January 2, 2014 I The Lovell Chronicle I ,5
Byron resident
outsmarts seam artists
BY PATTI CARPENTER
Gary Gruell knew it
was just too good to be true
when he received a check
in the mail in the amount
of $5,956.35. The very legit-
imate looking check arrived
along with a letter stating
that he was a third place
winner in the Publisher's
Clearing House contest.
All Gruell had to do was
cash the check and send the
money to a stranger in or-
der to collect his winnings
of $1.5 million. Had Gruell
taken that next step, which
more than likely would
have asked him to send the
cash by Western Union, he
would have later been ad-
vised by his bank that the
check was not good and he
would be legally required to
pay the money back to the
bank.
"I didn't believe it at
first, because I just don't
have that kind of luck," said
Gruell, who has actually
entered the PCH contest
in the past. "Then I looked
at the letter again and it
looked so legit. It even had
my name on it. So, I called
the number on the letter."
Gruell's skepticism
returned when the per-
son at the other end of
the telephone line asked
him to cash the check for
cash and to call back with
cash in hand for further
instructions.
"That just didn't make
sense to me, so I went
straight to the source. I
called Publisher's Clearing
House and they told me it
was a scam," said Gruell.
Gruell also brought the
check to his bank and was
told by a bank employee
the sheriff.
"My mama always told
me, if it sounds too good to
be true, it's too good to be
true," said Big Horn Coun-
ty Sheriff Ken Blackburn.
"We see this type of scam
a lot and unfortunately a
lot of people fall for it and
end up losing a lot of mon-
ey. Sadly, a lot of these
scams prey on the elderly
and the scam artists work
hard to confuse them and
sometimes convince them
to send the money.
"Sometimes we'll get a
call from the grocery store
or a bank telling us that
someone is trying to cash
one of these checks. Some-
times we're able to talk peo-
ple out of sending the mon-
ey. Other times, people end
up losing thousands of dol-
lars. We have a person in
the county right now who
lost about $7,000 this way
and there is no way to get
the money back."
Gruell was one of the
lucky ones who did not fall
for the scam.
"It makes me sad to
think that hundreds of peo-
ple probably got this same
letter and probably half of
them fell for it," said Gru-
ell. "I'm just glad I caught
on right away. The whole
thing seemed very real and
very convincing."
"To give you an idea of
how a big a problem this
is, the FBI has a website
to report this sort of thing
and they are getting about
4,000 hits a day," said
Blackburn. "With our econ-
omy the way it is right now,
people are thinking, 'Wow,
$5,000. I can really use
that.' Those are the people
According to Black-
burn, a typical scam usual-
ly asks the person to send
money in order to receive a
larger sum of money. Oth-
er scams include telling an
elderly person their grand-
child is in jail in a foreign
country, asking the con-
cerned grandparent to send
money. Some scams are
just mining for information
like social security num-
bers and birthdates, which
is information that can be
used to open fraudulent
credit cards.
"If you didn't initiate
the call, it's most likely a
scam," said Lovell Chief of
Police Nick Lewis. "I would
say that is a good rule of
thumb."
Lewis keeps a file with
copies of fraudulent letters
and emails received by lo-
cal residents. The file is
about seven inches thick.
"Another tip is if any-
one asks you to send mon-
ey by Western Union,"
said Lewis. "Almost all
of the scams that ask for
money, want you to send it
by Western Union. People
need to understand that no
matter what address you
send the money to, it can
be picked up anywhere in
the world using the West-
ern Union passcode."
Lewis said scammers
are using any type of com-
munication device avail-
able to them. That includes
the U.S. Postal Service,
email, text, cell phone or
regular telephone.
"It's a constant prob-
lem," said Lewis. "We re-
ceive at least two or three
calls a week from citizens
reporting they were ap-
ON THE RECORD
IN BIG HORN COUNTY
BIRTHS
We are interested in printing the births of
North Big Horn County babies. Please call
and personally report these births by con-
tacting the Chronicle at 548-2217.
Born to Breianna and Joshua Wiggins at
the Powell Valley Hospital on Dec. 20, 2013,
at 3:52 p.m., a boy, Reed Alexander Wiggins,
weighing 6 Ibs. 7 oz. Grandparents are Wayne
and Barbara Wimmler and Jerry and Carolyn
Wiggins.
Born to Camille and Matt Walker at the Pew-
ell Valley Hospital on Dec. 23, 2013, at 7:29
p.m., a boy, Brody Matthew Walker, weighing 7
Ibs. 11 oz. Grandparents are Denney and Lin-
da NeVille and Mel and Ann Walker.
Born toAmy and Chris Cozzens atthe Pew-
ell Valley Hospital on Dec. 23, 2013, at 9:43
a.m., a boy, Carter Cash Cozzens, weighing 6
Ibs. 5 oz. Grandparents are Chris and Loretta
Mann and Mark and Leanne Cozzens.
MARRIAGES
Marriage licenses issued from the Big Horn
County Clerk's office recently were:
Barry Nathan Bayert and Susan Marie
Rieck, both of Basin
Rodney Leroy Cox of Riverton and Gwen
Elizabeth Hoyt of Basin
Police report
Stolen U-Haul vehicle turns up in Lovell
The Lovell Police De-
partment received the fol-
lowing calls for the week of
Dec. 23 ,- 30:
Dec. 24: Police officers re-
sponded to a report of a
man who appeared to be
sleeping in a car that was
running in the parking lot
of a local bar. Norm Camp-
bell was cited for DUI and
transported to the Big Horn
County Detention Center
in Basin.
Dec• 25: Police were asked
to check on the welfare
of an individual who ap-
peared to be walking in the
cold pulling a suitcase. Offi-
cers checked with the man
who appeared to not need
assistance.
Dec. 26: An employee of the
parks department reported
evidence that a car drove
on the grass in Great West-
ern Park. The damage ap-
peared to be minor.
• Police checked on the
welfare of a couple sitting
in a parked car that was
running for a long peri-
od of time. The couple ap-
peared to be OK and said
they were not bothered
by the fumes from the
running vehicle.
Dec. 27: A vehicle reported
stolen from a U-Haul deal-
ership in Texas was turned
into the Lovell U-Haul
dealership. Police assisted
authorities in Texas to re-
cover the vehicle.
Dec• 28: A local resident
reported that he was con-
cerned that someone may
have tried to break into
his vehicle. Police are wait-
ing for further information
from the person reporting
the crime.
The above calls were
received by the Lovell Po-
lice Dept. Persons arrested
are presumed innocent un-
til proven guilty in a court
of law, and charges made
upon initial arrest may be
amended or dismissed as
determined by the County
Attorney.
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that it was most likely a these scam artists are look- proached with one sort of
fraud. His next call was to ing for." scam or another."
County Flood Plain
Development regs available,
for public review Monday ::
BY KARLA POMEROY rectly to district court, feet, making the case to
The Big Horn County ,, Bridges agreed, noting, FEMA and then if the coun-
commissioners made some Once you make a decision, ty has to downsize it could
decisions to work toward fi- it seems unlikely your opin- drop to 500 as a compromise.
nalizing the Flood Plain De- ion would change with an Commissioner Keith
velopment Regulations, and
will approve a draft at next
week's Jan. 7 meeting.
The commissioners will
then have the regulations
open for public review and
have a public hearing on the
proposed regs on Jan. 21 at
11 a.m.
Proposed draft regula-
tions will be available for
public viewing at all three
main county libraries, the
County Clerk's office and
County Land Planning of-
fice beginning Jan. 6.
Engineer Willie Bridg-
es came to the commission-
ers at the Dec. 17 meeting
with questions on the regu-
lations. He said they need-
ed to establish the size of
accessory buildings allowed
in flood plain areas, as well
as to establish the enforce-
ment and appeal process.
Currently, as proposed, the
commiss]oners would make
a decision on whether to al-
low development in flood
plain areas, and the com-
missioners would also han-
dle the appeal.
Chairman Jerry Ewen
said the appeal could go di-
appeal. District court would
be next step after an appeal
to commissioners."
He added that there is
a method to handle vari-
ances or exceptions from
the rules and regulations
already in place and a per-
son when applying for a de-
velopment permit would
have an opportunity to ex-
plain the need for any vari-
ance before an initial deci-
sion is made.
In regard to the acces-
sory building size, Bridges
said the Federal Emergency
Management Agency is re-
luctant to approve buildings
500 square feet or larger.
FEMA's recommendation is
100 square feet.
Ewen said along the
Shell Creek flood plain there
are large open sheds and
enclosed sheds and barns.
While everything would be
"grandfathered" in, it would
impact new construction.
"The smaller that build-
ing is, the harder it will be
to enforce," Ewen said.
Commissioner John
Hyde suggested putting the
regulations at 1,000 square
Grant agreed with the idea,
noting, "A lot of our farmers
are the ones who will be im-
pacted and they want ma-
chine shops."
Bridges said that no
permit would be required
for open-faced facilities in
flood plain areas.
As for enforcement,
Bridges said he will work
with the county attorney's
office and have resolutions
ready for the commission-
ers at their meetings Jan. 7
establishing the size of the
accessory building and the
free board distance.
Bridges said one foot
is the bare minimum. The
commissioners voted to set
it at two feet. Bridges said
the free board distance is
the "height the county es-
tablishes for a finished floor
elevation if someone builds
in a flood plain. Free board
is the distance from the
base flood elevation (as de-
termined by the developer
or as set by FEMA) to the
safety factor height," which
in this case would be two
feet above the base flood
elevation.
Bic Horn Basin Outlook Weekend Outlook
;limate Almanac Normats for 01/01 to 01/05
Recreation Outlook
fmeruencv
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Fri. & Sat. 10am-10pm
Sun.: 10am-8pm
Big Horn County Long Range Forecast
Wednesday
Scattered snow
showers
36115
Thursday
Partly cloudy
351 16
Friday
Mostly cloudy,
snow showers
30/16
Saturday
Chance of snow
showers
32 / 28
Sunday
Snow showers
late
31 / 20
Pacific disturbances and moisture will be moving across the northern
and central Rockies over the next five to seven days. This will keep
snow showers in our forecast and also allow for colder temperatures at
times. Accumulations of snow in the Basin look generally small.
However, snow should be heavy at times in the mountains.
Lovell Greybull
Average High/low 2915 Avenge HIglVlOw 0t$
Record High/Low 55 in 1998 -42 in 1924 Record Hioh/Low 55 n 1998 -25 n 201
! ,, y ...... .......
A',r 0, : O.Q7?
Record 24hr. Precip. 0.42" in 1972 Record 24hr. Precip. 1.10" in 1996
Jet Stream Forecast for 01/05 Sunrise & Sunset
Sunrlee Sunlmt
WY 7'i AM
Thursday 7:49 AM 4:48 PM
Saturday 7:48AM 4:41 PM
National Weather Service Forecasts:
hit p :/h,vww.crh .nose .gov/riw/index.ht m
, ,,.
• .,, .. • • ,'" .o.
.,., ,,, Powell • .
Cody • . •
"%¢" • 301 / 201 Basin
30 / 20S" ',
.... 30S / 20S • , ,
....... Worland
.... ,%. " -. 30s / 2011 i.
',,. ., -hermopollSl , ....
Big Horn Lake - Colder than normal temperatures will
" " s a . e . • continue to be a possibility. We will also have a chance
of additional snow showers.
River Basin River Basin
B Rk, er; ! t38% Yellowstone National Park - Snow looks to be rather
Shoshone River 125% of normal Upper Yellowstone River 119% of normal likely across the Park over the course of the weekend.
nake River 109% of normal Madtson Hers 109%ofnorma Temperatures will also be turning a little colder.
"Road and Travel - (1-888-996-7623) or (307) 772-0824; Cellular: #ROAD Big Horn Mountains - On and off snow will be a
Road and Travel on the web- http:l/wydotweb.ltate.wy.ul/web/hlghwlly/text road.html possibility across the Big Horns. Look for breezy to
F ...... t prepared by: Dc'/VV/echerl Inc. Cheye.nne, WY 82001 windy conditions as well.
www.aayweather.com
WC.ATHER JOURNAL
Date H L Prec.
Dec: 24 16 00
Dec. 25 39 1
Dec. 26 27 2 ,00
Dec. 27 3! 10 .00
Dec. 28 37 14 .00
Dec, 29 3
Dec: 30 3i 4
Dec.31 35 2
Pmv/ded by Western Sugar Co-0p
Big Horn Lake level; 3635.7 ft.
(as Tues; . 31, 2013)
Big Horn County Forecast sponsored by
Apple
9 East Main, Lovell, Wyoming
