LIVE Park County election results

These are the updates the Tribune posted on election night. They are in reverse chronological order.

11:12 a.m. on 11/8. Another whoops here. After looking at the numbers in the Cody Enterprise today, I realized I mischaracterized the absentee results with regard to the Cody Mayor's race. The absentee ballots did not "really narrow" the results between Mayor Nancy Tia Brown and challenger Karen Ballinger. Brown did not do as well among those final ballots as she did among the earlier ones, but she actually gained two votes out of the 1,214 ballots that came in late. By my math, Brown received 608 votes to Ballinger's 606 -- boosting her from an 84-vote margin of victory to an 86-vote one. Sorry for the error.

2:02 a.m. Whoops. As I was driving back to Powell, I realized that after waiting all night for Meeteetse results, I forgot to post the outcome of the race for area's seat on the Northwest College Board of Trustees: Nada Larsen took 306 votes (60.6%) to Winfred Orrell's 153 (30.3%) to coast into that seat.

OK, now I think (and hope) I'm finished. Have a good night!

1:10 a.m. Not sure if anyone's still with me, but if so, we're finally done. In the races I've been tracking (including the Powell and Cody school board races) no results changed with the last batch of results, which came from the South Fork, Meeteetse and absentee voters. The only notable thing I caught is that the absentees really narrow the Cody Mayor's race -- incumbent Nancy Tia Brown appears to have won re-election by 86 votes out of 4,881 cast.

You can check out the full results now up on the county's webpage in summary or detailed form. Park County was the last of Wyoming's 23 counties to report results to the Secretary of State's office.

We'll have detailed coverage with reactions in Thursday's Tribune. Thanks to everyone who followed along!

12:15 a.m. Still working on those last absentee ballots.

11:56 p.m. We're hoping for less than 15 minutes now, though the beep-beep-beeps signal that absentee ballots keep jamming.

11:41 p.m. Here's what Powell's updated numbers did for the races we've been tracking. As a side note, I apparently lost my mind earlier while posting the percentage of the vote picked up by Commission Candidate Lee Livingston. He was at 30.5% of the vote -- not 48.3%. Sorry about that. I've fixed it below. He's at 29.83% now.


One cent tax
Against - 5,486 (58%)
For - 3,694 (39.1%)


Lodging tax
For - 7,396 (78.3%)
Against - 1,767 (18.7%)


Park County Commission
Lee Livingston - 5,637 votes (29.8%)
Bucky Hall - 4,962 votes (26.3%)
Pat Slater - 3,372 votes (17.9%)


Powell School Board
Lynn Stutzman - 1,609 votes (12.6%)
Rob McCray - 1,403 votes (10.9%)
Lisa Barrus - 1,348 votes (10.4%)
Dave Brown - 1,224 votes (9.4%)
Raquel Schwab - 1,196 votes (9.3%)
Jeff Easum - 1,094 votes (8.4%)
Greg Imhoff - 674 votes (5.2%)
Todd Voller - 381 votes (2.9%)
Alan Horner - 374 votes (2.9%)

NWC Board Powell
Jim Vogt - 2,096 (48.3%)
Martin Garhart - 1,509 (34.8%)

Races unaffected by the new Powell numbers (a re-posting)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 3,890 (64.8%)
Write-ins - 1,474 (24.5%)

Powell City Council  Ward 3
Josh Shorb - 395 (57.5%)
Amber Yager - 203 (29.6%)

NWC Board Cody
Mark Westerhold - 3,083 (30.4%)
Paul Fees - 1,978 (19.5%)
Bob Newsome - 1,848 (18.2%)

Nothing yet for NWC Board Meeteetse



Powell Fire District Director 4
Scott Heny - 508 (54.1%)
Samuel Rodriguez - 318 (33.9%)

Cody Mayor
Nancy Tia Brown - 1,716 (48.3%)
Karen Ballinger - 1,632 (45.9%)


11:20 p.m. We're still lacking 4,000 absentee ballots, Meeteetse and the South Fork.

"Hopefully, we'll be done within an hour," said First Deputy Mike Demoney said. He said part of the issue is that there are so many absentees ballots -- particularly in the South Fork area, where some 500 absentee votes were cast.

"They're going to have over 100 percent (turnout) in that precinct, I can almost guarantee it," Demoney said.

The new numbers that just came in were for two city of Powell precincts. As I said, they didn't flip any races. I'll post updated detailed numbers for the Powell races in just a minute.

11:18 p.m. New numbers in, but it doesn't look like they change any results. The new totals wrap up Powell voting -- except for however many Powell ballots that are among the 4,000 absentees from all over the county. There were actually two Powell precincts missing (my bad) from the earlier results. In the one race that appeared possibly open to a change, the Powell school board contest, Stutzman, McCray and Barrus continue to lead. Brown now trails Barrus by 124 votes instead of 106 for that third seat on the board.

11:02 p.m. Someone asked who paid to fly out the two folks from the Secretary of State's office and the equipment manufacturer. I don't know the answer to that one, but I can ask that when I get some more detail tomorrow.

10:57 p.m. Someone asked why the county isn't posting numbers on their website. Actually, if everything's working for you like it is for me, you should be able to find the figures here as a summary by clicking here or with precinct-level detail by clicking here. I'm not sure if they've got an ETA on wrapping things up; I'll go check.

10:52 p.m. One more race that could potentially shift is the Cody school board. They've got 11 (yes, 11) candidates running for four seats. Stephanie Bell (2,145 votes), Jake Fulkerson (1,673 votes), Daniel White (1,598 votes) and Julie Snelson (1,567 votes) lead Justin Powell (1,429 votes). The other six candidates appear out of the running at this point.

10:48 p.m. To recap what we're waiting on: ballots from the western part of the city of Powell, the three Meeteetse area precincts, the South Fork, the area north of Cody (I was wrong in saying earlier it was the North Fork) and more than 4,000 absentee ballots from all around the county. I think there's only a limited number of races still in play (most specifically the Powell school board, where Jeff Easum, Raquel Schwab and Dave Brown trail Lynn Stutzman, Rob McCray and Lisa Barrus), but I'm just guessing.

In case you were wondering, it looks like Constitutional Amendments A & B, relating to Wyomingites' rights to control their own health care and to hunt, trap and fish, will pass overwhelmingly. Constitutional Amendment C, which would let court-appointed commissioners to handle more judicial business, may very well fail by a narrow margin. Statewide figures are here.

10:39 p.m. Just saw a question down below asking about how many absentees are left to be counted (sorry, it got trapped in my spam box!). "Could make a huge difference in all races!" they wrote. Indeed, there are a lot of ballots out there: more than 4,000 (couldn't get an exact number right away, but it's less than 4,200). It is possible that the absentee ballots will come in vastly different than the folks who voted today, though if I remember right, that wasn't the case in the primary. But yeah, in a close race, it could easily make a difference. And who knows what the tabulations will reveal.

10:33 p.m. Since there are still ballots out there to be counted, I think the question on everyone's mind is, "Could these results change?" Having taken a breath, here's my analysis of what races are still even remotely in play right now: two of the Powell school board seats (Lynn Stutzman appears to have a real good handle on one), the NWC Cody area seat being sought by Paul Fees and Bob Newsome and the Cody Mayor's race. Of those, the Powell school board is probably the most susceptible to a change, but even that's not necessarily going to happen.

I'd say everything else I've been reporting on is almost certainly out of reach.

We still have no results on the Meeteetse NWC race (as we don't have those troublesome Meeteetse ballots tabulated yet).

10:10 p.m. (fixed the precincts) You probably noticed that we only have 22 of 29 precincts reporting. So what's missing? It's primarily the precincts where there was ballot machine trouble: the South Fork and Meeteetse. But we also need one more from the city of Powell and the area north of Cody. Also, and perhaps most significantly, none of the absentees have been included. So some things could still change in the close races.

9:58 p.m. Whoops, left off the contested Powell fire race.

Powell Fire District Director 4
Scott Heny - 508 (54.1%)
Samuel Rodriguez - 318 (33.9%)

A couple other races of note:

Cody Mayor
Nancy Tia Brown - 1,716 (48.3%)
Karen Ballinger - 1,632 (45.9%)

Lodging tax
For - 6,806 (78.5%)
Against - 1,621 (18.7%)

9:53 p.m. Detail on those results. Bear in mind the percentages are a little off and that we're missing seven precincts, including Meeteetse.

One cent tax
Against - 5,115 (59%)
For - 3,326 (38.4%)

Park County Commission
Lee Livingston - 5,291 votes (30.5%)
Bucky Hall - 4,596 votes (26.5%)
Pat Slater - 3,029 votes (17.5%)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 3,890 (64.8%)
Write-ins - 1,474 (24.5%)

Powell City Council  Ward 3
Josh Shorb - 395 (57.5%)
Amber Yager - 203 (29.6%)

Powell School Board
Lynn Stutzman - 1,349 votes (12.6%)
Rob McCray - 1,160 votes (10.9%)
Lisa Barrus - 1,107 votes (10.4%)
Dave Brown - 1,001 votes (9.4%)
Raquel A Schwab - 987 (9.3%)
Jeff Easum - 912 votes (9.4%)
Three others have 546 votes or fewer

NWC Board Powell
Jim Vogt - 1,740 (48.9%)
Martin Garhart - 1,176 (33.1%)

NWC Board Cody
Mark Westerhold - 3,083 (30.4%)
Paul Fees - 1,978 (19.5%)
Bob Newsome - 1,848 (18.2%)

Nothing yet for NWC Board Meeteetse

9:35 p.m. Here come results. This reflects 22 of 29 precincts. Quick takes: it's looking good for:

Bucky Hall and Lee Livingston in the Park County Commission race
Jim Vogt in the Powell NWC race; Mark Westerhold has a lock on re-election for a Cody NWC seat, while Paul Fees is leading Bob Newsome by about 140 vote for the second Cody NWC seat
Lynn Stutzman, Rob McCray and Lisa Barrus on the Powell school board
Scott Heny on the Fire Board
Josh Shorb on the Powell council.

It's looking really good for the lodging tax and bad for the 1-cent tax.

Senator Hank Coe is doing quite well, significantly outpacing write-in votes that are presumably going to Tea Party candidate Bob Berry. Cody Mayor Nancy Tia Brown has a small lead over challenger Karen Ballinger.

However, things can change as more results are tabulated. More detail in a minute.

9:24 p.m. Don't have results here yet, but updated results in Big Horn County show an even worse picture for their proposed special purpose tax (it's a proposed sixth-cent): just 30.8 percent voting in favor with 69.2 opposed. That's worse than how the West Park cap tax fared here in Park County two years ago. Of course, it's possible that the Big Horn County results aren't really applicable to the proposed fifth-cent tax here. We'll hopefully find out soon.

9:16 p.m. "They're really close," said Park County Clerk Jerri Torczon of the status of staff working on tabulating results. The clerk's office just told a caller that they're hoping for 15-20 minutes. Torczon was re-feeding the Meeteetse ballot into a machine when I spoke to her. "It just seems to take forever," she said. Torczon also said the results may all be released at once.

9:07 p.m. Fremont County voters are also mulling a proposed 1-cent tax tonight, but it doesn't look like they have any results posted online just yet.

9 p.m. While we wait for Park County, here's a look at election action in Big Horn County that may interest folks. In unofficial, incomplete Big Horn County results, a proposed sixth-cent of sales tax there is failing, 829 votes for to 1,373 against. That's just 37.8 percent of voters in favor of the tax. That could bode poorly for the fifth-cent proposal here if voters here were in a similar mood. In other news that could be relevant to Park County, Republican Nathan Winters leads Democrat Connie Skates 847 votes to 158 in House District 28. In addition to southern Big Horn County, that district also includes Meeteetse and a part of Fremont County. Constitutional Amendents A & B (about health care and hunting rights, respectively) are passing overwhelmingly, while C is also passing.

8:49 p.m. In some good news, all of the ballots have arrived here at the Park County Courthouse and have been checked in for processing. "The absentees are still being counted, but all the boxes are here," said Tami Keehn of the clerk's office. In some mostly useless news, it being past 8:40 p.m. means this will be the latest that first results have been made available in a while.

8:37 p.m. Clerk Jerri Torczon just stopped by to visit with the media folks here. "They're still working on it. Sorry," she said. Torczon described the hold-up as being a problem with two voting machines' cards that aren't working correctly. Those two cards are throwing things off, Torczon said.  She said it may be tied to reprogramming that had to be done earlier. Sorry for the rough explanation, but I'll have to sort out details tomorrow, when everybody has more time to chat and things have been sorted out. For now, we'll wait a bit more. "Hopefully just a while," Torczon said.

8:30 p.m. Powell's ballots have arrived here. No results yet. No ETA.

8:20 p.m. Elections staff are working their tails off to get results tabulated. I have seen their frenzied efforts firsthand. Meanwhile, the Casper Star Tribune just reported that "recounts" are required with the machines that were incorrectly processing ballots in the South Fork and Meeteetse areas earlier today. I just checked with a very busy First Deputy Mike Demoney who clarified that recount, in this sense, means only that: the ballots are going to be re-run through the machines. It's not a recount in the Florida 2000 sense of counting ballots by hand and squinting election judges trying to determine voters' intent. Ballots are still continuing to file in, including just-arrived ones from Clark.

8:14 p.m. Despite not a single result having been tabulated from Park County, Wyoming's races have already been called for Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. I'm trying to get an update on what's going on here.

7:53 p.m. No results yet. Sorry. But when they are available, they'll not only be available here, but also on the county's elections webpage. Last time, the Tribune got and posted the results before the county had them up, but it depends on the election. At the state level, results can be found on the the Secretary of State's site. They'll be the slowest in posting Park County's results.

7:47 p.m. One thing to remember while we wait: it will almost certainly be Cody area results we receive first. We'll likely get a good idea about how the Park County Commission race is going and how the 1-cent and lodging taxes are faring, but we'll have to wait on any results for, say, the Powell school board race. For now, we wait on all the races.

7:42 p.m. Hello from the Park County Courthouse, where ballots are beginning to arrive for processing and counting. Clerk Jerri Torczon said four or five precincts' ballots are already here, but none have been run through the machines just yet.


Though predicting voter turnout early on election day is a risky, uncertain business, the early prediction here in Park County is that turnout today has been strong. The Park County Clerk's office printed enough ballots to cover 130 percent turnout, and First Deputy Mike Demoney said earlier today that it appears turnout was approaching that figure in some areas.

Demoney used phrases like "wow" in describing the need to print more ballots and form, specifically describing running out of voter registration forms. It's the registration of new voters (and no, not dead voters rising from the grave) that boosts turnout over 100 percent. That's because turnout is calculated based on the number of votes cast divided by the number of voters registered prior to today. And yes, 130 percent is a really, really cautious figure (Teton County printed 105 percent and ran out in some precincts today, the Jackson Hole News and Guide reports).


7 p.m. Good evening! The polls are closing here in Park County.

For those of you dying to start seeing the results, you're probably wondering: when are we going to start getting results, and when will things wrap up tonight?

Park County Clerk Jerri Torczon indicated earlier today that absentee-counting could go late tonight. There's no way to know for sure what will happen until we get there, but here's how results came in and wrapped up over the last five elections:

	First results	Last results
2008 Primary	8:14 p.m.	9:41 p.m.
2008 General	8:10 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
2010 Primary	8:40 p.m.	10:45 p.m.
2010 General	7:53 p.m.	8:49 p.m.
2012 Primary	8:26 p.m.	11:38 p.m.

There have been some problems today with machines today in Park County. Voting machines in the South Fork and the Meeteetse areas each ran into trouble reading ballots today (we'll give you the more detailed explanation of the reasons why in Thursday's Tribune). Long story short, the clerk's office got the South Fork machine squared away this afternoon, but the one in Meeteetse is still having problems. The issues prompted the Secretary of State's Office to fly a technician and a staffer from Cheyenne to Cody this afternoon, the Casper Star Tribune reported. From the Star Tribune:

Deputy Secretary of State Pat Arp told (reporter Joan) Barron she sent the two employees as a precaution because of the tight presidential election and a sensitive Cody state Senate race. Arp said they probably can just reset and test the machines.

Arp was referring to Senate District 18, where incumbent Sen. Hank Coe, R-Cody, is facing a spirited write-in challenge from Tea Party organizer Bob Berry of Cody. That's a rematch of a primary Coe won by just 117 votes.

I'll get started in earnest around 7:30 p.m. In the meantime, here are a couple ground rules for what I'll be posting tonight:

-- Since it's assumed that Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis will win Park County, I'll only be posting percentages for those races. (That should allow me to get to the in-doubt contests more quickly.)

--Unless something weird happens, I won't be mentioning results for these uncontested races. You can pretty much put these folks in the book as winners right now. An asterisk (*) denotes incumbents.

Powell City Council
Mayor: Don Hillman
Ward I: Jim Hillberry* and Eric Paul*
Ward II: Floyd Young*

State Legislature
House District 24: Sam Krone*, R-Cody
House District 25: Dave Blevins, R-Powell
House District 26: Elaine Harvey*, R-Lovell
House District 50: David Northrup, R-Powell

Special Districts
Powell Valley Hospital Board: Bonita Katz, Deb Kleinfeldt* and Larry Parker*
Powell Fire District 2 Director: Roger Easum*
Crown Hill Cemetery District: Judy Jones*, Ben Keller* and Bill Metzler*
Powell-Clarks Fork Conservation District: Floyd Derry* and Shane Smith*

Amber Alert canceled -- Child located

Authorities have canceled an Amber Alert issued earlier this evening for a Cody youth. Authorities announced via the Emergency Broadcast System that the child had been located.

Watch author Obert Skye in Cody

Best-selling children's author Obert Skye came to Park County last week, visiting area schools, signing books, speaking at the Powell and Cody libraries and taking questions from his readers.

In case you missed him, here's a video of Skye speaking at the Park County Library in Cody:

Thanks to the Park County Library for posting and sharing the video!

Live Park County primary election results

The Tribune will be posting election results as they start coming in tonight on this webpage. Newer information will be posted at the top of this page, so refresh this page often for the latest.

11:45 p.m. So to put a bow on this thing, a recap: Lee Livingston and incumbent Bucky Hall advance to the general election ballot as the two Republican candidates for two Park County Commission seats, defeating five others. They are unopposed as of right now, but it's possible there is a Democratic candidate who received enough write-in votes to join them on the November ballot. We'll learn more later this week when write-in votes are read.

Dave Blevins won a four-way race to represent the Powell area in the state house, House District 25.

It was a bit of a nail-biter, but state Sen. Hank Coe edged out challenger Bob Berry, winning 51.2% to 48.4% in Senate District 18.

David Northrup appears on his way to taking the House District 50 seat; incumbent Pat Childers finished fourth among the four candidates.

State Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell, beat attorney Rob DiLorenzo of Emblem to handily win the primary in House District 26.

I think that should do it for me tonight. Thanks so much to everyone who read along and commented. Have a good night and pick up Thursday's Tribune for some more detailed coverage.

11:38 p.m. The absentee ballots are in, so everything's in. It appears that Hank Coe has indeed retained his Senate seat. Coe's 100-vote lead over Bob Berry actually grew to a final margin of 117 votes when the absentees ballots were totaled. That's a 51.2%-48.4% win. None of the other races changed in their results, either. This primary election is (unofficially until certified by the canvassing board) over.

11:28 p.m. "We're done," says Clerk Jerri Torczon. Just waiting for a print out of the data and then we're finished.

11:19 p.m. Some elections staff are leaving the building now, so I think we're extremely close to being done. Also, I missed this when it was posted on his campaign's Facebook page about 45 minutes ago, but Steve Walker has congratulated Dave Blevins on his win in HD 25.

11 p.m. I think we're nearing the end. "The (vote tabulating) machine is jamming up but they got two machines done and waiting to be counted," said County Clerk Jerri Torczon. There's one more machine and about 200 more votes (of the 1,368) to go, she said.

"They'll have it done shortly," Torczon said.

10:52 p.m. No updates on the absentees, but here one more tidbit after looking at the results a little more closely: it looks like there's a chance that Park County Democrats may have written in a candidate for the Park County Commission. There were 50 write-ins. If 25 or more of those votes are for the same individual, that person will advance to the general election ballot, running against Republicans Lee Livingston and Bucky Hall.

10:42 p.m. Just so you know, I'm still here. I'm waiting for the final absentee ballots to be fed into the machines and counted.

10:23 p.m. David Kellett just sent out a press release congratulating Dave Blevins for winning the HD 25 race.

10:22 p.m. To answer some questions from the comments, apparently, the elections folks got a late start counting absentees and are wishing they'd started sooner.

10:20 p.m. I may be wrong, but I'm thinking the only race that really could be in the balance with these absentees is the Hank Coe- Bob Berry race. If Bob Berry were to pick up about 56 percent of the absentee ballots, he would close the 100-vote gap, by my rough back-of-the-ballot-sheet math. That's tough, but not impossible.

10:07 p.m. "We're getting closer," Park County Clerk Jerri Torczon says about those absentee ballots. She said there are absentees from three large precincts still left to be tabulated.

10:02 p.m. While the elections staff and volunteers continue working their way through the absentee ballots, I'll add that in the one contested Powell City Council race, Ward 3 candidate Josh Shorb beat Amber Yager 191 votes to 88. However, both candidates will advance and they'll face each other again in November. Powell City Councilman Don Hillman had 793 people vote for him in his uncontested bid for mayor. There were 45 write-in votes, so it's possible someone had the 25 write-in votes needed to make the general election ballot. We won't know the answer to that one until at least tomorrow, maybe later.

For completeness, I should add that there weren't any surprises in the other races on the ballot today. U.S. Sen. John Barraso (91 percent) blew away the other two Republican candidates in Park County. State Rep. Sam Krone, R-Cody, was the lone local legislator with no challengers and drew no write-in opponent today. U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., was unchallenged, as was the lone Democratic challenger, Chris Henrichsen of Casper. They'll face each other in November.

9:37 p.m. Still waiting on absentees. And to respond to some folks who noted it in the comments, yes, the turnout looks pretty poor at this point. I know that's what I was told by an election judge when I voted this morning, and the statistics seem to bear it out. We'll dig into those numbers for a story in Thursday's newspaper.

9:19 p.m. In response to a question down below, there are 1,360 absentee ballots still to be counted, which I believe are across various precincts. So yes, it's possible in one of the tight races that they could swing the outcome.

9:16 p.m. One more race here: in House District 26, where Rep. Elaine Harvey, R-Lovell has apparently fought off Tea Party challenger Rob DiLorenzo. Harvey apparently did well among the 65 Park County voters who live in the district: 46 of the votes (just over 70 percent) went to Harvey. She also did well in Big Horn County, say preliminary results over there, picking up 1,190 votes to DiLorenzo's 670.

Also, over in Cody's five-way mayoral race (sorry, commenter, that I didn't get to this sooner), incumbent Nancy Tia Brown picked up 42 percent of the vote to advance to general election. She'll apparently face Karen Ballinger, who picked up a little less than 24 percent of the ballots.

8:58 p.m. These are just about final, only absentee ballots left to count. David Blevins appears to have won House District 25 by about 20 percentage points or 275 votes.

Despite a strong Powell showing by John Wetzel and Dan Laursen in Powell, Lee Livingston and Bucky Hall have taken the two county commission seats.

Willwood farmer David Northrup appears to have unseated Rep. Pat Childers, who finished fourth in a four-man HD 50 race.

State Sen. Hank Coe has barely defeated challenger Bob Berry by about 100 votes.

House District 25
Dave Blevins - 641 (44%)
Billy Greaham - 366 (26%)
Steve Walker - 288 (20%)
David Kellett - 133 (9%)

County commission
Lee Livingston - 2,182 votes (24%)
Bucky Hall - 1,776 votes (20%)
John Wetzel - 1,414 votes (16%)
Dan Laursen - 1,214 votes (13.5%)
Greg Gaspers - 870 votes (10%)
Alex Gisoldi - 831 votes (9%)
Bob Stevens - 372 votes (4%)
Ron Reed - 280 votes (Reed is out of the race, but ballots had already been printed by the time he withdrew)

House District 50
David Northrup - 498 votes (32%)
Charles Cloud - 387 votes (25%)
T.D. Ball - 348 votes (22%)
Pat Childers - 329 votes (21%)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 1,663 votes (51%)
Bob Berry - 1,563 votes (48%)

8:47 p.m. 23 of 29 precincts are now in. First results from HD 25: Dave Blevins is way out in front in the four-man race. He's got 312 votes, ahead of 197 for Billy Greaham, 120 for Steve Walker and 90 for David Kellett.

Lee Livingston and Bucky Hall remain well ahead of the field for the county commission, but John Wetzel has picked up a lot of votes in the Powell area to vault into third place. There are still city of Powell votes to come in, which could further boost Wetzel.

Pat Childers could be his way to a defeat, as he's now in fourth place in a tight four-man race. David Northrup continues to narrowly lead Charles Cloud and T.D. Ball.

Hank Coe's lead over Bob Berry has narrowed again, but he's up by 117 votes.

The numbers:

House District 25
Dave Blevins - 321 (44%)
Billy Greaham - 197 (27%)
Steve Walker - 120 (16%)
David Kellett - 90 (12%)


County commission
Lee Livingston - 2,008 votes (27.14%)
Bucky Hall - 1,538 votes (20.78%)
John Wetzel - 930 votes (12.57%)
Greg Gaspers - 810 votes (10.95%)
Dan Laursen - 784 votes (10.59%)
Alex Gisoldi - 740 votes (10.00%)
Bob Stevens - 322 votes (4.35%)
Ron Reed - 247 votes (Reed is out of the race, but ballots had already been printed by the time he withdrew)

House District 50
David Northrup - 428 votes (29.62%)
Charles Cloud - 326 votes (25.74%)
T.D. Ball - 326 votes (22.56%)
Pat Childers - 315 votes (21.80%)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 1,623 votes (51.69%)
Bob Berry - 1,506 votes (47.96%)

8:40 p.m. Now we have 15 of the 29 precincts totaled. Livingston and Hall continue to look good, now ahead of the rest of the field by nearly double. It would take a big shift the rest of the way to eat away that lead. The race between Berry and Coe in Senate District 18 has narrowed substantially, to 53% Coe, 47% Berry. In House District 50, David Northrup has an early lead, but it's very slight. He's followed by Charles Cloud, then incumbent Pat Childers and then T.D. Ball. They're all within 90 votes and about 7 percentage points.

County commission
Lee Livingston - 1,582 votes (30.38%)
Bucky Hall - 1,201 votes (23.06%)
Greg Gaspers - 647 votes (12.42%)
Alex Gisoldi - 550 votes (10.56%)
John Wetzel - 484 votes (9.29%)
Dan Laursen - 348 votes (6.68%)
Bob Stevens - 210 votes (4.03%)
Ron Reed - 176 votes (Reed is out of the race, but ballots had already been printed by the time he withdrew)

House District 50
David Northrup - 386 votes (28.59%)
Charles Cloud - 358 votes (26.52%)
Pat Childers - 309 votes (22.89%)
T.D. Ball - 293 votes (21.70%)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 1,526 votes (52.78%)
Bob Berry - 1,355 votes (46.87%)

8:31 p.m. The Powell area ballots are just now arriving at the courthouse. Clark ballots have been here for some time. So, in case you're wondering, the first three precincts that are in don't include any votes in HD 50. More results have just been tabulated.

8:26 p.m. OK, first results. These are from three of the county's 29 precincts, all in Cody. The really early findings? Hank Coe is looking good with a 64% - 34% lead on Bob Berry. Lee Livingston and Bucky Hall have the early edge on the commission race, but it's way too early to make too much of that.

The numbers (which aren't on the official county page yet):

County commission
Lee Livingston - 137 votes
Bucky Hall - 124 votes
Alex Gisoldi - 48 votes
Greg Gaspers - 46 votes
John Wetzel - 38 votes
Dan Laursen - 14 votes
Bob Stevens - 11 votes
Ron Reed - 10 votes (Reed is out of the race, but ballots had already been printed by the time he withdrew)

Senate District 18
Hank Coe - 153 votes
Bob Berry - 82 votes

8:14 p.m. No results yet. Park County Clerk Jerri Torczon said her office is working to print out some results for the media here at the courthouse, but is running into trouble converting the machine data to a printable format. "They're just having a glitch," Torczon said.

8:01 p.m. I haven't heard an ETA for the first results, but while we wait, here are two big things we could learn from the first batch of Cody ballots:

1) We'll have a pretty good picture of how the Park County Commission race is shaping up. Candidates must have a solid showing in the Cody area if they want to win. For example, a strong showing in Powell for John Wetzel and Dan Laursen won't be enough if they lag too much in Cody. They'll need to hang relatively close in Cody. Otherwise, they'll come up short, even with a strong showing at home in Powell; that's what happened to Vicki Gibson in 2010.

2) We'll get a pretty good idea of how long-time Cody legislators Hank Coe and Pat Childers are faring against their challengers. Coe is facing Cody bed and breakfast owner and Tea Party activist Bob Berry. Berry has put an enormous of time and resources into campaigning. According to state finance reports, he's spent $15,000 of his own money. He's even had volunteers reach out to voters with phone calls -- an unusual extra step. Coe has also stepped up his campaigning.

Childers, meanwhile, is facing three challengers, Cody industrial consultant T.D. Ball, Cody City Councilman Charles Cloud and Willwood farmer David Northrup. The first results will likely be from the city of Cody itself. Keep in mind that things may be different in rural areas.

7:51 p.m. In visiting with folks in Cody today, I've heard three names repeatedly come up as favorites for the county commission race: Lee Livingston (who led the fundraising race), incumbent Bucky Hall and Alex Gisoldi. John Wetzel's name has also been in the mix, but the fact of the matter is, no one really knows until all the votes are in and counted.

I'm not going to try handicapping the Powell house race (HD 25). Steve Walker has put in a lot of work campaigning -- something he's pitched as a reason for people to vote for him -- but all four candidates have been active. If an eye-balling of local yard signs is any indication (and it very well may not), it's looked like a neck-and-neck-and-neck race between Walker, Dave Blevins and Billy Greaham.

7:46 p.m. I'll be focusing almost-exclusively on local races tonight, which, thanks to a complete lack of Democratic candidates, are all among Republicans. Among those I'll be watching the most closely are the county commission race (2 seats/7 candidates), the state House District 25 race (that seat represents the Powell area and has 4 candidates), the state Senate District 18 race (which represents eastern Park County and has two candidates) and the House District 50 race (a battle to represent east Cody, Clark, the Willwood, Ralston, etc. among four contenders). There's also the House District 26 race, which is a two-way battle to represent northern Big Horn County plus Frannie and Garland in Park County.

If I'm missing something, let me know.

7:42 p.m. Alright. It's just after 7:30 and we've got ballots coming in. Already here at the courthouse are some ballots from nearby polling places. Ballots from four City of Cody precincts are here and now waiting to be counted.

5:31 p.m. If you haven't cast a ballot in today's primary election in Park County, you've still got one hour and 29 minutes til the polls close. If you need to bone up on the candidates before hustling to the polls, we've put together an election guide and had some information in today's newspaper about where to vote and what's up for election. More information is available at the Park County Elections website, www.parkcountyelections.net.

I'm going to be stationed at the courthouse tonight to track the results as they come in. Beginning at around 7:30 p.m., I'll start posting continuing updates on where things stand with ballot-counting and share some election tidbits to hopefully keep you interested while we wait. If this year is like past years, the first results will start becoming available a little after 8 p.m., and they'll be for Cody-area precincts. Getting all the results -- which will be unofficial until certified later this week -- will likely take a couple hours; in 2010, it wasn't until about 10 p.m. that any Powell results were at the courthouse and tabulated.

If you've got any questions about election night results or bold predictions on winners, please weigh in below in the comments section or email me. I hope you'll join me later on for the live coverage. Thanks for reading! ~CJ

How Park County got its flag

By now, it's safe to assume that a good percentage of Park County residents have seen the new, official Park County flag.

Unveiled at a June 19 ceremony, the banner features a bison and an elk, flanked by Indian Paintbrushes. It's been flying at City Hall and the Park County Annex in Powell and the Park County Complex and Park County Courthouse in Cody.

If you haven't seen it, it looks like this:

While people have had chances to see the finished product, it's doubtful that many have gotten a chance to view the original art that inspired it. County commissioners had asked the county's elementary schoolers to come up the with designs for the county's flag. The final design was based on the work of Sunset Elementary School fifth-grader Abby Manchester, who won the grand prize with her drawing.

Below is her winning entry:

The Park County flag is also set to be flown in the Wyoming State Fair Parade on Aug. 18, joining flags representing other Wyoming counties.

Police investigating downtown break-ins

Powell police are investigating a pair of downtown break-ins from Thursday night/Friday morning.

An individual, or individuals, reportedly threw a rock through a window of the Lamplighter Inn in an incident reported just after 11:30 p.m. Thursday, say Powell police logs. At 4:45 a.m. Friday, a front window at The Merc was reported to have been broken out.

Powell Police Chief Roy Eckerdt said police recovered "a sizable amount of the items taken from Lamplighter." He declined to comment on how the items were recovered, but said they were not recovered from a person and that no one had been arrested in connection with the incident. Eckerdt said police were waiting to hear what was stolen from The Merc.

He asked anyone with information on the break-ins to call police at 754-2212 or contact them anonymously at 764-TIPS (8477) or via email at crimetips@cityofpowell.com.

The Tribune will have more information in Tuesday's newspaper.

Suspect arrested in Cody bank robberies

Law enforcement officials say they've arrested the man they believe robbed and attempted to rob a pair of Cody banks last month.

A release from the Cody Police Department sent late Thursday says police in Bismarck, N.D., arrested 32-year-old suspect Joshua Beckstead on Wednesday (July 4th).

Beckstead was arrested on a warrant issued Tuesday by the U.S. District Court in Wyoming relating to the attempted robbery of Cody's Sunlight Federal Credit Union and subsequent robbery of First Bank of Wyoming's downtown Cody branch on June 19 and the robbery of Cheyenne's American National Bank on June 15.

We have a more complete story based on the affidavit used to secure Beckstead's arrest that will run in tomorrow's (Friday's) Tribune. If you're wondering, we're publishing on a Friday instead of the typical Thursday because of the July 4 holiday.

Teton-area fire clouding skies

If you wondering what's filling this (Tuesday) evening's skies with smoke, the culprit is apparently a fire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest and the situation is expected to continue for the next few days.

That's the information Shoshone National Forest fire information officer Olga Troxel passed along in an email tonight.

Courtesy photo/Inciweb.org

Troxel writes: "Smoke visible in the vicinity of Cody this afternoon is from the Bear Cub Fire on the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
The fire burning in the Noland Meadows area of the Teton Wilderness is estimated at between 200 and 500 acres. The fire is believed to have been started by lightning experienced in the last 48 hours.


Winds blowing from the southwest are pushing the smoke onto the Shoshone National Forest and into Cody and possibly Meeteetse.


The short term forecast indicates this trend will continue for the next several days."

Troxel also reminded folks that fire restrictions are already in effect because of the dry conditions.

In Park County, fireworks are only legal on private land with the landowner's permission; they'll effectively be banned altogether starting at 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 5.

Index Creek fire, others make for smoky skies

A fire burning just south of the Montana border near the Beartooth Highway has hit about 100 acres in size, Shoshone National Forest officials announced this (Thursday) morning. The Index Creek Fire is burning in heavy timber off U.S. Highway 212, Fire Information Officer Olga Troxel said in a morning news release, and it's just one of several fires burning in the region and contributing to the smoky skies.


The National Weather's Service office in Riverton has put together this nifty graphic explaining where the smoke is coming from:

The Fox Creek Campground is closed to the public as a result of the Index Creek Fire, and the Shoshone is implementing fire restrictions beginning Sunday.


The section of road between Fox Creek Campground and Index Creek is currently open but its status could change based on weather and fire behavior, Troxel said. Travelers are asked to drive with extreme caution. For public and firefighter safety, drivers are asked to slow down and not stop as they drive through the area.


Today’s weather is expected to be hotter and drier than yesterday with wind gusts to 25 miles per hour, so smoke will be visible throughout the day, Troxel said.


One hotshot crew, three engines, and two helicopters are working to suppress the fire and additional firefighting resources have been ordered. Tim Haas is currently the incident commander, while a Type III team will be arriving to take over management of the fire on Friday.


The fire was caused by a downed power line and was reported Tuesday, June 26.


Information and updates on the Index Creek Fire are be available on the Shoshone forest's website and on Inciweb.org.

Teen dies in accidental Yellowstone fall

An 18-year-old woman died Thursday in an accidental fall near Inspiration Point in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, according to a Friday news release from park officials.

The woman, a Yellowstone concession employee on her first day in the park, was hiking the canyon’s North Rim Trail with three other acquaintances when she ventured out off trail onto a loose rock promontory, which quickly gave way underneath her.

Yellowstone Rangers responded to a 911 cell phone call received at 5:44 p.m. Thursday, reporting a woman had fallen into the canyon.

Rangers, with the assistance of ground spotters and a Teton Interagency helicopter, observed the woman’s body resting approximately 400 feet down the canyon wall. They concluded she had sustained non-survivable injuries.

Despite the hazardous terrain, the body was successfully recovered from the canyon by short-haul helicopter operation at approximately noon today. The victim’s identity is being withheld until next of kin can be notified. 

Visitors are reminded that hiking close to canyon rims in the park is extremely dangerous. Staying on posted, designated canyon rim trails is a must due to the instability of loose dirt and rock near ledges.

Over-the-air TV channels change

If you tuned into the over-the-air broadcasts of KTWO (the Casper ABC affiliate) or KTVQ (the Billings CBS affiliate) last night, you likely ran into some problems.

That's because both stations switched from analog to digital signals yesterday (Thursday) and are now broadcasting on new channels.

Assuming you've got a TV with a digital tuner or an older TV with a digital-to-analog converter box, picking up the new digital channels should be as simple as rescanning. You need either a converter box or a digital tuner to watch over-the-air digital television broadcasts, along with an antenna.

The changes don't effect folks watching the stations on cable or satellite.

We'll have a bit more information in next week's Tribune.

Governor spending Memorial Day in Cody

Governor Matt Mead, First Lady Carol Mead and their children -- Mary and Pete -- will attend a ceremony commemorating Memorial Day in Cody. The annual ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Monday at the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Park, east of Cody on U.S. 14-16-20. Wyoming veterans, military, surviving spouses, family members and the general public are invited to attend as Wyoming honors those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our state and nation, said a news release from the governor's office. Gov. Mead will serve as the keynote speaker and Cody Mayor Nancy Tia Brown is also scheduled to speak. The ceremony will feature the laying of memorial wreaths by Veterans Service Organizations and other civic groups. Following the event, Mead will attend a veteran's luncheon at the Best Western Ivy Inn and Suites.

Watch Cody filmmaker's award-winning short

Cody filmmaker Preston Randolph -- with some help from his brother Garrett Randolph -- recently won top honors (and $25,000) in the Wyoming Film Office's Short Film Contest.

We have a story in Tuesday's Tribune and you can watch Randolph's 15-minute-long film, “The Summer of '81,” below.

Here's the description given by the Wyoming Film Office in their press release announcing Randolph's win:

The short tells the unique story of Wyoming man, Bob Taylor and the spirit and struggles of his life's journey. From teaching in the city, to being a Cowboy in Wyoming, to raising his family without electricity in the cabin he built by hand, and of course, baseball.

“Overall I think it's a touching story, and I'm just thankful Bob trusted me to tell it,” Randolph said.

First day of filings busy for commission

The race for two seats on the Park County Commission has already proven a crowded one.

Five contenders filed for the position today (Thursday), the opening of the filing period for the Aug. 21 primary election.

They are:

• Current commissioner Bucky Hall of Cody
• Greg Gaspers, a Cody designer
• Alex Gisoldi of Wapiti, a former Park County Homeland Security coordinator
• Lee Livingston, a Wapiti outfitter
• Bob Stevens, a Wapiti attorney

Hall, Gaspers and Livingston all had previously announced their intent to run.

Powell City Councilman John Wetzel did not file today, but has previously said he plans to run.

All six men will run as Republicans.

The filing period runs through June 1.

Updates from state track

Updates will be posted at the top:

1 p.m., Saturday -- I am happy to report that forecasts of miserable weather may have been misplaced. The clouds broke and we're running championship Saturday under mostly blue skies.

I am also happy to announced that Powell High School has its first state champion of these games. Sophomore Garrett Lynch unleashed a school-record throw of 168 feet in the discus to record a 2-inch victory and capture the state title. Vince Sleep scored a personal best of 159-9 to place third.

Also this morning, Josh Cragoe ran to a runner-up finish in the 110-meter hurdle finals. The bigger news may have been Kalei Smith, who came in fourth in the race, stealing some valuable team points for the Panthers. On the girls' side, Desiree Murray ran to a runner-up finish in the 100-meter hurdles, but took a nasty spill in the 300-meter hurdle finals. Murray eventually regained her feet and finished the race well after the other seven runners had crossed the line. The bigger question will be how the mishap impacts Murray, who still has the 400 and 200 finals this afternoon. Coach Smith assures me she's "one of the toughest kids I've coach," adding that she's the sort who might run the finals today and show up at school in a body cast on Monday. Since Murray's graduating on Sunday, I doubt she'll be in school come Monday morning, but point taken.

As expected, Douglas passed Powell in the team standings, but the gap was only half a point before the Panthers surged back into the lead with their discus performance. That 4x400 relay keeps looming larger and larger as the afternoon moves closer and closer here on championship Saturday.

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7:15 a.m., Saturday -- Welcome to championship Saturday at the state track meet in Casper! Remember those 77 degrees that we began the meet with two days ago? Well forget about them, they're not coming back. It's been raining on and off throughout the night and with a humidity hovering around 80 percent and an air temperature of 42 degrees presently, it's going to feel just a handful of degrees above freezing. It should warm up into the mid or upper 50s, but there's also the threat of, yes, more rain moving in.

That said, we should have a hot battle for most of the day in the 3A boys' standings, if not for the champion's trophy, then at the very least for the runner-up and third-place hardware. Powell begins in second place today, 13.5 points in back of Jackson. Douglas should come shooting up from back in the pack with a host of early competitors, however. Star Valley will make waves in any sprinting events as well. Jackson, though, might have too many horses, especially with the 1600 yet to be run.

On the girls' side, a Friday largely without points sent the Panther girls down to seventh-place in the standings. How far they climb back will largely be determined by Desiree Murray, who will close out a stellar Panther career today by running in four different finals.

A final word -- due to the wet weather, I'm not certain how many online reports I'll be able to file today. Fans can follow along with the action on the WHSAA website (www.whsaa.org) as the Hy-Tek results stream along the state track page. I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone back at the home office as well for taking my phone reports amidst spotty coverage and questionable weather here to help provide updates this week.

============

9:30 p.m., Friday -- Heading into championship Saturday, the boys' standings look like this -- Jackson 72, Powell 58.5, Douglas 36, Cody 35, Star Valley 34.5. The Panthers made some major strides today, capped by a runner-up finish from the 4x100 relay team.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the Panthers could be in third place by the lunch hour tomorrow because Douglas has a ton of points lined up in the early finals events on the track. Douglas has seven early runners, compared to just two for the Panthers. Star Valley, which has some of 3A's top sprinters, will also climb quickly once action resumes in Casper.

The Panthers could add some big numbers in the discus around midday. Blaise Gann added a qualification for the 400 meter finals late today, so he'll add to Powell's point total as well. Catching Jackson could be a tough task -- the Broncs have three of the top 1600 runners in 3A and will get big points there. They'll also have some hurdlers pulling in points that should help keep them ahead of the field barring significant mishap. The fight for runner-up honors could come down to that 4x400 relay with Douglas, Powell and Star Valley all projecting to be neck and neck going into that final event. Powell and Douglas, the two fastest regional times, will go head-to-head in that race while Star Valley has the disadvantage of running in the first heat.

On the girls' side, Tori Sleep made it on the podium in the discus tonight and Desiree Murray cruised to a win in her prelim heat of the 400. But the Panther girls were passed by several teams today and will be in seventh place heading into Saturday. Murray has the chance to pick up big points as she runs in four finals on Saturday, but it's a tall climb to get back into trophy position.

The weather forecast continues to be less than ideal and tomorrows action could find itself delayed again due to rain and storms.

=========

4:15 p.m., Friday -- We waited for most of the day, but the Powell girls have added to their team point total finally with a sixth-place finish in the girls' 4x100. They'll add some more as soon as the girls' discus goes final. VERY dark and ominous skies approaching, so the laptop is returning to the safety of my car and this will probably be it until tonight's post assessing how things stand for the Panthers heading into championship Saturday.

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1:15 p.m., Friday -- Updating quickly from the state soccer tournament in Sheridan, it was just announced that the Powell boys fell by a 2-1 count to Cody and are thus eliminated from state competition.

Here in Casper, Desiree Murray won her prelim heat of the 300m hurdles. Brendon Phister and Kalei Smith both failed to advance to Saturday's final. Marco Borja also narrowly missed moving ahead in the 100. KaDee Harrison was similarly denied a spot in the finals on the girls' side of the 100 while Mikaila Moore missed advancing in the 300 hurdles.

The day's bizarre incident came during the boys' 800 final in 3A. Justin Lynn was running near the front of the pack, which contained about 10 bodies, with 350 meters remaining in the race. Lynn was jostled by another runner in the pack and forced onto the infield grass. He returned to the track and completed the race, but was four seconds behind the field and eight seconds off his regional time. No disqualifications were made as a result of the incident as race officials could not identify the origin of the contact.

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12:15 p.m., Friday -- Tribune Sports Editor Randal Horobik called with these updates from the second day of the state track meet in Casper:

It’s been a good day so far for the Powell boys. Hayden Cragoe finished second in pole vault and Brendon Phister took fifth place.

Zach Thiel added a fifth place finish in the 3A boys’ 800.

In the shot put, Powell placed three in the top five. Garrett Michael was fifth, Vince Sleep placed third and Garrett Lynch had a personal best of 54-2 to finish second.

No new place winners for Powell girls to report this morning. We are eagerly awaiting the start of the 100 meter prelims and the Powell-Cody soccer game in Sheridan.

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7:45 a.m., Friday -- We'll start the day in the mid-to-upper 50s, there's a bit of an overcast haze to the sky, but that might be burned away by the sun here in the next 75 minutes before the action actually gets started. Weather forecast for the day is calling for a high in the lower 70s and a wind of 10-15 mph increasing to 20 this afternoon -- not good news for those wanting to set records on the track as it will be a headwind for the final 100 meters of any race. The real fun could come around 2 p.m....that's when the National Weather Service says thunderstorms could begin flaring up around the region.

We'll see what happens. I'm off to the stadium to try and get a front-row parking spot just in case those calls for rain turn out to be spot-on. Go Panthers!

==========

9:15 p.m., Thursday -- Both Panther teams are in fourth place currently, but that could change early Friday morning, particularly on the boys' side. The 3A pole vault will take off at 9 a.m. with what, in my opinion, could be one of the most exciting and talent-packed races of the entire state meet field -- the 3A boys' 800 -- following shortly thereafter at around 9:45 a.m.

But that could all be teaser to the 11 a.m. sendoff of the 3A boys' shot put. Can Vince Sleep add to his school record? Can Garrett Lynch return the school mark to his family? More importantly, can either of them provide Powell with its first gold medal of this championship? Stay tuned to find out!

On the girls' side, Friday will start slower. Jada Swires will have a chance to get points early in the triple jump finals, where she enters seeded ninth. Bailey Sanders will have a chance to add to the Panthers' point count in the 800 finals. Much of the early Friday girls' action though will come in the prelims of the 100 and 300-meter hurdles. The big Friday event for the Panther girls comes at 3 p.m. with the girls' discus finals, where Tori Sleep and Shawnea Harrington are both contenders for team points and their second state medals of these games.

That'll do it for me tonight from Casper. I'll post a quick weather update in the morning before heading to the stadium. Safe travels to all making the trip down from Powell for Friday and championship Saturday action.

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7 p.m., Thursday -- The Powell boys' 4x800 team just crossed the finish line in third place to wrap up the first day of state track action with the highest finish thus far for the Panthers. The foursome of Zander Andreasen, Marshall McArthur, Zach Thiel and Justin Lynn looked to cross the line in a time of roughly 8:41 (official times haven't been flashed on the screen yet). The girls' 4x800 relay team finished fourth, losing a footrace to the finish line against Douglas.

In other action since my last posting, Josh Cragoe and Hayden Cragoe finished 5-6 in the high jump for the Panthers. Josh also turned in the fastest time of the day in the 110 hurdle prelims, with the only sub-15 second time. Lining up further to the outside of Cragoe will be Panther teammate Kalei Smith, who also found a place in the top eight and a spot on the starting line on championship Saturday. Overall though, the prelim races may have harmed Powell's trophy chances on the boys' side. Blaise Gann narrowly missed advancing in the 200 prelims, finishing 10th overall. Hayden Cragoe was guilty of a false start in the 110m hurdles. Both were possible point-scorers in a team race that looks to be incredibly close.

On the girls' side, Desiree Murray advanced with ease in both the 200 and the 100m hurdles. KaDee Harrison wasn't quite as fortunate in the 200, where her time of 27.5 was good for 12th, ending her state meet in that event. She's still got the 100, as well as a relay leg with the 4x100. In the only other final on the girls' side, Jada Swires's best long jump of 14-4 1/2 left her more than a foot shy of the top eight.

Up in Sheridan on the soccer field, I have received word from Greg Wise that Powell fell by a 4-2 count in a game that was cut short by a few minutes due to lightning. Jackson jumped ahead in the opening minute of play and later added a second goal before Ty Ouellette's penalty kick drew net to give the Panthers' their first goal of the season against the Broncs. Jackson and Powell traded goals before Jackson sailed home an insurance goal just before Mother Nature rumbled an end to the contest. The Panthers will face Cody, a 3-2 loser to Buffalo, in a Friday elimination contest that should kick off around 11 a.m.

That'll do it for me here at Kelly Walsh on Day 1. I'm going to go find dinner and my hotel, by which point they should have the Thursday team scores posted and we can talk a bit about what we're looking forward to tomorrow here in Casper.

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1:45 p.m., Thursday -- The boys' portion of the 3A state championships also began successfully for the Powell Panthers as Zander Andreasen placed fifth in the 3200. Andreasen ran a strong race, spending the better part of six laps amidst a lead pack of four runners before sagging back over the final 800 meters. The heat is definitely playing a wild card on the early distance race as temperatures in Casper are around 80 now and wind is virtually non-existent. I, not being a competitor, have retreated to an air conditioned location. The big winners early on are definitely the lemonade vendors around the stadium.

We'll begin prelims on the track soon. The next event for the boys will be the high jump where Josh and Hayden Cragoe could both provide points for the Panthers. After that, we wait for the last event of the day as both 4x800 relay teams line up to carry the baton.

Barring something pretty amazing in the high jump, expect the next update to come from the hotel tonight as I wrap up the prelim race action and late-afternoon finals.

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Tribune Sports Editor Randal Horobik phoned in this noon news from the first day of the state track meet in Casper:

"What a difference a year makes. Instead of snow flakes, the national anthem was sung to 77 degrees.

Powell High School freshman Gretchen Morretti got things started with a seventh place finish in the 3200. Sophomores Tori Sleep and Shawea Harrington placed fifth and sixth, respectively in the shot put.

We're about half an hour away from Zander Andreassen in the boys 3200."

Randal promised more updates as the day's events warrant.

===========

Romney "delighted" with Wyo. win

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he's "delighted" with the results of Wyoming's county conventions.

Romney took seven Wyoming delegates last week and has mounted a legal challenge to get an eighth --Park County's delegate, which was awarded to Rick Santorum. In his Saturday evening statement, Romney made no mention of the pending challenge.

Here's the full text of Romney's statement, as put out by his press shop:

“I am delighted to have won the support of seven of the twelve national delegates selected at Wyoming’s County Conventions. Our campaign is on the move and today's victories in the island territories bring us one step closer to defeating President Obama and restoring American's promise. I am grateful to our extraordinary supporters in Wyoming and look forward to sharing my message of more jobs, less debt and smaller government with voters across the nation.”

PHS boys and girls open with regional wins

So far, so good for the Powell High School basketball teams: the Panthers and Lady Panthers each won their opening matches at the Class 3A West regional tournament in Jackson on Thursday.

The PHS girls came from behind late to claim a 29-24 overtime victory over Mountain View. They scored the last 12 points for the win. Powell, seeded fourth, advances to play Cody, the No. 1 seed, at 4 p.m. Friday. The Lady Panthers will be looking to avenge their narrow 51-45 loss to the Fillies last Saturday; they also played Cody oh-so-close in a 23-22 heartbreaker on Jan. 13.

Powell's No. 1-seeded boys, meanwhile, clobbered No. 8-seeded Pinedale 76-30 in Thursday morning action. They'll play Lyman, the No. 4 seed, at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Lyman and Powell split their two contests in the regular season, PHS winning a 51-48 decision on the road on Jan. 7, LHS nabbing a 53-52 win on Feb. 10.

Regional tournament brackets for the boys and girls are available at WHSAA.org.

Video: Cody PD news conference on homicide

Yesterday was busy for Cody police, as they sought a man in connection with a Sunday night homicide. The PD arrested their suspect, Myron Friday, yesterday evening after a day-long search.

Cody police initially announced the search for Friday in a bare-bones morning news release. Police Chief Perry Rockvam then released more information at an afternoon press conference.

For anyone who's interested, here's the video of that briefing, as broadcast by the city of Cody through their online streaming service:


The video is also available on the city of Cody's website, as is the press release announcing Friday's arrest.


At least one individual was upset with the lack of information released and relayed by the local media yesterday, calling Cody police dispatch around 5:30 p.m. for more information on the homicide. He said the local paper account told him "nothing" and wanted to speak with someone about his and others' safety, according to the Cody police log. Someone from the department was going to call him back, the log says.

Dr. Schneider's press release responding to allegations

In case anyone is interested, below is an unedited copy of the press release that Cody neurosurgeon John H. Schneider Jr. put out yesterday announcing he had filed a response to Cody orthapedic surgeon Jimmie Biles' defamation suit against him. I wrote a more detailed story about Schneider's response in today's paper.

The release was sent by an individual with Acclaim, LLP Public Relations in Billings.

Local Surgeon’s Response to Libel Allegations 

Cody, WY – Dr. John H. Schneider, Neurosurgeon, filed in federal court on Tuesday in response to recent allegations of defamation of character by orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jimmie Biles.  Dr. Schneider’s response not only addresses the suit brought on by Dr. Biles but will carry with it a countersuit on behalf of Dr. John H. Schneider as well as a suit on behalf of the People of Wyoming. 

Court filings hold sworn testimony that proves Dr. Schneider had no involvement in the negative flyer distributed last December about Dr. Biles. The individual named in disseminating the flyer testified that she, and she alone, created the flyer.  Court records also indicate that Dr. Biles has a long history of erratic, alcohol and substance abuse related behavior that has left many, including patients, the general public and Dr. Schneider, feeling victimized.

“It's a shame it had to come to this,” said Dr. Schneider. “Dr. Biles has some personal demons to overcome, and I feel sorry for him. It's sad to see a man lash out at others in a desperate attempt to salvage a career that is crumbling around him. I hope he is able to get healthy and in control again someday.”

Attorney for Dr. Schneider, Laurence Stinson of Bonner Stinson Law Firm, feels the suit brought on by Dr. Biles is another attempt to cause harm to Dr. Schneider “as a result of long-standing animosity and jealousy toward Dr. Schneider, his former friend, who refused to finance a ranch operation owned by Dr. Biles.”

Dr. Schneider continued “We look forward to getting this over with so we can get back to our purpose – helping our patients and our community.” Dr. Schneider stated that he has tried to take the higher ground in his dealings with Dr. Biles over the last several years, but “my personal integrity and my professional career demand that I not stand idly by any longer.”

A hearing date is pending.

Stay informed during legislative session

With the 2012 Budget Session under way in Cheyenne, residents have a variety of ways to stay informed. The Wyoming Legislature offers numerous services to help Wyoming residents actively participate in the legislative process during the 2012 legislative session. Below is a list of those services:

General telephone messages and correspondence for legislators
If you would like to contact a legislator directly during the session, call the Senate receptionist at 307-777-7711 or the House receptionist at 307-777-7852 to leave a brief message for a member. Written mail may be directed to a designated legislator in care of the Wyoming House or Senate, State Capitol, Cheyenne, WY 82002. Fax messages may be sent to a designated legislator at 307-777-5466.

Contacting legislators by email
You may also contact members of the Wyoming Legislature via email. Many legislators use email to correspond with their constituents and other members of the public. This is one of the most effective ways to communicate with legislators, especially if you would like to provide more detailed information than is available through the various telephone services. Legislators who can be contacted by email are listed on the Legislature’s website (http://legisweb.state.wy.us).

Online hotline and telephone hotline
During the legislative session, you can recommend support for or opposition to, a particular piece of legislation by using the online hotline. In addition to expressing support for, or opposition to, an identified bill, you can leave a short comment regarding the bill. This service is available on the Legislature’s website at http://legisweb.state.wy.us/postcomments/onlinehotline.aspx.

Comments will be available to all legislators, but keep in mind that legislators consider a variety of factors when making decisions on pending legislation. The telephone hotline also is available toll free for people without Internet access. Within Wyoming, the number is 866-996-8683. Callers will not be able to leave comments regarding a bill. The information that you provide using these services is considered a public record.

Bill Status Hotline
You can call the bill status information service within Wyoming at 800-342-9570 to obtain the current status of any bill in the legislative process. This is a limited service that provides information about where the bill is in the process, but does not provide information about the details of the legislation. In addition, callers cannot leave messages for legislators at this telephone number. This service is available on days the Legislature is in session from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Out-of-state callers should dial 307-777-6185 for this service.

Hearing Impaired Service
If you have a hearing impairment, call the toll-free Wyoming Relay Service for information on any bill. The number is 800-877-9965 for TDD or Text Telephones. Ask the Wyoming Relay Service operator to dial 307-777-6185 to obtain the status on bills. This service is available to all Wyoming residents with hearing impairments.

Information on the Legislature’s website
A great deal of legislative information is available electronically through the Wyoming Legislature’s website. This site also can be accessed through the State of Wyoming’s Web page. During legislative sessions, the website will be updated daily with important legislative information, including the text of all introduced, engrossed, and enrolled bills; information about amendments; a record of all roll call votes posted as soon as possible after each vote; record of actions taken on bills; bill status; Senate and House daily calendars; and standing committee meeting schedules.

Streaming Audio of Legislative Proceedings
Live and archived audio proceedings of the Wyoming Senate and the Wyoming House of Representatives are available on the Wyoming Legislature’s website. A link will be prominently displayed on the website when the session begins to provide the option of listening to live proceedings, if the House and Senate are convened, and an archive of daily legislative proceedings. If you have trouble hearing sound on your computer when the House or Senate are in session, please click on the Audio Troubleshooting Guide for assistance. The system will not stream live audio when the House and Senate are adjourned, at recess, or at ease for more than 15 minutes.

Roll Call Votes
Current technology allows the Wyoming Legislature to post roll call votes almost in real time for floor votes. You can find out how legislators vote on every roll-call vote taken both on the floor and in committee during this year’s session. This information is available within several minutes after each roll-call vote. Users should click on the “2012 Bill Tracking Information” link on the homepage and then on the “Roll Call Votes on Bills and Amendments” link.

On the top of the page select Floor Votes or Committee Votes from the drop-down menu. Then, select whether you would like the votes on House Bills or Senate Files. A list of all bills will then display on the page. Once you have selected the bill you want to review, the actions that were taken, as well as the day the actions were taken will display in the main section of the page. Click on the “view” link to see how each individual legislator voted.

Electronic and Paper Copies of Legislation (House Bills and Senate Files)
The text of each bill will be posted on the Legislature’s website as soon as the legislation is assigned a bill number. Fiscal notes are also included on the website, which provide information about the fiscal impact of the bill. The text of each bill that passes one house (called “engrossed bills”) and bills that are passed by the Legislature (called “enrolled acts”) are posted on the site as they are approved. Bills can be viewed by subject or sponsor. If you do not have Internet access, you can call the Legislative Service Office at 307-777-7881 to request paper copies of legislation for a minimal fee. The office is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on days the Legislature is in session.

Amendments to Legislation
Amendments under consideration each day are listed on the legislative website when they are released for distribution. Amendments that have been adopted are compiled daily.

Senate and House Schedules
Calendars for floor proceedings in the Senate and House of Representatives will be available on the Legislature’s website in the late afternoon for the next day’s floor proceedings in each chamber. The calendars include legislation under consideration and the general order of business.

Standing Committee Meetings
During the session, when a bill is introduced in either the Senate or the House, it is sent to a standing committee for review and to receive public comment. You are welcome to attend standing committee meetings and to testify for or against legislation. If you would like to provide written information to the Committee, you will be requested to fill out a Committee Handout Form at the meeting (copies of the form are also available on the Legislature’s website). You are encouraged to email an electronic copy of your handout in advance to the LSO at legdocs@wyoleg.gov, so staff can maintain an electronic archive of committee handouts. A schedule of standing committee meetings and the bills that will be considered by each committee for the next legislative working day will be posted on the Legislature’s website each day in the late afternoon.

Bill Status Information
In addition to the Bill Status Hotline telephone service described above, the Legislature’s website provides information regarding the current status of each bill under consideration, as well as previous actions on the bill (journal digest). The journal digest includes the dates actions were taken on the bill, all roll call votes related to the bill and the text of all amendments offered regarding the bill.

Details on Yellowstone winter use? Stay tuned

If you're wanting details on the new options being considered for winter recreation in Yellowstone National Park, you'll have to wait for a few more days.

On Tuesday, the Park Service announced that it's seeking comments from the public on a range of options for regulating snowmobile, snowcoach and other winter traffic in the future.

The press release was fairly general in describing the six alternatives officials are considering, but said more information could be found online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/yell.

The problem? The site currently has no information about the new options.

Here's the explanation from Yellowstone park spokesman Al Nash:

The 30-day public comment period doesn't officially begin until the Park Service publishes a notice in the Federal Register, a kind of daily government newspaper.

"We had thought that might be today (Friday), now it's going to be the middle of the week," Nash said. He's guessing the notice will go in the Wednesday, Feb. 8, edition of the Federal Register.

At that point, "there will be some materials posted to that (parkplanning.nps.gov/yell) website," Nash said.

The press release went out Tuesday instead of later because open houses on the winter use alternatives are coming right up, he said.

"We wanted to get the word out to people so they could put the public meetings on their schedule," Nash said.

Indeed, the Cody event -- the first of four such meetings in the region -- is slated for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13 at the Holiday Inn. Waiting for the (tentative) Feb. 8 publication in the Federal Register would have meant less than a week of notice, versus the nearly two weeks that Tuesday's announcement gave.

"I realize we ended up announcing this in a little different fashion than we typically do," Nash added.

The revised options under consideration include ending snowmobiling in the park and closing Sylvan Pass to winter travel, leaving daily limits at the current 318 sleds/78 snowcoaches threshold or setting limits based on the number of “sound events” created by the traffic, rather than on specific numbers of machines.

The Park Service decided to re-examine its options after the public found fault with the preferred plan managers released last year.

Now, Yellowstone managers are seeking more feedback from the public with a "scoping" period on the new alternatives.

"What scoping is all about is, 'We have some ideas, we need some more from you,'" Nash said.

Fast facts about Wyoming

Gov. Matt Mead won't deliver his "State of the State" address until next month, but if you're looking to brush up on where the state stands statistically, there's no need to wait.

The state of Wyoming's Economic Analysis Division released the 2012 edition of its "Wyoming – Just the Facts!" publication this week.

The fact sheet lays out a host of basic Wyoming facts and how those figures compare nationally. The division says the information covers "demography, weather & geography, recreation & tourism, crime & law enforcement, education, health & social welfare, housing, the economy, employment & labor, tax environment, mining, energy, & the environment, transportation, agriculture, and government."

Data from 63 different sources has been plugged into the four-page sheet. Although most of the information comes from 2010 or earlier (2011 just ended, after all), it's a good one-stop shop for stats.

Here's a sampling of facts from the publication:

• The Bureau of Land Management controls 17.6 million acres in Wyoming, the U.S. Forest Service 9.2 million acres (spread among 10 national forests) the National Park Service 2.4 million.
• There were 1,560 filed bankruptcies in Wyoming in 2010 (per capita, that ranked 44th in the U.S.).
• Approximately 8.9 percent of Wyoming's workers were employed in mining in 2010 (tops in the nation), while 25.7 percent worked in government (second-highest).
• Wyoming's per capita crime rate ranked 32nd overall, but 43rd for violent crime back in 2009.
• The state paid an estimated $16,066 per pupil on the state's public schools in 2011 (fourth highest in the nation)
• The average elevation in Wyoming is 6,700 feet above sea level.
• Our state dinosaur is the triceratops.

Read for yourself below or download the fact sheet here.

Video: Northwest College makes Leno

When Northwest College announced last month that Del Nose was returning to coach the college's rodeo team, the news was picked up by several media outlets.

Here are some examples of the headlines:

The NWC press release: "Del Nose returns to Northwest College to coach Rodeo Team"
The Powell Tribune: "He's back: Former coach returning to NWC rodeo"
The Billings Gazette: "Nose returns to NWC rodeo"

Rock Springs' Rocket-Miner, however, offered a slightly different take, and it drew the attention of comedian Jay Leno during his Tuesday night "Headlines" segment. Check out the clip below.

Court says no compensation for prison head-butt

A Wyoming prison inmate will not receive worker's compensation after the state Supreme Court rejected his suggestion that movements in the earth's crust -- and not a fellow inmate's angry head-butt -- may have led to his nose being broken.

Steven DeLoge -- who is serving six consecutive life sentences for repeatedly raping an 8-year-old girl and has had numerous appeals before Wyoming's high court and others -- began his bizarre quest for compensation on July 1, 2008.

A fellow inmate working in the Wyoming State Penitentiary's kitchen, Scott Bronson, believed DeLoge had complained to a supervisor about a dirty bread slicer. Bronson was upset DeLoge went to a supervisor first, and an argument ensued.

According to Bronson, the conversation reached a point where it went something like this:

DeLOGE: "Get the (expletive) out of here."
*BRONSON argues, then turns to leave*
DeLOGE: "and stay the (expletive) out of here."
BRONSON: "Why don't you make me stay out of here?"

By that point, the two were in each other's faces and Bronson told DeLoge to get out of his face.

“He didn’t, so I head-butted him," Bronson later told a detention lieutenant -- adding that he had only wanted DeLoge out of his face and hadn't meant to break the fellow inmate's nose.

DeLoge sought worker's compensation, but was turned down by the Wyoming Workers’ Safety and Compensation Division because injuries resulting from illegal activities* -- like a battering -- aren't covered. DeLoge, through Laramie attorney Vaughn Neubauer, appealed to the Supreme Court after an unsuccessful effort in the Carbon County District Court. Neubauer argued that Bronson hadn't actually illegally battered DeLoge under state law because there was no evidence Bronson did the head-butting in a "rude, insolent or angry manner."

"Mr. DeLoge must concede that inmate Bronson’s statement, 'he didn’t [get out of my face], so I head-butted him' ... could possibly be interpreted as an indication that Bronson intended to touch Mr. DeLoge in a rude manner, but this would suppose facts not in evidence," Neubauer wrote. "At no time did inmate Bronson clarify whether or not the bump of heads occurred due to an intentional act of his own volition, an accident, or a sudden geologic shift in the surface of the earth which caused his head to contact Mr. DeLoge’s."

The state attorney general's office, defending the worker's compensation division, said the evidence showed the head-butting was clearly intentional.

"(N)othing in the record suggests that Bronson suffered some sort of muscle spasm or incontrollable (sic) twitch, or otherwise was subjected to some movement of the earth or stars which forced his head into DeLoge’s face," wrote senior assisant attorney general Mike Causey.

The Supreme Court agreed and flatly rejected DeLoge's appeal on Nov. 9.

"Bronson’s admission of his intent leaves little room for speculation as to the possible involvement of tectonic plate activity," wrote Justice Barton Voigt. "This appeal borders on the frivolous."

The court did not address what a wholly frivolous appeal would look like.

*Personally, I think a more novel position for the worker's compensation division would have been to argue that anyone in prison is there as a result of illegal activity, and, therefore, that all injuries suffered while incarcerated are ineligible for compensation.