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Michael P. Ramirez

Daily Cartoon

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

<title>Daily Cartoon: Sunday, May 4, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon: Sunday, May 4, 2025

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

 shook things up enough in Yellowstone National Park on Thursday morning for people 

The epicenter of the 7:20 a.m. earthquake was along the Grand Loop Road, south of Canyon Junction, at a depth of 6.53 kilometers. That’s just over 4 miles beneath the surface.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), at least 14 people reported feeling the earthquake within 30 miles of the epicenter. Its intensity was low, and there were no reports of damage.

The USGS categorized the earthquake as a III “Weak” on the Modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) scale. That means the quake’s energy would be noticeable but not much stronger than the vibrations caused by a large truck driving by.

It's not even the largest earthquake in Wyoming this week. A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was detected west of Rock Springs on Tuesday.

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

Earthquakes are a very common occurrence in Yellowstone, one of the most tectonically active places in North America. According to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, there were 118 earthquakes detected in June alone.

Thursday morning’s magnitude 3.3 quake was Yellowstone’s largest of the year so far, but a few earthquakes of that magnitude are expected every year.

“Earthquakes that get into the magnitude 3 range are rare, but there are usually three to 10 of those in the Yellowstone area every year,” Mike Poland, scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, 

. “The vast majority of earthquakes are magnitude 2 and below.”

In 2025, there were 1,119 earthquakes located in and around Yellowstone. The largest quakes were three magnitude 3.7 events.

That was a “quiet year,” according to Poland. In an average year, there are between 1,500 and 2,500 earthquakes detected in Yellowstone.

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

When a magnitude 3.9 earthquake hit Yellowstone in January 2025, the largest quake in the park since 2023, it wasn’t even detected on 

 installed at the Wyoming Geological Survey's headquarters in Laramie.

"We were about 350 miles from the epicenter,” said geologist James Mauch. “It was a bit too far away and low in magnitude to detect in Laramie.”

According to Mauch, magnitude 3.0 earthquakes are “very typical activity for Yellowstone.” 

They might be slightly stronger than the average Yellowstone earthquake, but not strong enough to be unusual, he said.

“We typically get around five ‘felt’ earthquakes every year, so this is right in line with the average,” he said.

What the earthquake doesn’t indicate is any significant change in Yellowstone’s volcanic systems. Even at a depth of 4 miles, Thursday morning’s quake was too shallow to indicate anything volcanic, which is true for most of Yellowstone’s earthquakes.

“Because there are so many faults in the region and a lot of water moving around in the subsurface, Yellowstone is a recipe for lots and lots of earthquakes,” Poland said. “There’s nothing particularly anomalous about (a magnitude 3.3 earthquake), and none of these quakes are associated with any volcanic activity.”

Yellowstone Lake and earthquake Mauritius Images via Alamy 7 16 26

<title>Yellowstone Records Earthquake Thursday Morning, Felt 30 Miles Away | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A magnitude 3.3 earthquake in Yellowstone on Thursday was felt by people as far away as 30 miles. It’s the largest earthquake of the year so far in the national park. “We typically get around five ‘felt’ earthquakes every year,” said a geologist.

Yellowstone Records Earthquake Thursday Morning, Felt 30 Miles Away

Lubnau head 2

Tom Lubnau

Opinion

On July 13, 2026, the Libertarian Party of Wyoming posted the following statement on social media:

A quick reminder that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus voted twice to allow adults to have s** with children!

Why did Chip Neiman, John Bear, and the rest of the Freedom Caucus vote to allow adults to have legally protected s** with children?

The freedom caucus fought hard to protect their right to marry children of any age… why?

While you can say a lot of things about Chip Neiman and John Bear (and I’ve said many), in all fairness, I don’t think it is fair to say they voted to allow adults to have sex with children.

Rep. Neiman even prayed online for forgiveness for the people who would say such horrible things about him.

I think it important to know that I am supporting Bear and Neiman’s opponents to the best of my ability, Ogden Driskill for Senate and Doug Moore for House. An entirely Freedom Caucus controlled legislature led by Bear and Neiman would be a continuation of their frightening comedy of errors. Driskill and Moore are good men of discernment.

That being said, I don’t think it is fair or right for anyone to distort the record. So, what really happened with this bill in 2023?

In 2023, Representative Dan Zwonitzer proposed a bill (HB7) that would increase the age of marriage to eighteen years old. Persons 16 and 17 years old who have the permission of their parents or guardians could get married, as well.

Prior to that time the law allowed anyone 16 years of age or older to get married. Marriages under the age of 16 were voidable, but not void.

HB 7 passed. Those opposing the bill were a who’s who of Freedom Caucus members.

So, in a technical sense, under the old law 12- to 16-year-olds could marry. Voting against this bill which raises the age to 18 would “technically” only be a vote against raising the marriage age.  

The problem is you have to read the rest of Wyoming’s statutes. Look at W.S. 6-2-315 to 318.

Wyoming does not have a blanket Romeo and Juliet exemption, although the degrees to build some ages-gap tiering. Statutory rape is still a crime. Even if the parties are married, sexual contact and full-on sex is a crime. And . . . there is no statute of limitations in Wyoming.

So, in Wyoming, if someone is 17 years or older, and more than 4 years older than the victim, then voluntary arousal of private parts is a felony. Full on sex is a higher felony.

If someone is 20 years or older and touches private parts with someone who is 16 or 17, and the victim is at least four years younger than the actor, and the actor occupies a position of authority over the victim, it’s a felony. Full on sex is a higher felony.

If someone is less than 16 years of age and touches private parts of a victim who is less than 13 years of age, and the victim is at least 3 years younger, it’s a felony. Full on sex is a higher felony.

Basically, the statute is the description of the old adage “16 will get you 20.”

Wyoming’s sexual abuse statutes are complicated and intricately worded. They cannot be fully described in a 750-word column.

But you get the point. No matter what the marriage statute says, it is still illegal in Wyoming to have sex with anyone under the age of 16, and under the age of 18 if you are not within four years of age.

So, voting against the underage marriage bill is not a vote to allow adults to have sex with children.

A vote against the underaged marriage bill is a vote to allow juveniles to get married. Under the old law, children of any age could get married with proper consent. The marriage was voidable, but possible. The newlyweds just could not have sex until age 16 or 18, depending on the age spread of the parties. (I wonder if anyone but me sees that technicality?)

Now, I have to tell you, I don’t really feel sorry for Bear or Neiman. While I despise all of the untruths that are floating around the state airwaves about candidates, a little turnabout is fair play.

The Freedom Caucus, under their leadership, sent out mailers last election saying that legislators voted to keep Trump off the ballot when no such vote occurred. I’ve been predicting that mailers will come out that certain legislators would be branded as child abusers and pornographers this legislative session.

I did not anticipate it being Bear and Neiman. But, if Freedom Caucus does send out dishonest mailers, the hypocrisy will be rich. And Neiman’s prayers are going to have to be extended to lots of other people.

Tom Lubnau served in the Wyoming Legislature from 2004 to 2015 and is a former Speaker of the House. He can be reached at: 

<title>Tom Lubnau: Fair Play Cuts Both Ways — The Truth About The 2023 Marriage Bill | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "I’ve been predicting mailers will come out that certain legislators would be branded as child abusers and pornographers this legislative session. I did not anticipate it being John Bear and Chip Neiman."

Tom Lubnau: Fair Play Cuts Both Ways — The Truth About The 2023 Marriage Bill

Guest Column

Guest Columnists

is a book published in 1971 by Saul Alinsky, a radical leftist community activist who wrote from his decades of pro-Communist organizing efforts. Alinsky died shortly after its publication, but Rules for Radicals has lived on, even shaping today’s neo-Marxist reunion tour now sweeping Blue states and universities near you. 

In a recent article published in Salon, the headline reads, “Trump Revives the Red Scare,” accusing the president of reviving the old wave of anti-communism from the 1950s. Actually, I don’t think President Trump is the originator of the most recent “Red Scare” at all – not when today’s Democrat Party is doing such a fine job on its own. 

Last month, Democrats in Denver nominated a self-declared Socialist for U.S. Congress on her promises to deliver Soviet-style free stuff for everyone. Her empty, laughable promises are covered by Alinsky rules 1 and 2. 

Maine Democrats nominated a loser Communist (his word, not mine) with the added bonus of a Nazi tattoo to represent them in the U.S. Senate before deciding that serious, credible rape allegations (but not his Nazism or Communism) made him unfit for that office. Nevertheless, it is conservatives who the left brands “Nazis" and “Christian Nationalists”, per Alinsky’s rules 3-5. 

On July 3, New York Mayor, radical Islamist, trust fund baby and avowed Socialist Zohran Mamdami delivered a speech from George Washington’s desk, where he attacked everything about America on its birthday. When did “Make America Great Again” become dirty words, and “the warmth of collectivism” become okay? Pure Alinsky. 

And lest we think Wyoming is above all this, Gillette, Wyoming’s community organizations were barred by Campbell County Parks & Recreation officials from handing out U.S. Constitutions and Bibles during the Independence Day 250 parade. Is July Fourth really the best day to trash the very FIRST Amendment to the American Constitution? Socialists must control the media and other freedoms of speech to promote their bad ideas, again, straight out of the 

Add to the 250th anniversary celebration of our Declaration of Independence that Lander parade-goers – including kids – were handed free condoms by the local LGBT advocacy group. 

Since when are free condoms protected by the Constitution while Bibles are not? 

What do all of these outrages have in common? They are perpetuated by people who hate everything about our nation and culture. They hate anything like the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, and anyone like Donald Trump, for promoting free markets, less burdensome government, justice and liberty for all. 

Socialism/Communism -- flip a coin -- is focused on creating a “utopia” in which seizing wealth and killing prosperity allows everyone to live in equal misery. Our founding fathers were wise in understanding human nature and choosing a republican form of government, which thrives with free markets. 

When markets are free and the people are moral, the economy soars and folks share prosperity with their less fortunate neighbors. This system has led to the greatest and most compassionate nation on earth with a record of helping and improving the quality of life for all of humanity. Something we SHOULD be proud of! 

Every Marxist advance has led to failure of productivity, starvation and mass death. Well over 100 million people perished in the name of Marxism (Socialism, Communism -- potato, po-tah-to) during the 20th century. 

Even Wyoming Democrats refuse to distance themselves from these avowed communists who hate America (Zohran Mamdani, Graham Platner, Melat Kiros, AOC, and Bernie Sanders). Wyoming Democrats lead the attacks on the Wyoming Freedom Caucus while supporting the same Republican candidates who think your inalienable rights should be conditional. If you believe they will stop before coming for your guns and property, you haven’t studied history. 

The leader of Gillette’s Parks and Recreation department is a Republican candidate for the Wyoming State Senate. The staffer who made the decision to prohibit passing out U.S. Constitutions on our nation’s 250th birthday is campaign manager for a Republican candidate for the Wyoming House. Misdirection from Saul Alinsky’s 

Donald Trump is hardly the one inciting the new “Red Scare. Not when even Wyoming Democrats and weak sauce Republicans are advancing Saul Alinsky’s radical principles right here in the heart of the American West. 

How long before Wyoming elects a socialist? It could be sooner than later if they run as Republicans. 

Rep. John Bear represents House District 31 in Gillette

John bear headshot 7 15 26

<title>Guest Column: How Long Before Wyoming Elects A Socialist? | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Rep. John Bear writes, "Gillette’s community organizations were barred from handing out U.S. Constitutions and Bibles during the Independence Day 250 parade. Is July Fourth really the best day to trash the very FIRST Amendment to the American Constitution?"

Guest Column: How Long Before Wyoming Elects A Socialist?

Kerry Drake

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

CHEYENNE — The day after Gene Holthus’ home in Cheyenne’s Buffalo Ridge subdivision was gutted on July 16, 1979, he stood outside taking photos of the destruction. 

His three sons were busy trying to salvage anything they could from the house as Wyoming National Guard helicopters flew overhead to protect the neighborhood from looting.

Holthus told the Wyoming State Tribune that he was at work at the Wyoming Highway Department when he saw the huge twister rip past the Game and Fish Commission.

“I immediately called my wife, Alta, and told her to get in the basement,” Holthus said. “She didn’t know a thing about it.”

He said the next few minutes were terrifying as he waited for a chance to get home. Holthus learned that a gas main had broken in his basement.

“Somebody called the fire department and within about five minutes they came and dug my wife out of the basement,” he recalled. “Thank God she only had a few scratches.”

As Holthus continued talking to the reporter, one of his sons came running up and handed him an envelope he’d found several blocks away. It contained vivid color photographs of the family’s garden, which was now buried under rubble.

Holthus looked at every one of the photos. 

“I just can’t believe that something this small could remain intact while bigger things were totally destroyed,” he said. 

The reporter told him he was sorry about everything his family lost. Holthus turned around and pointed at the house.

“This can all be replaced,” he said. “We survived. And I’ll treasure these photos and all the memories.”

Holthus died in 2015, but he and his family had survived what 47 years later is still the most destructive tornado ever recorded in Wyoming. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"9-Mile Path Of Destruction"}]

The tornado that touched down was not only rare for the capital city, Cheyenne had never had one within city limits prior to July 16, 1979. 

The tornado was officially an F-3, using the EF scale that ranks tornados by damage intensity. But some scientists believe it was even more fierce, an F-4, based on the intensity of destruction it left behind.

The tornado first formed around 3:10 p.m. near the intersection of Vandehei Avenue and Valley View Road. Peak winds were estimated between 136-165 mph.

Its path through the city was 8.8 miles, which it traveled in about 30 minutes. 

The massive twister was 80 yards wide, or four-fifths as long as a football field.

It was the most destructive tornado in Wyoming’s history, and it caused one death: 14-month-old David McKinnon, who the Laramie County coroner at the time said died instantly from head injuries when his family’s trailer was ripped apart by the black funnel cloud.

Damaging about 400 homes, including 140 that were destroyed, the total property damage was estimated at $25 million, which is the equivalent to 

As people dug through the rubble, called insurance adjusters, and talked to friends and family about their ordeal, one thing about the natural disaster seemed universally described by survivors as miraculous. 

How could such an enormous tornado wreaking havoc for such a long time have not killed more people?

“This was my first major crisis,” Don Erickson, Cheyenne’s mayor from 1977-1989, told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday as he recalled the challenges he faced when the tornado hit the northern part of the city. 

“We had to show the community a lot of confidence, that we were doing the best we can,” he said. "And we did. We had a great team.”

Erickson, 89, can vividly describe everything he saw happen the day the tornado hit.

“I was sitting in my office with my risk manager looking through this great big window,” he said. “I thought, ‘My God, it looked kind of weird out there.’ Big black clouds coming around, and I said, ‘Let’s go up on the roof and see what’s going on.’”

Within 10 seconds of arriving on the rooftop, Erickson said that, “There was a big blast north of City Hall. Later on, we found that a transformer over by the governor’s mansion had been struck by lightning.”

Dave Guille, the head of civil defense for the city, called to tell the mayor that a tornado had hit the north side of Cheyenne.

Erickson, who had just dealt with one shock, called Cheyenne Police Chief Byron Rookstool, and together they made a hurried trip to the scene.

“The rescue effort was underway, and the devastation was amazing,” Erickson said. “We were so lucky that people were working and the kids weren’t quite home yet.”

He flew in a National Guard helicopter to see the path of destruction. 

“We’re fortunate that the Frontier Mall wasn’t built yet on Dell Range. It would have had a tremendous amount of damage,” he said.

Erickson said Gov. Ed Herschler immediately declared Cheyenne a disaster area.

Erickson said the entire city rallied to help take care of anyone impacted by the disaster. Scores of people opened up their homes to those who had lost theirs. 

Esther Howard formed the Interfaith Task Force, which brought local organizations together to coordinate how they could help anyone who needed it.

Erickson resurrected the group when had his next big crisis, which also involved disastrous weather that Cheyenne had never seen before: the Aug. 1, 1985, flood, which killed a dozen people and caused more than $51 million in damage. 

He said he took what he learned from the tornado tragedy, and that it helped prepare him for the even bigger disaster.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lucky For Him"}]

Tom Reed was a high school junior spending the summer of 1979 working for a construction company that was putting the finishing touches on a new house in his Buffalo Ridge neighborhood. 

On the afternoon of July 16, he was the last person at the site, cleaning it up so the house would be ready for the family that would move in soon.

He went across town to do the same thing at a house on the south side. That’s when he looked north and spotted the tornado.

“We were up pretty high so we could see it across town,” Reed said. “At first I thought it was a fire, but then I saw it move and realized what it was.”

He made another stop at the construction company, where someone told him that a twister had been heading right through his neighborhood. He raced home, but had to walk part of the way because of all the debris covering Roundtop Drive.

He said he spotted his mother, Becky Reed, outside their now heavily damaged ranch-style home doing what everyone else in the neighborhood was doing: trying to assess the damage and figure out what in the world to do next. 

Some people were looking for their pets, but his family dog was inside, unharmed.

Reed said that unlike some of their neighbors whose two-story and multi-level homes were severely damaged, with roofs blown completely off, the Reeds’ single-level house was still standing.

“The roof was kind of peeled back from where it met the west wall,” he said. “If you looked up in the family room you could look straight up to the sky.”

Reed said a lot of windows were broken, and the strong winds blew open the refrigerator door and the contents were tossed all over the house. The hallway walls were covered with ketchup and mustard.

But unlike about 1,000 other Cheyenne residents, the Reeds weren’t homeless that night. 

In fact, they never left. He said he and his father, Tom Reed Sr., who also worked for the same construction company, fixed everything themselves over time.

Reed, who has spent the last 30 years working for ESPN and living in Connecticut, talked to Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday from Dallas, where he’s on vacation. He’s headed to Cheyenne for Frontier Days.

Once he found that his mother was shaken but not hurt, Reed walked to the construction site he had left only an hour before. 

“The house was just gone,” he said. “There was nothing left but the foundation, and the furnace and a few other mechanicals in the basement. Not a stick of the house was left.”

Reed said it took him a while to process the scene. Talking about it 47 years later leaves him amazed and grateful that he got out of the area in time. 

“If I’d stayed a little longer, I would have been hiding in that basement,” he said.

Reed’s mother had been home alone working on her sewing machine when she heard the wind and realized some of the windows were open. When she looked out, she was staring at the tornado headed straight for her.

Becky Reed and the dog made it to the basement, where they went to her son’s room and pulled the mattress over them. She heard the sounds of destruction all around her as the twister plowed into homes.

“When she thought it was over, she went upstairs and out to the porch, only to see  the tornado roaring past her,” Reed said. “She told us later she thought, ‘I might have jumped the gun a little bit.’”

Reed said he’s still bewildered by what transpired that day, seeing some houses look untouched while their next-door neighbors’ homes were reduced to piles of rubble. 

Then he remembered something he said he hadn’t thought about for a long time.

“We had a coffee maker on the kitchen counter, with a pitcher and a panhandle with a metal ring around it,” Reed said. “The coffee maker was gone, but we found the handle out in the front yard. Sitting right next to it was a little dish that had $50 under it. That was just bizarre.”

Kerry Drake can be reached at: Kerry@CowboyStateDaily.com

Tornado 7 16 23 v8

<title>Most Destructive Tornado In Wyoming’s History Leveled Cheyenne 47 Years Ago | Cowboy State Daily</title>

It was 47 years ago on July 16, 1979, when a massive tornado ripped through Cheyenne, leveling hundreds of homes and killing a 14-month old. Decades later, it’s still the most destructive tornado in Wyoming history.

Most Destructive Tornado In Wyoming’s History Leveled Cheyenne 47 Years Ago

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Legislature

A Wyoming state lawmaker pleaded guilty Wednesday to driving drunk in Buffalo in late December, and was sentenced to probation and a $500 fine.

Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, took a plea agreement offered by Johnson County Deputy Attorney Joshua Stensaas, and gave his guilty plea in Buffalo Circuit Court at a Wednesday hearing.

He was arrested Dec. 28 in Buffalo. Stensaas has said Allemand’s blood-alcohol concentration was 0.24%. That figure is contested, Buffalo Circuit Court Magistrate Judge Jeremy Kisling noted during the Wednesday hearing.

A flurry of disputes over the chemical blood test were still in play when Allemand’s case settled.

Kisling sentenced Allemand to 90 days in jail — less the two he served when arrested — but suspended that sentence in favor of one year of unsupervised probation.

That means Allemand has a year of probation ahead of him, and if he fails probation, he may be sentenced to the remaining 88 days in jail.

For the first six months’ probation Allemand is required to submit to chemical testing between once and twice a month. He could be tested upon a law enforcement officer’s reasonable articulable suspicion as well, Kisling noted.

Under probation, Allemand is also required to stay out of bars and liquor stores, not violate any laws, complete his counseling or treatment as recommended, and pay his fines and fees. 

Kisling fined Allemand $500 but said he’d credit up to $200 upon a showing that Allemand had purchased a treatment evaluation as required.  

Kisling imposed other costs and fees: $70 in court costs, $150 for victim’s crime compensation fund, and $50 for the drug court surcharge.

Stensaas had recommended those terms, except he left the potential jail sentence length open to the judge’s discretion. 

Both the prosecutor and the magistrate said they were working to treat this case like any other first-time DUI featuring a high blood-alcohol concentration.

“Mr. Allemand I know there’s been a lot of to-do around this, and at the end of the day this court ignores the to-do,” said Kisling, adding that he’s treating this case like others of its nature.

He said he wishes Allemand luck, recognizes he’s working on the alcohol issue.

“Continue to maintain that sobriety… and put this behind you,” said Kisling.

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand did not give a speech when it was his chance."}]

He did not immediately respond to a late-day voicemail request for comment after the hearing.

Allemand is running against Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer for the GOP nomination at the Aug. 18 primary election. 

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

At the same hearing Wednesday, Allemand’s attorney Mike Vang pleaded not guilty to a separate charge alleging 

Kisling ordered Vang to appear in court Wednesday to answer why he missed a hearing that had been set for July 8, where Vang had been slated to argue his claims that the prosecutor deprived him of key evidence.

Stensaas has called those claims false. He recommended another contempt charge Wednesday due to the “heavy interplay” amid those claims, and said “that may be something that is filed.”

But Kisling said as far as the judge’s contempt action — which a court can advance — he’ll stick with a series of other issues he deemed problematic. Those were, according to Kisling:

• Vang appeared three minutes late and in a blue T-shirt for a January virtual hearing;

[{"type":"text","text":"• Vang missed the July 8 in-person-only hearing;"}]

• When asking to reschedule his July 15 contempt hearing, Vang cited a conflicting hearing in Albany County’s Laramie Circuit Court that was not actually set;

• Kisling had earlier issued an order telling counsel to be prepared and exercise due diligence in discovery, “but in summary, all orders would be taken seriously.”

Kisling noted that in light of a Wyoming Supreme Court case on these types of cases, he’d start a new criminal case, apart from Allemand’s case, for the contempt proceedings.

Vang said he’ll hire an attorney in this matter, and Kisling said he doesn’t need to set a bond for Vang.

“I can tell you I’ve never been in these shoes, so it’s not something I’ve dealt with," said Kisling, who had earlier said this action gives him “no pleasure.”

Vang had raised a protest in one of his motions, against the Johnson County Sheriff's Office's release of Deputy Caleb Campbell's body camera video of Allemand's arrest - days after Kisling ruled that 12 minutes of it 

couldn't be part of the prosecutor's main case.

[{"type":"text","text":"That issue remains unsettled since Allemand's case is concluded. "}]

Campbell had stopped Allemand on claims that after stopping at a stop sign just off Interstate 25, Allemand lurched forward, nearly hit another vehicle, then stopped abruptly.

This, coupled with the evidence that Allemand was the subject of a drunk driving report by another driver on the Interstate near Buffalo, made for enough evidence to justify Campbell’s stop, Kisling ruled earlier.

Campbell spotted a gun on Allemand's truck seat and handcuffed the man during the traffic stop over what he cast during a March court hearing as officer safety concerns. 

That was appropriate, Kisling had ruled. But Campbell also asked Allemand potentially incriminating questions while Allemand was confined, but without having given Allemand his Miranda rights. 

That's why those 12 minutes of video, spanning the time Allemand was confined but not Mirandized, could not be part of the prosecutor's main case at trial, Kisling ruled in June. 

 Wyoming state Rep. Bill Allemand pleaded guilty to DUI in court Wednesday and was given one year probation and fined $500. He faces 88 days in jail if he fails probation. 

Daily Cartoon: Sunday, May 4, 2025

Michael P. Ramirez

Cartoonist

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Michael P. Ramirez

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