Wyoming News Briefs

Cheyenne City Council green lights liquor delivery permanently

CHEYENNE (WNE) – Residents will be able to continue enjoying liquor delivery to their front doors, thanks to an ordinance passed by the Cheyenne City Council Monday night.

The council originally allowed for alcoholic deliveries in April 2020 because the “COVID-19 virus (was) causing significant economic harm to alcoholic liquor and malt beverage licensees,” the ordinance stated.

Now those rules will permanently go into effect.

During the committee hearings, Susie Dudenkaus of the Laramie County Liquor Association said, “I think it’s great for all of the liquor license holders that want to participate in delivery.”

Businesses with retail liquor licensees, microbrewery permits, winery permits and satellite manufacturing permittees will be permitted to provide delivery service for the delivery of alcohol to customers, so long as they notify the city. Microbreweries and wineries will only be allowed to deliver the products they manufacture, and the delivery drivers need to take an alcohol serving training program.

However, residents will not be able to order booze to be delivered to a park or other public location. The service is also limited right now to city limits, but the Laramie County Board of Commissioners can pass a resolution allowing it county-wide.

Woman could have probation revoked for defying hospital COVID-19 measures

CODY (WNE) – A Lovell woman may have her felony probation revoked for allegedly refusing to obey COVID-19 restrictions and letting her daughter kick an automated door off its track in April at Powell Valley Healthcare.

Kimberly Maxwell, 46, is accused of entering the hospital with her daughter Taelor Maxwell, 24, and becoming upset that they would not be granted immediate access due to COVID-19 screening protocols. At PVHC, visitors must use a phone and answer questions posed by staff to ensure they don’t have coronavirus symptoms before they enter the building.

Upon entry to the lobby, the two women swore and loudly yelled at staff when they were told they still needed to be screened. Kim Maxwell referred to COVID-19 as a “made up...disease,” according to the affidavit.

On social media, Kim Maxwell claimed her daughter was hemorrhaging and pregnant during the incident, ultimately experiencing a miscarriage later on.

When told they must complete the screening before receiving medical assistance, they began “yelling profanities once more” and Kim Maxwell extended her middle finger several inches from a staffer’s face.

The pair yelled a few more profanities at staff before Taelor Maxwell allegedly kicked the door on the way out, causing it to dislodge from its tracks.

In 2017, Kim Maxwell was sentenced to one year in jail and five years’ supervised probation for spending $2,325 at Walmart on a credit card that was not authorized to her. She was found guilty for theft of property valued $1,000 or more and check fraud and assessed a 4-6 year suspended prison sentence.

Kim Maxwell turned herself in on May 19. During a warrant hearing May 27, Judge Bill Simpson set her bond at $15,000 cash only despite the state only requesting $10,000.

Full-on Teton Range search underway for Jackson man

JACKSON (WNE) — Dozens of rangers, dog teams and helicopters swept the Tetons on Monday to try to find a missing 27-year-old Jackson man who set off from the Lupine Meadows trailhead alone almost a week prior.

Cian McLaughlin was last seen around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 8, hiking up from the Lupine Meadows Trailhead, but it wasn’t until the weekend that authorities learned of his disappearance.

“They didn’t realize that he was missing until missing that [work] shift on Thursday,” Grand Teton National Park spokesman CJ Adams said, “and then reported it a couple days later after that.”

McLaughlin was reportedly ill-prepared to endure cold weather. A local resident who crossed paths with him a half-mile from the trailhead reported that he was wearing shorts, a tank top, bucket hat and sunglasses. He carried no backpack.

Overnight temperatures in Jackson Hole have dipped into the thirties most nights over the past week in the valley, and surely plunged lower in the mountains.

Rangers aren’t focusing the search for McLaughlin in any one area because his hiking plan was unknown. Likely destinations include Garnet Canyon and the Surprise, Amphitheater, Delta or Taggart lakes areas. More than 40 National Park Service rangers are engaged in the search, plus four dog teams and volunteers from Teton County Search and Rescue.

The Park Service is requesting that anybody with information about McLaughlin’s potential whereabouts call or text a tip line at 888-653-0009. 

He’s 6 feet tall, approximately 180 pounds, sometimes wears his collar-length brown hair in a bun and speaks with an Irish accent.

Refuge proposes pronghorn, white-tailed hunts

JACKSON (WNE) – The National Elk Refuge is proposing its first-ever white-tailed deer and pronghorn antelope hunts.

For much of its 109-year history, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-run refuge has authorized hunting of its namesake species, elk. And since 2007, it has allowed bison hunting within its boundaries.

The proposed addition of pronghorn and white-tailed deer hunts traces to talks with the state of Wyoming, plus a secretarial order that directed the National Wildlife Refuge System to expand hunting opportunities around the country.

The refuge’s proposal, for the most part, would align white-tailed deer and pronghorn hunting seasons on the 24,700-acre property with hunts that occur on surrounding national forest and nearby private land.

Unlike elk hunting on the refuge — which can thin the herd by hundreds of animals in a season — deer and antelope hunts would be relatively minor in scale.

The refuge falls within Game and Fish’s pronghorn hunt area 85, where no more than 20 animals can be killed in a season.

Tentatively, the pronghorn season on the refuge would run from Aug. 15 to Sept. 9 for archery, and then would open to firearms from Sept. 10 through Oct. 31. A more southerly portion of the refuge would be open only to firearm pronghorn hunting in October.

The refuge’s proposal would authorize a two-month deer hunting season, switching from archery to firearms in the middle of September. 

The refuge falls within Game and Fish’s deer hunting area 155, which is open to any resident hunter holding an over-the-counter general tag.

Comments on the proposal are being accepted through June 21. Email them to Durbian at [email protected].

Gillette man changes plea to no contest in manslaughter charge

GILLETTE (WNE) –- A Gillette man pleaded no contest to one count of manslaughter Wednesday.

Joshua Lewis Campbell, 22, was charged in the June 2, 2020 death of 21-year-old Tanner Miller.

District Judge Thomas W. Rumpke called the incident, “incredibly stupid gunplay by young men who did not realize their own mortality.”

An affidavit in the case said Miller, Campbell and another friend had gone to the apartment after having dinner with another friend. At about 9 p.m., they left to buy more alcohol and then went back to the apartment. Before Miller parked the vehicle, he let Campbell and the other man out so they could get into the apartment.

The two, “as a prank, locked the apartment door and shut the lights off,” according to the affidavit. “They were going to use rifles to scare Miller when he came in.”

The other man checked the 30-30 rifle he had to make sure it wasn’t loaded but didn’t know if Campbell checked the AR-15 he had, it said.

“Campbell then unlocked the door and Tanner walked into the apartment and turned on the lights,” according to the affidavit.

Campbell then reportedly fired a shot at Miller, according to the affidavit. A forensic pathologist estimated the rifle was fired no farther than 3 inches from the left side of his head.

Campbell, who had a blood alcohol content of 0.103%, told police that he thought it was an intruder.

In October, Campbell pleaded not guilty. On Wednesday, he pleaded no contest in a change of plea hearing. He will remain out on bond until he’s sentenced.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 14. Manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Truck arrestor catches pickup that lost its brakes Friday

JACKSON (WNE) — The Teton Pass truck arrestor is back in action.

A Toyota Tacoma pickup lost its brakes Friday morning coming down the eastern side of Teton Pass, but the driver steered into the arrestor, Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Matt Brackin said. 

The arrestor, which has a series of cable nets intended to slow an out-of-control vehicle, “worked flawlessly.”

The first net slowed the pickup, which stopped about 50 feet after entering the arrestor. The driver, Brackin said, walked away from the crash. 

The structure required extensive repairs after a truck hauling logs went through all but the last few cable nets in September 2019. The Wyoming Department of Transportation then installed a sand barrel array as a temporary fix while it figured out how to repair the structure.

Although the Tacoma probably wasn’t the biggest test, the arrestor seems to be up and running again.