TODAY’S WEATHER HIGH LOW
84
48
State and Regional AND NATIONAL FORECAST ON PAGE 35.
regional
Injured hunter recovering after long crawl for help.
Over 700 killed in stampede at hajj pilgrimage. PAGE 11 With early lead, Stenson off to good start at East Lake. PAGE 40
INternational SPORTS
PAGE 7
Friday September 25, 2015 Volume 37 Issue 225
EE FR
■■Wyoming
Funds for malting plant may be on tap CHEYENNE (AP) — Wyoming officials are set to consider a proposal to provide $3.4 million in state funding for construction of a barley malting plant in Pine Bluffs. The Wyoming Business Council has recommended the state Loan and Investment Board approve a combination grant and loan for the project. The board, which includes Gov. Matt Mead and other statewide elected officials, is expected to consider the project next week. Thomas Johnson, chief performance officer for the business council, said the proposed state funding includes a $2.8 million grant from the state’s Business Ready Communities program and a $557,000 loan through the program. The state funding would cover construction of the 20,000-square-foot facility at Pine Bluffs Business Park by Laramie County, working with Cheyenne LEADS, the local economic development organization. The facility would then be leased to two newly created companies, Wyoming Malted Co. and Pine Bluffs Distilling, owned by Pine Bluffs residents Gene Purdy and Chad Brown. Attempts to reach Purdy and Brown for comment were not successful Thursday. “The company’s going to be leasing that facility, and then part of those lease payments are going to come back to the state to pay off the loan,” Johnson said. He said part of the lease payments also will fund more economic development infrastructure. The companies would have See Malting on page 7
RYAN JONES/Jackson Hole DailY
Wyoming NORML Executive Director Chris Christian seeks signatures for a petition Thursday at a lot on North Cache. The petition calls for the addition of a ballot measure that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the state.
Search is on for hunter By Emma Breysse
Jackson Hole Daily
Authorities in charge of the search for a missing hunter Thursday sought assistance from able-bodied community volunteers. Bernard Rietmann, 85, of Wilson, was still missing at press time Thursday after missing a planned rendezvous with his family Wednesday evening. Teton County Search and Rescue volunteers intended to be out in the field until around 7 p.m. and planned to resume the search at around 8 a.m. today if Rietmann was still not found when it grew dark Thursday, Teton County spokeswoman Charlotte Reynolds said. When the search resumes, Search and Rescue would welcome help from the community to join in the search parties. Volunteers should be “individuals who are exceptionally physically fit and able to hike for eight hours in difficult terrain,” according
to Reynolds’ update Thursday afternoon. Rietmann was hunting in the Granite Creek area near the Highline Trail, an area where he had frequently gone on solo hunting excursions, Reynolds said. The search concentrated in that area Thursday and turned up possible clues, including a deer that had been shot but not field dressed. At the time he was last seen, Rietmann was wearing a blue jacket, hunting cap and boots and was carrying a rifle. He is noted in Teton County updates as having an unspecified “medical condition” that may cause him to tire easily, but he is a very experienced hunter and knows the area well. Rietmann was scheduled to check in with his family at around 5 p.m. Wednesday after hunting all day, but he remained overdue by 9 p.m., when his family called in the authorities. An early search failed to turn up clues to his whereabouts.
Teams of 50 to 60 volunteers were out Wednesday evening and all day Thursday in helicopters and on foot. Today’s search was planned to include two civilian-owned helicopters, search dogs and volunteers on horseback and on foot. Anyone who wants to be part of the team searching for Rietmann can call the Teton County Search and Rescue hangar at 7328337. People who might have information on his whereabouts can contact Teton County Dispatch at 733-2331. Friends of Rietmann’s were unavailable Thursday or declined comment in light of the search. Rietmann went missing in roughly the same area as the three Andrews-Sharer sisters, who lost the trail on a backpacking trip earlier this year. The sisters were located after a two-day search following a crucial tip from a hunting guide who happened to be in the area at the time.