SHERIDAN, Wyo. (TAH): The Open Rage Record, Sheridan County's self-described "last line of defense against public servants eating lunch," filed its 300th public records request of the year this week, this time demanding that a volunteer fire department produce receipts for a fire it put out last Thursday.

"The public deserves to know why this fire was extinguished, who authorized it, and whether a cheaper fire was available," wrote editor, publisher, and sole employee Randall Pike in a piece labeled "Opinion," "Editorial," "Investigation," and "Breaking News" all at once.

Pike refers to the request as a FOIA, even though FOIA is a federal law and the fire district is in Wyoming. Asked about this, Pike said the Herald was "hiding behind a strawman."

"Did Not Substantively Respond"

Pike's editorial notes that the fire chief "did not substantively respond" to repeated requests for comment.

Records obtained by the Herald show the first request was emailed at 2:14 a.m., while the chief was inside a burning barn. The editorial went live at 2:31 a.m.

The chief's eventual reply, which read in full "Sorry, was at a fire," was described in a follow-up piece as "sarcastic," "dismissive," and "perplexingly brief."

The Water Question

The centerpiece of the Record's investigation is what Pike calls "the water question."

Pike estimates that firefighters used roughly 3,000 gallons of water on the barn. He then attached a screenshot of the bottled water shelf at the Maverik on Coffeen Avenue, where water sells for $1.89 a liter.

"By my math, that's more than $21,000 in water," Pike wrote. "Meanwhile, families on fixed incomes are drinking from the tap like animals."

When it was pointed out that the water came from a hydrant, Pike updated the story to say the department had "refused to disclose the hydrant's vendor."

The Lunch Desk

The Record also runs a regular Lunch Watch column, which this week exposed a county clerk who upgraded a side salad to ranch dressing for an extra $1.25.

The headline, "Tone Deaf Ranch Upgrade for Courthouse Elite," ran above a high-resolution photo of the restaurant's menu, a circled price, and a second photo of the same menu, circled harder.

"Permission to have ranch is not an obligation to have ranch," Pike wrote.

The Record did not contact the clerk before publishing. Pike explained that reaching out to the people he writes about "just lets them frame the story," and that "facts have a well-known pro-government bias."

A Rigorous Sourcing Process

Asked to describe his sourcing standards, Pike pointed to three screenshots, a restaurant menu, a letter to the editor he had written himself under a different name, and "a feeling."

When the Herald asked whether he had sought independent verification for any of his financial claims, Pike said that would not be necessary because "the screenshots are very high resolution."

An internal Herald word count found the Record has used the word "perplexingly" 47 times this quarter, "relentlessly" 61 times, and "hanging by a financial thread" to describe everything from the fire district to the county fairgrounds to a local 4-H member's steer.

Readers Weigh In

The Record has a loyal readership.

"I don't always agree with it, but I read every word," said one Big Horn resident. "Mostly because there are so many of them."

Another reader said she subscribes because "it's the only paper that makes the county commissioners' meeting packet sound like a Netflix true crime series."

What's Next

Pike says his next investigation will examine whether the Bighorn Mountains have been properly invoiced for county snow removal on their lower slopes.

He has filed a records request with the mountains.

As of press time, they had not substantively responded.

The Antelope Herald is a satirical publication. The Open Rage Record and Randall Pike are fictional. Any resemblance to an actual newspaper that uses the word "perplexingly" this much is, well, perplexing.