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

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

Steve Inman: Thursday, May 30, 2024

 Let's roll out the brand new "Bite The Dust Replay Cam," as narrated by MMA announcer Steve Inman....

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

Clair McFarland

Politics

A Wyoming crackdown on the use of the Republican National Committee’s elephant logo is rippling through this year’s election season discourse.

The Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming started a political action committee (PAC) in March to combat the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which is a controversial and populist-leaning group of state House Republicans.

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.

The billboards show a red, white and blue cartoon elephant in the bottom left corner.

The Wyoming Republican Party issued a warning safeguarding the national party’s logo via public statement Monday, saying, “Many candidates have removed the trademarked elephant from their materials at the request of the Wyoming Republican Party because of trademark licensing agreements.”

“Those candidates and candidate committees who have not removed it,” the statement continues, “are at risk of potential legal actions from the Republican National Committee for violations of trademark law.”

The elephant logo belongs to the Republican National Committee (RNC). The Wyoming Republican Party has an agreement to use it but that doesn’t extend to candidates, candidate committees or PACs, interim Wyoming GOP executive director Ginger Bennett told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday text message.

Scott Ortiz and Emily Madden, both Casper-based attorneys, co-founded Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming. They’re both registered Republicans and have been since at least 2012 when the office’s new registration system was installed, the Natrona County Clerk’s Office confirmed Friday.

Ortiz told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday phone interview that the group doesn’t have a bone to pick with the RNC and will happily alter its billboard imagery in the coming days.

Ortiz said he believes the PAC’s use of the elephant likely falls under “good-faith exceptions” that would allow the PAC to use it.

“And I’ve dealt directly with the RNC,” said Ortiz. “I told them, we’ll gladly change that when those contracts expire. And they said that’s fine… I don’t want to fight with the RNC. I’m a Republican.”

Ortiz added: “the Freedom Caucus just hates our billboards because they’re having to explain what their agenda is.”

Debra Gaylen, sales manager for the Wyoming-based Lamar advertising, emphasized in a Friday phone interview that Lamar is “just the billboard company” and takes no political stance.

After a brief exchange, Common Sense Republicans informed Lamar it had changed its logo, Gaylen recalled.

The PAC has arranged for the billboard company to plaster “snipes” or cover-up graphics featuring a buffalo onto the sign, and that process is underway, said Gaylen.

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

Former Rep. Tony Niemiec, who’s running in the Republican primary to win his Green River-based House seat back from Rep. Marlene Brady, said he had to buy American flag stickers to cover up his elephant this year, though he’s used it in the past.

“From what I understand, the state party is getting this from the RNC,” said Niemiec. He voiced surprise at that, saying that along highways and yards in Utah, “there’s hundreds and hundreds of yard signs” bearing the elephant logo.

Former House Speaker Albert Sommers, of Pinedale, is also running an effort to win his old House seat back in the GOP primary.

He asked Wyoming GOP Chair Bryan Miller and then-executive director Kathy Russell on April 27 whether he was “good” to use a modified elephant logo on the signs his wife had designed, Sommers’ emails show. Miller responded that day he’d forward the request to the RNC state team.  

Miller texted Sommers on May 7 saying the RNC state party strategy director specified that only the state party could use the elephant logo.

By then, Sommers told Cowboy State Daily on Friday, he’d ordered and distributed campaign signs with the modified elephant. He’d also used the elephant in years past, and had believed that the true RNC logo depicted an elephant inside a circle, while his elephants did not.

Sommers’ wife had downloaded the elephant for her design from a professional stock photo website, “and we bought the license for the image,” he noted.

He spent “well over $1,000” to order American flag stickers to cover the elephants, said Sommers.

“It’s kind of interesting because we have a license that says we can use that image. But nonetheless, I wanted to be street legal,” Sommers said.

Miller told Sommers the RNC has been “cracking down for three cycles now, moving toward defending the brand at all levels.”

A Sheridan County group received a cease and desist letter in the last election cycle, Miller added, according to screenshots of the text message exchange. “It’s not a new issue, just being enforced more openly,” added the chair.

Sommers told Cowboy State Daily that Miller was “very professional.” 

Retired Marine Col. Brent Bien’s campaign team is more confident about its Shutterstock license to depict elephants than Sommers’ team. Bien's elephant rears upward. 

“Yes, we did have to address the issue,” said Bien’s campaign outreach manager Cheryl Aguiar in a Friday email. “We have some old signs out there – from 2022 – that (have) an elephant that is ‘more similar’ to the trademarked one, but still not the same.”

Aguiar said the team wasn’t required to change those signs since the elephant is “pretty different.”

“Our new elephant for the 2026 signs… is 

, plus, we purchased the license for it from Shutterstock and I own the license.”

Aguiar said she sent the party the Shutterstock license and, “They can't argue with that one!”

[{"type":"text","text":"The Completely Different Type Of Elephant"}]

Miller told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that he believes Bien’s logo is different enough, but he’s clarifying. Sommers’ was not different enough, Miller added.

“He put yellow stars in it. It’s not different enough. He changed the colors,” said Miller. “The trademark law is very clear. Even similar items to it, you can’t do it.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Bien’s is “a completely different type of elephant.”"}]

Miller noted Bien's Shutterstock license and said that Sommers didn't produce a license, and had said the site took it down. 

Rep. Steve Johnson, R-Cheyenne, is campaigning with the image of an elephant rearing upward.

Miller said he’ll look into that one, and hadn’t heard of it as of Friday.

Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming, however, became the subject of multiple complaints to the secretary of state’s office, said Miller. 

Miller said the Wyoming GOP leadership is separate from the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Often people conflate the two. Their policy objectives bear many similarities.

Commonsense republicans 6 26 26

<title>Wyoming Republican Party Cracking Down On Use Of Official RNC Elephant Logo | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming group says they will alter their billboards after the Wyoming Republican Party warned it could be a violation to use the official GOP elephant logo. They aren't alone — other candidates and groups are doing the same.

Wyoming Republican Party Cracking Down On Use Of Official RNC Elephant Logo

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

CASPER — More than a year after a masked confrontation at a local apartment erupted into a 

, prosecutors allege the woman who drove three people to the scene knew what was about to happen.

Nevaeh Marie Neemann, 22, has been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and accessory before the fact to aggravated assault for her alleged role in the May 11, 2025, shooting at the Foxhill Apartments.

The shooting left 20-year-old Anicio Bernard dead and 20-year-old Colton Robb critically wounded.

Investigators say Robb was targeted because Neemann's boyfriend, Jadin Triplett, believed he had stolen his Glock 26 handgun.

Neemann was arrested this week and made her initial appearance Thursday in Natrona County Circuit Court before Judge Cynthia Sweet. 

A 14-page probable cause affidavit filed by Casper Police Sgt. Andrea Husted paints a detailed picture of months of investigation involving cellphone downloads, Facebook messages, recorded conversations and witness interviews.

Investigators allege Neemann wasn't simply behind the wheel — she knowingly helped carry out a plan that spiraled into a fatal gunfight.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Something Bad ...'"}]

The affidavit shows that Triplett believed Robb had stolen his Glock after visiting the apartment Triplett shared with Neemann in early May 2025.

Rather than reporting the firearm stolen, investigators say Triplett set out to recover it himself.

Triplett posted on Facebook offering $500 for information leading to the gun's return and exchanged messages with friends about confronting Robb.

Detectives also recovered messages showing Bernard asking Triplett whether he had an extra ski mask hours before the shooting.

Investigators say the plan evolved into confronting Robb at the Foxhill Apartments, where he had been staying with relatives.

Neemann admitted driving Bernard, Triplett and Adriana Sanchez to the apartment complex.

Before arriving, she told detectives Bernard removed a pistol from a bag and tucked it into his waistband.

[{"type":"text","text":"She also admitted Triplett had a firearm with him."}]

As the group approached the building, Bernard and Triplett pulled ski masks over their faces.

Neemann told investigators she immediately realized "something bad was going to happen."

According to the affidavit, she understood the plan was for Bernard and Triplett to beat Robb up and recover Triplett's stolen handgun.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Give Me Your’ Stuff"}]

Investigators say Bernard chambered a round while walking toward the apartment.

After someone inside opened the door, Bernard immediately pointed his gun at Robb and yelled, "Give me your shit, give me all your shit."

Robb drew his own handgun, according to court records, and the two men exchanged gunfire inside the apartment.

Neemann told detectives Triplett also pointed a gun at Robb and attempted to fire, but it appeared to jam.

Bernard was struck during the exchange and staggered out of the apartment before collapsing on the stairs outside.

Neemann said she believed she watched Bernard take his last breath after he told the others to run.

Robb survived after suffering a gunshot wound that investigators say struck his heart and gallbladder, requiring emergency surgery before he was flown to Colorado for additional treatment.

The charging document shows nobody riding in Neemann's vehicle called 911.

Instead, investigators say Neemann drove Sanchez away before returning home with Triplett.

There, she told detectives they gathered Triplett's firearms and asked one of his coworkers to take possession of them because Triplett had become suicidal following the shooting.

[{"type":"text","text":"Police later recovered those weapons."}]

Investigators also searched Neemann's maroon Chevrolet Impala, where they found ammunition, magazines, and receipts for firearm-related purchases.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Digital Trail"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Much of the case relies on digital evidence gathered over the past year."}]

Detectives obtained search warrants for cellphones and reviewed Facebook Messenger conversations, FaceTime calls, GPS data and social media posts.

Among the evidence cited in the affidavit are messages showing Bernard and Triplett discussing getting the gun back, Bernard requesting an extra ski mask, and Bernard speaking with Robb just hours before the shooting.

Investigators say Bernard and Robb mentioned drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana together and a mutual friend's bond money during a FaceTime call shortly before the confrontation.

Police also reviewed recordings made after the shooting with participants discussing what had happened inside the apartment.

One recording captured Triplett saying they knocked on the door; Bernard entered first and demanded property before gunfire erupted, according to court documents.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Conflicting Stories"}]

Nearly everyone interviewed agreed on one point: Bernard entered the apartment wearing a ski mask.

[{"type":"text","text":"Beyond that, accounts differed."}]

Some witnesses told police they believed the group only intended to recover the stolen gun. Others described what sounded like an armed robbery after Bernard demanded Robb hand over all of his belongings.

[{"type":"text","text":"Triplett himself gave investigators multiple versions of events."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Initially, he insisted he never pulled the trigger."}]

Later, he admitted pointing his gun at Robb and attempting to fire before realizing the safety was still engaged.

He also acknowledged continuing with the plan after seeing Bernard armed because he didn't want to "be a bitch" or back out.

 with felony accessory before the fact to aggravated assault and battery in connection with the shooting. His case remains pending.

Based on interviews, cellphone evidence and Neemann's own statements, Sgt. Husted concluded there was probable cause to charge Neemann with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and accessory before the fact to aggravated assault.

Neeman will next appear in Circuit Court for a preliminary hearing within about 10 days. Judge Sweet set bond at $25,00 cash or surety. 

Nevaeh Marie Neemann 6 26 26

<title>Casper Woman Charged With Driving Getaway Car After Fatal Apartment Shooting | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Casper woman has been arrested and was in court Thursday, accused of driving the getaway car in an ambush-style apartment shooting more than a year ago that left one man dead. Police say she knew “something bad” was about to go down at the time.

Casper Woman Charged With Driving Getaway Car After Fatal Apartment Shooting

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

Greg Johnson

Prosecutors claim that a Fremont County BLM law enforcement officer accused of killing another man during a January bar fight didn’t act responsibly to protect others, and instead “advances like a predator” before applying a deadly chokehold.

That characterization of how Richard “Deak” Dollard acted on the evening of Jan. 9 during a brawl at the Maverick Bar in Lander is included in a Thursday prosecution response to a motion from Dollard’s attorney to dismiss the second-degree murder charge he faces.

The June 8 motion filed by Casper-based defense attorney Ryan Semerad argues Richard Dollard can’t be prosecuted “for his proper use of reasonable defensive force to protect others.”

Those others include Dollard’s brother, Justin, and nephew, Jesse, who were both involved in a physical fight with 38-year-old Evan Denevan.

Denevan was fighting with Justin when Richard came into the room and pulled Denevan off his brother, putting him in a restraining hold that prosecutors refer to as a “chokehold” in court documents, but the defense adamantly denies any choking pressure was applied.

What both sides seem to agree on is what was captured on multiple cellphone videos and bar surveillance is Richard holding Denevan around his face and neck area for about 30 seconds, then putting him on the floor.

He died at the scene, according to court documents.

In his motion to dismiss, Semerad argues that Denevan was the aggressor and that Richard acted calmly and with restraint to protect his brother and others from danger.

Only after someone at the bar called out multiple times for Denevan to stop “did Richard step in, taking hold of Evan to pull him away from Justin, the woman, and the crowd of bar patrons standing within punching distance,” the motion to dismiss says.

“I don’t believe my client was angry or emotional,” Semerad told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “I think he saw the situation and his mentality was not anger or emotion, it was, ‘How do I protect everyone in this situation from being hurt.’”

That’s not what the evidence and witnesses show, prosecutors allege in their response.

“The defendant advances like a predator — he appears to know his goal when he enters the room and he advances unchecked upon the same,” according to the response. “He advances intentionally and deliberately.”

Semerad called the description of his client as a “predator” in the response as “pure rhetoric” and an attempt to “try to characterize this encounter” as something it wasn’t.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Reasonable Force’"}]

That Richard Dollard only applied a non-lethal hold on Denevan is clearly “not the case” based on video and other evidence, prosecutors say. Most notably, if the hold was non-lethal, why did he die?

“Although the defendant’s claim is that he gripped the decedent in a non-lethal hold meant to control the situation, the video makes it quite clear that this is not the case,” the response to the motion to dismiss says.

“The hold is lethal by self-definition of the circumstances,” the document adds.

Conversely, Semerad said it’s murky at best about what caused Denevan to die that night, as there were other potential health issues that may have contributed to his death.

“There seems to be some kind of disconnect” in what really caused his death, Semerad said. “He perceived the decedent attacking his brother … and there were people in harm’s way. 

“He came over to protect everybody with the use of reasonable force.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"That Night"}]

An evidentiary affidavit by a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent filed days after the incident in Lander Circuit Court describes a brawl which at one point contained eight to 10 people, unfolding at the Maverick Bar around 11 p.m. on Jan. 9.

A 911 caller beckoned Lander Police Department officers to the scene at around 11:15 p.m. 

The caller indicated “we have someone down at the Maverick Bar, he’s not breathing, he’s all purple,” says the affidavit.

LPD officers arrived and found Denevan lying on his back near the pool tables with bystanders trying to help him, the document says.

Officers began life-saving measures, but later noted that the man’s face was “slightly purple in color” and they weren’t able to find a carotid pulse. Fremont County emergency medical personnel arrived as well to help, but “Denevan was determined to be deceased,” says the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"LPD secured the bar as a crime scene."}]

Initial witness statements reportedly describe a fight between Denevan and the three Dollard men.

Justin Dollard in his interview with LPD detectives confirmed he was involved in the fight.

Denevan had previously said he would “whip” Justin, the latter reportedly said, and had threatened to fight both Justin and Jesse Dollard.

Denevan had yelled at the Dollard father and son, “If you come over here, I will kick your ass,” the affidavit relates.

Then, according to Justin’s interview and Jesse’s separate interview, Denevan removed his hat and glasses as if preparing for a fight.

Justin Dollard told detectives he approached Denevan, who came back and hit him, “and the fight broke out,” the affidavit relates. 

Along with Richard facing a charge of second-degree murder, Justin has been charged with accessory before the fact to second-degree murder, and Jesse with accessory before the fact to manslaughter.

If convicted, Richard and Justin face 20 years to life in prison, while Jesse could get a maximum of 20 years in prison.

All three have been set for a combined trial that’s scheduled for eight days beginning Nov. 2.

Dollards and Maverick bar 2 3 26

<title>Lander Man Wants Murder Charge Dismissed, Says Force In Bar Fight ‘Reasonable’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Lander man facing a second-degree murder charge for a fatal January bar brawl wants the charge dismissed, saying he used “reasonable” force. Prosecutors disagree, saying he “advances like a predator” on the victim in a Thursday response.

Lander Man Wants Murder Charge Dismissed, Says Force In Bar Fight ‘Reasonable’

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 Goatley, Wyoming's reputation for unpredictable weather is well earned.

Within the weather community, he said, forecasters know just how active the state can become during the summer.

[{"type":"text","text":"The public, perhaps, not so much."}]

"People are looking at the Plains," Goatley said. "But we're where the storms like to start."

[{"type":"text","text":"The answer, in large part, lies in the Rockies and the Laramie Range."}]

Storms frequently develop along Wyoming's higher terrain before drifting east onto the plains, where atmospheric conditions become especially favorable for hail growth.

"The mountains themselves serve as a great initialization for storms," Goatley said. "You'll see them form off that terrain and then move eastward."

Many of those same storms continue marching into Nebraska and Kansas, but southeast Wyoming often experiences the earliest and most explosive stages of their development.

[{"type":"text","text":"As Goatley puts it: \"We're where the storms like to start.\""}]

Goatley said Wyoming residents — particularly those living east of the mountains — are more likely to contend with hail and damaging straight-line winds than tornadoes.

[{"type":"text","text":"For newcomers, that's one of the first lessons summer teaches."}]

"Definitely the hail," Goatley said when asked what people moving to Wyoming should know. "Especially east of the mountains."

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.

Steve Inman: Thursday, May 30, 2024

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