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[{"type":"text","text":"Donald Trump on the Jimmy Kimmel show in December, 2015...."}]

Bonus vid 2 8 20 24

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

<title>Bonus Video 2: Tuesday, August 20, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Donald Trump on the Jimmy Kimmel show in December, 2015....

Bonus Video 2: Tuesday, August 20, 2024

 Donald Trump on the Jimmy Kimmel show in December, 2015....

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

A federal agency has an agreement with Wyoming's two tribes to run license plate reader cameras on the reservation, authorities confirmed Thursday. 

Cowboy State Daily has observed license plate reader cameras already installed on roadside posts at the north entrance to the reservation abutting Riverton, and the south entrance from the Lander side.

The license plate readers are put up by DEA (the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) through an agreement with the tribe, said U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs spokesman Joshua Barnett in a Thursday email. Barnett added that the BIA is "not part of that agreement." 

Wyoming Highway Patrol (WHP) Lt. Col. Karl Germain told lawmakers during a Tuesday committee meeting that the WHP was working with the BIA to put up the cameras. 

But Germain clarified in a Thursday phone call, saying he misspoke and was trying to highlight the cameras can be a good tool in crisis situations. 

"Highway Patrol doesn’t have any LPRs," said Germain. "We have no mechanism to purchase those or put them up." But the patrol's umbrella agency, the Wyoming Highway Patrol, manages the highway right-of-way and is responsible for authorizing camera installations, he said. 

The Select Committee on Tribal Relations, which is a state legislative panel,

discuss how state law interacts with the two tribal governments of Wyoming: the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone

There, Germain said, “Those (cameras) are obviously helpful for a number of reasons, and you know I fully recognize some of the privacy concerns of with that."  For missing person cases or Amber alerts, those cameras “can be invaluable to help recover that person in a timely manner,” said German. “There aren’t a lot of cameras in Wyoming right now. If the reservation is able to put those up, it’s just another tool at the disposal of law enforcement.”

Committee Co-Chair Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, voiced concern, calling the cameras a facet of “big surveillance.”

“It’s a big step in our surveillance society,” said Case. “Not quite as far as England where they have facial recognition all the way through London but … it feels that way a little bit.”

 the controversy surrounding the cameras. 

License plate readers are cameras, generally facing roadways, that capture images of vehicles and license 

 and log dates and times for those images. The devices can also capture images of drivers and occupants of vehicles and passersby.

Case amplified his comments in a Thursday interview, saying the license plate readers, government-accessible DNA databases, facial recognition technology and other government surveillance measures now in play would have been "appalling" to the Founding Fathers. 

"All this stuff is somewhat '1984'-ish," said Case, referring to George Orwell's dystopian novel about an authoritarian surveillance state. 

[{"type":"text","text":"This Drug Trafficking"}]

The cameras have been posted for "months" Wyoming Department of Transportation public relations specialist Cody Beers told Cowboy State Daily. 

An advocate of the license plate readers, Nicole Wagon touted them as useful and important during a Jan. 27 meeting of the Tribal Relations Committee. 

Wagon, who lost one daughter to murder and another to hypothermia amid suspicious circumstances, is an advocate for better safety measures for indigenous people.

“It’s a component to stop the violence. It’s a component to make it safe for all the community members,” said Wagon of the cameras, 

She said the Wind River Intertribal Council, which comprises executive-branch governments of both tribes, signed a resolution in 2024 to work with license plate reader efforts on the reservation.

Neither the Eastern Shoshone Business Council nor the Northern Arapaho Business Council responded to Cowboy State Daily’s 

requests for comment, however the ESBC’s spokeswoman requested more information on the topic, which 

Cowboy State Daily inquired of the BIA at that time, and the agency said on Feb. 3 that it “does not have license plate readers on the Wind River Indian Reservation” and to check with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

The agency’s spokesman Joshua Barnett said Thursday in a follow-up exchange that the DEA puts up the license plate readers “through an agreement with the tribe,” of which BIA is not a part.

While he did not confirm the cameras’ presence or use, DEA Public Affairs Officer Stephan Tubbs wrote in a Jan. 28 email that, “The key trafficking routes for the Mexican Cartels across our Rocky Mountain Field Division are the I-25, I-70, and I-80 corridors in Colorado and Wyoming.”

“These highways are arteries for the cartels to bring their poison — namely fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine — into and across our nation,” Tubbs said, adding that targeting cartel routes is “vital.”

“Any and all tools available need to be utilized to save American lives from the continuing deadly impact the cartels and their dangerous drugs inflict on our communities,” said Tubbs. He referred back to that statement when Cowboy State Daily sent a follow-up inquiry in May. 

The FBI, which also performs law enforcement functions and investigations on the reservation, declined in a Feb. 2 email from FBI public affairs officer Vikki Migoya to comment “about investigative techniques or law enforcement tools we might or might not use.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Criminals Or 'Complete Morons'"}]

Erick Blackburn, former chief of the Wind River’s BIA outpost, discussed the cameras on a public Facebook exchange last month.

 map showing two of the cameras stationed at the reservation’s Riverton entrance.

, they’re license plate readers,” wrote Blackburn in a comment, 

referring to AI-powered license plate technology used by several Wyoming municipalities. 

“Law enforcement can search specific license plates for ATL — attempt to locate — for Amber alerts and vehicles reported to be trafficking narcotics,” Blackburn continued. "Everyone against them is criminal themselves or complete morons!!”

Blackburn said in another comment that was the BIA chief who “oversaw the project in an attempt to apprehend the narcotics coming into Fremont County and the reservation.”

He said both tribes are “heavy in favor” of the technology and “we had to have their full approval.”

“They were sick and tired of their people senselessly dying,” Blackburn added.

Blackburn, who later confirmed he’s now retired, said the cameras are working and fentanyl overdoses have declined.

 drug dealing POS, or snatching children and trying to drive away with them, you have nothing to worry about,” Blackburn wrote.

Blackburn did not immediately respond to a message request for further comment.

Barnett said Thursday that he was told a former BIA chief may have helped the tribe with the project, on the tribal side, but the project is still a DEA and tribal venture. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Obey The Constitution"}]

Robert Frommer, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice and one of the attorneys urging stronger Fourth Amendment protections in this area, told Cowboy State Daily he’s not in favor of eradicating the cameras.

But they should be subject to the same Fourth Amendment restraints as other law enforcement tools, he said in a Thursday phone interview.

The Fourth Amendment generally bars entry into a person’s home without a warrant, for example, but has exceptions for “exigent circumstances” 

 indications that someone is being harmed inside the home.

On hearing about the cameras stationed at the reservation’s entrances, Frommer said that’s a common method across the nation so that law enforcement can track who enters and leaves a given region. 

When he reviewed Cowboy State Daily’s photographs, he said they’re not Flock brand cameras, but some other brand.

“It’s hard to feel secure and to go about your daily life when you’re always knowing that the government is looking over your shoulder,” he said. “And that’s what these ALPRs (automatic license plate readers) allow. This, kind of, pervasive monitoring of individuals.”

 on this issue would require officers to get a warrant before accessing a person’s historical location information, unless an emergency makes getting a warrant impractical. 

It would restrict the data gatherers’ conveyance of people’s historical location information to third parties.

It would require that a record is created every time someone’s historical location information is accessed, and it would require training for officers accessing that historical information.

The proposed legislation would specify that authorities can’t use unlawfully obtained camera data to prosecute someone, but they also can face civil consequences for violating someone’s rights.

[{"type":"text","text":"The technology can be easy to abuse, said Frommer."}]

“Without any kind of warrant requirement or even internal procedures, it often means that the person deciding whether to search or not is just the bored officer in the patrol car,” said Frommer. “We’ve seen abuses where police have been stalking former romantic partners, wives, ex-boyfriends; other situations where it’s been used to keep tabs on people who are engaged in political activity.”

[{"type":"text","text":"This spreads to the immigration debate, he said."}]

Frommer and his co-counsel in an April 15 lawsuit complaint against the city of San Jose, California, wrote that that city’s massive AI-enhanced surveillance camera system has cameras near immigration lawyers’ offices and health care facilities.

As for the Wind River, Frommer said that, “I understand there might be drug problems in Wyoming and the reservation. There are drug problems all over the country.

“But you can’t let the worries of the day blind you to the long-term constitutional problems of what you’re doing.”

He added, “We want people to obey the law. And if we want people to obey the law then we have to, with just as much vigor, want our officers and government officials to obey the Constitution.”

License plate camera inset 6 18 26

<title>License Plate Cameras At Entrances To Wind River Reservation Spark Controversy | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Drug Enforcement Administration has installed license plate cameras on or around the Wind River Reservation, authorities confirmed Thursday. "All this stuff is somewhat '1984'-ish," Sen. Cale Case said. "It’s a big step in our surveillance society.”

License Plate Cameras At Entrances To Wind River Reservation Spark Controversy

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Wildlife researchers seemed poised to settle once and for all the debate over whether Wyoming pronghorn are actually faster than cheetahs in Africa.

But the pronghorn, commonly called antelope, apparently weren’t interested in doing their part.

A buck and a doe antelope were captured this spring near Pinedale by Wyoming Game and Fish researchers. The animals were outfitted with high-tech speed tracking collars and set loose.

Instead of kicking it into high gear and wowing researchers with documented speeds that could put cheetahs to shame, the antelope more or less just ambled about.

During the test period, the buck hit a top speed of 27 mph, and the doe topped out at 19 mph.

The pronghorn speed tests are the brainchild of Uinta County Lance Neeff. And despite the pronghorns’ lackadaisical response, he and Game and Fish aren’t ready to give up.

It’s hoped that another test can be conducted this winter.

The rub will be figuring out how to nudge the pronghorn into an all-out sprint, without unnecessarily harassing or stressing them.  

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Do Cheetahs Deserve Speed Crown?"}]

It’s long been accepted that cheetahs are the world’s fastest land animal, purported to reach speeds of nearly 70 mph in short bursts.

Pronghorn are said to top out at somewhere around 55 mph.

The “speed goats,” as Wyomingites sometimes affectionately call pronghorn), could claim only the endurance title, as they can hold their top speed over several miles, while cheetahs burn out quickly. 

It’s also thought that pronghorn developed their speed capabilities long ago, trying to flee from a now-extinct North American 

Neeff disagrees that the speed contest between cheetahs and pronghorn has been adequately decided in the cheetahs’ favor.  

He said there is at least some anecdotal evidence of pronghorn holding steady at 65 mph while paralleling vehicles on Wyoming roads – and he’s convinced that they can go even faster.

And the speed tests on cheetahs date back to the 1960s, using rather crude methods, such as dangling bait meat out of the back of a speeding Range Rover and letting a cheetah chase it, he said.

He has hoped for years to get pronghorn 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Testing Day"}]

Neeff first approached Game and Fish about speed testing pronghorn in 2024, Devin Gearhart, the agency’s fence ecologist, stated in an email to Cowboy State Daily.

There weren’t any pronghorn research captures planned that year. The test was postponed until March 7, when Game and Fish had planned to capture and collar 40 pronghorn for general research purposes.

The speed tests were performed in the Pinedale Anticline Project Area, a natural gas field south of Pinedale.

Gearhart and Game and Fish wildlife technician Dalton Brauer agreed to also put speed-testing collars, provided by Neeff, on two of the pronghorn.

The collars feature “Spektrum GNSS wireless GPS speed meters, typically used for RC motorsports,” Gearhart said.

The speed-detecting collars were programmed to drop off the test subjects within 2 to 3 hours.

It was hoped that the pronghorn would at least go into a high-speed burst immediately upon their release, but that didn’t happen.

“Since we know pronghorn can reach top speeds much greater than what was recorded, we believe this would only occur under more stressful conditions, such as predation or prolonged human/vehicle presence,” Gearhart said.

Neeff said that on the day of the tests, the captured pronghorn were slung under a helicopter for transport to the collaring site.

So, he’s suggested that next time, researchers should try chasing pronghorn with the helicopter, to push the animals to their top speeds.

He doesn’t think that would be too stressful or create too much risk for injury in a species designed to flee danger at high speed.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Let’s Keep Trying"}]

Neeff and Game and Fish are staking their hopes on further testing.

During a telephone interview, Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce told Cowboy State Daily that she likes the idea of speed-testing pronghorn, to see if they really are faster than Cheetahs.

It could put one of Wyoming’s most “overlooked” species in the spotlight, she said.

Bringing more attention to pronghorn could also help boost conservation efforts, such as protecting the species vital migration routes, Bruce said.

Neeff said providing the data that could get pronghorn crowned as the fastest land animal alive could also give Wyoming tourism a huge boost.

Wyoming has more pronghorn than any other state. And officially naming them the world’s fastest animal would boost the state’s prestige, he said.

Toward that end, he’s calling for donations to help fund more pronghorn speed tests.

Though the matter of whether cheetahs or pronghorn are the fastest remains unsettled, “we intend to refine our methods and continue our efforts,” Gearhart said.

“We’ve already discovered new technology that would allow us to collect more data over a longer period of time,” he added.

That’s a device called the “Lotek Activity Logger,” he said.

It can collect “small-scale movement data, including acceleration, and it can have an expected life of many months to years," Gearhart added.

The activity loggers might provide top-speed data. And they can also track pronghorns’ movements across great time and distance, providing better information about how they respond to human structures and activity, he said. 

Pronghorn test 1 6 18 26

<title>Ultimate Test: Wyoming Antelope vs African Cheetah To See Which Animal Is Faster | Cowboy State Daily</title>

What a drag! A long-awaited speed test to see whether Wyoming pronghorn are faster than Africa’s cheetahs was a bust. The pronghorn didn’t feel like running and never went faster than 27 mph. Officials are hoping to do another test in the winter.

Ultimate Test: Wyoming Antelope vs African Cheetah To See Which Animal Is Faster

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Wyoming Life

A Montana police officer spotted the giant banana rolling through Billings on Wednesday afternoon and did what countless law enforcement officers have done before him.

[{"type":"text","text":"He turned around and pulled it over."}]

For Steve Braithwaite, owner, builder and full-time driver of the 23-foot-long Big Banana Car, the stop was less of a surprise than a tradition.

"I would see a police car going the other way and get my documents ready," Braithwaite told Cowboy State Daily from Seattle on Thursday morning. "I knew they were going to loop around and pull me over." 

After 15 years, more than 250,000 miles and enough roadside conversations to fill a produce aisle, Braithwaite has learned that driving a giant banana attracts attention.

[{"type":"text","text":"Especially from cops."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They always find a reason to pull me over,\" Braithwaite said. "}]

in this case it was an issue with the license plate, but ultimately he was not given a ticket.  

Braithwaite figures he may have spent the better part of a decade as one of the most frequently pulled-over drivers in America.

[{"type":"text","text":"Not for speeding, but simply because he was driving a giant banana."}]

"For the first eight or nine years I was the most pulled-over man in America," he said. "It was constant."

[{"type":"text","text":"Often officers simply wanted photographs."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Other times they invented reasons to start a conversation."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"His favorite stop happened in a small mountain town in West Virginia."}]

A traffic light turned red. Braithwaite stopped. The light turned green and he made a leisurely turn through the intersection.

[{"type":"text","text":"A few moments later, flashing lights appeared behind him."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A police officer marched up to the banana and delivered the news."}]

"'The reason I pulled you over, that light back there, you peeled out.'"

[{"type":"text","text":"For a moment, Braithwaite didn't know if he was being serious or not."}]

"He said it so straight-faced," Braithwaite recalled. "And I'm like, 'Oh yeah.'"

[{"type":"text","text":"The banana jokes, he said, are \"never-ending.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Fortunately, so are the laughs."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"How It All Started"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The whole thing began in a gas station in 2008."}]

Braithwaite, a lifelong hot-rod enthusiast, had become bored attending car shows.

Then he watched an episode of the British television show "Top Gear" featuring bizarre custom-built vehicles, including a street-legal garden shed and a drivable couch.

[{"type":"text","text":"For the next month, his brain worked overtime."}]

"Everything I looked at, I thought, 'can I turn that into a car?'" he said. "My drill, my neighbor's lawn mower, everything."

Then one day he found himself standing beside a bowl of fruit in a gas station. 

[{"type":"text","text":"On top sat a banana."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Not the curved cartoon banana he'd always pictured, but a straighter one."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Suddenly, he could see it."}]

"The windshield would go there. The wheels would go there."

[{"type":"text","text":"Then came the moment that changed everything."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I pictured it driving down the road and died laughing,\" he said."}]

The image captivated him so completely that the checkout line moved without him noticing.

"The lady directly behind me had to tap me on the shoulder," he said. "They must have been thinking, 'Oh my God, is that the first banana he's ever seen?'"

[{"type":"text","text":"His rule was simple."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"If it makes me laugh now, I'm going to do it.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"It still made him laugh."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"So he built it."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"What he expected to be a parade novelty became his daily driver."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The truck beneath the banana has now traveled more than 250,000 miles."}]

"I didn't think I'd be driving it anywhere near as much as I am," he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Roaming In Wyoming"}]

Braithwaite didn't stop in Wyoming on this trip. He was headed west toward Washington.

[{"type":"text","text":"But Wyoming still occupies an important place in banana history."}]

Several years ago, while crossing the state, the Big Banana Car suddenly died alongside a lonely stretch of highway.

"I hadn't realized the distances between towns," he said. "I was in the middle of nowhere."

Parked beside the highway, luggage scattered around him. He "managed to get it running again."

By then he was running out of time to get to Los Angeles for a TV appearance, so he left in a hurry. 

[{"type":"text","text":"But he says there's a chance he might come back."}]

Braithwaite wants to race the famous Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, and why not in the Rockies?

He has already challenged it, but he says he thinks Kraft won't go for it. 

Sooner or later, he figures, some reporter would ask a dangerous question.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Instead of which is the quicker vehicle, which is the healthier food?\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then he laughs."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"And they're going to lose that.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"World Needs More Whimsy"}]

Casper car enthusiast Tom Morton says he is curious about the drag race with Oscar Mayer's wiener. 

"What's next?" Morton asks, "Asparagus street rods?" Overall, he says "I like it." 

[{"type":"text","text":"What began as a joke has evolved into something larger."}]

Braithwaite recently drove the banana into Mexico, where he was pulled over five times in three days.

[{"type":"text","text":"Every encounter was friendly, he says. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Now he's thinking much bigger."}]

His goal is to drive the Big Banana Car through Central America; somehow get it shipped across oceans and eventually circle the globe.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I just want to keep going,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He's calling the adventure \"The World Needs More Whimsy Grand Tour.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A sign mounted to the back of the vehicle carries the slogan."}]

For 15 years, Steve Braithwaite has driven a 23-foot banana across the country and, on Wednesday, just like hundreds of times before, he was pulled over by law enforcement. "They always find a reason to pull me over," Braithwaite said.

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