Driver faces hit and run charges

GREEN RIVER - A Boston truck driver was arrested on two counts of hit and run after an accident Monday morning at the Little America truck stop west of here, according to authorities.

Sweetwater County Sheriff Rich Haskell said witnesses told deputies that the driver of the tractor trailer rig, Mehmet Bakirci, was turning his semi around in the Little America parking lot when his trailer snagged a small car being towed by a large, bus-style motor home.

Bakirci, 39, dragged the car until it collided with the back bumper of the motor home. Haskell said the rig kept moving, however, and collided with a small, parked tanker-style trailer that was unattached.

Bakirci's semi continued to move ahead and was chased by witnesses on foot and in a pickup truck. Haskell said after some difficulty, the citizens were able to get the tractor trailer stopped.

Haskell said there were no injuries reported. Bakirci remained in custody Tuesday at the Sweetwater County detention center pending a bond hearing in circuit court.

Riverton rabbit rustler nabbed

RIVERTON - It was like shooting fish in a barrel, only in this case it was friendly rabbits at a natural gas well site.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials said a tip from a Fremont County resident led to the recent conviction of a Dubois man who killed nearly a dozen rabbits at a well site east of here.

Officials said the rabbits had become accustomed to the presence of humans and were easy prey.

Dan Kinneman of Dubois was fined $2,200, received a 70-day suspended jail sentence and a three-year loss of hunting and fishing privileges in Wyoming among other penalties for the waste of small game and for taking small game in a closed season.

Game and Fish officials said in early June the resident reported he was working in the oil field industry when he noticed a pickup truck stopped in the road near a well site. The pickup truck took off quickly, but not before the resident wrote down the vehicle's make and license plate.

Wardens arrived at the scene and located 11 dead rabbits that were shot with a high-powered rifle. "It was really a disturbing scene," said Riverton game warden Chris Daubin.

Officials said Kinneman was involved in four previous wildlife misdemeanors.

Fire burns cabin on Simpson's ranch

CODY - Firefighters expected to contain a 53-acre fire Tuesday night that destroyed a cabin and a shed on former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson's northwest Wyoming ranch.

Park County Fire District No. 2 administrator Russ Wenke said Tuesday afternoon that about 50 firefighters were on the scene.

Wenke says a neighbor first reported seeing the fire Sunday afternoon in a wood pile next to a cabin. He said the cause of the fire was under investigation, but there's no suspicion of arson.

The fire was burning on the Simpson family's Bobcat Ranch, about 30 miles southwest of Cody on the South Fork of the Shoshone River. Wenke said two smaller cabins were also badly damaged.

There have been no injuries.