WLM | history
1986 Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis involves 136 children and 18 adults, when former town lawman
David Young and his wife Doris bring a bomb into the school. Doris accidentally detonates the bomb, injuring herself;
David Young shoots his wife, then himself. All hostages survive, many with injuries and burns. (Wikipedia)
1989 Lane Frost, Professional Bull Rider, is killed at Cheyenne Frontier Days riding the bull Takin’ Care of Business.
(Wikipedia)
1992 Chris LeDoux’s Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy, recorded with Garth Brooks, reaches Top Ten on the
country charts
1998 Former Governor Michael Sullivan is appointed 24th U.S. Ambassador to Ireland by President Bill Clinton (Wikipedia)
1998 UW Student Matthew Shepard, a young gay man, is brutally killed in a crime that sparked international
conversation on hate crimes and support of rights for LGBT individuals. Laramie becomes the epicenter of intense
scrutiny and nationwide media attention. It was a very challenging and sad time for UW students – I was a UW
student then, and have always considered LGBT people to be worthy and kind human beings. Many of us were
lumped and categorized nationwide, which was hard when I knew myself I’d never do such a thing or feel that way.
2000-present
2000 Afton’s Rulon Gardner wins gold in Greco-Roman Wrestling at the Sydney Olympics (Wikipedia)
2001 Eight UW Cross Country athletes are killed by a drunk driver on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Fort
Collins, CO. The annual Always a Cowboy Walk/Run remembers the victims. (GoWYO.com)
2005 A tornado tears through Wright, killing two, injuring many, and destroying many structures. (USAToday.com)
2007 UW Cowgirl Basketball Team wins the WNIT Championship (GoWYO.com)
2012 A summer of hardships … A tornado hits near Wheatland, damaging and destroying many structures; one of
the worst years for statewide forest fires affects its citizens (WyomingNews.com, InsuranceJournal.com)
2012 Buford, dubbed “America’s Smallest Town” with a population of one, is sold by owner Don Sammons to
Vietnamese Entrepreneur Pham Dinh Nguyen. (TheDailyBeast.com)
2012 Longmire, a TV show based on the popular Sheriff Walt Longmire series of novels by Ucross resident Craig
Johnson, debuts as A&E’s #1 original series premiere of all time with 4.1 million total viewers. The show ran on the
network until 2014, when it was cancelled. It was then picked up by Netflix, where one can find past, present and
future episodes. (Wikipedia)
2015 UW Cowboy Basketball Team wins the Mountain West Tournament (GoWYO.com)
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Tayloe_Ross
RESOURCES
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washakie
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._Penney
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Wheeler_Mondell
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Wilcox
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cokeville_Elementary_School_hostage_crisis
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Sullivan_(governor)
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rulon_Gardner
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Johnson_(author)
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane_Frost
WikiBooks - en.wikibooks.org/wiki/History_of_Wyoming/Wyoming_in_Popular_
Culture,_1868-present
Fremont County Radio - fremontcountyradio.com/2014/06/catch-the-fast-rodeoaction-during-the-worlds-oldest-paid-rodeo-in-lander-wy/
Phil Roberts - uwyo.edu/robertshistory – For all sorts of fascinating articles
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Wyoming Lifestyle Magazine | Summer 2015
GoWYO.com - gowyo.com/sports – For many articles & information on UW athletics
Wyoming News - wyomingnews.com/articles/2013/03/11/entertainment/02ent%20
03-11-13.txt#.VXxkLPlViko
Wyoming News - http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2012/06/08/
news/01top_06-08-12.txt#.VX0WaflViko
Western Wyoming Community College - wwcc.wy.edu
National Park Service - nps.gov
WyoHistory.org
Univ. of WY American Heritage Center - uwyo.edu/ahc/research/topics/black14.
html
TheDailyBeast.com - thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/17/america-s-tiniest-townis-sold-and-renamed-phindeli-town-buford-wyoming.html
USAToday.com - usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-13-twisterwyoming_x.htm
InsuranceJounral.com - insurancejournal.com/news/west/2012/10/25/268004.htm