News briefs from around the state

From Wyoming News Exchange newspapers

Free flowing traffic returns to Togwotee as Fish Creek Fire burns to the south

JACKSON (WNE) — Free flowing traffic has returned to Highway 26/287 over Togwotee Pass where the Fish Creek Fire continues to put up smoke columns visible from Jackson.

While a pilot car system has ended, fire officials are asking the public to drive cautiously since numerous firefighters and fire vehicles continue to work along the road.

“We’d ask that people please slow down a bit,” said Cecile Stelter, a public information officer with the Northern Rockies Team 2. “Please do not stop and take pictures. Realize that there’s fire very close to the road.”

As smoke impacts people well beyond the fire’s footprint, now at 22,107 acres, Stelter recommends the public visit AirNow.gov for air quality alerts and predictions, plus tips on how to reduce health impacts from the smoke.

Although the lightning-caused fire is putting up hard-to-miss smoke columns in the afternoon, Stelter said Sunday evening that most of the heavy burning activity is in the Cottonwood Creek area along the fire’s southern edge.

“We want to assure people that fire activity is occurring well within the confinement lines that have been established,” she said. “What is happening down there is the fire is burning into some very receptive fuels, which is some beetle-killed, standing dead snags.”

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Wyoming GOP passes resolution to censure Laramie County Clerk

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Saturday morning at its monthly meeting in Douglas, the Wyoming Republican Party’s Central Committee passed a resolution to censure Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee.

Previously, the state GOP’s Executive Committee issued a news release announcing a resolution that criticized Lee’s management of a voting machine test, which it believed to be noncompliant with state law.

The resolution came after the GOP launched a lawsuit against Lee, claiming she unlawfully handled the testing of the voting machines prior to the Aug. 20 primary election.

After the lawsuit was filed, Lee released a public statement claiming there were no errors with the voting test and that the lawsuit sought to disrupt the primary elections process.

The GOP’s issue was that the test ballots all had the same number of votes for each candidate. Per state statute, the test ballots must show a different number of votes on each ballot to demonstrate that the tabulator machines can count a different number of votes for each candidate.

The tabulators were retested and showed no error in counting the votes, Lee previously told the WTE.

Laramie County GOP Chairman Taft Love previously told the WTE the test had gone well, congratulating and thanking the clerk’s office and all who helped ensure a secure election season.

However, the GOP’s censure resolution passed Saturday states that Lee was “misrepresenting that her erroneous testing had no errors, resisting even the most common sense efforts to fix her statutory noncompliance, flatly ignoring multiple early attempts to help her rectify the situation with both the DS450 and DS200 tabulators, failing to perform the public preparation of the voting machines mandated by Wyo. Stat. section 22-10-108, and resisting accountability at every turn.”

The censure resolution is only a formal statement of disapproval. Members of the Wyoming GOP could not be reached for comment before publication Saturday.

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Rawlins suffers 6 in-town water line breaks over Labor Day weekend

RAWLINS (WNE) — Over the Labor Day holiday, the City of Rawlins’ in-town water infrastructure experienced six breaks due to aging infrastructure and a slightly elevated pressure event.

Despite undergoing regular maintenance, a pressure-reducing valve failed. Although pressure remained within normal limits, due to Rawlins’ aging infrastructure, breaks occurred at weak points.

Due to the large number of breaks occurring simultaneously, staff from multiple divisions helped respond to repair the breaks as quickly as possible. The Utility Division, which regularly repairs water breaks, was joined by staff from the Water Treatment and Administration Divisions of Public Works, staff from the Administration Division of Community Development, and staff from the Parks Division of Parks & Recreation.

“As always, our staff remained on-site as long as allowed to fix the breaks and to restore water,” said Mira Miller, community relations/public information officer with the City of Rawlins. “Thank you to all the city staff who worked to restore water to residents. Many worked for over three days straight, only took breaks as required, and often worked until 1 a.m. or later and returned first thing in the morning.”

Miller also thanked affected residents for their patience, especially those who stopped by to thank and support the crews in their long hours of work.