It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, October 6th. I’m Mac Watson.
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An abandoned saloon east of Casper has become the center of an dispute over profane anti-Trump and GOP messages, private property and a school bus stop where rural kids are picked up and dropped off each day. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that now, the sheriff is investigating.
“The Lazy Eight sits in Natrona County, but that bus stop takes kids to Glenrock schools. So every day, parents are confronted with this messaging that includes explicit language that they don't want their children to see. I spoke with a man on Monday afternoon who claims to be the owner. He declined to give his identity, just describing himself as a mysterious Wyoming person. He was painting over some of the letters on Monday, saying that he has a right to express himself. I spoke with one parent who does the drop-offs Monday through Friday, and she said part of the. Frustration is that this person who lives behind the bar will come out and yell at the kids to get off his property, and this was corroborated by the director of Natrona County Planning and Development.”
For months, the weathered Lazy 8 along U.S. Highway 20/26 has been splashed with messages attacking President Donald Trump and the Wyoming Republican Party, some in letters large enough to be read by passing motorists. One message painted across a metal door was more direct: “KILL THE RICH.”
Read the Full story HERE.
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After nearly 50 years of operating in Hulett, Bearlodge Forest Products has announced it will shut down after Oct. 31. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that state Sen. Ogden Driskill says, “This is an absolute blow” to a community with deep ties to Wyoming’s timber industry.
“They didn't pinpoint any one thing. They said it's kind of the accumulation of many things. You have inflation. The inputs are costing more. Fuel costs more. They're not able to get as much money for pallets as they used to. So you know the value of their product has gone down. But the other big key issue that the lumber industry faces in Wyoming, you know, half of the land is owned by the federal government, and they have been cutting the amount of timber they will allow to flow out of the forest. Well, that's really put a hurt on these companies. They can't get enough wood to support their production.”
The closure is a jolt to the community, whose identity and economy have long been tied to timber and agriculture. Mayor Brian Kennah estimated the closure leaves about 5% of Hulett’s 349 people looking for work.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 50-seat SkyWest flight from Denver collided with a mule deer while landing in Sheridan last week. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that no passengers were hurt and the plane wasn't damaged, but the deer was killed.
“The deer, from the sounds of it, was hit hard. The airport director said that they had to clean him off the runway. It is extremely rare, and the airport director said he hadn't heard of such a collision at that airport, and also that Skywest sent people to inspect the plane for like seven to eight hours, and they didn't find any damage.”
Sheridan County Airport Director Robert Gill tells Cowboy State Daily that deer might clear the fence once or twice a year. But operations staffers check the wildlife fence once a month, and the landing area throughout the day.
Read the full story HERE.
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A group of 50-year buddies on a horseback ride through rugged Wyoming backcountry became immediate emergency responders when one was thrown from his horse and lay motionless in the dirt. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that fortunately, one of those friends is a combat-veteran Navy doctor.
“Luckily, his friend John Williams, who is a physician and a retired combat medic, was there and was able to quickly respond and pull him out of the triple degree heat until first responders could arrive. Jim Klutz, who was also riding with these men, said it was truly impressive to see his friend Williams spring into action right away, be able to sit with the man and take care of him until Cody Regional Medical Team and first responders arrived and were able to load him into a helicopter where he was transported to Billings.”
The men hadn't been thrown together by chance for a trail ride. Their friendship goes back more than half a century to their school days at St. Mark's School of Texas in Dallas.
Read the full story HERE.
I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.
Cowboy State Daily News continues now….
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A planned Black Hills Energy gas-fired power plant north of Cheyenne is still years away from construction, but its potential neighbors aren’t waiting to voice their opposition of it. Cowboy State Daily’s Emma Jane Jackson reports that one resident says of the proposal, “There’s just nothing good about it.”
“Invitations were sent to over 900 residents in this area, and the meeting is to organize a bit more pushback after the residents still don't feel like their questions were answered after meeting with Black Hills Energy in June. I spoke with one of the landowners, Robert Kissel, who said that he doesn't want this because it's going to not only disturb the quiet and the wildlife that he enjoys in his property, but also he's worried about it damaging his property value. And he said, "quote It's very disturbing, and we've got a real active group here getting organized.”
Black Hills Energy bought a 935-acre tract on Horse Creek Road earlier this year for a natural gas power plant with onsite battery storage. The project is still in the early planning stages, and neighbors say they don't know how big it will be, where its water will come from or what it means for their rural subdivisions.
Read the full story HERE.
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South Dakota's Custer State Park will auction off at least 600 bison next month, a 38% increase from last year because of drought conditions on the range. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that a state parks spokesperson says “Ultimately, the purpose of the auction is herd management.”
“So, park managers look at the grassland, how well it's growing, how much there is, how green it is, how much water there is, and consider then how many bison can they sustain through the winter. So this year the estimate is about 900, and with a herd of about 1500, now they're selling off 600 so that they can bring them back to that 900. So it's really a formula. It's bison math, so to speak, and it's more than normal because of the drought conditions.”
Custer State Park covers about 71,000 acres in the southern Black Hills and is home to one of the largest publicly owned bison herds in the world.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Rock Springs teen accused of shooting two men at a bonfire last year agreed to boot camp while pleading no contest Thursday. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Addisyn Rain Marie Fisher could get a deal of 5-7 years in prison, which can be cut to about a year if she completes Wyoming's “boot camp” program.
“Addisyn Fisher was charged last February with aggravated assault. Two counts on claims that she shot one young man through the hand and another in the jaw area as they were fighting her boyfriend. And this was after a pretty dramatic truck chase that unfolded just beforehand, and she signed a plea agreement last week saying that she would accept a five to seven prison, five to seven year prison term, but with a recommendation for boot camp and that's a big caveat.”
Fisher’s sentencing will happen at a date not yet set. The teen, who was 16 when charged as an adult last year, pleaded no contest Thursday in Sweetwater County District Court.
Read the full story HERE.
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A bull moose called ‘The Beast’ is huge enough to have a shot at dethroning Grand Teton celebrity bulls such as Hoback and Shoshone. But Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that few see him because he lives on private property in southwest Wyoming, far away from wildlife paparazzi — and hunters.
The landowners weren't aware that this huge bull was there. This photographer, likes to come to Wyoming and watch wildlife. He gained enough trust from these landowners. They allowed him onto, and he said he was just cruising the property one day, and he sees this monstrous set of antlers, and he thought, ‘Am I just seeing things because that's what I want to see, or is that real?’ And then the moose stood up and like, ‘yeah, it's real.’ The cool twist about this story is that they're letting this moose be seen and letting people be aware of it, the landowners don't want a bunch of looky loos up there just for their own peace and quiet but they don't want mobs of people coming and you know harassing this moose.”
Wildlife photographer Tanner Dunn of Utah tells Cowboy State Daily that “this bull, The Beast, might be about the size of Hoback. Maybe a tad smaller.”
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.
