Wyoming News Briefs

National motorcycle convention brings millions of dollars to Sheridan

SHERIDAN (WNE) — Organizers are still tallying the final numbers, but estimates have the recent Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association national convention held June 23-26 bringing in $2.7 million into the local economy.

And it might have actually been more.

Rachel Webb of Sheridan, the outgoing Wyoming state representative for CVMA Auxiliary Chapter 36-1 and one of the organizers of the event, said the recent convention brought as many as 3300 to 3500 people to Sheridan, the smallest community to ever host the group’s national convention.

The CVMA is an association of combat veterans from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces who ride motorcycles as a hobby. The association boasts members in all 50 states and began expanding internationally into Europe and Asia.

“In our history, it was the biggest number to attend a national,” Webb said.

According to Webb, about 2200 full members — those who served in combat — and 500 members of the auxiliary chapters voted at the conference’s general meeting at the Bruce Hoffman Golden Dome on the campus of Sheridan College.

Shawn Parker, executive director of Sheridan County Travel and Tourism, said if each person attending the conference spent an average of $150 per day over a six-day period that the conference brought in as much as $2.7 million in tourism revenue to the area.

“That’s low,” Parker said of the estimate. “After all, the average hotel is over $100 for a room per night right now.

“That’s a super conservative number…The sky’s the limit from there.”

Trial to begin for man accused of 19 sex crimes

GILLETTE (WNE) — A convicted sex offender accused of 19 sex crimes in Campbell County is scheduled to go to trial this week on the charges.

Terrill Kim Morris, aka Terril Kim Morris, 56, has maintained his innocence of the alleged crimes that involve sexual abuse of two boys. He also is charged with eight counts of child pornography.

Morris is a registered sex offender from Washington state who spent ten years in prison for molesting several pre-pubescent boys and 22 years in “civil commitment” in Washington in an effort to rehabilitate him back to society. He was released in January 2019 and moved to Gillette, according to court documents.

But in March 2020, police began investigating him after a child displayed behavior in school that indicated he had been a victim of sexual abuse told his counselor that, “I’m not supposed to tell anyone.”

He told another counselor of sexual intrusion that hurt, which had happened “billions and billions of times,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.

In a separate case, Morris also is accused of inappropriately touching a boy who he had befriended by putting cream on his buttocks. 

In both cases, he is accused of helping the boys urinate and taking showers with them or bathing them even though the boys were old enough to urinate and bathe on their own, according to the affidavit.

216 energy project to get CARES money

CASPER (WNE) — The $12 million in CARES Act funding allocated for the second round of the Energy Rebound Program will be distributed among 216 selected projects, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission announced Friday. 

Gov. Mark Gordon established the Energy Rebound Program last November in an effort to spur development and generate jobs in the struggling oil and gas industry. The program reimburses up to $500,000 per project for three types of activities interrupted by the pandemic-fueled energy market collapse: completing unfinished wells, redrilling existing wells and reclaiming abandoned wells. 

“What this program was designed to do is really try to jumpstart those projects that, because of COVID, maybe didn’t quite make economic sense,” said Ryan McConnaughey, communications director for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. 

In the first round of the program, which was administered by the Wyoming Business Council, 292 oil and gas projects received $30 million in CARES Act dollars. During last year’s cycle, Gordon doubled the original sum of $15 million in response to high demand. 

This year, even though 744 of the 864 proposed projects submitted between June 15 and June 25 were found to be eligible for the program, the available funding did not change. Roughly one-third of proposals were selected to receive support and can have their work reimbursed through the end of the year. 

In most cases, a grant of up to $500,000 won’t cover entire projects. Most companies chosen for the program still have to source funding for any remaining costs independently. 

UW offers incentives for vaccination

GILLETTE (WNE) — The University of Wyoming is preparing for the upcoming school year by announcing an incentive program to encourage students to get a COVID-19 vaccination with a grand prize being a semester’s worth of tuition and fees.

Other prizes include cash, a campus parking pass, pregame football sideline passes and dinner with President Ed Seidel, according to a UW press release.

Vaccinations are not required for UW students or employees but strongly encouraged.

“We hope these incentives will help motivate our students to receive the vaccines, which have been proven to be highly effective and safe, and are key to successfully managing the COVID-19 pandemic,” Seidel said in the press release. “Regardless of where they’re spending the summer, the vaccine is likely readily available to our students in their local communities. For those who aren’t yet vaccinated or who haven’t reported their vaccinations to the university, these prizes provide another reason to take action now.”

Two winners will be drawn from all students who provide documentation of full COVID-19 vaccination (meaning two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, one dose of Johnson & Johnson) to receive up to $4500. The first drawing will take place during the week of Aug. 23, and the second drawing will take place during the week of Sept. 27. Another two winners of this grand prize will be selected before the end of the spring semester.

Another drawing will happen those same weeks to give one winner an “A” parking permit, which are usually reserved for faculty and staff members, and is worth $210.

Discovered skull has no connection to missing woman

PINEDALE (WNE) — A human skull found by a rockhound near Sublette Springs on May 30 is not connected to the active investigation near LaBarge of a missing woman and a trapper who died while his property was searched for evidence of her disappearance. 

A man found the human skull near the historic waterhole, likely used by travelers for hundreds of years and now on public land, and contacted the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office, public information officer Sgt. Travis Bingham said. 

No other bones were found near the skull, which an expert forensic anthropologist is studying for age and ethnicity. Bingham said the expert’s first impression was that it was not recent. 

LaBarge resident Vanessa Sue Orren, 61, was reported missing in January 2017 and the ongoing investigation led Sublette County investigators to execute a search warrant on the property of Darrell Lee “Pete” Petry, 66, living in Sublette County close to LaBarge, which is in Lincoln County. 

County and state investigators led by Detective Ian Allen – with the FBI’s assistance – served Petry the warrant on Saturday, June 19, looking for evidence of Orren’s disappearance, according to Bingham. 

Petry was not detained or under arrest at the time, he said. 

Petry stayed Saturday during the search and left on Sunday, June 20. His body was found on Tuesday, June 22, dead with a self-inflicted injury, Bingham said, adding foul play was not suspected. The search closed out on June 23, he said.

Enhanced penalty means up to 50 years for aggravated assault

GILLETTE (WNE) – A man accused of trying to hit a man over the head with a crowbar has been convicted of aggravated assault and battery.

But an additional habitual criminal enhancement means that Brennan Tomas Baker, 30, will spend 10 to 50 years in prison.

It took a jury 34 minutes to convict him of the crime Thursday after a two-day trial in 6th Judicial District Court.

A surveillance video shows that during an altercation in a parking lot on South Douglas Highway on Oct. 11, Baker waited in his car for the victim to leave the coffee shop. When the man left and headed toward his van, Baker drove toward him, got out and headed at him. 

Baker reportedly raised a crowbar with both hands and swung it at the man, narrowly missing his head but hitting his arms, which the man had raised defensively.

Police said Baker twice aimed for the man’s head and counted him making 10 swings at the man. The man had cuts and swelling on his left arm and hand.

Baker is considered a habitual criminal because the aggravated assault and battery is a violent felony and because he had two other felony convictions for burglary in Campbell County from 2019 cases.

Sentencing will be in about 75 days.

Black bear euthanized in Sheridan after second capture in three weeks

SHERIDAN (WNE) – Wyoming Game and Fish Department wildlife managers euthanized a two-year-old male black bear on Monday morning after capturing it along Big Goose Creek between the 8th and 11th street bridges.

Personnel had responded to multiple reports of a bear in the north area of town for more than a week, but previous attempts to immobilize or trap it were unsuccessful.

Based on information from an ear tag, this bear was previously captured in Sheridan on June 20 near the Holly Sugar building off Sugarland Drive. It was released that day in the Bighorn National Forest.

“Unfortunately, after the relocation attempt, the bear returned within approximately ten days and we had no further management options,” said Tim Thomas, Sheridan Wildlife Biologist. “Because it traveled more than 30 miles through quality bear habitat, showed no aversion to being in a residential setting and had received several food rewards of residential garbage in recent days, the decision was made to euthanize it.

“Relocating bears is our preferred management option when possible, but as we see in cases like this, bears will sometimes travel long distances to return to where they were captured and the relocation effort is unsuccessful. This is a very dry year and bears are likely roaming more widely in their search for natural foods.”

Man gets 8-10 years for thefts

CODY (WNE) — A local man has been sentenced to 8-10 years in prison for his role in at least 16 auto burglaries in Cody and six break-ins at a storage unit complex in Powell.

Bryan Nihei, 31, was sentenced by Judge Bill Simpson on May 18 and was also assessed $3,749 in restitution as part of a guilty plea agreement.

Nihei has been connected to a series of thefts that occurred in Cody and Powell through December and January last winter.

A total of 27 auto burglaries occurred that were possibly connected to Nihei.

The first four auto burglaries started in mid-December, when Nihei breached vehicles in the County Road 2AB area of Cody and stole binoculars and a few wallets.

Cody police were able to connect Nihei with 13 auto burglaries, including a string of nine vehicles broken into early Jan. 29.

The Park County Sheriff’s Office received a report of 10 storage units broken into at Dash Storage, with items including jewelry and a 7mm Remington rifle stolen. 

In the investigation, Nihei admitted to living out of his storage unit at the facility.

Nihei was initially charged with 21 felonies but only ended up being charged with one count for burglary. Those charges were dismissed with prejudice. 

In a separate case, Nihei was sentenced to 2.5-5 years in prison in Big Horn County in May for theft of $3,685 in rare coins. He will serve this sentence concurrently and must also pay $3,000 in court fines and $3,658 in restitution.

Yellowstone Regional Airport aims to get bigger aircraft

CODY (WNE) — Yellowstone Regional Airport is making a commitment to attracting larger commercial jets to its runway with the recent purchase of equipment specifically made to work on the bigger and more reliable planes.

The $314,715 purchase for three pieces of ground equipment from AERO Specialties will now allow the airport to facilitate 70-passenger Embraer E175s, and even planes as large as a Boeing 737, on its runway.

“All together, they just provide better service,” said Aaron Buck, YRA general manager.

Currently, YRA can only serve the smaller and mostly outdated Bombardier CRJ 200s and the larger, but also outdated CRJ 700 jets. Not only do CRJ 200s, which make up the vast majority of YRA flights, carry fewer people, but Buck said they are also outdated and riddled with maintenance issues that delay and sometimes cause cancelled flights.

By acquiring the equipment, the airport could bring in more passengers and offer them better service.

The E175s tend to garner higher-level air flight crews as well, said YRA Board Member Bucky Hall at a June 9 meeting. Less experienced pilots have more restrictive caps on the amount of hours they can fly in one day.

The three new machines purchased by the airport include an Aircraft Start that initiates the plane’s engines, a GPU power mount that gives a plane power without having to be turned on, and a tug that can push the plane away from the terminal to avoid engine blasts on the terminal building.

Buck said the equipment will arrive by Sept. 1 and will be put to use shortly thereafter.