One More For The Road

We've all been there. Sometimes when you're in a hurry, the collateral damage is worth it....

One more for 3 9 24

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

<title>One More For The Road: Saturday, March 9, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

One More For The Road: Saturday, March 9, 2024

 We've all been there. Sometimes when you're in a hurry, the collateral damage is worth it....

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Native American Tribes

A “Yellowstone” series TV actor posted a clip Tuesday of a Christian pastor preaching on the Wind River Indian Reservation and discouraging some of the Arapaho tribal religious ceremonies, saying “Jesus is everything...A pipe cannot hear your prayers.”

, garnering 31,000 views as of Wednesday afternoon and provoking outrage, particularly around the reservation.

Christian Wassana, an enrolled Cheyenne Arapaho of Oklahoma who played Martin Kills Many on “Yellowstone," described Foundations for Nations pastor Sarah Lucas’ message as, “A pastor speaking at a church on the Rez in Wyoming condemning Sundance, one of our oldest and most sacred ceremonies.”

Wassana said, “it feels like history repeating itself, with attempts to erase and discredit our traditional way of life.”

He said everyone has the right to practice his or her own faith, “but claiming that one path is the only path while belittling and condemning ours is deeply disheartening.”

In the Northern Arapaho tribe, the flat pipe is associated with the Creator, and some sun dance rituals center on the pipe and treat it as a sacred object.

[{"type":"text","text":"‘We Know That Jesus Is Enough’"}]

The full sermon was unavailable at least as of Wednesday. The one-minute, 38-second clip depicts Lucas paraphrasing from the Bible: “tear down the altars, tear down the idols.”

She spoke of “this nation” gathering in recent days, praying. The tribal members had just conducted their sun dance ceremony. 

Lucas’ church sits on private, not tribal, land within the reservation, on the east side near Riverton. Two tribes share that reservation: the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone.

“They prayed to pipes and they prayed to the ancestors, believing this is the way for their freedom. To get free from addiction, for people to be healed… This is what this culture did this week,” said Lucas.

[{"type":"text","text":"She urged the congregation to pray."}]

“Because we know that Jesus is enough. He’s enough. It’s not Jesus-plus. It’s Jesus everything. He’s everything,” said Lucas.

She referenced people she described as tribal members who have become Christians.

“And they understand the price… when they say that publicly. The persecution that can come with them publicly,” Lucas said. “But they know that this is it. Jesus is the chain breaker. He’s the only one that we should be praying to. A pipe cannot hear your prayers.”

[{"type":"text","text":"‘This Is Religious Warfare’"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The backlash is immense."}]

Tribal members gathered Tuesday to protest in front of Riverton’s City Hall.

[{"type":"text","text":"Chris Friday, a protest leader, took to Facebook to call it a victory."}]

“SARAH LUAS (sic) openly spoke down on OUR sacred Grandpa pipe,” Friday wrote in a lengthy post featuring photographs from the protest. “She don’t know what we as Arapaho have been through, and still go through…. She should educate herself on tribal spirituality before talking on shit she doesn’t know. Because this is religious warfare.”

Friday said the protestors wanted an apology. He called Foundations for Nations leaders “not good people” and told Arapaho tribal members to boycott the church.

“Don’t go to their food bank. Don’t go to their events. Don’t let your children go,” he wrote. “We want them out of Arapaho land forever. They no longer are welcome here.”

Friday told Cowboy State Daily in a later interview that the "Grandpa pipe is our spiritual leader” and “our connection with the Creator.” 

Friday added, "They can leave, you know. They’re not welcome here anymore."

[{"type":"text","text":"Absolute Truth"}]

Desiree Henderson, a woman who described herself as a four-year member of the church’s ministry, posted a nearly 17-minute video in the church’s defense.

She said she’d never serve under a ministry that manipulates people or manipulates the gospel.

“But what most people don’t get to see when they’re not part of the inner workings of a ministry is the unbelievable sacrifices that are made. The unbelievable generosity and giving of their own time and resources that people give,” said Henderson. 

She said she knows the character of Sarah Lucas and her husband Jason, “and their heart to give” as well as the criticism and gossip they endure.

Henderson said she understands “the upset” and would align with it if she “didn’t know the Lord.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“But I do know the Lord,” said Henderson."}]

She described a dichotomy between the philosophy “of the world,” that truth is relative, and the belief that absolute truth exists.

“In the natural world, gravity is an absolute truth,” she said. “And if you defy gravity, you’re going to experience the consequences of it.”

Henderson said there are absolute, spiritual truths that exist “whether you believe it or not,” and that the Bible is the metric for finding that truth. She also encouraged people to question and study the Christian faith rather than adopt it blindly.

Numerous Facebook users posted negative comments 

[{"type":"text","text":"Didn’t Hide The Ball"}]

Foundations for Nations was overt about its beliefs and goals before the Sundance message went viral.

 a multi-cultural, multi-generational church seeking for people to “have a relationship with God, be ignited to reach people with the good news about Jesus, and work together to impact communities.”

Its statement of belief says that Jesus is “the only way to heaven and the only name that can be called upon to gain eternal life.”

The church incorporated in Wyoming and settled on the reservation in 2017.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lucas declined to comment Wednesday to Cowboy State Daily."}]

In a 2018 interview for a news feature, Lucas told local news outlet The Ranger that she and her family were building a massive play and recreation in the area of Arapahoe (town, not tribe). She said they would gear their ministry toward children who were having hardships at home.

“We inspire hope and change; we tell them their worth and their value” and teach them Biblical principles along the way, said Lucas at the time.

That summer the Lucases and visiting volunteers hosted a six-week summer program to offer kids what Lucas described as both fun and guidance.

Before launching the church, the Lucases planned it for six years. She said the goal was to help “families that are so broken that they don’t have any hope,” and to “share Jesus with them.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Figured It Would Blow Up"}]

Wassana told Cowboy State Daily in a Wednesday interview that he figured his post would blow up. He said he’s part Arapaho and though he descends from the southern, rather than the northern band based in Wyoming, he has family members in the north and considers the bands “one tribe.”

Wassana referenced tribal members’ darker history with past, Christian-affiliated missions, such as the boarding schools that forbade the children from speaking their native languages.

He said Lucas’ message equated to a tribal member walking into a Christian church and maligning the cross.

Lucas had, however, preached her message in a private Christian church, on private land. People attend the church voluntarily. 

Wassana acknowledged the distinction, but said the affront stems from the church opening its doors to children, in particular.

“Whenever you have somebody who’s a trusted adult, religious leader in the community saying these things, going against our ceremonies, saying they’re wrong, it can create a lot of confusion fear and shame for our children,” said Wassana. “We don’t want our young people growing up feeling like they have to choose between being accepted or embracing who they are because a leader they see is teaching those kinds of things.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Boarding Schools"}]

Indian boarding schools proliferated in the nation a century ago, many run by religious groups and funded with federal money.

Historical accounts tell of tribal leaders who wanted their kids to gain an education, a federal government that wanted to assimilate the kids and religious leaders who wanted to convert them.

Northern Arapaho sub-chief Sharp Nose sent his son, Little Chief, to the Carlisle boarding school in Pennsylvania in the late 1800s, hoping the boy could learn skills from the white man for surviving in the new culture.

Little Chief died in the school’s infirmary in 1883 and was buried on school grounds – a common occurrence for tribal children.

Jesuits came to the Wind River Indian Reservation and built St. Stephen’s Indian School in 1884.

Henderson countered claims and fears of modern-day assimilation in her video. She spoke with admiration of an East Indian (not American Indian) convert named Sundar Singh, who embraced the culture, clothing, and customs of India while preaching about Jesus, even dressing as a Hindu spiritual leader. 

[{"type":"text","text":"The Christian and Arapaho faith traditions differ from one another."}]

John G. Carter, researcher for the Smithsonian Institution, penned a Nov. 23, 1936, letter to M.W. Stirling, Chief of the Bureau of American Ethnology, describing “the first eye witness description of the Flat Pipe by a white man, and the first eye witness account of a ceremony held in honor of this Pipe.”

In the Arapaho creation story, wrote Carter in the treatise that followed, a global flood covered the earth, and a man walked on the water clutching a pipe. He fasted and wept. He sent animals into the water to bring land from the sea bottom to make the earth, and the turtle succeeded in that task, the account says.

“And with this the man, or the grandfather makes the land” and eventually the Arapaho people, wrote Carter.

“The myth implies that either the world was made at the Flat Pipe’s request, or because of the Flat Pipe, and in order to provide a place on which the Flat Pipe could rest,” Carter added. He said the Arapaho view the flat pipe as an “exceedingly holy object” held in the highest possible veneration and respect.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Christian tradition also involves a global flood. "}]

But first, Genesis tells that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth – and ultimately a man and a woman.

The man and woman sinned by disobeying God, but God promised to send a savior. Thousands of years later, the savior came as Jesus, who is God incarnate and who, as the son counterpart to God the Father, was also involved in creation, according to the biblical book of John.

And Jesus allowed the bloodthirsty and jealous authority figures of his day to torture him to death. He then rose from the dead, redeeming those who believe in him with his own sacrifice, and he urged his followers to tell others about him, the New Testament says. 

Preacher and reservation 2 7 8 26

<title>Arapaho Members Furious At Christian Preacher Who Spoke Against Rituals | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Several Northern Arapaho Tribe members are outraged at a Christian pastor who spoke against their religious customs and encouraged worship of Jesus instead. One Arapaho member told Cowboy State Daily that the church is "not welcome here anymore."

Arapaho Members Furious At Christian Preacher Who Spoke Against Rituals

Jen Kocher - Headshot CSD

Jen Kocher

Public Safety

The Jane Doe found dead on Interstate 25 near Cheyenne in April has been identified as Brittany Smith, a 37-year-old Wyoming woman.

Smith was struck by a northbound Kia Sportage on the on-ramp from Missile Drive on April 20, according to Aaron Brown, senior public relations specialist with the Wyoming Highway Patrol. Her home town was unavailable at publication time.

Smith had been a pedestrian standing in the roadway, Brown said in an email. She succumbed to her injuries at the scene despite life-saving efforts by troopers.  

No charges or citations are pending, Brown said.

two unidentified people who two amateur genealogists in Cheyenne

 were attempting to track down by their distinctive tattoos.

Megan McWilliams and Ashley Kroner, Cheyenne sisters who run Genetics Uncovered, identified Smith and a second man— found deceased in Cheyenne in early June — through the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) database, the country’s only national clearinghouse for missing and unidentified persons.

Neither file contained much information, but both Does had distinct tattoos. The sisters posted them on their Facebook page, hoping someone would recognize them. 

Kroner said Smith’s mother saw the poster on their page and the appropriate contact information. Her mother commented on the post and then messaged the sisters, thanking them for their help.

This is just part of their efforts to help give the unidentified back their name.

"Too many souls are known only as 'Does' in this world, and we’re deeply grateful that she is no longer one of them — that she has found her way home,” Kroner said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Still Trying To ID John Doe"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The John Doe soon will be next."}]

Family members who saw the John Doe’s tattoos contacted McWilliams and Kroner, and that case is now moving toward identification as well.

Laramie County Coroner Rebecca Reid, who is overseeing both investigations, told Cowboy State Daily that her office has 180 days to complete them.

The unidentified male was found unresponsive in the 800 block of South Greeley Highway in Cheyenne on June 6.

He wasn slumped in a kneeling position alongside a commercial building with no cellphone or any other identification, according to Chance Walkama with the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office. He said the office was waiting for the coroner’s report with cause and manner of death from Reid’s office.

Walkama said in an earlier interview that foul play is not currently suspected.

Laramie County Sheriff spokesperson Brandon Warner did not respond to a request for an update on the John Doe investigation.

Missile drive 7 8 26

<title>Jane Doe Found Dead On I-25 On-Ramp In April ID'd As Wyoming Woman | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Jane Doe found dead on Interstate 25 near Cheyenne in April has been identified as Brittany Smith, a 37-year-old Wyoming woman. Smith was struck by a northbound Kia Sportage on the on-ramp from Missile Drive on April 20.

Jane Doe Found Dead On I-25 On-Ramp In April ID'd As Wyoming Woman

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Energy

Project Jade, Wyoming’s largest data center, is now Project Tembo, and the company behind the 2.7-gigawatt facility is a mystery no longer.

The data center will be owned and operated by none other than Google, giving Cheyenne yet another of the world’s largest tech companies in what is fast becoming an emerging tech frontier. 

Cheyenne has hosted Microsoft data centers for the past decade or so and that company has announced plans for a major expansion on a 3,500-acre tract of land 

 it was joining the Wyoming fold with an $800 million, 715,000-square-foot data center campus on a 960-acre parcel in the High Plains Business Park. That project, recently making headlines because of 

 that showed up in Cheyenne’s wastewater system, is set to open as early as 2027. 

Google’s new facility likely isn’t the last large tech company to show up in Cheyenne. In addition to its 10 existing locations, Cheyenne has five more under construction and another nine in advanced stages of discussion, according to data from Cheyenne LEADS. 

LEADS has also had 36 data center companies or site selectors express interest in Cheyenne or Laramie County, plus another 30 “tire kickers” that made at least one exploratory call.

Prometheus Hyperscale, meanwhile, has said it’s talking with “name-brand” companies for one gigawatt-scale data center 

Google’s project, according to planning documents filed with Laramie County, will be a 716-acre campus 8 miles south of Cheyenne in the Switchgrass Industrial Park, formerly used for seasonal cattle grazing. It is surrounded by rural, agricultural private and state-owned lands, as well as a solar field. 

The nearest residence is .1 miles east of the project. Single-family residences are also located .5 miles north and 1.34 miles south of the location. All of them are “low-density,” Google said in its filing.

Deeds filed with the application identify the owners as the Lazy D Grazing Association and Boyd and Allison Meyer. 

The application outlines a project that includes four data center halls and an office hub, as well as logistics and network buildings and new access roads off U.S. 85, with a planned completion date of 2031. The size of each data center hall is not mentioned, other than to describe them as “large-scale” facilities designed to support “a large number of computer servers operating simultaneously, along with associated mechanical and electrical equipment” for high-density computer workloads.

Google’s data center facilities are being built by Jupiter Star Holdings, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Jupiter Star Holdings is replacing Crusoe, which last month told Bloomberg it’d been asked to “pause” construction of Project Jade at the customer’s request. 

That initially led some to believe the huge data center project, which can scale to up to 10 gigawatts, had been put on hold.

Subsequent statements, however, made it clear the project 

. Crusoe actually had been asked to pack up and leave by the data center client, which was taking over construction of the facilities. 

Tallgrass Energy executives told Cowboy State Daily at the time the project was “full steam ahead” and they would still be building out and delivering a bring-your-own power generation hub for the data center client. The client, Tallgrass added then, had not changed, though they declined to confirm who was building such a large data center.

Black Hills Energy also put out a media statement at the time, saying the project was continuing. In a subsequent interview with Cowboy State Daily about how the company is handling 

 coming to its Cheyenne-area grid, the company confirmed it is a partner in the project. 

That suggests the project will eventually be connecting to the existing electrical grid and infrastructure, even though it has been touted as bringing its own power.

Google’s application says Tallgrass Energy will “combine energy resources from Black Hills Energy, fuel cells, and its power plant” to a substation that will serve power to the data center campus.

Wastewater treatment, meanwhile, will occur on site with evaporative lagoon storage. Connection to Cheyenne’s municipal wastewater system was not deemed cost-effective. 

All wastes will be handled in accordance with applicable local, state, and federal laws, the document goes on to say, and disturbed areas will be revegetated with native or adapted dry-land perennial vegetation. 

Traffic studies will also be conducted, and efforts will be made to minimize noise, wildlife impact, and visual impacts.

Most of the new details about the former Project Jade aren’t coming from press conferences and ribbon cuttings right now. They’re from a June 30 site-plan amendment, filed with Laramie County’s Planning and Development, along with a stack of other documents.

The site-plan overview filed with the amendment identifies Google in its first sentence, publicly revealing the company behind the former Project Jade for the first time.

Google, through Jupiter Star Holdings, has also sent out a required “adjacent neighbor” notice identifying a 32.83-acre area where an office support facility is planned. That was not part of Project Jade’s original conditional-use permit, the letter says.

A hearing has thus been set for the required permit at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 13 in the Laramie County Commission chambers. 

Comments on the matter are to be accepted through July 31, and may be emailed to 

Taken together, the January approvals for Project Jade and June’s amended filings for what’s now being called Project Tembo show that Wyoming’s biggest data center has quietly shifted from a Crusoe-branded campus with an unnamed “hyperscale” client to a Google-owned build advancing through Laramie County’s land use processes. 

That evolution is happening alongside other large-scale tech build-outs in Cheyenne, a city once known as the Magic City on the Plains for its seemingly overnight growth when the Union Pacific railroad arrived.

Some local observers, including longtime Cheyenne attorney and Councilman Larry Wolfe, have begun questioning whether data center and power planning are keeping pace with the speed and scale of these projects. 

It’s a debate that’s likely to grow as Tembo and other campuses continue to converge on Cheyenne’s new tech frontier.

Google 7 8 26

<title>Say Hello To Google, The Mystery Owner Behind Wyoming's Largest Data Center Project | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The 2.7-gigawatt data center once called Project Jade 8 miles south of Cheyenne has been unmasked as a massive Google campus. Google’s project, according to planning documents, will be a 716-acre campus in the Switchgrass Industrial Park.

Say Hello To Google, The Mystery Owner Behind Wyoming's Largest Data Center Project

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

A 24-year-old Texan had spent days riding his Triumph motorcycle across the country, detouring through Utah for repairs, crossing Idaho and climbing into Wyoming on what he hoped would become a journey through all 50 states.

As Caleb Batista crested Teton Pass on Tuesday morning, he lifted the visor on his helmet and looked out over the valley below.

"I remember just thinking, 'Oh my God, I rode my bike all the way from flat Texas to this place'," Batista told Cowboy State Daily. "It's a beautiful valley. I can't believe I made it. I'm finally here."

Hungry after skipping breakfast, he started wondering whether Jackson had a McDonald's where he could grab a cheap hamburger.

Seconds later, he was flying through the air after an 

 slammed into his motorcycle from behind.

"I didn't hear an engine, didn't hear brakes, didn't hear squealing or anything," Batista said. "Just boom."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Better View "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"For Batista, the trip wasn't just a vacation. "}]

He told Cowboy State Daily he had recently lost his job and was going through a divorce. Rather than sit at home, he decided to chase something he'd always wanted to do.

"I love to travel," he said. "I decided to go on a motorcycle trip because I have a lot of big things happening in my life right now ... so I decided, 'Why don't I take a trip and get my mind off things?’ "

The journey had already thrown him a curveball days earlier when his bike was having mechanical problems that forced him to stay in Salt Lake City waiting for replacement parts before continuing north.

He spent Monday night in Idaho before setting off toward Yellowstone National Park through Teton Pass.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It was actually a really beautiful ride,\" he said."}]

Because he was on a motorcycle, he was able to pass slower traffic in designated passing zones.

[{"type":"text","text":"Near the summit, he overtook a dump truck hauling asphalt."}]

As Batista started down the east side of the pass, he slowed to take in the scenery.

[{"type":"text","text":"He raised his helmet visor for a better view. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I was just thinking, 'I'm finally here',\" the 24-year-old said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then everything changed."}]

"I wish to God there was some warning," he said. "It's my worst fear, getting hit from behind on a motorcycle."

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

[{"type":"text","text":"Batista said the impact launched him from his motorcycle. "}]

"I thought maybe I was dreaming," he said. "I thought that I would hit the guardrail, and then fly over the guardrail, and then fly off the cliff. I thought that for a second."

[{"type":"text","text":"His motorcycle cartwheeled nearby."}]

Blood streamed down his face after striking the asphalt.

"I could feel my bones crunching. Like, I could feel, you know, my back every time I hit the ground, my helmet,” Batista said. "Thank God I was wearing my gear. I would probably not have survived, or I would be paralyzed if I didn't have it on, because I hit my head so many times on the ground."

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I thought, 'Oh my God, I'm going to die’.\" "}]

As Batista lay injured on the shoulder, another motorcyclist who had been riding behind him rushed to his side, reassuring him like "a father figure" and telling him, "You're OK, man. You're OK."

From the gurney, Batista could see what he described as "all the carnage ahead." He asked an EMT what had happened, but the medic didn't want to say much, telling him only that "some people aren't going to be the same after today."

The full weight of those words didn't hit until Batista arrived at the hospital and learned two people had died. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Survivor's Guilt"}]

A Wyoming Highway Patrol crash report shows the Kenworth dump truck that struck Batista lost its brakes while descending Teton Pass near milepost 6.8 shortly before 11:45 a.m. Tuesday.

Investigators say the truck first rear-ended Batista's Triumph motorcycle before continuing downhill, striking five more vehicles.

The chain-reaction crash killed Nicholas Besobrasow, 66, of Tetonia, Idaho, and David Page, 57, of Mammoth Lakes, California.

[{"type":"text","text":"Four other people were injured."}]

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

[{"type":"text","text":"\"That's probably the hardest part for me,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I have a lot of survivor's guilt.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"His voice broke as he explained why."}]

"I don't have a lot of people depending on me," he said. "I'm just a single guy. It should have been me."

Doctors treated him for a dislocated shoulder, a foot injury he believes is fractured, road rash across much of his body and facial injuries requiring stitches.

"If I hadn't been wearing my gear," he said, "I probably would not have survived."

[{"type":"text","text":"His Triumph motorcycle was destroyed."}]

 has been established to help Batista with mounting medical bills, temporary living expenses and replacing belongings lost when his motorcycle was destroyed in the crash.

Motorcyclist teton 7 8 26

<title>Texas Motorcyclist Hit By Dump Truck On Teton Pass Thought He Was Going To Die | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A motorcyclist who was hit by an out-of-control dump truck Tuesday on Teton Pass said he could feel his bones "crunching" as he tumbled across the pavement. "I thought I was going to fly off the cliff," he said. Two people were killed in the crash.

One More For The Road: Saturday, March 9, 2024

In case you missed it

More in One More For The Road

One More For The Road: Wednesday, July 8, 2026

One More For The Road: Tuesday, July 7, 2026

One More For The Road: Monday, July 6, 2026

One More For The Road: Sunday, July 5, 2026

Most read