these sites exist as they exist. So it's a hands-off approach. It's a sad thing to watch, but it's a natural phenomenon playing out, and that's in the best interest of Yellowstone as a whole. Which is why the rangers probably aren't going to do anything. They might not even humanely euthanize it because once you intercede, in one instance, you set a precedent, and then people start expecting that sort of thing.”
For most visitors, the hard part will be watching this slow decline. The bison continues to struggle with a serious impairment, but one that isn’t necessarily killing it quickly.
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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A Sheridan man says his elk hunt was ruined when a helicopter appeared above him in the Bighorn Mountains and dumped huge plumes of water on top of him. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the Forest Service said it was a training flight and the crew probably didn't know he was there.
“He kept hearing a helicopter. And then eventually, he said about 5: 30 in the evening, here comes a helicopter, one of the big ones, one of the big water carrying airships, came over, came fairly close to him, and just dumped a bunch of water out of its belly. I mean, close enough to where he could feel the mist coming off of it, and of course, there's no fire anywhere, anywhere near there. And he said the thing circled away and then came back and got even closer to him and dumped a bunch of water. Though he didn’t get hit by the mainstream of water, but he got misted. He said he could feel the rush of air from it. And he said during that time he was waving and trying, ‘Hey, I'm down here!’ and apparently the chopper pilot didn't see him.”
Russel Rogers tells Cowboy State Daily even though the helicopter almost soaked him with water and the hunting wasn’t all that great, it was a nice quiet day in the mountains.
Read the full story HERE.
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New uniforms make it clear that many National Park Service rangers are real cops — with “police federal officer” printed on their ballistic vests. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that reaction to the new uniforms is mixed.
“Not every park ranger is a cop, but a lot of park rangers are law enforcement officers. Regardless of whether you're there to give instructions or arrest people, you wear the green and gray uniform and the flat rimmed hat, right? And so they're saying you know maybe it's time to distinguish which ones are law enforcers so that there's no question about that. So I talked to two longtime, former rangers, who one of them, Greg Jackson of NPS Ranger News, he was saying, ‘yeah, this is great. Now you can tell which ones are law enforcers.’ Another one, Tara Ross. She agreed with that premise. Like yes, it is good to have that distinction, but she was philosophically concerned with another part of the uniform change, and that is that officers can forsake the flat room cap and choose a ball cap.”
The National Park Service was created in 1916. Until about 1950 the service treated all park rangers like law enforcement officers.
Read the full story HERE.
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Casper residents are angry with obnoxious and unauthorized door-to-door magazine sellers who won’t take “no” for an answer. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports the city says there are no authorized active permits for solicitors.
“One man named Matthew Lamott describes an incident where two men came up to his door selling magazines, and they were explaining this was for points. And the more magazines they sold, the more likely that they would become a winner. Lamotte said, ‘No, thank you.’ And one of the young men seen on a ring camera continues to try to sell him other products. Eventually, Lamotte has to shut the door in his face. Homeowner Karen Jones said her concern is more for the elderly population. She said her parents have these kinds of encounters, and they're often manipulated into giving money under the guise that they're going to charities or they'll be getting some subscriptions, and then those are never fulfilled.”
Casper Police Department spokesperson Rebecka Ladd says the department is gathering information on reported activity of door-to-door salespeople making the rounds around the city. She advises people to be cautious of high-pressure pitches and demands for immediate payment.
Read the full story HERE.
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A daredevil oil field worker who died at Saratoga’s Hobo Hot Springs while on a back-to-nature road trip is being remembered by family and friends as a legend. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that Cary Garmann was known for practicing naked yoga and standing on his motorcycle seat at 80 mph.
“Garmann decided to stop at the Hobo Hot Springs on his way back home. He had called a friend who was going to meet him there. Unfortunately, that was his last contact with his wife before authorities called to tell her that he had passed away. A witness who was there that day says that when she got to the hot springs, she found him in the water, unresponsive, and she was the one who was performing mouth-to-mouth before the sheriffs arrived. When they got there, they pronounced him dead at the scene. His wife, Darlene Garmann, of 32 years has a great sense of humor. She laughed through the tears, and when asked if her husband died doing something that he loved, she said, ‘Yes. He loved hot water.’”
Darlene tells Cowboy State Daily she wasn’t with her husband on the trip. He left wanting time to himself, drawn to nature and adventure.
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.
