JOHN MORGAN Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Sunday, January 1, 2006 12:00 am
Last year was jam-packed with interesting small-town news. Here are some of my favorite items from "The Whole Town's Talking" in 2005:
Rattlesnake bites Lander man on lip, tongue
A pet rattlesnake bit its extremely drunk owner once on the finger while the man was playfully flicking its head, then bit him again on the lip and tongue after he attempted to kiss it on March 23, reported the Lander Journal.
According to Sgt. Gene Galitz's popular column "CopsCorner," the Lander man, identified as Rattlesnake Bob, was driven to the emergency room at the Lander Valley Medical Center by his girlfriend. When he saw a patrol car at the hospital, he refused to get out, saying he hadn't had much luck with cops.
Luckily, the snake's bites did not inject venom.
"I'd bet the next morning the snake woke up with a hangover and Rattlesnake Bob woke up wondering who pierced his tongue and forgot to put in the decoration," Galitz wrote.
Pet snake and cat fight in car, cause wreck
A Lovell man was moving to his new home with all his earthly belongings packed in his car when his pet cat got loose, found his pet snake and started fighting inside the car, causing him to lose control and crash into a barrow ditch.
Jeffrey Wilkerson, 21, was heading north on Wyoming Highway 789 near Riverton on Feb. 2 in a 1991 Cadillac DeVille when the cat "somehow got out of the box" and "came upon the snake" as the car approached an intersection, told the Riverton Ranger.
"The snake hissed at the cat, and the cat got excited," said Highway Patrol Trooper Bill Bregar.
The two natural enemies engaged in heated, mortal combat underneath the brake pedal, and Wilkerson was unable to stop, tumbling into the ditch, where the Cadillac sustained more than $1,000 in damage. No one was hurt.
Was Laramie snow sculpture art or obscene?
Two Laramie men faced obscenity charges for erecting a snow sculpture April 21 in their yard that resembled a phallus, wrote the Laramie Boomerang.
According to Laramie police, Brandon Arp, 20, and Aric Davenport, 19, built the sculpture in the 1200 block of Custer Street before it was destroyed. Reports said the sculpture was "offensive to other residents in the area."
The charges were later dropped by prosecutors, who cited "First Amendment problems."
Sheridan best friends realize they're sisters
People had been asking Sheridan residents Lorna Tucker and Kris Melneck for years if they were sisters because they look so similar and hang out together.
They never dreamed how much they really had in common. DNA testing confirmed they shared the same father and are actually half-sisters.
"We've had people asking us if we were sisters for years, and we always said no," Tucker told the Sheridan Press. "Now we have to tell them they were right. We really are sisters."
Both Tucker and Melneck grew up in the Sheridan area and attended the same schools. Melneck lived with her mom and father Willard Bell in town, while Tucker lived with her own mom and was raised by Swede Anderson near Ucross.
Beer gods reclaim truckload of Bud Light
Hundreds of cases of Bud Light were destroyed May 20 near Sheridan's Port of Entry when a tractor-trailer flipped onto its side while negotiating a corner, reported the Sheridan Press.
"We've got beer bottles and glass all over," said Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper David Motsick.
Hundreds of blue and white cases and brown bottles of Budweiser Light were scattered everywhere, most of them broken.
Provocative bronze statue heats up art scene
A provocative bronze statue of a scantily clad young seductress enticed the approval of Gillette officials and tempted the gaze of passing motorists.
The sculpture, titled "Delilah," is named after the Bible's famous femme fatale who tempted Samson and led to his downfall. "Delilah" was sculpted by local artist Benjamin Victor, who also created last year's popular bronze statue of Samson.
"This is the Delilah that is portrayed in the Bible," Victor said. "I tried to make her tasteful, and yet provocative enough to fill her roll as Samson's downfall."
Both the Gillette News-Record and the Casper Star-Tribune received numerous letters to the editor regarding the sculpture, for and against.
"Delilah" poses on the side of 4J Road in Gillette, stretching her arms behind her head sensually with eyes closed, oblivious to the stares of passing motorists. The statue "Samson" also resides on the road and has a constant view of the woman who sheared his head of his powerful long hair in the Book of Judges.
Fat buzzard hits biker in face
A bloated turkey buzzard, gorging itself all day on the rotting carcass of a cow near the road, was unable to get enough height crossing the road and collided with a motorcyclist Aug. 11 on Interstate 25 near Glendo in Platte County.
"As the guy came by, the turkey buzzard schmucked him in the face," Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Bloom told the Platte County Record-Times. "It slobber-knocked him - that's the only word for it."
Rodney E. Mason of El Paso, Texas, was able to keep his 1994 Harley Davidson motorcycle upright for a few hundred feet as he slowed down before sliding to a stop.
Mason's fiancee was following on another motorcycle and was "sprayed with putrid meat from the bird" after the collision, Bloom said.
Buffalo teens lift car off friend after crash
Fifteen-year-old Buffalo resident Sam Torok was saved from a painful and crushing death Aug. 6 by his teenage friends and passengers when they lifted a car he was trapped under following a rollover crash.
"(The young men were) traveling on Johnson Creek Road and apparently came across a deer in the middle of the road," Johnson County Sheriff Steve Kozisek told the Buffalo Bulletin. Kozisek said the driver attempted to drive around the deer, causing the vehicle to go off the road and roll over.
Torok was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle, which then rolled on top of him.
Branden Young, 17, Kyle Stringer, 15, and Shane Stringer, 13, helped to lift the car off Torok, and one of them ran to a nearby farm house to call an ambulance. Torok was transported to Johnson County Memorial Hospital with a broken pelvis and other injuries, Kozisek said.
The television shows "Good Morning America" and "America's Most Wanted" also expressed an interest in Torok's story.
Douglas offers giant jackalope photo op
Tourists and visitors traveling through Douglas were climbing over themselves last fall for the chance to get their pictures taken with a giant, furry jackalope, wrote the Douglas Budget.
The huge jackrabbit with antelope horns was originally a parade float during the summer's Wyoming State Fair. After the fair, it traveled to various locations around town, where businesses rented it for $100 a week from the Douglas Chamber of Commerce as a mobile tourism billboard.
In September and October, "macho" hunters could be seen riding the beast for a photo op almost any time of day or night.
"I was driving by it a few weeks ago, and there was a woman in lingerie riding on top of it while some guy below was taking pictures," said Star-Tribune correspondent Rena Delbridge of Douglas. "She wasn't really the type of woman you'd want to see in lingerie."
The jackalope took a break for the winter for repairs and touch-ups but should be back by spring, according to city officials.
Best of the police blotter
Fashion police: Four boys who were "dressed inappropriately" were not allowed to attend the Feb. 4 high school dance in Glenrock and were sent home by an officer, the Glenrock Independent reported.
Mysterious vandal hits woman's tree using her truck: A Lovell woman reported to police Feb. 15 that someone had run over a tree in her yard, and also that the license plate holder on her pickup was broken off. An investigation determined that her pickup likely caused the damage to the tree, the Lovell Chronicle reported. The woman said she would talk to her daughter about the incident.
Vampires worry neighbor: A Lander man told police March 13 that people living near him only come out at night, always dressed in black. He said the house is always boarded up, with graffiti written all over it, reported the Lander Journal. He told police his neighbors had just walked past him carrying long objects, and when he greeted them, they just grunted. He was concerned that things going on in that house "aren't right."
Thief has unusual taste: Various items were stolen from a vehicle April 15, reported the Douglas Budget. Missing were high-topped leather boots, a black leather halter top with matching G-string, a black leather vest with lace and purple beads, a black leather lace-up halter top with matching shorts, a black suede zippered mini skirt with matching vest, a black leather skirt missing a seam and a 19-inch color television.
Roughhousing near Rottweilers: A 21-year-old Gillette man received 21 stitches in his calf after his girlfriend's Rottweiler bit him while he and the woman were wrestling on the floor at 3:13 a.m. May 20, printed the Gillette News-Record.
A sugar high is a dangerous thing: An employee at a Gillette motel told police June 9 that three boys, ages 12 to 13, were riding their bicycles inside the motel and were stealing packets of hot chocolate, told the Gillette News-Record. The boys were turned over to their parents.
Night shift can have its perks: A 24-year-old woman and her 22-year-old friend were caught skinny dipping in the Indian Hills pool in Gillette at 1:31 a.m. July 23, reported the Gillette News-Record. Policeman Bob Wright said the two women used a ladder to climb a fence to get in the pool. They were both ticketed for criminal trespassing.
Probably for the best: A Thermopolis resident reported to police Aug. 18 that someone had stolen her lawn ornaments, including a Dutch boy and girl figurines and two gnomes, told the Thermopolis Independent Record.
Goats jump with reckless disregard: Lander police received a call Sept. 19 from a resident complaining that the neighbor's goats wouldn't stay off their property and were "jumping on the vehicles and everything else," said the Lander Journal.
Leadfoot of the year: Brian R. Daly of Gillette was fined $204 for driving 113 mph in a 65 mph zone in a 1998 Toyota Corolla, the Buffalo Bulletin printed in August.