Posted: Monday, January 7, 2008 12:00 am
Prosecutor charges clerk with larceny
JACKSON - A former employee in the Teton County Clerk's Office has been accused of double-charging customers when they registered their cars and pocketing the extra money.
Renee Harrington, former supervisor of the title and lien branch of the clerk's office, has been charged with grand larceny by a Teton County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Brian Hultman filed charges against Harrington late Friday afternoon.
The felony is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
The charge comes more than three months after Teton County Clerk Sherry Daigle fired Harrington in early September.
She's accused of taking more than $1,000.
No court date was set in the case as of Friday afternoon.
Harrington ran for Teton County Treasurer as a Republican and lost to Democrat Donna Baur in 2006.
Developer delays off-campus housing
GILLETTE- Construction of some off-campus housing near Gillette College has been delayed.
College officials had hoped that the 10, three-bedroom apartments would be ready in time for students who started classes in the fall. But they now say that the apartments won't be ready until late summer.
Cathy Anderson, assistant dean of students at Gillette College, said the college has made arrangements with the developer to house up to 30 students in the apartments.
"They're right by the college," Anderson said. "For our students, they're convenient."
Anderson said she's hopeful that the apartments will be completed in time for students to use them this fall.
Officials: Bison conflicts could increase
JACKSON - The large population of bison in Yellowstone National Park could lead to an increase in hazing operations outside the park this winter, officials said.
Wildlife managers in counted 4,700 bison in the park in August 2007, up from 3,900 for the same month in 2006. The bison population peaked at 4,900 animals in 2005. The large bison population could force more of the animals to seek food at lower elevations in West Yellowstone and near Gardiner, Mont., officials said.
Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said bison movement depends on the weather.
"With the numbers that we have, we're going to see some animals leave the park," Nash said. "It's a question of what weather conditions we may have and whether that will affect bison movements."
Heavy snowfall won't necessarily prompt bison to move to lower elevations, Nash said.
"They are built to deal with a lot of snow," Nash said. "It's very impressive to watch them use that big shoulder muscle and that big head like a plow to clear away deep snow to get at the food underneath."
However, Nash said freezing rain or a thaw followed by a freeze would make it more difficult for bison to reach forage. "That would be one type of weather incident that certainly could prompt bison to seek forage elsewhere," he said.
Bison sometimes move as early as December, Nash said, but usually move from February to April.