Year-in-Review: Third Quarter

We continue our year-in-review series today with a look at some of the news from the third quarter of 2024. Sheridan Media’s Ron Richter has more.

On July 12, an officer with the Sheridan Police Department responded to the 1900 block of West 5th Street shortly after 6 pm for a fight in progress. When the officer arrived on scene, 48-year-old Patrick Mudd was lying on the ground in a puddle of blood and Cody McCalla was close by with blood on his face and his hands. McCalla told the officer that he had been in a fight with Mudd and that he had hit him once. Two female eye witnesses told the officer that Mudd and McCalla were having an argument about a parking related issue and that they heard Mudd tell McCalla to leave him alone. The two witnesses said they then heard a “knuckles hitting” sound and saw Mudd fall to the ground.  McCalla was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter. A five-day jury trial is scheduled to begin on March 3, 2025. If convicted, McCalla faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

In September, the Sheridan City Council approved third and final reading of an ordinance to rezone the Sheridan County Fairgrounds from an R-1 Residence District to a B-1 Business District. Sheridan County requested the 42.61 acre rezone to allow for a commercial sized electronic messaging center sign, which is not allowed in an R-1 zone district. Councilman Aaron Linden.

On Friday, September 27, a large plume of smoke was spotted in the Bighorn Mountains approximately six miles northwest of Dayton. The Elk Fire ended up being one of the biggest wildfires in Wyoming’s history and the biggest fire to ever occur in the Bighorn National Forest, as it burned almost 100,000 acres before it was officially listed as 100 percent contained on November 15.

In early October, several hundred residents attended a public meeting at Tongue River Middle School in Ranchester to receive the latest information on the fire and evacuations. Governor Mark Gordon spoke at the meeting about using the National Guard to help with the firefighting efforts.

We’ll conclude our year-in-review series Friday with a look at some of the top news stories from the fourth quarter of 2024.