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[{"type":"text","text":"Dog brings his stuffed animals to join him for all his meals..."}]

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

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, August 10, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Dog brings his stuffed animals to join him for all his meals...

Daily Smile: Thursday, August 10, 2023

 Dog brings his stuffed animals to join him for all his meals...

One More For The Road

[{"type":"text","text":"How they clear the roadway for the Cheyenne Frontier Days parade....."}]

One more for 7 18 26

<title>One More For The Road: Saturday, July 18, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

How they clear the roadway for the Cheyenne Frontier Days parade.....

One More For The Road: Saturday, July 18, 2026

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Activists want the famous Mollie’s Pack spared from hunters this fall and say the matter is, once again, drawing worldwide attention to Wyoming’s wolf management policy.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission on Tuesday followed the Game and Fish Department’s recommendation and voted to approve a 20-wolf quota for the 2026 hunting season. Most hunts run from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31.

Prior to the vote, Lisa Robertson of Wyoming Untrapped and Marke Cooke of Wolves of the Rockies called in to the meeting via Zoom and admonished the commission to carve out an exception for Wolf Hunt Area 1, where the Mollie’s Pack is.

The commission unanimously approved the wolf hunting seasons as recommended, including for Area 1.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Mollie’s Pack Leaves Park"}]

Included in the 20-wolf quota are four tags in Wolf Hunt Areas 1 and 2 (Clarks Fork, North Fork).

For most of its 31-year history, the Mollie’s Pack has lived within the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park, where hunting is prohibited.

However, the pack strayed outside the park, probably late last year.

The Mollie’s Pack is denning and raising pups on the Shoshone National Forest, in Wolf Hunt Area 1.

Wolf advocates worry that members of the pack could get shot this fall, particularly Wolf 1090F. At age 12, she’s the oldest living Yellowstone wolf and has gained a global fan base.

The Mollie’s Pack is thought to be the first pack to form in Yellowstone, in 1995, shortly after wolves were reintroduced into the park. It was originally called the Crystal Creek Pack.

In 2000, the pack was renamed the Mollie’s Pack. That was in honor of the late Mollie Beattie, the first woman director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Emails From All Over"}]

Robertson and Cooke told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that they, and many others, haven’t given up on trying to save the Mollie’s Pack.

Wyoming Untrapped is leading a social media campaign to keep pressure on the Game and Fish Commission to change its stance. Wolves of the Rockies and other groups are joining in.

Robertson said the matter will likely be brought up again at the commission’s next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 21 and 22 in Evanston.

Commissioner Carlisle "Fonzy" Haskell said he’s received "dozens of emails" about the Mollie’s Pack, including some from across the United States and other countries.

He doesn’t think the campaign will die down anytime soon but isn’t certain if, or how, it might affect any decisions from the commission.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"What Could the Forest Service Do?"}]

Robertson is encouraging people to reach out to the Shoshone National Forest headquarters in Cody.

The Forest Service could possibly order that cattle on grazing leases there be moved away from the Mollie’s Pack to avoid any possible conflicts, she said.

And she thinks there’s a chance that the Forest Service could halt wolf hunting in that area.

There could be precedent for that. A similar move has been attempted before, albeit unsuccessfully.

In the spring of 2023, environmental groups sued to have the Forest Service declare a "no-kill zone" for wolves on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, near the Colorado-Wyoming state line.

That was proposed to protect wolves crossing into Wyoming from Colorado.

The Forest Service has authority to shut down wolf hunting in its jurisdiction—and indeed at one time shut down prairie dog shooting in parts of Wyoming, the Center for Biological Diversity claimed at the time.

A message left at Shoshone National Forest headquarters on Friday wasn’t returned by publication time.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Aggressive Policy"}]

The growing controversy over the Mollie’s Pack mirrors that over Daniel resident Cody Roberts running a wolf over with a snowmobile and then capturing, torturing and killing the animal in February 2024, Robertson said.

The push to save the Mollie’s Pack, especially Wolf 1090F, is gaining momentum, she said.

"This is an extreme situation, something nobody expected. We need to address this now, not later," she said.

"A $27 wolf tag could take her life, and the pack’s life, with a long-range rifle," Robertson added.

The Mollie’s Pack not only has great social value, it’s "the most studied wolf pack in history" and could still offer a wealth of scientific knowledge about wolves, she said.

Cooke said the goal isn’t to shut down the 2026 wolf hunting season altogether, but rather to push the commission to at least suspend hunting in Area 1 to ensure the pack’s safety.

He said that Wyoming and his home state of Montana have gained a reputation for being overly aggressive toward wolves and other predators.

"The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission botched an opportunity" to boost the state’s reputation by moving to spare the Mollie’s Pack, Cooke said.

 wolves have huge value for the tourism industry.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"'Humans They’ve Never Met'"}]

Haskell said he understands the tourism value of Wyoming’s wildlife, including wolves.

However, wildlife policy must be guided by the best available science, not sentimentality, he said.

"Do we not take the science into consideration just because it doesn’t match your socio-political viewpoint?" he said.

"I think that’s a risk we run into when we try to humanize or name animals and make them somehow more special than other wolf packs," Haskell said.

"They (wolves) are a species of animal that doesn’t know they’ve been named by humans they’ve never met," he said.

He said that during Tuesday’s commission meeting, he was satisfied by the explanation from Ken Mills, a Game and Fish large carnivore biologist and wolf management specialist, regarding whether the Mollie’s Pack has special scientific value.

Mills indicated that all packs have equal value in that regard.

Haskell noted that some Wyoming animals, such as Grizzly 399, have gained celebrity status, particularly with the advent of social media.

Game and Fish field personnel should work according to hard science, Haskell said. That leaves the department’s top administrators and the Game and Fish Commission to deal with controversy or politics regarding wildlife.

The commission wants all sectors of the public to have a voice while also respecting the hard work and scientific approach of the Game and Fish Department, he said.

Game and Fish is obligated by state statute, in agreement with the FWS, to maintain a population of at least 100 wolves and 10 breeding pairs in the state’s trophy game zone for wolves—adjacent to Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, he said.

Mills and other Game and Fish biologists demonstrated a good plan to have at least 160 wolves and 13 or 14 breeding pairs by the end of the year, Haskell said.

Mollies pack 7 17 26

<title>Oldest Yellowstone Wolf Pack Strays Into Hunt Area, Activists Want Pack Protected | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Mollie’s Pack is Yellowstone's oldest wolf pack and includes the famous Wolf 1090F. The pack has strayed outside the park into a Wyoming wolf hunt area, and activists worry that 1090F will be shot this fall. They are requesting the pack be protected.

Oldest Yellowstone Wolf Pack Strays Into Hunt Area, Activists Want Pack Protected

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Business

Protesters will gather on the Wyoming Capitol steps Saturday as Cheyenne joins a nationwide day of demonstrations opposing the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centers.

“We’re just being inundated by them,” said M. Lee Hasenauer, a 37-year Cheyenne resident and candidate for Laramie County commissioner.

The Cheyenne rally, planned for 1 p.m., is one of more than 120 protests planned in 41 states, according to Humans First, the conservative advocacy organization behind the nationwide event. More than 50 cities are participating. Cheyenne is the only Wyoming community hosting an organized event.

The group says the demonstrations are being planned because local communities should have greater control over where massive AI data centers are built.

The organization says the protests are intended to "call on local, state and federal politicians to protect our hometowns, our wallets and our way of life."

As artificial intelligence fuels unprecedented demand for computing power, communities across the country are increasingly pushing back against the large facilities needed to support it.

Opponents cite concerns ranging from increased electricity demand and water consumption to traffic, noise, environmental impacts and declining property values. Supporters counter that the facilities are essential to keeping the United States competitive in the global AI race while bringing investment and jobs.

The debate has become particularly heated in Cheyenne, where Microsoft is pursuing multiple data center developments.

[{"type":"text","text":"Petition Drive Planned"}]

Organizers plan to use Saturday’s rally to launch a petition drive aimed at overturning recent City Council actions on roughly 3,200 acres slated for Microsoft data center development. 

They intend to begin collecting signatures Sunday.

The petition seeks to block annexation and rezoning of the land. Organizers have 20 days to gather 3,000 signatures to force a repeal vote.

Organizers will have 20 days to gather the required 3,000 signatures to move forward with a measure to repeal. Hasenauer said he also hopes the signatures would be enough to put the repeal up for a vote by Laramie County residents.

"Our goal is going to be to turn in 5,000 to 6,000 signatures," Hasenauer told Cowboy State Daily.  

Saturday’s protest will be an opportunity to spread the word about the petition, he said, but it will also give disgruntled residents a voice.

"What we'll be doing at the rally is giving people who are so angry a chance to hold up signs and say no to data centers," he said.

Hasenauer argued that major annexation decisions should be decided by voters rather than elected officials.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I want the will of the people,\" he said."}]

Dr. Taylor Haynes, a Cheyenne urologist who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor in 2018, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address. He did not return Cowboy State Daily's call before publication.

[{"type":"text","text":"National Pushback Growing"}]

Saturday's demonstrations come as opposition to hyperscale data centers expands well beyond Wyoming.

Earlier this week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced what state officials described as the nation's first statewide pause on new hyperscale data center approvals. The pause is meant to allow time for regulators to study data centers’ impacts on electric infrastructure, environmental resources and consumer utility costs.

The move drew sharp criticism from Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, who argued in a Cowboy State Daily 

 Thursday that Wyoming should embrace technological growth rather than slow it.

Quoting a saying he attributed to his great-uncle, Gen. George Patton – "Lead, follow, or get out of the way" – Gordon called New York's decision "political faintheartedness."

"America has had enough of 'Build Absolutely Nothing Near Anybody' dogma," Gordon wrote.

Rather than imposing a moratorium, Gordon has argued Wyoming should continue welcoming data center investment while ensuring projects comply with the state's existing laws and regulations.

“Right now, we have far too much wringing of hands, saying no to almost everything, and not enough leading,” he wrote.

[{"type":"text","text":"Different Visions For Wyoming"}]

Hasenauer rejects the notion that opposition to data centers is resistance to progress.

"Protests are driven by common sense," he said, arguing that local officials have stopped listening to residents.

He suggested the industry should pay additional taxes – 15% of all profits – to help fund local infrastructure and emergency services.

[{"type":"text","text":"Modern-Day Luddites"}]

Cowboy State Daily political columnist Rod Miller sees the debate differently.

 in Cowboy State Daily Friday, Miller described data center opponents as modern-day Luddites.

He said he saw a news piece about the national protest online but was not aware that Cheyenne had a place in the national event.

He said he doesn’t have a feel for the traction a protest against data centers could get nationally, but in Wyoming, people are resistant to change.

[{"type":"text","text":"“That’s Wyoming,” he said. “We resist new things.”"}]

In his column, Miller argued that Wyoming has repeatedly benefited from embracing major industrial development while insisting it occur on the state's terms.

He pointed to former Gov. Ed Herschler's "Growth, on our terms" philosophy during Wyoming's energy boom in the 1970s. Miller worked for Herschler for nearly a decade.

"It seems like every new advance in human technology is met with fear, trepidation and pearl-clutching skepticism," Miller wrote.

Still, Miller said legitimate questions remain about how data centers affect Wyoming's electrical grid and water resources.

"We don't want Wyoming ratepayers subsidizing Mark Zuckerberg," Miller told Cowboy State Daily. "We want it to go the other way."

If data centers can pay their own way, comply with Wyoming's water laws and avoid shifting costs onto residents, Miller said, "I've got no problem with them."

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Box Of Rocks\""}]

Miller laughed heartily when told Hasenauer was one of the chief organizers of the event.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"He's dumber than a box of rocks,\" Miller said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I wasn't going to go but maybe I will now,\" he said, while laughing."}]

State Rep. Landon Brown (R-Cheyenne) said Hasenaeur's involvement in the protest damages the credibility of the event.

"I think having him as the point person is not a good look for the valid concerns that citizens have with data centers and I think it takes away from the credibility of the effort in general," Brown said.

"I think the voices of Laramie County would be better served with a more rational voice on these matters," he added.

For protesters gathering Saturday in Cheyenne, the immediate goal is less about shaping national AI policy than influencing the future of their own community.

Texas has the most protests planned as part of the national event, with 17. Three protests are planned in Colorado, with two in Montana, two in Nebraska and one in Utah.

Data center protest 7 17 26

<title>Cheyenne To Join National Protest Against Data Centers; Detractors Laugh | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Protesters will gather on the Wyoming Capitol steps Saturday as Cheyenne joins a nationwide day of demonstrations opposing data centers. Organizers say it's a way to protect "our way of life" while detractors lampoon them as "modern-day Luddites."

Cheyenne To Join National Protest Against Data Centers; Detractors Laugh

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

Clair McFarland

Politics

 to a DUI charge and was fined and sentenced to probation issued a public apology Friday. 

Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, was arrested Dec. 28 in Buffalo on suspicion of driving drunk from at least an interstate outlet intersection to the Miller's Travel Center gas station. 

More than seven months of a highly publicized, hotly contested case followed. He pleaded guilty Wednesday in Buffalo Circuit Court and was sentenced to pay a $500 fine and spend a year on unsupervised probation.

[{"type":"text","text":"If he fails probation, 88 days of jail time could follow."}]

“I would like everyone to know that I do owe you an apology for my offenses,” began Allemand in a public video posted Friday to Facebook. “I would like you to know also that throughout the duration of these proceedings and under the advisement of my legal representation, I was told to offer no apologies, that could affect the case that I was contesting.”

Allemand continued: “I do apologize for drinking while driving on a public road. I do acknowledge my actions could have been much worse, with much consequences.”

He said he’s never denied “that it was illegal and was honest up front.” 

Just after the legislative session ended in March, he said, he entered a counseling program without anyone ordering or pressuring him to do so. He completed that program and continues counseling, and hasn’t consumed alcohol since his arrest, said Allemand.

Allemand said he fought the charge because “I do not believe that the amount of beer consumed (had me) nearly as intoxicated as reported.”

Case prosecutor and Johnson County Deputy Attorney Josh Stensaas reported Allemand at a 0.24% blood-alcohol concentration. Allemand’s attorney, Mike Vang contested that finding during that case, and the BAC dispute wasn’t resolved by the time the case settled.

 “As the case developed, I felt I was not being given a fair opportunity to use the legal system to defend myself,” said Allemand. “There are many details that you weren’t all privileged to know and only chosen information was published by the media.”

Contacted by phone Friday, Allemand clarified to Cowboy State Daily that he was referencing details the media didn’t know. 

[{"type":"text","text":"These may surface later, he added. "}]

He declined to comment beyond that and beyond the statements in his apology video.

“I ultimately made the decision to plead guilty because I was wrong for drinking and driving,” he said in the video. “It also seemed to be a major consensus that I couldn’t ignore.”

He said he hopes his decision doesn’t impact others’ ability to exercise their rights under the system. He also said he’s served the  people with fidelity and will continue to do so.

Allemand faces a Republican opponent, Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer, at the Aug. 18 primary election. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Grateful He Apologized"}]

Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, had called for Allemand to apologize about one hour before Allemand’s apology video published.

“The silence is deafening from not only Rep. Allemand on his guilty plea but also from the Wyoming Freedom Caucus,” said Brown in a Friday Facebook post to his political page. “Accountability for his actions should be demanded by every single member of our body.”

Allemand is a member of the populist-leaning Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which is a controversial group of House Republicans that Brown often opposes.

Its proponents cast it as the true voice of Wyoming conservatives. Its foes accuse it of groupthink and sloppy legislating.

Brown told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday interview after Allemand’s apology that he’s “incredibly grateful that he did apologize.”

[{"type":"text","text":"That shows accountability, said Brown."}]

“I am a little disturbed that he still continues to push back against the judicial system, and it seems to be that is a growing concern from the Freedom Caucus in general; that they have little to no faith in the judicial system,” he said. “And it undermines our ability as a nation to believe in one of our three branches of government.”

The Freedom Caucus has not called outright for the election of judges. Its members have criticized multiple judicial rulings in recent months, including a Jan. 6 ruling by the Wyoming Supreme Court, proclaiming abortion access a fundamental health care right throughout Wyoming.

Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Rachel Williams, R-Cody, who is also campaigning for secretary of state, did not immediately respond to a Friday text message request for a response to Brown’s statements.  

Brown said now that Allemand has taken accountability, he hopes people show him grace.

“Because none of us are infallible, and I believe we all deserve grace when we take accountability,” said Brown.

Brown had, in his Facebook post, referenced having been in the public eye, made mistakes, and taken accountability himself.

Brown had given a favorable testimony in at the 2024 sentencing hearing of a former law enforcement officer who was convicted of sexual assault. He had described the former Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, Gabriel Testerman, as a good candidate for probation.

, and said he supports the judicial process and the outcome in this case.

The prosecutor in Testerman’s case, Sweetwater County Attorney Daniel Erramouspe, had told the court at sentencing that, “There are two Gabe Testermans” – meaning one society at large and another of dark behaviors.

[{"type":"text","text":"More About Allemand’s Case"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand spent about two days in jail after his Dec. 28 arrest."}]

Through his attorney, Allemand asserted that the arresting deputy, Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputy Caleb Campbell, didn’t have enough evidence of wrongdoing to make the initial stop.

Campbell contacted Allemand at the gas station parking lot, citing a claim that Allemand had made a stop at a stop sign, but then lurched forward improperly and almost hit another vehicle.

Allemand also contested Campbell’s decision to ask him incriminating questions while Campbell had him handcuffed – reportedly for officer safety reasons due to the sighting of Allemand’s gun – during the stop. 

Buffalo Circuit Court Magistrate Jeremy Kisling ruled that Campbell had enough evidence to make the stop, but should not have asked potentially incriminating questions during Allemand’s 12-minute confinement in handcuffs on scene. So the Johnson County Attorney’s Office couldn’t bring the 12 minutes of body camera video to the trial – which is now cancelled – as part of its main case.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office released the body camera video to the media, however, which Allemand’s attorney called inappropriate. That's another dispute left unsettled by the case's conclusion. 

Allemand apology 7 17 26

<title>Rep. Allemand Issues Public Apology For Drunk Driving | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Rep. Bill Allemand issued a public apology Friday for driving drunk last December. The state legislator pleaded guilty Wednesday to a DUI charge and was fined and sentenced to probation. “I do apologize for drinking while driving on a public road," he said.

Rep. Allemand Issues Public Apology For Drunk Driving

Wildlife

A study of levels of the stress hormone cortisol in cattle exposed to wolves in California suggest that just having wolves around stresses the cows.

Ranchers in Wyoming and California told Cowboy State Daily that the study’s apparent findings don't reveal anything that they didn’t already know.

And, they said, it bolsters ranchers’ longstanding argument that the cost to them of having wolves around goes well beyond just the price of the cows the predators kill.

 found that cortisol levels in hair samples from cows indicate that cattle exposed to wolves experienced different levels of seasonal cortisol fluctuation, compared to those not exposed to wolves.  

“Our study provides the first evidence of disrupted cortisol regulation in beef cattle exposed to gray wolf presence, measured through hair cortisol analysis. Our preliminary findings reveal important research gaps for understanding predator reintroduction ecology,” according to the authors.

“These preliminary results point toward a potential physiological mechanism by which predator reintroduction may indirectly affect prey, with implications for understanding how recovering carnivores could influence prey physiology, animal welfare, and productivity,” the authors stated.

All that is a fancy way of saying that having wolves around can cause fear to ripple through a cattle herd, said Mitch Benson, who ranches near the Wind River Indian Reservation.

“I think it took somebody with credentials to draft a story,” for the matter to gain attention, said Benson, who has seen the study.

“We ranchers have known about this for years. Why do you think our great-great grandfathers eradicated them (wolves)?” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘In La-La Land’"}]

Ranchers in Sierra County, in northeast California, admonished state wildlife officials last spring that they were 

 by a wolf pack that had settled there and started attacking cattle.

Wolves had been gone from California for about a century when they started drifting in from Oregon on their own in 2011.

The state now has several established wolf packs. Another recent study, apart from the one done on cattle cortisol levels, suggests that California wolves have been feeding mostly on cattle.

Paul Roen is a county official and rancher in Sierra County.

During a telephone interview with Cowboy State Daily on Thursday, he said that while the wolf pack was there, ranchers reported 160 attacks on cattle, 94 of which were confirmed to be wolf kills.

Unlike ranchers in Wyoming, California ranchers aren’t allowed to shoot wolves.

State wildlife agents last fall killed four of the eight wolves thought to be there.

“The killing of cattle stopped immediately. That night,” Roen said.

Ranchers in Wyoming said a new study that shows cattle get stressed out by wolves is something they've been saying all along. “We ranchers have known about this for years. Why do you think our great-great grandfathers eradicated them?" one rancher said.

Daily Smile: Thursday, August 10, 2023

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