February 22, 2023
Stand for the Tipi Demonstration
WATCH VIDEO HERE (click here to watch the recording)
Demonstration Start at 2pm, February 21, 2023 in front of Hot Springs County Courthouse
Pledge of Allegiance
Prayer
We are so grateful for your support! Thank you,
We gather peacefully in support of something so great and blessed.
that over 1 million souls have paid the ultimate price for the preservation of OUR FREEDOM, OUR LIBERTY, Guided by God.
For the preservation of The Constitution of the United States of America.
I would like to take us back in time a few years to 2020.
At that time, Michele and I were praying for inspiration on how best to unite our family,
unite our friends, bring value to the good people of Hot Springs County.
Covid had been a burden on the entire world, yet we had this little paradise called Thermopolis WY that seemed to be out on an island, all on its own,
protected from much of the crazy.
Some of us right here in Thermopolis stood up for their constitutional rights, very early on, refusing to succumb to government leaders telling them how to live their lives,
being bullied to give up their constitutional rights.
A restaurant refusing to close to the “mandate”.
Nurses striking the covid shot.
AND the people of Thermopolis are stronger because of it!
The answer to our prayers to unite our family and friends came in the form of expanding on our native heritage, Creating a Tipi Ranch.
We would call the area where our family and guests spent the night: The Tipi Retreat.
We would expand with more farm animals, offer healing types of experiences and services like message, healing at the smoking waters, sweat lodge ceremonies, and more over time.
Eventually we could provide food offsite at The Tipi Grill,
lead those same guests to the County Museum and Dinosaur Museum, restaurants, local shops, tourist attractions,
and encourage them to learn about the native history and deep native culture that permeates the entire region.
We would open our tipis to Short Term Rentals when our friends and family were not in them during the tourist season.
All this is just like the dude ranches here in Hot Springs County and other parts of the country, but paying respect to our Native Heritage, rather than our cowboy heritage.
So, in October of 2020, over 2 years ago, we broke ground and set up 4 decks for 4 tipis.
Our plans were to start with 4, then maybe add another 4 the following year if the family ranch activities were a hit with both our family and guests.
We went to work, invited our neighbors over for a tour and get their questions answered.
The Barbers, our immediate neighbors, gave us a score of 9 out of 10, never saying anything negative or expressing any personal concerns.
We had almost completed the 4 tipi set ups when we got a call.
On March 31 of 2021,
while our 2 teenage boys were visiting their adult brother and sister in the Midwest for spring break,
The unthinkable happened.
One of the homeless men that our daughter had helped during her charity work became a stalker,
Within 10 days, this man showed up to the front door of her apartment with a gun,
and point blank murdered our daughter’s fiancé, her dream come true,
while our teenage boys stood inside with a loaded weapon drawn, prepared to defend themselves while on the phone with 911.
The Tipi Ranch now just became much more to our families than just a fun, healthy experience for family and friends,
but rather a place of refuge from the darkest side of our earthly journey, a place of deep healing,
a place to truly retreat from the hard chapters in our lives.
The Tipi Ranch now became a working ranch that would support more of our family.
Thermopolis became the home for Joshua, Natelle, and Astra,
to start a new chapter in their life’s journey,
and begin the process of healing and searching for the light at the end of the tunnel.
Then Caleb, our other adult son, working as a mortician living in the midwest,
had seen enough of the Covid fallout.
He had enough with seeing the child suicide victims,
the lies being told on cause of death reports,
and the stress in an industry surrounded by death,
during the biggest epidemic in modern history.
He moved to Thermopolis.
They all became part of The Tipi Ranch, to start other new businesses in Thermopolis with Michele and me.
Then, in the process to work with the county for permission to use our land for Tipi Ranch operations to paid guests, the government rodeo act began.
At that time there were no “Vacation Rental” regulations in Hot Springs County.
There were no “Dude Ranch” regulations in Hot Springs County.
However, there were many “vacation rental” operations happening.
There were a couple dude ranch operations.
One of them even has a full restaurant, and offers a full bar, sensational meals, 6 “vacation rental” cabins, a bathhouse and more.
The other offers meals, several “vacation rental” cabins, and much more.
None of them had strict county permitting requirements to do so from Hot Springs County.
No commercial Land Use Changes.
No spending months going through County Land Use Meetings, County Commission Meetings.
Not until Tipis.
We all know that Tipis were the home to many native cultures around the world,
and a STAPLE to the image of Hot Springs County.
Just take a look at the Hot Springs County Website Front Page.
Buffalos, The Smoking Waters, AND A TIPI! The same style TIPI as we chose to represent our heritage.
The county government chose to mis-categorize us first as a Bed and Breakfast, then they decided we were more like a Campground.
NO - We do not allow Campers, No Tents, No RVs, or any other type of “camping.”
The county commissioners eventually abused this inappropriate categorization by using the heavy hand of government to find a reason for our use to be called a “major development: a subdivision, and conveniently apply sub-division rules upon our ranch.
No, we are NOT subdividing.
No, we are not running major utilities into our ranch through right of ways and such that a sub-division would need.
What if our ranch would have chosen a cowboy name and we would have chosen cabins instead of tipis?
Wooden walls and roof rather than that of a tipi.
The home of the cowboys instead of the home of the natives.
The Thermopolis our adult children experienced from neighbors and the government did not match our description.
Our neighbors became hateful and committed assaults on my family,
even our 9-year-old granddaughter who had escaped the trauma with the loss of what had become the only father she had ever known,
was cursed out by a hateful neighbor, brought to tears, traumatized even further.
The harassment and violations intensified from both the neighbors and our local leaders!
Our government leaders' actions further inspired the neighbors to organize against us, escalating to a point of terroristic threats to our family, including harm to our property and our very lives. It was even stated that “the war” declared on us, would go on. Even the sheriff, perhaps innocently, became part of the neighbors' actions to harm us.
The sorrow and sadness in the hearts and minds of my kids are so intense, so deep, so much loss and hate and harassment and… I can’t even tell you the full extent of it.
Thermopolis was not the town we described to them after all,
NOT FOR THEM!
Natelle, Joshua and Astra all returned to the Midwest, and started a new life there,
new careers,
FAR FROM HERE.
Our family has been under attack for almost two years.
We dealt with it the best way we could.
After much fasting and prayer, we were inspired to make EVERYTHING public.
To Share our story with the Thermopolis WE LOVE and let them judge for themselves the people committing wrongs, breaking laws, ignoring constitutional and civil rights.
which includes those people whom We the People put into office and must be held accountable by, We the People.
We thought that maybe then we could find relief from the constant onslaught of our empowered neighbors,
by exposing them to their community.
Shining a light on their character did draw the attention of many.
We went from 4 neighbors openly harassing us to just one.
Here we are now, a battle our family feels need to be fought. Much like those men and women here in Thermopolis stood up a few years back.
No, we are not going to close our restaurant!
No, we are not going to take the shot!
No, we are not going to stand idle while our Civil Rights are violated!
No, we are not going to stand idle while our Constitution Rights are trampled on!
Michele and our children who have chosen to make a stand with us,
our friends and those who also want to see justice served,
are ALL Standing Up for Change!
In closing let me shine the light on the character of our leaders.
As of July 19, 2022, the county NOW HAVE added definitions AND rules about “Vacation Rentals” and “Short Term Rentals”,
Knowing you don’t show up to the meetings,
knowing that you don’t read the public notices,
knowing that you don’t ask the tough questions,
knowing that you don’t hold them accountable,
quietly amending them into the Hot Springs County 2022 Land Use Plan.
In 2020 and 2021, they did not have them in their plan, but continue to treat us as though they did, asking the courts for fines possibly in excess of 2 million dollars, for violating a rule that didn’t exist then.
The county government has become the great serpent, squeezing, further restricting and constricting our agency to do as we deem appropriate with our private properties.
Today it is our land, tomorrow it is yours!
That’s why we encourage and invite you to show up with us to as many meetings as you can physically attend, otherwise watch the recordings at HotSpringsSpotlight.com to remain aware of how your elected officials are planning for the future of you, your children, and your grandchildren here in Hot Springs County!
Just a few weeks ago
Jill Logan requested the Budd Fallen Law Firm, who also represents our neighbor, to send a legal letter denying us our Constitutional Right to use the Freedom of Information Act for gathering public government documents, a right that is extended to even the most heinous criminals. The reason she gave was that we created “an uncomfortable situation for the county’s employees” when delivering 862 signed e-petitions with Caleb quietly and professionally recording for proof of delivery.
Exercising our 1st amendment right to petition the government and record the process for proof, without fear of punishment, is a protected First Amendment Constitutional Right.
Jill basically took away one 1st amendment right as a punishment, thereby violating another 1st amendment right to petition our government without fear of punishment!
It is just a few men and women who have chosen to sidestep rules of law.
Even as we were putting up our SaveTheTipi signs,
our friends who stand with us in support of truth and Justice, were receiving calls from your elected leaders,
coercing them to take them down! Do you understand what I am saying.
They threatened our supporters, while they hold an elected position in the highest, most powerful seats in our local government. Tom and Phil threatened our supporters with financial losses in their livelihoods!
As you know, our story, the timeline, and supporting documents can be found on the SaveTheTipi.com website.
Let me leave you with this:
Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.
People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.”
Thomas Jefferson said,
“The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution.”
Brothers and Sisters, while we know sometimes the truth is ugly, and it can be uncomfortable to acknowledge, our family is grateful for your willingness to go through the pains to bring the truth to light.
Like the birth of a newborn baby, so too may our local government be reborn in the light and spirit of truth.
George Washington said,
“Truth will ultimately prevail where there are pains to bring it to light.”
God Bless America
God Bless Hot Springs County