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

<title>Daily Darwin: Thursday, May 30, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Darwin: Thursday, May 30, 2024

 We're not saying this is the best way to use an escalator, but it may be the quickest way....

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

The copy of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s diary released this week shows the former White House COVID advisor fixating over the press, mentioning Wyoming's low vaccinations rates and praising former Rep. U.S. Liz Cheney for what Fauci called her courage in opposing the president. 

U.S. Sen Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, released the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director’s diary over the weekend in anticipation of a Wednesday hearing.

Fauci alternated fluidly between documenting death tolls and the “hot and heavy” coverage with which the press swarmed him. He documented his media features, interviews and appearances almost daily for months.

“The Fauci cult continues,” wrote Fauci in reference to August media reports.

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming features in the diary twice."}]

An April 10, 2020, entry documents calls with governors seeking Fauci’s guidance and to air their concern about the devastating economic fallout: “17 million jobs lost within the past 4 weeks.”

Even the massive infusion of federal relief dollars couldn’t spare the states, and some red-state governors urged counsel on how to get their people back to work safely, the entry says.

“Call with Gov. Mark Gordon of Wyoming – same discussion,” wrote Fauci. “What advice and counsel of returning to normal.”

“All these Governors are calling me because of my credibility and reputation to run their plans by me and ask for my opinion and help … message back to (the task force and president,” the director added.

A July 4, 2021, entry says Wyoming and other states had COVID surges due to lower vaccination rates. 

Former U.S. House Rep. Liz Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, appear multiple times in the diary.

Republicans and conservative news commentators started “blasting” Fauci for his shutdown policies on about May 13, 2020. So did Paul, in a May 12 Senate hearing.

[{"type":"text","text":"Julia Roberts mooned over Fauci that same week, the diary says."}]

“Dick Cheney called me to thank me for what I was doing and to say that he fully supported me,” wrote Fauci. “I acknowledged and thanked him and his daughter Liz for sticking up for me after the Senate Hearing yesterday.”

The former vice president was “muted in his criticism of Trump,” Fauci continued. “But he did agree that Trump was living in an alternative universe.”

Fauci wrote three days later that he told Vice President Mike Pence of how Cheney had called him into the White House 19 years prior to discuss the anthrax attacks.

[{"type":"text","text":"On Aug. 4, 2021, Dick Cheney called again, the diary says."}]

Cheney had had a heart transplant years prior and was on an immunosuppressive regimen, wrote Fauci.

“It is likely that his immune response two (sic) the vaccine is suboptimal.”

Cheney’s cardiologist recommended the former vice president call Fauci, the diary says.

“I made it very clear to Cheney that I strongly recommended he get the third boost of the mRNA since he is highly susceptible to getting infected if he comes into contact with an infected person,” Fauci wrote.

He added that they discussed “the courage of his daughter Liz Cheney and sticking up against the far right Republicans who want to whitewash the January 6th insurrection.”

Fauci voiced his appreciation “that she has been sticking up for me,” says the entry.

[{"type":"text","text":"What Wyoming's Pendley Remembers"}]

The diary also stunned a former Trump department head, who contrasted Fauci’s apparent fixation with media attention with the “traumatic” efforts others undertook to address COVID19.

William Perry Pendley, a Wyomingite who then led Trump’s U.S. Bureau of Land Management, criticized Fauci in a Monday post to X and a Tuesday interview with Cowboy State Daily.

“What struck me, and struck a lot of people on X, was just the contrast,” Pendley told Cowboy State Daily, “That while he’s getting over his celebrity status, hundreds of people at the Department of Interior are taking this very, very seriously, and regarding it as something from the White House saying this is a life-and-death matter. This is a national crisis.”

Pendley said with preparation, duration and follow-up directives, the meetings consumed two to three hours of each day. Interior leadership worried about the health of the roughly 70,000 employees under their umbrella, he said.

“While Fauci basked in the media's attention, I ran Trump's BLM & was on daily Zoom calls with Interior's number two official with scores of others,” wrote Pendley on X. “Untold hours by hundreds of employees were needed to prepare for & follow up on those needlessly traumatic meetings. Shame on him.”

Fauci’s diary also features his numerous concerns about deaths and sickness.

But first, Fauci opined in a Feb. 8, 2020, phone call that the virus was “acting like a bad influenza” and showed a case fatality rate of 0.2%-0.3%, his diary says.

The messaging was, “You’ve got to devote all your energy and skills to addressing this,” added Pendley in his interview.

[{"type":"text","text":"The ‘Hot And Heavy’ Press"}]

Entanglements and preoccupations with “press” that permeate nearly every entry.

“Press still hot and heavy about me,” says an April 7, 2020 entry. “Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me.”

He documented the Fauci cartoons, Fauci underwear and other merchandise, news and book interviews, and the false claims and conspiracy theories about him that surfaced starting in 2020.

From about May through July 2020, Fauci documented numerous instances of complaining to White House personnel that he wasn’t placed in enough interviews, the diary shows.

Fauci also claimed embarrassment at receiving hugs and kisses from then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and at President Donald Trump touting Fauci’s intelligence to First Lady Melania.

And he lamented where, according to him, the press got the story wrong in its fervor to pit him as a “foil” against Trump.

Mainstream media and columnists elevated Fauci for his calm demeanor and his willingness to contradict Trump starting in spring of 2020. Fauci had pushed for longer business and school closures, while Trump urged the director, who was part of the White House’s COVID19 task force, to find a way to reopen the nation by Easter.

“Continued crazy stuff: Petition to name me ‘Sexiest Man Alive,’” says an April 1, 2020 entry. “Videos (sic) games named after me; Fauci Bobblehead; dishes in redstaurants (sic) named after me, and on and on.”

In that same entry Fauci documented a “good conversation” with Bill Gates regarding the advanced development and scaleup of vaccines.

That later contrasted with what Fauci called White House response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx’s unfavorable view toward mRNA vaccines. Fauci cast her discomfort as a prejudice.

[{"type":"text","text":"Celebrities, Vaccines, And The Red States Reopening"}]

An April 29, 2020, entry details a Zoom call between Fauci and a “whole list of celebrities,” organized by Kim Kardashian.

That list featured Kate Hudson, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Chris Rock, Scooter Braun, Josh Gad, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Kendall Jenner, Ariana Grande, Paula Abdul, Demi Lovato, and Michael Jordan – to name a few.

Fauci noted the USA COVID case tally at 3 million that day and the death toll at 203,000.

Fauci urged repeatedly against letting the states “reopen” but when several did in mid-May, the virologist noted an interesting development.

“What is evolving is that states that are opening thus far are not seeing an increase in cases,” says a May 17, 2020, entry. “In fact, some are seeing decreases. We need another couple of weeks to se (sic) what is happening. Interesting that they might be paying attention more to mask use and social distancing as they open.”

But acute outbreaks still hit nursing homes, prisons, meatpacking plants and industries where workers lived in dormitory-like quarters, he wrote.

[{"type":"text","text":"“This is easily recognizable and quickly contained,” he wrote."}]

A June 25, 2020 entry says, “Contact tracing does not work.” He called contact tracing an abject failure.

He cast the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as incompetent – repeatedly across multiple entries.

He described an at-times affectionate, at-times icy relationship with Trump, almost always worsened by the press’s fervor in making Fauci a calm and well-informed anti-Trump figure.

A Feb. 12, 2020, entry has Fauci writing that World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

“depends greatly on China and often bows to them.”

Officials were at that time developing a WHO working group that lacked representation from China, Fauci wrote.

He detailed his friendship with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and helpful messaging by the latter’s news-commentator brother Chris Cuomo.

By March 29, the “CRAZY PRESS” wave had turned political, the diary says.

“The fringe far-right crazies are cooking conspiracy theories that I am a Hilary Clinton mole trying to destroy Trump,” says the entry. But at that time, “Trump continues to become more and more enamored of me.”

One media disaster culminated in Trump saying “his right wing base is causing a lot of trouble,” says an April 13, 2020, entry.

Regarding the vaccine development, a May 17, 2020, entry says “We are well into the process and I just do not want any person or organization or structure to get in my way.”

A June 15, 2020, entry questions why a Chinese study group had a mouse model of SARS-CoV-2 infection as early as August 2019.

“Why would they be doing that last summer??? They could have been studying SARS, but they already had mouse models,” says the entry. “Possible they just wanted to use a better technique… OR they knew that SARS-CoV-2 already existed and the outbreak was already ongoing.”

Regarding the dramatic press saga of Fauci vs. Trump, the entry says, “Most people (sic) expressing outrage that the trump administration woud (sic) be so bumbling and incompetent to try to discredit the most credible scientist in the world.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Rand Paul’s Focus"}]

In a “Tony’s Diary” cover page set in pink cursive font – like a teen girl’s diary – along with other mocking insignia, Paul detailed places where Fauci’s diary contradicts his public messaging.

When other professionals swapped theories about the virus’ origins in January 2020, Paul noted from the diary, the doctors had a sincere debate about whether the virus had natural or lab-leak origins.

“Before most Americans knew there was an origins debate, the government’s top infectious disease official was already confronting the lab scenario,” wrote Paul.

[{"type":"text","text":"Paul has long said the virus originated in a lab leak."}]

Fauci dismissed that theory publicly in 2020 in 2021 with the claim his critics “are really criticizing science because I represent science.” The lab leak theory has since garnered credibility.

“The fact that the lab in question had received a 2014 grant (through an intermediary) from NIAID for ‘gain of function’ research may help explain Fauci’s reluctance to come clean about the need to investigate,” opined the editors of The Free Press in a 

Fauci cheney 7 28 26

<title>Dr. Anthony Fauci's Diary Covers Wyoming’s Low Vax Rates, Liz Cheney’s ‘Courage’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

In the more than 1,100 pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci's diary released over the weekend, he mentioned Wyoming’s low COVID vaccination rates, his admiration of Liz Cheney and his conversations with Dick Cheney. He appeared fixated on the "hot and heavy" press.

Dr. Anthony Fauci's Diary Covers Wyoming’s Low Vax Rates, Liz Cheney’s ‘Courage’

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

DOUGLAS — Saying through his court-appointed public defender that he’s afraid for his life if he shows his face, a Converse County man facing 72 felony child sex and pornography charges failed to show up for his plea hearing Tuesday afternoon.

By no-showing his arraignment in Converse County District Court, John Charles Smallbone also forfeits the $250,000 cash someone posted on his behalf to get out of jail June 24. 

“I waited a couple more minutes (to begin the hearing), and your client is not here,” Judge F. Scott Peasley said to Smallbone’s public defender, Denny Harts.

“He has expressed fear for his life,” Harts responded as about 25 people gathered in the second-floor courtroom at the Converse County Justice Center. 

“I reassured him he would be safe, but he is not here,” Harts added.

Peasley then issued a new warrant for Smallbone’s arrest for missing his hearing, while Converse County Deputy Attorney Nathan Shumway said he had just filed new charges on top of the 72 Smallbone already faces.

Those new charges weren’t yet in the court system immediately after the hearing, which from start to finish took about three minutes.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"On The Run"}]

Already a wanted man, Smallbone should have already been in police custody and available for Tuesday’s arraignment, Shumway said.

The prosecutor referenced an incident in Colorado last week when a 

Fort Collins magistrate allowed Smallbone to walk out

 of the Larimer County Detention Center on his own recognizance instead of holding him on a fugitive warrant out of Wyoming.

“There were issues with executing our warrant in Colorado,” Shumway said, echoing the frustration Converse County Sheriff’s Office officials have expressed since Smallbone was released on Thursday.

Instead of having a man accused of committing dozens of illegal sex acts with kids in custody, “We’re out looking for him again,” Converse County Undersheriff Chris Walsh 

told Cowboy State Daily after Smallbone’s Colorado release.

 “And we’re going to find him again. The freedom clock on him is running out.”

Walsh said whatever snafu allowed a wanted man to be released didn’t happen on Converse County’s end of the transaction. He was just as surprised as everyone to learn Smallbone was released.

“We’d been working with investigators there in Larimer County; we provided them with all of our warrant information, all our affidavits,” Walsh told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.

Add the Larimer County District Attorney’s Office in Colorado to the list of agencies unhappy with the magistrate’s decision.

“Mr. Smallbone was taken into custody on a valid and active warrant out of Wyoming, which included dozens of allegations of sexual crimes against children,” agency spokesperson Kylie Masserman said in a Monday email to Cowboy State Daily.

Masserman confirmed Walsh’s account that “all required information to set bond was provided to the court.”

She said her office also asked Magistrate Heather Siegel to also issue a $250,000 cash-only bond for Smallbone. 

That’s because the objective was “to keep him in custody until he could be transferred back to Wyoming to face his charges,” she said in the statement. “This request was consistent with what the Wyoming authorities requested and consistent with our practices on cases of this severity.”

Masserman said that instead, the personal recognizance bond was issued “contrary to our request.”

“The District Attorney’s Office strongly believes that this bond setting is dangerous and has put the communities in both Colorado and Wyoming at risk,” she said. “Giving a free pass to dangerous out-of-state offenders fleeing to Colorado sets a terrible precedent and risks further harm to the victims in the Wyoming case.’

When contacted by Cowboy State Daily on Friday to inquire about Smallbone’s bond, a staffer in Siegel’s office said the magistrate didn’t have that paperwork in front of her at the time of the hearing.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ready For Anything"}]

Meanwhile, Converse County officials were ready and waiting in case Smallbone did show up for his Tuesday hearing, or for any trouble that might ensue because of the nature of the allegations against him.

Sheriff Clint Becker was leaning on a rail outside the justice center ahead of the scheduled hearing, flanked by five deputies. 

Three more deputies manned the security station just inside the front doors, and two Douglas cops were hanging out inside the courtroom.

While there were no emotional fireworks, Becker said he and his deputies were ready “just in case.”

It was the same inside the courtroom, which looked a bit like a shotgun wedding, with the 30 or so people watching from the gallery choosing to sit behind the prosecutor’s table.

Of the three people on the other side behind the public defender, two were reporters seated there for a better view of Smallbone in case he was in attendance.

Along with relaying his client’s fear for his life, public defender Harts also will have to continue representing Smallbone, at least for now.

While the Converse County Public Defender’s Office has filed a motion with Peasley to withdraw from the case, the judge said Tuesday he needs to talk to Smallbone in person before making a decision.

Smallbone was appointed a public defender to represent him when he was first charged with the 72 felony charges because he claimed he couldn’t afford an attorney on his own, according to the motion.

But after someone walked into the jail with a quarter of a million in cash to get him out of jail, he doesn’t qualify, the motion says.

“The defendant had the ability to post two hundred fifty thousand ($250,000) dollars cash in bond,” says the motion to reconsider the court appointment. “The defendant stated on his application for court-appointed counsel he had no ability to borrow money for his legal defense.”

Smallbone 7 28 26

<title>No-Show! Douglas Man Wanted On 72 Child Sex-Related Charges Doesn't Show Up To Court | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Wyoming man facing 72 felony child sex charges was a no-show for his plea hearing Tuesday in Douglas. John Smallbone was released on his own recognizance by a Colorado court last week. Law enforcement officials are angered that he was set free.

No-Show! Douglas Man Wanted On 72 Child Sex-Related Charges Doesn't Show Up To Court

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Prosecutors say a man repeatedly shot two of his roommates with BB guns, beat one with a wooden walking cane, and even coerced a child into participating in one of the assaults before continuing the attack himself.

The criminal case against Pancho Villa Flores, born in 1971, is now moving forward with an arraignment scheduled for Aug. 5. 

He faces one felony count of aggravated assault and battery, one felony count of child abuse and two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment. 

The allegations, detailed in affidavits filed by the Cheyenne Police Department, describe two  victims who investigators say were assaulted days apart.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Multiple BB Wounds"}]

Police first became involved after officers responded to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center to speak with a man who arrived by ambulance.

Investigators documented puncture wounds across his back, buttocks, knees and right calf. Both knees were red and swollen, and hospital staff told police several BBs remained embedded in his body.

The man told officers Flores shot him repeatedly over several days using BB rifles.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It hurt like a sonofabitch,\" he told investigators."}]

He said the shots to his knees were the worst and left him unable to walk for a time.

The man also told police he was afraid to report the shootings because he feared Flores would "beat him up or kill him in retaliation."

The affidavit says the man had been living with Flores for about seven months. He told investigators Flores held power of attorney over him, received his Social Security benefits and deducted rent and other expenses before giving him what remained.

He said he was "lucky" if Flores gave him between $50 and $100 each month from those benefits and complained he had received only $20 that month.

When officers later went to Flores' residence, they reported seeing two rifles that appeared to be BB guns through the open front door. Police photographed the weapons from outside the home, then returned to the hospital, where the man identified them as the guns Flores used.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Blow A Cap In His Ass' "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"According to court documents, Flores denied shooting anyone."}]

Instead, he told investigators a juvenile identified only as L.R. had shot both him and his roommate.

But the child's account was dramatically different. L.R. told investigators Flores had bought him fishing and camping gear and recently took him camping.

After returning home June 21, the child said he was lying in the front yard when Flores came outside and claimed the man had failed to complete chores.

Flores then told the child he needed to "blow a cap in his ass," shows the affidavit. 

L.R. told police he refused, but said Flores responded by threatening to shoot him instead. 

The child told investigators Flores then fired the air rifle into his back, striking him just left of his spine and above his left buttock.

Afraid of being shot again, L.R. said he took the rifle and went into the basement, where Flores again instructed him to shoot the man.

[{"type":"text","text":"The child told investigators he was crying as Flores laughed."}]

Not wanting to seriously injure the man, the child said he intentionally shot him in the buttocks and calf.

Flores then took back  the rifle and allegedly continued shooting the man in the knees and back. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Second Roommate Hospitalized"}]

Less than a week later, detectives contacted another roommate at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center.

He told investigators Flores assaulted him several days earlier after accusing him of stealing whiskey.

Flores allegedly forced his way into the second roommate's bedroom and struck him on the head with a wooden walking cane.

[{"type":"text","text":"The man said his head \"bled a lot,\" but he did not lose consciousness."}]

The next day, he told investigators Flores returned, entered his bedroom without saying anything and shot him in the lower back with a BB rifle while he was in bed.

[{"type":"text","text":"At first, the man did not seek treatment."}]

Over the next several days, the wound allegedly became red, swollen and increasingly painful.

He eventually went to the hospital June 25, where he was admitted for treatment of the infection. He remained hospitalized when detectives interviewed him June 29.

Investigators observed a healing cut on the man's head they said was consistent with his account of being struck by the cane.

They also documented a circular wound on his right flank where he told police doctors removed a BB.

He told them another BB remained lodged in his muscle and would require surgery to remove.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Case Moves Forward"}]

After the July 17 preliminary hearing, a judge found sufficient evidence to bind Flores' case over to district court.

He is charged with aggravated assault and battery, child abuse and two counts of reckless endangerment.

The two felony charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison under Wyoming law. The reckless endangerment charges are misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in jail.

Flores is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, Aug. 5 in Laramie County District Court.

Cheyenne police 7 28 26

<title>Police: Cheyenne Man Shot Child With BB Rifle After Forcing Him To Shoot Roommate | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Police say a Cheyenne man forced a child to shoot his roommate, telling him to "blow a cap in his ass," before threatening and then turning a BB rifle on the boy. Pancho Villa Flores is now facing felony counts of assault and battery and child abuse.

Police: Cheyenne Man Shot Child With BB Rifle After Forcing Him To Shoot Roommate

Public Safety

Families had gathered to watch Fourth of July fireworks at F.E. Warren Air Force Base when the celebration turned into a nightmare.

Just after 10 p.m. July 4, a 5-year-old girl watching the fireworks from the Trails End parking lot suddenly suffered what appeared to be a head injury. She was rushed to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, where doctors discovered a bullet lodged in one of her sinus cavities.

The girl, the daughter of an airman stationed at F.E. Warren, was later flown to Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, where physicians confirmed the object was indeed a bullet. Surgeons removed it, and she has since been discharged and is recovering with her family.

Now, nearly four weeks later, military and local investigators are asking the public for help in identifying who fired the shot.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at 307-432-2114.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Public Asked To Think Back"}]

Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins said investigators initially chose not to publicize the shooting because they believed doing so could jeopardize the investigation.

"We wanted to talk about it right away," Collins told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday. But after consulting with investigators, city officials agreed to wait.

"They felt like if we could wait till a week or two, that would give them time to run down a bunch of leads before we made it public," Collins said. "They were worried maybe the gun might disappear or something along those lines, and so in order to be able to get justice for the family, we thought it was prudent to give law enforcement opportunity to do their investigation before we made a public announcement."

Collins said he first learned about the shooting from the commander of the 90th Missile Wing, likely the morning after the incident.

Because the shooting occurred outside Cheyenne city limits, neither the city nor the Cheyenne Police Department participated in the investigation, he said.

F.E. Warren Air Force Base Public Affairs did not respond to Cowboy State Daily's requests for additional information before publication.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Residents Urged To Think Back "}]

Officials urged anyone who discharged a firearm that night — or anyone who witnessed unsafe gunfire — to consider the consequences and contact investigators.

Collins echoed that message, saying responsible firearm ownership carries an obligation to use guns safely.

"Wyoming is a Second Amendment state, and we take pride in our guns," he said. "But along with that comes the responsibility to handle them properly.

"There is no time where celebrating and shooting a gun or a weapon into the sky is safe or appropriate."

He also urged residents to think back to the Fourth of July celebration, saying even seemingly insignificant observations — a vehicle parked near the base, unusual activity or someone firing a weapon — could help investigators piece together what happened.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'I Was Heartsick'"}]

Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins is asking for the public's help in finding the shooter responsible for a 5-year-old getting struck in the head by a bullet. She was watching the July 4 fireworks show at F.E. Warren Air Force Base when hit by the stray bullet.

Daily Darwin: Thursday, May 30, 2024

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