Daily Smile

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1584971073241878528
</div></figure>

Daily smile 10 26 22 no play scaled

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

<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, October 26, 2022 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

How do I look?

Daily Smile: Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Kerry Drake

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

This is a story about old-school journalism when photographers used what is now considered ancient equipment to capture dramatic images of incredible events, like 

 as it tore across north Cheyenne on July 16, 1979, destroying everything directly in its path.

It’s also the tale of two guys who found themselves in the right place at the right time, journalistically speaking, though we did nothing to put ourselves there. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Let’s call it what it was: dumb luck."}]

I was half of this team; my friend Jerry Johnston was the better half. 

Jerry wasn’t a news photographer, but he was a great one that day because he accomplished what all of us in the business want: a front-page photo in newspapers across the country.

I was a reporter/photographer for the Wyoming State Tribune, Cheyenne’s afternoon daily newspaper. Our paper went to press at about 1 p.m., so anything I did after that would have to wait until the next day’s edition.

There wasn’t much on my plate as I drove to my volunteer job at the American Cancer Society-Wyoming for a meeting of its public relations committee, which I chaired. 

The weather was what everyone in Cheyenne expects on a typical mid-afternoon about a week before 

Frontier Days — a dark, foreboding sky that promised to soon dump a healthy amount of 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Almost Everyone Fled"}]

As I arrived at the ACS office in the Melton Shopping Center, the meeting was already breaking up. 

A secretary informed us that it was looking dangerous outside, and that it was probably a good time to leave. Everyone rushed to their cars except Jerry, who was a staff member, and me. 

[{"type":"text","text":"We went outside to see if it was really that bad."}]

I got together with Jerry this week to talk about what happened that day, like I knew I would when I was assigned to write a retrospective on the most destructive tornado in Wyoming’s history. 

Although we hadn’t seen each other in many years, there’s no one I’d rather reminisce about a day 47 years ago that, as Jerry said, 

I had forgotten a few details that Jerry recalled, but our accounts were virtually the same for most of the events.

I remember seeing a large, black mass off in the distance west of us. I wondered what could be on fire — maybe the National Guard headquarters? — until I noticed in horror that it was slowly moving east. 

And at that moment, even though I had never seen a tornado live, I knew what it was. 

I believe my response was, “Holy shit!” If I didn’t say it outloud, it’s what I was thinking.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Shocking Discovery"}]

I went to my car to grab my camera, which I took with me everywhere, because it was essential to my job.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"It wasn’t there. "}]

My heart sank when I realized I had likely left it on my desk in the newsroom, and that's exactly where I found it about an hour later.

The funnel cloud kept moving, and though it wasn’t on top of us, it was getting much too close for comfort. 

My first concern, though, wasn’t about safety, even though the ACS office didn’t have a basement, so there was nowhere to immediately go if it veered in our direction.

No, my first freak-out was that the most dangerous weather phenomena I’d ever seen was smack-dab in front of us, and I was powerless to document it.

But Jerry, thank God, had a 35 mm Pentax camera he retrieved, so we were in business after all. I remembered he’d taken photography classes when we were at Laramie County Community College, so I felt things were in control. Except perhaps me.

“You kept yelling at me to ‘shoot, shoot, shoot!'” Jerry recalled. 

Yes I did, because there was nothing else I could say to convey how important it was to keep clicking the damn shutter. Jerry assured me that he had just loaded a huge roll of film, so things were cool.

But what was happening in front of us was terrifying. 

There were houses in the twister’s path, and I could see what looked like doors, maybe pieces of roofs and tons of debris being whisked up into the funnel cloud, then slammed to the ground.

“It didn’t have a classic tornado look. It looked like 

,” Jerry said, jabbing his finger at the copy of his photo that I brought to help stimulate our conversation and, hopefully, to illustrate this notebook. 

This time I remembered to bring my camera, which is actually a phone, which is all I use in this modern world.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘We Were Idiots’"}]

The photo depicts the closest we ever were to the tornado, and it was the one we eventually used. 

I chalked that up to great timing, but Jerry had a different description.

“We were idiots,” he said. "We didn’t know if that thing was going to come over the hill and right at us. But what it did was ride that ridge line all the way down, and we got lucky.”

Jerry’s right, we were idiots, but being lucky idiots wasn’t a bad thing. 

When push comes to shove, sometimes the thing that separates a run-of-the-mill photo from a great one is having luck on your side as something extraordinary passes right in front of you.

So, Jerry got his shot and it was time to rush back to my office so we could literally scoop every other media outlet with the first photos of this tragedy. Right?

Nope. That would have been too sensible. Or lackluster. Or wimpy. There was only one thing to do.

“We got in your car and we drove up and around Mylar Park and up to Powderhouse Road, and then we just kind of started following it,” Jerry recalled.

I think our adrenaline mutually kicked into gear, because this wasn’t an idiotic move at all. We were quite a distance behind the twister, and we could see what kind of damage it was doing.  

“As we drove on Powderhouse there was junk all over because it had thrown prairie all over, and it was getting worse,” Jerry said. “And that’s where we stopped. 

"We talked to some people who were in extreme shellshock. A woman showed us that half of the roof on the back side of her house was gone.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"That was the end of our journey."}]

“You were like, ‘I don’t think I want to drive in there any further,’ and at that point it was wise because that’s when all of the emergency crews were trying to get there,” he added. “Powderhouse became a big route, and we were pretty much stuck.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Give Me That Film’"}]

Jerry remembers shooting some pictures from a distance over toward Buffalo Ridge, which was the most heavily damaged. 

“And then we booked it back,” he said. “And you immediately said, ‘Give me that roll of film, I don’t have time, I’ve got to get this out.’ And you took off.”

Now, if this catastrophic event happened today, I wouldn’t have had to speed back, develop the film, wait for it to dry and then run it through our photo processor to get an image. 

Since our cheap, unreliable photo processor typically jammed a few times, it was a long process.

Today, we would have had a digital camera — well, I probably would’ve forgotten mine, but Jerry would have one — and it would be click away, select the best shot, send it electronically, then leave to chase the tornado.

I knew the wire services would want what Jerry shot, and I quickly found what looked like the best photo to tell the story. 

United Press International (UPI) was the wire service my paper used, and was conveniently next to our newsroom.

The Associated Press was located downtown, so I dropped a copy of a slightly different shot there. 

Both services said they’d send it out with a mandatory credit, so at least Jerry would have some reward for his hard work and putting up with my insistent order to shoot, shoot, shoot.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Morning After"}]

The next morning, Jerry started getting calls from friends and family all over, including Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota. 

“A former college roommate living in Wisconsin told me, ‘You’re on my front page!’ Jerry said. “It was kind of spooky.”

Jerry and I both laughed when he told me his son asked if he got rich from his historic photo that was seen throughout the country, and perhaps much of the world.

“About a year later, AP sent me a check for $53,” Jerry said, shaking his head. “And UP sent me about $60. My son said, ‘How much money do you think they made?’ And I said, ‘A hell of a lot more than what I did.'

“In today’s media, it might have made some money,” he added. “But honest to God, that was such a small part of it.”

What does he remember most about that day? 

“How dark it was,” Jerry said. “The photo, which is really dark, doesn’t even do it justice. I’ll never forget that, it’s etched in my memory.”

It was indeed a dark day, both in the eerie sky above and for all of the people whose homes were destroyed and lives overturned. 

That’s what I think we should commemorate on this 47th anniversary. Cheyenne was filled with brave and caring people to help their neighbors get through the tragedy.

Personally, I also think about what it was like to be part of an unlikely team that managed to work together and get the first photo of the major news event of the day on both wire services — quite a mean feat. 

It hasn’t happened to me in the 47 years since, and it won’t ever again because, as Jerry remind me, “We’re ancient.” 

And at times that day, we were too reckless for our own good. 

But we got the job done, in a far different — and I would say more challenging to navigate — media environment. 

People relied on local newspapers to inform them, not 24-hour cable news channels, talking heads, high-tech websites, apps and artificial intelligence. 

I didn’t know it then, but those were some of journalism’s best days. I was glad to be a part of it.

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

1979 tornado Kerry notebook 7 15 26

<title>Reporter’s Notebook: How Photo Of 1979 Cheyenne Tornado Made National News | Cowboy State Daily</title>

It took a team effort by a camera-less photographer and a buddy who had one on Juyly 16, 1979, to get photos of the most destructive tornado in Wyoming’s history to news wire services. The dramatic and devastating photos made front pages across the U.S.

Reporter’s Notebook: How Photo Of 1979 Cheyenne Tornado Made National News

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Legislature

A Wyoming state lawmaker pleaded guilty Wednesday to driving drunk in Buffalo in late December, and was sentenced to probation and a $500 fine.

Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, took a plea agreement offered by Johnson County Deputy Attorney Joshua Stensaas, and gave his guilty plea in Buffalo Circuit Court at a Wednesday hearing.

He was arrested Dec. 28 in Buffalo. Stensaas has said Allemand’s blood-alcohol concentration was 0.24%. That figure is contested, Buffalo Circuit Court Magistrate Judge Jeremy Kisling noted during the Wednesday hearing.

A flurry of disputes over the chemical blood test were still in play when Allemand’s case settled.

Kisling sentenced Allemand to 90 days in jail — less the two he served when arrested — but suspended that sentence in favor of one year of unsupervised probation.

That means Allemand has a year of probation ahead of him, and if he fails probation, he may be sentenced to the remaining 88 days in jail.

For the first six months’ probation Allemand is required to submit to chemical testing between once and twice a month. He could be tested upon a law enforcement officer’s reasonable articulable suspicion as well, Kisling noted.

Under probation, Allemand is also required to stay out of bars and liquor stores, not violate any laws, complete his counseling or treatment as recommended, and pay his fines and fees. 

Kisling fined Allemand $500 but said he’d credit up to $200 upon a showing that Allemand had purchased a treatment evaluation as required.  

Kisling imposed other costs and fees: $70 in court costs, $150 for victim’s crime compensation fund, and $50 for the drug court surcharge.

Stensaas had recommended those terms, except he left the potential jail sentence length open to the judge’s discretion. 

Both the prosecutor and the magistrate said they were working to treat this case like any other first-time DUI featuring a high blood-alcohol concentration.

“Mr. Allemand I know there’s been a lot of to-do around this, and at the end of the day this court ignores the to-do,” said Kisling, adding that he’s treating this case like others of its nature.

He said he wishes Allemand luck, recognizes he’s working on the alcohol issue.

“Continue to maintain that sobriety… and put this behind you,” said Kisling.

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand did not give a speech when it was his chance."}]

He did not immediately respond to a late-day voicemail request for comment after the hearing.

Allemand is running against Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer for the GOP nomination at the Aug. 18 primary election. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Next, The Lawyer"}]

At the same hearing Wednesday, Allemand’s attorney Mike Vang pleaded not guilty to a separate charge alleging 

Kisling ordered Vang to appear in court Wednesday to answer why he missed a hearing that had been set for July 8, where Vang had been slated to argue his claims that the prosecutor deprived him of key evidence.

Stensaas has called those claims false. He recommended another contempt charge Wednesday due to the “heavy interplay” amid those claims, and said “that may be something that is filed.”

But Kisling said as far as the judge’s contempt action — which a court can advance — he’ll stick with a series of other issues he deemed problematic. Those were, according to Kisling:

• Vang appeared three minutes late and in a blue T-shirt for a January virtual hearing;

[{"type":"text","text":"• Vang missed the July 8 in-person-only hearing;"}]

• When asking to reschedule his July 15 contempt hearing, Vang cited a conflicting hearing in Albany County’s Laramie Circuit Court that was not actually set;

• Kisling had earlier issued an order telling counsel to be prepared and exercise due diligence in discovery, “but in summary, all orders would be taken seriously.”

Kisling noted that in light of a Wyoming Supreme Court case on these types of cases, he’d start a new criminal case, apart from Allemand’s case, for the contempt proceedings.

Vang said he’ll hire an attorney in this matter, and Kisling said he doesn’t need to set a bond for Vang.

“I can tell you I’ve never been in these shoes, so it’s not something I’ve dealt with," said Kisling, who had earlier said this action gives him “no pleasure.”

Vang had raised a protest in one of his motions, against the Johnson County Sheriff's Office's release of Deputy Caleb Campbell's body camera video of Allemand's arrest - days after Kisling ruled that 12 minutes of it 

couldn't be part of the prosecutor's main case.

[{"type":"text","text":"That issue remains unsettled since Allemand's case is concluded. "}]

Campbell had stopped Allemand on claims that after stopping at a stop sign just off Interstate 25, Allemand lurched forward, nearly hit another vehicle, then stopped abruptly.

This, coupled with the evidence that Allemand was the subject of a drunk driving report by another driver on the Interstate near Buffalo, made for enough evidence to justify Campbell’s stop, Kisling ruled earlier.

Campbell spotted a gun on Allemand's truck seat and handcuffed the man during the traffic stop over what he cast during a March court hearing as officer safety concerns. 

That was appropriate, Kisling had ruled. But Campbell also asked Allemand potentially incriminating questions while Allemand was confined, but without having given Allemand his Miranda rights. 

That's why those 12 minutes of video, spanning the time Allemand was confined but not Mirandized, could not be part of the prosecutor's main case at trial, Kisling ruled in June. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Affidavit"}]

Campbell’s affidavit says Allemand was driving a blue 2016 Toyota Tacoma with Wyoming plates, and that it was towed after the interaction.

The deputy wrote that Allemand had almost struck a vehicle approaching from the west, and that he’d abruptly stopped prior to impact.

When Campbell contacted Allemand, the deputy noted an 

n the center console, a loaded pistol, and four more unopened beers on the front passenger seat, the document says.

[{"type":"text","text":"Once Allemand was out of the car, Campbell observed what he described as:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Glassed-over eyes"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Slurred speech"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Poor manual dexterity"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Poor balance"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Belligerent attitude"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Difficulty with instructions"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Slowness in responding to questions"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Incoherent speech\/wording"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Loud speech\/shouting"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand reported he’d had two knee replacements, added the deputy. "}]

During a field sobriety test - which Allemand attempted after released from the handcuffs Campbell had reportedly applied for officer safety concerns - “driver lost balance multiple times and almost fell,” wrote Campbell. “At this time I stopped the test due to safety concerns for the driver.”

The document says Allemand was arrested and had “significant difficulty getting in and out of patrol vehicle requiring Deputy to support the driver as to not let him fall.”

Campbell wrote that he requested a magistrate-signed warrant for chemical testing.

Now in his second term, Allemand has served in the state Legislature since 2023. He is a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and sits on the House's most powerful committee in terms of influencing the budget: House Appropriations. 

[{"type":"text","text":"He's also on the House Rules and Procedure Committee. "}]

He has been a vocal opponent of government subsidies for a nuclear energy project whose company had been considering the Bar Nunn area for a facility. 

Allemand inset 7 15 26

<title>Rep. Bill Allemand Pleads Guilty To DUI, Gets Probation And $500 Fine | Cowboy State Daily</title>

 Wyoming state Rep. Bill Allemand pleaded guilty to DUI in court Wednesday and was given one year probation and fined $500. He faces 88 days in jail if he fails probation. 

Rep. Bill Allemand Pleads Guilty To DUI, Gets Probation And $500 Fine

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Public Safety

A blown tire on a commercial truck appears to be what triggered a crash Wednesday that shut down U.S. Highway 20/26 outside Shoshoni for nearly four hours, leaving motorists stranded in sweltering near 100-degree temperatures while emergency crews cleared the road.

Wyoming Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Aaron Brown said an eastbound semitruck east of Shoshoni traveling toward Casper suffered a tire failure at about 10:30 a.m., causing it to drift into the westbound lane and sideswipe a GMC Yukon. 

Brown said there were no fatalities, though the extent of any injuries was not immediately available because troopers were still working at the scene. 

The highway was closed for nearly four hours as temperatures — expected to hit the high-90s and get near 100 Wednesday — rose while people were stuck behind the crash.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hours In The Heat"}]

Scott Spiess of Lander told Cowboy State Daily he became stuck in the backup around 10 a.m. and remained there for hours.

"It says it's 94 where I'm sitting right now, so it's probably closer to about 98 on the highway," Spiess said while waiting for the road to reopen. "People hauling horses, I would be concerned about their animals."

Spiess said he never saw the collision itself but watched as a large emergency response unfold.

"I do know that they brought in three flatbed wreckers and two semi wreckers, and at one point in time, they had two helicopters and several fire department and police department vehicles on scene,” he said.

Photos shared with Cowboy State Daily show emergency vehicles, a helicopter and heavy-duty wreckers gathered along the highway as traffic stretched into the distance.

Another image shows one of the commercial trucks involved with extensive front-end damage and its engine compartment exposed.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Investigation Continues"}]

Brown said the Wyoming Highway Patrol expects to temporarily close the highway again Thursday so investigators can reconstruct the crash and determine exactly what happened.

[{"type":"text","text":"A timeline for that closure has not yet been announced. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The crash remains under investigation."}]

Highway 2026 crash Unknown 51 7 15 269

<title>Crash Shuts Down Highway 20/26 Near Shoshoni For Hours In Near 100-Degree Heat | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A blown tire on a semitrailer sent it into the opposite lane, sideswiping a GMC Yukon and closing U.S. 20/26 near Shoshoni for more than four hours Wednesday, stranding motorists in near 100-degree heat. 

Crash Shuts Down Highway 20/26 Near Shoshoni For Hours In Near 100-Degree Heat

Law Enforcement

As Wyomingites across the state amplify their concerns over license plate reader cameras, people are reporting devices to camera-mapping site Deflock.org that might not actually be license plate readers.

 peg Cody, Gillette, and Lusk as places that have license plate readers.

Law enforcement agencies in Cody and Gillette both say they’re not using license plate readers. 

In the case of Cody, a quick-lube mechanic shop owner said the camera reported as a license plate reader is a vehicle counter, which he had installed to tout the shop's area traffic volume in case he ever wants to sell his business.

In the case of Gillette, the police department and sheriff’s office both say they’re not using license plate readers, while the Wyoming Department of Transportation speculated the devices — mapped at the town’s busiest intersection — could be traffic signal monitors.   

But Lusk is using license plate readers, and the Deflock entry on that little town is correct, Lusk Police Chief Jacob Gordon confirmed Wednesday to Cowboy State Daily.

Gordon said he started the installation project for the town’s two license plate readers — both from Motorola’s Vigilant line rather than the better-known Flock brand — about three years ago.

Town residents brought questions and minimal resistance to that, Gordon recalled. He said he addressed people’s concerns by describing the cameras’ limited vantage.  

The chief said he started the project after going to a training in Nebraska while he was still a sergeant with the departmentand heard how a mobile license plate reader in a deputy’s vehicle had thwarted a predator who’d kidnapped a girl.

“That really resonated with me on what these cameras can do and what resources they are, to help police in investigations,” said Gordon.

The highway that case involved is similar to the one passing through Lusk, he added.

Gordon said his agency focuses the cameras toward addressing human trafficking, kidnapping, stolen vehicle and drug investigations. 

He said “the cell service up north gets pretty rough and we just were having complaints about people being run off the road, trying to run off the road single women that were driving.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The intel system linked to the cameras is a useful resource, said Gordon."}]

Agencies can flag suspect or sought vehicles, and other agencies notice those hits when the license plates cross their cameras. 

Beyond that, Gordon said an agent who is linked to other agencies via memorandum of understanding can search for recent logged locations on a license plate number that has not yet been flagged.

He said Lusk Police Department has around 2,800 memoranda of understanding with other agencies, and he’s been able to help Wyoming agencies like Rock Springs get information from that large network to discern the general direction of suspect vehicles.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lusk PD’s data system stores information for 30 days, said Gordon."}]

He said the police have two stationary, pole cameras mounted in town right now.

As people across Wyoming raise concerns over license plate reader cameras, they're mapping cameras that might not actually be license plate readers. A new Deflock.org entry saying Lusk has them is right, but it’s wrong about Cody and Gillette.

Daily Smile: Wednesday, October 26, 2022

More in Daily Smile

Daily Smile: Thursday, July 16, 2026

Daily Smile: Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Daily Smile: Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Daily Smile: Monday, July 13, 2026

Most read