A response to “Ed Garrett’s” letter in the May 4th, 2023 Chaffee County Times. Follow the hyperlinks to see the discussions and videos.
Last week in these pages, Carle Linke and I were targets of an ad hominem attack by someone using the name Ed Garrett. We were called hateful, divisive, toxic, detrimental, and slimy. Well, it turns out that Ed Garrett doesn’t actually exist. Ed cast doubt on our credibility and motives because we used online aliases, yet he writes under a fake name. How ironic!
Carle Linke is not the webmaster Ed claimed. Our website does have video footage of her being thwarted by Clerk Mitchell while trying to be an election poll watcher. She is not the online mastermind.
In 2020, I banded together with a small group of citizens who believe that government works best when officials know they are being monitored. We created a website for posting information and discussions and a YouTube channel for videos. We used open records requests to research and publicize these stories.
Salidan Eric Coomer, former VP of Dominion Voting Systems, is suing the former President Donald Trump’s campaign and a variety of others. Eric is a national news figure. Yet when he had a couple of run-ins with local law enforcement, there was zero local news coverage. We posted the police bodycam video.
Salida City Attorney Nina Williams was arrested for DUI last year, with Salida City Administrator Drew Nelson as a passenger. We posted bodycam footage showing Drew Nelson attempting to influence one of the officers who was in his employ for a more favorable outcome. No official investigation was ever mounted.
Salida High School Principal Talmage Trujillo was arrested after the high school lockdown. We obtained police reports and bodycam footage showing former Full Circle Restorative Justice Executive Director Kimberly Parker placing an underage teen alone into a hotel for three days. This was never reported in the papers.
The nonprofit group BETCH advocates for affordable housing in Chaffee County. BETCH Executive Director Cory Salty Riggs was named the 2022 Chaffee County volunteer of the year. She receives public money and wants more. Cory Salty Riggs was arrested for DUI and domestic violence in separate incidents. Watch for yourself.
Recently, Salida saw a 300-person counter-protest to a planned Rosary Rally at the Salida Library. The counter-protesters said they were pro-library and against banning books. They did not mention the obscene images in the books in the children’s section of the library. See the book images the library insists are suitable for children.
Without citizen journalists, the above stories would go unreported. Come see what we are about. We challenge you to find hateful or discriminatory speech. You can read the content without registering. If you register (anonymously if you choose), you can participate by posting news stories that interest you, asking questions, and sharing your ideas with others.
