Wyoming News Briefs NOVEMBER 15

15-year-old Cheyenne boy charged as adult for allegedly making school threats

CHEYENNE (WNE) – The 15-year-old boy who caused a disturbance earlier this week at Cheyenne’s Triumph High and made threats against other schools was arrested Thursday and is being charged as an adult.

Charles Rees Karn is being charged for making terroristic threats, which carries up to three years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine. It’s unclear at this time why Karn is being charged as an adult.

According to court documents:

On Tuesday, Karn had caused a disturbance at Triumph, where he was a student. He was on probation for a different incident, and is accused of having an “emotional outburst that resulted in him cutting off his ankle monitoring bracelet and leaving the school on foot,” according to the probable cause affidavit.

After he left the school, Karn allegedly called Triumph and said he was going to blow up South High and Johnson Junior High, and that he also had a gun. Police later found Karn at Johnson, where he was vandalizing cars.

When officers approached Karn, he allegedly admitted to making the threats and said he wanted to scare people. Karn admitted he didn’t actually have a gun and “wanted to kill people” with the bomb threat, but said he was joking.

Due to his threats, five schools were placed on a secure perimeter, which included South, Triumph, Johnson, Goins Elementary and Rossman Elementary. South and Johnson were also searched for a possible bomb.

Police officers swept the schools with K9s to check for any threats, but no credible threats were found.

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Campbell County School District wants to bolster police presence

GILLETTE (WNE) — The Campbell County School District got the go-ahead to enter into formal negotiations with the Gillette Police Department and Campbell County Sheriff’s Office to hire additional school resource officers.

A potential agreement would hash out details such as the cost of adding an officer, how long he or she would work within the district as well as vehicle and equipment costs.

The district would pay for any added school resource officers in local schools.

If an agreement is reached, the district could add a full-time school resource officer for Twin Spruce and Sage Valley junior high schools, which now share one.

There are four school resource officers shared across the district’s 24 schools.

How many additional SROs could be added across the district is unknown until an agreement is reached, but it is likely to be three or four, said Superintendent Alex Ayers.

During previous public meetings about a potential armed educator policy, trustees expressed interest in looking at hiring more school resource officers.

Trustee Joe Lawrence said he appreciates the effort the district has made in talking with law enforcement about school resource officers before pushing to move ahead with an agreement as soon as possible.

The bottom line is protecting the children, he said, adding, “Let’s get going.”

The district will continue working with other aspects of the armed educator policy that the board voted to move ahead with a draft at its Sept. 10 meeting. For example, Chairwoman Anne Ochs said it will look at arming teachers at rural schools because of their distance from law enforcement in the case of an emergency.

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Jackson Hole Mountain Resort preps for repeat of 2019 crowds

JACKSON (WNE) — Despite a dearth of snow just two weeks from opening day, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort predicts another robust winter. That may be a mixed blessing — skiers likely haven’t forgotten the swarms that descended on the slopes last year.

But neither have the people who must prepare for their return. With a suite of marketing schemes intended to spread out visitation and a handful of infrastructure upgrades to accommodate a growing customer base, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and the Teton Village Association say they’re prepared to handle a horde of skiers from far and wide.

“We’ve been very proactive this year in trying to make sure we’re ready for the crowds when they come,” resort President Mary Kate Buckley told a gathering of Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce members last week. “And we do think they’re coming.”

Blame it on Ikon — which last year issued the Ikon Pass, a collective pass that grants remarkably cheap access to resorts across the United States and the world — or blame it on historic snowfall.

Whatever the cause, the shortcomings of village transportation and on-mountain infrastructure were laid bare last winter, when powder days and a record-breaking 715,000 skiers resulted in parking lots filled to bursting and lift lines of unprecedented length.

After taking the last six months or so to reevaluate, resort officials don’t want to be caught with their ski pants down again.

Among the most notable efforts to respond to that system failure are expanded parking at Stilson, increased lift capacity around the base area and incentives for skiers to show up before and after the popular ski window.

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Nevada resident dies in crash near Rock Springs

ROCK SPRINGS (WNE) —A Nevada man died after his vehicle was involved in a rollover crash Friday, Nov. 8 near Rock Springs.

John H. Perez, 59, of Nevada died at the scene from injuries sustained in the crash. He was not wearing his seat belt, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

The accident happened shortly before 12:45 p.m. at milepost 101 on Interstate 80 near the Dewar Drive exit into Rock Springs. Perez was traveling eastbound on I-80 when the 2004 Mini Cooper he was driving exited the right side of the road and passed several vehicles. The vehicle re-entered the roadway and crossed the eastbound lanes before entering the median and overturning, a press release said.

Speed is being investigated as a possible contributing factor. This is the 135th fatality on Wyoming's roadways in 2019 compared to 105 in 2018, 116 in 2017, and 102 in 2016 to date.