You Still Here

[{"type":"text","text":"Good news! The new drive-thru is finally open!"}]

You still here 3 7 24

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

<title>You Still Here? Thursday, Marcy 7, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Good news! The new drive-thru is finally open!

You Still Here? Thursday, Marcy 7, 2024

 Good news! The new drive-thru is finally open!

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Around Wyoming

The Amish man at the center of a Crook County 

 has confirmed that the issue prompted him and his family to leave the state and says what was required of him by county officials is unconstitutional.   

Abe Yoder called Cowboy State Daily from a community phone near his property in Weldon, Iowa, on Saturday.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Amish historically do not use email or cellphones."}]

Yoder recently moved to Iowa, selling off much of his Hulett-area estate and taking his wife and nine of his 11 children with him.

“It does very much have to do with our sovereignty and rights,” he said.

Scott Pomerenke of Sundance, a friend of Yoder’s, put it this way: "They’re moving because they were pressured.”

[{"type":"text","text":"County officials say that was never the intention."}]

Yoder told Cowboy State Daily the county had threatened to fine him $10,000 per day per outhouse on his land that did not have a permit, threatened to take away his children, and asked him to sign a contract giving county officials permission to inspect the outhouses at any time.

County officials told Cowboy State Daily they did invoke financial incentive to get Yoder to comply with county regulations. They also point to a blanket clause on all county paperwork that asks for permission to inspect property. 

[{"type":"text","text":"But they vehemently deny anyone threatened to take away his children."}]

“There was no such thing,” said Caleb Peters, Crook County wastewater treatment specialist.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"How It Started"}]

The dispute began in October 2024, when Crook County officials discovered several Amish property owners west of Hulett had built pit-style outhouses without the permits required under county wastewater regulations.

[{"type":"text","text":"Peters said he became aware of the issue through satellite imaging."}]

Some outhouses were not sealed or properly vented, he told Cowboy State Daily.

“There was a compilation of a whole bunch of things,” he said, which led him to reach out to the property owners.

While he did not have an exact number, Peters said he guessed about 20 outhouses did not comply with county regulations.

County commissioner Bob Latham said county code requires human-waste receptacles to be portable, pumpable or connected to a septic system.

“You have to build them correctly and permit them,” Crook County commission chair Fred Devish said.

Upon learning about the codes and permitting regulations, all but two families complied, Peters said.

Those families were the Abe and Elizabeth Yoder and Rudy and Irene Borntreger, he said. An estate moving sale was held for both families earlier this month. The Yoders moved to Iowa, the Borntregers to Wisconsin.

[{"type":"text","text":"Yoder told Cowboy State Daily he felt targeted and strong-armed."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sovereignty And The Law"}]

Yoder is sovereign, meaning he belongs to a group of self-governing people. He has no Social Security number and no birth certificate.

According to the Young Center for Amish Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, the Amish pay taxes. However, they do not pay Social Security taxes because they believe it is a form of insurance.

Yoder said his outhouses were built to code, including two that served an Amish schoolhouse on his land.

“I had researched to be sure I had everything up to specs,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

The only thing missing: A permit for each outhouse. Permits cost $200 each.

[{"type":"text","text":"Yoder said he had lived on the land for 10 years without a permit."}]

“It was never a problem,” he said. “Now, they come out and pounce upon me.”

Yoder said he believed the push was largely about money. Sheridan rancher Pepper Fipps, who has done business with Yoder, agrees.

“It’s amazing how the government wants their money,” Fipps told Cowboy State Daily.

But Devish said $200 is “not a terrible amount.” The fee pays for the county’s time to inspect and process necessary paperwork.

“It’s not a money grab,” he said. “We’re not making millions of dollars on wastewater permitting.”

According to Yoder, the county was in clear violation of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States. Under the 14th Amendment, the state is prohibited from depriving any person “life, liberty or property, without due process of law.”

“In my way of looking at it, they threatened my life by threatening to take my children away. They threatened to take my property by putting a lien against it. This is unconstitutional,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","text":"Both Devish and Peters dismissed those claims."}]

“We don’t make laws without repercussions,” Devish said. “Whether you’re Amish or Mormon or Catholic or whoever the hell you want to be, there are rules.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The issue largely boiled down to filling out paperwork, Devish added."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"But it’s paperwork Yoder was not willing to sign."}]

Pomerenke told Cowboy State Daily that Yoder didn’t want to sign paperwork because under his sovereignty he didn’t need to.

He recounted a similar struggle that his own Amish grandfather experienced a half-century ago in Wisconsin. His grandfather was fined $75 a day for having non-conforming outhouses and ultimately landed in jail.

“He wouldn’t pay because he didn’t think it was a valid law,” Yoder said.

Finally, the county in Wisconsin ruled the grandfather was a simple farmer who wasn’t hurting anything and decided to leave him alone.

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

[{"type":"text","text":"In Crook County, the lengthy dispute played out in a series of letters."}]

Devish said one person sent a letter to commissioners saying, “I don’t know why county commissioners are so interested in my feces.”

“I’m not particularly interested in yours,” he said he responded. “I’m interested in everybody’s and that it goes where it needs to go in a proper manner. It is a biohazard that needs to be disposed of properly.”

Yoder said he sent multiple letters to county commissioners asking why permits were needed.

Peters said the Yoders did not respond to the letters he sent detailing the problems and the necessary solutions.

[{"type":"text","text":"“We had no way to talk to them,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Trespassing?"}]

Yoder said eventually county officials asked him to sign a contract that would allow them to come onto his property anytime to inspect the outhouses for the schoolhouse.

[{"type":"text","text":"Yoder did not sign it. But, he said, county officials showed up anyway."}]

“They trespassed,” he said. “They opened doors they had no permission to open.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Peters sees it differently."}]

“If we know there’s a health and safety violation, we have to investigate it,” he said. “If we have suspicion of something there, we have the right to go in.”

Peters said his attempts to communicate with Yoder were fruitless. He sent multiple letters with no response, he said.

“If (Yoder) wants to call that trespassing, then I guess so,” Devish said. “I think we should have the ability to go and see what’s being done or not being done.”

Having a record of what takes place on the land is important for future landowners, he said.

“I don’t want to buy some place that has biohazards that I’ll have to take care of,” Devish added.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Seizing Children?"}]

Yoder also said the county threatened to take his children if he didn’t comply with regulations.

He said officials leaned on a 2025 high-profile case in Massachusetts in which the children of Isael Rivera and Ruth Encarnacion were taken into custody by the state after a pediatrician reported the family for medical neglect because they refused to vaccinate their 9-month-old due to religious beliefs. Those children remain in the care of the Massachusetts DCF and the case is ongoing.

[{"type":"text","text":"“They used that case to threaten us,” Yoder said."}]

Devish said to that claim, “I laugh out loud. That is ridiculous. No. No. There’s no taking children away. Good Lord.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Peters likewise strongly disagreed."}]

“We indicated in all our letters that it is a safety violation that could cause harm to family and neighbors,” he said. “But it had nothing to do with anything about his kids.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"From Outhouses To Port-a-Potties"}]

As it became clear the county would not allow outhouses without permits, Yoder said he decided to write a letter, informing county commissioners he would discontinue using his outhouses and instead install a port-a-potty for the schoolhouse.

Peters wrote back: The county would need to know the location of a permanent port-a-potty to be sure it complied with necessary setbacks.

“With a port-a-potty, you’ve got to have someone pump it out and dispose of the sewage properly,” Devish said.

[{"type":"text","text":"He added that paperwork to properly abandon outhouses is required."}]

“If they’re no longer going to be used, we still need to know where they are,” he said.

County commissioner Bob Latham told Cowboy State Daily previously that the nonconforming outhouses threatened the groundwater.

“The possibility for groundwater contamination and disease is just something we can’t ignore,” Devish added.

Yoder disagreed, saying his outhouses were located far enough away from water sources that it was never a problem. All his outhouses were situated within concrete vaults, according to county code, he said.

Devish said the issue boils down to a failure to complete proper paperwork.

“We don’t go crawling around with a spyglass to see who’s not putting their crap in the right place,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"From Wyoming To Iowa"}]

Yoder said he moved to Wyoming in 2014 because of its remoteness and an opportunity to raise food for people.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I really like the area,” he said. “I really like the people.”"}]

Proximity to Gillette and Spearfish, South Dakota, allowed them to buy necessary groceries and supplies.

“We would have farmers markets, and we raised a lot of produce,” he said.

One of the people who Yoder gravitated to was Pomerenke. Yoder shoed his horses.

[{"type":"text","text":"Pomerenke attended the estate sale several weeks ago."}]

He bought an antique double-tub wash basin full of flowers for his wife. He also bought one of Yoder’s ponies for his grandchildren.

“I sat next to Abe,” he told Cowboy State Daily, “I said, your story will not die here'.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Yoder said he felt targeted."}]

“They thought if they could win me they could win the whole community,” he said. “They thought they needed to strong-arm me.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Community Divided"}]

For Yoder, the biggest disappointment is not that he felt strong-armed by the county. It’s that his own people backed down when county government came knocking.

“Had the community stood together, they could have easily won the whole thing,” he said. “We didn’t have enough unity to go to court.”

Pomerenke said Yoder didn’t have the support of his whole community because the Amish are peace-loving people.

[{"type":"text","text":"“They go along to get along,” he said."}]

Yoder’s concern now, he said, is that because others relented and applied for permits, the county will ask for more of them.

“If we would know how to work together and stand against these things then we wouldn’t be in bondage,” he said.

Yoder said he is hopeful he can now live at peace while practicing his traditional ways, more than 700 miles from Hulett.

“The community I moved to had the same issue,” he said. “But they stood together. They went to court.”

Now, he said, it is a “community of solidarity that has morals, standards and values I grew up with.”

Outhouse and Hulett 6 29

<title>Amish Man Confirms Crook County Fight Over Outhouse Drove Family Out Of Wyoming | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Abe Yoder moved his Amish family from Wyoming to Iowa after he says Crook County officials threatened him with stiff fines and removing his children over outhouse permits. County officials deny those claims and say they only sought wastewater compliance.

Amish Man Confirms Crook County Fight Over Outhouse Drove Family Out Of Wyoming

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

Clair McFarland

Politics

In the arena of political criticism, a new political action group has declared war on the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Casper-based attorneys Emily Madden and Scott Ortiz co-founded the Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming political action committee (PAC) in March. The PAC has raised six billboards across larger Wyoming towns urging people to “STOP The Freedom Caucus Agenda” and vote in the Aug. 18 primary election.

 against popular conservative ideals like lower taxes, voter ID, protections for female athletes and school choice.

“They never define the ‘agenda’ they oppose because it’s popular,” says a June 4 post by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Former Caucus chair and current member Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, posted 

 Friday saying "(I'm) out here in front of this billboard because the people who put it up seem to

. We love it. It's got our name all over it, and we like talking about our agenda." Bear also listed popular conservative ideals and claimed, "I guess these folks are against all that." 

But the Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming PAC countered, saying the billboards actually criticize more local, more harmful policies - not the national hot-button topics the Freedom Caucus has emphasized for years. 

“They have great national talking points, which is why they were so popular in the first place, but you can't make American First if you leave Wyoming behind,” said Madden in a Monday email. “Gutting funding for schools, police, fire, EMS, hospitals, UW, and the Business Council, that's just saying you don't believe Wyoming's best days are ahead.”

The Wyoming Business Council is a state agency that gives grants and loans to businesses and communities. Its supporters call its work important economic development, and its detractors call it an overgrowth of government. 

“We welcome people to take a look at the website and the videos. We are pro-Wyoming; we believe our best days are still to come,” said Madden.  

[{"type":"text","text":"The Battle Raging On Facebook"}]

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is a controversial and populist-leaning group of state House Republicans. It contains 

, but its position often prevails in the 62-member House of Representatives.

Common Sense Republicans’ billboards highlight the divide between the WFC’s more populist faction and other Republicans. That divide has wracked multiple primary election cycles now, as the GOP primary election in August is generally more decisive in deep-red Wyoming, than the general election held in November.

The caucus’ member Rep. Paul Hoeft, R-Powell 

 June 23 to counter the PAC and tout caucus’ members’ support of residential property tax cuts, election security measures, “immigration accountability,” protection of women and girls’ public spaces, and what Hoeft called legislation in defense of the family and the Second Amendment.

“Don’t let the folks that are working in the shadows, chippin’ away at the things that matters to you most,” said Hoeft in his video. 

The PAC fired back in its own series of Facebook videos 

Madden rebutted the suggestion that she and Ortiz are in the “shadows,” and pointed to 

, which identifies Ortiz and Madden, shows a photo of them and shares a mission statement.  

Hoeft had called Freedom Caucus members the elected “grass roots” helping their constituents.

Madden countered, noting that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus receives staffing and help from its national umbrella network, the State Freedom Caucus Network.

[{"type":"text","text":"But First, Who Are These People?"}]

Madden told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday phone interview that she was born and raised in Torrington, Wyoming; graduated from the University of Wyoming law school and cherishes the state deeply.

Both Madden and Ortiz have been registered Republicans since at least 2012 when the Natrona County Clerk’s Office adopted its newest registration system, Clerk Tracy Good confirmed Friday.

“Scott and I got involved because during the 2026 budget session we saw a lot of policies, of the Freedom Caucus, that were detrimental to the Wyoming that we know and love,” said Madden. “For Scott it really hit home with him, with the local services impacted by the property tax cuts.”

The Freedom Caucus, and other Republicans, backed multiple residential property tax cuts and relief laws passed over the past three years. Property taxes fund local communities and public schools.

The cuts have impacted different communities differently. The Carbon County Library System said it took a 53% 

Meanwhile, the state’s wealthiest county, Teton, still funds its services without levying maximum property taxes, and a recent report from the State Board of Equalization concluded that some properties in Teton County benefit disproportionately from a property tax increase cap that the Legislature passed in 2024.

“For me,” Madden continued, “it was the University of Wyoming and the judiciary.”

Freedom Caucus members on the House Appropriations Committee in January advanced a proposed $40 million cut to UW’s state block grant. The full Legislature rejected that proposal.

The committee also held an executive discussion to consider winnowing the Wyoming Supreme Court from five justices to three, 

. Lawmakers did not run legislation about that, however.

“For him and I both, we’re Wyomingites,” said Madden of Ortiz. “And those policies are not supporting or allowing the Wyoming that we grew up in – or that we want to live in – to thrive.”

Ortiz told Cowboy State Daily that he’s been a “Reagan Republican since the ‘80s,” was raised in Wyoming and is a product of the UW law school. 

The Freedom Caucus has called both Ortiz’s and Madden’s GOP credentials into question, calling Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming a “Leftist trial attorney PAC” and pointing to past social media posts by Madden in which Madden indicated support for Democratic candidates.

[{"type":"text","text":"For Ortiz, the “leftist” attorney charge is laughable."}]

“It’s hilarious they call me a leftist attorney,” he said, adding that he’s been representing Wyoming trucking companies, energy companies, and other red-blooded entities around the state. “It ruins their credibility because anybody that knows me would laugh out loud.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Ortiz said his daughter has, in fact, laughed at the charge. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“She doesn’t even think I’m a moderate,” he said."}]

“I love that once we point out you can be a conservative Republican and totally disagree with everything the Freedom Caucus is doing, they just resort to name-calling,” Ortiz added.

[{"type":"text","text":"In The Past…"}]

Regarding Madden, WFC Chair Rachel Williams, also known as Rep. Rachel Rodriguez Williams, sent Cowboy State Daily a statement calling Madden a supporter of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The State Freedom Caucus’ Network’s Wyoming director Jessie Rubino, who has also coordinated floor maneuvers with Freedom Caucus members, sent the statement on Williams’ behalf.

“She’s free to support these people of course, but proves that she’s out of step with the majority of Wyomingites and should raise questions about her self-proclaimed label as a ‘common sense republican,’” says the statement.

In response, Madden said in a Friday email: “This election is about what is happening to Wyoming today. Wyoming’s biggest threat is not a democratic candidate who lost. It’s the Freedom Caucus.”

The PAC does not focus on federal or presidential races; only state races.  

Madden said she’s excited to engage with anyone about her opposition to the caucus, and to discuss policies and issues directly impacting Wyoming.

“And that includes the Freedom Caucus policies that threaten the future of our state,” she added.

“I hope that someday the Freedom Caucus will stop with the ideological purity tests and talk about real laws and the real consequences of their policies,” Madden added.

Rubino sent Cowboy State Daily screenshots showing what appear to be posts by or involving Madden, in support of national Democratic candidates. 

“Throwback to inauguration 2016 when I got a bunch of tickets because we thought Hillary would win,” says the caption under a photograph of Madden and another woman, reposted under Madden’s Instagram handle.

Another photograph depicted under Madden’s Instagram handle shows a KTLA5 News shot of former President Joe Biden clasping Vice President Kamala Harris’ fist overhead, as if in victory.

Another post shows a meme which casts arguing with Trump supporters as irrational.

As of Monday, Cowboy State Daily has not gained viewing access to Madden’s Instagram account.

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus touted the tenets of its agenda again in Rubino’s Friday text-message copy of Williams’ statement.

“Representative Hoeft’s response speaks for itself. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus believes in robust public debate in furtherance of the truth, especially during election season,” says Williams’ statement. “In fact, the caucus welcomes more billboards like these – we see them as invitations to showcase our ‘agenda,’ one that is popular with 80% of Wyoming Republicans, and includes tax relief, election integrity, and keeping illegal aliens off our highways.”

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus has backed these measures. But it hasn’t spearheaded all of them nor carried them all alone.

[{"type":"text","text":"Property tax relief became a hot-button issue starting in about 2021."}]

Sen. Dan Dockstader, R-Afton (not a Freedom Caucus member) sponsored a proposed constitutional amendment in 2023 that, after the voters passed it in 2024, separated residential property tax into its own category so it may be assessed differently. This greenlights more expansive property tax reform or relief.

Rep. Steve Harshman, R-Casper (not a Freedom Caucus member) sponsored a controversial, widely-publicized piece of legislation in 2024 that, had it passed, would have eliminated property taxes on most single-family homes and backfilled the local coffers’ shortfall with a 2% sales tax hike.

Two known WFC members, Reps. Allen Slagle and Bill Allemand, backed Harshman’s bill as cosponsors. The other co-sponsors were non-Freedom Caucus Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Mike Yin.

[{"type":"text","text":"The bill died on its third reading in the House.  "}]

That same year Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo (not Freedom Caucus), successfully championed a bill that now caps property tax assessment growth to 4% of the prior year’s assessment.

[{"type":"text","text":"No known Freedom Caucus members co-sponsored that bill."}]

But Rep. Tony Locke, R-Casper (Freedom Caucus), successfully advanced an amendment putting associated land under the tax cap.

Freedom Caucus members picked up momentum on the issue in 2025, however, by voting overwhelmingly in favor of a 

[{"type":"text","text":"Illegal Aliens On Our Roads"}]

The prevalence of non-English proficient truckers exploded into the media in 2025 and powered both state and federal legislation in 2026.

In 2025, Freedom Caucus member Rep. Pepper Ottman, R-Riverton, sponsored a bill specifying that other states’ issued driver’s licenses for “unauthorized aliens” aren’t valid in Wyoming. Her co-sponsors were all Freedom Caucus members and WFC-aligned counterparts in the Senate.

[{"type":"text","text":"That bill became law."}]

This year, the Legislature passed a law authorizing Wyoming police officers to cite non-English-proficient commercial truckers.

The bill was resoundingly popular, garnering aye votes from all 31 members of the Senate, and all but one Democrat and one Republican in the House.

That bill was a product of the Joint Transportation, Highways 

, which non-Freedom Caucus members and Cheyenne-based Reps. Landon Brown and Sen. Stephan Pappas chair. 

[{"type":"text","text":"‘Election Integrity’"}]

The WFC led multiple successful election reform efforts starting in about 2023.

Caucus member Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, successfully 

 that remains controversial: barring party affiliation changes after the candidate registration period opens for the primary election.

A new political group called the 'Common Sense Republicans' have erected six billboards urging voters to “STOP The Freedom Caucus Agenda." Rep. John Bear, a well-known member of the Freedom Caucus, says he "loves" the billboards.

You Still Here? Thursday, Marcy 7, 2024

In case you missed it

More in You Still Here

Today In Outer Space: Monday, June 29, 2026

Today In Wham!: Monday, June 29, 2026

Steve Inman: Monday, June 29, 2026

Today In Sports: Monday, June 29, 2026

Most read