Wyoming News Briefs

Black 14 Philanthropy delivers 40,000 pounds of food to Laramie

LARAMIE (WNE) — Cathedral Home and the University of Wyoming Food Share Pantry welcomed a delivery of 40,000 pounds of food and goods that traveled to Laramie last Tuesday.

The delivery is made possible through a partnership between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Black 14’s “Mind, Body and Soul” initiative, which dispatches food to communities identified by active Black 14 players, according to a news release from the Cathedral Home.

Mel Hamilton and John Griffin of the Black 14 are the group’s connection to the two Laramie recipients.

Divided between Cathedral Home and the UW Food Share Pantry, the delivery contained a mix of shelf-stable groceries such as canned fruit, canned vegetables, canned soups, pasta, oatmeal, peanut butter and beans. Some cleaning supplies and diapers also were part of the delivery to be distributed.

Cathedral Home will share its 20,000 pounds of food and goods between the Residential Program on campus north of Laramie, the Laramie Youth Crisis Center at 960 N. 5th St., and the Cathedral Home Resource Center at 515 S. 5th St.

For more information about Cathedral Home programs’ support of youth and families online at cathedralhome.org.

To learn more about the Black 14 Philanthropy online at black14. net. More details about the University of Wyoming Food Share Pantry is available online at uwyo.edu/dos/student-resources/ food-pantry.html.

Casper to be home of Wyoming’s only abortion clinic

CASPER (WNE) — Wellspring Health Access in Casper will become the only abortion clinic in Wyoming after a Jackson clinic announced its closure.

The Women’s Health and Family Care Clinic will be closing its doors due to high costs, Wellspring Heath Access announced in a statement Wednesday.

The loss of the state’s only other provider will make it even more burdensome for patients who need medical care across the region, President Julie Burkhart said in the statement.

“We’ve been the only procedural abortion clinic since opening April this year, but now we will have the added burden of being the only brick-and-mortar medication abortion provider in Wyoming, as well,” Burkhart said.

Wellspring Health Access recognizes “the stakes of remaining open and accessible to the patients who need us,” she said.

The clinic plans to continue providing reproductive health care for those across the Mountain West “while fighting to keep abortion legal” in Wyoming, she said.

“We are so grateful to Dr. Giovannina Anthony and the team at Women’s Health and Family Care Clinic for their dedication to providing quality care, and for joining us in the legal fight against abortion bans in the state,” Burkhart said.

Cheyenne hospital physicians first in state to use SPRINT pain treatment system

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Interventional pain management physicians at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center are the first in Wyoming to use the SPRINT Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) system, a minimally invasive and nonopioid neurostimulation device used to treat acute and chronic pain.

“The brain perceives pain from signals sent up the spinal cord from peripheral nerves. SPRINT is designed to interrupt those pain messages and decrease pain symptoms by delivering tiny electrical pulses to the targeted peripheral nerve,” said Dr. Natalie Winter, interventional pain management specialist with CRMC and Cheyenne Regional Medical Group (CRMG) Medical Specialty Clinic, in a news release. “Over time, stimulation of a peripheral nerve with SPRINT is believed to change how the brain may perceive and respond to pain.”

Physicians across the nation have prescribed the SPRINT system to treat multiple pain conditions, including post-amputation pain, inoperable knee and shoulder joint pain, chronic neck and low back pain, complex regional pain syndrome, post-traumatic acute pain and post-operative pain following joint replacement and surgical reconstruction.

“The SPRINT system fulfills a critical need for a drug-free, surgery-free option for many people in our community and region who suffer from chronic and acute pain,” Winter said.

For more information about the SPRINT PNS system and its application, contact the CRMG Medical Specialty Clinic at 307-638-7757.

Hageman calls suit to keep Trump off ballot ‘unconstitutional idiocy’

CHEYENNE (WNE) — U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., on Wednesday blasted a lawsuit filed by a retired lawyer from Laramie seeking to block former President Donald Trump and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., from appearing on future election ballots, calling the lawsuit “frivolous.”

Tim Newcomb’s Nov. 1 filing in Albany County District Court accuses Trump of failing to defend the Constitution by conspiring with other nations and due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot after Trump refused to concede his loss in the 2020 presidential election. Similar challenges seeking to keep Trump off the ballot have been attempted in Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota and New Jersey.

Newcomb argued that Lummis also betrayed her oath by refusing to certify Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results in January 2021. Lummis is not up for reelection until 2026, and will not be appearing on the ballot next year.

Hageman issued the following statement: “These boneheaded attempts to keep President Trump off the ballot have sadly made their way to my state of Wyoming. This development, however, does not make the attempts any more constitutional.

“The qualifications to run for president and senator are spelled out quite clearly in our founding document, and it doesn’t say anything about retired lawyers from Laramie having a say in the matter at all. ... This is an attempt to use the court system to interfere with an upcoming election and deny voters the chance to support a candidate of their choosing. Nothing could be more tyrannical than that.”

Bait trap gather to begin in McCullough Peaks Wild Horse Herd Management Area

POWELL (WNE) — The Bureau of Land Management Cody Field Office will begin a wild horse bait trap gather operation on or about Nov. 27 in the McCullough Peaks Wild Horse Herd Management Area east of Cody. 

The BLM will use the bait method; no helicopters will be used. 

The Cody Field Office estimates a current population of 181 horses, based on direct counts in 2023. The BLM plans to gather approximately 80 wild horses and remove approximately 41 to reach the high Appropriate Management Level of 140 horses in the HMA. 

The purpose of the gather is to return the population to its appropriate management level while maintaining genetic diversity; selectively remove a portion of horses for placement into the adoption program; and capture, treat and release horses for application of fertility treatment. 

The gather will allow older horses to remain in the McCullough Peaks HMA. 

All horses identified for removal will be transported to the Rock Springs Wild Horse Holding Facility, where they will be checked by a veterinarian and readied for adoption. 

Because of the nature of the bait trap method, wild horses are reluctant to approach trap sites when there is too much activity; therefore, only essential gather operation personnel will be allowed at the trap sites, and the spur roads leading to the trap sites, during operations. 

Additionally, the recreational use of drones, which could disrupt horse movement, will not be allowed near the trap sites. 

The BLM is conducting the gather under the McCullough Peaks HMA Bait Trap Gather Environmental Assessment. 

Information about how to adopt a McCullough Peaks wild horse will be posted at blm.gov/whb in early 2024 and shared via news releases and social media. 

Barrasso, Lummis call for DOD to rescind abortion travel policy

CHEYENNE (WNE) — U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both R-Wyo., joined Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and 24 other Republican senators in sending a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin denouncing the department’s policy of using taxpayer dollars to pay for travel expenses for service members and dependents seeking abortions.

In the letter, the senators said the Department of Defense does not have the authority to issue this policy and demanded that it be rescinded immediately.

“You have broken your promise to the American people not to politicize the military, and your actions have harmed and threaten to further harm institutional norms within our democracy …” the senators wrote. “Congress never authorized the Department to expend funds to facilitate abortions and, until the Policy was issued, the military never facilitated abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or where the life of the mother would be endangered if the unborn child were carried to term. 

“Now taxpayers — many of whom have deeply-held religious and moral objections to abortions — are on the hook to facilitate the very abortions they fundamentally oppose.” 

The full text of the letter can be read at tinyurl. com/letter-to-DOD.

Newcastle City Council puts police dissolution ‘to bed’

NEWCASTLE (WNE) — The Newcastle City Council has voted to end the discussion on possibly dissolving the Newcastle Police Department and moving all city police services to the Weston County Sheriff’s Office. 

Councilman Tyrel Owens first suggested on Sept. 5 that the council hold a public meeting to gauge the public’s interest in city- vs. county-led policing. He cited staffing troubles, financial consideration and crumbling infrastructure as some of the reasons that constituents had approached him about such a change. 

On Oct. 30, the council held a town hall to listen to public input on the issue. While many in attendance, led by former city officials, expressed their desire to keep the department for reasons of continued “public safety,” there was a faction that suggested the council continue to explore the option and ultimately make a decision for the community after further investigation. 

Mayor Pam Gualtieri promised that the future of the police department would be on the agenda and discussed at the council’s next meeting, on Nov. 6. At that meeting, Gualtieri stated that the consensus of those who attended the meeting, both those who spoke and those who signed in (leaving their preference on the sheet), was to keep the police force. 

“I would like to put it to rest today if the council agrees,” she said, noting that she would like to hear from the council in a roll call. 

Owens stated that, based on the numbers generated at sign-in, he thinks that a lot of people are undecided. He didn’t believe the issue should be “put to bed” yet, but the rest of the council members expressed their desire to keep the police department as is. 

Campbell County Sheriff’s Office investigates 150 barrels of oil dumped from well site

GILLETTE (WNE) — More than 150 barrels of oil were poured from an oil tank onto land surrounding a Campbell County well site, resulting in about $12,000 of lost oil and $15,000 in clean-up costs.

The spill was called in to the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office as a destruction of property report by a Vermilion Energy USA employee Tuesday afternoon.

He told deputies that an unknown person opened the valve on an oil tank located off of Highway 450 sometime Saturday afternoon between 1:03 and 1:18 p.m.

The company investigated the incident itself and determined that the lost oil wasn’t caused by anyone with the company, Undersheriff Quentin Reynolds said.

Photos of the incident were shared with deputies and the investigation continues.

Rock Springs officials: Massage parlor workers believed to be trafficking victims

CASPER (WNE) — Workers at a downtown Rock Springs massage parlor are believed to be human trafficking victims, the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday. 

“We believe the masseuses and others working there are trafficking victims forced or otherwise coerced to perform labor, including sex acts, as part of a larger network of organized criminal enterprise possibly operating throughout the region,” spokesperson Jason Mower said in the statement. 

The sheriff’s office, in partnership with the Rock Springs Police Department, served the massage parlor with a search warrant Tuesday afternoon following “a months-long human trafficking investigation,” the statement said. 

Earlier this year, officials started investigating alleged “sexual acts at an Asian massage parlor” located on the 600 block of Broadway St. 

Detectives uncovered information that indicated those involved with the “purportedly legitimate business are, in fact, likely human trafficking victims,” according to the statement.

Illicit massage parlors often put on a front of legitimacy to hide in plain sight, wrote Lieutenant Michelle Hall, lead detective on the case. These businesses, which are a growing trend, operate in every state across the United States and are a known issue. 

“Unfortunately, many of those engaged in commercial sex as part of these types of operations are actually labor and sex trafficking victims,” Hall said.

Truth Registry for Park County under development

CODY (WNE) — A new online public service called Park County Truth Registry for Representatives is under development.

“The truth is always in the public interest and will no longer be hidden from public view,” registry director Jon Sowerine, of Wapiti, said in a press release.

He’s seeking board members to help him vet submitted information before it’s posted on the website.

The registry was created on October 9 as a public nonprofit and filed it with the Wyoming Secretary of State, he said. Its initial purpose is to inform the public about candidates and people already elected or hired in Park County, Wyoming.

Sowerwine said his goal is to provide a public information system to explain the history and current issues of candidates and elected and hired employees in Park County.

The site, parkcountytruthregistry.com, is being designed as a public information system for the collection and dissemination of pertinent and truthful information about individuals involved with public concerns in Park County, he said. The information will be validated by a board.

Examples of what may be submitted and published include, but are not limited to the following: legal background search data, past termination causes, accuracy of resume, conflicts of interest related to public concerns, previous lawsuits and legal issues, documented moral and ethical actions, legal actions, documented personal interactions, financial relationships and dealings that may affect public trust.

All information submitted will be presented to the board and analyzed for publication. Only information that can be verified, which involves or could affect the public trust, will be published. Once published it will remain permanently on the site database for future searches.

All published documents will include the board analysis and may be edited by the board, he added. Both positive and negative information may be submitted and will be treated equally.