Wyoming News Briefs

Former Grand Teton Park superintendent dies from COVID

JACKSON (WNE) — A onetime Grand Teton National Park superintendent who rose to the top of the National Park Service has died after contracting COVID-19.

Gary Everhardt, 86, led Teton Park from 1972 to 1975, departing to become the ninth director of the National Park Service under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Both Gary and his wife, Nancy, succumbed to complications from the novel coronavirus during the past week in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area, according to longtime friend and fellow Park Service retiree Phil Francis.

“They both had COVID, and it was contracted through an assisted care facility,” Francis told the Jackson Hole Daily on Monday. “She died Wednesday night, and Gary died last night.”

Francis and Everhardt both had stints presiding over the Park Service’s Blue Ridge Parkway, the last stop for each before retirement. They came to be close and were exercise buddies.

“Gary was a good friend,” Francis said. “And he was a good friend of the Blue Ridge Parkway and great friend and lover of the National Park Service.”

Everhardt’s time atop the Park Service was probably most marked by his role leading the agency through the United States’ bicentennial celebration.

“He wasn’t director for a long time,” Francis said, “but I think that was his great contribution.”

When Everhardt was tapped to lead the federal agency, he was 40 years old and had just spent a decent chunk of his career in Northwest Wyoming. Prior to the Teton Park superintendency, he spent two years as the assistant superintendent at Yellowstone.

Former Green River fire chief sentenced for embezzling from fire department fund

ROCK SPRINGS (WNE) — Former Fire Chief Michael Nomis was sentenced to prison Thursday afternoon for embezzling funds from the Green River Fire Department Foundation between Feb. 4 and Dec. 23, 2019.

Sweetwater County District Court Judge Suzannah Robinson sentenced Nomis to three to seven years in the Wyoming State Penitentiary or other correctional facility for felony theft. He also received a one year sentence in the Sweetwater County Detention Center for wrongful appropriation of public property to be served concurrently with his sentence for felony theft.

Nomis was also ordered to pay restitution of the more than $59,000 he took from the fund in addition to court costs. He pleaded guilty to both charges at a change of plea hearing in September.  

Stephanie Nomis, his wife, pleaded guilty in October for felony theft from the same fund. Her sentencing is pending.

Robinson said she decided that probation would not be appropriate.

It is significant that the money was stolen from a donated account, the judge said. Community members and fellow firefighters provided the funds. It is disturbing that part of that money would have been used for people who had a fire in their home, she said.

Although the felony charges Nomis pleaded guilty to cover a period of time in 2019, Robinson said Nomis admitted that the crime stemmed back from 2017-2018, and there is a large amount of money that is not included in the charging information. It was an ongoing pattern that reflected many lies and deceptions, Robinson said.

“Instead of helping other people, you helped yourself for a long period of time,” Robinson said. “The public needs to know that when community leaders violate that type of trust, that there will be repercussions.”

Gillette airport traffic lowest in 20 years

GILLETTE (WNE) — Traffic at the Northeast Wyoming Regional Airport is on pace to finish 2020 with the lowest mark in at least two decades.

For the last two and a half months, traffic had picked up, and the airport was the busiest it has been since the start of the pandemic.

In November, 2567 people came through the airport, and in October, there were 2,828 total passengers. These are the two highest monthly totals since March.

Throughout 2020, 26,602 people have used the airport, a 50% decrease from 2019, which was at 53,357 through the first 11 months of the year.

The airport is on track to finish at about 29,000 passengers for the year, which would be the lowest yearly total in at least 20 years, said airport director Jay Lundell.

Holiday travel wasn’t quite as busy as he thought it would be in November, when flights were 49% full. So far in December, the flights have been 57% full on average.

Lundell said it’s “very discouraging” to have a 50% drop, especially when “we were having such a good year in 2019.” But he’s cautiously optimistic about 2021.

For the first three months of 2021, the airport will go down to just one flight per day. Those months are historically slower than the rest of the year. A second daily flight could return in April, Lundell said.

Man broke into home, hid in closet while fleeing arrest

GILLETTE (WNE) — A 33-year-old man who ran from deputies and broke into a home while it was occupied last week was arrested after he was found hiding in a closet armed with weapons and beer.

Andrew Blake is charged with aggravated burglary, felony possession of meth and interference with a peace officer.

On Dec. 16, a bail bondsman went into Blake’s trailer to arrest him on warrants. The bondsman told deputies that Blake charged at him, and the bondsman tried to put him in a chokehold, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Blake was able to wrestle away and escaped the trailer shirtless and with one shoe.

Deputies searched the area for Blake. They saw footprints west of the trailer, which they followed across an open field to a house. They knew the footprints were Blake’s, because one footprint was a shoe while the other was a bare foot, according to the affidavit.

Deputies learned the house’s residents had called 911 to report an intruder in their basement, according to the affidavit.

The homeowner said that a bedroom door in his basement, which was previously open and unlocked, was locked. Deputies opened the door and found Blake hiding underneath a blanket in the bedroom closet.

After talking with the homeowner, deputies determined Blake entered the house through the garage before it was secured for the night, took some beers and a water bottle from a refrigerator in the garage and hid in the closet.

Drug paraphernalia was found in Blake’s trailer, and a cotton swab that weighed less than 0.3 grams tested presumptive positive for meth, the affidavit says.

Snakes on the plains: Reptiles rescued after wreck near Wright

GILLETTE (WNE) — Campbell County firefighters were left to find temporary homes for a handful of snakes after a truck pulling a trailer rolled into a ditch along Highway 59 on Wednesday afternoon south of Wright.

A boa constrictor was found dead in the ditch, but six other non-venomous snakes survived, said Sgt. Gary Sams. An eighth snake was found wedged between a seat and the center console of the truck, but animal control was able to save it, said Fire Station 9 Capt. Robert Dickey.

The boa constrictor that died and another that survived the crash were the two largest of the reptiles, each measuring 6 to 7 feet long, he said.

Two sugar gliders — a small, nocturnal possum — and two dogs also were with the couple and were safe. After a brief stay at Fire Station 9, the snakes and animals were taken to the Gillette Animal Shelter for safekeeping.

“Good or bad, it was winter, so the snakes weren’t moving fast,” Dickey said, noting that if it were summer, they may not have been lucky enough to catch the cold-blooded reptiles.

The animals were being kept at the shelter to be returned to their owners when they are able to pick them up. 

The extent of the damage from the crash is unclear, but a 45-year-old man and a woman, 26, were taken to the hospital’s emergency department for treatment, according to a Fire Department press release.

Blue Cross providing COVID-19 vaccines with no ‘cost-share’

DOUGLAS (WNE) — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming welcomes the arrival of safe, effective and affordable vaccines as a key component in the national and local COVID-19 response, and confirms that vaccines will be offered free of charge, including waiving all co-pays, deductibles or coinsurance. 

The vaccines are provided free of charge under the federal CARES Act, and BCBSWY will waive all cost-sharing for any fees charged to administer the vaccines. 

BCBSWY is also extending the cost-share waiver for the medical treatment related to the diagnosis of COVID-19 to all fully insured groups and individuals until March 31, including inpatient hospital care. 

Testing to diagnose COVID-19 for treatment purposes is already provided without member cost-share under federal provisions. 

“COVID-19 has affected all of our lives in some manner at this point, and the sooner Wyoming residents can access a safe and effective vaccine, the sooner we can begin to recover,” BCBSWY president and CEO Diane Gore said.