Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, March 17th. I'm Mac Watson.

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The prosecutor charging Rep. Bill Allemand on drunk driving allegations says he was handcuffed during his Buffalo traffic stop for safety reasons, not as part of an illegal interrogation. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the Representative made a "reckless movement" near a gun, the prosecutor wrote.

"Representative Bill Allemand had this argument like he was detained and then asked incriminating questions while he was detained. and that his case should be dismissed where the prosecutor fired back Friday saying, 'Well, yeah, the deputy handcuffed you for a bit during that traffic stop because you were moving around near a loaded gun. And so it was a safety thing, not an interrogation thing.' The defense attorney, Mike Vang, is well known for representing people charged with DUI, and it's really his emphasis. And so he was saying, 'I haven't seen such a hefty counter motion in a misdemeanor DUI case across the state.' And I asked him to theorize on why that is. And he said, 'This is obviously important to both sides.'"

The matter is set for a March 25th hearing in Buffalo Circuit Court.

Read the full story HERE.

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The Wyoming Highway Patrol confirmed one person died in a multi-vehicle incident that occurred on I-80 near Rock Springs on Sunday and another died near Lander on Thursday. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that of the 33 blowovers counted in just one day, 22 drivers were issued citations.

"That reflects that the drivers maybe they weren't being willfully ignorant, but they didn't either know about the closures or they didn't check on the status of the highways, and decided to go out there anyway. Aaron Brown, the spokesperson for the Wyoming highway patrol, said that's a really expensive lesson to learn, that if you go up against Mother Nature during a windstorm on Wyoming's highways, you will lose every time."

The WHP's initial report identifies the victim as J.C. Slaugh, 29, of Utah. He was driving a Chevrolet Trailblazer that struck a guardrail and rolled over and down a steep cliff after overcorrecting a turn.

Read the full story HERE.

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A new law aimed at shutting down illegal gambling halls in Wyoming bars rewrites the rules for every friendly poker game in the state. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that in Alpine, Yo's Poker Palace continues to insist it's running a friendly — and legal — game.

"We're talking about poker here. It's synonymous with the West, right? You know, the swinging saloon door as you walk in and they're in the corner, is a game going on. And I don't think lawmakers were out to end poker. I think they really wanted to close this loophole where really big profits were being made by bars that were exploiting the friendly game loophole. That's what my sources in the legislature and at the Gaming Commission say."

For years, Wyoming law has allowed poker games among friends — the kind of Saturday night kitchen-table affair where somebody loses 20 bucks and nobody walks away from the table flush with cash. But some professional operators found a way to turn the friendly game exception into a business model.