State Briefs

Not guilty plea entered in attempted manslaughter in Gillette

GILLETTE (WNE) — The man accused of attempted manslaughter after a bullet from his gun grazed another man’s head has pleaded not guilty to charges against him.

Zachary Shawn Manning, 34, faces two counts of attempted manslaughter and a misdemeanor count of reckless endangering. A March 1 date has been set for a three-day trial in District Court.

Manning is accused of firing three shots from his apartment balcony Aug. 2 using his custom Olympic Arms AR-15 after he saw people with “glowing eyes” and thought a neighboring apartment building was being invaded.

One of the bullets grazed the head of a 22-year-old man, continued through his front door and into his TV, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The resulting wound required stitches on the left side of the head. The man was treated and released from Campbell County Memorial Hospital.

Manning told police he was trying to defend his neighbors. He said cars had shown up and appeared to be surrounding the apartment. He got out his AR, loaded it and waited on the balcony in a prone position, according to the affidavit.

“It looked like they were kidnapping people and before they started pulling people out, it seemed like all the cars had hooked to the houses and was trying to pull them (off) their foundations,” he told police.

His blood alcohol content was 0.141%, according to the affidavit.

After COVID-19 exposure, Gov. Gordon tests negative, self-quarantines

CHEYENNE (WNE) –  After a potential COVID-19 exposure, Gov. Mark Gordon has tested negative for coronavirus and is under a 14-day self-quarantine as a precautionary measure.

According to a news release sent around 5 p.m. Monday, Gordon took a rapid result test at the Cheyenne-Laramie County Health Department that came back negative, and he is awaiting results of a secondary test.

The possible exposure occurred at a meeting where all attendees took precautionary measures, including the wearing of masks for the entirety of the meeting, according to the release.

Draft bill increases access to public employee personnel records

SHERIDAN (WNE) — Personnel records that were once exempt from public view may soon become accessible.

The Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee approved a draft bill allowing performance data and evaluations of personnel files to be released if requested.

“This bill draft, in summary, amends the personnel filing exemption to authorize the inspection of performance data and evaluations for specified public employees,” Legislative Service Office’s Brian Fuller said.

The bill specifies which public employees’ personnel records are available under the new allowance, which allows applications, performance ratings and elements of performance for public review.

In its August meeting, the Joint Judiciary Committee moved to amend the personnel file mandatory exemption under the act to create different classes of employees and specify what information from the personnel file for this class of employees may be available for public inspection.

Those employees, if the bill passes, would include the attorney general, director of any department in the executive branch appointed by the governor, president of any institution of higher education — which now, by definition, would include the University of Wyoming and all community college districts — CEO or director of any separate operating agency, commissioners of the public service commission and members of the state board of equalization and managers and assistant managers of any county or municipality.

The bill that passed included amendments to allow current and former employees, and managers of counties or municipalities in addition to those employed under state statute 15-4-202, which include city managers, city attorneys and municipal judges.

The bill with amendments moves to the general session, sponsored by the Joint Judiciary Committee.

Yellowstone National Park closes for the season

POWELL (WNE) — There was a flurry of activity at the East Gate to Yellowstone National Park on Sunday as park employees prepared to close to automobile traffic for the winter. 

The gate will remain closed for about six weeks until the winter over-snow season starts. 

But the next time Park County’s only gate will swing open to wheeled vehicles won’t be until the first Friday in May — hopefully. The 2020 opening was delayed about three weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Who knows what 2021 will bring. 

Despite the late start and an early fall blizzard, the park continued to draw a good crowd. 

More than 837,000 visits to the park were logged in September, smashing the previous September record of 724,000 visits, set in 2018. 

In his third year, Superintendent Cam Sholly said he is very pleased with the way the season went. 

“Although a challenging season in many ways, the Yellowstone team and our partners made this summer a success and allowed millions to experience Yellowstone, while maintaining low COVID-19 infection rates,” Sholly said. “I cannot say enough about the performance of this team and the strong collaboration with our surrounding states, counties and communities.” 

The East Gate was fairly quiet Sunday, with mostly locals looking for one last chance to search for wildlife on a beautiful day in the 50s. Traffic in the eastern section of the park was light and, even at the Midway Geyser Basin and Old Faithful, parking was a breeze.