Traffic stop nets possible drug money

ROCK SPRINGS - A traffic stop netted more than $30,000 in suspected drug money and the arrest of two Minnesota men on Saturday, according to Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office officials.

Sheriff Rich Haskell said Anthony Dew and Elliot Francis Surber were stopped for speeding in a construction zone on Interstate 80 in Rock Springs Saturday around 11 a.m.

Haskell said during the traffic stop, deputies allegedly smelled marijuana and observed a quantity of the substance inside the vehicle. Dew and Surber were arrested, and a search of the vehicle revealed $32,000 in cash, a loaded gun, plastic baggies and a vacuum-sealing device.

Haskell said Dew told deputies the pair were on their way to Reno, Nev., to buy marijuana. Haskell said baggies and the vacuum device are commonly used to package marijuana for sale.

The pair appeared in Sweetwater County Circuit Court Tuesday and were charged with possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance. Bond was set at $20,000 for each.

Cheyenne will send trash to Colo.

CHEYENNE - The City Council has voted to start hauling the city's trash 45 miles south to a landfill near Ault, Colo.

City officials said the cost of sending trash to the North Weld Sanitary Landfill will be about $395 per trailer load. They estimated that Cheyenne will send 47,000 tons of trash to Colorado over the program's first year, at a cost of $962,000.

The city's current landfill was built in 1966 and has an estimated four years of space remaining. The Colorado shipments will begin in July.

Cheyenne has studied putting a new landfill on land southwest of Cheyenne that the city bought for $4 million in 2003. Proponents of the shipping plan say they want to delay building a new landfill as long as possible.

Man faces charge in fatal crash

KIMBALL, Neb. - A Kimball man has been charged with motor vehicle homicide after a weekend crash that claimed the life of a Wyoming man.

The felony charge against 20-year-old Kyle Anderson was filed Wednesday. Bond was set at $150,000.

The Kimball County Sheriff's Office has said Anderson was the driver of a car that crashed Saturday night northeast of Kimball. A passenger, 22-year-old Joshua Cooley of Pine Bluffs, was thrown from the car and died at a Denver hospital.

The sheriff's office said speed and alcohol may have contributed to the crash.

Avalanche traps family on pass

BILLINGS, Mont. - Authorities say a family of eight was trapped Tuesday night on Beartooth Pass after a small avalanche blocked the road on their way back to Red Lodge.

The family was vacationing in the area when the avalanche struck at about 5:30 p.m. just north of Vista Point. The slide did not hit the vehicle, and no one was injured.

The highway was open only to the Wyoming state line, so there was no way for the family to get out. At about 8 p.m., the Montana Department of Transportation used heavy loaders to clear a path through the avalanche.