State Briefs

South Dakota man killed in avalanche

SARATOGA (WNE) — A 58-year-old South Dakota man is dead following an avalanche in the Encampment River Wilderness on March 12.

At approximately 1:02 p.m., the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) received a call from Roy Simonson of Rapid City, South Dakota. Simonson reported himself and Jon P. LaFramboise, also of Rapid City, had been caught in an avalanche while snowmobiling near Hog Park in the Sierra Madre mountain range. He also reported he had performed CPR on LaFramboise, but couldn’t find a pulse and noted LaFramboise still wasn’t breathing.

CCSO Deputy Patrick Patterson responded to the call and activated search and rescue units from Saratoga, Ryan Park and Encampment. Patterson also requested the Saratoga search members bring the snowcat for the call. Four members of search and rescue were on snowmobiles with two members and Patterson in the snowcat.

Due to the location given by Simonson, the search team was unable to reach the party. Eventually, Patterson requested Classic Air fly over the area to determine the location of the avalanche and how to reach the missing party.

At approximately 4:30 p.m., Classic Air departed from Rawlins and arrived at the scene 30 minutes later. The flight crew located the missing snowmobilers, located two snowmobile riders with search and rescue and guided them to the scene. The search and rescue team was able to locate the avalanche and Simonson and LaFramboise at 5:30 p.m.

Grand Teton sees season’s first grizzly

JACKSON (WNE) — Grizzly bears are continuing to wake up in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

The town of Jackson and Teton County, meanwhile, are continuing to consider measures that would require bear-proof trash cans countywide.

Grand Teton National Park announced Monday that the first grizzly bear of the season was spotted Sunday in the park. That came just under a week after Yellowstone National Park announced that a pilot flying over the park spotted a grizzly traipsing through its west-central reach. Male grizzlies tend to emerge in March and females in April and May.

Grand Teton advised caution recreating outdoors, specifically telling people to avoid carcasses. Grizzlies can be aggressive if approached while feeding on another animal’s remains.

The park also encouraged people to begin locking up attractants like garbage and livestock feed.

“Bear season has begun, how it ends depends on all of us,” Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins said in the press release. “We welcome the community led effort to work across boundaries to protect bears in Jackson Hole, and we need everyone’s help to remove unsecured attractants from the valley.”

That, the park said, includes storing garbage in bear-resistant containers, securing livestock feed, pet food, compost and beehives, and hanging bird feeders so bears can’t reach them.

The Jackson Town Council and Teton County Board of County Commissioners are both set to consider actions to better bear-proof their jurisdictions.

Cheyenne hospital first in Wyoming to offer new heart treatment

CHEYENNE (WNE) — On March 14, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center became the first hospital in Wyoming to use Shockwave technology to safely open a patient’s coronary artery that was blocked due to a buildup of calcified plaque. 

“Shockwave technology allows cardiologists to fracture problematic calcium using sonic pressure waves so that the artery can be expanded and a stent placed to safely restore blood flow to the heart,” Dr. Abdur Khan, the Cheyenne Regional Medical Group interventional cardiologist who performed the procedure, said in a news release. 

The new technology is a novel application of lithotripsy, an approach that uses sonic pressure waves to safely break up kidney stones. 

Khan also used the new technology on a second patient who underwent a cardiac catheterization Monday afternoon. 

As people with heart disease age and their disease progresses, plaque in the arteries hardens into calcium deposits that can narrow the arteries. Calcium makes an artery rigid and often difficult to reopen with conventional treatments. This includes the use of balloons, which attempt to crack the calcium when inflated to high pressure, and atherectomy, which drills through the calcium to reopen the artery. 

“Shockwave technology is considered a safer option than more conventional treatments since it creates sonic pressure waves that pass through soft arterial tissue and disrupt calcified plaque by creating a series of micro-fractures,” Dr. Khan said. “After the calcium has been cracked, the artery can be expanded at low pressure and a stent safely implanted to improve blood flow, with minimal trauma to normal arterial tissue.” 

Funding provided for CWC home in Jackson

JACKSON (WNE) — Despite a frugal budget session, Teton County legislators managed to secure $10 million for a long-talked-about project, a permanent Jackson home for Central Wyoming College.

Sen. Mike Gierau and Rep. Andy Schwartz worked with the Joint Appropriations Committee to draft this year’s capital construction budget under Senate File 67, which provides either $10.3 million from the state Strategic Investments and Projects account or $12.4 million from the American Rescue Plan Act — if the project qualifies — to build an outreach campus in Jackson. Gov. Mark Gordon signed the bill March 10.

“The CWC’s nursing program is among the programs that will utilize this space,” Gordon’s office said in an email to the Jackson Hole News&Guide. “The Governor is supportive of better opportunities for nursing students, as the state faces an ongoing shortage of these important workers.”

Gordon’s office said it will work with the community college to draft an ARPA proposal. Because of the school’s existing hospitality and health care focus in Jackson, school officials and legislators are confident the project will qualify.

As for where the new building will go, college President Brad Tyndall said a deal for land near Jackson Hole High School is nearly finalized. Central Wyoming College is looking to purchase two acres off High School Road from Leeks Canyon Ranch LLC, through which Elizabeth and Kelly Lockhart run the Lockhart Cattle Company ranch.

For the college to develop that parcel, the county will need to approve a rezoning to public/semipublic.

Judge rules man defrauded financial firm of millions

CASPER (WNE) — A federal judge ruled Thursday that the former CFO of Wyoming Catholic College defrauded $14.7 million dollars from a financial firm by faking bank documents. 

The partial summary judgment, when a judge decides aspects of the case before trial, comes after criminal charges were filed against Paul McCown in U.S. District Court last week. According to court filings, McCown has agreed to plead guilty to at least some of the seven fraud counts against him in a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. 

Other charges and the federal lawsuit center on a $15 million loan McCown received from Ria R Squared, a New York-based financial firm, last spring. McCown quickly transferred $10 million to the college as an anonymous donation, the suit states. 

According to court filings, $14.7 million of the loan money has since been located and returned to the firm. The rest, court documents say, may still be in the possession of the college, McCown’s brother Philip and Jonathan Tonkowich, the college’s vice president of operations, who the suit alleged introduced McCown to R Squared. 

After learning of the allegations against him, the college placed McCown on administrative leave in June 2021. The CFO resigned three weeks later. 

According to court documents, McCown faked bank statements that said he had $750 million in a local bank account to secure the loan. 

The judgment entered Thursday allows R Squared to continue the case to seek punitive damages from McCown, court filings state.