We fear them, except when it's the jilted but aromatic lover from one of those Warner Bros. cartoons.

We've been told the only thing that can eliminate their smell is a good bath in tomato juice.

Most of us, if we ever see them at all, view them as roadkill on Wyoming's highways and rural roads.

Not Cam Seigal. No, the sight of a skunk usually means the sweet smell of success for the Torrington resident.

"Skunks are awesome pets," Seigal told the Torrington Telegram for its Oct. 12 edition. "It's amazing how many people I've gotten to like them."

The folks at the 19th annual Skunks as Pets Show in Daytona Beach, Fla., sure do. The judges held their noses long enough, apparently, to award Seigal's skunk Dixie a first place in color for place and white skunks, third place for best in show and a bunch of other awards, the paper reported.

Seigal owns two other skunks - Rebel and Sadie, in addition to Dixie.

Seigal can keep these skunks, you see, because hers have been de-scented. Even if they are, ahem, de-scendants of the ones that can raise the hair on a human's back. They eat pretty much what you and I would eat, too.

"It's amazing how little you feed them to keep them at their optimum weight," she said.

The envy of the hunting universe

Now, all of you in camouflage and orange, raise a glass in toast to Katie Bright of Pinedale.

She just bagged a real trophy recently, the Sublette Examiner reported in its Oct. 11 edition.

She was out with her dad, Kim, on Sept. 30 when she spotted a bull elk with a real unusual rack.

"I didn't care what he had," she told the paper. "I was just going for meat."

From 130 yards away, she fired.

And then she saw what she'd bagged - a bull elk with not one, but two distinct sets of antlers, one set on top of another.

Seven points in all.

Call it a two-by-three-by-four-by-five.

"It's once in a lifetime," her dad told the paper.

"It was a gift," Kim Bright told the paper, "and a good time hunting with my daughter. I'm thankful for that."

The good Samaritans

Not long after they were vilified by some in the community for tarnishing a homecoming event, the students at Campbell County High School have achieved something noteworthy again - this time, for all the right reasons.

On Oct. 11 and 12, students at Campbell County High School donated a river of blood for the Campbell County Memorial Hospital - and then some.

In fact, they collected 204 units of blood, the Gillette News Record reported in its Oct. 15 edition - one quarter of the 823 units used at Campbell County Memorial Hospital in 2006, the paper reported.

How did it work?

"We kind of coerced them telling them it would save children's lives," said Abi Breinholt, the school's student council activities coordinator. "There was a constant stream of people."

He had a Devil of a time

They apparently don't make 'em like Walter "Dick" Mason anymore.

The 72-year-old Texas man became the oldest to scale the summit of Devils Tower, the Moorcroft Leader reported in its Oct. 11 edition.

He scaled the 1,267-foot edifice on Sept. 25, with the help of climbing guide Frank Sanders.

"All people are created equal, but some are created more equal than others. That's Dick," Sanders said.

This isn't the first time Mason has scaled perhaps Wyoming's most recognizable landmark. He did the same thing in 2002.

Mason was modest in his assessment of his feat.

"I am blessed to be able to do what I do. My health is good."

Mason told the Moorcroft Leader he would like to scale the national monument again, perhaps with his granddaughter.

Not a good way to end the night

Jackson police tangled with a 21-year-old woman on Oct. 13 who apparently wasn't fighting over a love letter, but a text message the woman's 17-year-old boyfriend had received from someone who was flashing him, the Jackson Hole News and Guide reported in its Oct. 17 edition.

The boyfriend essentially told his girlfriend that the affair was over, and that he'd ended it.

The tussle didn't end until the girlfriend grabbed her man, hung on to him, slipped away and grabbed his ankle before his shoe slipped off. Then the jilted lover tossed the shoe onto his car and broke off the passenger mirror, the paper reported.

Maybe the young man should have told her "CUL8R"

Got an item or tip for this column? Contact night editor David Mirhadi at (307) 266-0616 or david.mirhadi@casperstartribune.net