CHEYENNE — Lisia Shepard tried to get away with filling up a few extra 1-gallon gasoline cans in the back of her gas-guzzling Dodge Durango truck Sunday morning, but she was shut down.
She already paid $40 to fill up the 25-gallon tank on her Hemi-powered pickup, but wanted to squeeze out a few more pennies saved on a discount deal being offered at the Hi Market gas station at 215 Lincolnway Boulevard in downtown Cheyenne.
“They wouldn’t let me fill up my gas cans, but at least it got a discount on my truck,” said Shepard, who had to stop commuting to Laramie for office and residential janitorial jobs a few times a week because of the high gasoline costs that made the trip back and forth too expensive.
“I ended up having to close down a new cleaning business in the middle of this month because everything just keeps going up in price. My (cleaning) chemicals I was using doubled in price,” she said.
Americans for Prosperity hosted the roll back of gasoline prices at the pumps of the Hi Market station for people to realize the difference in price on a regular gallon of gas compared to when U.S. President Joe Biden took office in early 2001.
The nonprofit is a conservative activist group organized more than 20 years ago that works for advancing policies that will help people improve their lives.
“Poor people are not making it,” said Tyler Lindholm, state director for the Wyoming chapter of Americans for Prosperity.
“People are used to putting $5 of gas in their car to drop off their kids at school and get to work,” he said of people who are suffering under the economic weight of the Biden administration’s monetary policies.
“American people are really struggling and they certainly are in Wyoming,” Lindholm said.
Bidenomics Bus Tour
The Sunday event was part of the activist group's nationwide Bidenomics bus tour, which rolled out earlier this month to help Americans understand the causes behind high prices of household items like gas and groceries.
The national average price for a gallon of gas when Biden took office was $2.38. Entering Memorial Day weekend Friday, the average price stood at $3.59 a gallon, the kickoff to the summertime driving season when prices typically begin drifting higher as people make plans for get-away vacations.
In Wyoming, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas was $3.38, according to the national automobile club AAA.
With the $1 discounts funded by Americans for Prosperity, the average price on a gallon of gas paid by the first 200 motorists at the Hi Market on Sunday was $2.38.
Just before 10 a.m., C.J. Allison, co-store manager for Hi Market, went outside with his hook and pole to switch out the price to a buck lower on the marquee.
“This will help out the Cheyenne community a lot, where in this part of town there is a homeless shelter not far away and people are suffering,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “We’ve got to do something about the overall prices. Everything just keeps going up, up and up under Biden.”
U.S. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, and U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, gave a lending hand to support Americans for Prosperity on Sunday. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
State Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, gave a lending hand to Americans for Prosperity on Sunday. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Tyler Lindholm, director of the Wyoming chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative activist group, working to fight the Biden administration’s economic policies, at Hi Market in Cheyenne. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
“It’s terrible. I’m living on Social Security and get a little pension from the Teamsters,” complained motorist Shane Shockley who once worked for trucking giant Consolidated Freightways. “I came in here to get a newspaper, and I saw this deal (at Hi Market). I’m topping off my tank,” he said. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
On Sunday morning, Cheyenne resident Lisia Shepard tried to get away with filling up a few extra 1-gallon gasoline cans in the back of her gas-guzzling Dodge Durango truck, but she was shut down. She stopped by the Hi Market gas station and convenience store along Lincolnway Blvd., in downtown Cheyenne to support Americans for Prosperity. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Jonathan Martinez, a resident of Billings, Montana, was visiting a family relative in Cheyenne who is graduating from West High School in Cheyenne this weekend, and was surprised to see the gas deal. He runs an arborist business in Montana, but feels the economy is better today than when Trump was in office. “People are making more,” he said. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Bill Strey, left, and Teresa Strey, are strongly opposed to Bidenomics. “I think he is one of the worst presidents we’ve ever had. He’s dishonest, senile, panders to special interest groups and to a two-tier system of justice,” Bill Strey said. “Energy equals prosperity to a country.” (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Retired Cheyenne resident Amos Williams said he tries to steer clear of political discussions but thinks beyond just gasoline, the country may have been set back “20 years as far as racism” because of Trump’s policies. Still, he said, “I feel bad because a lot of people just can’t make a living these days. I don’t buy into who is a fault for things, but something needs to be done to bring inflation down.” (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Caleb Williams stopped by to fill up with the discounted gas being sold at $2.38 a gallon at the Hi Market along Lincolnway Boulevard on Sunday. “It’s a good price, the $2.38. I wish it could stay that way, with diesel prices coming down as well,” Williams said. “Biden needs to get out of office, and put (former U.S. President Donald) Trump back in there. Heck, yeah.” (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily) 
Tyler Lindholm, director of the Wyoming chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative activist group, working to fight the Biden administration’s economic policies, at Hi Market in Cheyenne on Saturday. (Pat Maio, Cowboy State Daily)
The Big Guns
Politicians showed up at the Hi Market to support the cause.
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, both R-Wyoming, and state Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, were there to promote the message.
Singh took up a sign reading, “Today only sale!! $2.38,” and stood near the entrance to the Hi Market to pull people in to the pumps.
The gas prices are hurting everyone, and this is one of the top issues facing Americans, he told Cowboy State Daily.
“I’m 27, and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of purchasing power we’ll have in 20 years,” he said.
“I wanted to come out and support this effort to point out if we would produce our own oil and gas in this country, we could become energy independent again and we could sell oil and gas all over the world,” Lummis told Cowboy State Daily. “It would help with jobs, and prices, and it would drop inflation and help our entire country.”
“I’m here supporting the people,” added Hageman. “Bidenomics doesn’t work, and Biden’s war on fuel has had just catastrophic consequences for Wyoming. This is what the price of gas was when he took office, $2.38. Joe Biden has been a disaster for this country.”
Bidenomics Not Popular In Cheyenne
Most motorists who stopped at the Hi Market to fill up felt similarly.
“It’s a good price, the $2.38. I wish it could stay that way, with diesel prices coming down as well,” said Caleb Williams. “Biden needs to get out of office, and we need to put (former U.S. President Donald) Trump back in there. Heck, yeah.”
Brenda Mitchell, who typically pays about $45 to fill up her Ford Escape, said that Biden’s energy policies are out of control.
“Everything was fine when Trump was in office. This nonsense wasn’t going on when he was there,” she said.
“It’s terrible. I’m living on Social Security and get a little pension from the Teamsters,” complained motorist Shane Shockley, who once worked for trucking giant Consolidated Freightways. “I came in here to get a newspaper, and I saw this deal (at Hi Market). I’m topping off my tank.”
Shockley is more concerned about inflation. He told of stopping at the Safeway supermarket in south Cheyenne to pick up a pack of coleslaw, hamburger buns, barbeque sauce and hash browns, and paying $17 for them.
“Bidenomics isn't just impacting gas, but also food,” he said. “I’m single and shit, I’m paying $700 a month on Missile Drive to rent a mobile home lot. I paid $100 when I moved there in 1998.”
Bill Strey is strongly opposed to Bidenomics, and stopped by to fill up his tank because he is supportive of the politicians who attended the event.
“I think he is one of the worst presidents we’ve ever had. He’s dishonest, senile, panders to special interest groups and to a two-tier system of justice,” Strey said. “Energy equals prosperity for a country.”
Some Disagree
Not all customers shared those opinions Sunday. Others were contrarians in the pump line who didn’t buy the criticism of Bidenonomics.
Jonathan Martinez, a resident of Billings, Montana, was visiting a family relative in Cheyenne who graduated from a local high school this weekend and was surprised to see the gas offer.
Martinez runs an arborist business in Montana, but feels the economy is better today than when Trump was in office, especially when no one was spending money back in March 2020 when the pandemic shut the world down.
“People are making more today,” said Martinez, whose cousin was former Democratic Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal from the early 2000s.
“He thought for the people,” said Martinez of his cousin.
Retired Cheyenne resident Amos Williams said he tries to steer clear of political discussions, but thinks beyond just gasoline, the country may have been set back “20 years as far as racism” because of Trump’s policies.
Still, he said, “I feel bad because a lot of people just can’t make a living these days. I don’t buy into who is a fault for things, but something needs to be done to bring inflation down.”
Contact Pat Maio at pat@cowboystatedaily.com
Pat Maio can be reached at pat@cowboystatedaily.com.
