Worland schools adopt new security system

WORLAND (WNE) — Schools in Worland will be using a new Raptor security system as a preventative measure to ensure whoever is entering the building is safe to be with children starting this Monday, Jan. 6. 

The new security system will scan a driver’s license from visitors wanting to enter the building, to make sure that the person entering the building is safe to be with students. This system will only be in place at the schools within the district, and not at offices for the district such as the central offices. 

“The system checks you against sex offender databases, both local and national,” Business Manager Jack Stott said. “It is also a visitor management system, so we can know who is in the facility at all times.”

Stott also said that the schools will have the capacity to put in information regarding custody issues between parents that are known to make sure that a certain parent is allowed to see a child.

The system will not be required to be used if you are just dropping something off at the front desk, or picking a child up at the front desk. 

“This will not be an inconvenience for those parents and people who are dropping off things because they are not going into the building,” Stott said. “That is a vast majority of people who are coming to the school anyways are to do those things.” 

Man sentenced in stop that led to discovery of pound of cocaine

SUNDANCE (WNE) — A second Colorado man has been sentenced in association with a traffic stop that led to the seizure of more than 1 pound of cocaine March 30. 

Paul Williams pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver; the other man, Aaron Gonzales, was recently placed on probation for the same charge.

A Sheriff’s Office Deputy was patrolling I-90 on March 30 when he observed a red SUV with Colorado plates traveling at 97 mph and initiated a traffic stop. 

Williams gave consent for the vehicle to be searched. In the driver door storage, the deputy allegedly saw a container consistent with marijuana from a dispensary; inside, he observed a green leafy bud.

In the rear compartment, the deputy located a paper sack with a receipt for 14.05 g of marijuana. He also found a gift sack, inside of which was a vacuum-sealed package containing a white substance.

The seized items were weighed at the Sheriff’s Office. The white substance in the vacuum-sealed package weighed 560 g with packaging and the marijuana from the driver door weighed 0.48 oz.

Testing of the white substance later revealed it to be cocaine.

Williams was sentenced to between five and seven years in jail, with credit for 241 days already served, as well as a $750 fine. The un-served portion of the jail sentence was suspended pending completion of seven years of probation.

Teton commissioners approve music festival permit

JACKSON (WNE) — Tacking on one extra noise-focused condition, the Teton County Board of County Commissioners approved Fire in the Mountains’ special event permit, overturning the county administrator’s original decision.

In a 3-1 vote during the second of two Monday meetings, Commissioners Mark Barron, Luther Propst and Greg Epstein voted in favor of the amended permit. Mark Newcomb voted against it after fretting about crowds and the use of rural lands for events. Chairwoman Natalia D. Macker was absent.

Organizers can now move forward with preparations for the festival, which will more or less be able to proceed with the mitigation strategies for sound and policing outlined in the appeal that kicked County Administrator Alyssa Watkins’ original denial up to the elected board.

“I’m excited to start the process from here,” festival organizer Jeremy Walker said after commissioners reached their decision. “We’ve been in a bit of a stalemate” — the festival had booked bands for the 2020 season though organizers vowed throughout the hearing not to proceed until they had a permit in hand — “and now we can actually move forward.”

Commissioners accepted Fire in the Mountains’ policing mitigation strategy, designed to compensate for the Teton County Sheriff’s Office being split between Targhee Fest and the metal festival on the weekend of July 10, 11 and 12. They instead spent much of the Monday session taking public comment in a packed commissioners’ chambers and discussing how the festival would reduce noise levels before ultimately signing off on the proposal.