Newt, a one-eyed blue heeler belonging to Cody Post of Pinedale, has learned a new trick. The dog can fetch a beer from the refrigerator on command.

At the command of "Newt, go get me a beer," the dog hops up from his place at his owner's feet in the living room, walks into the kitchen, pulls a towel tied to the fridge, identifies a Miller Light, and brings the beverage back to his master, according to a story in the Pinedale Roundup.

While Post says the trick only took about 15 minutes of training, it has had a few drawbacks. According to Post, when Newt gets excited, he will occasionally puncture a can or two, and sometimes food will fall on Newt's head while he's reaching for a beer at the back of the fridge.

"He gets a lot of compliments," Post said of his 2-year-old heeler. "He likes the attention he gets when I have friends over and show them the trick."

Post says Newt's other tricks include shaking hands, crawling military style and riding horses by himself.

Big Brother is watching Afton

Terrorists, teenagers and traffic violators should all take extra caution in downtown Afton, which has recently installed several video surveillance cameras on buildings overlooking Main Street, according to a story in the Star Valley Independent.

Costs of the four cameras, estimated at $28,000, were paid for through a grant from the Department of Homeland Security. Grant money for four additional cameras next year is likely, according to officials.

"If that money comes through next year, we'll just add cameras to the system," said Afton Police Chief Kevin Jackson.

"We thought that it would be nice to be able to observe Main Street … depending on what our crime patterns are," he said.

While Afton has not been plagued by high crime or terrorism, Jackson hopes the cameras could be used to identify what happened in a traffic accident or look for a suspicious vehicle.

To quell the concern of nervous residents, city officials are planning to hook the cameras up to the Internet so anyone who wants to can check out what's happening in Afton, including parents who may want to see what their kids are doing, Jackson said.

Don't blow away, we need that moisture

A newly constructed, 700-foot-long snow fence outside Rawlins has already been put to use, catching up to 2 feet of snow so far, according to a story in the Rawlins Daily Times.

While the Wyoming Department of Transportation already uses the fences to keep snow off the highways, Rawlins officials are hoping this fence will collect the snow - which usually blows away - until spring, when it will melt and add much-needed water to the city's reservoirs.

"We thought it would be a good idea to capture the blowing snow and get it into the ground and into our springs," said Ralph Hughes, chief operator of the Rawlins Water Treatment Facility.

The fence is 12 feet high and will stay up permanently, Hughes said. An extensive network of pipes will channel the melted snow into concrete containers for storage, he said.

That face looks familiar

An Evanston Wal-Mart clerk became suspicious Nov. 19 when the photo ID of a customer did not match her description.

The clerk called manager Gerald Olsen, who immediately recognized the photo ID, which belonged to his wife, according to a story in the Uinta County Herald. His wife had lost the ID in the store the day before, according to the Evanston Police Department.

The customer, Shari McKissick, 26, of Evanston, was trying to return a novelty lamp. McKissick had previously been banned from the store for returning items for cash without receipts.

Quick reflex helps thwart squeegee attack

Lander police officers had a problem with several drunk drivers last week, including one woman too drunk to walk who swung at officers with a window squeegee, according to the "Cops Corner" column in the Lander Journal.

Officers reported to a house on the 700 block of Main Street early on Nov. 19 to a report of an intoxicated woman trying to get into a vehicle. When the officer approached the woman - whom Lander police are "quite familiar with" - she went inside the house and tried to hide in the bathroom.

The officer told the woman she couldn't hide in the bathroom, and that he needed to speak with her outside. She complied, staggering to the door and "missing it by several feet."

Once outside, he asked her if she had been drinking. She said she had, but added that she stopped at about 1 a.m. A portable breath test showed a blood alcohol content of .20, so the officer told her she was under arrest for driving under the influence.

She resisted, grabbing the first thing handy, which was a window squeegee, and swung at another officer who was there to assist. She missed and was taken into custody, where the jail breath test showed a BAC of .26 percent, more than three times the legal limit.

Staff writer John Morgan can be reached at (307) 266-0614 or john.morgan@casperstartribune.net.