Wyoming News Briefs

Commissioners protest BLM coal leasing change

GILLETTE (WNE) — Campbell County Commissioners are protesting the Bureau of Land Management’s recent proposal to put an end to federal coal leases in the Powder River Basin.

The federal agency announced its changes to the Buffalo Field Office land use plan in mid-May, and if it goes through, it would effectively kill coal mining in Campbell County 17 years from now.

The plan targets the Powder River Basin and its 12 Wyoming coal mines, which are all located in Campbell County, and would allow mines to operate through 2041 under current leases.

“However, we believe that there are other ways to achieve this goal without sacrificing American jobs and energy security,” the petition reads. “The United States has some of the cleanest coal-fired power plants in the world, and we are constantly developing new technologies to make coal production even cleaner.”

The commissioners will send a protest letter to the BLM. They also scheduled a time to take public comment on the issue on Tuesday, June 4, in the commissioners’ chambers at the Campbell County Courthouse.

The commission also is asking Campbell County residents to sign a petition asking the BLM to reconsider its decision. The petition calls the decision “shortsighted” and says the impact to thousands of workers and families around the country will be “devastating.”

The petition is available at tinyurl.com/yeyn686d, and people can sign it through June 16.

Man run over twice at Casper bar

CASPER (WNE) — A man who allegedly drove over a pedestrian while intoxicated is facing charges of driving under the influence resulting in serious bodily injury.

On May 22, James Sack, born in 1969, allegedly drove over a pedestrian with his Dodge Ram truck in the parking lot of Frosty’s Bar and Grill in Casper then backed over the victim a second time before stopping, according to a police affidavit.

His case has been referred to district court.

Though Sack is facing his first charge of DUI resulting in serious bodily injury, the affidavit noted three prior DUI convictions dating back to 2001.

The victim sustained four broken ribs, a broken femur, dislocated hip, broken right hand as well as significant bruising and laceration on his head, the affidavit states. The victim was found by police lying on his back pinned beneath the truck between the front and rear wheels.

The victim and Sack are both regular patrons of Frosty’s, according to bartender Morgan Ballard-Morsett, who was interviewed by officers. She explained to police that Sack re-entered the bar following the incident and said “I just hit someone.”

Earlier in the evening, Sack and the victim arm wrestled, according to patrons interviewed by police. The men’s attitudes toward one another were described as neither extremely friendly nor antagonistic, and the victim later told police Sack is an “old drinking buddy.”

Sack told police he’d consumed beer that evening, but a receipt of his tab obtained by police showed he paid for five Crown Royal double shots, three Budweiser drafts, as well as food. Sack refused to perform field sobriety and breath tests. Police later obtained a warrant to draw his blood.

Sack is also facing a charge of driving with a suspended license.

Bail bondsman ticketed after misidentifying suspect

GILLETTE (WNE) — A case of mistaken identity led to a commotion in Wright on Friday.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to a residence on Sundance Circle after a bail bond agent allegedly drew his gun while trying to apprehend a man who had skipped bail on an aggravated robbery charge, and who also had a felony warrant for failing to report as a sex offender, said Undersheriff Quentin Reynolds.

But the man he allegedly pointed a gun at was not the suspect.

“Who the hell are you?” the 48-year-old homeowner asked the bond agent, Reynolds said.

The bondsman, a 39-year-old Casper man, said the homeowner had a similar appearance to the suspect he was after: David Bone-Wharton, 29.

The bond agent, who was accompanied by a Gillette woman who was also a bond agent, ran up behind the homeowner with his gun out, Reynolds said.

The two agents apparently had received information that Bone-Wharton had been at a home on that street.

The bond agent put the gun away when he realized the homeowner was not who he was looking for. The homeowner called law enforcement, and both bail bond agents waited across the street for Sheriff’s deputies to arrive.

After consulting with the county attorney’s office, deputies ticketed the bail bondsman with reckless endangerment with a firearm (a misdemeanor) and gave him a trespass notice.

Mangelsen spars in court with Grand Teton National Park

JACKSON (WNE) — Renowned wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen clashed with Grand Teton National Park rangers in federal court Friday as he challenged a traffic ticket he received in October.

He was ticketed while roving a park highway to document the aftermath of a suspected vehicle strike that injured Grizzly 610, a famous roadside bear.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman did not render a verdict following the full-day trial in Jackson. The judge said he’ll issue a written ruling once he decides whether or not Mangelsen is guilty of a misdemeanor charge of operating a vehicle slowly enough to interfere with the normal flow of traffic.

Mangelsen, 78, is best known for documenting Grizzly 399 over the past 15 or so years. Grizzly 610 is one of 399’s offspring.

While two park rangers testified that the situation involving the injured bear was volatile and the safety of motorists and bears was top of mind, Mangelsen said he has felt “targeted” by certain park employees for years.

Park law enforcement testified that Mangelsen violated the law by slowing down on Highway 26 and that his slow speed, between 5 and 10 mph, led to four cars trailing his vehicle.

Timm and another ranger, Tyler Brasington, spoke to a tension over how to manage “bear jams” in a park feeling the squeeze of more and more visitors. Rangers respond to 500 “bear jams” a year and right now, bear jams are daily, he said.

While it’s illegal to stop on a roadway, Mangelsen only stopped his vehicle on his fourth drive-through, when three of 610’s yearlings crossed the road in front of him. That’s when Timm contacted and cited him.

“This behavior is so common that hundreds of people do it in the park every day,” Mangelsen’s attorney Ed Bushnell said in court.

Bushnell stated that bear jams are not “normal” traffic circumstances and no cars piling up behind Mangelsen were seen on body camera footage.

Man goes to police to report shooting his girlfriend, gets arrested for drug use

GILLETTE (WNE) — A 27-year-old man who went to the police Thursday afternoon to report that he shot his girlfriend ended up being arrested for drug use.

He showed up at the police department and said he’d shot his 44-year-old girlfriend in their home on Laurel Street, and that the gun was in his car, said Police Deputy Chief Brent Wasson.

Officers went to the home and met with the woman, who had not been shot and was doing fine, Wasson said. There was no gun in the car.

The man admitted to using meth, and officers found two meth pipes in the home. The man was arrested for use of a controlled substance.

Firefighters put out late night coal fire at North Antelope Rochelle Mine

GILLETTE (WNE) — Campbell County firefighters and North Antelope Rochelle Mine employees kept a coal fire from spreading across a storage barn filled with coal late Tuesday night (May 28), limiting the damage to within the 170,000-square-foot building and a relatively small amount of coal lost.

Tuesday night, a storage barn that houses up to 60,000 tons of coal caught fire, said Kate Eischeid, battalion chief for the Campbell County Fire Department, and only affected a small portion of what the building held.

“It was just a huge structure that holds coal before it’s shipped out,” she said of the barn. “And it was full at the time.”

Coal burns quickly and Eischeid said the challenging part about Tuesday’s fire came from not being able to separate the lit coal from the tons of other coal. Typically, coal that’s on fire can be loaded out or moved in a silo. The barn didn’t have those same capabilities.

“We couldn’t pull the rest of the coal away from the burning coal,” Eischeid said.

Eischeid said the fire was first reported at about 11:20 p.m. and the 11 firefighters, one fire chief and NARM employees had the fire under control about five hours later, about 4:15 a.m.

Because of the quick call, local response and mine employees' help, Eischeid said the damage to the building and coal loss was limited.

“We were able to contain it to one end of the building,” she said. “(Mine employees) caught it pretty early and so to get together with them, (the fire) really made pretty minimal damage to the building and the coal.”

The cause of the fire is unclear, but Eischeid said coal fires can sometimes begin by something as simple as a hot piece of coal or spontaneous combustion.

Gordon: Wyoming files additional lawsuit challenging new EPA rule

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Gov. Mark Gordon announced Thursday that Wyoming has filed an additional lawsuit challenging a new rule from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) targeting the coal industry.

Wyoming has joined West Virginia and Georgia, along with 19 other states, in challenging EPA’s new steam electric power generating effluent guidelines. The rule was part of a package of rules affecting power plants the EPA released in late April.

“EPA’s rule mandates costly, infeasible technologies that are designed to force the early retirement of traditional electric power plants, rather than any genuine scientific interest in protecting human health and the environment,” a news release from Gordon’s office said. Wyoming’s lawsuit argues that the final rule exceeds EPA’s statutory authority, and is otherwise arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law.

“Yet again we are compelled to challenge the unlawful and ill-conceived rulemaking of the Biden administration’s EPA to defend the interests of our core industries, including coal, as well as protect consumers from burdensome regulations that increase energy costs and threaten our nation’s energy supply, while doing little or nothing for the environment,” Gordon said in the release.

Wyoming’s participation in the lawsuit is funded through a bill passed by the Legislature and signed by Gordon in 2021. House Bill 207 created the coal-fired facility closures litigation funding account.

Former Gillette police officer accused of murdering three in South Dakota

GILLETTE (WNE) — A former Gillette police officer has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder stemming from allegations that he shot and killed three people in South Dakota on Memorial Day.

Jay Edward Ostrem, 64, was charged Tuesday with three counts of first-degree murder for allegedly shooting and killing three people in Centerville, South Dakota, according to court documents.

Ostrem was an officer with the Gillette Police Department from July, 1982 until his retirement in 2003. After his time in Gillette he spent several years as a Turner County deputy and mayor of Centerville, according to South Dakota news outlet KELOLAND News.

He’s now accused of killing Paul W. Frankus, Zachary R. Frankus and Timothy E. Richmond on Monday night after suspecting his neighbor of sexually assaulting his wife several days prior.

Zach Frankus, 21, called in the shooting at about 9:44 p.m. Monday, telling the dispatcher that “a guy from across the street” had shot and killed his brother Paul, 26, with a shotgun, according to court documents, and that the shooter had gone back to his house.

While still on the phone with the dispatcher, Zach said he had been shot and stopped talking soon after, according to court documents.

A Game and Fish officer who arrived at the scene awaited backup and saw a man, later identified as Ostrem, leaving the home where the shooting took place through its attached garage.

Ostrem ignored orders to stop and continued walking west away from the scene of the shooting.

The Game and Fish officer and a Beresford Police Department Officer approached Ostrem and saw an AR-style rifle on the ground near him and noticed Ostrem bleeding from his left hand. They also smelled alcohol coming from Ostrem, according to court documents.

Ostrem remains held at Minnehaha County Jail with bond set at $1 million cash.