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[{"type":"text","text":"Our kind of bike race..."}]

You still here 7 2 23

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

<title>You Still Here? Sunday, July 2, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Our kind of bike race...

You Still Here? Sunday, July 2, 2023

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

Andrew Rossi

Around Wyoming

Hundreds of people gathered at the Christ Episcopal Church in Cody on Friday to mourn and celebrate Ann Simpson, who died on July 31.

Simpson, 94, was married to the late U.S. Sen. Al Simpson for 72 years. They had three children and a growing number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, in addition to a tight-knit extended family and a vast community of friends. 

The service was filled with love, humor, tears, and lots of clothing from The Bargain Box in Cody. Ann Simpson was known for keeping an eye out for any garments that might make her family and friends look their best.

“Mom loved thrift stores, estate sales, and bargains,” her daughter Sue Simpson Gallagher said during the service. “Could I have a show of hands of everyone here in both rooms who has purchased a piece of clothing from Encore or the Bargain Box that Ann Simpson convinced you to buy?”

[{"type":"text","text":"Dozens of hands shot up, amid echoes of laughter."}]

The nave of the church was filled to capacity. Many people sat or stood in an adjacent room, so Simpson Gallagher made a point of thanking everyone for honoring her mother in that way.

“Thank you for standing and bearing witness to this celebration of our mother's life,” she said. “This was Ann Simpson. Open to all. Inclusive. It wasn't about the details, and the enormity of projects didn't overwhelm her. It inspired her.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'A Head-Turning Event'"}]

After the traditional Episcopal funeral services, members of the Simpson family came to the front of the church to share their memories of Ann. The first to speak was Pete Simpson, Al’s brother.

“You people have filled this house with love and caring and wonderful presence in the faith you have in the Lord himself and in the love you had for Ann,” he said.

Pete Simpson set a precedent that all the speakers followed: emotions of loss mixed with witticism.

“I was asked to speak first,” he said. “It is because of my sterling qualities or my gift at telling long-than-ordinary stories. No, it’s because I’m the oldest.”

Pete went on to say he had known Ann longer than Al. They met 75 years ago at the Student Union at the University of Wyoming. He recalled college-aged Ann Fogel as “the tall, dignified, and absolutely gorgeous girl from Greybull.”

When she and her twin sister, Nan, appeared, “it was a head-turning event” for every man on campus, according to Pete, who likened Ann to the actress Hedy Lamarr.

Pete shared the moment when Al told him that he’d proposed to Ann, and she’d accepted.

“Al never really forgave me for my response (when he told me), which was ‘What?” But, boy, did he luck out. And so did the whole family,” he said. “One thing Ann fought for was everybody she loved (and) everybody who loved her. She put up the fight for them and for all of their friends.”

Pete concluded by paraphrasing the last line of an Irish folk song by Mary Delaney.

“It said, ‘Ah, sweet Annie, whatever shall we do without you?’” he said. “Well, I want to simply say we will carry on, because Ann will insist. God, how we loved her, and God, how grateful we are that she said ‘Yes.’”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"“That Vitality”"}]

After Pete, Al and Ann’s son Bill Simpson spoke. He somewhat lamented the speaking order.

“I said I want to speak at mom’s service, but I don’t want to go after Pete, because no one can beat Pete,” he said.

Bill said his mother had “an idyllic life” in the Bighorn Basin. She was born and raised in Greybull, married in Basin, and lived the rest of her life in Cody except for Al's 18 years in Washington, D.C., as a senator.

“She was strong, and she was resilient,” he said. “She was fearless, and she was brave. She would never back down, and as Dad would say, you’d always want her in your corner. You’d always want Ann Simpson fighting for you.”

Bill praised his mother’s penchant for giving advice on everything from fashion and personal relationships to gum-chewing, as well as her humor, empathy, warmth, and compassion.

[{"type":"text","text":"He also lauded the bond Ann shared with Al."}]

“Their bond was so strong and definitive,” he said. “I can only hope and pray all of us, with our life’s partner, have that kind of relationship.”

Ann also loved art, which is why she frequented museums whenever they traveled. Bill said she also had a penchant for “touching” the paintings.

“When she walked in a museum, there were signs everywhere,” he said. “Invariably, I would hear, ‘Ma’am, do not touch the painting.’ She said, ‘Bill, I didn’t touch it. I brushed up against it with my hand.’ That was not synonymous with touching. It was that fun side of Mom. That vitality.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Bill ended by encouraging people to remember the Friday service."}]

“I hope and pray you’ll remember this day and remember Ann Simpson,” he said. “If you do, she’ll always be part of our lives. Wherever she is, I know she is active and vibrant.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"“Grace Personified”"}]

Sue Simpson Gallager thanked everyone for attending the service, and all the community members and organizations that cared for Ann.

“I am so grateful to our mother for so many things,” she said. “One of those things is the gift of spontaneity. And in that spontaneity, she helped us be present (and) appreciate the moment. She really knew the power of now.”

She said her mother was “really good at living in this world fully,” recognizing opportunity, acknowledging good fortune, and “savored the joy of it all.”

“I know you would all agree that Mom was one of the most beautiful people you have ever known, inside and out,” she said. “She, like Dad, made us feel seen by her recognition, and not just because she remembered your name, but because she really paid attention. She was really interested in you. She was a marvelous friend. She was grace personified. She was just so real (and) unadulterated.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Sue concluded by saying her mom was “her hero.”"}]

“She was my best friend,” she said. “She was the most extraordinary woman I have ever known and will ever know. I will miss her every day for the rest of my life. Yet I will feel her presence everywhere, forever and always. Thank you, Mom, for everything. I couldn't love you any more than I do.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"“A Harmonizer”"}]

Colin Simpson, Al and Ann’s second son, praised his siblings for supporting their mother and bringing her love and joy until her last moments. He called Ann “a grace giver.”

“She could be a tough critic and brutally honest,” he said. “She understood that we’re all full of flaws, and that grace and forgiveness allow us to look beyond the trivial and small things, and grant grace as we would want grace granted to ourselves.”

Colin described Ann’s life as “substantial and meaningful,” rarely burdened by guilt, anger, hurt, or remorse.

“She was comfortable with who she was, and that allowed others around her to be comfortable too,” she said. “Mom had great compassion and was very nurturing, but she never suffered self-pity, in herself or others.”

According to Colin, the road of self-pity in the Simpson home was “very short.”

“She simply wouldn’t allow it, and she told you so,” he said. “If you didn’t like it, you could go to your room and come out when you can be nice.”

Ann also loved dancing. Colin said she and his sister “grew up dancing in Greybull.”

“She taught Dad how to dance, and they loved to dance and did it a lot,” he said. “Dad called her ‘The Greybull Flash,’ and boy was she.”

As Colin concluded, he described Ann as “a harmonizer” who could bring people together during difficult discussions “just by being their (with) a smile.”

“Mom devoted her life to her husband, children, grandchildren, family, and friends, and she deserved great love and attention,” he said. “Where do we go from here? That’s easy. We carry on the traditions, values, character, and love of a great mother, grandmother, aunt, friend, and fellow traveler. We must remain bonded as a family and honor her deepest wishes for us all."

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<title>'Grace Personified': Hundreds Celebrate 'Idyllic Life' Of Ann Simpson In Cody | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Ann Simpson was remembered by family members Friday as a "grace giver" who lived a "an idyllic life" in the Bighorn Basin. Hundreds gathered at the Christ Episcopal Church in Cody to celebrate Simpson, wife of the late Sen. Al Simpson for 72 years.

'Grace Personified': Hundreds Celebrate 'Idyllic Life' Of Ann Simpson In Cody

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Business & Tourism

Business

Sam Husted and Sam Rollins have spent five years working together at the Buffalo Chip during the Sturgis Rally, where they are known simply as "The Sams."

[{"type":"text","text":"They come from Wyoming for 14 days and work the entire 10 days."}]

The night YUNGBLUD played the Buffalo Chip, the line in front of them seemed like it would never end.

Drinks flew across the bar as quickly as Husted and Rollins could make them, and after a few days they were out of body glitter.

Beneath the Engine Bar, bikers gathered under an enormous canopy while motorcycles rumbled in and out, making it difficult to hear.

[{"type":"text","text":"For the Sams, all that noise meant business."}]

On a good night, Husted said, the goal was to walk away with $1,500 or more.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's exhausting, but so much fun,\" Husted said."}]

They bought a camper, friends came along and the two-week money-making marathon doubled as a strange sort of working vacation.

For the Sams, that's part of what makes the arrangement work. They can make in a night what might otherwise take days or weeks, then step outside into one of the biggest parties in the world.

"It's a good time. It goes by quickly," Rollins said. "And then you have a lot of money to show for it."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Money Grows Everywhere"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"For most of the year, Sturgis is impossibly wholesome. Charming, even."}]

The little South Dakota town is tucked against the Black Hills, where old houses sit behind tidy yards and white picket fences, hollyhocks grow along the sidewalks and church steeples poke above old trees.

[{"type":"text","text":"In the dead of winter, it's a quiet place."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then August comes."}]

Trucks and trailers begin appearing in driveways. Hand-painted parking signs sprout in front yards. Tents and temporary bars go up. Main Street disappears beneath motorcycles parked wheel to wheel, and the low rumble of engines becomes the background noise of daily life.

[{"type":"text","text":"While the bikers come to play, an army goes to work."}]

For 10 days, bartenders like Husted and Rollins sling drinks until their arms ache. Hotel owners turn rooms as fast as people can leave them. Shuttle drivers prowl the darkness looking for fares.

[{"type":"text","text":"August in Sturgis is harvest season."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"And there is money growing everywhere."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Make Hay"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Sheraz Shah couldn't have picked a wilder week to become an innkeeper."}]

On Aug. 3, with the rally already in full swing, he officially took over the Sturgis Lodge and Suites.

[{"type":"text","text":"Almost immediately, he discovered he had a problem."}]

The motel appeared to be booked, but many of the reservations left behind by the previous management weren't valid, Shah said. Some lacked working phone numbers or credit cards, leaving rooms that had effectively been held for months without paying customers attached to them.

With one of the most lucrative weeks of the year already bearing down on him, Shah began canceling questionable reservations, dropping prices and trying to fill rooms.

The reservation mess left the new owner in an unusual position during a week when rooms around Sturgis can be hard to come by: He suddenly had vacancies to fill.

[{"type":"text","text":"So he got to work."}]

Shah was putting in days that started around 5 or 6 in the morning and stretched as late as 1 a.m., answering phones, fixing keys, checking in guests and trying to survive.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"God is helping me different ways,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"One thing Shah wasn't having trouble with was the bikers."}]

Movies tend to portray them as gangsters and troublemakers, he said, but the people actually sleeping in his rooms had been "very nice, very polite, very beautiful people."

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he hadn't had a bad interaction with a single guest."}]

For Shah, the madness is welcome because the economics of running a hotel in the Black Hills are brutally seasonal.

[{"type":"text","text":"Winter is \"almost dead.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We completely rely on summertime business to survive.\""}]

Despite the scramble behind the scenes, the rooms are clean, the pool is inviting and hot breakfast in the mornings comes with good, strong coffee.

[{"type":"text","text":"In Sturgis, you make hay while the Harleys roar."}]

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

[{"type":"text","text":"Nearby, another little economy unfolds."}]

Women in bikinis polish motorcycles for tips while their customers lounge beneath the shade, watching chrome become even shinier.

Some of the women say they spend much of the summer following the motorcycle circuit from rally to rally.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sturgis is only one stop."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"There is Daytona. Laconia. Four Corners. The Ozarks."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Where the motorcycles go, the workers follow."}]

There is an entire wandering economy chasing the bikes: bartenders, vendors, gate workers, security crews and more.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sturgis is its Super Bowl."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Viking Shuttle"}]

Sometime around midnight, Baron von Strauss is doing some of his best business.

 and describes himself as the son of a Norwegian soybean farmer from North Dakota.

He has lived in South Dakota for about 10 years, drawn by the beauty, the freedom and family scattered throughout the Dakotas.

About four years ago, his best friend, a former mayor of Sturgis, needed help driving dignitaries around during the rally. Strauss agreed and began handing his phone number out to passengers.

[{"type":"text","text":"They gave the number to other people, who gave it to more people."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"My phone started ringing,\" Strauss said, \"and it never stopped.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Today, he calls the business \"a cash cow all year long.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"During the rally, however, the real money starts moving after dark."}]

Strauss stays busy during the day, but his most lucrative hours run from about 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., when concerts let out, bars are roaring and thousands of people who have spent the night drinking and partying suddenly need someone else to get them where they're going.

He sees Sturgis changing, too. The old bikers are aging out, he said, while younger generations are beginning to take their place. He believes the rally could grow substantially in the coming years, and he points to his own business as evidence: Every year he drives the rally, Viking Shuttle grows.

[{"type":"text","text":"More bikers mean more fares."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"And more money."}]

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

[{"type":"text","text":"Eventually, the rally leaves."}]

The concerts stop, bartenders pack up and the women polishing motorcycles move on. Temporary campgrounds empty, vendors disappear and the procession of motorcycles begins to thin until the constant roar that has hung over Sturgis for weeks fades away.

The Sams head home to Wyoming. Sheraz Shah is left with a motel to carry through the slow season.

[{"type":"text","text":"Strauss gets his town back."}]

For a couple of weeks afterward, he said, Sturgis itself seems to be recovering.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We're a little hungover,\" he said. "}]

By mid-September, the town settles back into its other personality. Locals reclaim Main Street and life contracts to its ordinary small-town dimensions — school, church, coffee, book clubs, and football games.

The hills grow quiet enough for hiking and snowshoeing, while some of the enormous bars and storefronts built to accommodate hordes of visitors simply shutter until summertime.

Sam and sam 8 14 26

<title>Moneymaker: Casper Bartenders Work Sturgis Every Year And Can Make $1,500 Per Night | Cowboy State Daily</title>

This is the fifth year Sam Husted and Sam Rollins have gone to Sturgis to work at The Buffalo Chip. The Casper bartenders are known as 'The Sams' and they can make $1,500 per night. August is harvest season. And money is growing everywhere.

Moneymaker: Casper Bartenders Work Sturgis Every Year And Can Make $1,500 Per Night

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

Clair McFarland

Politics

RIVERTON- Three Wyoming gubernatorial candidates for the Republican nomination took the debate stage against each other late Thursday, for the last time before next Tuesday’s primary election.

State Sen. and former House Speaker Eric Barlow emphasized pragmatic policy approaches and referenced his nearly 14 years in the Legislature and careers as a rancher and veterinarian.

Retired Marine Corps Col. Brent Bien said he entered this race due to Gov. Mark Gordon’s actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. He voiced enthusiasm, referenced his military career and called for auditing “everything” in state government.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder pointed to her work as the state’s schools chief, and voiced ambitions for Wyoming to lead the nation by litigating, empowering industries at which the state already excels and negotiating strongly with other states. She cast her connection with both President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman as an edge that will help Wyoming advance its own agenda.

[{"type":"text","text":"What If We Got Another COVID?"}]

In response to a question about how she’d respond to another COVID-like phenomenon, Degenfelder said Wyoming should never shut down private businesses or schools.

“I spent time living in Communist China,” she said, reflecting on earning her master’s degree at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. “During the COVID pandemic that’s what it started to feel like.”

In an earlier interview this week, Degenfelder compared her time in China to confronting a lion.

Bien said, “I am standing here right now because of the actions the current governor took in 2020.”

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he’d never shut down the state the way Gordon did."}]

“Without our freedom, we have nothing,” said Bien. “I’ve witnessed the end state of tyranny in multiple theaters.”

In 2020 Barlow was, as now, in the state Legislature. He reflected on how difficult it was to get good information as the pandemic unfolded. 

 he championed into law in 2021, limiting state and county public health officers’ authority to shutter the state to 10 days, and shifting that authority to elected officials after that timeframe.

“Because I understood what I was hearing: frustration,” said Barlow. “People needed to be held accountable. You hold your elected officials accountable, and I ran the bill to make that happen on behalf of all Wyoming citizens.”

Bien answered a question about states’ renegotiation of the Colorado River compact, saying “I’m tired of these other states stepping all over us.”

He said Wyoming should rebuff outside influence, and let “particularly the coastal states” solve their own problems. He listed desalination as an example.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I will fight for that all the way through,” said Bien."}]

Degenfelder said Wyoming needs a strong negotiator. Because the federal government has issued temporary guidelines in this area, Wyoming needs a relationship with the federal government, she said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Degenfelder has been endorsed by both Hageman and Trump."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"She also said Wyoming should invest in its failing water infrastructure."}]

Barlow said the state should protect its “lifeblood” by putting more resources toward scientific and legal advantages.

That’s also been the message of the Wyoming Attorney General’s office, which urged the Legislature this session to equip it to negotiate the compact.

Barlow said he wants Wyoming to build a coalition with the upper basin states and take a strong enough lead in this area to repel the federal government.

“I do not want top-down,” he said. “I do not want the federal government deciding this on our behalf; so we need to have the resources and the people.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming Freedom Caucus"}]

A shortened, lightning-round segment opened with the prompt, “Wyoming Freedom Caucus.”

That’s a controversial group of Republicans in the state House of Representatives. Its proponents call it the true voice of the political right, while its detractors say it over-relies on national influence and brings sloppy legislation.

“I’m not interested in labels. I’m interested in results,” said Degenfelder.

Bien said he aligns with the Wyoming Republican platform, and will align with the Freedom Caucus as long as it does too.

Barlow, whom the caucus doesn’t favor, gave a joking, “Who?” in response to the prompt.

[{"type":"text","text":"University Of Wyoming Funding"}]

Bien said of the University of Wyoming, the state needs “to audit the whole thing.”

“Make sure this money’s being spent statutorily and we’re getting the best bang for the buck,” he said.

Many House lawmakers led an effort this year to cut $40 million from UW’s state budget. That effort did not clear the Senate.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Barlow called UW valuable for the future of Wyoming."}]

Degenfelder said she’s a “proud graduate” and believes the school needs to be “a strong land-grant university” and focus on affordability. 

Wyoming’s Turn, which is a Wyoming PAC targeting Barlow with attack ads, has spent at least $1.4 million this election cycle. An issues group registered in Delaware has been attacking him as well.

A Wyoming’s Turn flier asserted this week that Barlow sponsored legislation to raise gas and diesel tax. It cited the 2020 House Bill 63.

Barlow voiced surprise at the claim in a Thursday-morning interview on Cowboy State Daily’s Morning Show With Jake, saying he had not done that.

The 2020 House Bill 63 had proposed a fuel tax hike, but it was sponsored by the Revenue Committee, of which Barlow was not a member. He voted no on that bill Feb. 12, 2020. 

Barlow fielded a question about “dark money” by saying, “if they can’t put their name on it, you don’t  know where it came from – that’s not dark money, that’s black money.”

Wyoming’s Turn PAC lists contributions from the Women For Responsible Government PAC, which hadn’t disclosed its own donors as of Thursday. 

Degenfelder also fielded the dark money prompt with indignation, saying the group attacking her has spent millions helping Democratic candidates.

The Keep Wyoming Working PAC, which has spent $228,534, lists its lone contributor is the Washington DC-based Government That Works PAC. That group’s funding has filtered to multiple Democratic candidates across the nation.

Barlow and Degenfelder both deny involvement with PACs attacking the other.

Bien, who hasn’t been as much of a target, said he’s “absolutely opposed” to dark money.

All three candidates cast themselves as staunchly pro-Second Amendment. Barlow pointed to legislation he championed helping non-violent felons to restore their gun rights.

[{"type":"text","text":"Degenfelder urged Wyoming to be vigilant in this area."}]

Bien said he would have signed the 2026 Second Amendment Protection Act, “without a doubt.”

All 23 Wyoming sheriffs opposed that bill, saying it would bring more local harms from federal agents by making local law enforcement officers hesitant to communicate or work with them at all.

Proponents, conversely, pointed to high-profile and violent street clashes involving immigration enforcers this year, and the Second Amendment generally.

[{"type":"text","text":"Grizzly Bears, Data Centers"}]

Bien and Degenfelder both urged removing grizzly bears from threatened status on the endangered species list.

Barlow said Wyoming should be managing its own grizzly population and is getting much closer to that goal.

Regarding data centers, Bien said he’d like to push for constitutional protections to guard “everyone’s data out here.”

Barlow said Wyoming should work to protect water, electrical rates; and give communities good information on the impacts of data centers. But if they’re using Wyoming coal and natural gas, he added, “that’s not a bad thing.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Degenfelder again urged strong negotiation."}]

Three Wyoming gubernatorial candidates for the Republican nomination took the debate stage Thursday, for the last time before the primary election. Eric Barlow focused on his experience, Megan Degenfelder on her vision and Brent Bien on righting the government's structure.

You Still Here? Sunday, July 2, 2023

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