State Briefs

Man sentenced to prison in fatal DUI wreck

RIVERTON (WNE) — Winter Hawk Goodman, who killed three people while driving drunk in 2016, was sentenced Friday to 12 years imprisonment.

After a four-day federal trial, Goodman was in convicted in federal court of involuntary homicide in October for the deaths of Lyle Black, Sarah Black and William C’Bearing.

In a departure from the norm, the federal trial took place in Lander. Typically such trials are conducted

either in Casper or Cheyenne.

At Goodman’s sentencing, the Blacks’ three daughters all gave victim impacts statements.

Goodman’s prison term will be followed by three years supervised probation.

Judge Scott Skavdahl recommended the convict be placed in “a Bureau of Prisons facility as close

to his family as possible, and that every accommodation possible be made to provide the defendant with substance abuse treatment and to assist the defendant in obtaining his GED.”

Goodman was convicted for driving drunk during the two-vehicle wreck at the intersection of Left Hand Ditch Road and 17 Mile Road on Nov. 29, 2016.

An hour after the crash, Goodman’s blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.356, more than four times Wyoming’s legal limit for impaired driving of .08

Goodman also was convicted of assault for the injuries that resulted to another passenger, Keina Duran.

Duran was pregnant at the time and gave birth prematurely six days after the wreck.

The baby suffered a brain hemorrhage, which Duran’s doctor said likely resulted from the crash.

Because the wreck took place on the reservation, Goodman was tried in federal court.

Lawmaker aims to move away from time changes

CHEYENNE (WNE) — A Wyoming lawmaker will once again take up his battle against daylight saving time when the Legislature convenes in January.

Rep. Dan Laursen, RPowell, is sponsoring a bill for the upcoming general session to take the state out of the Uniform Time Act, which created standard and daylight saving time. For the fourth time in as many years, Laursen will try to make Wyoming the third state in the country to no longer require its residents to switch up

their clocks twice a year.

Arizona and Hawaii both ditched daylight saving time in the late 1960s after the system was created.

“The main reason to bring it back is I don’t like changing the clock,” Laursen said. “I think it’s tough on a lot of people, especially the elderly and the younger people.

I know it affects me for a couple of weeks after we make the switch.”

A state can ask the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to opt out of daylight saving time if it’s situated within one time zone and the entire state would take part in the switch.

Laursen’s bill would direct Wyoming to apply for being removed from daylight saving time if three contiguous states to Wyoming also apply to be taken out of the current system.

The bill would move Wyoming into the Central Time Zone, and then create a new designation called Mountain Daylight Saving Time.

That would keep Wyoming in its current daylight saving time throughout the year.

Laursen said that made sense because the current system keeps people in daylight saving time for around eight months.

Flu prompts visiting restrictions at Campbell Co. institutions

GILLETTE (WNE) — Due to an increase in flu activity, Campbell County Health has initiated visiting restrictions at the Legacy Living and Rehabilitation Center and in Campbell County Memorial Hospital’s maternal child department, according to a CCH press release.

At the Legacy, children younger than 12 who are not related to a resident are prohibited from visiting.

Child relatives who visit must wear a mask and must be showing no signs of illness.

In the maternal child department, visiting is restricted to a mother’s significant other and two additional people at any one time. Children younger than 12 are not permitted except for a newborn’s siblings, who must first be

screened for flu symptoms by a maternal child nurse.

Masks and hand sanitizing stations are located in CCH buildings, and all visitors are encouraged to use them before visiting anyone, the press release said. Those who feel ill or have symptoms of the flu, such as fever or cough, should not visit.

Patients who come to CCH with flu symptoms should wear a mask.

CCH implements visiting restrictions if it sees an increase in positive influenza tests in the hospital lab. CCH regularly monitors influenza cases and adapts restrictions accordingly. The hospital implements flu restrictions

nearly every year, but this is the earliest they’ve been implemented in the last few years.

Flu activity across Wyoming has increased in December but not enough to declare that the flu season has officially begun, according to the state Department of Health.