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

<title>Daily Darwin: Friday, April 7, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

When you're thirsty, you're thirsty...

Daily Darwin: Friday, April 7, 2023

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 Star 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

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

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Wildlife

Yellowstone National Park will spare the life of the bison that 

 hurt Washington state resident Carl Isom-McDaniel, 65, at the Bridge Bay Campground on Friday.

 that “no management action” will be taken against the bull bison that tossed McDaniel 8 feet into the air during an aggressive 

That means the bison won’t be relocated or euthanized. It will live the rest of its natural life safely inside Yellowstone.

Yellowstone officials didn’t respond to multiple Cowboy State Daily requests to confirm TMZ’s report.

Yellowstone officials rarely take management action against wildlife that injures visitors unless the offending animal shows signs of habituated behavior. The actions of wildlife are often seen as natural responses rather than deliberate acts of aggression.

Even grizzlies that attack and seriously injure park guests usually get off the hook, so long as the attack was determined to be a natural behavior, like defending cubs or a food source.

Identifying just which bison tossed the Washington man also could be extremely difficult after the fact.

Both McDaniel and the bison have been under scrutiny for their actions during the encounter. While Yellowstone is giving the bison a pass, many people are acknowledging that McDaniel wasn’t at fault, either.

McDaniel supports the decision to not euthanize the bison, expressing his desire that the bison not be penalized or euthanized for injuring him.

“(The bison) was right on top of me,” 

. “He could have stomped on me. He could have gored me. He could have done almost anything to take my life, but he did not do so.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Reading The Bison Book"}]

Ecologist and bison expert George Wuerthner reviewed the video of McDaniel’s encounter with the bison. Based on the bison’s behavior during and leading up to the toss, he commended McDaniel for how he handled the encounter.

“He couldn’t have done much to prevent that charge,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “I don’t know if I would have done any better.”

Bison, like many animals, have recognizable behavioral patterns that indicate their moods. Experienced biologists and photographers can, essentially, read a bison’s mind by analyzing its body language and movements.

[{"type":"text","text":"In this instance, the bull bison’s behavior was easy to read. "}]

It was highly agitated and looking for a fight before McDaniel and his 13-year-old grandson were even in its line of sight.

“If you notice, the bull had its tail up in the air,” Wuerthner said. “That indicates that it was very agitated. It’s a behavior that bison do with other bison, and the other bison know what it means.”

What agitated the bison? People have speculated about everything from the movements of a white pickup driving by to being teased by other tourists before charging and tossing McDaniel.

Wuerthner has a simpler, more natural explanation. Heat, environmentally and biologically.

“The rut is on,” he said. “When bull bison are going through the rut, their hormones are going, and they’re much more agitated in general.”

According to the National Park Service, Yellowstone’s bison reach the peak of the rut in July and August. During that time, males display their dominance by bellowing, wallowing, and picking fights with other bulls that occasionally turn lethal.

This aggression is driven by hormones and instinct. The dominant males get to mate with the most females.

the photographer who filmed McDaniel’s encounter 

with the bison, also understands bison behavior. He said the incident he observed was “weird.”

“If you've been around bison for a while, you know what to expect from these guys at this time of year,” he said. “This changed my idea of what to expect, because I would not have predicted that happening.”

In this heightened state, it doesn’t take much to provoke the wrath of a bull bison. Sometimes, it takes nothing at all.

However, MacLeod knew McDaniel wouldn't want the bison to suffer for its actions. 

"He didn’t want the bison killed,” he said. “Sometimes, they put animals down for these things, for animals being themselves, and Carl didn’t want that.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What To Do Differently?"}]

After viewing the video captured by MacLeod, Wuerthner doesn’t fault McDaniel for anything he did to avoid serious injury, even if it ended with him being seriously injured.

“He was right trying to get into that little grove of trees,” he said. “He probably wasn't thinking this way at the time, but I would have tried to climb one of those trees to prevent the bison from getting to him.”

A possible alternative might have been getting into one of the nearby vehicles in the Bridge Bay Campground. However, people don’t instinctively jump into a stranger’s vehicle, even when making life-or-death, on-the-spot decisions.

Many people have said that McDaniel was too close to the bison, and that prompted the attack.

 MacLeod has repeatedly denied this, saying McDaniel and his grandson were far beyond the 25-yard minimum Yellowstone asks people to keep between themselves and bison, elk, and other large herbivores.

Wuerthner agreed, while adding that the distance wouldn’t have made much difference.

“Bison are incredibly fast,” he said, adding that, “25 yards is a safe distance, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely safe. Even bears are happy to come up to people and quickly cross  100 yards if there’s some reason they might want to.”

However, there’s another factor to consider. McDaniel was simultaneously trying to avoid the bison while deliberately keeping its attention.

According to MacLeod, McDaniel’s priority was protecting his grandson. 

To do this, he told his grandson to run while he kept the bison’s attention by running into and around the trees.

“He led the bison on that wild goose chase to keep him away from his grandson,” he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"To that end, he was successful. McDaniel’s grandson was unharmed."}]

Given these circumstances, it’s hard to fault McDaniel for anything he did or didn’t do, Wuerthner said. He made several split-second decisions that were the best decisions given the circumstances.

“I don't know how much people will do and are willing to do, especially if they’re unaware of how dangerous the bison can be under certain circumstances,” he said. “There isn’t much more he could have done.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Safety Never Guaranteed"}]

After the incident, McDaniel was hospitalized in critical condition with his right femur broken in four places. He’s undergone surgery and is 

Wuerthner knows how bison can break their own patterns of behavior and do unpredictable things, especially during the rut. He speaks from experience.

“One summer, I hiked up a small ridge in the open grasslands of Lamar Valley,” he said. “Suddenly, this bison herd started coming right towards me and split up. I literally could have reached out on either side and touched bison. They were less than 4 feet away, on their side.”

Wuerthner wasn’t hurt, but admittedly was “scared of an attack” as the bison passed by. Even so, he had been more than 25 yards away from the nearest bison when the whole herd decided to move in his direction.

Most human-bison incidents happen when someone gets too close to a bison, deliberately or accidentally.

In this instance, Wuerthner has joined many others in exonerating McDaniel. Still, he feels there’s a valuable lesson to be learned from the experience.

“People tend to look at the wildlife in Yellowstone like they would if they were at a zoo,” he said. “Those animals are accustomed to people, but that doesn't negate their natural, wild tendencies. And, in their wild conditions, Yellowstone’s wildlife will react differently than an animal in the zoo.”

He also had a tidbit of wisdom based on the human behavior he’s observed in Yellowstone: there’s no protection across the road.

Yellowstone National Park will spare the life of the bison that seriously hurt a 65-year-old grandpa from Washington. Park officials said “no management action” will be taken against the bison which means it won’t be relocated or euthanized.

Daily Darwin: Friday, April 7, 2023

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