Video: Wings and Wheels car show

The Powell airport was built to service planes, but for Wings N' Wheels, it hosted around 100 show-cars for vehicle lovers. A brief overview of the event.

Video: Wings and Wheels air show

On August 16, at Powell's Wings and Wheels event, Red Eagle Air Sports entertained folks with some aerial acrobatics. After their show, pilots Dan McClung and Buck Roetman took a minute to talk about what it's like to fly stunts for a living.

The mystery of the misspelled sign

On Monday, an active shooting drill was held at Powell High School. Law enforcement and emergency responders simulated a mock shooting at the new school.

As you might guess, the building was closed to the public while the drill was conducted. The following sign was posted on a couple of the doors.The author will probably remain a mystery. Sources in the agencies and organizations involved all denied involvement in or knowledge of the creation of the sign. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations for gross negligence in writing has already passed.

But for the record, if anyone is charged, it'll be an inditement indictment.

Write-in results from Park County's primary election

For the 2008 primary election, Park County decided to individually document write-in ballots this year and released those results today. Looking at the write-in names and numbers, there are a few jokes (see below), a couple surprises, and some implications for the general election.

Some of the races that looked to be a done deal might not be so cut and dried. As Republican County Commission nominee Dave Burke noted yesterday, "It is Park County."

We'll have the full scoop on what's going on with the county's write-ins in Tuesday's Powell Tribune. Until then, you can check out the full, raw results by clicking on the image below or here. Keep in mind they're officially unofficial.
Overall primary election results (which do not individually name the write-in candidates) can be accessed at the county's elections website here.

Gunbarrel troubleshooters put feet to fire

A big part of the effort at the Gunbarrel fire has been protecting “values” (values are firefighter speak for structures — cabins, lodges, campgrounds, etc.) on the North Fork corridor, better known on maps as U.S. 14-16-20.

Firefighters are easy to spot. They are the ones sporting yellow shirts and green pants treated with Nomax, a fire retardant. Not the people. I mean their threads.

I’ve met some swell people on this fire and this cool crew in the pic are certainly no exception. They were checking some cabins a few miles east of Pahaska Tepee last week.

Be safe guys...

Clockwise are Neal Obray, Hayley Crosby, Jessica Brewen, Scott Nilson, Kevin Wiebe, Tom Lentz and Erin Elliott.

Now, some more on the fire...

The fire is more or less than 40 miles west of Cody, burning on the north side of the highway. If you are headed to Yellowstone National Park, look to your right. Your eyes will note burned trees that very closely resemble big charred toothpicks. On Saturday there was a new smoke plume on a ridge across from Eagle Creek campground. Now, roiling smoke can be spotted in the vicinity of Yellowstone Valley Inn, near the national forest boundary.

The powers that be decided in late July when lightning ignited a tree to allow the fire to consume the pine beetle infested hills. As much as 80 percent of trees are reportedly dead due to the insidious little insects.

If you can click on the below map, you can get a closer look at the fire's growth over the last few weeks.
Most of the locals I have chatted with on the North Fork believe the firefighters are doing a bang-up job. Of course, some lodge owners are sweating the loss of business and one fellow said they should have stamped out the fire the moment it ignited and thus saved a butt-load of money. The fire has cost $5.4 million as of Wednesday morning.

My opinion? Assuming of course someone is interested...

I’ll quote erstwhile Yellowstone Park Superintendent Ken Barbee, the oft criticized man of the Fires of 1988 lore: “Let it burn!”

Of course I don’t want to see the good people running lodges lose their livelihood or some friends that have a cabin there return to find a pile of broiled rubble.

However, if the dead trees are removed, re-growth will occur in forests that are around 300 years old. While the forest is in re-growth mode, new grazing will be available for elk and deer scampering across the hills.

Wednesday’s update: 43,066 acres. There are approximately 146 personnel on the fire. A complete update for Wednesday can be found here.

There will also be another public meeting on the Gunbarrel fire on Friday, Aug. 22, at 11 a.m., at the Gunbarrel fire camp.

The Internet is a good place to glean fire data. If you hit the right sites, the information should be accurate although it may be dated. For the uninitiated, try http://inciweb.org.

Wyoming Primary: Park County's 2008 election results

When results come in, you'll see them on this post. I'll be adding to this page, so refresh it for updates. Park County's official unofficial results can be found here.

10:58 Woah! Looks like I dropped the ball here. Keith Goodenough and Nick Carter had a lot less hype (and far fewer obnoxious mailings) running for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate than the Lummis-Gordon race, but their brawl appears to be the highlight of the evening. Right now, the two are separated by just fractions of a percentage point and some 200 votes for Carter votes. He looks to have taken Park County by 91 votes or so - they may prove decisive. Follow that race on the Secretary of State's website here.

9:57 Time to call it a night. In recap: barring a serious change when results are finalized or an independent or write-in campaign, Dave Burke has won a seat on the Park County Commission. Commissioner Bucky Hall will retain his. However, given that we still have more than two months until the general election, who knows what will happen.

Cynthia Lummis appears to have won Park County by roughly 500 votes over Mark Gordon. Follow the Lummis-Gordon-Winney-Holland race here.

Read the full election stories with candidate reactions and more details on the election in Thursday's Tribune. Goodnight, anyone who was following this live blog. Let me know if there's anything I could have done better, or, since we reporters always prefer praise to criticism, if it was helpful.

Earlier updates from the night follow...

9:41 Here we go, absentee ballots are in. Burke and Hall maintain their leads, as does Lummis. Things are winding down, I believe.

9:36 Absentee ballots still have yet to be counted... There's a bunch of them. Not sure they'll have much of an impact on, say, the commission race, unless they all go heavily in favor of Hinkle or Allshouse.

9:16 Still waiting on absentee ballots, but here's the results from Powell's city races. Since no municipal race has more than 2 candidates, the results are little more than just a poll. We'll do it again in November with these guys. But in short,
incumbents are looking good, except Mark Senn.

Mayor
Scott Mangold: 64 percent (609 votes)
Tim Sapp 35 percent (330 votes)

Councilmembers
Ward 1
Jim Hillberry: 68 percent (183 votes)
Shea Reel: 31 percent (83 votes)

Ward 2
Floyd Young 72 percent (250 votes)
Mark Senn 27 percent (94 votes)

Ward 3
Don Hillman 70 percent (186 votes)
John Sides 29 percent (77 votes)

9:09 Look like Cynthia Lummis has sewn up Park County. She's got 44 percent (2,004 votes) to Mark Gordon's 38 percent (1,734 votes).

9:01 This is everything MINUS those 1,000 or so absentee ballots. Looks like Dave Burke will join the Park County commission and Bucky Hall will keep his seat.

Burke: 26.08 percent (2,186 votes)
Hall: 21.97 percent (1,841 votes)
Hinkle: 18.65 percent (1,563 votes)
Allshouse: 16.68 percent (1,398 votes)
Whitelock: 8.66 percent (726 votes)
Wilde: 7.49 percent (628 votes)

8:56 Cynthia Lummis has expanded her lead over Mark Gordon. Lummis has 45.6 percent (1,416 votes) or Gordon 40.13 percent (1,246 votes). Winney's at 10.6 percent (329 votes), and Holland's at 3.29 percent (102 votes).

8:53 So, 18 of 29 precincts are in BUT more than 1,000 absentee ballots have yet to be counted in the results. That's a good chunk of ballots. It ain't over yet.

8:50 UPDATE: Rural Powell and Meeteetse results are in to join Cody's results. Dave Burke has pulled ahead of Bucky Hall. The two of them have separated a bit from Hinkle and Allshouse, but it's still close. 18 of 29 precincts are in.

Dave Burke: 23.65 percent (1,371 votes)
Bucky Hall: 22.59 percent (1,310 votes)
Terry Hinkle: 19.25 percent (1,116 votes)
Judy Allshouse: 18.66 percent (1,082 votes)
Margaret Wilde: 7.93 percent (460 votes)
Hank Whitelock: 7.31 perent (424 votes)

8:40 Ok, so if you haven't been following this: races are tight. Republican County Commission candidates Bucky Hall (23.5 percent), Dave Burke (22.2 percent), Terry Hinkle (20.33 percent), and Judy Allshouse (19.14 percent) are separated by 120 votes. That's with 9 precincts out of 29 counted - basically, Cody's precincts.

8:37 All ballots are at the courthouse. Just waiting for the ccmputers now.

8:28 Likewise tight is the race for the Republican nomination for Wyoming's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cynthia Lummis (44 percent) leads Mark Gordon (42 percent) - or 42 votes. Winney is around 10 percent, Holland at 3 percent. Again, those results are from Cody.

8:26 So, in case the below results aren't clear enough: with Cody's precincts mostly in, the county commission race is pretty tight. Hall, Burke, Hinkle, and Allshouse are separated by around 4 percent, or 120 votes. Powell could easily swing this.

8:20 County clerk Kelly Jensen says she's heard that turnout is low statewide. Going theory is that people got burned out on the hub-bub over Wyoming's unprecedented role in the presidential selection process.

8:14 Bucky Hall has the early lead. Dave Burke in second, Terry Hinkle third, and Judy Allshouse fourth. Hank Whitelock and Margaret Wilde follow by a good margin. The votes represent most of Cody.

Hall: 23.5 percent (889 votes)
Burke: 22.2 (840)
Hinkle: 20.33 (769)
Allshouse: 19.14 (724)
Wilde: 8.83 (334)
Whitelock: 5.79 (219)
8 write-ins

8:11 Nine precincts in. 25 pages of results are on the way. I believe the coming results are only for Cody. I'll get what I can.

8:07 No results yet, so I've got time to make a prediction. Relying on my rough sign-counting, Dave Burke and Terry Hinkle seem to have the most support in Powell. Of course, who knows how signs compare to results. For example, last month, somebody removed Terry Hinkle for Commission signs and planted 8 Dave Burke signs in their place. Whose yard, you ask? Terry Hinkle's own.

Another concern: some sign planters don't seem to understand that they can't vote for everyone. Spotted this a few weeks back about two block away from the Cody courthouse.
8:03 Apparently, Bill Yetter of Meeteetse launched a late write-in campaign for a seat on the Park County commission. The ad at right appeared in Meeteetse's newsletter last week. County clerk Kelly Jensen is trying to individually count write-ins this election. However, those results probably won't come tonight. We'll keep you posted.

7:52 I'm running a bit behind schedule, but here we are. I'll start writing stuff.

The scoop on tonight's election results

As hopefully you've heard by now, today is Wyoming's primary election. In Park County, two seats on the county commission are at stake and most likely will be determined tonight.

As the evening progess, the Tribune blog will be posting live results. From 7 or so on, I'll be at the Cody Courthouse tracking results as they come in and passing along election tidbits (for example, did you know there's a write-in campaign for the County Commission?).

If you want to follow state-wide races (Mark Gordon-Cynthia Lummis-Bill Winney-Michael Holland, anyone?) are best tracked through the Secretary of State's election results webpage here.

Park County's results will be posted at their elections website tonight (http://www.parkcountyelections.net) BUT the Tribune blog should have the results first (the post is up here). If all goes according to plan, the press will be getting printouts of results before they're placed on the county's website. I've been told that'll give this blog about a 10-minute jump.

So check back tonight early and often and weigh in with a comment or two.

Until then - get out and vote! You've got 'til 7 p.m.