One More For The Road

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

<title>One More For The Road: Monday, June 17, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

One More For The Road: Monday, June 17, 2024

 It's not the greatest valet service, you but you can't beat their prices....

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Public Safety

Two South Dakota Highway Patrol troopers nearly got the shock of their life from a lightning strike.

The troopers were searching for someone with “a purple shirt” when lightning suddenly struck the ground just south of Rapid City, according to a video the highway patrol posted.

They were within 50 feet of the spot where the bolt of energy hit the flat, open prairie where they were standing.

The troopers were shocked and ran, but neither was harmed. A typical lightning bolt is 54,000 degrees. 

"That's one way to light up a manhunt," the patrol said on its social media post.

One commenter complimented the highway patrol for the abrupt editing of the posted video.

"SDHP editing is great. There was definitely a bad word coming," Justin Harmon wrote.

Another suggested the highway patrol receive some extra funding.

"Better make a note for budgetary increase in uniform pants cause there’s going to be some new ones needed," wrote Mark Lefebre.

The South Dakota Highway Patrol could not be reached for additional information.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Shocking Truth"}]

August is the peak of “the lightning season” in the Rocky Mountain Region. Atmospheric conditions favor the development of afternoon thunderstorms, which tend to be short-lived but potent enough to generate powerful blasts of lightning.

“Our thunderstorm season is our thunderstorm season in Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas, and August is the peak of it,” said Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day.

The common belief is that lightning will always strike the tallest point in any particular area, whether that’s a mountain top, a skyscraper, a tree, or the tallest person in a flat field.

[{"type":"text","text":"While that tends to be true, Day cautioned it’s “no guarantee.”"}]

“It’s true that you want to be away from the higher ground and the highest object, but lightning is going to go where it wants to go,” he said. “Lightning hits the ground all the time. That’s how we get wildfires on the plains.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 37 million lightning strikes hit the ground each year in the United States. The odds of being struck by lightning are less than one in a million, and almost 90% of all lightning strike victims survive.

Nevertheless, there were 517 lightning-related deaths in the U.S. between 2006 and 2025.

, a 22-year-old man was killed by a lightning strike during a NOLS wilderness expedition in the Absaroka Mountains. Another man in the vicinity of the strike was severely injured

Many lightning-related deaths and injuries occur without a direct strike. The energy can travel through plumbing and electrical systems, wired devices, and even the metal bars in concrete walls and floors.

“People in the western U.S. have been injured or killed by just being along or touching a fence,” Day said.

If someone’s concerned about being struck by lightning, the best thing they can do is get low and small.

Whatever you do, don’t drop flat. That might seem obvious, but Day said it’s actually putting yourself in a high-risk position.

“What you want to do is have the least amount of your body touching the ground,” he said. “The best thing you can do is squat in a ball and try to position yourself on the ground so that only your toes are touching, and you’re conducting as little electricity as possible.”

Are there any warnings of an imminent lightning strike? Science says yes but, again, it’s not a guarantee.

“There will be a buildup between the positive and the negative energy before the strike,” Day said. “Some people have heard a light buzzing sound or felt static electricity. There are some famous photos of people with their hair standing up, just like if they’d rubbed a balloon on their head, before a strike.”

Two women at the Horseshoe Bend Overlook in Arizona’s Glen Canyon National Recreation Area 

. They were amused when their long hair started standing straight up as energy collected in the atmosphere.

[{"type":"text","text":"Day didn’t find it particularly amusing."}]

“There is, without a doubt, a very strong correlation between a phenomenon that they observed and an imminent lightning strike,” he said. “So, you probably shouldn’t try to take pictures and upload them to social media.”

Day said these can be “brief warning signals” of an imminent lightning strike, but it doesn’t always manifest that way. There often is no warning.

“The thing about lightning is that it can be really unpredictable where it hits,” he said. “You shouldn't assume that you're going to get that warning sign, but it has happened.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Just Get Inside"}]

When someone’s hiking in the mountains, working in the fields, or floating on a river during a thunderstorm, there will always be a risk that they could be struck by lightning. In Day’s opinion, it’s a severely underestimated hazard for all Wyomingites.

“I believe that lightning is one of the most underappreciated weather dangers that we live with,” he said. “This may sound like overkill, but if you hear thunder, especially if you know it's close, you're at a risk of being struck or being affected by lightning somehow.”

When out in the open with no shelter, it's best to get low and keep as much of your body off the ground as possible.

The safest option, though, is to go inside when the thunder rumbles. Day doesn’t see that as much of an imposition for the sake of safety.

“In this part of the country, thunderstorms don't last very long,” he said. “If you get chased inside because of thunder and lightning, odds are you're not going to be inside for hours waiting for it to go away. It's one of those things where you get yourself into a safe position, be patient, and let it pass.”

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<title>South Dakota Troopers Nearly Struck By Lightning While On Manhunt | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Two South Dakota Highway Patrol troopers were nearly struck by lightning while on a manhunt Wednesday evening. Body cam video captured the lightning strike followed an immediate yell. "That's one way to light up a manhunt," the patrol said.

South Dakota Troopers Nearly Struck By Lightning While On Manhunt

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

A former office manager for two Goshen County businesses is facing eight felony forgery charges after state investigators allege he siphoned nearly $700,000 from the companies over a four-year period.

Logan Patrick Reifschneider, 31, was arrested by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Wednesday night. Reifschneider, already on probation for grand theft involving a Wyoming credit union, faces up to 10 years in prison for each felony count.

A probable-cause affidavit written by DCI Special Agent Jon Briggs says Reifschneider worked for Zell Heating & Cooling and Big Wood Tree Service from June 2020 until about October 2024.

Briggs wrote that money moved out of the businesses in a variety of ways — through payroll, customer payments, checks and transfers, with some payments disguised to look like ordinary business expenses.

By the time investigators finished tracing the money, Briggs put the businesses' losses at approximately $688,477.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Something Wasn't Adding Up"}]

As office manager, Reifschneider had access to the companies' finances, including payroll, accounting information and Automated Clearing House, or ACH, transactions.

Eventually, the business owner began noticing they were experiencing financial problems and hired an accountant.

The accountant's review uncovered a substantial amount of missing money, the affidavit says.

The owner and others confronted Reifschneider about the suspected thefts. Reifschneider stopped working for the businesses around October 2024.

The accountant also turned over checks believed to contain forged signatures.

By February 2025, the Goshen County Sheriff's Office had asked DCI to investigate.

[{"type":"text","text":"Briggs began following the money."}]

Investigators served numerous search warrants on financial institutions in Wyoming and Nebraska, as well as others around the country.

The financial records were eventually given to an FBI forensic accountant for another look.

What investigators say they found was money leaving the businesses in several different ways.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Ill-Gotten Gains' "}]

DCI identified $161,790 in payments allegedly made directly to Reifschneider but disguised to look as if they were to legitimate suppliers.

The affidavit says another $159,634 came from customer payments allegedly diverted through Square or Intuit rather than going to the businesses.

Payroll accounted for another $138,609, which investigators characterized as excess payments to Reifschneider, including some coded as though the money belonged to other employees.

Through ACH transactions, checks and other transfers, another $113,177 allegedly landed in accounts belonging to Reifschneider or businesses he controlled.

Then there were expenses allegedly paid on his behalf. Investigators identified $81,267 in unauthorized payments from Zell Heating & Cooling and Big Wood Tree Service, along with a separate $40,000 payment from one of the businesses to an account belonging to Reifschneider.

Investigators also looked at what Reifschneider should have legitimately earned.

Between June 2020 and October 2024, Briggs calculated his legitimate income at approximately $298,214.

Based on that income and the financial records, Briggs described the additional money paid to or on behalf of Reifschneider as "ill-gotten gains."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Eight Checks"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then investigators turned their attention to the checks."}]

The accountant provided DCI with a number of checks suspected of containing forged signatures. Eight written between April and September 2024 are specifically identified in Briggs' affidavit.

[{"type":"text","text":"The smallest was for $292.95. The largest was for $8,318.30."}]

Some were written to suppliers. Others were made directly to Reifschneider.

An April 17 check made out to Reifschneider was for $815.12. Another, dated Aug. 23, was for $3,195.81. A Sept. 7 check was made out to him for $1,025, while another dated Sept. 19 was for $2,158.

Other checks were made out to Torrington Office Supply, Dennis Supply, Gustave A. Larson and Johnstone Supply.

[{"type":"text","text":"Investigators claim Reifschneider signed Patrick's name to the checks."}]

The official charging document filed in Goshen County contains eight felony counts of forgery.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Money Trail Continues"}]

Briggs wrote that Reifschneider returned some money, and Briggs said those repayments were taken into account when DCI calculated the businesses' losses.

After Reifschneider stopped working for the businesses, he paid one business owner about $6,000 through personal checks.

[{"type":"text","text":"Other money had been returned while he was still employed."}]

Another check mentioned near the end of Briggs' affidavit tells a smaller story.

A man with 308 Plumbing told investigators he performed work at Reifschneider's home in Torrington on Oct. 24, 2025.

[{"type":"text","text":"The bill was $782.50."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Reifschneider paid with a personal check, but it bounced."}]

The man told investigators the check was returned for "insufficient funds" and that he still had not been paid when Briggs prepared the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Grand Theft Case"}]

The new charges come just over two months after Reifschneider was sentenced for a separate grand-theft conviction involving a Wyoming credit union.

That case began with another series of transactions that didn't have enough money behind them.

In February 2025, Reifschneider used the third-party payment platform ProPay to put thousands of dollars into accounts he held at WyHy Federal Credit Union, alleges a second affidavit written by Cheyenne police detective M. Webster.

[{"type":"text","text":"The money initially appeared in his accounts."}]

Reifschneider then transferred, withdrew or spent it, investigators alleged.

[{"type":"text","text":"But the underlying transactions didn't clear."}]

Four transactions totaling $8,902.47 were ultimately returned for insufficient funds, and WyHy calculated its loss at $8,725.59.

When Webster spoke with Reifschneider on May 16, 2025, he acknowledged that the credit union had contacted him about problems with the accounts, according to the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he would pay the money back by May 23."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He didn't, Webster wrote."}]

When the detective contacted him again June 17, Reifschneider again said he would get the money paid.

[{"type":"text","text":"By July 11, the credit union still hadn't been repaid."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"On June 4, Reifschneider was found guilty of grand theft."}]

He was sentenced to 3-5 years in prison, but the prison sentence was suspended, and he was instead placed on three years of supervised probation.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Already On Probation "}]

Reifschneider was on supervised probation for the grand theft conviction when DCI arrested him Wednesday, although the conduct alleged in the new Goshen County case predates that probation.

It wasn't Reifschneider's first conviction involving money, or his first suspended prison sentence.

On Nov. 27, 2017, he was found guilty of fraud for writing a bad check for $4,000.

He was sentenced to 3-5 years in prison. That sentence also was suspended, and Reifschneider was placed on five years of supervised probation.

Court records also show a separate grand theft charge against Reifschneider was dismissed in September 2023.

[{"type":"text","text":"Reifschneider now faces eight felony forgery charges in Goshen County."}]

Court records did not indicate as of Thursday that he had yet made an initial appearance on the charges.

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<title>Goshen County Man Charged With 8 Felonies For Allegedly Stealing $700k From Businesses | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A former Goshen County office manager, already on probation for grand theft from a Wyoming credit union, is facing eight felony forgery charges after nearly $700,000 was lost from two local businesses. He faces up to 80 years in prison.

Goshen County Man Charged With 8 Felonies For Allegedly Stealing $700k From Businesses

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

Renée Jean

Business & Tourism

Kelly Maher-Wolfensperger has just a few rules for the annual Ham and Jam party that happens in Hulett each year, when 30,000 or so bikes roll into town for a free pork sandwich and the fixings from Captain Ron’s Rodeo Bar.

“We do not mince, muddle, or blend,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “And we have no carbless and we have no Twisted Tea — so don’t ask.”

Her no-nonsense rules mean the bar doesn’t make Old Fashioneds, mojitos, or mules during the weeks of the Sturgis rally. 

“I’ve got people coming in here asking me for Chardonnay,” Wolfensperger added with a laugh. “I’m like, ‘What about this says we have wine?’ I mean, yeah, we have some really bad Cab, but this is not a wine bar.”

What she can make, besides the best Bloody Mary on the Hulett side of Sturgis, is a scene. 

“I live for chaos,” she said, spreading her arms wide to take in a classic small-town dive bar scene that is about to host hundreds of guests. “I’m born and ready for it. I’m an Aries, so, hell yeah, I’m ready for it.”

Sleep, coffee, ibuprofen and DripDrop — not necessarily in that order — are what she relies on to get her through August and the Sturgis Rally week.  

“My daughter is a dietician for a Big Ten football team and that’s what they use to keep their football players hydrated,” she said. 

With that, and 10 cute outfits complete with colorful boots, she’s ready — and rarin' — to go.

Wolfensperger and the town spend months preparing for the Ham and Jam.

“I think you start planning next year like the day it’s going on,” Tom Coronato told Cowboy State Daily. He is a co-owner of the Ponderosa Cafe. “I’m already planning for how I do it differently next year, because it’s not a one-day event. I mean Ham and Jam is one day, but if you prepare for one day you get one day. So we prepare for 21 days, because that’s when business is up in the Black Hills.”

The community works together on the broader logistics of drawing thousands of bikers. That includes a row of porta potties, as well as road crew and traffic crews, who keep the bikers going in the right direction and ensure cars aren’t driving into the middle of the Ham and Jam. 

“The mayor and the town council will do the budgets in advance, in anticipation of how many porta potties they need,” Coronato said. “What kind of staff they need, how many extra security people they need, like for police presence and stuff like that. The rest is just a wing and a prayer that you have good weather and good attendance.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Things aren’t always smooth. "}]

“It’s a nightmare,” Brianna Gose told Cowboy State Daily with a chuckle and a sigh. “As usual. It’s just a lot of work, but I’ve got great employees.”

Gose said she will start cleaning out the beer garden at Captain Ron’s Rodeo Bar at least a month ahead of time.

“It’s just a lot of running to get ready and going places, picking up all the supplies,” she said. “We had to go to three stores to find beans this year. Sam’s Club didn’t have any big cans of beans this time.”

The bar, which started the Ham and Jam 37 or so years ago, will spend thousands on its signature, free pork sandwich with picnic sides.

Rain might fall, but nothing seems to keep people from coming back, year after year, to experience this scene in the Black Hills of Wyoming. 

Hugs were the order of the day up and down the street as Ham and Jam regulars bump into one another again during Wyoming Wednesday.

Their excitement, their reunions, feed into an already festive, party atmosphere. 

Royce Griebler, for example, has been coming to the Ham and Jam since the late '80s and remembers when it was a bit woolier. 

“It was pretty wild with the drag racing and a lot of other stuff,” he said. “I mean, it was fun. Probably more dangerous, but back then you were young and you didn’t care about the danger.”

In the beginning, Griebler rode with his brother.

“He doesn’t ride anymore, but my son and some other friends do,” he said. “I’m out here to go ride.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Topless Steer Riding "}]

Frank Lamb also remembers when things were a bit wilder.

“At the time it was called No Panties Wednesday,” he said with a chuckle. “That was in 2003. They were just changing over to Ham and Jam.”

In those days, a PRCA rodeo capped the day, but the grand finale wasn’t bull riding. 

“It was topless steer riding,” Lamb said with a chuckle. “They don’t do that any more. So some things have calmed down quite a bit.”

DCI agents used to come to the event to help provide security, Lamb added. 

“One of them was a friend of mine, and it was horseback security,” he said. “So they had some horseback guys.”

Lamb doesn’t care that the event is a little tamer, nor did he care that rain clouds were gathering.

“I wouldn’t miss this,” he said. “I haven’t been able to come the last 10 years because of (work). But I”m not managing the racetrack anymore, so I can just go where I want.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Detour No More"}]

Ham and Jam is supposed to be a one-day party. Ride in, have a Bloody Mary, eat a pork sandwich, and roar off into the distance toward the next town on the Devils Tower loop’s “hydration station.”

But in Hulett, Wednesday’s spillover from Sturgis is so good it changes the script for some. They end up circling not just the date on their calendar but real estate listings, too.

Mike Romano, for example, first experienced the area as a child, then came back as an adult for rally week. Before he knew it, he was buying a ranch and changing his address.

“This place just speaks to me,” he said. “That might sound corny, but to some people that’s reality. I came here to unwind from two phones, two iPads, two laptops.”

Romano had been running a global company. But coming back to the rally as an adult showed him what his life was missing. 

“This helped me reconnect when I came back here,” he said. “So I gravitated to the Hulett side.”

Wolfensperger, as well, found herself drawn to Hulett. She first came in 2012, but had a motorcycle accident that year and had to go home early.

The next year, she and her husband were back. 

“We were staying out here with a friend and, well, we never left,” she said. “We saw the chaos that’s out there and so we just stayed here and people watched and fell in love with the town.”

The couple have five, six motorcycles. For them, the Sturgis Rally never really ends.  “When it’s not rally, we love riding the hills,” she said. “We ride the hills at least 300 to 400 miles every Sunday, which is not hard to do out here.”

Out-of-towners might think of Ham and Jam as a wild Wednesday detour for their Sturgis adventures. But for some, like Romano and Wolfensperger, the detour became the destination.

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<title>Sturgis 2026: Hulett's Ham & Jam — The Detour Party That's Become A Destination | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Hulett's Ham and Jam is supposed to be a one-day party. Ride in, have a Bloody Mary, eat a pork sandwich, and roar off into the distance toward Sturgis. But it's become such a popular event, the 30,000 bikers who visit every year have extended their stay.

Sturgis 2026: Hulett's Ham & Jam — The Detour Party That's Become A Destination

Tourism

Nobody should disobey the rules in Yellowstone National Park, established to prevent people from putting their lives at risk.

If someone does choose to do anything reckless or life-endangering, they probably shouldn’t post about it on social media.

That’s exactly what Instagram user pickupsports4u did when visiting the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone recently.

 perched above the 109-foot-tall summit of the Upper Falls, admitting he climbed “off-trail” to do it.

He included the hashtags #UpperFalls #YellowstoneRisk, #CanyonThrills, #WaterfallExtreme, and #OffTrailAdventure.

“Perched at Upper Falls’ roaring 109-foot edge off-trail, my heart pounded with the river,” he wrote. “This risky view rewarded pure adrenaline —Yellowstone’s raw power unleashed. Don’t try this alone!”

“We did not receive a report of this incident, but off-trail travel, which includes climbing, is prohibited in the Canyon area,” Yellowstone National Park spokesperson Linda Veress told Cowboy State Daily.

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

Rock climbing isn’t strictly prohibited in Yellowstone, or any of the national parks, but going off-trail in sensitive areas is. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is one of those areas.

The exact language of the prohibition can be found in the 

Yellowstone Superintendent’s Compendium

, which is reviewed annually and updated as needed. Yellowstone superintendent Cam Sholly signed off on this year's compendium on Jan. 9.

“Foot travel within Yellowstone Canyon between Chittenden Bridge and Upper Falls is restricted to designated trails and boardwalks due to public safety,” it reads. “Foot travel within the Yellowstone Canyon between Inspiration Point and Silver Cord Cascade is restricted to designated trails and boardwalks.”

That accounts for the entirety of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Because climbing falls under foot travel in this instance, climbing anywhere around Upper Falls is prohibited.

That also means pickupsports4u could be charged and face significant fines or jail time. Park officials weren’t aware of what he did, but now they have indisputable evidence through his Instagram post.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Charged For Climbing For Clout?"}]

Greg Jackson, a former deputy chief for the U.S. Park Service’s Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, reviewed pickupsports4u’s video. After looking up the restrictions in the superintendent’s compendium, charging him seemed fairly straightforward.

“I’d want to know a little bit more about how that person got there, but if it’s designated as a closed area, it’s an obvious crime,” he said.

Jackson went on to say that there could be a case for charging the influencer under Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations regarding parks, forests, and public property.

 – Disorderly Conduct can be applied to anyone who is “knowingly or recklessly creating a risk” by creating or maintaining a hazardous or physically offensive condition.

Jackson said disorderly conduct could apply to anyone who decides to go off-trail in Yellowstone.

A dimwitted tourist posted a video of himself illegally climbing above the Upper Falls of the Grand Canyon in Yellowstone earlier this week. He bragged about the "risky view" and how it gave him adrenaline. The Instagram post could result in charges.

One More For The Road: Monday, June 17, 2024

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