Free Republic

Patrol nabs Ketcham for DUI By Juliette Rule rep9@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Laramie County Commissioner Jeff Ketcham's breath smelled of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot and his speech was slurred, a trooper said after arresting him for DUI earlier this month. That Oct. 9 arrest marks the 53-year-old Ketcham's second DUI arrest after a conviction in Nevada two years ago. He refused a test of his blood alcohol content during the most recent arrest, according to a jail booking sheet. Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper Dave Chatfield arrested Ketcham after a call to dispatch reported what appeared...

YMCA employee accused of embezzling Susan J. Miller charged with stealing $20,000 By Juliette Rule rep9@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Padding a bank account was as simple as getting on the Internet or swiping a debit card, investigators say. Those were the methods police say Susan J. Miller used to funnel $20,000 from YMCA coffers into her personal account at Cheyenne First Bank between June 2003 and March of this year. She was charged last week by Laramie County District Attorney Jon Forwood with seven counts of felony embezzlement, court records show. The Cheyenne woman was the...

Cheyenne is least taxing city - magazine Actually, Cheyenne is second to Casper for least-taxed city in the nation, but the Capital City topped Kiplinger's list because it's Wyoming's most populous. By Jessica Lowell rep5@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - The magazine won't even hit the stands until next week, but when it does, Kiplinger's will bear the news that Cheyenne is the least-taxed city in the nation. Taxes paid by a family of four here - $2,200 - are less than one-fifth the taxes paid in Bridgeport, Conn., the city that ranks at the bottom of the...

Pedophiles are out there and they're online By Michelle Dynes rep2@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Last year, six computers in the Cheyenne area were confiscated because of child pornography. "It is actually here in our area," Deputy Raymond Nelson of the Laramie County Sheriff's Department said. Nelson cited a recent case where a Cheyenne man was convicted Thursday of soliciting sex from a minor he met on the Internet. But that 12-year-old girl was actually an agent for the Division of Criminal Investigation. Nelson participated in an Internet safety presentation Monday to teach parents how to keep...

Kmart sues Wyoming counties The corporation is using its bankruptcy case to challenge past personal property taxes. By Jessica Lowell rep5@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - When Brenda Arnold opened a sheaf of legal papers from a bankruptcy court last fall, she thought she had gotten them by mistake, because her office doesn't deal with bankruptcies. Arnold, the Laramie County assessor, took a closer look and saw she was named in the papers. Kmart Corp., which sought bankruptcy protection in 2001, is suing within its bankruptcy case to reduce its personal property taxes for the second half of...

Convention lets local Republicans discuss the issues By Becky Orr rep6@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Laramie County Republicans supported platform issues Saturday that ranged from voluntary prayer in schools to keeping the job of county sheriff as an elected position rather than an appointed one. In a room decorated with red, white and blue balloons bearing the Bush-Cheney ticket for 2004, the delegates heard from elected officials, including U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyoming, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Trent Blankenship and state Speaker of the House Fred Parady, R-Rock Springs. Parady discussed state budget issues. "Education is...

Basketball coach remains at LCCC By Dave Shelles spt4@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Despite being arrested and charged with domestic violence and battery, Queint Higgins remains employed by Laramie County Community College. "He's still our basketball coach," LCCC President Charles Bohlen said Monday. "Other than that, it's a personnel matter, and I can't say anything." Higgins turned himself in at 3 p.m. Sept. 15 after police were called to his East Sixth Street home Aug. 31. He allegedly punched his wife, Jenny Higgins, in the stomach with a closed fist during the argument. Domestic violence is a...

LCCC coach arrested The community college's basketball coach, Queint Higgins, was charged with domestic violence By Juliette Rule rep9@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Laramie County Community College basketball coach Queint Higgins has been charged with domestic violence and battery. Higgins, 32, allegedly punched his wife Jenny Higgins in the stomach with a closed fist during an argument at the couple's East Sixth Street home on Aug. 31. "Jenny told officers that her husband has hit her on prior occasions as well," Laramie County assistant district attorney Tillie Routh-McGee wrote. Cheyenne Police officer James Eddy reported that Jenny...

Only dairy farm in county moving By Allison Fashek Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE – The thing Diane Humphrey misses most about living on a dairy farm is the steady sound of the milk tank motor. The motor, which sat on top of the metal storage tank just behind her family’s home, ran constantly for about 50 years, stirring the milk and keeping it cool and safe to drink. But Humphrey and her family had to turn off the motor at their fourth-generation dairy farm last September. They temporarily shipped their 400 black and white Holstein cattle to a...