Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

Veteran Educator John Tillotson Fills School Board Vacancy

Veteran Educator John Tillotson Fills School Board Vacancy

 

John Tillotson extends his 27 years of service to the Custer County School District (CCSD). Tillotson retired from teaching at the end of this school year and then applied for the baton of School Board service. The Custer County School Board voted unani-mously on June 18, 2025, for John Tillotson to fill the vacancy of former Director Brad Davis.
Tillotson has been a teacher in the CCSD for the past 27 years. For almost three decades Tillotson has watched the District both strive and struggle.
Tillotson wrote in his letter of interest, “ I may not have all the answers, but I certainly know our community, district, and
most of all, our students and will do my best to accommodate them….Our district is unique and should run with our students’ needs as the priority!”
Tillotson is also a Volunteer Firefighter for the Wet Mountain Valley Fire Protection District as well as a Fire Instructor. He has
previously served on the board of the WMVFPD.
Cameron Fore was unani-mously elected to fill the role of Vice President.

2025, Uncategorized

Celebration of Life for Alfred Earl Nelson

Obituary
Alfred Earl Nelson

Alfred Earl Nelson, age 86, beloved father, grandfather, great grandfather and friend, passed away June 20, 2025, in Cañon City, CO, with his family by his side.
He was born on a Homestead near Mosca, Colorado. He served in the Navy after leaving High School at the age of 17. He then went on to attend college at Adams State CO, where he played two years of college football and graduated with a BS degree in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. During his life he was a math and physics teacher, rancher, owned his own construction company, and worked in the heavy equipment industry.
Alfred loved God, his family and the outdoors, especially hunting and fishing with his son, Darryl. He will be remembered for his sense of humor, his work ethic and his ability to leave a great impression on everyone he met during his life.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Dolores Farnham and George Nelson; sister Betty Gohr and nephew Timothy Allnutt.
Alfred is survived by his daughter Dolores Reuland and husband Michael, son Darryl Nelson and wife Christine; grandchildren Abigail Reuland, Joshua Reuland, Katelyn Gray, and Grace Nelson; great grandchildren Everly and Lainey Gray; nephew Ted Allnutt.
A memorial service will be held at Evangelical Free Church 3000 E. Main St., Cañon City CO, on July 19th at 10:30 a.m. Followed by a celebration of life at the Quality Inn & Suites 3075 East US 50, Cañon City CO, starting at 12 p.m.

2025, Uncategorized

BOCC Doubleheader! June 11 and 19

BOCC Doubleheader!  New Courthouse
Project Starts Again, Local No Kings March Organizer Unveiled, Employee Terminated

BOCC: Lodging Tax Increase? Employee Terminated

by George Gramlich, News and Commentary

The June 11, 2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) regular meeting was held at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room and started at 9 a.m. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.

In Commissioner Items, Epp said two IT vendors made a site visit to our IT Department concerning providing contract IT services to us (especially in the cyber security arena). Epp said a couple of more vendors were interested. He was hoping they could get one signed by August 1st.

Canda said he visited a Colorado State Agency when he was up north at a big meeting and asked them to delete us (somehow) from the infamous Fed Sanctuary List.

In New Business, Accounts Payable was up first. Epp read off the items over $5k (which is very helpful). The total two-week amount was $210. It passed.

The Commissioners then approved a contract with an insurance broker, Acrisure, for them to find us some insurance companies to replace our current vendor, CTSI.

Custer County Clerk Kelley Camper then asked the Commissioners to approve the payment to a firm she hired to do the election ballot printing, mailing, etc. This was ok’d.

The Office of Emergency Management’s Director, Robyn Knappe, was next with a proposal to spend around $3,500 total to purchase an 8×10 wooden shed so she could store some of OEM’s stuff. (This was a lot better than her prior proposal a year or so ago where she wanted to build a whole building for her office and staff and to house her OEM stuff.) This caused a discussion about location, timing, was a concrete pad needed. Near the end of the talk fest, a citizen emailed in and said for the same amount of money you can get a big, metal Conex box that is secure and lockable. This amazed the Commissioners (none of them thought about that) and they finally voted to have Knappe explore this more logical solution.

Next was a request from Custer County’s Workforce Housing Committee for a Letter of Support regarding pursuing a path to build affordable housing on the 12 lots in Silver Cliff that the BOCC donated a while back. It seems nobody or no local organization actually wants to “own” the lots, build on them and run the operation. Apparently, there is a new non-profit, the Custer County Community Development Corporation that might be able to do it. However, it is new, has no people and needs to get going. Somehow this requires $100k to do and the Committee wants permission to ask for that moolah from the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA). The DOLA grants requires a 20% match ($20k) from us. It looked like Westcliffe and Silver Cliff will both chip in $5k each so the County would need to cough up $10k. The Commissioners ok’d it.

Next was a discussion item about raising the County’s Lodging Tax. (It is currently at 2% but Colorado has just given local governments the okay to rape and pillage tourists throughout the state by allowing the local government entities to up it to a max of 6%.) To do this however, the County’s citizens must ok it in a ballot initiative. (We are currently getting about $90k from our 2% tax.)

Canda opens the discussion with the mandatory question, “Will this hurt our tourism?”. This of course caused the pro tax folks in the audience to bombard the Commissioners with how high other towns, cities and counties’ Lodging Tax rates are, trying to convince our supposedly small government, low tax, conservative Republican Commissioners that raising the price of staying in Happy Valley will have no effect on people coming here. (Only one person actually said it may affect it some, or a lot of tourists come here because it is cheaper than other places. Also, the comments noted that the various jurisdictions use other fees, etc. to raise the effective Lodging Tax rate with some as high as 16%.)

The person who raised the affordability issue was none other than our Director of Tourism, Deb Adams. She said if we raise it too much it will hurt us. Adams said our Lodging Tax receipts for last year were down $10k from the year before. She stated that “doubling it” to 4% “might not hurt us too much”. (Hey Republican Commissioners, if you do this you are raising taxes. NO real need for more money was made during the discussion. Going forward, we need SMALLER government not bigger. You are setting us up for a catastrophe when the well goes dry. We need Custer County to be a place where regular people can visit.)
No decisions were made.

(All taxes should be a ballot item.)

Next was a Personnel Matter concerning our Planning & Zoning Director Dorothy Carsten. (You recall that just a week or two ago Vogelsong made a motion to fire Carsten because he alleged she violated the County’s firearm carry rule where she supposedly open carried a pistol at a septic installation. After a huge discussion at the meeting, Vogelsong voted against his own proposal and with Epp’s also “Nay” Carsten didn’t get fired. Now, we are up for round two.)

Canda opened the discussion with blah, blah, blah about how the BOCC manages the County workforce. County Attorney Slater then said that Carsten chose to have the discussion in public rather than in Executive Session, and since she did that, she is waving a lot of confidentiality.

Vogelsong then said, “that after receiving additional information on concealed carry”, “ I carefully reviewed everything” and that “on county property, on duty or off duty” weapons must be concealed.  He then made the motion to fire Carsten.

Carsten, who was in the audience then made a statement, “I don’t feel comfortable. I fear for my life and the safety of my family. That is all I have to say.” Audience member, local democrat bigwig, and a motor mouth commentator at virtually every BOCC meeting, James (Dr. Doom) Gilbert then couldn’t resist taking a swipe at Vogelsong. Gilbert told Vogelsong that a local newspaper (of course it was the Sentinel and we are SOOOOO joyed that Gilbert enjoys our coverage) said that Vogelsong “caved” (regarding his prior vote on not firing Carsten) and this current action, “sounds like a political hatchet job” (which is a precious comment coming from a democrat). Vogelsong, to his credit, came back strong saying that the paper said he “folded”. (Actually we made a little funny out of Vogelsong’s name by referring to him as “Vogelfold” after his no vote.) Vogelsong rebutted Gilbert saying, “At that time I did not have enough information. I was informed” that Carsten was open carrying at the County’s impound compound, “plus other times”. He again mentioned that the County Handbook says, on or off duty”.

The three Commissioners then all voted
to terminate Carsten.

In Public Comment, Gilbert, now unchained, went on a dribbling harangue about Custer County helping the feds arrest illegal aliens. (The usual lib stuff. I think our local libs are scared of losing cheap, slave labor.)

In perhaps the most enlightening exchange of the day, the County Clerk then asked the Commissioners, “Any employees that open carries can be fired” implying that a County employee, off duty, going about their business around town, can
be fired for open carrying? (Remember our Colorado Constitution explicitly allows open carry, the 2nd Amendment might have something to say about that, plus the Commissioners have declared that Custer County is a 2nd Amendment county.)

Vogelsong replies, “Yes”.

Kelley responded, “So you might as well fire half the staff”. (Go Kelley!!!).

No response from our 2nd Amendment Commissioners. (Maybe they should take a serious look at what the Employee Handbook says and FIX IT.)

(Kelley is the Sentinel’s Happy Valley Elected Official of the Week. Congrats Kelley.)

(NOTE: We got the actual Employee Handbook wording for the firearms policy. It applies only to County property. So if you are off duty AND not on county property, you can open carry.)

And that be it. Wait ‘til next week, folks.

BOCC: New Courtroom Project Starting Again, Local No Kings March Organizer Unveiled

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary

The June 19,2025 Custer County Board of County Commissioners regular meeting started at 9 a.m. and was held at the All Aboard Westcliffe meeting room. All three Commissioners were present: Chair Bill Canda and members Lucas Epp and Paul Vogelsong.

In Commissioner Items, Vogelsong said that all three Commissioners had attended the most recent Liberty Rocks get together at Tony’s Pizza where they discussed Custer County and the flap about CC being a sanctuary county for illegal aliens or not. Vogelsong noted that CC is NOT a sanctuary county.

Canda stated that the new Courtroom project committee will start work next month. (Colorado is trying to force CC and various other small counties to build new courthouses because the current ones are in violation of the state’s crazy requirements. Folks, we are talking a cost exceeding 15 MILLION DOLLARS to build their Taj Mahal. (And since we are going to have  to borrow a ton of money to do it, a TRUE payback cost of maybe $30 MILLION. For one courthouse. Liberal insanity.)

Elected Officials Reports were first.

First up was Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith. Sheriff Smith noted that the new avjet fuel tank at the airport was being used by multiple rescue helicopters which helped them avoid a long trip back to their bases to refuel. He said he had met with Family Crisis Services on finding a “safe place” locally for domestic violence victims to stay rather than going all the way down the hill to Cañon City.

Sheriff Smith then talked about last Saturday when there were two “First Amendment Events”. (One being a U.S. Flag Day Celebration in front of the Sentinel where local patriots waved American Flags for two hours to celebrate Flag Day. The other being the lib, nationwide protest rallies against President Trump. These were labeled “No Kings” day. One was held in Westcliffe at the west end of Main Street (at the ‘Bluffs) at 10 a.m. That group then marched east of Main Street on the sidewalks to school and then marched back. You can read about that in last week’s Sentinel 06/20/2025.)

Sheriff Smith stated that before the No Kings rally started, he went down to the ‘Bluffs to meet with the “march organizer”, one “Dr. James Gilbert” to discuss security and walking protocols.

[Interesting. So, James (Dr.Doom) Gilbert, a local democrat big wig was the local “march organizer”. So Gilbert (and maybe other local libs) are responsible (or at least partly responsible) for bringing in all those out of towners who jammed the sidewalks up and down Main Street screaming crazy chants and displaying 4th grade cardboard signs with crayon sayings scribbled on them. All to protest a duly elected U.S. President. (You didn’t see conservatives do that after Biden sort of got elected.) So, let’s look at what happened during their Main Street “march”. Main Street Westcliffe is the tourist center of the county. The street is lined with all kinds of shops, restaurants, bars, art galleries, etc. They depend on street traffic for sales. Saturday is the biggest revenue day of the week for them. It is June. A big tourist month. The weather was perfect that day. Tons of tourists coming to town including many Colorado day trippers. They come driving onto Main Street to park, walk and shop and what do they see? A long column of angry, freaky looking people, yelling and chanting, with crazy signs, jamming the sidewalk. What does a tourist do? Get out of there as fast as humanly possible. Never to come back. Our merchants take a BEATING. Westcliffe’s reputation as a nice, quiet spot to spend a day is shattered. The delusional local and out of town demonstrators think they are making a difference, and they are. Every time they do this, more people come to oppose them and their efforts as they disrupt our economic lifeline: tourism. Their myopic, self-absorbed view of themselves as being at the front of the lib effort to get rid of Trump (and democracy) means that they have NO concerns about how their behavior affects others. Especially economically. You want a rally. Fine. Have it at the ‘Bluffs but don’t march up and down Main Street, jamming the sidewalk, scaring off our merchants’ clientele and hurting our community. A lot of these merchants are barely hanging on and the loss of big Saturday revenue intake is devastating. But libs don’t care about others. It is all about themselves. Hey Gilbert! Grow up. This ain’t the sixties again. Have a little consideration for our community and our merchants. It is beyond a waste of time for left wing freaks to shuffle up and down Main Street in Happy Valley. The locals dislike it and every time you do it — you LOSE support.]

Sheriff Smith then (adroitly) mentioned the local lefty who “pulled a gun on several people” at the Sentinel’s Flag Day celebration. Smith said they “caught him out of town” and it was up to the District Attorney now. (Read about that horror show in last week’s Sentinel.)

Custer County Treasurer, Virginia Trujillo, was next. No surprises. The County’s ending bank balance in April was $11,250,000.

Brad Baltzly, our County Coroner, was the next speaker. Brad said they had only one death lately but since it was a younger person he is having an autopsy done.

County Clerk Kelley Camper, then gave her report. Kelley said the Clerk’s Office collected about $248k in fees in May. The County gets to keep about half of that.

The Veterans Service Office Report was next. Director Dominic Edginton delivers it. He said he expected another million dollars in compensation by the end of May from the VA for our veterans via the VA claims he has made. Dominic noted that 228 vets have received new compensation since he came on board. There are 581 veterans “on paper” in Custer County. He is also helping a lot of vets from Fremont County as their VSO Office there is way below par and the vets aren’t getting the help they need.

Bob Smith, our Director of Human Resources, gave his department report. Bob said they had completed the County insurance policy review. Also, our Worker’s Compensation broker was selected and he is getting quotes.

Vernon Roth, Finance Director, was next up. Vernon said he has four proposals from IT companies for contract services for his department (a lot of that is cyber security). Vernon said he is looking hard at the county’s Century Link landlines as it is costing us around $7k a month for them and a bunch of lines are not even being used.

The Information Technology report was given by its Director, John Mapes. He has been super busy with the landline audit, VOIP research, the SO’s IT issues and various internet outages.

No surprises in the Human Services report. EBT outlay for May was $128k. Total Child Support case load is 72.

Road & Bridge reported that their diesel tank dispenser is leaking and four test holes for contamination must be drilled which will cost up to $10k. The cost to fix the new fuel system could be around $20k.

Epp gave the Recycling Report. YTD, 120 bales of various materials have been produced.

Robyn Knappe gave the OEM report. She said the wildfire mitigation program is doing good with 13 neighborhood ambassadors. They have had three chipping “events”.

Our County Kids Council had good news. They are working with Family Crisis Services to find a local place for domestic violence victims. Last week’s Family Day had close to 400 attendees. It was noted that all of Kids Council budget comes from the state and things are looking a little shaky down the road with funding. Interestingly, it was stated that there are 900 kids under the age of 19 in the county and that Custer County had the second highest child growth in the state between 2019 and 2023.

The Public Health report stated that the most recent case of measles in Colorado was in Boulder County and that if you want to get vaccinated against the measles go see them. There are concerns about future revenue stream income as the fed flow is drying up. Their staff has been reduced by 40%.

And that was that.

 

 

Uncategorized

TL Davis: No Safe Places

NOTE: All links take you outside the SDC Sentinel Newspaper’s web site. Below are a few mentions of the No Kings Rally and Flag Day
Celebration which took place in Westcliffe, Colorado on June 14.

From TL Davis Blog:

TL Davis: No Safe Places   link https://tldavis.substack.com/p/no-safe-places

It’s easy to see the war from studying congress, or the left or the deep state, the CIA, FBI, etc., because there, it’s all laying out for anyone to see who wants to see it; if they know what they’re looking for. Those who dig a little deeper past rhetoric and see the culmination of that rhetoric as action such as calling a protest a riot and a riot a protest. Still, it seems a distant vision of Spy vs Spy, 007 or Mission Impossible, when, in fact, it’s not so distant and not nearly as elegant. The civil war being waged between political appointees (directors and secretaries of different departments) and the bureaucratic dictatorship I’ve often warned of goes on in the halls of DC, but the lunatic left are their minions, their advance troops to put the threat to the American people directly and they’re everywhere. And, as such, are often defended by communist judges and big-city police chiefs. They could not act so aggressively if that were
not true.

Of course, none of this could happen in a quiet valley in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, but it did. This is the extent, this story I’m about to reproduce here, to which the militant left, struggling to find a cause, any cause to attack their political enemies, is an account of that reality that should reverberate through all of peaceful,
rural America.

Westcliffe, a town of roughly 800 people, that plays much larger, because it’s a shopping and supply point for Custer County, a large area of farms, ranches and tourist attractions. Westcliffe, one might remember, is known for its massive Open Carry March during their Independence Day celebration. It was attended by Mike Vanderbough and myself at different times. If you have no plans for the Fourth, they welcome those [want] to participate. Often, there are more in the Open Carry contingent than on the sidewalks.

The following is straight from the article in the Sangre de Cristo Sentinel of which electronic subscriptions are available. It’s a newspaper I read faithfully.

Happy Flag Day! Almost. Leftist Violence Comes to Happy Valley Enraged Lib Points Pistol at Flag Day Celebrants

[And then they reprinted this article:  “Happy Flag Day! Almost. Leftist Violence Comes to Happy Valley Enraged Lib Points Pistol at Flag Day Celebrants”]  Link

T.L.’s Posts and Podcasts (12 Round Productions)

Posts have been linked and featured on Zerohedge, Western Rifle Shooters Association (WRSA), Free Republic, Burning Platform, Cold Fury and several other popular websites.

###

AND A COUPLE OTHER REPRINTS & MENTIONS:

_________

From WarOnGuns.com

No Kings Fewer Brains

https://waronguns.com/no-kings-fewer-brains/

Happy Flag Day! Almost. Leftist Violence Comes to Happy Valley [https://sangredecristosentinel.com/2025/06/flag_day_leftist_violence/]

This guy.

That’s much more interesting than anything that happened in Hudson.

__________

and the  Western Rifle Shooters Association

 

 

2025, Uncategorized

Christopher Watson Passes

Obituary

Christopher John Watson
July 12, 1971- June 16, 2025

Christopher John Watson, age 53, of Florence, Colorado, passed away on June 16, 2025. Born July 12, 1971, Chris was a devoted spouse and father, proud grandfather, beloved son, and loyal
brother whose presence will be deeply missed by all who knew
and loved him.

Chris is survived by his mother, Audrey Slater, stepmother, Christine Watson; and siblings: Sean Watson, Nicole Watson, and TJ Watson. He leaves behind his spouse, Carrie Ann McClure-Watson and children: Cassaundra Tiner and her husband, Robert Tiner; Stephanie Tiner and her husband, Larry Tiner; and Christopher (CJ) Watson II and his fiancée, Nicole Mule. He was a proud grandfather to his grandchildren: Troy, Kiersten, and Alice Tiner; Kaitlyn, Jennifer, and Aiden Tiner; and Blayne Watson.

He is proceeded in death by his father, Thomas H. Watson, and stepfather, Jack Slater.

Chris’ memory will live on in the hearts of those who loved him, especially in the family he helped build and the many lives he touched.

A celebration of life for family and close friends will be held to honor his life on Saturday July 26, 2025, at Old Harrison Park (490 North Cottonwood, and Cherry St.) in Canon City from Noon – 3 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you take a moment to hug your loved ones and cherish the time you have — just as Chris would have wanted.

 

Uncategorized

Hanme Clark Murder Trial Venue Changed to Fremont County

by George Gramlich
Hanme Clark, the alleged Custer County triple murderer had the venue for the trial changed to Fremont County from Custer based on a successful Motion by his defense counsel. The Motion was extensively argued against by the 11th Judicial
District District Attorney Jeff Lindsey.
The defense counsel argued that his defendant couldn’t get a fair trial in Custer County due to negative local, state and national publicity and the fact that Custer County is one of the smallest counties in the state (voter registration is around 4,700 people and as noted by the defense counsel, over 800 of those are below the age for jury duty) and that it would be very difficult to find an impartial jury as the publicity generated negative attitudes in the jury pool.
District Attorney Lindsey noted that there was no evidence at all that the media coverage presented would prevent Clark from having a fair trial.
District Court Judge Lauren Swan was persuaded by the defense counsel’s arguments. She also had some concern that the small Custer County courtroom can be a problem as this is a national level case and there would a lot of media interest in it.
The next Motions Hearing in the case is scheduled for June 23rd and will be held in Fremont County. The trial is scheduled for late
September.

2025, Uncategorized

Happy Flag Day! Almost. Leftist Violence Comes to Happy Valley

Happy Flag Day! Almost.

Leftist Violence Comes to Happy Valley
Enraged Lib Points Pistol at Flag Day Celebrants

Sentinel June 14, 2025
photo by G. Gramlich

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary

Oh man. Last Saturday, June 14th was a wild one in Happy Valley. All kinds of events going on for families,  kids, etc. The summer people were streaming in. Beautiful, warm Rocky Mountain day. National U.S. Flag Day. And then the local libs ruined it. In more ways
than one.

During that week as the national bolshie NOKings event media hysteria was climaxing, the Sentinel decided to do something positive and celebrate our June 14 U.S. Flag Day with a little flag waving in front of the Sentinel from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. There were two other things we wanted to  celebrate that day, Trump’s Birthday and that day was also the 250th U.S. Army Anniversary. Couldn’t get any better. So we put an announcement on the front page of last Friday’s Sentinel paper saying come on down and bring a flag and we can have a great patriotic get together for a couple of hours.

We brought our Jeep down to help celebrate the Army’s Birthday. The Jeep  was given to us by my ex-partner, Col. Mike Hess, Ret. It is painted to duplicate the Army Jeep he used in Korea many moons ago and we parked it on our front lawn. Yvonne put a ton of small U.S. Flags around the yard and we hung several from our porch. Our local Republicans showed up with a tent. We were all set to wave our flags on Main Street and have a good, patriotic day.

About 50 Patriots showed up during our celebration. We had about six  to 12 people waving the flags at any point in time. As usual, in Free Custer County, we got a ton of thumbs up, horns blasting and encouragement shouts from the passing motorists. Good stuff.

A Custer County Sheriff’s Deputy was nearby and told us that the NOKings rally down at the west end of Main Street (at the “Bluffs”, a scenic overlook of the Valley and the Sangres) were going to march down the sidewalks on Main Street and pass us. Some observers came back from there and said there was a fair amount of lefties there, maybe 60 or so. (The NOKings rally was a nationwide effort by the libs to protest Trump and his policies, normal Americans, and support the  insane libs dystopian issues. It was very well organized with 100’s and 100’s of NOKings rallies around the country. )

So we’re waving our flags and we see a block or so down toward the Bluffs a bunch of people on the sidewalk walking towards us. They were on the sidewalk on the other side of us (the south sidewalk). As they get closer, we hear this percussion type noise, it keeps getting louder and finally we see what the racket was. You can’t make this up, it was a tall, fairly greasy looking bolshie pounding BONGO DRUMS! BONGO DRUMS! The same lame obnoxious noise that the red diaper babies have been using since the 60’s. This guy was very aggressive on them pounding away like he was in some nightclub in Cuba back in the old Batista days. This, of course, caused much amusement amongst our Patriots.

As they marched by on the opposite sidewalk you could see the composition of the rabble: a fair amount of old, pasty, bony wanna be bolshie types that never grew up, some  Marxist types, younger, very angry, sad  and lonely  people and depressingly, some children in
the mix.
They carried dozens of childish, handmade cardboard signs  declaring us normal people “nazis”, “fascist”, and other bad things, that Trump should be gone, plus the self-righteous lib mantras on sex. The usual lefty, Marxist opioid  mix. They constantly chanted catchy phrases knocking and mocking normal Americans with a heavy emphasis on the “nazi” theme which the national libtards have adopted since Trump got in. To us old folks who have seen this garbage in the old days, it looked like a pathetic attempt to re-create these old bolshies’ childhoods.  Vice President Vance calling those shriveled up old lady hippies, “sad, lonely cat ladies” was a compliment. Brain washed. The word “parasite” comes to mind.

So the red mob passed, and we kept waving our American Flags and the passing vehicles continued to give us the good vibes.

After about 20 or 30 minutes, we can see to the east of us that the red rabble is now crossing the street about a block away, and they start walking towards us on  OUR side. No need for this. They want to cause a confrontation. (Which could have been a big mistake.)

So we tell our crew to stay off the sidewalk and let these fools pass. As they pass, they are screaming curse words, calling us “nazis”, etc., chanting lib nursery rhymes, trying to provoke us. All we do is yell stuff like, “God Bless America”, “USA, USA…”, “Trump”, etc. This gets their drawers in a bind, and they chant and scream harder. Finally, the lemmings finished passing and all was well.

But here is something that we observed: Our crew, save one beautiful gentleman from Ohio, who was visiting his son here, were ALL LOCAL and we know who the locals are. After the Red Pioneers passed, we all compared notes on how many local people did we recognize in that emasculated crowd. The consensus was SIX. Out of 60. SIX. And when you viewed the clothing, the demeanors, the physical appearances  (I don’t think there was ONE alpha male in that whole creepy mob), the sad and angry look on their faces,  you know they were from out-of-town. The urban shorts, the hip tee shirts, way too clean for country folk, the way they shuffled along. City libs. The worst. This is what local libs do around the country. Literally bus in city commies to harass conservative cites and towns.

So how did they get here and why? Our own geriatric, red diaper baby libs brought them here. But why? Because Custer County is one of the last red counties in the state. Because Custer County is hard core Christian conservative.  And if they want numbers, they must still import just like they did here.

(Custer County is so hard core right the local dems don’t even hold a primary here! There hasn’t been a registered dem running for county office in like forever.
Our county level elections are won after the Republican primary because the dems don’t even bother to field a candidate in the general election because they know they will be massacred. So our local libs use us as a target for their urban commies to come here and attempt to intimidate us. Which obviously is a total waste of time. In fact, every time these losers march up and down Main Street the more locals come to dislike them. These sidewalk marches totally disrupt our tourist trade and the Main Street stretch that they march on is the tourist shopping district. Who is going to park and shop with their kids when they see/hear sick looking crazy people walking down the sidewalk? Our Main Street merchants don’t want this. Plus the marchers blow out of here as soon as they are done because they don’t want to spend a dime to support our community.)

GUN UP!

So they kept marching down the sidewalk to where they started. We get back to flag waving. However, during this period and now afterward, there was a newer, four door Jeep Wrangler that kept driving slowly past us. Every time he drove by, he shouted (LOUD) hard core obscenities at our flag wavers including, of course, calling us “nazis”. Now remember this is an older crowd. Probably most of our crew are retired. Regular, polite, conservative Christians spending a few hours celebrating our great country. And this guy keeps coming back screaming at old men and old ladies waving the American Flag, constantly using the “F” word. Each pass he gets louder and crazier.

Finally, at maybe his fourth or more pass, he drives past me and another male flag waver and stops right in front of one of ladies waving. Very close to her. (The woman happens to work at the Sentinel. Me and another male were just a few feet to the left of the lady. To her right were a bunch of flag wavers.) The guy, his face contorted with rage, starts screaming like a mad man at the lady in a very threatening manner using extreme obscenities (including the “F” word). Finally, the lady yells back at the punk and then a few seconds later she steps back and freezes. (The guy is on our side of
the road, driving left to right past our wavers. His passenger window is next to us.)

The guy keeps screaming and starts to move past us towards the other wavers (he is going west). Just as he starts moving we all hear, “He’s got a gun!” from multiple people.

The woman says he had pulled a pistol out, wracked it right in front of her and then pointed it directly at her, the male standing next to her, and as he started driving, at other people. The lady said he stretched his arm across the cab and had the gun right by the passenger window, only a few feet from her.

Little did this rocket scientist know, but at the end of our line was our County Coroner, Brad Baltzly, and coming to his side,  Assistant Coroner, Nikita Phillips. Both had seen what was happening and Brad whips out his cell phone and is filming it. At the same time, he grabs his police radio and calls it in to our SO.
Game on!

The punk goes another 30 yards or so and then turns south at the intersection on Hwy 69 heading towards Walsenburg. He knows he screwed up and is fleeing.

Based on Brad’s call, the Custer County Sheriff’s Office swings into action. All the Deputies are on duty due to the NOKings commie march so there are plenty SO cars around. Four or five SO vehicles jump on it and chase this loser down 69, lights on, sirens screaming and stop this guy around 4 miles outside of
town. (It was like a “Dukes of Hazard” chase except they caught the perp.)

High Risk, Felony style stop. Rifles and pistols out. BUSTED. Wrong county to play lib bad boy.  They book him. Tons of charges. Down to the Fremont County Criminal Playground for this guy. The SO tells us his name is Brett Tuthill.

The SO stated that the guy was wearing body armor!

So what set this guy off? Was it the NOKings loonies marching around town chanting satanic verses. Was it the BONGO DRUMS? My guess is that he got all pumped up with the loonies marching around and he has a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

It could have been a disaster. The guy could have shot the lady point blank and then opened up on the rest of us. Just on the street flag waving line, half of us had sidearms and if he started shooting it would have gotten nasty. Plus there were more of our guys with guns behind us. Hey, it’s Custer County.

So our local lefties finally brought the horror of liberalism to our peaceful community. Their predictable solution is always the same–violence, voter fraud, indoctrinating our children and taxing and regulating our way of life out of existence. A sad commentary on where America is today due to their extremism.

Attention Lefties: You’re wasting your time in Happy Valley. We see through the facade.

(We didn’t stop waving our American Flags after the gun incident. We kept on trucking. It will take more than that to stop Patriotism here in Happy Valley.)

God Bless Happy Valley and
God Bless America.

(Bonus Feature: A VERY reliable source told us that after the red parasites crossed the road to get to the school parking lot and started down Main Street toward the Sentinel, they left one of their members behind! Apparently, it was an older lady who succumbed to the heat. She was laying on the parking lot or the sidewalk. The libs left her there. NOT ONE LIB BOTHERED TO STAY WITH THE OLD LADY AND HELP HER. (I guess, “Leave no man behind” is not part to the lib team mentality.) Finally, someone from the SO came to help her. Yup, a valuable insight into the libs’ heads.)

(Editor/GG: Remember, all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.)

 

Uncategorized

School Board June 3, Hedberg vs District proceeds, Superintendent Search, MS/HS Principal Announced

Hedberg vs District Suit,
New School Counselor,
MS/HS Principal Announced
Superintendent Search Begins

by Laura Vass
The June 3 Custer County School District C-1 Regular School Board Meeting began on time. After the Pledge of  Allegiance and roll call, they approved the amended agenda.
There was a Public Hearing scheduled for the Board to hear any further public comment on the School District 2025-6
Budget. There were no comments.
Under Staff and Student recognition, Board President Reggie Foster announced that a prior school nurse, Toria Cruz Johnson, passed away on the previous Saturday after a battle with cancer. She asked attendees to hold a moment of silence in her honor.
Under CORRESPONDENCE TO THE BOARD, a letter to the board from Tracy Tarrell was read. The letter expressed that the Board,
discouraged emotional social media responses from the community, and should likewise not issue emotional responses. She referred back to the May 13 meeting when several board members read a statement after the decision to terminate the Superintendent based on the investigation.
She felt that the statements read were emotional and contained too much information on current staff complaints that should be confidential. (We printed those statements with the last school board coverage article. You be the judge.)
CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS passes. These included approval of May 13 meeting minutes, and three new hires, Kelly Klinger, MS/HS Counselor, Angela Ditto, Elementary Teacher, and Aundrea
McCormick who moves into new positions of Athletic Director and Teacher.
The acting superintendent, Walt Cooper, also introduced the new MS/HS Principal, Wren Olsen. Wren will begin immediately and the acting principal, Lorie Cooper, said she’ll be there as support through June 26 and available/accessible after that.
The board then went into Executive Session ) for the purpose of receiving legal advice regarding the School District’s response to Hedberg v. Custer County School District, a complaint filed by Mr. Hedberg against the School District alleging that the Board of Education violated the Colorado Open Meetings Act.
After reconvening the regular meeting, Under ACTION ITEMS, the board voted 4-0 to proceed with defense against the claim. In discussion, Directors Fiore, Brown, Kreigh and Foster expressed that lawsuit claims are not true.
Regarding Board of Education Vacancy Appointment- On recommendation of the acting Superintendent Walt Cooper, the date was set for the 18th interview the one person interested, John Tillotson, for school board opening.
Regarding Designation of Critical Shortage in Accordance with PERA Rules and C.R.S. 24-51-1101(1.9) the board approved to include on the Critical Shortage list, the positions of Superintendent, School Principal, Math Teacher, and
Special Ed Teacher. This improves how retired teachers that reenter the workforce have their PERA benefits effected.
Action Item, “Regarding Superintendent Search Activities and Timelines” was next. The acting Superintendent had a viable set of dates worked out that meet all the legal deadlines. The board approved the dates as follows: a June 18 deadline for naming finalists and June 30, July 1 and July 2 for public interviews.
The board approved three of the policy revisions the committee has worked on. These relate to home schooled kids or charter schooled kids who want to participate in the district and set the open enrollment deadlines, and how a student is enrolled- ie ½ time.
The policies are for fall semester in order to meet funding allocation deadlines (although this was not discussed.) Bottom line, enrollment deadlines for the school year is in the fall, just as in the past, but policy says students cannot be enrolled in more than one school district. Policy IHBG-Home Schooling, Policy JFBA-Intra-District Choice/Open Enrollment and Policy JBGA-Intra-District Choice/Open Enrollment passed as adjusted.
The next Regular Board meeting is  scheduled for Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. in the School Library.

2025, Uncategorized

Celebration of Life Planned for Susan “Sue” Ruth Menz

Obituary
Susan “Sue” Ruth Menz

Susan “Sue” Ruth Menz, age 76, passed away on December 27, 2024, after a brief battle with cancer, which she faced with her typical good nature. She was a resident of Westcliffe, Colorado, for 12 years and was formerly a resident of Omaha, Nebraska. She spent most of her career as a computer programmer, starting out with punch cards and mainframe computers.
Sue (also known as “Grammy Sue” or “the Cookie Lady”) was born on February 25, 1948, to Bernhard Schmieder and Ruth (Wellner) in Ute, Iowa. Sue attended high school in Charter Oak, Iowa. On September 1, 1968, she married Brian Menz in Ute, Iowa, after meeting in college at the University of Northern Iowa.
Sue graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a Bachelor of Mathematics, while raising her two children,
Jeff and Kristi.
Sue’s love of the mountains began on a honeymoon trip to Rocky Mountain State Park and many subsequent summer camping trips. It eventually brought her to Westcliffe in her retirement, where she enjoyed daily hikes near her home. She also passed time by sewing quilts to donate to Fremont Victory Quilters in Florence, amongst other veteran’s organizations and homeless shelters, and
baking delicious desserts and breads for local fundraisers. She had a strong Christian faith, finding God everywhere in nature.
She is survived by her children: Jeff Menz of West Des Moines, Iowa, his wife, Jessica, and their children, Kaitlyn, Braden, and Isaac; Kristi Detweiler of Concord, Massachusetts, her husband, Sean, and their children, Carson and Alexa; her siblings: Bruce Schmieder and Connie Doudy: and her ex-husband, Brian Menz. Her family finds comfort in her excitement to meet God in heaven, and to be reunited with those who preceded her in death, including her parents; and her brother, Anthony Schmieder and sister, Joyce Lohoff.

A Celebration of Life will be held at “Willie’s” – Silver Cliff Mountain Inn & Restaurant, 700 Ohio St., Silver Cliff, CO, on Thursday, July 10th, 2025. Please feel free to join us from 3 -5 p.m. to meet her family, grab a snack and share your favorite Sue memories.
Sue’s kindness and generosity will be missed by all who knew her. Those wishing to pay it forward, as she so often did, can donate in her name to one of her favorite charities:
Mission Wolf, PO Box 1211, Westcliffe, CO 81252 (https://missionwolf.org), or
to Patriotic Productions, 16213 Lamp Street, Omaha, NE 68118 (https://www.patrioticproductions.org).

2025, Uncategorized

Happy 250th Anniversary to the United States Army

by Fred Hernandez
The world’s premier fighting force, the United States Army, honors
its legacy with a grand military parade in Washington D.C., celebrating their 250th Anniversary. It was initially formed from a band of militiamen for the protection of the first thirteen colonies of America. In 1775, the 2nd Continental Congress formally established the U.S. Army. Its main responsibility is defending the country and fighting land battles and military occupation as needed. Significant contributions are also made by the Corp. of Engineers in the control of rivers within theUnited States.
Over the years the U.S. Army has performed crucial roles in various conflicts all over the world. It has also adapted as necessary to the changing needs of the nation. On June 14th, President Donald J. Trump will join veterans of wars, wounded warriors, Gold Star Families and Patriotic Americans from all across the country to celebrate our nation’s heroes and their selflessness, bravery and commitment.
The U.S. Army has a 250th Anniversary coin on sale. Visit their website or shop at Amazon.com or EBay. Happy Birthday to the world’s premier fighting force!
USA, USA, USA,USA!!!