Wyoming News Briefs

War Memorial Stadium seating will be limited

CASPER (WNE) — The University of Wyoming’s War Memorial Stadium will likely be kept at roughly a quarter of its capacity in the coming season and student capacity may be slashed by as much as two-thirds, the school’s athletic director told faculty Monday night. 

“There is no way we’re going to put 30,000 people in there for any event this year,” Tom Burman said during a town hall. 

Though exact details are still being worked out with health officials, Burman said that the stadium’s capacity will likely be “roughly in the neighborhood of 20 to 35 percent” in order to “allow for some safe social distancing.” 

He added that the student seating, which typically features about 3300 spectators, will likely be slashed to roughly a thousand. He said tailgating would “greatly reduced” and that other parts of the stadium experience — including entrances and concessions — will be more tightly controlled. 

As far as what’s to come for the season’s scheduling, Burman said he “can honestly tell you I don’t know what the Mountain West Conference is going to do.” He said a delayed start was likely; other conferences, he said, had shortened schedules and pushed back the beginning of the season. 

In a bit of good news, Burman said that after widespread testing, no UW student-athlete has tested positive for the coronavirus. 

Albany County man charged in campground shooting

LARAMIE (WNE) — An Albany County man shot a stranger late last month at the Willow Campground west of Centennial, according to charging documents filed by Albany County prosecutors.

John Howitt had been camping at the site for five days when he shot someone in the leg after dark on July 24, according to the Albany County Sheriff’s Office. 

Howitt told sheriff’s deputies that a visibly intoxicated man had frightened him, and he shot at the man’s leg in self-defense. Officials have not released the name of the man who was shot.

Howitt told police that the man had acted belligerently toward him earlier in the night, then returned later at night. The man rubbed against a car that Howitt was sleeping inside and threatened to beat him up, Howitt said. 

Howitt claimed he shot the man once in the leg when he was within an arm’s reach of the rear passenger-side door. He said he feared for his life when he shot.

The victim told police he had not had a confrontation with anyone that night, and he never met Howitt. He had arrived at the campground less than half an hour before and taken his dog for a walk. He said he was walking down a road in the campground when he felt a sharp pain in his left hip area and realized he’d been shot. The victim denied he was drunk or otherwise intoxicated at the time. 

Sheriff’s deputies inspected the scene of the shooting and determined Howitt’s story of a confrontation was likely not true, according to court documents.

Howitt has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which is punishable by up to ten years in prison.

Health order violation charge against gym owner dismissed

PINEDALE (WNE) — An April 15 citation to a gym owner saying she violated a public health order was dismissed last month by the prosecution. 

Jennifer R. Ramsey, owner of the Iron Bar Gym, was cited that day by Undersheriff Logan Gehlhausen for opening for customers while Wyoming was under a strict public health order that restricted certain businesses in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Ramsey pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge via videoconference and requested a six-person jury trial. 

Sublette County Deputy Attorney Clayton Melinkovich filed the misdemeanor – the only one reported in Sublette County and perhaps western Wyoming at that time – in Circuit Court as well as the June 17 motion to dismiss the charge “without prejudice in the interests of justice.”

Chase ends in head-on collision, arrest

EVANSTON (WNE) — Three people were hospitalized on Saturday, Aug. 1, and a Utah man was arrested following a head-on collision on Interstate 80 just east of Evanston. 

According to a Facebook post by Uinta County Fire and Ambulance, three people were transported to Evanston Regional Hospital, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Four other people were treated and released at the scene. 

The Wyoming Highway Patrol arrested 24-year-old Zachary Talbot, of Utah, after he allegedly led law enforcement on a short high-speed chase. WHP Lt. Matt Arnell told the Uinta County Herald that Talbot was clocked going 91 mph as he came up behind a trooper, who slowed down to let the vehicle pass around milepost 17. Once the trooper turned on his emergency lights, Arnell said the suspect increased his speed to about 130 mph. 

Arnell said the vehicle, a red Chevrolet Impala, was listed as stolen out of Utah. The chase continued until milepost 13, where Arnell said Talbot exited I-80. 

“He proceeded up to exit 13, went up under the interstate then went on the off-ramp on eastbound I-80,” Arnell said, traveling against traffic. 

The vehicle collided head-on with an SUV shortly after. 

Arnell said Talbot admitted to using heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana.

Cheyenne woman gets prison time for meth-fueled assault

CHEYENNE (WNE) – A Cheyenne woman who has long battled drug addiction will spend at least four years in prison for a methamphetamine-fueled attack on another woman last fall.

On Thursday, Laramie County Judge Peter Froelicher sentenced Bryanna Salinas to a minimum of four years and a maximum of six years for the aggravated assault and battery of Britnee Gilmore, who was left permanently disfigured as a result of the fight.

Salinas was scheduled to go to a drug treatment program after being released on bond for those charges, but failed to report. This spring, she was arrested for felony possession of a controlled substance. She pleaded guilty to that charge Thursday and was sentenced to a minimum of two years, which will be served concurrently with the other sentence.

Before Froelicher handed down his sentences, Ross McKelvey, Salinas’ attorney, asked that her client be allowed to check into an inpatient drug treatment facility while remaining on probation. 

Salinas, who is in her late 20s, first used methamphetamine when she was 15 years old.

In October 2019, Salinas and an accomplice, Scott Johnson, beat Gilmore during an argument over methamphetamine. Salinas used a curtain rod to beat Gilmore, which Harper said left the victim without the top half of her left index finger and permanent facial scarring.

“She has been given the chance to better herself if she’s been using drugs since 2009,” deputy district attorney Caitlin Harper said, as she asked the judge for a sentence of eight to 10 years. “Here we are 11 years later, and a woman is left permanently disfigured because of (Salinas’) actions.”

Harper did request that Salinas be admitted to a drug treatment program while she is incarcerated.

Task force recommends grants for Wyoming college students

LARAMIE (WNE) — A Wyoming legislative task force recommended legislation on Friday which would provide grants of up to $6500 to most students at the University of Wyoming and other post-secondary institutions in the state.

The Wyoming’s Tomorrow Task Force unanimously voted in favor of the proposal by House Speaker Steve Harshman, R-Casper.

Because the task force includes members who are not legislators, it does not have the power to sponsor bills, but only to recommend them. As the sitting Speaker of the House, Harshman said that he would look into ways to get the bill on the legislative agenda.

The grants would come from the federal CARES Act funding that the state has received. Each full-time UW student who enrolls for the full year and is an American citizen would receive $6500.

Community college students would have their full tuition and fees covered by the grants. Lawmakers amended the bill to include other workforce training programs, such as WyoTech, although final language has not been released saying exactly how much of the cost would be covered.

The governor’s office is looking at a similar plan to provide student aid from the CARES Act funding, Harshman said. The governor has broad control over that funding, and it is possible that grants to students could be secured without any action by the Legislature.

It is also possible that the Legislature could hold a special session in the next few months, especially if Congress passes another stimulus bill, Harshman said. His proposed legislation could be considered at a special session.

“In the end, the governor and the Legislature decide what the law is,” Harshman said. “We’re going to go forward with the best policy we can.”

Campbell County hospital still negotiating ransomware insurance settlement

GILLETTE (WNE) — Campbell County Health continues to negotiate its insurance claim to cover financial losses from last year’s ransomware attack, said Chief Financial Officer Mary Lou Tate.

Now that negotiations are underway and having already dragged on longer than expected, CCH is expecting to receive less than its initial claim, if and when a settlement is reached.

In September, a ransomware attack shut down more than 1500 computers and servers at Campbell County Memorial Hospital and Legacy Living and Rehabilitation Center.

It wasn’t until December that the hospital returned to normal and fully recovered its technology infrastructure.

In January, Tate said that she expected an insurance settlement of about $1.5 million, which she said is about how much CCH lost from the attack.

There are three insurance companies involved in settling the claim. CCH’s primary insurance policy is through Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd., with additional insurance riders from The Travelers Companies and Tokio Marine Holdings.

“Part of the negotiation is who is responsible for what because they all have different language in their policies,” Tate said.

At a luncheon in February, CEO Colleen Heeter said that no patient information was compromised during the cyberattack, but the organization did not release financial numbers related to the attack, including how much ransom was being demanded.

CCH did not pay a ransom to unlock its systems.

Following the ransomware incident, CCH leadership reassessed its information technology infrastructure and philosophy toward cybersecurity.