Wyoming
Wyoming man gets 3 years in prison for Jan. 6 assault with flagpole – WyoFile
A federal judge on Monday sentenced a western Wyoming man to more than three years in prison for striking a police officer with a flagpole while participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Douglas Harrington, a 69-year-old Navy veteran, was also ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution, federal court records show.
U.S. Chief Judge James E. Boasberg convicted Harrington of assaulting an officer and civil disorder, along with five misdemeanors, following a July bench trial in Washington. On the afternoon of the Jan. 6 riot, Harrington swung a flagpole at multiple officers and rushed a police line.
Federal prosecutors had sought an eight-year prison sentence for Harrington, who lives in the Star Valley community of Bedford, arguing he planned for violence that day, joined the mob and attacked officers.
“Harrington’s criminal conduct on January 6 was the epitome of disrespect for the law,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Mirabelli wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Harrington continued to demonstrate his lack of respect for the law through his continuous posts and messages deriding prosecution of crimes related to January 6 and promoting further political violence.”
Attorneys for Harrington sought a prison sentence of 18 months, contending their client’s conduct that day wasn’t reflective of how he’s lived the rest of his life.
“Mr. Harrington regrets the actions he took on January 6, 2021, not because he fears the consequences for his actions, but because he recognizes now that these actions were foolish, dishonorable, and out of line with his sense of right and wrong,” Deputy Federal Public Defenders Jake Crammer and Lisa LaBarre wrote. “He is sorry, has repented of his mistakes, and promises the Court to never let himself be put in a similar position again.”
Jan. 6, 2021
Federal prosecutors say Harrington traveled to the nation’s capitol after spending weeks denouncing the results of the 2020 presidential election, which then-President Donald Trump falsely claimed was stolen. In messages to others, Harrington expressed anger over the outcome of the election and described plans for violence.
“We’re planning to f*** up antfa and blm thus [sic] time we want blood these pussies are f***ing criminal,” he wrote in a Dec. 31, 2020 text message, court documents state.
Harrington attended the Stop the Steal Rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, and then walked to the Capitol. He brought with him a painter’s respirator mask and carried a flagpole with U.S. and Trump flags attached. Prosecutors say he passed through a heavily barricaded area and knew police were trying to keep rioters from advancing. At his trial, Harrington acknowledged that he was aware police had used tear gas and rubber bullets at the Capitol grounds.
While police and rioters were engaged in a violent struggle at the Upper West Terrace, Harrington donned his painter’s respirator mask and goggles and, at 3:42 p.m., approached a line of officers and challenged them with hand gestures, according to prosecutors.
“Well, if they wanted to pick on someone, I’m more than capable to defend myself,” he testified at trial when asked about the message he had sought to communicate to the officers.
Harrington swung the flagpole in the direction of police officers on the line, and when Metropolitan Police Department Officer Samuel Mott intervened, he swung the pole at him and struck the man near his left hand and wrist and on his helmet, prosecutors say. Two other officers responded, one deploying pepper spray and a second firing a 40-mm non-lethal round at Harrington. He took one or two more swings toward police before retreating into the crowd.
About five minutes later, Harrington and other rioters used a large piece of opaque material to push into the police line. Prosecutors say he grabbed and pulled at an officer’s baton and apparently tried to grab an officer’s utility belt.
Authorities finally escorted Harrington off the Capitol grounds at 5:48 p.m. that day. He later testified that he was not attempting to get into the Capitol building itself. But prosecutors noted that he sent a text message that day saying he was “breaking down fencing to gain entry into the Capitol building.”
Citing text messages, prosecutors contend Harrington didn’t think he’d done anything wrong.
“We caused the riot because the government devils dont [sic] get it,” he wrote two days after the riot.
“We should have grabbed all of the traitors and waited for military tribunals,” he texted three days after that.
How long behind bars?
In arguing for a lengthy prison term, prosecutors insisted that Harrington lacked any remorse.
“He never took any responsibility for striking Officer Mott with the flagpole,” they wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “To the contrary, he blamed Officer Mott for defending his fellow officers from Harrington’s attacks with the flagpole … Similarly, when testifying about pushing into the police line with the large piece of opaque material, he attempted to blame others, saying he was ‘goaded’ into doing so by other rioters … In reality, Harrington was a ready and willing participant.”
Harrington’s attorneys acknowledged he “made some grave mistakes in the heat of the January 6 demonstration, mistakes that warrant punishment.” But his conduct that day was out of the ordinary for the Vietnam War veteran, who since retiring and moving to Wyoming, frequently performs plumbing and electrical work for elderly and low-income members of his church who don’t have the ability or resources to do the work themselves.
Defense attorneys also pointed out that Harrington was acquitted of several charges including using the flagpole to cause bodily injury to Mott. The officer did not seek medical attention for his left wrist until 20 months after the riot and didn’t undergo surgery until three years after the riot. Further, the officer may have been injured by another rioter that afternoon.
“Mr. Harrington spent over 60 years of his life evincing nothing but respect for the law and for law enforcement particularly, and in the nearly four years that have transpired since January 6, 2021, he has not engaged in any similar misconduct,” his lawyers wrote. “He has learned from his mistakes, and the Court should have little fear that he will ever commit a similar crime again.”
How much prison time Harrington actually serves remains to be seen. Trump, who was elected to a second term earlier this month, indicated in a July interview that he may pardon Jan. 6 rioters.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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