Articles written by Bill Sniffin
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Welcome to Siberia – Wyoming's winter body count has been high
If you made a movie about this year’s Wyoming winter, it would have to be a survival story. There have been so many great rescue stories but also some awful accident stories. The worst was the deaths of five Missouri high school kids on...
New McDaniel book highlights underdogs including Tom Bell and others
Like many Davids fighting their Goliaths, the heroes picked by author Rodger McDaniel in his new book suffered greatly, but caused great change in the Cowboy State. The book “Profiles In Courage, Standing Against The Wyoming Wind,” recently...
Wyoming has more guns than people and lots of crazy stories
Guns, guns, guns. Wyoming is Gun Central in the United States. Two-thirds of the residents own guns and there may be more guns than citizens of this fine state. There are at least three gun-related bills grinding through the Legislature as I write...
Our town has been buried in snow and enduring freezing temperatures This Winter
Between hurricanes and blizzards, this has been a winter to remember for retirees Jerry and Cassy Venters of Lander. Normally, they head to their condo on Sanibel Island off the Florida coast and never worry about cold weather or even winter-style cl...
Looking Back At 2022 – Political And Weather Were Two Biggest News Explosions
When looking back on 2022, two explosions of totally different types dominated the news. One was political and happened in the hottest days of August. The second was by Mother Nature, which happened in coldest days of December. Those were the top...
This Holiday Season, Let's Remember Heroes Who Also Became Victims
Heroes and victims. Sometimes an off-hand remark can become amazingly prescient. During a news meeting of Cowboy State Daily staff on Dec. 21, we were talking about how to cover the big storm headed toward the state. I casually mentioned we need to...
Worst Winter Road In America – Who Named Our Snow Chi Minh Trail?
“Dear God, please help us get through this awful mess of a highway. If you get us through safely, so help me, we will never do anything bad again.” Prayers like the above and many more variants emanate from folks in a long line of cars...
That Big Red Wave Sure Would Have Helped Wyoming
Elections have consequences. Especially on a national level. It’s taken a few days to digest the consequences of the big mid-term national elections Tuesday. Here in Wyoming, our general election was a faint imitation of our amazing primary...
Scary Times At The Bottom Of The Wild Food Chain
Many decades ago, when my brother Ron and I would go big-game hunting, it was comforting to know that we were at the top of the food chain. We had powerful rifles and we knew that no creature out there could cause us serious harm. Our anti-hunter...
Ignore Cheney And Trump – August Primary Were Wyoming Voters
It’s taken me three weeks to finally digest what happened in Wyoming during that GOP primary election Aug. 16. The results came quickly but what the hell really happened? This election was seen as a proxy fight between former President Donald...
Recalling My Daughter's First Day Of School
In the next few weeks, thousands a little children across Wyoming will march off to their first day of school. Especially for those parents of kindergartners, this is a poignant time. It sure was for me back in 1976 when our daughter Amber marched...
Wyoming was at center of the country's political universe – for a short time
Politically these past six months, we were watching the World Series, March Madness, and the Super Bowl all wrapped up into one Wyoming campaign. This GOP primary election between incumbent Liz Cheney and challenger Harriet Hageman has been called...
Advice to grads: Follow your dreams but keep your day job
Holy cow, where do I start? I have been writing these “advice to graduate” columns for almost four decades and each year some of the main points remain constant. For example, go find some mentors. Also, if you fail, move on. You are young...
Woes followed Big Nose George
Okay, so who was Big Nose George? This legendary character from Wyoming’s formative past has been written about extensively for the past 141 years, but never has anyone really put the whole story all together until now. Dr. Mark E. Miller’s new...
Alternate I-80 could save $1 million a day if road stays open
Did you know that when Interstate 80 is closed for weather, that US 30 next door is automatically closed, too? This is to prevent the 8,000 semi-trailer trucks a day from storming that more narrow, more local highway as an alternate route. The... Full story
What kind of political stew will occur in Wyoming in 2022?
This year 2022 was, once upon a time, shaping up to be one of the most interesting political years in memory. The last big election year like this, back in 2018, was a doozy, with three governor candidates spending over $2 million each, plus we saw... Full story
Driving across Wyoming on Christmas Day
It started out as a bona fide stupid and crazy idea. We drove from Lander to Cheyenne on Christmas Day. It is a 348-mile trip. But the young man working the Christmas Day shift at the Fast Lane at the corner in Shoshoni made my day by saying “God B...
Wyoming themed Christmas gifts
The experts said shop early this year for Christmas, so in that spirit we offer our annual list of Wyoming-themed gifts. But we do not have to worry about supply chains or products being stranded off some California port – these gifts are...
Don't let crowds stop you from visiting Yellowstone
(Part 1 of 2 parts) In Yellowstone, the voice of authority is a young gal with a bullhorn telling people to move along. We ran into them on three occasions during our 11-hour drive through the park Friday, Sept. 17. The first two times, the gals had...
Liz Cheney is putting Wyoming in national media spotlight
It’s hard to imagine that any Wyoming politician has ever been in the national media spotlight as much as our current U. S. Rep. Liz Cheney – except for when her father was vice president, of course. Folks from national media have been driving...
The end of 'Afghanistanism' in our lifetime – is it about time or what?
Yes, it is time to get out of our 20-year never-ending war in Afghanistan. But first, let me tell a bit about editorial writing, including how the name of this far-off country relates to it. Three decades ago, when I was a hell-on-wheels editorial...
20 U.S. Senators attended Enzi funeral – unprecedented
Friday’s funeral service for former U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi left no doubt about the amazingly high regard in which he was held in by his fellow U. S. senators. He was loved and respected by his Senate colleagues as he was loved and respected by the peo...
Travel near national parks features crowds and construction
Confused Asians, crazy drunk van drivers, monstrous RVs, nervous semi drivers, and thousands (perhaps millions) of tourists were among the highlights of a recent trip to Jackson and Pinedale. We were headed north on Highway 287 to Jackson to attend...
Liz Cheney for President? Destiny calls.
Right now, there is a clear path ahead for Liz Cheney, and it does not involve the state of Wyoming. She will deny this. And she may not even believe it now. And for the rest of this year, she will continue to represent us to the best of her...
Uden murder mystery solved – some day we will learn about Amy Bechtel
(Note: The Oxygen Cable TV network on Monday night aired a new documentary on the 1980 murders of Virginia Uden and her sons. It will be aired repeatedly on into the future.) Back in 2013, I wrote: “After 33 years of one cold case and 16 years for...