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Daily smile no play 10 14 22

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Daily Smile: Friday, October 14, 2022 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Love at first sight...

Daily Smile: Friday, October 14, 2022

Kerry Drake

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

CHEYENNE — The day after Gene Holthus’ home in Cheyenne’s Buffalo Ridge subdivision was gutted on July 16, 1979, he stood outside taking photos of the destruction. 

His three sons were busy trying to salvage anything they could from the house as Wyoming National Guard helicopters flew overhead to protect the neighborhood from looting.

Holthus told the Wyoming State Tribune that he was at work at the Wyoming Highway Department when he saw the huge twister rip past the Game and Fish Commission.

“I immediately called my wife, Alta, and told her to get in the basement,” Holthus said. “She didn’t know a thing about it.”

He said the next few minutes were terrifying as he waited for a chance to get home. Holthus learned that a gas main had broken in his basement.

“Somebody called the fire department and within about five minutes they came and dug my wife out of the basement,” he recalled. “Thank God she only had a few scratches.”

As Holthus continued talking to the reporter, one of his sons came running up and handed him an envelope he’d found several blocks away. It contained vivid color photographs of the family’s garden, which was now buried under rubble.

Holthus looked at every one of the photos. 

“I just can’t believe that something this small could remain intact while bigger things were totally destroyed,” he said. 

The reporter told him he was sorry about everything his family lost. Holthus turned around and pointed at the house.

“This can all be replaced,” he said. “We survived. And I’ll treasure these photos and all the memories.”

Holthus died in 2015, but he and his family had survived what 47 years later is still the most destructive tornado ever recorded in Wyoming. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"9-Mile Path Of Destruction"}]

The tornado that touched down was not only rare for the capital city, Cheyenne had never had one within city limits prior to July 16, 1979. 

The tornado was officially an F-3, using the EF scale that ranks tornados by damage intensity. But some scientists believe it was even more fierce, an F-4, based on the intensity of destruction it left behind.

The tornado first formed around 3:10 p.m. near the intersection of Vandehei Avenue and Valley View Road. Peak winds were estimated between 136-165 mph.

Its path through the city was 8.8 miles, which it traveled in about 30 minutes. 

The massive twister was 80 yards wide, or four-fifths as long as a football field.

It was the most destructive tornado in Wyoming’s history, and it caused one death: 14-month-old David McKinnon, who the Laramie County coroner at the time said died instantly from head injuries when his family’s trailer was ripped apart by the black funnel cloud.

Damaging about 400 homes, including 140 that were destroyed, the total property damage was estimated at $25 million, which is the equivalent to 

As people dug through the rubble, called insurance adjusters, and talked to friends and family about their ordeal, one thing about the natural disaster seemed universally described by survivors as miraculous. 

How could such an enormous tornado wreaking havoc for such a long time have not killed more people?

“This was my first major crisis,” Don Erickson, Cheyenne’s mayor from 1977-1989, told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday as he recalled the challenges he faced when the tornado hit the northern part of the city. 

“We had to show the community a lot of confidence, that we were doing the best we can,” he said. "And we did. We had a great team.”

Erickson, 89, can vividly describe everything he saw happen the day the tornado hit.

“I was sitting in my office with my risk manager looking through this great big window,” he said. “I thought, ‘My God, it looked kind of weird out there.’ Big black clouds coming around, and I said, ‘Let’s go up on the roof and see what’s going on.’”

Within 10 seconds of arriving on the rooftop, Erickson said that, “There was a big blast north of City Hall. Later on, we found that a transformer over by the governor’s mansion had been struck by lightning.”

Dave Guille, the head of civil defense for the city, called to tell the mayor that a tornado had hit the north side of Cheyenne.

Erickson, who had just dealt with one shock, called Cheyenne Police Chief Byron Rookstool, and together they made a hurried trip to the scene.

“The rescue effort was underway, and the devastation was amazing,” Erickson said. “We were so lucky that people were working and the kids weren’t quite home yet.”

He flew in a National Guard helicopter to see the path of destruction. 

“We’re fortunate that the Frontier Mall wasn’t built yet on Dell Range. It would have had a tremendous amount of damage,” he said.

Erickson said Gov. Ed Herschler immediately declared Cheyenne a disaster area.

Erickson said the entire city rallied to help take care of anyone impacted by the disaster. Scores of people opened up their homes to those who had lost theirs. 

Esther Howard formed the Interfaith Task Force, which brought local organizations together to coordinate how they could help anyone who needed it.

Erickson resurrected the group when had his next big crisis, which also involved disastrous weather that Cheyenne had never seen before: the Aug. 1, 1985, flood, which killed a dozen people and caused more than $51 million in damage. 

He said he took what he learned from the tornado tragedy, and that it helped prepare him for the even bigger disaster.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lucky For Him"}]

Tom Reed was a high school junior spending the summer of 1979 working for a construction company that was putting the finishing touches on a new house in his Buffalo Ridge neighborhood. 

On the afternoon of July 16, he was the last person at the site, cleaning it up so the house would be ready for the family that would move in soon.

He went across town to do the same thing at a house on the south side. That’s when he looked north and spotted the tornado.

“We were up pretty high so we could see it across town,” Reed said. “At first I thought it was a fire, but then I saw it move and realized what it was.”

He made another stop at the construction company, where someone told him that a twister had been heading right through his neighborhood. He raced home, but had to walk part of the way because of all the debris covering Roundtop Drive.

He said he spotted his mother, Becky Reed, outside their now heavily damaged ranch-style home doing what everyone else in the neighborhood was doing: trying to assess the damage and figure out what in the world to do next. 

Some people were looking for their pets, but his family dog was inside, unharmed.

Reed said that unlike some of their neighbors whose two-story and multi-level homes were severely damaged, with roofs blown completely off, the Reeds’ single-level house was still standing.

“The roof was kind of peeled back from where it met the west wall,” he said. “If you looked up in the family room you could look straight up to the sky.”

Reed said a lot of windows were broken, and the strong winds blew open the refrigerator door and the contents were tossed all over the house. The hallway walls were covered with ketchup and mustard.

But unlike about 1,000 other Cheyenne residents, the Reeds weren’t homeless that night. 

In fact, they never left. He said he and his father, Tom Reed Sr., who also worked for the same construction company, fixed everything themselves over time.

Reed, who has spent the last 30 years working for ESPN and living in Connecticut, talked to Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday from Dallas, where he’s on vacation. He’s headed to Cheyenne for Frontier Days.

Once he found that his mother was shaken but not hurt, Reed walked to the construction site he had left only an hour before. 

“The house was just gone,” he said. “There was nothing left but the foundation, and the furnace and a few other mechanicals in the basement. Not a stick of the house was left.”

Reed said it took him a while to process the scene. Talking about it 47 years later leaves him amazed and grateful that he got out of the area in time. 

“If I’d stayed a little longer, I would have been hiding in that basement,” he said.

Reed’s mother had been home alone working on her sewing machine when she heard the wind and realized some of the windows were open. When she looked out, she was staring at the tornado headed straight for her.

Becky Reed and the dog made it to the basement, where they went to her son’s room and pulled the mattress over them. She heard the sounds of destruction all around her as the twister plowed into homes.

“When she thought it was over, she went upstairs and out to the porch, only to see  the tornado roaring past her,” Reed said. “She told us later she thought, ‘I might have jumped the gun a little bit.’”

Reed said he’s still bewildered by what transpired that day, seeing some houses look untouched while their next-door neighbors’ homes were reduced to piles of rubble. 

Then he remembered something he said he hadn’t thought about for a long time.

“We had a coffee maker on the kitchen counter, with a pitcher and a panhandle with a metal ring around it,” Reed said. “The coffee maker was gone, but we found the handle out in the front yard. Sitting right next to it was a little dish that had $50 under it. That was just bizarre.”

Kerry Drake can be reached at: Kerry@CowboyStateDaily.com

Tornado 7 16 23 v8

<title>Most Destructive Tornado In Wyoming’s History Leveled Cheyenne 47 Years Ago | Cowboy State Daily</title>

It was 47 years ago on July 16, 1979, when a massive tornado ripped through Cheyenne, leveling hundreds of homes and killing a 14-month old. Decades later, it’s still the most destructive tornado in Wyoming history.

Most Destructive Tornado In Wyoming’s History Leveled Cheyenne 47 Years Ago

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Government & Politics

Politics

Wyoming U.S. House Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of 22 Republicans to vote against making daylight saving time permanent as the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday.

For Wyomingites tired of changing their clocks every spring and fall, the vote was a big step toward ending the twice-yearly ritual that has been a divisive issue in the Cowboy State and across the nation.

The 308-117 vote advances the act to the Senate, which if approved would make daylight saving time permanent.

Most Americans would stop changing their clocks twice a year and instead remain on daylight saving time year-round, although states could choose to observe permanent standard time instead.

Hageman told Cowboy State Daily in a statement that her vote was made with Wyoming in mind.

"The Sunshine Protection Act robs Wyoming farmers and ranchers of precious sunlight and ensures the first hours of a student's day is in darkness,” she said. "The government isn't funded, our elections aren't secure, and Wyoming's legacy industries need help. 

"I will not vote for a time-wasting bill that puts Wyoming in the dark."

If enacted, the legislation would mean later winter sunsets but also later winter sunrises, giving people more daylight in the evening while making mornings darker.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Another Opportunity "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming has been preparing for this possibility for years."}]

In 2020, the Wyoming Legislature approved a trigger law authorizing the state to adopt permanent daylight saving time if Congress first changes federal law and neighboring Mountain Time states enact similar laws.

As a result, Tuesday's House vote alone would not change anything for Wyoming.

Even if the bill ultimately becomes law, Wyoming would continue changing its clocks until the conditions outlined in state law are met.

Former state Rep. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, sponsored Wyoming's trigger law and spent years advocating for permanent daylight saving time.

When the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a similar version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, Laursen

he hoped Americans had changed their clocks for the last time that November.

Instead, the proposal stalled in the House before reaching then-President Joe Biden.

[{"type":"text","text":"Now, four years later, Laursen believes Congress has another opportunity."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's fantastic news,\" he said Tuesday. \"I'm feeling hopeful.\""}]

Laursen said he hopes the Senate can "get something figured out" after unanimously approving a similar bill four years ago.

Asked what message he would send senators, Laursen said, "Let's do it," he said. "Trump wants it. I want it."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Long-Running Debate"}]

Supporters of the legislation argue ending the twice-yearly clock changes would eliminate an unnecessary disruption while giving Americans more usable daylight after work and school.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Kentucky, said permanent daylight saving time would improve traffic safety, strengthen the economy and give people "more time to exercise outside, visit family, attend concerts and sporting events."

"It also means more sunlight at the end of the day so Americans can return safely from work and children can return safely from school," Guthrie said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Not everyone agrees."}]

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports ending the twice-yearly clock changes but argues that Congress should instead adopt permanent standard time, saying it better aligns with the body's natural circadian rhythms and promotes healthier sleep.

If daylight saving time became permanent, Wyoming would experience later winter sunrises and later sunsets, leaving many children and commuters traveling before sunrise while extending daylight later into the evening.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Senate Faces Familiar Decision"}]

The legislation now heads to the Senate, which unanimously approved a similar version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 before it stalled in the House.

[{"type":"text","text":"Its prospects this time are uncertain."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming's congressional delegation is split on the issue."}]

While Hageman voted against the House bill, Sen. Cynthia Lummis has 

backed making daylight saving time permanent, calling the twice-yearly clock changes "an unnecessary disruption" and saying advances in technology have made the original reasons for changing clocks obsolete.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sen. John Barrasso has taken a more cautious position."}]

Last spring he told Cowboy State Daily, "Every time we have to change the clocks, I hear about this issue at home in Wyoming. 

"While it would certainly be easier to not have to change our clocks, there are some real concerns with sending our kids to school in the dark. Congress must thoroughly debate all of the potential impacts before taking any action to change daylight saving time on the national level."

Asked Tuesday about the bill's chances in the Senate, Barrasso 

, "We'll see. You know, we had passed something like that once before, and then the House hit the snooze alarm on it, and we'll see what happens when it gets here."

Even if the Senate approves the bill and Trump signs it into law, Wyoming would not immediately stop changing its clocks. 

The state's trigger law requires not only congressional approval, but also neighboring Mountain Time states to adopt permanent daylight saving time before Wyoming could make the switch.

Cowboy State Daily reached out to Barrasso's office Tuesday for additional comment on the House-passed legislation but did not receive a response before publication.

Hageman clock tower 2 7 14 26

<title>House Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill, Hageman Votes Against | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The U.S. House passed a bill Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent, but Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of only 22 Republicans who voted against it, arguing it would put schoolchildren in the dark and take morning sunlight from farmers and ranchers.

House Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill, Hageman Votes Against

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

For many Wyoming communities, Sunday was the hottest day in recorded history.

The hottest in Worland’s recorded history was June 30, 1990, when it was 107 degrees. According to the National Weather Service office in Riverton, the high at Worland Municipal Airport on Sunday was 110.

The daytime high at Sheridan County Airport was 109 degrees. That broke the old record of 104 set in July 2021.

Buffalo's all-time high was also 104 degrees, set in July 2021. Its threshold was broken with a high of 105 degrees Sunday. 

At Lake Yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park, Sunday’s high was 88 degrees. The previous record was 86, set on July 19, 2021.

“It was certainly a hot day in Wyoming,” said meteorologist Trevor Lavoie with NWS Riverton.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hot, Hot, Hot"}]

Lavoie said the source of Sunday’s high temperatures was “an anomalous area of high pressure” that settled over the Rocky Mountain Region this weekend. Wyoming was on the outside edge, so it didn’t get as hot as it could have.

Miles City, in eastern Montana, reached an all-time high of 115 degrees Sunday. That’s two degrees shy of the hottest temperatures ever recorded anywhere in Montana.

In Wyoming, Riverton also experienced an all-time record-high temperature.

“Riverton Airport hit 104, breaking the all-time record of 102 on June 18, 2006,” Lavoie said.

The temperature most notable to Lavoie was a tie for the all-time high in Lander.

“Lander tied its all-time record at 102, set on July 27, 1935,” he said.

That 102-degree tie stood out because Lander has one of the longest climate records in Wyoming, going back to 1896.

“Some records are longer, and there might be outliers in those records,” he said. “The fact that Lander tied its all-time record is, in and of itself, significant.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Called It, Don’t Read Into It"}]

Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day wasn’t surprised by the records. He also discouraged people from trying to make broad assumptions from that data.

“I don't think you should try painting with a broad brush with this from a geographic standpoint,” he said. “Sunday was certainly extreme, there's no doubt about it, but breaking an all-time record on Sunday means it’s the hottest since they’ve been keeping records.”

Many Wyoming communities broke records for July 12, specifically, but not all-time highs. That was expected, according to Day.

“The southern part of the state was saved by upslope, so we didn't see any records,” he said. “Cheyenne didn't break a record. Laramie didn't break a record. Douglas did by one degree. This heat wave was biased toward the northern part of the state.”

Day went as far as to say it was “the most intense heat wave in the Northern Hemisphere this summer.” However, Wyoming got off comparatively easy.

“Ground zero was southeast Montana and the western halves of the Dakotas,” he said. “That’s why we didn’t see as many all-time records broken in Wyoming. It’s hard for a heat wave to break all-time high records, even in July, which is the hottest month of the year.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Barely Cooling It"}]

Monday wasn’t as warm as Sunday, but temperatures still hit triple digits in Greybull, Riverton and Shoshoni. Greybull might have set an all-time high Sunday, but it hadn’t been reported as of Monday afternoon.

The extended forecast isn’t providing much relief. Both Day and Lavoie said Tuesday is poised to be as hot as Monday, if not hotter, and the rest of the week will be only slightly cooler.

“We’re still looking at temperatures in the range of 100 to 105 degrees east of the Continental Divide on Tuesday,” Lavoie said. “The main factor that will be a bit of a hindrance to the heat is an increase in moisture and a rise in the dew points later on this week.”

Higher dew points mean more moisture in the atmosphere. That will decrease daytime temperatures across Wyoming, even if only by a few degrees.

There will be more relief as the “anomalous area of high pressure” starts to dissipate and shift eastward. When that happens, the void could be filled by cooler, wetter weather.

“Temperatures will spike up on Tuesday, but I don't think they'll go back to Sunday's levels,” Day said. “Once we get into mid to late week, we're going to start to see subtropical moisture get into northern Wyoming. That will produce some cloudiness and a few showers, which will be enough to stave off the worst of it.”

Of course, Wyoming’s weather is never a one-size-fits-all solution. While relief will slowly reach everyone, some will be waiting longer than others.

“I need to make it absolutely clear that the western side of the state is going to have the first taste of (monsoonal moisture) later this week and this weekend,” Day said. “It’s not going to get into Cheyenne, Laramie, Casper, Torrington, Gillette, and Sundance until next week.”

That means Wyomingites need to keep themselves well hydrated and out of the sun, if they can, during the heat of the day, he said. There’s another week, at least, of scorchingly high temperatures to endure.

Can it get worse? It’s possible, but Day said he believes it’s unlikely.

“I would say that it's going to be warmer than average for the rest of July and early August,” he said. “However, I don’t think there’s going to be another mechanism that could get as intense as or surpass what happened on Sunday.”

Worland temperature 7 13 26

<title>Northern Wyoming Bakes Under Highest Recorded Temps Ever, Awaits Relief | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For many northern Wyoming communities, Sunday was the hottest day in recorded history. Worland, Riverton, Sheridan and Buffalo set marks of between 105 and 110 degrees. Even Yellowstone hit a record.

Northern Wyoming Bakes Under Highest Recorded Temps Ever, Awaits Relief

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Native American Tribes

[{"type":"text","text":"Tribe Tells Christian Church To Leave Reservation; Church Says No "}]

Northern Arapaho Tribal leaders told a Christian pastor who said "a pipe cannot hear your prayers" to leave their reservation. The pastor said she's staying, and won't apologize for preaching from the Bible. 

The Northern Arapaho Tribe’s executive branch has asked a Christian church to leave the reservation, the tribe’s chair said Friday.

In response, Foundations for Nations pastor Sarah Lucas told Cowboy State Daily she and her family aren’t planning to leave yet. They’re looking to legal solutions to stay – and hoping for a “revival” in the meantime, Lucas said.

The church, which has operated in Fremont County for nine years, sits within the borders of the Wind River Indian Reservation, but it’s on a parcel of private, not tribal, land.

The controversy erupted eight days ago when Lucas discouraged some tribal faith practices during a church service, just as the tribe finished its Sundance ceremonies. She had said, “a pipe cannot hear your prayers,” and “we know that Jesus is enough.”

. Northern Arapaho Tribal members were furious at what they cast as an insult to their “grandfather pipe” – a revered relic associated with the Arapaho creation story.

Protests unfolded at the Riverton City Hall and at the Foundations for Nations church site in the town of Arapahoe.

“I want a public apology from them,” said Northern Arapaho Business Council Chair Keenan Groesbeck during a 

 last Tuesday. He stood in front of a yellow tape line that stretched across the church’s driveway. 

[{"type":"text","text":"He said Lucas’ message was disrespectful."}]

“If they don’t want to apologize to us, they can leave,” said Groesbeck. 

Protestors joined in a traditional chant as honks and whoops sounded from passing vehicles.

Lucas went to a meeting with tribal leaders Friday. She said the council allowed its “Four Old Men” elder group to join the meeting, and leaders discussed the importance of the pipe relic and told her to leave.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lucas described the meeting as unprofessional."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Groesbeck took to Facebook about two hours later."}]

“Just so everyone knows. We told Foundations For Nations and Sarah Lucas they got to go. We ain’t putting up with their bullshit,” says Groesbeck’s Friday post. “

Groesbeck could not be reached for comment by publication. Nor could the other council members except for Sami Dresser, who declined to comment.

The tribe’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment by publication.

Lucas told Cowboy State Daily she won’t apologize for preaching from the Bible, though she wishes to apologize “that it came off as an attack.”

“But I am a Christian preacher. I am a pastor and I preach the full counsel of God’s word,” she said. 

Lucas said she’s not against the sun dance altogether: she supports fasting and praying as a whole concept. But she understands the ceremony also involves “the worship of the pipe,” she said, adding that’s idolatry, and irreconcilable with the teaching that “Jesus is the only way.”

She pointed to the divisive messages the Bible attributes to Jesus, and the persecution and martyrdom his followers suffered.

“You could take everything from me but you can’t take my God,” said Lucas. “I’m willing to be martyred for the faith. I’ve counted the cost.”

She voiced mild surprise at the current outrage, saying community members have maligned Jesus and biblical teaching to her for years and she hasn’t retaliated. 

Regarding the tribal community, Lucas said she loves them and wants to maintain a forgiving posture. She referenced the high suicide, poverty, and addiction rates of the reservation. And she reiterated part of the same message that sparked this clash.

“Only Jesus can turn a life around, can deliver somebody, can set somebody free,” she said, adding that she’s called to preach that and is “more concerned with eternity, than I am about earthly hate.”

Lucas said people have been “twisting” her family’s message, casting their work as a grift and slandering them. She countered, noting that she did not take a salary for the church’s first several years, and that she’s now at about $25,000 annually. Her husband has worked two jobs in the past to pay their bills, she said.

She rebutted other rumors about harms to kids in the church’s sizable kids’ program, saying “All these lies are making the kids in our program feel unsafe. And that just hurts.”

Lucas indicated her family isn’t ready to leave the reservation. She said she wants to see people’s hearts changed.

“They might be mad for now, but I believe the supernatural power of God is going to turn this around,” said Lucas. “We don’t obey man. We obey God.”

She said she and her family are working with an attorney to remain on their parcel. They’re also weathering death threats, according to multiple screenshots Lucas sent Cowboy State Daily.

Northern Arapaho Tribal leaders have told a Christian church to leave the reservation after the pastor preached "a pipe cannot hear your prayers.'  The pastor said she's staying, and won't apologize for preaching that "Jesus is the only way."

Daily Smile: Friday, October 14, 2022

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