The Saga of Avocado Hill

By Phil Roberts

Avocado Hill. That picture of the Wyoming Highway patrolman narrowly dodging that out-of-control semi, reminds me of an incident from the past.

After Wyoming’s 2nd statewide grand jury wrapped up. I thought it needed better documentation for history. After interviews with the Prosecutor Larry Yonkee, Sheridan lawyer; and his assistant Cecil Cundy, Sundance lawyer; and their head investigator, former IRS inspector Vic Vickers, I looked at the law that seemed to require that the grand jury record be destroyed, I thought why not put the four large boxes documenting the proceedings and procedures in the vaults under seal?

Through a deal with Special Prosecutor Yonkee, we all agreed that those records might help any future grand jury by giving them an example so future prosecutors wouldn’t have to start by scratch as Yonkee and his staff had to do.  

One day, I drove to Rock Springs with passenger State Archivist Julia Yelvington to deliver the four boxes of files we had saved (in the vault, for posterity). Little did any of us know that statements by Gerry Spence, Cantrell’s lawyer in the famous murder case that became famous by Spence’s “fast draw,’ defense that “if the grand jury records hadn’t been destroyed (sic }, my client would be shown to be innocent.”  He made the comment, reported in the Casper Star-Tribune and read by both me and Larry Yonkee about the forthcoming preliminary hearing for the Cantrell murder case. Yonkee called and said we had to deliver the files–immediately. We called Judge Nena James and the arrangements to bring them over. (As I recall, our state light blue station wagon was to have an escort all the way over to ensure the chain of custody from our vaults). Just as we arrived at the court, Spence or his rep took one look at the four boxes, and without even looking inside, waived the preliminary hearing. We returned, this time without escort, through a pending snowstorm to Cheyenne.

As the storm worsened, we continued on, but just as we got to the Carbon-Albany county line, we watched ahead as we topped the hill and saw a car hurtle into the median and roll several times down the ditch. I prudently parked to the right as Julia, trained in EMT, raced down to assist the single passenger. I was just walking up the hill to set a warning flare to try to slow down the speeding semis. Suddenly, a highway patrol car appeared. The young trooper, rather than parking behind us on the far right edge of the road, parked next to the median, leaving little room to spare. I was shouting through the wind for him to move it. Already, two trucks narrowly avoided hitting the car.  He hadn’t yet got into his car when a huge 18-wheeler popped over the hill and ran over the car like it was a cardboard box! The truck hurtled down the hill a few hundred feet and overturned. Out popped thousands of avocados, shaken loose from their boxes!

It was a colorful scene-white snow, pocked with pieces of bright green.  A few minutes later, after the young trooper whined as to what to tell his supervisor, the boss pulled up and started to park behind the demolished patrol car. The young trooper had the chance to point out the folly and the supervisor quickly parked on the right side behind us. Soon, an ambulance arrived for the New Jersey man who was the initial crash victim. Luckily. no one else was injured–not even the driver of the truck load of avocados (he stood and stared at the white and green).

The trip back to Cheyenne went without further incident, but each time I pass that spot, just beyond the Bengough grave and the county line, the incident of avocado hill comes back in all of its white and green…..