Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"Worst ceremonial pitch in baseball history??"}]

Darwin 5 2 24

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Thursday, May 2, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Worst ceremonial pitch in baseball history??

Daily Darwin: Thursday, May 2, 2024

 Worst ceremonial pitch in baseball history??

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

Darwin no play 6 27 26

<title>Daily Darwin: Saturday, June 27, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

text text text

Daily Darwin: Saturday, June 27, 2026

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Legislature

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office on Friday released body camera video 

of the Dec. 28 DUI arrest of state Rep. Bill Allemand in response to a Cowboy State Daily request.

Cowboy State Daily had viewed about 18 minutes of the body camera video in Buffalo Circuit Court at a March 

 hearing, but Friday’s release spans roughly one hour over the course of Allemand’s 

 and jail booking in Buffalo just after midday Dec. 28. 

It omits a recitation of Allemand's driver's license number, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office said in an email. 

The video shows Allemand, a Republican representative from Midwest, Wyoming, arguing with Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputy Caleb Campbell.

Allemand voices disagreement about whether Campbell had grounds for the initial traffic stop. Allemand develops a more adversarial stance toward the deputy throughout his arrest, ultimately calling him an “asshole” and saying he’s not a good person.  

“I don’t know why you would say that,” says Campbell. “I thought I was pretty respectful.”

Allemand offers to pay for the deputy’s gas at a fuel stop on the way to jail. He informs the deputy he’s a legislator.

Once in jail, Allemand emphasizes that he has an “Honor Wyoming” 

 — a reference to the Honor Wyoming political group that has 

[{"type":"text","text":"He also jokes with the booking deputies."}]

While getting his booking photo taken, Allemand muses, “Wow! This is going to be on Cowboy State Daily. You can sell these pictures to Cowboy State Daily, probably for a million dollars.”

The booking deputy jokes, “K, well, we’ll try. I’ll split it with you.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“I don’t want none of it,” Allemand answers."}]

Booking photos from Johnson County and across the state are free 

[{"type":"text","text":"Why So Colorful?"}]

Allemand’s attorney Mike Vang told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday phone interview that Allemand was likely growing frustrated with the deputy because he thought he was

Buffalo Circuit Court Magistrate Jeremy Kisling 

 that Campbell had enough evidence for the initial traffic stop and to continue the traffic stop.

The Johnson County Attorney’s Office can use several minutes worth of evidence from the stop, which include Allemand 

failing his field sobriety tests, swaying, stumbling, and slurring his speech.

But prosecutors can’t use as direct evidence the potentially incriminating things Allemand said during a 12-minute stretch where he was detained in handcuffs, but hadn’t been read his Miranda rights, Kisling ruled.

Campbell had stopped Allemand on claims that after stopping at a stop sign just off Interstate 25, Allemand lurched forward, nearly hit another vehicle, then stopped abruptly.

This, coupled with the evidence that Allemand was the subject of a drunk driving report by another driver on the Interstate near Buffalo, made for enough evidence to justify Campbell’s stop, Kisling ruled.

[{"type":"text","text":"Vang said he still believes Kisling got the evidence question wrong."}]

“Here’s the big deal,” said Vang. “The cop never claimed he saw any type of a traffic violation except for Mr. Allemand allegedly running a stop sign.”

Vang said the dash camera recording “clearly shows Mr. Allemand never makes any driving infraction. He comes to a complete stop like he’s supposed to, just as he’s turning off the interstate.”

The dash camera video of the contested stop, played at the March hearing, is grainy and inconclusive.

As a car approaches from the left, said Vang, “it was obscured from his view.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand stopped to avoid hitting it."}]

“That deputy lacks the skills to properly do a DUI investigation,” said Vang.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a late-day Friday request for a response to that.

Allemand is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 16. That’s a month after the heated Republican 

 he’s now waging against Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer, set for Aug. 18.

Elected in 2022, Allemand is in his second term in the state House of Representatives. He's also a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a group of populist-leaning House Republicans. 

[{"type":"text","text":"From The Beginning Now"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The body camera video projects the view from Campbell’s torso forward."}]

It shows the deputy approaching Allemand in the parking lot of a gas station in Buffalo, Miller’s Travel Center. 

As Campbell approaches Allemand's truck in the video, the lawmaker appears to be sitting in the driver’s seat of a blue pickup looking at a cellphone.

Vang told Cowboy State Daily the lawmaker stopped there to get fuel, not avoid law enforcement.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell raps on the window and says “howdy.\"  "}]

Allemand talks to him, asks what he did wrong, and after a brief exchange, leans over his passenger seat to retrieve documents for the deputy. 

In the video, the lawmaker is dressed in a casual blue T-shirt, his hair somewhat ruffled. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks Allemand why his speech sounds the way it does."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“I dunno,” answers Allemand, handing the deputy a document. "}]

At legislative meetings and elsewhere Allemand speaks loudly, somewhat slowly and with a unique cadence. That pattern also surfaces in the video, though Allemand’s speech sounds less articulate than usual in the 

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell would later report that Allemand's speech was “slurred.” "}]

In the video, the deputy orders Allemand to exit the vehicle, and Allemand does. 

[{"type":"text","text":"“K, am I being arrested?” asks Allemand. "}]

“You’re being detained right now,” Campbell answers. The deputy explains that there’s a firearm in the truck, which he says Allemand “did not disclose.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand says he has a conceal carry permit for it. "}]

Though Kisling disagreed with Campbell questioning Allemand in confinement without first giving his Miranda rights, the magistrate ruled last week that it was fair of Campbell to detain Allemand because of the gun.

 merited that detainment, Kisling ruled.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Reason I Stopped You"}]

Campbell later tells Allemand that he watched Allemand stop at an intersection, start to pull into traffic, and “almost hit a car.” Campbell also notes that Allemand was reportedly the subject of a report every drunk driving incident, or REDDI report.

The caller had reported man in his 60s with white hair driving a blue pickup all over the interstate, from rumble strip to rumble strip, court documents say.

“You did stop at the stop sign, but the way you stopped was improper,” says Campbell in the video.

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand voices disagreement and confusion. At one point he chuckles."}]

“You went past the stop sign,” explains Campbell. “But you stopped — but only because there was a vehicle in front of you that you were going to hit. So that gives me reasonable suspicion to stop you.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand says, “I don’t understand that. If I stop — “"}]

Campbell interrupts and says these events give him reasonable suspicion for the stop, as does the REDDI report.

[{"type":"text","text":"This Won’t Be In The Case In Chief"}]

While detaining Allemand, Campbell asked a series of questions that Kisling found, in his order last week, could lead to Allemand incriminating himself.

Because Allemand was confined and hadn’t been read his Miranda rights at that juncture, the Johnson County Attorney’s Office won’t be able to use the following exchange in its direct evidence pool at trial.

But because Campbell didn’t coerce, trick, or deceive Allemand into giving the answers he gave, the prosecutor may still “impeach” or fact check Allemand if he says something that contradicts these statements in court.

Law enforcement officers are supposed to read a person his Miranda rights before asking incriminating questions, if the person is confined to such an extent that a reasonable person in his shoes wouldn’t feel free to leave.

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks, “Did you drink anything today?”"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Yes,” answers Allemand. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks how much. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Probably two beers,” says Allemand in the video. "}]

“That’s everybody’s answer,” parries Campbell while handcuffing Allemand. 

[{"type":"text","text":"“So what did I do illegal?” Allemand asks in the video. "}]

He was driving erratically, he was reported as a drunk driver and he stopped just short of hitting a vehicle, answers Campbell, adding, “if that makes sense.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“No, it don’t,” says Allemand, who leans on his truck. "}]

After more back-and-forth, Allemand challenges Campbell’s assertion about the intersection.

“So I did stop at the stop sign, but it was an improper stop. Is that what you’re telling me?” he asks. “I don’t understand that.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell calls for another deputy to come to the scene. "}]

Allemand says there’s a firearm on his hip, feels his hip and says, “Oh, OK, I put it off.”

Campbell opined from the witness stand in March that Allemand was indicating he had lost track of his gun. 

[{"type":"text","text":"‘I Had Two Beers'"}]

In the video, Campbell’s backup deputy arrives. Campbell pats Allemand down for weapons. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand, standing outside in his T-shirt and pants, asks for a coat. "}]

Campbell circles to the passenger side of the pickup, opens the door, moves aside a cowboy hat and retrieves the pistol. 

Campbell manipulates the gun and tries to talk to someone on his radio. He references static interfering with his message, and says he can go back to his vehicle to use the radio. 

He does go back to his vehicle to communicate Allemand’s date of birth and particulars about the gun, then returns to Allemand. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand is still handcuffed at this juncture. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Campbell asks if Allemand is under the care of a doctor, and for what. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The answer is yes, and for blood pressure and hearing, says Allemand. "}]

Campbell’s backup deputy asks if Campbell wants him to take the handcuffs off Allemand. Campbell doesn’t verbally answer the other deputy.

[{"type":"text","text":"“You are taking me to jail?” Allemand asks. "}]

“Not yet,” says Campbell. “I’m trying to figure out what level intoxication you are.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“I had two beers,” answers Allemand. "}]

After more back and forth, Campbell says, “I just want you to be honest,” and Allemand parries, “I am being honest, man. What do you need me to do?”

[{"type":"text","text":"“When was the last drink you had?” asks Campbell. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand says his last drink was 15 miles down the road. "}]

“I have a little bit of a problem. That I have anxieties of driving down interstates,” he says, adding that two-lane roads don’t bother him but he’s learned that if he has a beer when he drives down the interstate “it’s so much better” though he “knows it’s highly illegal.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand says he has balance problems, and has had two knee replacements."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"But Prosecutors Can Use This Stuff"}]

Allemand’s handcuffs are removed and Campbell discusses field sobriety tests. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand rubs his wrists and says, “Ah, that feels better.”"}]

He stumbles toward Campbell, who steadies him with one hand and says, “Woah, personal space.” 

The other deputy retrieves Allemand’s jacket and brings it to him, while Campbell asks if Allemand has issues with his eyes.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Not that I know of,” answers Allemand. "}]

Allemand dui 6 26 26

<title>Johnson County Sheriff Releases Body Cam Video Of Rep. Bill Allemand's DUI Arrest | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Johnson County Sheriff's Office on Friday released body camera video of state Rep. Bill Allemand's December DUI arrest. Allemand grew more adversarial toward the deputy throughout his arrest, ultimately calling him an "asshole." 

Johnson County Sheriff Releases Body Cam Video Of Rep. Bill Allemand's DUI Arrest

Julie Mankin

Native American Tribes

When the Indian relay races return to the Sheridan WYO Rodeo next month, it will be without the event's longtime announcer of the past 30 years, who quit over an interaction with local law enforcement he claims had "racist overtones."

Kennard Real Bird said he will not return as announcer after the rodeo's directors declined to stand behind him and call out the Sheridan County Sheriff's Office for what Real Bird claims was inappropriate treatment of him after a 2025 arrest.

“I just had an issue with local law enforcement,” said Real Bird, an artist whose 2011 painting "Crow War Pony" hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. “I live on an island, so to speak, here on the reservation, and we don’t encounter racism here on a daily basis.”

"As a result of this incident with racist overtones, I decided to not go back for any further humiliation by the Sheridan community," he adds in a June 19 Facebook post about the interactions.

Real Bird, 76, of the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana, began calling Sheridan’s Indian relay races with his own brand of politically incorrect but engaging humor when the races were added to the rodeo in 1997. 

Real Bird told Cowboy State Daily he isn't retiring. He plans to call Indian relay races this summer at Cheyenne Frontier Days — which just added the event on both weekends — and at Wyoming Downs, plus rodeos in North Dakota, Montana and Alberta. 

In September, Real Bird will announce the 10th annual Championship of Champions, a three-day event held for the first time at Cheyenne’s Frontier Park.

[{"type":"text","text":"But he won't be in Sheridan."}]

“I’ve been in a grieving period knowing I’m not going back to Sheridan,” Real Bird said. “I love that audience — their love for the sport and the respect they give the Indian kids.”

[{"type":"text","text":"'Insulted An Humilitated'"}]

Real Bird said he was pulled over in July 2025 by the Wyoming Highway Patrol leaving the rodeo over a bench warrant for his arrest based on an unpaid 2018 speeding ticket. 

He said paid the ticket in 2022, when while attempting to renew his Montana driver’s license he was told by his DMV the Wyoming fine must be paid first.

“I paid it electronically,” he said. “A couple of days later, I went back to the DMV and they said, ‘OK, Wyoming has released your hold because you paid the fine.’ And they renewed my license.”

Nevertheless, Real Bird said he was handcuffed and taken to the Sheridan County Detention Center, where he was “insulted and humiliated” when stripped of his belt and boots and handcuffed to a counter.

“I asked, ‘Is this necessary?’” he recalled. “I’m 76 years old. I’ve been sober 49 years of my life. I was not a flight risk or a threat. I don’t know why they would want to treat me like that, other than me being an Indian.”

Deputy Dillon Buckmeier of the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Department said it's the same standard procedure for all bookings.

“We do a pat-down, take a photo, put them in a changing room to remove clothes, which we search, and we cuff them to a chair or the counter while they’re booked,” Buckmeier told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s safer if they’re secured.”

It was the second time in recent years an incident in Sheridan offended Real Bird, he said.

For decades, the former bronc rider, who still raises bucking horses, would make his way down behind the chutes to watch the rodeo’s bronc riding. One time, he had his young grandsons in tow. 

PRCA rules forbid kids behind the chutes, so security removed the Real Bird family.

Sheridan WYO Rodeo Executive Director Zane Garstad and WYO Indian Relay Director Jess Sams talked Real Bird into returning to keep announcing the races after that. 

And Sams asked him to return in 2026 as well, telling Real Bird the rodeo board doesn't get involved in what happens outside the fairgrounds. 

[{"type":"text","text":"'He's One Of A Kind'"}]

Real Bird's successor announcing the Indian races at the WYO Rodeo will be Randy Taylor, a University of Wyoming graduate and former National Finals Rodeo bareback rider of Cherokee descent. 

Taylor has known Real Bird since he was invited to Montana by the Crow Tribe to ride bucking horses and put up teepees in the 1980s.

“Indian relay is our country’s original extreme sport,” Taylor said. “Kennard’s family has been riding, raiding or bucking horses for 400 years. When the board asked me to do the job, I called Kennard first. I wanted his blessing and received it. 

"I’ll try to follow his path, but I’m not able to fill his moccasins. He’s one of a kind.”

Garstad said in a recent statement about Taylor that the WYO’s growth is largely due to Real Bird’s contributions.

Garstad pointed out the community continues to invest annually in the Indian Village and First Peoples’ Pow Wow. And Isabella Yellowtail, this year’s Miss Sheridan WYO Rodeo, is the second queen to hail from the Crow Reservation and first since Lucy Yellow Mule in 1951.

Sams said Real Bird will always have a home at the Sheridan WYO, and Real Bird said he remains fond of the event. Aware of rumors that some Indian relay teams might boycott because of his departure, Real Bird discourages the idea.

“Sheridan is one of the greatest places for Indian relay,” he said. “The athleticism and choreography are amazing. In the 1990s, a lot of the Indians were boozed up and not worthy. I wanted Native American teams to gain some respect. Over the years, we’ve developed professionalism. 

"I wanted to be part of that voice to elevate their stature. That’s what I think I did.”

[{"type":"text","text":"But he is standing firm on not returning."}]

“All I wanted was the board to stand behind me,” he said. “If they’re not willing to upset the law enforcement community, then I’m not willing to go back.

“I feel I’m justified in not going back. But I’m not putting a blanket indictment on the community of Sheridan. I just wanted the board whom I’ve dealt with for 30 years to have said, ‘Wait a minute, Mr. Law Enforcement, it wasn’t right what you did to Mr. Real Bird. He’s a valuable member of our community.'”

Ken Real Bird 1 6 26 26

<title>Longtime Voice Of Sheridan Indian Relay Quits Over Traffic Stop With 'Racist Overtones' | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The longtime voice of the Sheridan Indian Relay Races has quit over an interaction with law enforcement he claims had "racist overtones." He said the decision to not return was because the rodeo's board didn't stand behind him and condemn his treatment.

Longtime Voice Of Sheridan Indian Relay Quits Over Traffic Stop With 'Racist Overtones'

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Wyoming Life

For much of the week, the southeast corner of Wyoming sat beneath a series of severe thunderstorm and tornado watches as forecasters warned of damaging winds and isolated twisters.

For many Wyomingites, especially those living around Cheyenne, the warnings were nothing new.

While tornadoes often grab the headlines, longtime residents know another summer menace can be just as destructive: monster hail.

The southeast corner of Wyoming has earned a reputation for storms capable of dropping baseball-sized chunks of ice, shredding roofs, smashing windshields and turning an ordinary June afternoon into an insurance adjuster's busiest day of the year.

Meteorologists say that's no accident. Wyoming's unique geography helps create some of the nation's most favorable conditions for severe hail-producing thunderstorms.

Cheyenne meteorologist Colby Goatley said June marks the beginning of Wyoming's most active severe weather season because warm, moisture-rich air from the Gulf of Mexico finally pushes far enough north to collide with colder air arriving from Canada.

[{"type":"text","text":"That combination creates the unstable atmosphere thunderstorms thrive on."}]

Meteorologists begin each morning searching for the ingredients that could transform an ordinary summer afternoon into one filled with severe weather warnings.

Moisture near the ground, colder air aloft, an unstable atmosphere and shifting winds at different elevations all help determine whether thunderstorms are likely to become severe.

"June is an active month because the warm, moist air primarily from the Gulf ... is finally able to start intruding into this region," Goatley said. "Combined with the colder air we're getting from the north, it helps fuel thunderstorm activity."

[{"type":"text","text":"Justin Ochsner has spent years watching what those storms leave behind."}]

The Cheyenne roofing contractor with Residential Roofing LC said southeast Wyoming is so prone to damaging hail that people in the industry simply call it "a hail market."

"The general lifespan of a roof in Cheyenne is about eight years, just because of weather — between wind and hail," Ochsner said.

Elsewhere in the country, asphalt-shingle roofs often last 20 years or more. In southeast Wyoming, intense ultraviolet rays, relentless winds, freeze-thaw cycles and frequent hail dramatically shorten that lifespan.

"We do live in what we call a hail market because we get hit with hail so often," Ochsner said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Some years produce relatively little damage. Then the cycle flips."}]

"We might have a drought for three or four years, and then we'll get hit two or three years in a row," Ochsner said.

He points to Aug. 1, 2025, as one of the worst recent examples, when baseball- and softball-sized hail battered parts of Cheyenne. The phones started ringing as homeowners discovered damaged roofs across the city, he said.

Even homeowners who invest in impact-resistant shingles aren't always spared.

Fresh hail damage often appears as dark bruises on shingles, Ochsner said. Over time, Wyoming's intense sunshine eats away the damaged asphalt until the fiberglass mat underneath is exposed, eventually leading to leaks if the roof isn't replaced.

For lifelong Cheyenne residents, severe summer weather is simply part of living on the High Plains.

State Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, remembers destructive hailstorms in 2018 and again last Aug. 1. But the city's history with violent weather stretches back much further.

As a child more than 30 years ago, Brown remembers tornadoes touching down around Cheyenne. His parents still talk about the 

 and the August 1, 1985 flood, which killed 12 people. The flooding claimed lives in what is now Brown's legislative district.

"Lots of stuff has happened here," Brown said. "We have such a unique setup here that a lot of people don't realize just how unique Cheyenne is."

That history has shaped how residents react when severe weather is forecast.

"If they know it's happening, they try to go find a place to go," Brown said, referring to moving vehicles under cover. "But there's also people that just ... know that it's part of living in Cheyenne, that we're going to have hail-damaged cars for a while."

While this week's storms have passed, Brown said nobody in Cheyenne believes the season is over.

"Frontier Days is always the time that we get one or two good storms," he said.

For much of the week, the southeast corner of Wyoming had a series of tornado watches and warnings. While tornadoes grab the headlines, residents know the real menace is monster hail. "We're where the storms like to start," said meteorologist Colby Goatley.

Daily Darwin: Thursday, May 2, 2024

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