Wyoming is a state of rugged individualists with independent spirits. Some maintain an almost paranoid distrust of outsiders. In the 1980s one still encountered roadside signs which read “Keep the US out of the UN.” On an early Sunday morning in the spring of 1983 I had signs placed on either end of the main street of Elk Mountain, Wyoming (population 338) which read “Beware: Reds in Town.” I then had friends assist me in placing red painted pieces of cardboard, of various sizes and shapes, along both sides of the street. Though we saw no one in town that early in the day (citizens were either getting ready for church or nursing hangovers), the sheriff was called into duty. He asked what we were doing. My friend Marc, long experienced in the ways of western law officers, said that our friend Red was turning sixty and that we were going to celebrate it later in the afternoon at the Elk Mountain Hotel. The sheriff asked us to clean up the mess after the party. Later that evening, we did.
