Thursday, NOVEMBER 13, 2025 |

Photo – Medicine Bow Marshal badge – Courtesy Town of Medicine Bow

In Medicine Bow, town officials expressed surprise this week at how much money the former Marshal’s Department spent before its closure.

In July, the Medicine Bow governing body voted to sell surplus guns, ammunition, and other equipment from the dissolved Marshal’s office to Koyoty Outdoor Sports in Saratoga.

During Monday’s town council meeting, Mayor Justin George announced that he had received an offer from Koyoty Outdoor Sports owner Warden Patzer. The store owner expressed interest in purchasing the town’s three 9mm Glock handguns, one .40-caliber Glock pistol, and a well-used shotgun. Mayor George said Patzer would not buy a suppressed 6.5 Creedmoor rifle outright, but agreed to take it on consignment.

The Medicine Bow Marshal’s Office was launched in 2019 using $1 million of impact assistance funding from nearby wind turbine construction projects. In early 2024 as the money was running out, the Medicine Bow Town Council voted to dissolve the department.

Closing the marshal’s office left the town with surplus police vehicles, firearms, and other law enforcement equipment.

At Monday’s town council meeting, Mayor George said that Koyoty Outdoor Sports had offered $6,000 for all the non-law enforcement specific pieces of firearms gear, such as holsters, belts, and ammunition.

Councilwoman Kristi Wickizer expressed disbelief at the amount of equipment purchased by the Medicine Bow Marshal’s Department during its five years of operation. Mayor George agreed, saying that former Marshal Roger Hawks and his deputies advocated for keeping the department open despite the lack of funding.

Mayor George said town hall staff compiled an itemized list of equipment from the former Marshal’s Department, including the prices paid by the town. The mayor cited a large stockpile of unused practice ammunition as an example of departmental waste.

Mayor George said the purchase of six tire deflation devices, called spike strips, was another example of waste by the law enforcement office.

According to documents provided by the town, each Stinger-brand spike strip cost $600. The strips armed with hollow spikes are deployed in the path of a fleeing vehicle to puncture its tires and bring the pursuit to a stop.

Items able to be reused, such as automated external defibrillators and emergency lights, were given to other departments. Mayor George said that Patzer, the owner of Koyoty Outdoor Sports declined to take any police-specific equipment. The mayor said he will attempt to sell those items to another law enforcement agency.

Mayor George said the Marshal’s Department purchased three combat-ready trauma bags with folding stretchers, at a cost of $220 each. The mayor said the kits were unnecessarily robust for the department’s needs.

Those items, along with three brand-new $120 bolt cutters, were transferred to the Medicine Bow Fire Department. An unused infrared camera system will be installed in the Community Center.

Still taken aback by the extent of waste uncovered in the Marshal’s Department, Councilwoman Wickizer questioned why no one had been held accountable. Mayor George said that current town policy states that department heads may spend up to $5,000 without prior approval from the Town Council. The mayor said many of the questionable purchases fell just below that spending threshold.

Councilwoman Wickizer said the unjustified purchases cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars. In return, the town will recover less than $8,000 from the Koyoty Sports sale.

While a portion of the supplies were meant for deputy training, the mayor said it was evident that no training had taken place.

Mayor George said the prices offered by Koyoty Outdoor Sports seemed reasonable and recommended accepting the deal, adding that all proceeds should be used to pay off outstanding debts from the Marshal’s department, including a radio service bill from Motorola totaling more than $17,000.

The Medicine Bow Town Council voted to sell the guns and unneeded equipment to the gun shop in Saratoga. Mayor George will offer the police-specific items to the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office.

The post Overspending by Now Closed Department Surprises Town Council first appeared on Bigfoot 99 Radio.