Opinion Columns - The Journal

League of Women Voters charts active 2026 after year of growth and engagement

As we plan for 2026, the Montezuma County League of Women Voters is also reflecting on the achievements of the past year. Our local League grew this year from approximately 30 members to jus...

Editorial cartoon

DATE: Dec 31, 2025 | CATEGORY: Editorial Cartoons

Our view: Water promise

Arkansas Valley pipeline gets bipartisan boost after 63 years

DATE: Dec 31, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

What ‘MAGA’ really means for Americans

As I drive through Montezuma County, I am amazed at the number of “Trump” and “MAGA” signs I still see. I think to myself, Do these people only listen to Fox News or no news at all? Let’s fo...

DATE: Dec 28, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

Scheppelman signs, Hurd refuses

I was encouraged to learn that Hope Scheppelman, a candidate for U.S. Congress in Colorado’s 3rd District, has signed the pledge to introduce or co-sponsor the U.S. Term Limits constitutiona...

DATE: Dec 26, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

Building Cortez’s future together: Progress made and opportunities ahead

I want to wish everyone a joyous Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year this holiday season. As I reflect on 2025, I am pleased to share that despite significant cuts in grant fu...

DATE: Dec 26, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

A Visit From St. Nicholas

’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon ...

DATE: Dec 24, 2025 | CATEGORY: Editorials

The Dolores River deserves action, not delay

The Dolores River is one of the most extraordinary places in Southwest Colorado – a redrock stronghold for biodiversity, a vital source of water for our agricultural heritage and a refuge fo...

DATE: Dec 24, 2025 | CATEGORY: Letters to the Editor

Editorial cartoon

DATE: Dec 24, 2025 | CATEGORY: Editorial Cartoons

Stewart’s 2026 legislative priorities: EMS pay, jail safety, health care subsidies

We have less than six weeks to go before the 2026 legislative session, so I’d like to give an overview of my bills for the coming year. These policy proposals may look different by the time ...

DATE: Dec 19, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Our view: Choose light

Gun violence, suicide, and the cost of inaction

DATE: Dec 17, 2025 | CATEGORY: Editorials

Editorial cartoon

DATE: Dec 17, 2025 | CATEGORY: Editorial Cartoons

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, former U.S. senator and jewelry maker, dies at 92Ignacio resident was a judo Olympian who combined artistic talent with his Native American ancestry

Ben Nighthorse Campbell, the U.S. senator from Ignacio who embraced a “maverick” personality, breaking stereotypes and ruffling a few feathers along the way, died about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at his home on a ranch outside of Ignacio. He was 92.“He was surrounded by my mom – his wife of almost 60 years, Linda; myself; and his grandson, Luke Longfellow,” said his daughter, Shanan Campbell. “Shortly before he passed, the elders of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe came over – Eddie Box Jr. – and sang songs and did blessings for dad, and he passed just moments after that.”Shanan said her father died of “natural causes.” He had undergone a few back surgeries in the past 15 years, which had been debilitating.“He was tired and he was ready to move on,” Campbell said.Campbell’s fascinating and varied career began with a unique backstory. He was an Olympian and a noted jewelry artist. His Northern Cheyenne ancestry made him one of the few Native American legislators to serve in Congress. Bolo ties and a ponytail quickly distinguished the Harley-riding Campbell from colleagues, and his combativeness both won over and rankled those he met. Since 1978 he and his family have lived on a ranch near Ignacio.“I never let the chance go by (to talk) about the importance of running for public office for Indian people,” he said in a 2021 interview.“Benny” Campbell was born April 13, 1933, in Auburn, California. His father was part Northern Cheyenne, and his mother was a native of Portugal. His parents were not always able to care for him, and during his childhood he spent time in an orphanage and foster homes.He left high school in 1951 to join the Air Force and serve in the Korean War, where he received several medals. He continued his education, earning a high school diploma and then a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957 from San Jose State in physical education and fine arts.Campbell competed in judo at San Jose State under a Japanese coach, and continued in the sport. He studied and trained in judo at a university in Tokyo from 1960-64, winning three U.S. national titles during that time.The judo training, he said in his biography “Ben Nighthorse Campbell: An American Warrior,” was brutal. His nose was broken multiple times, he lost two teeth, and broke or dislocated nearly all of his fingers or toes at one point or another.He competed for and was captain of the 1964 U.S. Olympic judo team, led by his college coach, Yoshihiro Uchida. This was the debut of judo in the Olympics, which were held in Tokyo, the birthplace of the sport. In a match in the U.S. prior to the Olympics, he suffered a devastating knee injury. He managed to compete in the Tokyo Games and win his opening match, but his knee gave way in the second match and he was forced to forfeit. Still, he managed to carry the U.S. flag during closing ceremonies.Back in California, Campbell became a high school physical education and art teacher, as well as a Sacramento County deputy sheriff and U.S. judo team coach. In his spare time he combined his artistic talent with his Native American ancestry and study of Japanese culture to create multicultural works of art.Campbell married Linda Price in 1966. They raised quarter horses in the Sacramento area, and continued to do so after they purchased a ranch near Ignacio on the Southern Ute reservation in 1978. He managed Sky Ute Downs in Ignacio and was a part-time Fort Lewis College art instructor. In 1980 he was officially given the name “Nighthorse” during a Northern Cheyenne ceremony at Lame Deer, Mont. He later became a member of the tribe’s Council of 44 Chiefs.He was drawn toward politics, and was elected in 1982 as District 59 representative to the Colorado Legislature. During his 1984 campaign Campbell received political blowback when he held a fundraising raffle with the winner getting to cut off his ponytail.“I can’t believe the government is telling me when and how I can cut my hair,” he said at the time.After two terms as state representative, he won a seat in the U.S. House in 1986. Following three House terms, in 1992 he was elected as a U.S. senator.He stunned colleagues and constituents by shifting his affiliation from Democrat to Republican in March 1995, during President Bill Clinton’s first term. His reasoning was a lack of support from the state Democratic party, particularly the liberal wing. Attorney friend Sam Maynes, a longtime Durango Democrat, was disappointed with the state party leaders.“The Democratic party has not responded to his leadership,” Maynes said.Said Campbell: “The majority of the people who voted for me voted for me because I am who I am, not because I was a Democrat or a Republican. The biggest constituency in Colorado is the unaffiliated voters.”

Campbell’s legislative votes continued to disregard party lines. He said his votes – which included a pro-abortion stance on one side and support of both a balanced-budget amendment and Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas on the other – would not change. He allowed all his staffers to stay with him despite the party switch.This controversial move, abetted by soon-to-be Republican presidential candidate Sen. Bob Dole, put him in the Senate majority party. His Republican now-allies all donned bolo ties to welcome him to their side, and later in 1995 placed him on the influential Appropriation Committee.There were rumors that Campbell might make a run at governor, but he chose to try for a second Senate term in 1998. Despite the party switch, he easily won the Republican primary, then defeated Dottie Lamm, wife of outgoing governor Dick Lamm, for the Senate seat in another landslide. Campbell garnered 62% of the vote.While a U.S. representative, Campbell co-sponsored legislation in 1991 to rename Custer Battlefield Monument in Montana as Little Bighorn Battlefield. The same legislation authorized a monument to honor the Native Americans killed during the 1876 battle; when that monument was finally completed in 2003, Campbell spoke at the dedication.

He sponsored bills such as the 2002 Indian Financing Amendments Act and the 1989 National Museum of the American Indian Act, which established the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in 2004. He played a role in creating the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, where 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho civilians were killed by U.S. soldiers in 1864 in eastern Colorado. Campbell spoke at the site’s dedication in 2007.His votes often disappointed environmentalists by siding with the mining and logging industries, and voting to open Western lands for development. He was a staunch supporter of the Animas-La Plata Project, which environmentalists fought for decades. Campbell modeled clothing for Banana Republic ads, and when environmentalists threatened to organize a boycott of the company’s clothing in 1996 because of Campbell’s anti-environmental voting record, Banana Republic pulled the ads.Campbell served two Senate terms, and, at age 71, chose not to run for a third term in the 2004 election.After retirement, he worked as a policy adviser and created a lobbying firm. He continued to design jewelry, and sold many pieces at Sorrel Sky Gallery, which his daughter, Shanan, opened in 2002.

His life and achievements continue to be remembered. In 2021 he was among eight inducted into the National Native American Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.“For an awful long time, if you read any book about Indians or saw any movie, they were always cast in a negative stereotype. And I think that our children are raised with that attitude,” Campbell told The Durango Herald after the Hall of Fame announcement. “It’s tough to break out of there, but a lot of us have in sports or in science or in (the) military.“I think it’s incumbent on us to set examples for Indian kids that they can do it, they can make it, they can forge ahead,” he said. “And I think that’s one of the best things about inducting people into (the National Native American Hall of Fame).”Shanan said despite his public live, her father was pretty introverted.“He was such a public figure and surrounded by so many people, but he was happiest and most at peace when he’s just with us (his family),” she said.Campbell spent a lifetime bucking trends, unafraid of the reaction, and ready to take on all opponents. As a politician he kept his independence, something not easy three decades ago and virtually impossible these days.He is survived by Linda Campbell, daughter Shanan, and son Colin. <<< Double check. The family plans a private service in coming days and a public service at a later date, possibly in the spring.Herald Managing Editor Shane Benjamin contributed to this report.

Ignacio resident was a judo Olympian who combined artistic talent with his Native American ancestry

FPD cracks down on street racers with grapplerTrials set for racers involved in Smith’s crash

An Aztec man allegedly involved in a Sept. 26 street racing incident that caused a car to explode on 20th Street was arraigned Dec. 18 before 11th Judicial District Judge Stephen Wayne.Reese Berthold, 27, pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer causing injury, a third-degree felony; racing on highways, a petty misdemeanor; and driving without headlights, a petty misdemeanor.Farmington police continue cracking down on racing. The department recently installed two grapplers on K-9 trucks.Police Chief Steve Hebbe said the grapplers were used four times as of Oct. 31.Two uses occurred during operations with the Region 2 Narcotics Task Force, “when we knew we were going to make a takedown,” Hebbe said. “We’ve deployed it early, when it’s likely someone is going to run, to prevent a pursuit.”

The grappler can also stop street racers.“When we can deploy it, it’s a good tool to keep the public safe,” Hebbe said. “Pursuits in the city are dangerous.”Farmington police officers Miles Mead and Justin Ahlgrim gave an Oct. 31 demonstration of the grappler at Safety City for the Tri-City Record.During the demonstration, Mead shot the device at a vehicle driven by Ahlgrim. It wrapped around the tires and stopped the speeding car.Ahlgrim later described the feeling as “very subtle,” making one “wonder what’s wrong with your car, because all of a sudden you’re stopping.”During the demonstration, Hebbe confirmed that the woman allegedly involved in the same racing incident as Berthold had been caught racing a second time in less than a month.

Kalynn Kenworthy, 22, of Farmington, “got another citation, and she was going pretty high over the speed limit,” Hebbe said.Kenworthy and Berthold allegedly were racing at 11:40 p.m. Sept. 26 on East 20th Street when the car Berthold was in crashed and burst into flames in the Smith’s Grocery Store parking lot.Berthold reportedly left the car and his passenger, Cole Medina, inside, according to the affidavit supporting his arrest warrant.Farmington police officer Miles Mead pulled Medina from the burning car, saving his life. Medina suffered a fractured skull and burns to his arms and hands, the affidavit states.Berthold was found later in the Smith’s parking lot with burns to his arms, according to the affidavit.

Kenworthy initially denied involvement in the incident but was arrested after video footage was reviewed.City Attorney Jennifer Breakell is prosecuting both cases.Kenworthy’s trials are set for Jan. 27 and Feb. 24 in Farmington Municipal Court for her two racing citations, Breakell said.“We do have other individuals charged with racing,” Breakell said, adding there are at least four others she knows of “facing racing charges.”Berthold’s jury trial is set for 8 a.m. April 14 in Wayne’s courtroom in Aztec.

Trials set for racers involved in Smith’s crash

Photos: Children decorate Cortez Police Department community treeChildren from Children’s Kiva Montessori School hung handmade ornamentsStudent in fourth, fifth and sixth grades gathered outside the Cortez Police Department Tuesday to decorate its community Christmas tree, adding personal touches to the large blue-lighted tree.Katie Uran’s class placed ornaments on the lower branches. When one student announced, “I’m going to go climb the tree,” adults reminded them to secure decorations but avoid climbing.

Organizers encouraged children to choose their own spots, calling it a “community tree” where ornaments could be placed freely.“I want it like right there,” one child said while securing an ornament, while another asked, “Ms. Katie, can I put on my ornament?”Other children pointed out where theirs landed. “My wreath is right there,” one said. Another added, “I got to hang this for one of my classmates.”Some asked for help reaching higher branches. “I need your help, I’m the smallest in the class,” one said, prompting an adult to assist.Children showed off ornaments and described designs they created, including wreaths, angels and stars.The department invites families to hang weather-safe ornaments on the tree outside the station’s south lawn, continuing the tradition for a second year.Lead 911 dispatcher Valerie Rendon suggested the idea. Empire Electric helped hang the blue lights, using a bucket lift to reach the treetop. Rendon watched from a window as children hung ornaments.

Children from Children’s Kiva Montessori School hung handmade ornaments

Fire and ice: Mitigation and burn piles help fortify against wildfiresThe urban-wildland interface is changing – so is the approach to wildfire preparedness

Sometimes the job of a fire department is to start a blaze rather than put one out. Counterintuitive? Not according to Durango Fire Protection District Wildfire Battalion Chief Scott Nielsen.On Friday, Nielsen and six DFPD firefighters gathered in a snowy, forested glade next to the Durango West I subdivision to set several hundred slash piles and downed timber on fire. They sparked up their drip torches – metal cans with a nozzle in one end containing a mixture of gasoline and diesel – then went to work, igniting one pile after another, each one gradually springing into a 10-foot-high bonfire. The mood was relaxed – casual, daresay – because the situation was well under control.

The winter’s first low-elevation snowstorm a few days before meant the piles could be burned safely without fear of a forest fire breaking out, which was good because the nearest house was just a stone’s throw from the first pile. During the morning safety meeting, one of the main concerns was smoke inhalation, which firefighters could remedy by simply moving to a smokeless area for a while.Nielsen and his fellow firefighters walked among the burning piles, emerging and disappearing from thick columns as smoke. Each new fire was a beacon, signaling forest mitigation work that would make the community a little safer.

Burn piles go up in smokeIn effect, prescribed burns are meant to thin forests and clear flammable material from the forest floor while fire danger is low. Nielsen said there are two main methods: pile burns and broadcast burns. Pile burns are constituted by forestry workers or firefighters heaping logs, slash and twigs into a large pile that they later light. Broadcast burns are when wildland firefighters or other officials light a fire that they allow to spread over the forest floor and manage from growing too large. Often, the two go hand in hand.

“Pile burns are very controllable,” he said. “What really works well in a place like this is to burn the piles now and then. In a couple years, you could broadcast burn because you reduce so much brush and ladder fuels.”Prescribed burns are becoming a common tool in wildfire mitigation, especially in the urban-wildland interface, where houses butt up against and into forestland. Friday’s burn was one of several mitigation projects within DFPD’s district, with more being completed on federal land across Southwest Colorado. Lorena Williams, a National Forest Service spokesperson, said the federal agency has burns planned for ranger districts across the San Juan National Forest. In the Columbine Ranger District specifically, hundreds of piles spread over nearly 120 acres will be burned throughout the winter. The burns were supposed to begin in November but were delayed when the federal government shut down. But, with federal employees back at work, the burns are proceeding as planned.“Columbine fire and fuels crews are expecting to implement pile burns as weather allows, but the goal will be to be (completed) by the end of this winter,” she said. Williams said prescribed burns are meticulously planned to ensure there is no impact to human health and are done without risking a larger forest fire. “Favorable weather conditions must exist including, but not limited to, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, smoke dispersal, as well as fuel moisture,” she said. “All elements must be within an acceptable range of prescription parameters described within a written burn plan.”

Both DFPD and the Forest Service must adhere to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s air quality standards. Burns are also typically done only after a measurable amount of snowfall and when weather conditions will allow smoke to blow away instead of settling over a residential area. In the business of saving money (with fire mitigation)Terry Hunt, who owns Wildfire Defense LLC, a Durango-based fire mitigation service, has been busy for the past two years. The low-snow winter of 2024-25 meant his four-person crew could work clearing brush away from homes and retrofitting houses with fire-resistant materials all winter, compared to most years when snow prevented them from doing so.

“We’re busy this season,” Hunt said. “It folded into last season, since last winter was basically more like a cold summer.”Hunt is a certified wildfire mitigation specialist by both the National Fire Protection Association and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. He and his crew work alongside homeowners who want to defend their houses from wildfires and providers who insure those houses.

With wildfires becoming more of a threat to communities across the West – the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles in January being a key example – insurance rates have risen. A study from Colorado State University found rates increased by 58% in Colorado between 2018 and 2023 with fire being a main driver. Hunt himself lives in Forest Lakes north of Bayfield, ground zero for the Blue Ridge Fire in August, and has dealt with insurance providers unwilling to take on the risk of insuring his house. But the mitigation work he has done on his own property convinced a provider to insure him.

“I’m a homeowner and I can understand what a nightmare it would be if you lost your affordable homeowners insurance,” Hunt said. “So yeah, so it’s kind of a priority for me. I mean, I’ll even move projects up in the schedule if it’s an insurance issue.” Hunt focuses on making sure homeowners can keep their insurance rates affordable by removing wildfire risk from their properties, sometimes with insurance referrals and sometimes just at the request of a homeowner.

“This last season, we were just slammed, and it wasn't just with insurance referrals,” Hunt said. “They've heard about us and what we do, and there were a lot of homeowners were just really, really concerned this season, and for good reason.”Hunt and his approach mitigation by cutting down trees and using a machine called a forest masticator to turn brush into mulch. The nearer they get to a house, the thinner they clear so that there is no flammable material around it while still preserving the forest’s natural beauty. They also replace flammable materials on a house with fire-resistant alternatives, he said.Nielsen said fire departments rely heavily on contractors like Hunt for mitigation work. They try not to compete with professionals who make a living doing mitigation, he said, because fire departments are tax-funded. In that ethos, DFPD’s prescribed burns and mitigation work is done in the most economic way possible, he said.“This is the most cost-effective way to get rid of brushing a lot of places,” Nielsen said. “We could chip it or we could haul it out. But what will burn in a few minutes would take an hour to chip.”Nielsen said DFPD does not like competing with contractors, because they are part of the community and their tax dollars fund the department. Additionally, the more mitigation work done theoretically correlates to less time fighting wildfires – another way to save taxpayers money and put cash in community members’ pockets. “When we’re out here, we can build against our payroll,” Nielsen said.Balancing ecosystems by bringing fire back

Wildfires in the past century have become larger, more destructive and harder to control. The reason is twofold: dryer, hotter summers caused by climate change, and a century of hard-line fire suppression management strategy that allowed fuels to build up to unnatural levels, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and the National Forest Foundation, respectively. “The forests in Southwest Colorado are part of a fire-adapted ecosystem, which historically experienced frequent, low-intensity fires on a large scale,” Williams said. “Prescribed fire replicates that natural fire regime and increases the area on our landscape that has been burned at low and moderate conditions.” The benefits of these low-intensity prescribed burns do more than reduce wildfire risk by clearing out flammable fuels. The National Forest Foundation found that “low to moderate-intensity fires can play a key role in keeping those same ecosystems healthy by reducing understory density and returning nutrients to the soil.”Nielsen said that with less plant life, there is less competition for nutrients and sunlight, meaning more trees can grow to be healthy. That in turn allows them to grow to be healthier and more resilient to disease and insect infestation. Additionally, wildlife have more room to forage and can more easily see predators in open forests.“We want a diversity of native species in here,” he said. “We cut a mix of tree age and size and class, so even if a drought comes or bug infestation comes, this place should survive with good seed stock and good genetics.”This method of forest management, Nielsen said, can make a forest a renewable resource. On Friday’s burn, a pile of large logs were stacked alongside an access road. It would be a waste to burn them, which is why DFPD donates them as firewood to nonprofits that distribute it through the community. Hunt’s crew also turns whatever trees it cuts down into firewood, which is given to either the property owner or left on the side of the road for someone else to take. But instead of burning slash, the crew donates it to Table to Farm to be composted, he said.“We’re not burning down the forest, we’re not clear cutting,” Nielsen said. “You can still see all the squirrels and deer and critters out here. Good mitigation should look good.”

sedmondson@durangoherald.com

The urban-wildland interface is changing – so is the approach to wildfire preparedness

Photos: The Four Corners Board of Realtors Parade of LightsThe Parade of Lights began it’s dazzling march down Cortez’s Main Street Saturday night, featuring the theme “Blessings of a Community” in honor of this year’s host, the Elks Lodge.Despite the cold, spectators were ready for the lights to warm their hearts. The community showed up in a dense crowd of observers along Cortez’s main thoroughfare as a caravan of floats brimming with holiday delight inched along.

The Parade of Lights began it’s dazzling march down Cortez’s Main Street Saturday night, featuring t...

Hissing gas well near Hesperus finally gets Colorado’s attentionDepartment of Natural Resources expected to visit site this month

BREEN – After several months of trying to get the state of Colorado’s attention about a leaking natural gas well on his property near Hesperus, landowner Randy Kennedy has finally succeeded.The well – an old, plugged gas well that has been venting methane into the air and soil – is scheduled to be re-plugged early this month. Getting to this point was anything but easy, Kennedy said.When he purchased the 80-acre parcel that had been in his family for generations, he planned to revive the farm his father and grandfather once worked. But he noticed a patch of ground where nothing would grow. Aerial imagery from Google Maps and the La Plata County GIS system shows a circular barren spot on the property.At the center of that circle sits a gas well originally plugged in 1969. The well’s last state inspection was in the 1980s, according to state records. Earlier this year, Kennedy visited the site and noticed something was off.“I went down there one day and I noticed that I could hear something,” he said. “It had just had some moisture, and I thought I could see something bubbling. I thought, ‘That doesn’t look right.’”Kennedy first contacted the state in February 2025, without success. Months passed before anyone acknowledged his messages, he said.

“When I first called, they told me the records showed it had been plugged, so their hands were tied,” Kennedy said. “I’ve called the state starting in February probably over half a dozen times. They never pick up. So I’ve left messages. They will not call me back. I don’t know what the deal is. I even called the federal site that has to do with hazards and hazardous material and pipelines.”He eventually took matters into his own hands and dug into the well, which had been covered by dirt. Kennedy found a large leak, as the well made an obvious hissing sound indicating gas exiting into the atmosphere. The soil surrounding the well was black. The Durango Herald reached out to the state with questions on Oct. 21, a day before La Plata County Commissioner Elizabeth Philbrick also contacted state officials. On Oct. 22, someone from the state finally called Kennedy back. Since then, he said, progress has moved quickly.

“That was not an acceptable experience for him, and we should have done better in responding to his concerns. Hard stop,” said Kristin Kemp, spokeswoman for the Energy and Carbon Management Commission.Kemp said the agency looked into why Kennedy’s messages went unanswered. The lapse appeared to stem from two factors, she said: front office protocols for returning calls were not consistently followed, and the voicemail system may have malfunctioned intermittently.She said that once ECMC staff became aware of Kennedy’s attempts to report the leak, they responded promptly based on the severity of the issue.Kennedy agreed the state’s recent actions have been appropriate.“I’m happy with the response I’ve been seeing so far,” he said. “If a rig actually shows up here the first week of December, then I’ll know what they’re saying is actually what they’re going to do. I understand it takes time. You can’t just up and do stuff right away. But my biggest frustration is that no one would return a phone call.”

To ensure a faster response, Kemp recommended that residents use the complaint tool on the agency’s website if they need to request a site investigation. The complaint line is typically answered within 48 hours, she said.“A release from a plugged well is exceedingly uncommon,” she said.Colorado has more than 54,000 plugged wells, and only five have failed in the past five years. The cause of the failure on Kennedy’s property remains under investigation.

“We are first focused on getting it plugged, and then secondarily we’ll investigate why it happened,” Kemp said. “But the more pressing matter is getting it plugged, regardless of the why.”Because the well was previously plugged, it does not qualify as an orphan well under state rules. Whether the state will also conduct soil remediation – which it typically performs during orphan-well projects – remains undecided, Kemp said.jbowman@durangoherald.com

Department of Natural Resources expected to visit site this month

Ouray’s Dexter the Stand Up Dog tells his storyCanine who walks on hind legs stars in new children’s bookDexter, the dog from Ouray who walks on his hind legs, can now add starring in a children’s book to his resume.The 10-year-old Brittany spaniel’s life is the subject of “Dexter: The Stand Up Dog,” which was released Sept. 16. The book, written by Dexter’s mom, Kentee Pasek and Bonnie Kelso (who also illustrated it), is available in both English and Spanish.But, Pasek said, instead of being able to enjoy the book’s release, Dexter has had a fairly difficult autumn.

If you missed him at this year’s Durango Cowboy Gathering, it was because he was in Italy having surgery on the elbow of his remaining front leg, she said.“Dexter ruined the two adult pins that were fusing that elbow together in the front, and we had to instantly take care of that,” she said. “The vet here tried to get a lot of the different orthopedic surgeons in the U.S. to take him, and nobody would, because it’s so complicated.”Fortunately, a surgeon in Milan was able to take him, and they were there for almost two weeks.“He’s doing really well. He still has the cone of shame on,” she said. “He’s walking around still learning how that new elbow works. He’s not so sure yet. He’s a trooper.”

Dexter began walking upright after an accident when he was just turning a year old. He escaped from his yard while sniffing a deer trail scent and his front legs were run over by a car. Pasek and her husband brought him to a vet in Montrose where, while everything was fine with him internally, his legs were in pretty rough shape. One was amputated, and the other was a little trickier, ultimately having pins put into the elbow. The Paseks had a custom wheelchair made for him, but he wasn’t having it, and so he began walking upright. And to watch him get around is pretty amazing: He walks for a bit upright and then goes back down on his two (and a half) legs for a rest and then pops back up.The world came to know about him when a woman traveling through Ouray happened to catch Pasek’s mother walking Dexter in his way. She posted a video of the two to her TikTok account and it blew up. Pasek ended up making an account of her own for Dexter to tell his story, and the rest is history – he’s been in dog food commercials, on talk shows and now in his book.Dexter's story resonates with people because not only is it fascinating to watch him walk, there’s a deeper message to be taken away from him, Pasek said.“It’s relatable because you’re like, ‘Oh, he is resilient. He is persevering, he keeps going,’” she said. “No matter what, Dexter has that little positive walk and is happy to be there in life. And I think sometimes, because as an animal, he just bounced back so fast and so hard, it resonates for us to be like, ‘I maybe shouldn’t have a bad attitude about this. Or maybe this isn’t as bad. Or if Dexter can do it, I can too.’”At one point, Pasek said, a retired Navy officer knocked on their door in Ouray. He told them he had had hip surgery but wasn’t doing his physical therapy – until he saw Dexter.

“I think Dexter touches on the very human side of us to the point that we’re like, maybe it’s just so deep ... you don’t know what’s going on in other people’s lives. You don’t know emotionally, physically what they’re going through,” she said. “And Dexter’s like, ‘OK, yes, acknowledge that you’re going through this, but keep going.’”And that’s what she hopes people take away from the book.“I think that’s Dexter’s message, period. So the book itself tells about his story, about being injured and then going through all this but still shining, still pushing through it,” Pasek said. “Keep going one step at a time. Don’t take life so complicated, take it one step at a time. That’s really his theme, and it’s been his theme all the way through.”katie@durangoherald.com

Canine who walks on hind legs stars in new children’s book

Former Fort Lewis College professor confronts Turning Point USA supporters after chapter voteRetired employee uses profanity, gestures in video after board decision

A retired Fort Lewis College professor was caught on camera using strong language – and the middle finger – around students and community members after the student government approved a Turning Point USA chapter on campus.David Kozak, who formerly taught in the anthropology department, appears to call chapter supporters “fascists” and “Nazis” in a video circulating on social media.Discourse has abounded in the Fort Lewis College community after former professor David Kozak seemingly called FLC Turning Point USA supporters “fascists” and “Nazis” in a video circulating on social media. Kozak retired in 2022 and retains the honorary professor emeritus status at the college. The video was recorded immediately after a Nov. 7 student government meeting that reversed its earlier denial of the Turning Point chapter. Turning Point USA is a nonprofit that promotes conservative politics on high school and college campuses. It was founded in 2012 by political activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed Sept. 10 on the Utah Valley University campus.

The minute-long video begins with Kozak saying, “You’re (expletive) Nazis. Come on, Nazis. Come on, Nazis,” while apparently addressing a group of Turning Point USA supporters in the Student Union lobby. Someone off screen begins to object, and a woman onscreen interjects, “No, kindness – kill ’em with kindness. Don’t take his bait.” Several people, including some off camera, urge Kozak to “be calm.” “I’m totally calm. I’m totally calm,” he responds. He then puts his middle finger in front of a camera and repeats, “(Expletive) the Nazis. (Expletive) the Nazis.”Someone off screen can be heard saying, “Jesus loves you,” to which Kozak responds, “Oh he does, huh? He loves Nazis, too.”A woman onscreen responds, “Jesus loves everybody,” to which Kozak says, “He loves fascists, he loves Nazis, he loves haters.”“You have a very blessed day, sir,” the woman says. The video ends with Kozak responding, “I’m glad you fascist lovers – Nazi lovers – are having (unintelligible). Have a great night.”Kozak did not respond to a request for comment.

FLC spokesperson Nardy Bickel declined to comment on the former professor’s behavior. She noted that Kozak has not been employed by the college since his retirement in 2022. Bickel said the broader TPUSA discourse on campus has prompted thoughtful dialogue among students about civil discourse, free speech and free expression.“College is a place for learning, and these discussions – while sometimes challenging – are part of that educational experience,” Bickel told The Durango Herald. “Fort Lewis College remains committed to fostering an environment where complex issues can be explored with respect, curiosity and care.”Lively debate has sprung up across campus in response to Turning Point’s presence on campus.Strong discourse has arisen overall in response to the group’s presence on campus.

More than 30 students spoke against granting club status to Turning Point at an Oct. 29 student government meeting, where the board voted 5 to 2 to deny the application. Amid backlash, an emergency meeting was held Nov. 7, and the decision was reversed. where the chapter was initially denied official student status in a 5 to 2 vote. Fifteen additional students who hoped to speak against the chapter being instated at the Oct. 29 meeting were unable to due to time constraints. Four people spoke in support at the original meeting – TPUSA Fort Lewis College chapter President Jonah Flynn, Co-Vice President Zen Moreno, and two community members. Following pushback from hopeful TPUSA Fort Lewis College chapter members and some conservative community members, the emergency Nov. 7 student government meeting – where Kovak’s strong reaction was recorded – was held. At the emergency meeting, board senators voted unanimously to reverse the original decision. Due to time and room capacity constraints, only a handful of individuals were able to speak. Two FLC students spoke in opposition to Turning Point USA becoming a registered student organization.Four people, excluding Flynn, spoke in support – two students and two community members.One student offered a more neutral perspective, alluding to disagreements with the group, but welcoming them to campus as an official group. The student board did not explain its change of heart at the Nov. 7 meeting. Kozak’s confrontation with students and community members occurred just outside that meeting.Some board members received threats and harassment after a video showing their nameplates was posted on social media by a supporter of the Turning Point chapter after the Oct. 29 meeting. Flynn offered an apology to the board at the Nov. 7 meeting for members “catching heat” in the wake of the decision. Much of the arguments against the chapter being instated at the school have revolved around safety concerns for students in marginalized communities. Flynn told the room at the Nov. 7 meeting that those concerned about their safety in relation to Turning Point programming are “talking about some kind of fictional mental safety, or something like that.” Bickel reiterated that the conversation surrounding Turning Point’s status has offered valuable lessons for students in freedom of speech, civil discourse and free expression.“The fact that students are very engaged in that conversation is a good thing,” she said. epond@durangoherald.com

Retired employee uses profanity, gestures in video after board decision

‘Serve and protect’: Durango residents turn on police over supposed complicity with ICEDPD chief says protest became a riot with agitators on both sides

A crowd of more than 100 people condemned the Durango Police Department on Thursday when the police chief blamed protesters, in part, for violence that unfolded outside a federal immigration field office earlier this week.“The event Monday was not a peaceful protest,” Brice Current said, addressing Durango City Council at a special meeting on Thursday. “It was an unlawful protest that turned into a riot.”Residents said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents escalated the protest into a scene of violence while city and state law enforcement stood by and watched.The evening reached a crescendo on East Second Avenue between City Hall and the police department when a crowd confronted officers over not intervening with ICE’s arrest of two children and their father or when federal agents assaulted protesters days earlier.“You guys lost our trust. You guys didn’t do (expletive) for children. Go (expletive) yourselves,” Enrique Orozco-Perez, executive director of Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center, said to officers after the special meeting.Residents chanted “serve and protect” at officers. Some had written phrases criticizing ICE and demeaning the police chief in chalk outside City Hall.

Police chief recounts eventsCurrent said DPD’s role at the protest – which was driven by the arrests of two children ages 12 and a 15 and their father by ICE agents for supposedly being unlawfully present in the country – was to observe and be present on the scene in case things got out of hand.DPD also investigated a report of abuse of one of the children detained at the ICE field office in Bodo Industrial Park and attempted a welfare check, but was denied entry into the facility, he said.He said the report of abuse was “found to be invalid,” although he was never allowed to check on the children before they were taken on Tuesday to a Texas immigrant detention center.DPD has received many requests to confront ICE agents, he said, but police can’t take action against federal agents because federal law overrides state and local law when they conflict. He expressed frustration in communicating with ICE officials over the course of the incident.When attempting the welfare check, for example, DPD ordered food for the children and tried to deliver it at the field office, he said. But an ICE supervisor asked him to remove chains that had been placed on the entrance gates by protesters, and despite Current saying he would work on that, he was denied entry into the facility.

Current said DPD officers asked protesters to remove the chains on Tuesday to no avail. After federal agents moved on protesters around noon that day, officers stationed at the fire department down the street headed toward the field office to provide medical aid to protesters. But about 10 protesters converged on them and they retreated, realizing their presence was escalating the situation.He said around 10 agitators were throwing milk cartons and water bottles at state troopers and federal agents when conflict erupted outside the field office.“At this point, we continued to gather information, take reports, collect videos and speak with state and federal partners, representatives, senators, city leaders, community members,” he said.He said residents asked DPD for previous police interactions with Fernando Jaramillo Solano, the father and asylum-seeker arrested by ICE.“He has no criminal history,” Current said.Two “No Kings Day” protests held earlier this year featured a combined 5,500 peaceful protesters, Current said, and that is more representative of Durango’s spirit than the protest outside the field office.He said he supports the First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances, and free speech is a cornerstone of democracy – particularly in uncertain times – but breaking the law is not the way to practice it.Chaining and blocking a federal entrance gate is against the law, he said.“While we recognize that emotions were high, we are disappointed by the behaviors and the display by agents and several protesters alike,” he said. “Such actions from either side distract from the important message of peaceful advocacy and make our shared goal of safety harder to achieve.”Tom Sluis, city spokesman, said the city has received angry letters and calls from residents accusing Durango police of assaulting protesters on Tuesday. But some federal agents who engaged protesters wore uniforms with “POLICE” written in large white lettering.Some residents have called the city back to apologize after realizing their error, he said.Current said in a written statement to The Durango Herald that identifiers such as “POLICE” are intended to communicate lawful authority and ensure officer safety, but they also create community confusion.“Local police departments have a unique and ongoing relationship with the people we serve,” he said. “Trust is essential – when someone is a victim of a crime, witnesses suspicious activity, or simply needs help, they must feel comfortable calling their local police without hesitation or fear. When federal agents use the same ‘police’ identifier, members of the public may mistakenly believe that local police are involved in unrelated federal operations, which can strain that trust and make our job of community protection more difficult.”“POLICE” is still among the most recognized symbols of law enforcement, and it represents legitimate law enforcement authority when worn by a federal agent, he said.

City Councilor Jessika Buell said DPD had an impossible job during the protest. But, she said, the federal response to protesters was disproportionately violent.Representatives for U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd and U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper condemned the violence by federal officers and committed to investigating how to return Solano and his children to their home in Durango.

Residents recount abuse by fedsProtesters who coalesced outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Durango’s Bodo Industrial Park on Monday and Tuesday were drawn together by a sense of right and wrong – the federal government arresting children on false charges and holding them for over 24 hours was wrong, they said. It was right to do something about it.Residents of Durango, Mancos and elsewhere from the region said in interviews on the scene with The Durango Herald they felt obligated to stick up for children and families who otherwise didn’t have anyone to turn to.Some of those protesters took it the extra mile. They sat side-by-side, arms linked, in front of the gates of the ICE field office gates, knowing at some point they’d likely be confronted by federal agents with pepper spray or worse.“These community members are willing to put their bodies and their criminal records on the line, and the human chain is the hardest thing for them to get through because in order to get through us, they have to escalate to violence,” Jay Conlan, an organizer, said on Monday. “We don’t want to do that, and we will sit here and let them escalate if that’s what they choose to do.”Someone placed chains on the field office gates to make it harder for agents to leave with the children. When the feds showed up later Tuesday, they came with chain saws, pepper spray and ammunition.Agents would go on to drag, beat, pepper spray and shoot protesters who blocked their way with less-lethal rounds.On Thursday, residents who attended the protest recounted how they were assaulted by officers and were left to fend for themselves in the aftermath. They criticized law enforcement and first responders for not intervening during the conflict with federal agents and after the fact when people might have needed medical care.Well over 100 people attended the special meeting. With Smith Council Chambers at full capacity, more than 60 residents packed into the City Hall foyer, and dozens more waited outside, listening to the meeting on loudspeakers.Residents – particularly in the foyer and outside – had dynamic reactions to comments from Current. Boos and shouts – and sometimes applause – often erupted from the crowd.Residents cringed when Current evoked Martin Luther King Jr. when he said “it is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends.”Makenna Bard, 16, said she “witnessed and experienced horrors and atrocities that truly go against what our beautiful country and city stand for” at the protest on Tuesday.She said she is appalled at DPD for sitting by while federal agents brutalized residents.“I called 911 and dispatch five times begging for ambulances and medical assistance. We were told that help was on the way but it never came,” Bard said. “Dozens of untrained citizens and two first aid-certified high schoolers, including myself, were the only people providing first aid at the site for over two hours.”She said residents feel “betrayed, lied to and disgusted.”

She said she condemns every agency and person who assisted ICE’s “illegal abduction” of Solano and his children.Resident Riese Rose said protesters peacefully demonstrated, and federal agents brutally assaulted them. Protesters defended themselves.“I don’t consider human’s innate response to stay alive ‘violent,’” they said. “What was violent, though, was ICE agents dragging someone forcefully across the pavement and pepper spraying them within 2 inches of their eyes repeatedly.”They said they could see the agents’ disdain in their eyes through the small openings of their face masks.

Rose carried a person to medical support before moving to another victim of pepper spray who was shouting that they couldn’t breathe. They carried that person to medical support as well. As they laid the person in the grass to rest, an agent shot the person again in the back with a pepper spray bullet.“I can’t describe to you what it was like to hear them yell out in pain while their body was contorting,” they said. “A wounded person being shot again – for what?”Rose said DPD officers and Colorado State Patrol troopers stood by and watched as protesters were assaulted. They stepped in only to protect ICE vehicles as agents drove away.Resident Lia Young said she attended the protest to defend the children arrested by ICE.She said she remembers what her little sister was like at 11 years old, and she would not want her to go through what the 12-year-old girl arrested by ICE is going through.Young was sitting in front of the south field office gate arm-in-arm with other protesters when federal agents arrived. An agent ripped her glasses off and sprayed pepper spray straight into her eyes, she said.She was pepper sprayed several times in her face and at least once in her crotch.“I’m on my period. I’m 21. It felt disgusting and extremely, extremely dehumanizing,” she said. “I felt very violated. It was extremely, intensely painful for the rest of that day.”But that was nothing compared to what the children arrested by ICE are going through after being dragged away from their family, she said.She said she wants ICE out of the community, and if DPD doesn’t develop a plan for dealing with ICE next time, the same situation that occurred on Tuesday will unfold again and again.

Resident Teal Lehto, who is also the La Plata County Democratic Party chair, said Colorado statute imposes a duty to intervene on officers using excessive force, including in riot and crowd-control situations.“I categorically reject the statement that Durango Police Department did everything they could,” she said. “They had a duty to intervene as things turned violent.”She referenced a statement Sgt. Padraic Ingle made to The Durango Herald on Monday that officers would be there to help protesters if violence occurred.“It is incredibly important for our law enforcement officials to mean what they say so they maintain trust with our community,” she said.She said DPD must do a better job at intervening when violence occurs in the community.Many protesters were under the age of 25, and the violence that unfolded at the protest does not occur often in Durango. She said City Council should require the police department to create open training to educate young people about their rights so they know when their rights are being violated.Rev. Jamie Boyce of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Durango contrasted the “warmth, generosity and kindness” she was met with from fellow protesters on Tuesday with the horror of federal agents stomping over protesters as DPD idly watched.“The excessive and brutal and cruel use of force by ICE and the complicity of local law enforcement as people screamed ‘Why won't you protect us?’ speaks to the moral crisis at hand,” she said. “The normalization and celebration of cruelty and brutality to suppress, terrorize, imprison and break our community; abducting people without due process; breaking families apart; militarizing our cities and using excessive force to suppress our right to assemble and right to speak.”cburney@durangoherald.comA previous version of this story misgendered Riese Rose, who goes by they/them pronouns.

DPD chief says protest became a riot with agitators on both sides

CBI to investigate federal agent who slammed Durango protester to groundElected leaders from local, state and federal levels react to ICE’s response

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said Thursday it will investigate an incident involving a federal agent accused of throwing a protester to the ground Tuesday in Durango.“The CBI will investigate whether there were state criminal law violations during the incident,” according to a news release from the agency. “CBI will provide the investigation to the 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office upon its completion.”Any decision to file criminal charges hinges on the discretion of 6th Judicial District Attorney Sean Murray, CBI said.The agency said it will not provide further comment until its investigation is concluded.

Durango Police Chief Brice Current asked CBI to investigate a situation in which a federal agent grabbed Franci Stagi’s phone from her hand and threw her to the ground outside the ICE field office Tuesday morning.Stagi was among dozens of people protesting the arrest of a father and two children who were on their way to school Monday morning in Durango. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the family members are not lawful residents of the U.S.The incident was captured on video and went viral on social media.

Rob Lowe with CBI told The Durango Herald the agency’s investigation concerns only the use of force against Stagi. It is not related to separate reports of abuse of a child and his father under ICE’s custody in the field office.City Council held a special meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday at City Hall where Durango Police Chief Brice Current planned to deliver a presentation about the protest and conflict at the ICE field office in Bodo Industrial Park.The La Plata County Board of County Commissioners said in a joint statement Wednesday that the board is “deeply concerned” about the events that occurred outside the ICE field office and it supports an independent investigation by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.Yazzie said she will wait until after a special meeting to comment further. She hopes to hear ideas from the public at the meeting about how the city should respond to the violence that occurred this week.Mayor Gilda Yazzie said federal agents’ use of force against peaceful demonstrators was “just terrible.”She said she is “disturbed,” yet proud of the way Durango Police Department conducted itself with limited options at its disposal.Durango police attempted a welfare check after receiving a report of abuse of a child who had been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs agents Monday morning. DPD was unsuccessful, having been turned away at the door to the ICE field office in Durango by federal agents.Police also issued parking tickets when protesters parked their cars along both sides of a narrow road near the field office after Durango Fire Protection District asked for assistance in ensuring fire trucks and ambulances had a clear path in the event of an emergency.“The police department has handled themselves (to) the letter of the law and done the best they could with trying to do welfare checks on the children and trying to keep safety at the top of their agenda,” she said.Durango police’s actionable options are restricted by federal authority, Yazzie said, limiting their ability to respond to certain situations at the protestYazzie said hoped to hear ideas from the public about how the city should respond to the violence that occurred this week.Councilor Shirley Gonzales, who went to the protest Tuesday morning and remained well after the protest ended in the afternoon, joined a lawyer and immigrant advocates in attempting a welfare check on the family, only to be turned away by federal agents.Gonzales told the Herald she wants the immediate release of the children and their father and to be allowed to resume the legal asylum process they have already undertaken.“Being the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, it wasn’t always – at different times in our country – so violent,” she said. “Let’s start, at a minimum, with allowing people that are in the process to complete the path that they’re on.”

Elected officials react to ICE arrests, protest and violenceElected officials from the local, state and federal levels reacted this week to the federal arrests of asylum-seekers, the resulting protests and the way in which federal agents responded.Elected officials voiced concerns and consternation, finger-wagging federal agents. But some officials offered more call to action in the interest of accountability than others this week.Local elected officials went the furthest in calling for action.County commissioners said La Plata County had no operational involvement in the incident and urged state and federal elected officials to review their employees’ actions and move to correct them.“The images, videos and accounts from this week have affected many people in our community,” Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton said. “We share the community’s desire for transparency, accountability and respectful and legal exercise of residents’ First Amendment rights. Federal actions must honor the human, civil and legal rights of people and the rule of law.”

Commissioner Elizabeth Philbrick said the violent treatment of peaceful protesters is not good for democracy and not how the community should be treated.“Just because something is legal, doesn’t mean it is moral,” she said. “Our foremost concern is the well-being of all who call La Plata County home.”Commissioner Matt Salka said moments like those experienced Monday and Tuesday test the community’s shared values.“We remain committed to maintaining a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for every resident,” he said.Colorado State Patrol assisted in crowd control at the request of local law enforcement, according to the agency. But troopers did not participate in any immigration enforcement actions, according to a CSP news release. “The Patrol’s role was to aid in de-escalation and protection of all parties present, maintain the peace, and address any identified unlawful behavior,” the release said. “Members of the Colorado State Patrol did not use any weapons or chemical munitions.”Still, protesters questioned the State Patrol’s presence and level of involvement.The Herald requested interviews with U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd and state Rep. Katie Stewart.The offices of Bennet and Hickenlooper referred the Herald to the senators’ comments on social media about the violence directed toward protesters and ICE’s arrest of Solano and his children.Hickenlooper called the family’s arrest “another overreach from an agency pulling people off the streets.”

“Instead of going after dangerous criminals, they detained a father and handcuffed his 12 and 15 year old kids on their way to school. No due process, no probable cause. It’s indefensible. ICE’s inhumane treatment needs to stop,” he said.Bennet said the Trump administration is picking up in the president’s second term where it left off in his first with “cruel immigration policies that separate families and traumatize minors.”“I have always said that separating families is inhumane. These immigration efforts undermine our most sacred values as Americans, do nothing to keep the country safe, and result in trauma for the children and families targeted. The Administration must grow a conscience and reverse course now,” he said.Sophie Ulin, press secretary for Bennet’s office, said in an email that Bennet introduced legislation in August that would prohibit law enforcement officers from obscuring their faces and require them to display their agency, name and a unique identifier while conducting immigration enforcement functions.“Situations like this should never happen, and the Senator’s legislation would increase transparency, accountability, and safety,” she said.Hickenlooper joined Bennet and Democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Warner, Tim Kaine and Angus King to introduce the Immigration Enforcement Identification Safety Act.Hickenlooper’s office did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about what actions are being taken to identify and document federal agents.Hurd did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment about the ICE-related activity.He did not appear to make any references to the conflict unfolding in Durango this week. Instead, posts were about a tour of his district, the ongoing government shutdown and a number of other issues.Stewart posted a video to her Katie for Colorado Facebook page on Monday – the day the two children and their father were arrested – in which she said, “This is not going unnoticed.”She said she visited the ICE field office where she checked on the children.She asked ICE agents if the children were being fed and cared for and had proper access to an attorney.“While the conversation was fine, I don’t think I was given the truth. I do believe the kids are being fed. I don’t believe that they’ve had access to their attorney,” she said. “In fact, I’m almost sure their attorney was turned away.”At that point, she said, it was in the hands of the community to stand up for the children.“I’ll continue to work at the state level to see what answers I can get, but in the meantime, just know that we do care. We care and we’re fighting,” she said.ICE did not respond to questions earlier this week about its policies guaranteeing children access to an attorney while in its custody.cburney@durangoherald.com

Elected leaders from local, state and federal levels react to ICE’s response

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