Latest news with #MikeMacFerrin
CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
Colorado neighborhood responds as man goes after Pride flags and people
One neighborhood in Northern Colorado is banding together as Pride flags continue to disappear, seemingly stolen by the same man over and over again. They believe the actions are designed to silence the LGBTQ community. Sheryl Colaur is getting tired of it, "It's very unnerving." A porch camera captures images of a man stealing Pride flags from a home in Longmont. CBS "He knows that our house puts out the flag. He knows what it represents." She is proud to put out the LGBTQ+ Pride Flag. Three times, what she believes is the same man, has visited her home at night in the Harvest Junction Village neighborhood in Longmont to steal her flags. A man with clothing that covers him and with a concealed face has ripped their Pride flags down. "It feels like an attack," she said about the thefts, which began Memorial Day Weekend. She's not alone. "It was a targeted attack. Every other flag, team flag, and American flags had all been left. It was just the Pride flags," said Mike MacFerrin. The thief also stole a Pride flag from his front porch. The front porch light was on and his children were home. "It's important to be strong as well, and the more of our neighbors that stand up strong to this, the stronger we are together," he said. The Harvest Junction Village neighborhood in Longmont has been targeted by a man stealing Pride flags. CBS Law officers in Longmont on Tuesday were tallying how many reports of stolen flags have come in. They believe they are not aware of all of the incidents. In a statement, Longmont Public Safety said, "We understand how upsetting the recent theft of flags has been for our community and continue to work with the neighborhood to gather evidence and statements related to these incidents. If you haven't yet filed a police report or have any information regarding those responsible for these thefts, please contact us at (303) 651-8501." Colaur is concerned that the man is growing bolder. "So I have kids. I worry about that, " she explains about the man's most recent effort, coming all the way up on her porch, where images of the individual with a facial covering were captured on camera. "It's making a move to put us away. To keep us out of the light." There is a case file now after the man directed threats at homeowner Lindsey Bailey. She was in her garage working on her fledgling tomato plants when a man passed by on a scooter, a little after dark one night, and yelled at her. Her home is one of those with a flag displayed. "They rode right by on their motor scooter, and just swore at me about how they hated pride month, and lots of expletives." Her husband, hearing the commotion, came out with a bat. The man turned around and came back, making another pass on the scooter, this time yelling at her husband. "Threatening that they were going to harm him, that he would be back," she said. "He had taken my neighbor's pride flags, and he was coming back for mine, too," she recalled he said. There is no way, as of yet, to tell where the man is from. Amid all of it the neighborhood has not splintered. Quite the opposite. The Harvest Junction Village neighborhood in Longmont. CBS "It's a politically fraught time right now," said MacFerrin. "It's no more or less likely to happen here than anywhere else. But it happened here and so we're responding." He helped pull together an online fundraising campaign to replace the flags, rapidly raising money to buy about 70 more flags. No one he's aware of has complained about what they are doing. "It was received very well. People did not like their neighbors being bullied. They wanted to stand up for them. They wanted to stand with them." And so some have added flags, while people wait to see if the man will be caught. Colaur has been replacing flagpoles and flags. "I'm three flagpoles in and no Pride flag to show for it," she said. But she'll keep doing it. "Every time he steals a flag, I'm going to keep on putting a new flag up."
CBS News
27-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Colorado volunteers work to conserve prairie dog colony
Months of effort by neighbors in a Longmont community to save a prairie dog colony from extermination have paid off. The homeowner association board will soon decide whether the animals will be relocated or allowed to remain on the land. CBS In January, CBS Colorado spoke to neighbors in Harvest Junction Village, where the HOA was considering removing or exterminating a colony of prairie dogs. It had cited concerns over plant destruction and the animals encroaching on homes. At one point, the HOA voted to try relocation, and to exterminate the colony by March 1 if that effort was not successful. Activists spoke out that this would lead to the death of the animals, saying relocation is not possible until summer. But after continued pushback from neighbors, a new plan has been reached. "Big picture goal here is really to try and show that humans in close proximity can live at peace without conflict with local wildlife," said Mike MacFerrin, who lives in Harvest Junction Village. Dozens of neighbors donated their Memorial Day to the animals by building bridges and pulling weeds -- the first step in a plan that could keep the prairie dogs in their community. "This is gonna be a multiple day and multiple year process for the revegetation. This particular curly dock weed is extremely pernicious and persistent," MacFerrin said. "It's invasive. The prairie dogs don't eat it. .. And, as it gets taller, it forces them out." It's all to convince their HOA not to evict the prairie dogs living on a plot of open space near their homes. "This is my community, and I don't wanna spend several thousand dollars just to come out with poison gas trucks and kill everything," MacFerrin said. "We can do this a better way." After a community survey sent out by the activist neighbors found most responding residents did not want to kill the prairie dogs, or spend HOA money on management, the HOA board agreed to allow the neighbors to propose a long-term conservation plan. "Extermination is currently off the charts. Basically, our two options are relocation down to Pueblo or the conservation option," said Alex Pavloff, Harvest Junction Village HOA board member. These neighbors say keeping the prairie dogs around will be a win-win, and won't cost the HOA a cent. "We're out here doing the work," MacFerrin. "There's a lot of invasive weeds here that we're trying to get rid of that actually push the prairie dogs out." They're working with experts and nonprofits to draft the conservation plan, which includes not only weeding, but reseeding the land with native vegetation, and building a barrier fence to keep prairie dogs away from homes and the road. MacFerrin said reseeding and fencing can be expensive, so they're raising money to pay for those infrastructure changes through Grasslands Colorado. So far, they've raised more than $8,000. Among the volunteers are three HOA board members, who will have the ultimate say on whether the prairie dogs stay or are relocated. "This is a novel new way to manage prairie dogs on our Front Range," said Pavloff, who previously supported relocation. "I changed my mind really because of the fact that we have a good opportunity to try a new and novel method of prairie dog management." The neighbors will deliver the first draft of the master plan to the HOA next week. Their next meeting is scheduled on June 19. Neighbors say the final decision to conserve or relocate will need to be made in July, as relocation should begin in August. It's a plan the neighbors hope can be an example to other communities. "Just changing the narrative that you don't have to exterminate everything," MacFerrin said. "You don't have to just treat this like it's a second-rate golf fairway. You really can let nature thrive, and we can thrive with it."
