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[{"type":"text","text":"If DOGE reviewed family spending....."}]

Finance 3 6 25

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

<title>Today In Finance: Thursday, March 6, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

If DOGE reviewed family spending.....

Today In Finance: Thursday, March 6, 2025

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Wyoming Life

Entertainment

Every August, the highways to South Dakota begin to thunder as hordes of bikers pour into the Black Hills.

What began in 1938 with the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club has grown into one of the most famous motorcycle gatherings in the world. 

Some have made the trip for decades. Others are rolling into the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally for the first time.

Greg Griswold remembers the first time he approached Sturgis from Gillette on Interstate 90.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Holy shit, we're going to Sturgis,\" he remembers thinking."}]

At home, he drives a truck in the oil field. His wife, Toni, works as an assistant manager at an apartment complex. Between them, they have four children and eight grandchildren.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We're very much the all-American family,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"But when they leave for Sturgis, something changes."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's an absolute getaway from everything that is life,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The New Guy"}]

Amid all that freedom are a few unwritten rules, and one false move can get you punched in the face — or worse, a full-out ass-kicking.

A 20-something-year-old stone mason from Sheridan who goes by Grout is heading to Sturgis for the first time for the 86

 annual rally, which began Friday and runs through Aug. 16.

Newly single, Grout — aka Sean Severs — said he's especially looking forward to "the party." He said this while packing up his tent for the campgrounds. 

This year, he's riding alongside a Sheridan biker known as Coach, a Sturgis veteran tasked with showing the first-timer the ropes.

For Grout, the draw is the "vibe" — meeting people, seeing new places, and being surrounded by thousands of people that share his love of chrome.

But every first-timer eventually learns there is more to Sturgis than showing up and having a good time.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Sage"}]

Bob Pruitt has spent 45 years in the saddle and has made the trip to Sturgis more than half a dozen times.

[{"type":"text","text":"They call him Pretty Bobbie."}]

The modern-day mountain man stands over 6 feet tall, and is bald and broad-shouldered, with enormous paws, a scraggly gray-and-white beard and piercing blue eyes.

[{"type":"text","text":"His voice is heavy, each word landing like a hammer on a nail."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Yet somehow, standing next to him, you feel safer."}]

Maybe that's because Pretty Bobbie has been around long enough to know where the trouble is — and how to stay out of it.

His advice for anyone headed to Sturgis is simple: Have fun, pay attention, and understand the unwritten rules before you accidentally break one.

[{"type":"text","text":"The first is perhaps the easiest."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 1: Hands Off"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A motorcycle is not a park bench."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Don't sit on one."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Don't lean against one."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Don't climb aboard for a photograph."}]

Pretty Bobbie's advice is concise: "You want to touch a motorcycle, get your own."

[{"type":"text","text":"Griswold understands why."}]

Sturgis can offer everything from battered old Harleys coaxed across several states to meticulous customs that cost staggering amounts of money and craftsmanship.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Their bike is what they live for,\" he said of some riders. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Admire it, then keep walking."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 2: Don't Play Biker"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Sturgis is not the place to cosplay as an outlaw biker."}]

Griswold said an easy way to attract the wrong kind of attention is to show up wearing motorcycle-club insignia you haven't earned.

The sleeveless vest is commonly called a "cut," he said. Patches can identify a club, chapter or territory, including the curved "bottom rocker."

"A good way (to get your ass kicked) is show up with a cut that is flashing the wrong bottom rocker," Griswold said about the arched patches across the back of vests that usually indicates what territory a rider is from.

An experienced club member may recognize that an outsider simply doesn't know better, "but don't bet on it."

For a prospect, as in someone who wants to join some of the more notorious clubs, “he’s trying to prove to the club that he’s willing to go the extra mile for the club.”

[{"type":"text","text":"In a low, ominous voice, Griswold elaborates. "}]

"The 1% badge is only for those who have actually done the deed, and we’re talking — we’re talking death,” he said. "They’ve taken a life.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 3: Know When To Shut Up"}]

Pretty Bobbie said problems at the Sturgis rally begin the same way they do everywhere else.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Most people get bound up because they drink too much,\" he said."}]

Then people start talking trash, getting overly friendly or asking questions of people who clearly don't want to answer them.

"The way to run afoul on a biker is messing with his bike, mess with his old lady, start talking shit or asking too many questions," he said. 

Want to make friends? “Nod to them,” he said. "If they nod back, yeah, you'd probably be all right talking to them. If they don't nod back, leave them alone. They don't want to be messed with.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Basic awareness goes a long way.\""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 4: Leave The Old Lady Alone"}]

A surefire way to get your ass kicked at Sturgis is by "messing with someone's old lady,” Pretty Bobbie continued.

[{"type":"text","text":"The term itself might sound less than flattering to an outsider."}]

In biker culture, Pretty Bobbie said calling a woman “old lady” is "the utmost term of respect."

"If you hear a guy say, 'This is my wife,' he loves her," Pruitt said. "You got a guy say, 'Yeah, this is my old lady,' he'll kill for her."

Problems often begin when the drinks start flowing and guys start getting a little too friendly.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Chummy chummy,\" as Pretty Bobbie puts it."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Asked about his wife, the hard biker softened immediately."}]

"I'd set the world on fire for her," he said. "She's everything to me."

[{"type":"text","text":"And who says romance is dead?"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 5: Watch The Road"}]

Whether it's your first ride to Sturgis or your 40th, the goal is the same: Don't make it your last.

By Saturday during the 2025 rally, the South Dakota Highway Patrol had already recorded 58 injury crashes and four fatal crashes in the western part of the state. There were also 103 DUI arrests by that point. 

Griswold said riders communicate constantly, even among strangers. They use formations and signals to warn each other about trouble ahead.

Last year, he and Toni were riding on Interstate 90 when another rider warned them about debris in the road.

Someone had apparently lost a comforter. It blew across the highway and directly into Griswold's path.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"All I told her was, 'Hang on,'\" he said."}]

They hit it, but the warning had at least given him time to prepare, and they kept right on cruising. 

"There's a lot of respect among the guys that are out there riding together, even if they don't know each other," Griswold said. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rule No. 6: Have A Good Time "}]

For all the warnings, Griswold said this may be the most important rule. People having a good time are less likely to have conflict with others and get their asses kicked.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sturgis is supposed to be fun and there's no single right way to do it."}]

"Everybody is there ultimately to have a good time," Griswold said. "The good time can be rough and rowdy. It can be as mellow as you want it, and everything in between. It just depends on what you want to do." 

"Just have the road open in front of me," he said, "and just be able to go anywhere I want, whenever I want, with just what's packed on the bike." 

For Ucross biker John "Bear" Stanebrook, it's the wind in his face and the freedom — and he hopes everyone else finds their own version of that fun. That's the beauty of Sturgis.

[{"type":"text","text":"You can make it whatever you want."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Just mind your p's and q's."}]

Sturgis Getty Images 482875156 8 8 26

<title>How To Avoid Getting Your Ass Kicked At The Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally | Cowboy State Daily</title>

With the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally kicking off this weekend, many bikers offered tips on how to avoid getting your ass kicked at the celebration. One 45-year vet says "Understand the unwritten rules before you accidentally break one."

How To Avoid Getting Your Ass Kicked At The Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Zakary Sonntag

Law Enforcement

Food

Sweet Zoey mediterranean restaurant in Casper is known for its baklava and kebabs.

Four customers ordered those items and more during a lunch hour last May, running up quite the tab – then quietly running out the door.   

“They ate everything, appetizers, drinks, sweets, mains, everything,” said owner Zoey Aldahash.

“Then the four of them stood up in the same moment together, they walked to the door, and once they opened the door, they ran to the car — they were 

It was not her first experience with unpaying customers at this restaurant in the city’s Westridge neighborhood.

Unlike before, however, this time she chose not to involve the police. She looked to social media instead.

From the business’s security cameras, Aldahash posted an image of the alleged offenders to the restaurant’s Facebook page and asked the community for help identifying them.

Locals piled into the comments with a stone soup of reaction.

“How disgusting! Make sure their photos are plastered everywhere so they can be banned from everywhere. People like them should never be allowed anywhere 😡,” said one user.

Another customer was so disheartened she offered to help cover the loss. 

“If they dont come fwd I can swing in 65$ of the bill. I know it's not all of it but it's half,” the person said.

The responses show how neighborhood restaurants can feel like a natural extension of a community itself. In the case of Sweet Zoey, it's a reputation earned from years of hard work.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Brand Built On Baklava"}]

Aldahash, an Iraqi native with deep brown eyes and coffee-colored skin, worked as an architectural engineer before pivoting to a career of passion.

She began selling small batches of baklava at the farmers market. Small batches turned to big batches that turned to additional offerings like hummus and specialty bread. Each week, demand rose.

“It was selling out every time and I had people asking me to make more and more and more,” she said, “I reached a point where I couldn’t do it from my home anymore.” 

She moved to a commercial kitchen, then into a bigger space at southside shopping center, and eventually in 2022 into the full-service restaurant on CY Avenue where the business is today.

Despite a loyal customer base, not all support how Aldahash handled the dine-and-dash incident.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Why Not Call Police?"}]

In the image she posted online, commenters noted that the group resembled a family of four with two teenage children.

Their presumed youth was an issue for many.

“Advice from a former manager and business owner, Call the police and report instead of posting on Facebook, especially with children in the photo,” one person wrote.

That opinion was shared by many commenters. It’s also shared by the Casper Police Department (CPD). 

Rebekah Ladd, public information officer for CPD, told Cowboy State Daily social media will often bring useful information to investigators, but it can also result in undue accusations, misidentification or harassment, which raises additional concerns if juveniles are involved.

“Posting (images) publicly is typically not the most appropriate tactic at the beginning of a dine-and-dash investigation,” Ladd said.

“Businesses should be especially cautious when juveniles may be involved … particularly when the full circumstances are not known.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Circumstances Are Clear"}]

To the mind of Zoey Aldahash, however, the circumstances are clear enough. 

“These people came here and they intended to steal,” she said.

Pour Decisions Bar and Grill in Cheyenne also looked first to social media for help identifying a man who fed his family of four and left without paying in November 2025. 

Although in this instance, the images were cropped to reveal only the group’s patriarch, and the bar owner expressed a hope to resolve the issue amicably without involving authorities.

Locals expressed a range of feelings, but similar to Sweet Zoey, the majority opinion here was summed up best by the commenter who wrote, “Put this on Cheyenne Community Connection … really call him out.”

Aldahash chose not to involve police in May because she still has a sour taste from the last time she looked to CPD for help.

In 2024, a group of five ordered multiple entrees each and then left without paying, she said. After filing an initial report, investigators did not respond to her requests for updates and nothing became of the case, she said.

“In my previous experience, calling the police didn't work. There was no help, so I didn't contact the police the second time,” she said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Is Dine-And-Dash Common?"}]

Dine and dash incidents are categorized in police reports as crimes of “False Pretenses/Fraud,” which can include things like a person who takes a taxi ride and then leaves without paying the fare, Ladd explained.

In 2025, CPD tallied 626 cases of false pretenses and fraud, up 18% from the 531 cases reported in 2024, and up from 404 cases in 2023, according to public records.

However, dine-and-dash theft accounts for only a fraction of the department’s false pretense reports, totaling between 20-30 per year, according to Ladd.

“(Dine-and-dash) reports are not especially common in Casper,” Ladd said.

“CPD staff estimate the department receives roughly a couple of ‘dine-and-dash’ reports per month on average.”

Yet there’s reason to believe the problem is underreported. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"They Even Steal The Menus"}]

At Little Shop of Burgers, a horror-themed restaurant with campy decor in north Casper, owner Sarah Woodward did not involve the police the first time she had dine-and-dash customers. 

Nor did she involve them the second time. Nor the time after that.

“I just feel like the police have better things to do,” she said. “I also wonder, what could they even do?”

Officers will interview staff, review receipts and surveillance video before making a determination about intent and whether probable cause exists, according to Ladd.

In addition to three instances of theft of services, Woodward might also have filed multiple reports of theft of merchandise; for reasons she’s hard pressed to understand, customers often make off with the restaurant’s dolls and laminate menus. 

“In February, we got 55 new menus. Right now we’re down to 15,” said Woodward. “I don’t even get how they’d smuggle them out. Maybe they shove them under their skirts.”

Instead of calling police, she calls on staff to boost vigilance.

“We’ve just tried to keep a closer eye on things,” she said, with a shrug of resignation. 

Elsewhere in Natrona County, restaurant managers have police on speed dial.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"An Old Lady On Her Walker"}]

At the Texas Roadhouse in Evansville, manager Juan Soto said he sees about five dine-and-dash incidents per year.

The most recent example stands out. It was a rowdy table in June, and Soto was suspicious from the start.

“They're a real rowdy bunch. They came in really late at night, and I kind of knew that the table was going to be some sort of an issue,” Soto said, explaining he’s developed an intuition after 25 years in the industry. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"His sense of them was a bull’s-eye. "}]

The table’s bill soared above $200, but when it was time to settle up, they conspicuously headed outside at once. Sotto stopped them at the door and asked to put a card on file. 

After an awkward back and forth, one of them finally agreed to pick up the bill. The problem was he didn’t have any money.

 “They all left except for one dude, but this dude tried three different credit cards and he did not have any money in his account,” he said, describing the group demographically as “in their mid-40s.” 

The man said he’d return with payment the following day; Soto said no. In the end, the man’s mother came to the restaurant to bail him out.

“It was sad. The old lady had to get out on her oxygen and her walker to come in here and pay their bill,” he said.

Unlike Aldahash and Woodward, Soto has no reservations about involving the police.

“In Evansville, the police take really good care of me because I've built this relationship with them,” he said, explaining that he and police approach dine-and-dash incidents with the same overall assumption. 

“People are generally good people. It's just those few cases you get in this industry, and you need to hold people accountable.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Cry Or Smile’"}]

At Sweet Zoey, accountability has not yet arrived, and she’s left suspended between frustration, gratitude, and a kind of weary bemusement.

“You come in and order this much, and just leave without paying?” she said. “Who are these people?”

But she’s quick to pivot to the people who do show up for her: the regulars who offer to cover strangers’ bills, the customers who fill her dining room and comment with affection on the restaurant’s socials.

“Sometimes it’s like you don’t know if you want to cry or smile,” she said.

Dine and dash inset 8 8 26

<title>After Being Hit Again By Dine-And-Dashers, Casper Restaurant Skips Police | Cowboy State Daily</title>

After being hit again by thieves who dined and dashed, the owner of Sweet Zoey restaurant in Casper posted photos of the offenders instead of calling the police. "They intended to steal,” she said, noting that calling the police in the past didn't work.

After Being Hit Again By Dine-And-Dashers, Casper Restaurant Skips Police

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

Wyoming’s Republican race for U.S. House is now up to at least $8.1 million in loans and donations, counting just candidate committees and victory funds.

Millions more sit in independent political action committees (PACs) helping certain candidates.

U.S. Federal Election Commission filings as of July 29 show philanthropist Steve Friess has loaned himself another $1 million since Cowboy State Daily’s last 

Casper businessman Reid Rasner has loaned his campaign account $1.87 million. Secretary of State Chuck Gray has loaned his candidate account $1.377 million.

This leaves Friess with the biggest war chest: about $3.56 million, counting his campaign fund and victory fund.

Rasner has the second largest receipts line: nearly $2.33 for his candidate committee. That puts Gray’s candidate committee in third, at $1.62 million.

The Protecting Wyoming Values PAC, which distributes numerous ads for Gray, has raised nearly $1 million as of July 29, exclusively from Gray’s father.

The fourth most affluent campaign account belonged to a candidate who has since dropped out of the race: Moran-based attorney Frank Chapman.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Top Spenders"}]

Friess has now eclipsed Rasner as the top spender in the race: His campaign account has spent nearly $2.49 million as of July 29. His victory fund has sent another $62,170 to two other PACs: the Outriders PAC, which is partially funded by Friess’s mother, and the Freedom, Responsibility, Integrity, Economic Strength & Security PAC.

Rasner has spent $2.26 million from his candidate account as of July 29, followed by Gray at $1.38 million.

[{"type":"text","text":"The same Friess-Rasner-Gray pattern continues in other metrics."}]

Friess has more than double Gray’s cash on hand and more than 10 times Rasner’s, at $797,126.

Gray’s candidate committee sits at $240,146.39 cash on hand; Rasner’s at $79,152.

Friess has garnered the highest figure in contributions, at $468,841. Rasner is second: $452,581 and Gray third: $243,291.

Friess’s campaign spokesman Tim Edson said Friess “is investing heavily in his own campaign because he wants to serve and give back to community and country like he and his family have always done.”

“He isn’t seeking office to enrich himself or climb the political ladder,” said Edson. “He’s running to solve problems where career politicians have failed and bring a fresh perspective to Washington.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Next Up"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"After Friess, Rasner and Gray, the war chests descend in this order:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Christensen claims to have inordinate momentum for his buck."}]

“I made a decision up front, I wasn’t going to take money from PACs and outside money,” he said. “I would finance my campaign from people in Wyoming, and that’s exactly what I’ve done.”

Christensen said 2026 isn’t all about big ads packages. It’s about the word-of-mouth network on social media.

“The most authentic thing you can get in a campaign is for people to believe in you and advocate for you – and that genuine advocacy doesn’t cost a lot of money,” said Christensen.

He said he’s loosely monitored an exponential effect on social media: when one person takes his messaging to heart, that person may expose his or her vote of confidence to hundreds, even thousands of other people, who then may replicate it.

“If I win, there’s a national news story here,” said Christensen in a nod to his lower budget.

[{"type":"text","text":"He also said he hasn’t done any fundraisers."}]

In Wyoming’s expensive race for U.S. House, Steve Friess has passed Reid Rasner as the biggest spender so far at nearly $2.5 million, while candidates have raised at least $8 million. Rasner has spent $2.26 million, and Chuck Gray $1.38 million.

Today In Finance: Thursday, March 6, 2025

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