County health board mulls smoke rule

JACKSON - The Teton County Board of Health is beginning discussion of possible limits on secondhand smoke in public places.

The board plans to meet tonight to discuss the proposed clean-air regulation.

Proponents of the rule change include the Teton County Tobacco Prevention program. Opponents have included the owner of a Jackson smoke shop called Tobacco Row. Richard Choate says citizens should be allowed to choose whether to go into a place that allows smoking, and banning smoking takes away a person's right to choose.

The Jackson Town Council considered a similar proposal in 2007 but didn't pass it. Opponents pointed out that only one bar in Teton County allows its customers to smoke.

YNP wolf numbers decline in '08

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - The number of wolves in Yellowstone National Park declined by 27 percent last year.

The 124 wolves counted in 2008 is down from 171 wolves in 2007. It's the first drop in wolf numbers in the park in three years.

The National Park Service says the wolves died from disease and from killing each other. It says a similar population decline occurred between 2004 and 2005, when overall wolf numbers in Yellowstone dropped 31 percent.

Sundance lifts drinking water ban

SUNDANCE - The city of Sundance and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality have lifted the city's drinking water ban, according to a prepared release.

Residents were restricted from drinking city water after diesel fuel seeped into one of the city's water wells on Jan. 4.

Crook County Emergency Management Coordinator Gari Gill said a contract driller accidentally polluted the city well while drilling a new well. Once the problem was noticed, the city shut the tainted well and opened two other water wells.

Residents are encouraged to continue flushing their systems if they detect any odor, but officials said the test analysis revealed that none of the maximum contaminant levels were exceeded.

Man pleads not guilty in shooting death

CHEYENNE - A 43-year-old Cheyenne man charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of another man in a dispute over an engine block has pleaded not guilty.

Wayne Shook entered his plea Thursday in Laramie County District Court.

Prosecutors allege Shook shot 46-year-old Timothy C. Canaday on Nov. 12 at a house near Burns during an argument over a $4,000 engine block that Canaday sold Shook.

Court records say Shook told investigators he bought an engine and transmission from Canaday in June 2008, but learned in November that it was the wrong type and "not in good working order."

Court records say Shook told officers he shot Canaday when he refused to "make it right."

Sundance features Wyo-based movie

BOZEMAN, Mont. - A movie that was shot in Montana and set in Wyoming will be featured at the annual Sundance Film Festival, which begins Thursday in Park City, Utah.

"Taking Chance," is based on the first-person account of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort officer, who is assigned to accompany the body of 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps across the country to his hometown of Dubois.

Kevin Bacon plays Strobl, a Marine. Phelps was killed in Iraq in the spring of 2004.

The film was shot in Bozeman and Ennis, Mont. The HBO Films movie is scheduled to premiere on HBO on Feb. 21.