Political, Wyoming Life Columnist

Dave Simpson

Dave Simpson started his newspaper career in 1973 as a reporter for the Laramie Daily Boomerang. He moved on to editing posts at the Rawlins Daily Times and the Casper Star-Tribune. He then published newspapers in Colorado and Illinois for Howard Publications owners at the time of the Star-Tribune for 17 years.

Dave has written a weekly column about a wide variety of topics for 39 years, winning top columnist awards in Wyoming, Colorado, Illinois and Nebraska.

He and his wife Caryl are retired and live on an old wheat field east of Cheyenne. Their dog Mitch the latest in a long line of black Labrador Retrievers was rescued from the pound in Torrington.

Dave built his log cabin in the Snowy Range of Carbon County in the 1980s, where he spends as much time as possible every summer.

Latest from Dave Simpson

Dave Simpson: The One Question Nobody Seems To Ask

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "When the adults in the room start throwing around the terms 'sanctuary city,' 'gain of function,' and 'EVs,' we need to ask, 'What could possibly go wrong?'"

Dave SimpsonDecember 04, 2023

Dave Simpson: Fifty Years Ago Today, I Began My Career As A Newsman

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "One day at the police desk, there was a blotter item about a guy dressed up as the Easter Bunny, threatening people with a gun at Third and Grand in Laramie...

Dave SimpsonNovember 27, 2023

Dave Simpson: The Place That Makes You Happy

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Picture a joyous black Labrador, ears flapping, racing through the golden prairie in hopeless pursuit of a jackrabbit. For me, this is the good life, pure and simple."

Dave SimpsonNovember 20, 2023

Dave Simpson: Wake Me When The Nightmare's Over

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Over the last three months, our country has borrowed $3 trillion."

Dave SimpsonNovember 13, 2023

Dave Simpson: My Sad Smoke Alarm Tale Of Woe

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "At 2:41 am, we were awakened by a full-fledged, ear-piercing, all-hands-on-deck fire alarm, with the recorded voice of a lady yelling, “FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!” Every alarm in the house – 13 of them – was going off, and the dog was in a panic."

Dave SimpsonNovember 06, 2023

Dave Simpson: Not Exactly A Day At The Beach

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "What on earth was Gov. Gordon thinking when he spoke at Harvard University last week, advocating something called “carbon negative?” How did he expect that to go over in carbon-rich Gillette?"

Dave SimpsonOctober 30, 2023

Dave Simpson: Watching House Republicans This Year Is Like Watching The Denver Broncos

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "I don't lose sleep over government shutdowns, and so far I see life without a Speaker of the House as kind of refreshing."

Dave SimpsonOctober 23, 2023

Dave Simpson: Imagine If Trump Wasn't Running

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Imagine the panic that would be running through the Democratic Party right now at the prospect of rapidly-declining, stumbling, mumbling Joe Biden running against an energetic, effective advocate of most of the Trump agenda who won his last election as governor of Florida by a million and a half votes."

Dave SimpsonOctober 16, 2023

Dave Simpson: Hillary's Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "I don't care if you disagree. I'm 72, too old to pretend this makes sense anymore. I didn't live my life like government operates in Washington – I saved - and you can't make me believe this kind of profligacy won't ultimately bring down our country."

Dave SimpsonOctober 09, 2023

Dave Simpson: Is 'Gender Queer' Author A Book Banner?

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Is it the equivalent of Nazi Germany for library boards to decide that some books are appropriate for children, and others aren't? Even when the author agrees that her book is inappropriate for young children?"

Dave SimpsonOctober 02, 2023

Dave Simpson: 'Silver Wings,' Not 'Barbie,' Got Raves

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Sorry I missed 'Barbie' with my friends Bill and Nancy Sniffin, but the highlight of the summer had nothing to do with sitting in a movie theater. It was sitting around a campfire while a retired eye doctor/musician from Nebraska sang 'Silver Wings.'”

Dave SimpsonSeptember 25, 2023

Dave Simpson: Did I Mention It Was 4 Whole Days?

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Kids shouldn't be spending time every day watching cartoons on television or staring into an iPad. But I'll have to admit that the girls got their share of screen time during their visit, which gave Granny and Gramps time to regroup, catch our breath, and plan strategy."

Dave SimpsonSeptember 18, 2023

More from our columnists

Dave Simpson: Oh Good, California Professors Want To Save Wyoming

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Two professors in California have hope for us. They hope we can get over our silly concerns over vaccine mandates, gender-altering procedures on children, boys playing girls' sports, and talking sex to First Graders in Wyoming."

Dave SimpsonSeptember 15, 2023

Dave Simpson: I Call It The Lumpy Rutherford Party

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "My wife says the Democratic party is the Eddie Haskell Party, in that they are complimentary to June Cleaver's face - 'You're looking particularly beautiful today, Mrs. Cleaver' - but laugh at how gullible adults are behind her back."

Dave SimpsonSeptember 11, 2023

Dave Simpson: Welcome To The Twilight Zone, Voters

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "When guys like me find a Kennedy interesting, lions are no doubt lying down with lambs, pigs have taken wing, and monkeys are flying out of our cabooses. Beware the plague of locusts."

Dave SimpsonSeptember 05, 2023

Dave Simpson: Think You Used Enough Dynamite, Butch?

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Our Trump-hating Democrat friends are determined, in the words of Sundance, to use enough dynamite to get rid, once and for all, of a guy so craven and evil and sick that he wants to make America great again."

Dave SimpsonAugust 29, 2023

Dave Simpson: Pry That Plastic Bag From My Cold, Dead Hands

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Here in Wyoming, we shake our flat heads in disbelief at states where you can shoplift at will, where violent people get turned right back out on the street, and where you can pitch a tent on a city sidewalk and pee in the gutter as long as you like."

Dave SimpsonAugust 26, 2023

Dave Simpson: Back Then, We Agreed About Spiro

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "I don't remember any debate among Republicans and Democrats about the propriety of a vice president who accepted bribes. He had to go."

Dave SimpsonAugust 21, 2023

Dave Simpson: Not A Place For The Faint Of Heart

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Yogi obviously climbed onto a picnic table at one end of the porch, and reduced a large hummingbird feeder to shards of red plastic. Yellow spouts, red perches and empty bottles littered the deck. He even took a swig of tiki lamp fuel."

Dave SimpsonAugust 15, 2023

Dave Simpson: These Guys Don't Take Prisoners

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Not selecting how-to manuals on sex for a school or public library does not constitute 'book banning.' Caring what your little one is exposed to is not Nazi Germany."

Dave SimpsonAugust 07, 2023

Dave Simpson: Cheers To The Residents Of Gillette For Exercising Common Sense

Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "If you buy the notion that not placing a book like “Gender Queer” in a library is a First Amendment violation, you must believe that every book that has ever been published must appear in every library. Baloney. Being a librarian includes deciding what will and what will not be on the shelves. It's part of the job."

Dave SimpsonJuly 31, 2023