A Pleasant View resident was charged with theft and trespassing after removing several political signs from private property in Cortez, just days before the election.
Gala Fern Pock removed and took $250 worth of signs – one large Trump/Vance sign and eight smaller signs – the afternoon of Oct. 31 from private land near Southwest Memorial Hospital, said Diana Toms, who owns Montezuma Partners LLC, which owns that land.
A Realtor friend of Toms’ stopped Pock and asked what she was doing. Pock said the hospital was nonpartisan and so she was removing the signs, Toms said.
Though the corner of Hospital Drive and Mildred Road might be mistaken for public property, Toms said Pock had been made aware that it was, in fact, privately owned.
“She continued taking the signs down, even when she knew it was private property,” said Toms. “It’s disrespectful and it’s rude, but it’s also trespassing and stealing.”
Toms said that in addition to her displaying her own signs, she lets local candidates put their own up on that stretch once they ask permission. She called the Cortez Police Department to report what happened that evening.
“There’s a reason we have laws and boundaries, and she crossed a boundary,” Toms said.
In the police report, officer Jacob Bourdon wrote that he was unable to reach Pock via telephone, and that he is “unable to respond to her residence to investigate further” since she lives outside city limits.
The Journal was also unsuccessful in reaching her.
“This isn’t political for me, it’s just wrong. I would never do that to somebody,” said Toms. “I have the right to freedom of speech, too.”
Toms has since replaced the signs.
In addition to that land near the hospital, Toms owns The Abundant Life Health Store on East Main Street in Cortez.
She put two small political signs out front: One for Larry Don Suckla, a longtime friend of hers, and another for Jeff Hurd.
Toms said she was getting private messages on Facebook from someone urging her to take down the signs, calling it “polarizing in a small community at a small store.”
They were instilling fear, wanting me to take them down, Toms said.
“There’s a deeper story here,” said Toms. “People need to know what’s going on behind the scenes … we don’t need fear, things are hard enough right now.”
