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Kate Meadows

A dispute over primitive outhouses on Amish-owned property in Crook County has prompted claims that some families are leaving northeast Wyoming’s oldest Amish community, though county officials say the issue has been resolved and was never intended to drive anyone away.

Sheridan rancher Pepper Fipps said he believes county enforcement efforts over wastewater disposal in the Hulett area have discouraged Amish families from remaining in the community.

“They wind up starting a little bit of a war,” Fipps said of the commissioners. “The community is dwindling.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Crook County Commission vice chairman Bob Latham disputes that."}]

“It’s all settled now. Everything is fixed,” Latham told Cowboy State Daily.

An estate moving sale earlier this month was held for two Amish families — Abe and Elizabeth Yoder and Rudy and Irene Borntreger. Records show Abe Yoder was among the landowners involved in the wastewater dispute.

About 40 Amish families live in the Hulett area, Fipps said. Founded in 2011, the Hulett Amish settlement is one of five in Wyoming.

Cowboy State Daily attempted to contact the families but did not receive responses before publication. Amish communities have traditionally relied on the U.S. mail for communication, and many members do not use cell phones or email.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sanitation Concerns"}]

The issue surfaced in October 2024, when Crook County officials learned some Amish landowners west of Hulett had dug pits to use as toilets without obtaining permits.

Crook County wastewater specialist Caleb Peters informed commissioners that Yoder had installed outhouses that did not comply with county regulations, according to reporting by the Sundance Times.

Latham said a hole in the ground used to collect human waste is considered an illegal outhouse because it poses a risk to groundwater.

Commissioners scheduled a hearing in January 2025, expecting Yoder to attend and discuss the matter, but he did not appear, according to the Times.

Peters and county planning director Tim Lyons determined conditions at some properties presented health concerns after observing graywater and blackwater drainage. The Times reported Peters found a chicken with its head inside blackwater drainage at one residence, along with what he described as an odor of rot. At another property, he reportedly discovered an abandoned outhouse occupied by animals.

Latham said county code requires human-waste receptacles to be portable, pumpable or connected to a septic system.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"No Fines Levied"}]

Fipps contends county officials threatened landowners with fines of up to $30,000 per day if they failed to comply with regulations.

He called the county’s rule about illegal outhouses “asinine, stupid."

“It is baffling to me because I haven’t ever seen an outhouse blow up,” he said, noting Amish families typically live on 160-acre parcels well away from town.

[{"type":"text","text":"Latham said fines were never a part of the county’s solution."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“To my knowledge, we never imposed fines,” he said."}]

Due to the challenge of communicating with Amish residents, County Attorney Joe Baron mailed letters to the landowners, Latham said. Peters also visited properties in person several times, he added.

“Some didn't want to talk to him,” Latham said. “Some did and were very cordial. The ones who didn't found out we're not going to quit, because it's about health and safety. It's something we take very seriously.”

After being notified of the violations, some landowners installed vault toilets that comply with county requirements, he said.

He credited Peters’ persistence with resolving the issue. 

“Caleb did a heck of a job of staying on it and getting things corrected,” Latham said. “Sometimes they feel like they can follow a different path. It was a lot of education and a lot of back-and-forth.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Government Overreach Or Public Health?"}]

Fipps said he believes the county's response amounted to government overreach.

Latham disagrees, saying Crook County is obligated to enforce regulations consistent with standards established by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

“Every time we have to knuckle down and say, 'This isn't right', we hear that,” he said. “We could have been a lot meaner about it. It was mainly getting an understanding of what the laws are.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Our biggest thing with that deal is their health and safety.” "}]

According to the Young Center at Elizabethtown College, Crook County is home to Wyoming's largest Amish settlement. The state's Amish population numbers roughly 500 people spread among five settlements.

[{"type":"text","text":"Smaller settlements have since formed near Newcastle, Buffalo and Powell."}]

“I've known them my whole life,” Fipps said of the Hulett settlement. “I've traded horses with them and done business with them.”

Outhouse 2 6 24 26

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

<title>Rancher Claims Outhouse Dispute The Reason Amish Community Leaving Hulett | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Sheridan rancher says an "asinine, stupid" outhouse crackdown is pushing Amish families out of the Hulett area. He said landowners were threatened with fines of up to $30,000 per day if they failed to comply with outhouse regulations.

Rancher Claims Outhouse Dispute The Reason Amish Community Leaving Hulett

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

Wyoming congressional candidate Reid Rasner, who works as a financial advisor, was “discharged” from his broker clearinghouse company in late April on allegations that he “engaged in unapproved outside business activity,” 

Reid Rasner is also running in a 10-candidate Republican primary race to win the party’s nomination toward Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat. Last year he announced, and later suspended, intentions to buy the tech giant TikTok amid congressional efforts to transfer the Chinese-involved company into American hands.

 also appears in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission profile, which says he started working through the investment clearinghouse LPL Financial LLC on March 1, 2019, and remained there until spring of this year.  

LPL Financial discharged Rasner on April 24 due to allegations he engaged in unapproved outside business activity, the profile says in a “disclosure” category. The disclosure doesn’t elaborate.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) profile of Rasner says he was registered previously as a broker “and is currently registered as an investment advisor.”

He’s held state registrations in New York and Wyoming, the profile says.

Before Rasner’s seven-year relationship with LPL Financial he was with Edward Jones for a year.

In 2019, the year Rasner’s work with LPL Financial began, he registered Wyoming Wealth Advisors LLC with the Wyoming Secretary of State’s office, and three years later he registered his business Omnivest LLC with the state.

“Our Website is currently under maintenance!” the banner says. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”

A disclosure brochure about OmniVest, dated June 15, says Rasner has a non-financial affiliated business as a congressional candidate.

“Approximately 10% of his time is spent on these activities. This does not present a conflict,” says 

LPL Financial did not respond by publication to an email inquiry to its press line.

[{"type":"text","text":"FINRA directed Cowboy State Daily to LPL."}]

Rasner, in response to an inquiry sent to his campaign team, said “In our industry, the transition of business relationships is a routine and common occurrence, particularly when professionals launch new firms.”

Rasner added, “I remain fully focused on growing my new firm, continuing to deliver exceptional service to clients, and helping bring investment, jobs, and economic opportunity back to Wyoming.”

As for what LPL Financial could have meant with the “unapproved outside business activity allegation,” Riverton-based financial advisor Mike Zirbel said, “It’s hard to narrow down.”

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s because financial advisors are tightly regulated, he said."}]

“There are so many things that would count as unapproved activities,” Zirbel added.

[{"type":"text","text":"A Little Background"}]

Rasner’s first-quarter Federal Election Commission report for his House campaign says he has loaned himself $1.2 million and contributed another $9,072 to his own campaign. That’s within a total of about $1.264 million in total receipts.

Rasner also ran an unsuccessful 2024 campaign against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso

[{"type":"text","text":"Barrasso defeated Rasner 70,494 to 25,427 in the 2024 GOP primary."}]

Rasner’s total receipts for that campaign finished off at $1.33 million, the 

[{"type":"text","text":"Rasner loaned himself $1.28 million in the 2024 campaign.  "}]

Reid rasner 6 24 26

<title>Wyoming Congressional Candidate Reid Rasner Fired By Clearinghouse | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming congressional candidate Reid Rasner, who works as a financial advisor, was “discharged” from his broker clearinghouse company in late April on allegations that he “engaged in unapproved outside business activity,” federal filings say.

Wyoming Congressional Candidate Reid Rasner Fired By Clearinghouse

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Courts

A Casper teen accused of attacking his mother led police to a hidden cache of stolen firearms tucked behind a secret wall in his bedroom. 

Honor Jason Wickert, 17, appeared Tuesday afternoon in Natrona County Circuit Court, where he was formally charged with four felonies and several misdemeanors, including interference, domestic battery, carrying a concealed weapon, and being a minor in possession of tobacco products. 

Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen confirmed Wednesday morning that prosecutors are charging Wickert as an adult.

Court documents paint a picture of a family dispute that escalated into a foot chase through Casper neighborhoods and ended with police uncovering several stolen firearms, credit cards, and more. 

The four felony theft charges alone carry a combined maximum penalty of 40 years in prison if served consecutively. Additional jail time could be imposed for the misdemeanor charges.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Family Fracture"}]

According to an affidavit, police were called June 20 after Wickert's mother reported her son had assaulted her during an argument over a cellphone.

She told investigators she was increasingly concerned about what Wickert was hiding inside his locked bedroom.

Days earlier, she forced her way into the room and found vape pens and what she believed could be a credit-card skimming or cloning device, according to court records.

Afterward, Wickert reportedly installed a new locking knob on the bedroom door.

The situation boiled over June 20 when the woman attempted to take his cellphone, says the affidavit submitted by Casper Police Officer Colton Lewis. 

The woman told investigators Wickert pushed her to the ground, pinned her with a knee to her back and caused injuries to her face, elbow and back. 

Officers documented bruising and redness consistent with her account, the affidavit states.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Backyard Sprint"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wickert called the police himself."}]

According to court records, he reported that his mother was accusing him of stealing her belongings and kicking doors inside the home.

[{"type":"text","text":"Officers instructed him to wait for law enforcement."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead, he took off running."}]

Police allege Wickert fled through multiple backyards near South Forest Drive and Seminole Street, tossing two backpacks as officers searched for him.

One backpack contained a Springfield Armory 9mm handgun later confirmed stolen, along with ammunition, vape devices, gloves and a flashlight.

Another contained a wallet holding multiple bank and credit cards belonging to other people.

[{"type":"text","text":"Among the items recovered was a handwritten note that read:"}]

"Hi my sweet boy," the note read. "I don't know if you're gonna go to jail, but I want you to know that I will wait for you."

[{"type":"text","text":"Officers eventually took Wickert into custody. "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hidden Arsenal"}]

With his mother's consent, investigators later searched Wickert's bedroom.

According to the affidavit, officers noticed an access panel in a wall that appeared unusual because several screws were missing.

After removing the panel, they discovered a pillowcase wrapped around a pipe inside the wall cavity.

Inside, police found four handguns, loaded magazines and ammunition, Lewis wrote. 

Investigators identified the firearms as two Ruger LCP pistols, a Springfield Hellcat Pro pistol and a Glock 43.

Three of the firearms were confirmed to have been stolen. Investigators said the Glock was believed to have been stolen as well.

During Tuesday's hearing before Judge Nichole Collier, bond was set at $50,000 cash or surety.

[{"type":"text","text":"Wickert remains in custody at the Natrona County Detention Center."}]

His case is pending in Natrona County Circuit Court. He is expected to next appear for a preliminary hearing within about 10 days. 

Natrona courthouse casper teen 2 6 24 26

<title>Casper Teen Charged As Adult After Fight With Mom Leads To Cache Of Stolen Guns | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Casper teen accused of attacking his mother led police to a hidden cache of stolen firearms and credit cards tucked behind a secret wall in his bedroom. Honor Jason Wickert is being charged as an adult with four felonies and several misdemeanors.

Casper Teen Charged As Adult After Fight With Mom Leads To Cache Of Stolen Guns

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Adam Fink, the owner of Laird Sanitation LLC (“Got Poop?”) in Greybull, says trying to retrieve anything that's fallen into an outhouse, portable toilet, or vault toilet isn't worth the risk and effort. 

That includes sunglasses, which is what a man in central California was trying to recover when he fell into a vault toilet and had to be rescued from its fetid depths last week.

“Aside from a family heirloom or a wedding ring, it’s not worth digging through a pile of waste to recover something that’s fallen into a vault toilet,” Fink told Cowboy State Daily. "Even then, you should call someone, not try to get it yourself."

The incident occurred June 20 at Camp Edison on the Sierra National Forest, northeast of Fresno.

According to media reports, the unidentified man trying to recover his sunglasses was stuck inside for about 15 minutes before being rescued.

Fink typically doesn’t deal with vault toilets in Wyoming’s state and national parks, but he knows what horrors can lurk at their depths. This man was lucky he wasn’t down there deeper or longer, he said.

“A vault toilet can be anywhere from three to 10 feet deep,” he said. “If you jump in, you may not be touching bottom. It's not worth the risk."

[{"type":"text","text":"Disturbing Depths"}]

For the unfamiliar, vault toilets are non-flush toilets in which human waste is deposited into a large underground tank. Because no water is used, the waste sits until it’s pumped out and transported to a treatment facility.

Vault toilets are common in national parks and campgrounds where running water and sewer lines are unavailable. They can go several months or longer without being pumped.

You don’t know what diseases might be running around in there with all the human waste,” Fink said.

While vault toilets don’t use water, many are at least partially filled with the same biodegradable chemical solution Fink and others use to fill portable toilets. It helps break down everything that falls inside.

Nobody likes the idea of being partially submerged in a caustic chemical bath at the bottom of a vault toilet, but it’s preferable to everything else floating at the bottom.

Then there are the “lily pads” that give people a false sense of hope.

“Those vaults and tanks will develop a bit of a crust on top, or the toilet paper will act as a lily pad,” Fink said. “You might see something you dropped sitting right at the surface, but that doesn’t mean that’s the bottom.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Bowels Of Hell"}]

People lose items in portable toilets and vault toilets all the time. The lengths some will go to retrieve these lost objects can have dangerous and humiliating consequences.

In August 2022, a man was stuck in a vault toilet at Fishtrap Creek in western Montana for three hours, half-naked, after trying to recover his phone. Morgan Jacobsen, spokesperson for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, relayed the full details of the incident to VICE News.

“The man undressed, removed the toilet and climbed (into the vault) to retrieve his phone,” Jacobsen said. “He was unable to climb out and was stuck for about three hours until a few other people came along and were able to help him.”

The Good Samaritans saved the man from the bowels of Hell by lowering a camp chair into the vault, which he used as a platform to climb out.

In April 2022, a woman in Washington’s Olympic National Park was stuck in a vault toilet for more than an hour after she 

That incident was enough for the Wyoming Division of Parks and Cultural Resources to release a statement discouraging visitors from doing the same.

“While rare, we have received reports from several parks over the years,” spokesperson Gary Schoene said. “First and foremost, people should contact the respective park staff if they should drop their phone in the toilet. We advise folks not to reach down or try to retrieve the phone themselves because of the potential for dangerous, noxious gases in the vault.”

The Teton Raptor Center's Porta Potty Owl Project, or "

," developed a special screen to cover the open-pipe chimney on many vault toilets to protect owls and other birds. Getting stuck in a vault toilet might be a disturbing moment and memory for people, but it's often fatal for animals. 

"In our complicated times of complex problems, this is an issue for wildlife with a simple, affordable solution,” Teton Raptor Center CEO Amy McCarthy told Cowboy State Daily. “It's making a difference that has led to the safety of thousands of wild creatures, one toilet at a time.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office and Camp Edison staff"}]

rescued the man who fell into the vault toilet within 15 minutes. CAL Fire personnel hosed him off.

“(We) were able to safely get him out, decontaminate him, and he’ll be OK,” said Sgt. Chris Tullus with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.

Fink has recovered many items that have been dropped into portable toilets.

[{"type":"text","text":"Few, he believes, were worth the call."}]

“We find items of all sorts in vaults and portable toilets, but they’re usually trash,” he said.

A smartphone can cost close to $2,000 in 2026. Nobody wants to lose that much in one fell swoop, but Fink said it’s probably best to leave that phone where it dropped.

“When it comes to cellphones, there's a thing called the Cloud,” he said. “If you're not backing your information up to the Cloud, this is a good reminder that it's probably time to do that, because it’s not worth diving into a vault toilet.”

That’s assuming a phone would even work after soaking in a cocktail of human waste and chemicals. Stranger things have happened, however.

When Wyoming outdoorsman Paul Ulrich dropped his iPhone into a vault toilet, he didn’t even consider trying to recover it.

“I never wanted to see that phone again,” he told 

Nevertheless, when he had his son call the phone hours later, it was still working.

“You gotta credit Apple,” he said. “At the bottom of an outhouse, which probably hadn’t been emptied since the 1940s, and it was still working. God bless America.”

Vault toilet california man 6 24 26

<title>Wyoming Outhouse Expert Says Retrieving Sunglasses From Vault Toilets Is Bad Idea | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The owner of a Wyoming sanitation company said it's not worth it to jump in a vault toilet to retrieve sunglasses like a man in California did last week. “It's anywhere from 3 to 10 feet deep,” he said. “If you jump in, you may not be touching bottom."

Wyoming Outhouse Expert Says Retrieving Sunglasses From Vault Toilets Is Bad Idea

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

They have been dubbed by historians as the Arapaho Five, warriors who found themselves fighting against the cavalry in the Battle of the Little Bighorn 150 years ago this week. In the spring of 1876, these young bucks, as they called themselves, snuck off from the fort where their band was camping and became part of history. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Their names were Left Hand, Yellow Eagle, Yellow Fly, Water Man and Sage."}]

In 1919, Tim McCoy, actor and adopted member of the Arapaho tribe, was sitting in a powwow with several Arapaho friends on the Wind River Indian Reservation along the Little Wind River. 

He later related the story to Darryl Ponicsan in a June 1977 article for the American Heritage magazine, 

“High Eagle The Many Lives Of Colonel Tim Mccoy

“They started telling me that Old Water Man was in that fight,” McCoy said. “I sort of scoffed at it because every Indian and his brother was in that fight. Practically all of them killed Custer.”

However, when McCoy began asking Water Man questions, the old Arapaho answered them all accurately. Determined to have the old men tell the stories themselves, McCoy arranged for separate interviews with Water Man and Left Hand in nearby Riverton by 1920. 

The other three warriors had already gone to the “great mystery” according to Left Hand and 

. However,  Sage, was still living near St. Stephens under the name of Sherman Sage. Only remnants of Sage's own story were ever recorded.

The two warriors McCoy knew about agreed their stories needed told.

“I had lived 22 snows at the time of the great battle on the Little Bighorn River,” 

told McCoy. “Soon Left Hand and I must go to the long sleep, and no one will be alive to tell the story, so I will tell you, whom the Arapahoes call their Soldier-Chief, everything just as I saw it, and nothing that is not the truth.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Left Hand & Water Man"}]

Left Hand began his story by stating that he was part Blackfeet and part Cheyenne but had always lived among the Arapaho. He was born in the Powder River Country and, in 1876, was camped with the Arapaho at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, drawing rations, when he left with a war party to fight the Shoshones.

“When we were young men, it was the custom of the young Indian to go on small war parties looking for Shoshones or other unfriendly tribes,” Water Man explained. “If our medicine was good, we sometimes returned to camp with a scalp or a number of ponies.” 

The young bucks rode north into the buffalo country and, near the Little Bighorn River just south of what is now Crow Agency, Montana, met a small party of Sioux.

“They told us that the Sioux were going to have a sundance and said that we should come along with them to the Sioux village and have a good time,” Water Man said. “Afterward I learned that these Sioux thought we were scouts for the white soldiers.”

Unaware that they were being tricked, the five Arapaho rode with the Sioux. As they came near the village, a great many Sioux came out of the camp.

“They took all our guns away, and made us prisoners, saying that we were scouts of the white man, and that they were going to kill us,” Water Man said.

Young Two Moon, nephew of Cheyenne Chief Two Moon, said all the Sioux believed they were scouts from a camp of soldiers. He verified the Arapahos' claim of being held prisoner in a 1908 interview with George Bird Grinnell.

“Two men took their part — Black Wolf and Last Bull,” Young Two Moon said. “They said the people should wait and not act hastily.”

The Arapaho were taken into Two Moon’s lodge. The Sioux threatened to kill the five all night.

“In the morning, Two Moon, Chief of the Cheyenne, learned we were Arapahoes, so he went to the Sioux Chiefs and made them give us back our guns and set us free,” Water Man said.

The Arapaho were given back their guns but not allowed to leave camp. The young men saw the sun rise two times and the village grew to thousands of warriors, the most any had ever seen in one place.

It was on the third day, June 25, 1876, that the battle began.

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

All the Arapaho men had readied themselves for the battle. Water Man said he was dressed in beaded leggings, breechclout, a white shirt and a large war bonnet. Left Hand was dressed in a shirt and breechclout, and his medicine was a piece of buffalo hide made into a cross with two feathers in it, which he wore in his hair.

“My face was painted yellow and red and, around my neck, tied in a deer-skin medicine bag, was a certain root, which was my medicine,” Water Man said. “I still have that same medicine,”

Left Hand said the first attack, led by Major Marcus Reno, was at the south end of the village when the sun was at the position of about 9 a.m.

“The soldiers fired a few shots, but when we rushed toward them, they became frightened and started back across the river,” Left Hand said. “Many of them lost their horses and had to swim across."

He described how the soldiers climbed on a high ridge and built a barricade.

“There were many soldiers killed there,” Left Hand said. “The Sioux were all around them.”

When the sun was straight up, about noon, Left Hand heard shooting at the lower end of the village and knew it must be more soldiers.

“I went down through the village and crossed the river with a large party of Sioux and Cheyennes,” Left Hand said. “We Arapahoes had all gotten separated during the first fight.”

Five young Arapaho braves snuck off from Fort Robinson 150 years ago this week and fought the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn, where General Custer met his demise. They later told their story to actor and adopted member of the Arapaho tribe, Tim McCoy.

Barbara E. Cruz, 70