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.

Firefighters rescue trash container

Don't mistake a city of Powell trash bin for a burn barrel.

That may be the takeaway from a Monday morning incident in which discarded ashes from a wood stove proved too hot for a Washington Park Dumpster to handle.

Members of the Powell Volunteer Fire Department (seen above) got to the brewing blaze while it was still just smoldering and doused it around 8:40 a.m.

Given the trash bin's contents, Fire Chief Joey Darrah said he assumed someone from out of town had dumped the refuse. "It wasn't trash from the park," he said.

In good news for city utility customers, Darrah believed the bin suffered no serious damage.

Lummis says Romney will be GOP nominee

Wyoming's Congressional Representative, Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., hasn't made an endorsement in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but last week she did make a prediction.

Speaking with KGWN TV in Cheyenne, Lummis named former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney the favorite.

"I do believe that eventually we're going to see Mitt Romney emerge as the Republican nominnee," she told interviewer Rylee DeGood.

Lummis said it's "been wonderful to watch these candidates grow on the campaign trail and hone each others' (economic) plans" and that the "great" Republican debates have better prepared the eventual party nominee (which, according to her prediction, will be Romney).

Another Wyoming political powerhouse, former U.S. Sen. Al Sipmson declined to pick a winner while speaking to the Cheyenene station on Thursday.

"I have irritated so many people in the world that at this point, if I were to pick one, I would again rain boulders on my bald dome and I'm not going to do that," Simpson said during a joint interview about his recently-published biography.

"However," Simpson said, "there are some real nutcases in the race, I just would throw that in. You pick them out."

While not naming any nutcases, Simpson did laugh off the chances of one would-be presidential contender -- himself.

The Cody Republican said an effort to draft him into the 2012 Presidential race (www.alsimpson2012.com) "gives me goosepimples all over."

"Those guys got together over 18 beers and put together this YouTube thing [Note: PG13 language] ... I nearly died laughing when I saw it because they had quoted one of my great phrases which I don't use here," Simpson said.

The "great phrase" Simpson is apparently referring to is, well, we won't use it here, either.

The Smith Mansion's paranormal activity

The Smith Mansion's strange, pagoda-like frame can look a bit spooky from the Cody-Yellowstone highway near Wapiti.

In March, the Powell-based Wyoming Area Paranormal Society investigated whether the spirit of the structure's inventive creator, Francis Lee Smith, was present at the site; Smith died while working on the landmark home in 1992.

Tribune reporter Gib Mathers tagged along with the W.A.P.S. team at the Smith Mansion and wrote about it for the paper, but we never shared the footage the paranormal investigators eventually posted. It being Halloween, now seems like a prime time do so.



On the website she's set up to help preserve her father's creation, www.smithmansion.org, Sunny Smith Larsen wrote of the Wyoming Area Paranormal Society's work:

"This was an amazing experience and I cannot believe what was caught on W.A.P.S. equipment. A lot of things have happened over the years, strange things. 

I have experienced many questionable things within the house, along with my mom, Linda. Friends and even strangers have told me about their experiences with "something" in that house. 

I am glad to know that spirits do haunt the mansion, but I am left with even more questions."

A follow-up W.A.P.S. investigation had been scheduled for the night of Nov. 11, but recently had to be canceled.

Former Yellowstone spokesperson honored for conservation

Former Colorado National Monument Superintendent and Yellowstone National Park spokesperson Joan Anzelmo has been honored by the National Parks Conservation Association for "her commitment to preserving the integrity and open access of the park for all visitors."

The National Parks Conservation Association gave Anzelmo its Stephen T. Mather Award -- named after the first director of the National Park Service -- on Friday. In giving the award, the environmental group specifically cited Anzelmo's December 2010 decision to prohibit a professional bicycling race from going through the Colorado National Monument.

Organizers and elected officials in Colorado had said the event would be an economic boon to the area; Anzelmo and Park Service Director Jon Jarvis said it would have gone against policy, adversely affected the monument and temporarily shut off access to the public.

"Her (Anzelmo's) actions in the last year at Colorado National Monument, in preventing the overt commercialization of the park by a privately-sponsored competition, despite personal attacks and political maneuvering, are merely the latest examples of her dedication to the principles the National Parks System is built upon,” said NPCA Southwest Regional Office Senior Director David Nimkin.

NPCA's senior vice president for government affairs, Craig Obey, said Anzelmo -- who retired in July after 35 years of park service --  is "exactly the type of person we want in charge of our national treasures."

"Throughout her career she remained focused on the proven policies and science that she knows are needed to retain the character and spirit of the National Park system for the future," Obey said.

Anzelmo previously served as chief of public affairs for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks -- including acclaimed work during the 1988 Yellowstone fires. She later headed up public affairs for the entire National Park Service. Anzelmo also worked for the Park Service's unified area command in May 2010 following the BP oil spill.

Former Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Bob Barbee, who was Anzelmo's boss at the park, called her a top-flight professional.

"Her principled dedication to the values embodied in the national parks is unrivaled -- and when faced with pressures to compromise those values, Joan (Anzelmo) can be counted on to hold the line," Barbee said.

Anzelmo has received numerous awards, including from the Department of the Interior, honors in Congressional Record and in White House commendatory documents.

She called the NPCA's Stephen T. Mather Award the "honor of a lifetime"

"I am so grateful to have the National Parks Conservation Association as a steadfast partner and leader in helping to protect our nation's most precious natural and cultural resources and serve the vast visiting public to America's national parks," Anzelmo said.

She now lives in Jackson.