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

Clair McFarland

Politics

 voted Monday to pause its ongoing work to cancel two controversial wind farm leases in Converse and Niobrara counties while the Wyoming Supreme Court decides whether at least one of the two, similar leases was lawful in the first place.

State Auditor Kristi Racines said pausing to wait on the court isn’t about being “pro-project or anti-project.”

It’s about “how deep of a legal hole we are trying to dig ourselves in, to unwind, once the Supreme Court makes that decision,” said Racines.

Secretary of State Chuck Gray countered, saying the process had involved “dithering and delaying” that “was tactically done” to prevent the cancellation process from unfolding.

“I just think this has been really troubling the way this has been handled,” Gray said.

The board comprises Wyoming’s top five elected officials: Racines, Gray, Gov. Mark Gordon, Treasurer Curt Meier, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder.

Now the Pronghorn H2 and Sidewinder H2 wind farm projects hang in limbo while the Wyoming Supreme Court considers whether Converse County District Court Judge Scott Peasley was correct in concluding that the Pronghorn lease — the only one challenged in court — was not legal anyway.

Peasley had read the state board’s rules to mean that the lease couldn’t be legal since the power it seeks to generate wouldn’t necessarily tie into the electrical grid.

The Attorney General’s Office has read those rules differently, and both Pronghorn and the Wyoming Attorney General's Office have appealed the issue to the high court, which has not yet set the matter for oral argument.

In April 2025, Gray was the lone nay vote in the board’s 4-1 decision to approve leases pertaining to the state-held lands within each project.

Sidewinder H2 LLC, a Delaware-based company that’s a subsidiary of Acciona and Nordex Green Hydrogen, which has teamed up with Focus Clean Energy on the project, had asked to build a wind farm 10 miles west of Lusk. The project is expected to span 120,110 acres, of which 19.4%, or 23,290 acres, is state land. 

That project is expected to use 352 megawatts of energy sited on state trust land, subject to state approval, which would create 201 permanent jobs and $7 billion investment. It would be estimated to produce 1,000 megawatts of wind energy.

Pronghorn H2 LLC, another Delaware company owned by Acciona & Nordex, had asked to build 45 wind turbines on private and state lands 20 miles east of Casper over 46,000 total acres, of which 13,838 acres or 30%, is owned by the state. 

This project would include a capacity of up to 110 megawatts of electricity and be about one-third of the size of the Sidewinder project.

Michael Stephens of Stephens Land and Livestock challenged the Pronghorn approval in court, days after the board approved it.

In December, Peasley declared the Pronghorn lease unlawful because it wouldn’t necessarily feed the grid.

While the case and now the appeal have continued, public angst toward the projects galvanized.

Landowners have repeatedly voiced concerns that industry growth will lead to a “

” of turbines across the Laramie Range and irreversibly turn 

In February, Degenfelder, Racines, and Gray 

 to start the process to cancel both leases.

[{"type":"text","text":"The board did not outright cancel both leases at that time."}]

Jeff Pope, the attorney for Pronghorn, said the company would sue if that happened.

Also, state laws restrict the terms under which Wyoming can cancel a lease, and the board’s own policies allowing due process for the developer before cancelling.

The Office of State Lands and Investments, which is the board’s administrative arm, asked the district court on May 12 to weigh in on both contested cancellation processes, since the cases “involved an important legal question” still pending, the AG’s conflict attorney Chris Brown recounted Monday to the board.

Meanwhile, on May 19, Peasley granted a different request by Pronghorn to pause his earlier order voiding the company’s lease, while the company and AG waited for answers from the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Meier asked the board on Monday to pause cancellation proceedings for both leases until Peasley’s stay is lifted. While only the Pronghorn is being challenged in court, the leases are similar.

As originally pitched, the projects would send power into 

 rather than necessarily providing energy directly to the electrical grid. Construction on both was originally slated to start in 2028.

The board voted 3-2 in favor of Meier’s motion, with Gray and Degenfelder voting nay.

[{"type":"text","text":"Woke Wind And Insiders"}]

Gray made multiple motions to the board Monday, including requests to proceed with the cancellation process for both leases.

[{"type":"text","text":"None of his motions on the wind farms succeeded."}]

 Sunday, one day before the meeting, to assert that “insiders” were trying to advance the wind farm.  

“Just behind me is where Governor Gordon and other insiders are trying to plot down this woke wind lease on state land, which is totally inconsistent with our Wyoming values,” said Gray in his Facebook video. 

“We fought so hard to stop and rescind and remove this woke wind lease over a 10-month period and now Governor Mark Gordon is trying to pull off an Empire-Strikes-Back maneuver and bring the woke wind lease back," he said.

But the board, Gray continued, should continue with its cancellations “for this proposed woke wind lease in Converse and Niobrara counties.”

[{"type":"text","text":"‘It’s Not Outsiders Or Insiders’"}]

Racines, who had helped to lead the February effort to start cancellation processes, described Meier’s motion as a commonsense move to simplify the legal process — not a grand statement about wind farms.  

“We hung our hat on Judge Peasley’s decision. … That’s the reason that I wholeheartedly supported the moving forward with cancelling and rescinding these leases,” said Racines. 

[{"type":"text","text":"But, she added, “That judge himself has stayed his decision."}]

“It is not this board. It is not insiders or outsiders,” she said. “(He) said, great, your leases are illegal, but we’re going to wait and have the Supreme Court ultimately decide.”

If the high court upholds Peasley’s ruling, then the Pronghorn lease would be void and the board could continue trying to cancel the Sidewinder lease, she noted.

If the high court overturns Peasley’s decision, “that in no way means the projects are greenlighted,” said Racines, adding that at that juncture, the remaining issues in the Pronghorn case could continue at the district court level.

Acting before the high court makes that decision would “dig us into a worse legal mess to unwind” and complicate the case further, if it remains viable, Racines said.

Gray said, “Again, I think this has been very irregular,” and that he has “major questions about the timing of the stay” and the timing of the board meeting.

“This is all going to be decided by the Supreme Court, not the board,” said Gray.

Degenfelder confirmed with Brown that the board couldn’t override Peasley’s stay on his own order.

Meier said, “Like it or not, the Supreme Court is the top dog in the situation, and it gets there one way or another.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Gray confirmed that the Sidewinder project isn’t under the stay."}]

Mix Collage 08 Jun 2026 12 59 PM 3380

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

<title>Wyoming Land Board Decides To Wait For Court To Rule Whether Wind Farm Is Legal | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The State Land Board voted 3-2 Monday to pause its work to halt two controversial wind leases — until a court decides a major legal question on them. Secretary of State Chuck Gray called it "irregular," but Auditor Kristi Racines cast it as common sense.

Wyoming Land Board Decides To Wait For Court To Rule Whether Wind Farm Is Legal

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Two German tourists had to call Big Horn County Search and Rescue (BCSAR) for help after Google Maps led them astray.

The tourists were were visiting the Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mountains when they decided to head to Shell on May 31, BCSAR reported Sunday. Instead of recommending U.S. Highway 14 either westbound or eastbound, Google Maps sent them down a backcountry road that blew out two of their tires.

The pair was evacuated by BCSAR volunteers on ATVs that evening, but their Jeep Compass was stuck in the mountains until the tires could be replaced.

“They were on a road that they shouldn't have been in the car that they were driving,” said Adam Potter, owner of Big Horse Point S Towing in Greybull. “If you're going to be in the Bighorns, don't trust Google.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mission 26"}]

This was BCSAR’s 26th mission so far  in 2026. Potter wasn’t officially dispatched to rescue the German tourists when they got stuck, but he expected to be sent into the mountains at some point.

“I got a call from one of my buddies with the Big Horn County Sheriff's Department who told me BCSAR might be calling, so I sat tight,” he said. “Two of the guys who work for me in my shop are BCSAR volunteers, and they said the same thing.”

Potter didn’t get the call he was expecting until the next morning. The driver of the Jeep, named Matthias, asked if he could get his rental car out of the mountains.

Potter said Matthias and his wife were trying to take Alkali Road from Medicine Wheel to Shell. When they encountered a locked gate, Google Maps recommended an alternate route that they weren’t equipped to travel.

“They were on a road made for ATVs,” he said. “Matthias was probably about 10 miles down there when he realized that that wasn't going to work. He couldn’t get that Jeep Compass down there.”

Matthias managed to turn around and start going back the way he came. As he did so, his low-profile Jeep scraped against a large, sharp rock that punctured two tires.

The stranded Germans contacted the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, which sent BCSAR volunteers to pick them up. The Jeep Compass was left where it was, as there wasn’t anything that could be done right away to save it.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Down, Up, Down, Up Again"}]

Once Matthias and his wife reached Greybull, he called Potter about getting the vehicle out of the mountains, which was stuck near South Trapper Rim, an area that Potter’s familiar with.

“At this time of year and hunting season, we’re up there quite a bit,” he said.

Potter knew there was no point in trying to tow the Jeep out, as he wasn’t sure his tow truck could get to the spot. Instead, he had Matthias guide him to the stranded vehicle.

“It was just the tires,” Potter said. “The rest of the suspension looked good, and he never hit anything on the undercarriage, but we can’t replace a tire on a rim on the side of the road out in the mountains.”

The solution was to jack up the Jeep, remove the punctured wheels, and take them back down to the tow shop. By that point, it was already getting dark.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It was a four-hour round trip to reach that spot, Potter said."}]

On Monday morning, Potter and Matthias went back up again to replace the tires and get the vehicle going. Then, Matthias drove it out of the mountains, shadowed by Potter.

“He drove himself up out of there,” Potter said. “He got himself down there, so it wasn't too hard for him to get back out. I just worked him up the road.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What Do You Know, Google?"}]

Google Maps is one of the most popular web mapping platforms in the world. However, Wyoming consistently tests its reliability.

When the East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park opens every year, Google Maps tends to 

 and redirects drivers several hours out of their way to the North Entrance in Gardiner, Montana. When Yellowstone’s South Entrance opens, Google Maps has the same issue.

When Interstate 80 shuts down for winter weather, Google Maps occasionally tries to send drivers down closed, 

 because they’re still on the map and, as far as Google Maps is concerned, are still viable shortcuts.

“It's hard for Google to navigate change,” Rick Howe, president and CEO of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, told Cowboy State Daily. “It works when things are consistent, but seasonal openings and closures of specific locations are really hard for the current platform to handle, and there’s no clear way to change that.”

Matthias and his wife were back on well-traveled roads after they got their rented Jeep out of the Bighorns, and they’re on their way back to Germany.  

Potter ensured they wouldn’t have any more navigational issues for the final stretch of their journey.

“I pointed him in the right direction on the maps and websites that clarify ATV roads versus groomed, maintained roads,” he said. “Google Maps doesn’t know the difference.”

Stuck German tourists 6 8 26

<title>German Tourists Get Stuck In Bighorns After Following Google Maps | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Big Horn County Search and Rescue had to rescue two German tourists after Google Maps got their rented Jeep stuck on a backcountry road. “If you're going to be in the Bighorns, don't trust Google,” is the takeaway, said a Wyoming tow truck driver.

German Tourists Get Stuck In Bighorns After Following Google Maps

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Public Safety

A second wildfire in less than a week has scorched ranchland in northeast Wyoming, leaving local ranching families worried that an already active fire season is just getting started.

The Raven Creek Fire, caused by a downed power line Saturday, has so far burned 3,789 acres across a mix of private, state and federal land and drew a targeted response from Weston, Crook and Campbell counties, as well as the Bureau of Land Management and Wyoming State Forestry Division.

The blaze was started just days after the nearby Shipwheel Fire was started by lightning and burned 456 acres in the same corner of the county.

Burning through brush and grass about 13 miles southeast of Moorcroft, the Raven Creek Fire threatened homes and energy infrastructure, the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reports. No structures have been reported lost.

As of Monday morning, the blaze was exhibiting “minimal fire behavior with smoldering,” the NIFC reports. There are 125 firefighters and support personnel working the fire, along with 25 engines and a helicopter.

[{"type":"text","text":"The cost to fight so far is an estimated $500,000, according to the NIFC."}]

For Weston County Fire Warden Daniel Tysdal, the concern extends beyond the two fires themselves.

"We're experiencing late-summer fire weather conditions and fire behavior in the first part of June," Tysdal told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. "It's unprecedented fuel conditions right now."

Tysdal said wind-driven fires burning through drought-stressed fuels have created conditions firefighters do not typically expect this early in the season.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Neighbors Come Together"}]

"The first fire was earlier in the week,” said area rancher Angie Morfeld. "They had a lightning strike, I believe, earlier in the week, and lost about 500 acres."

While no livestock or structures have so far been lost in either fire, Morfeld said fencing was damaged and large amounts of grass were burned. 

Tysdal said firefighters were forced into structure protection operations as the Raven Creek Fire approached buildings on its northern flank, though crews ultimately prevented any losses.

[{"type":"text","text":"The fire has spread amid hot temperatures, wind and dry conditions."}]

Campbell County Fire Department warned Sunday that warm temperatures, strong winds and the potential for thunderstorms could create another active fire day across the region, even as crews continued suppressing existing fires and preparing for possible new starts.

For many ranching communities, the concern isn't just the acres burned over the weekend, but what the next several months might bring.

Morfeld said neighboring ranchers routinely come together when disaster strikes.

"All the ranchers that are neighboring ranchers, they all come together and help greatly," she said. "And then we have a lot of people in town, and when there's a call to action, they will donate to the fire departments and get supplies to them as needed."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Pray For Rain'"}]

During the Raven Creek Fire, Morfeld said family members and volunteers delivered bottled water and assisted where they could while firefighters, heavy equipment operators and utility crews worked in difficult conditions.

She also urged people to remember the linemen restoring power in smoky, windy conditions.

"People get angry when they're out of power, but they forget about the guys on the ground doing the real work," she said.

"The volunteers just day in and day out show up every time there's a page," Tysdal added. "I don't think we could do it without our volunteer fire service."

As mop-up operations continue, Morfeld said her thoughts are with the ranchers who have already lost grass and face months of uncertainty.

"We need to pray for the rain," she said. "We need to pray for the ranchers that have been affected, that have lost a lot of grass, and I'm afraid it's going to be a long season for all of our ranchers in Wyoming."

Raven Creek Fire inset 6 8 26

<title>'Pray For Rain': Wildfire Burns 3,900 Acres, Has Northeast Wyoming Ranchers Worried | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A downed power line is believed responsible for the Raven Creek Fire which has burned 3,900 acres of land in northeast Wyoming. Weston County Fire Warden Daniel Tysdal said they're experiencing "late-summer fire weather conditions and fire behavior."

'Pray For Rain': Wildfire Burns 3,900 Acres, Has Northeast Wyoming Ranchers Worried

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

A woman born in Casper and raised on a ranch near Riverton, along with her young son, were among the more than 900 people who died at Jonestown, Guyana, in November 1978, when self-styled pastor turned messianic figure Jim Jones infamously commanded them to drink a poisoned potion.

Wanda Shirley Swinney moved to Jones’ People's Temple compound in Guyana in August 1977, reuniting with her husband and son. 

How Swinney’s life went from her Wyoming beginnings to ending with the command of a cult leader in Jonestown is a tale of family tragedy, an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, a father’s introduction, and years of brainwashing from the cult’s exalted leader.

The bottom line is Swinney was devoted to Jones. 

In a letter to him written in Guyana, she thanked her “precious Father” for providing their life in Guyana.

“There is no limit to what we can do if we follow your teachings and put them into practice,” she wrote. “Thank you Father for the privilege of being here with you.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"When It Came Tumbling Down"}]

A California congressman, along with journalists, flew to the jungle community in November 1978 to check on his constituents and other Americans who were at Jones’ compound, dubbed “Jonestown."

U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan had heard that people wanted to leave, but were not allowed.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"There was no heavenly outcome."}]

Headlines and history record 918 deaths in Guyana that included Ryan’s assassination and the murder of journalists who accompanied him at the hands of Jones’ deluded followers. Of those, 909 died by drinking the “potion."

Jones died by either self-inflicted gunshot or at the hands of an obedient assistant. Some followers slit their throats, but most of his congregants drank a cyanide-laced potion at his command.

In his now-infamous “Death Tape,” Jones tells his followers “how much” he loved them and tried to give them “the good life.” 

, he characterized Ryan’s visit as a betrayal by “a handful” of sect members “who have made our life impossible.”

Ryan and his party were to fly out with some cult members and children that Jones characterized as “stolen” from Jonestown. 

Jones said the actions of angry sect members at the airport to get their children back using weapons meant the only solution for the rest of the congregation was not to “commit suicide,” but to “take the potion as a revolutionary act.”

He quoted scripture “that no man takes my life from me, I lay it down” and then referred to himself as a communist.

“We can’t go back and they won’t leave us alone,” Jones said. “The best testimony we can make is to leave this (profanity) world.”

Born in Casper as Wanda Shirley Werner on Aug. 20, 1947, she was raised in the early part of her life on a ranch outside Riverton.

It was 31 years later when Wanda Shirley Swinney’s life ended when she — along with her young son — obeyed her “father” and drank Jones' “potion.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Temple Visit"}]

“We went to one of the meetings,” recalls Darlene Parrish, Swinney’s niece.

Darlene and her sister, Tina Parrish, of Carson, Nevada, are the closest living connection to Swinney. They are the daughters of Swinney’s older sister, Jeanie Lou Parrish. Their mother died in October 2023.

Darlene Parrish said that as a young girl, she accompanied her mother on a visit to see her sister in California. 

Her mother and aunt took her to the People’s Temple in San Francisco, where Jones preached and commanded his congregation.

She doesn’t remember a lot from that visit except that in addition to Jones and his followers, there was a monkey at the service.

“Mom told us she remembers Jim Jones getting up there, talking and everything,” Darlene Parrish told Cowboy State Daily. “He said he was ‘Jesus’ and the Bible was just a bunch of lies about him. 

"She said he took the Bible and stomped on it.”

Tina Parrish was 9 months old when her aunt took her life, but she heard the story about the temple visit several times while growing up.

“That was a big story in our family,” she said.

Wanda Shirley Werner was born to Chelsea Guy Werner and Jean Evelyn Werner, the youngest of siblings that including Leonard, Jeanie Lou, and Chelsea Jr.

The Parrish sisters said their mother was born in Missouri and the family moved to Wyoming where their grandfather and grandmother eventually ranched a few years after her birth. 

They believe their grandmother also was possible a teacher for a time.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mother’s Death"}]

A Casper Star-Tribune article on March 17, 1958, recorded their grandmother’s death.

“Mrs. Jean Evelyn Werner, former Casper resident, died suddenly in a Riverton hospital according to word received here today,” the newspaper reported. “She was 43 years old. Mrs. Werner was born in Huntsville, Missouri. She lived in Casper from 1946 to 1949.”

Darlene Parrish said her mother was 15 at the time of her grandmother’s death and became a surrogate mom for Wanda and Chelsea Jr.

The Parrish sisters said one story their mother told about Wanda involved her as a young girl playing on a stump and disturbing a nearby beehive. 

The bees swarmed on Wanda and their mom, Jeanie, had to quickly run and grab the girl and pull her away, swiping bees off as the girls tried to escape.

After their grandmother’s death, their grandfather got a job driving trucks over the road and went through a succession of wives. 

The Parrish sisters said they did not know their grandfather well and visited him once after he moved to Grants Pass, Oregon.

Their mother’s life stayed centered in Wyoming and they don’t know why Wanda and their grandfather ended up in California.

But the Richmond Independent newspaper listed Wanda Shirley Werner as among the 751 graduates of Richmond High School on June 15, 1965. Richmond is in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Three years later on March 27, 1968, Wanda Werner’s photo is in the same newspaper as a graduate of U.S. Marine Corps boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. 

But her military career was cut short by an out-of-wedlock pregnancy and birth of a biracial son, Darren Eugene Werner.

Darren was born on Sept. 8, 1968, in Oakland, California.

The Parrish sisters say that it was the stigma at that time associated with having biracial baby that led to Wanda Werner’s involvement with the People’s Temple.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"An Introduction"}]

“It was my grandfather who kind of got her in it not knowing what it was at the time, of course,” Tina Parrish said. “He was driving truck with a member of the People’s Temple and they also had a mixed-race child.” 

She said her grandfather thought that Wanda would find more acceptance with those people as friends. That introduction likely took place in late 1968 or 1969.

At the People’s Temple, Wanda Werner, then 22, married Timothy Swinney, 32, in 1970, after he had divorced his first wife. 

Swinney was considered a “pioneer” at the People’s Temple because his parents and family followed Jones from their home in Indiana as Jones moved from that state to California.

The Ukiah Daily Journal on Oct. 21, 1970, listed Wanda Swinney as the secretary of the Ukiah Area Council that met at the First Methodist Church. The group’s order of business was to make preparations for food baskets for people for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

San Diego State University, which hosts a website that contains information about Jonestown, and the People’s Temple lists Wanda Swinney as moving to Guyana on Aug. 10, 1977. 

Her husband had gone there on March 18, 1974, and it lists her son, Darren Swinney, as entering the country on Nov. 24, 1975.

Prior to Guyana, Wanda Swinney worked as a bus driver, accounting clerk, and had skills in animal husbandry, farming and cooking, the website states.            

Darlene Parrish recalls one thing her mother talked about was that as girls on the ranch in Wyoming, both she and Wanda enjoyed horses and horseback riding.

In Guyana, Wanda lived in a separate residence from her husband and was listed as being in charge of the livestock, the “piggery,” and large animals.

Although Wanda Werner was patriotic enough to join the Marines during the Vietnam War, undated letters from her to Jim Jones reflect she believed Jones' Marxist anti-American messages and preaching that came out of his pulpit in the years leading up to the Jonestown event.

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

A massive FBI file created after the Nov. 18, 1978, mass murder and suicide includes a Nov. 21, 1978, message from the Omaha, Nebraska, office to the San Francisco office that contained an interview with a woman who joined the People’s Temple with her then-husband in Los Angeles. 

They were told to move to Ukiah, California.

“(The woman) advised although the group on the surface appeared to be a religious group, it was actually politically oriented and Jim Jones professed a political philosophy adhering to the teachings of Marx and Lenin,” the FBI memo states. 

“All members of the group had to attend closed instructional meetings two or three days a week, each last several hours,” it continues.

Swinney’s letters to Jones were written while she was in Guyana. She wrote her “Father” that among the reasons she left the United States “were because it is a capitalistic nation and we are Socialists and trying to learn more of Socialism.”

A woman born in Casper and raised on a ranch near Riverton, along with her young son, were among the more than 900 people who died at Jonestown, Guyana, in November 1978, when self-styled pastor Jim Jones infamously commanded them to drink poison.

Elizabeth "Liz" (Stearns) Newlon, 75