BOCC Shocker: Hedberg Threatens to Sue
the BOCC Over Holding an Election
Integrity Meeting,
Libs Feign Fear of Violence If They Attend,
Commissioner Secretly Calls the CBI Over the Meeting!
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
This Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting on May 1st started out “normal” (whatever that is here in Happy Valley) but when the subject of an upcoming BOCC Election Integrity Forum came up at the end, some of our left leaning locals went full victim outrage Stage 10 Soy Boy trying to suppress free speech as they didn’t agree with the meeting’s subject. (Just like the libs do on our college campuses around the country.)
Before we get into the high drama, let’s get through the mundane stuff first: The meeting started at 9 a.m. with all three Com-missioners present: Chair Kevin Day and members Bill Canda and Lucas Epp.
In Commissioner Items, Epp said he will be asking for bids to fix the courthouse roof. Canda said our local TV mountain top transmitter service is working for one station (KKKTV, Channel 13) but the contractor needs a new antenna for the other station.
In New Business, Redlands Accounting gave an update on their work clearing up the audit issues and getting ready for this year’s audit. It appears progress is being made.
Next item up was the Finance Director’s Job Description and Posting. Canda presented Human Resources Director Bob Smith’s proposed job description. Canda said there were a few requirement changes including: the candidate must be able to do journal entries, be able to present value and amortization calculations and also be able to use Excel. The proposed salary range was $80k to $110. After some discussion, the maximum salary was raised to $120k.
The Commissioners then accepted a Proclamation for the National Day of Prayer resolution.
Then Canda’s big drama baby came up: That evening’s BOCC meeting on Election Integrity Fact Finding to be held at the Lutheran Church’s Lange Hall. (This meeting came up pretty quick. I believe due to speaker availability. Canda had phoned Day and Epp requesting the meeting that would have several election integrity “experts” in person and via Zoom.
Apparently, they agreed via phone calls to have the meeting. Normally a meeting request would be brought up during a regular BOCC meeting and discussed in public. Due to time restraints, Canda asked the other two Commissioners for permission via phone calls. Which is perfectly legal but not the best way as there was no public discussion. The meeting was posted 24 hours before it happened so that was all good.)
Canda gave an overview of the meeting. Day then got all huffy and aggressive and attacked Canda about how the agenda for that evening’s meeting was done. Day said he heard that Canda had outside help with it and that was, somehow, wrong. Canda said the only person who helped was the BOCC Administrative Assistant, Bob Chesser. Day went on a bit about how he, as Chair, (Mr. Big Chief) was in charge of the Agenda. (The other Commissioners constantly request Agenda Items so how Canda’s request was somehow wrong, is mystifying.)
Epp then jumped on Canda a bit about how the meeting proposal should have been brought up in a regular meeting for “transparency”. (But remember folks, both Day and Epp agreed, via phone calls, to have the special meeting. So it seems both of their remarks were for “cover”.)
BACKGROUND
[Our local libs blew a gasket when they found out Canda was going to have a BOCC Election Integrity Presentation with a bunch of nationally known, knowledgeable, “election experts”. The libs call them “election deniers” but over the last three years there has been tons of evidence of election fraud and many questioning the integrity of the commonly used election computer vote tabulator, the Dominion machine which we have in Custer County. There is no doubt that there is election fraud, which happens mostly in democrat controlled cites and urban areas. How much? Nobody knows. And anybody who says there is no election fraud in this country is delusional. A large, recently well documented study on mail-in ballot fraud showed conclusively that, in general, over 25% of mail-in ballots are fraudulent in some fashion. (We printed an article on that study a month or so ago.) A lot of people focus on the Dominion machines but whether that is a major factor is up for debate.
Canda’s speakers covered a wide array of issues concerning election integrity. Our local libs did not want to hear the arguments. They wanted to kill the meeting and suppress our free speech rights because they disagreed with what was going to be said. That is how they operate.
Note that we have had NO ISSUES with election integrity here in Custer County. NONE. Our County Clerk, Kelley Camper, runs a tight ship and she has had no problems with our Dominion machine. Canda’s presentation was about the issue in general, as a reference for Custer County.]
BACK TO THE MEETING
Public Comment was next and the free speech suppressors came out in full force.
First up was local John Van Doren who opened with condemning the proposed meeting as “one sided”. He said he “would love” to have one or two speakers to bring out the “other side”. He said the meeting would have a “predetermined outcome”. (John, you are more than welcome to bring some of your speakers here to speak. It was Canda’s meeting so he chose the speakers.)
Van Doren then got a little squirrelly and said that at last week’s Liberty Rocks forum, the “Gideon 300” political protest stuff about “disruption” of BOCC meetings by citizens showing up “in force” was talked about (that is, a lot of citizens showing up at a BOCC meeting to voice their concerns about a topic is somehow a bad thing?) and somehow, that was wrong? He called it “quiet violence”. (You see how they twist words. Conservatives showing up in meetings now has the word, “violence” attached to it. Libs blowing up buildings and assaulting people are “peaceful protestors”.) Then Van Doren gets to what he really wants to say, that this meeting tonight is going to be dangerous somehow because a bunch of conservatives are going to show up! Van Doren then asked the Commissioners, “what are you going to do about security tonight if they stand up and demand that you, Commissioners/BOCC, vote on something?”
County Attorney Slater then jumped in and said the Commissioners are on top of the security issue and it would be wrong to discuss that stuff in public.
Van Doren, all huffy now, said, “I won’t be attending. I question the legality of the meeting” and he “questioned the safety” of anybody attending. (Another lib cheap shot: There has never been any violence at any BOCC or other county meeting in living memory. Van Doren seems to be scared of large groups of conservatives meeting. Well, show us an example, dude. The only people we see acting violently at public meetings around the country are libs. Van Doren’s concerns about “safety”, in a public meeting in Custer County, are so ludicrous and self-serving that it would be laughed off at “Saturday Night Live”. Classic Soy Boy lib comes to the county and wants to change our Western culture and values. Please return to sender.)
Not done yet, Van Doren then attacks our Sheriff Smith alleging he won’t arrest anybody that might be disruptive at the event. Van Doren implied that a “show of force” (that is, a large amount of peaceful citizens showing up at a meeting) is somehow an offense and that Smith would not pop those bad conservatives comprising the “show of force”. (Truly a pathetic attempt to paint conservatives with the “violent” label when the exact opposite is true. Score: Zero.)
HE’S BAAACK!
Then, Lord Help Us, the editor of the Wet Mountain Tribune, Jordy “Red Bug” Hedberg Zoomed in with his usual, almost histrionical, rant against Canda, Smith, conservative free speech, and his other usual triggers. It was a good’un.
Hedberg opens his latest emotional dissertation declaring that the meeting that night, ok’d by the Commissioners, is “not legal”. He then declared, “If this meeting is held tonight, I will be contacting my attorney and I will be suing the county for violation of the Open Meetings laws.” (Classic bully. Plus a flat-out threat. Hedberg loves suing people when he can’t win in the public forum.)
Hedberg then goes further down his rabbit hole with his apparent gun phobia, “People are saying come armed to this thing”. (What? Is he dreaming this stuff up? Who, exactly is saying that?) Next, “Nobody that is in their right mind will show up at this meeting tonight. There is no security.” (He was just told that there will be security there. And you know folks, it was TOTALLY unnecessary. Why do Hedberg and the libs feel threatened by a gathering of Custer County Citizens? It’s all pathetic victim drama noise.)
Then the usual attacks against Sheriff Smith, “The Sheriff was given a battle axe against you guys. The Sheriff is in on it.” (“In on” exactly what, Hedberg? A little paranoid maybe.) Hedberg then switches to usual victim #2, Canda, with, “The whole exercise that Bill Canda has orchestrated is mute. Kelley Camper controls the election. If any of you think that Custer County elections are fraudulent you need to resign on the spot.” (The evening’s topics were about elections in general, and specifically NOT about Custer County. Hedberg again attempts to paint a false picture of what the meeting was about.)
Then, “Our elections in Custer County are secure….” (Hey, Hedberg, NOBODY said they weren’t. You are arguing against yourself.)
Then Hedberg finally says something that resembles reality, “Every candidate that the Sentinel and the Liberty Rocks have put forward had won the elections.” He then listed a bunch of politicians who won that were backed by the Sentinel. (Good boy, Red Bug!) Hedberg then attacks one of that evening’s speakers and finishes with a flourish, by stating that the whole thing “is a witch hunt orchestrated by Bill Canda.” Finally, our very own, very angry, petite Socrates goes silent.
Local democrat honcho, James “Dr. Doom” Gilbert then Zooms in and agrees with all of Hedberg’s fantasies and then states, in a family friendly way, that “this is all horse***t”. (Nice. Very analytical, Doomy. Libs wallow in vulgarity.) Then he goes all lib paranoid saying, “It is a propaganda event. I will not be attending as I have a bona fide fear of reprisals for my opinions.” (Yes, another fake fearful victim of the Custer County Conservative Thought Police. Poor thing is scared of us Red Necks talking politics. Prayers needed.)
Finally, the last Zoom commenter comes on, a lady named, “Darla”. She does a three-minute rant against the meeting. The usual lib stuff.
And then the meeting was done, but not the lib rage and attacks.
LIB PAPER ATTACKS
Guess who emailed Sheriff Smith the Friday after the Election Integrity meeting? A reporter from the FAR left internet publication, the Colorado Times Recorder. (You want to see some lib insanity, check them out: ColoradoTimesRecorder.com. It is, regrettably, what Colorado has become: a lib cesspool. Of comedic interest is the reporter’s job title, “Reproductive Justice Reporter.” You can’t make this stuff up.)
The reporter, in her/they email to Sheriff Smith, quotes a big chunk of Hedberg’s comments in the morning BOCC meeting attacking the Special meeting Wednesday night on EI fact finding, and specifically Sheriff Smith. She asked Smith for a response. Sheriff Smith responded. I asked the Sheriff for a copy of the email, and he graciously provided us with it.
So, below, is the reporter’s email with Smith’s response. It is an eye opener: (We reformatted Smith’s email to show his responses more clearly and we “Bolded” Sheriff’s Smith’s remarks.)
Sheriff Smith,
I’m Heidi Beedle, a reporter with the Colorado Times Recorder. I’m working on a story about the May 1 Custer County Board of County Commissioners meetings focused on election integrity. During the morning meeting on May 1, Jordan Hedberg said during public comment:
“People are saying, ‘Come armed to this thing [the special BOCC meeting that evening].’ The sheriff was given a battle ax to lead against you guys. Nobody that is in their right mind is going to show up to this meeting tonight. There is no security, the sheriff is in on it, you guys are doing it in a rental area where they practiced how to force the Commissioners into something at the point of a gun, and you’re going to walk into it.”
Do you have any comment on Hedberg’s claims here?
Did you attend the 3/27/24 Liberty Rocks event? Did you say that you and your deputies would not arrest people who took part in Gideon 300-style disruption of BOCC meetings? Did Joe Oltmann give you an ax?
This story will run tomorrow afternoon, if you would like more time to respond before publication please let me know.
Thanks,
Heidi Beedle
Reproductive Justice Reporter, Colorado Times Recorder
(719)425-0430
heidi@coloradotimesrecorder.com
~Galatians 4:16, Isaiah 56:3-9~
Smith’s Response
Do you have any comment on Hedberg’s claims here?
These claims are mostly false or taken out of context. This is probably due to the fact that He didn’t attend the event that he reported on and had to rely on second or third hand information. Please see below.
Did you attend the 3/27/24 Liberty Rocks event?
Yes
Did you say that you and your deputies would not arrest people who took part in Gideon 300-style disruption of BOCC meetings?
No – law enforcement officers are prohibited from arresting people exercising their First Amendment Rights. We would act if there was behavior that elevated to a level of a crime.
Did Joe Oltmann give you an ax?
I was asked to come to the front of the room and was handed an axe. I didn’t ask for a gift or expect a gift. I returned the axe later to the organizer based on Amendment 41. An elected official is prohibited from receiving a gift or honorarium worth more than $50.
This story will run tomorrow afternoon, if you would like more time to respond before publication please let me know.
Thanks,
Additional statement from
Custer County Sheriff’s Office
by Sheriff Smith:
Hedberg is quoting statements from an article that ran the week before this County Commissioners Meeting. When I look back at that article I wish that it had contained more accurate information. I think it could have benefited from both context and verification. It may have been better, had it been written by a person who actually attended the meeting. I recognize that each meeting attendee sees things from a different perspective and frame of reference. I certainly don’t feel that the statement represents what most of the attendees experienced or observed. During my campaign, at nearly every campaign event, I would be asked if I support the Second Amendment. I would always answer that I did support the Second Amendment but more importantly I support all of the Amendments and the US Constitution. I previously retired from one of the larger law enforcement agencies in Colorado and a number of times was tasked to provide law enforcement services in or near the State Capitol. My role during these deployments was to ensure the safety of various groups of people expressing their First Amendment Rights. Before each mission, an attorney would brief us on protecting the First Amendment Rights of the attendees. One important caveat was that federal law, in particular 28 CFR Part 23 prohibited law enforcement from storing information about participants in first amendment groups unless we had a criminal nexus. Sometimes the attendees would be allowed to block the street. Sometimes the attendees met with law enforcement in advance to help ensure safety for their groups. Other groups refused to meet with law enforcement and we still attempted to provide for the safety of their group - but it was always best to plan ahead and meet with the organizers. I found this was a valuable life experience for me and it further emphasizes the importance to me to carefully listen to both sides of each issue. There was hardly a time that I didn’t learn something about both sides of an issue. I found that listening to both sides of the debate helped me make better decisions about issues and I feel that this in turn leads to increased emotional intelligence. On Tuesday April 7, I was invited to attend a partial Board of Commissioners Meeting at the BOCC office. The two commissioners present expressed concern about rumors in town and on social media about the upcoming BOCC Special Meeting. I attempted to clarify the concerns presented in the Hedberg article, as I had actually attended the event and he lacked the valuable firsthand knowledge of what had been discussed and in what context. The attendees seemed universally supportive of law enforcement and the rule of law. The average age of the attendees was between 60 and 75 which, based on my experiences, would be less likely to promote violence. I also discussed their security concerns. Ultimately, the Commissioners asked that I provide at least six deputies for event security. I agreed to do so. It is not unusual for the Commissioners to request security. I probably spent more than 100 hours for security for their meetings. I asked the Commissioners to create a paper form that attendees could use to provide written comments for the record if they didn’t feel comfortable speaking in public or if there were too many people to speak that night to get to all of them. The Commissioners agreed this was a good idea and did as I suggested. I asked that the county attorney draft a memo of the state statutes that could be enforced at a public meeting. I also asked for clarification that the Chair of the Commissioners would be in charge of ordering people to leave and not the Commissioner who arranged for the meeting. We also set an understanding on what level of activity would be asked to leave by the Chair versus the crimes that would generate an arrest. I wanted the Commissioners to know that we are undergoing a Statewide bail reform experiment. This experiment requires us to release almost everyone we arrest and doesn’t require an actual bond except in special circumstances. I told them it would be possible that an arrested person would be taken to our jail, booked and released and be able to walk back to the church before the meeting was over. The Commissioner told me that he wanted those people trespassed from the church in addition to being arrested. The county attorney provided the written memo as I asked. Shortly before midnight one of the Custer Commissioners called the CBI Tip Line and provided a list of all of the possible speakers that could be present. He also reported some of the rumors that he had heard in the paper or in social media. CBI then contacted me to share the Commissioners Information. On Wednesday, I briefed my staff on the importance of protecting the First Amendment Rights of all of the attendees. I asked them to be visible but stay discrete in the back of the church or in the parking lot. I also requested assistance from a different law enforcement agency who sent two law enforcement officers to be in the local area in case of trouble. The CCSO arrived early for the scheduled meeting. We had eight personnel along with a prison van in case mass arrests were needed. The meeting was lightly attended. I estimated less than 100 people. I was greeted by many of the attendees. I recognized nearly everyone present from both sides of the issue. I listened to some of the presentations, but also talked to attendees in the foyer, patrolled by foot the parking lots and surrounding streets and alley. The average age of the attendees was between 60 and 75 with one teenager. Several people left the meeting early and complained to me about the acoustics and the sound system. Over the first hour approximately 20 people left early. They expressed frustration to me that the speakers only represented one side of the voting machine issue. One person specifically told me he felt unsafe to make a public comment. I assured him that I and my staff were there to ensure his safety. I also asked if he had received the written comment form that I had asked the Commissioners to provide so his comments would still be accepted for the record. He told me that he had received the form and had turned it in. In the end the meeting turned out to be a nonevent. There was no shouting, no threats, no civil disobedience. There were no crimes and no arrests. The attendees that stayed to the end, helped pick up trash and stack the folding chairs for storage. Custer County is a great place to live. We are blessed to have tremendous residents. It’s a great place to work and to recreate. Like many towns, rumors can fly fast especially with social media. I promise that the Sheriff’s Office will continue to provide public safety, serve the community and ensure that everyone is able to express their options in accordance with the First Amendment even if those options aren’t popular.
“
WRAP UP
(Editor/GG: One VERY interesting tidbit in Smith’s response: A County Commissioner, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which one (like maybe Kevin Day), ratted out to the state po-po the proposed meeting by calling the state level enforcement body in Colorado, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Tuesday night before the meeting, and gave them a list of the proposed speakers (like they were some terrorists) and repeated “rumors” about the event. In other words, he tried to find a way to get the event canceled. It is flat out wrong and inappropriate to bypass your County Sheriff on a local matter and call the CBI. Why didn’t this Commissioner mention that he called the CBI tip line at the Wednesday morning BOCC meeting and inform the public of what he did? Because it was wrong and he has no “cojones”. Transparency? Not for him.
Bottom line to all the objections to the EI Fact Finding Forum: Hedberg, Van Doren, et al, all their whining about how it is an illegal meeting, that they are scared to attend it because it will be filled with evil, Custer County Red Necks with scary guns, blah, blah, blah, is a total smokescreen. What they really want is to prevent people from hearing a certain position because they don’t agree with them. Flat out suppression of free speech. It is the lib’s MO. )
THE COST
Fear Mongering
Look at what four whining citizens speaking at the BOCC cost the county at the Forum: A ton of unnecessary Deputies, State Patrol personnel, and the cost of getting a Prison Van at the event. For what? A bunch of old, mostly retired, Custer County citizens attending a fact-finding forum with nationally known speakers. The average attendee’s age was over 60! These four whiners are scared of that crowd?!
What we have here is an extremely small group of local left leaners attempting to silence the Free Speech Rights of the whole county over FAKE allegations of potential violence at the event! (Commissioner Day of course, fell for it.) This is what is called the Left’s “Cancel Culture”.
Do not let the Leftists suppress our Free Speech Rights!
Citizens: Speak up, shout out, for your 1st Amendment rights here in Custer County. It’s now or never. This is why we fight to protect our Constitution here in Custer County. It is people like these who would throw it out the window and replace it with liberal police state fantasy land. God Bless Custer County and its Patriotic Citizens. And God Bless Sheriff Smith and his Deputies.
POST NOTE:
For further reading from the left center….
Both of these links take you outside our website.
The Colorado Times Recorder article mentioned is HERE.
Another interesting piece on Jordan Hedberg etc
by Corey Hutchins is HERE on substack.