Tina on Bannon’s War Room the morning after a Mesa County jury convicted her of 4 felonies and 3 misdemeanor counts related to her election tampering case.
Tina Peters’ criminal trial finally played out this past week, three years after she was accused of engaging in multiple felonies as Mesa County Clerk. The trial is being live-streamed by KREX, and you can watch it whenever Court is in session. The link to watch it is here, but if you haven’t tuned in yet, you’ve missed most of it. The prosecution and defense rested their cases Friday, August 9. Monday will bring closing arguments and jury instructions before the jury is sent to deliberate Tina’s fate. The judge said he thought the remaining phases of trial would likely be completed by noon on Monday, August 12.
Lots of information was presented at the trial, much of which the public hasn’t known about before, and most of it quite damning to Tina. Here are some of the biggest take-aways from the trial this week:
Cover of the new “Grand Junction Lifestyle” magazine recently distributed through the USPS mail
Yesterday’s mail brought a glossy new promotional magazine called “Grand Junction Lifestyle.” Given the cute kid and baby animal pictured on the cover, one would hope the lifestyle they’re trying to promote would be a healthy one. But instead, upon opening the front cover, readers are served up a two-page ad promoting one of the biggest corporate criminals and polluters on Earth, the Chevron Corporation:
KREX TV will be streaming the entire criminal trial of former Mesa County Clerk-turned-election denier Tina Peters whenever court is in session. You can view it on their website at this link, or live on YouTube at this link. Both links have a Chromecast icon, allowing you to cast live video to your TV if you have a Chromecast device.
Republican Party nominee for U.S. President Donald Trump, the first former U.S. president ever convicted of multiple felonies, was asked by ABC News journalist Rachel Scott about his fellow Republicans referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “a DEI hire.” Scott asked Trump if he believes Harris is only on the ticket because she’s a Black woman. He responded that he didn’t know she was Black.
Trump said,
“I have known her a long time, indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I did not know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as black. Is she Indian or is she Black?”
Audible laughing and gasping from the audience can be heard in the CSPAN video clip.
Trump seems unaware that people can identify as being of more than one race, a characteristic that is known as being “multiracial.”
Many people in Mesa County favor Trump for president.
A vision of the proposed 29 Road interchange on I-70, with roundabouts (Illustration by FHUeng)
Photo: City of Grand Junction
7/25/24 @ 3:39 p.m. – Note: an earlier version of this blog attributed the quotes criticizing the finance director’s use of the word “decimate” to Engineering and Transportation Director Trent Prall. I’ve been informed that was incorrect. They were actually said by City Councilman Cody Kennedy. I have corrected the blog.
In a Grand Junction City Council workshop discussion July 15 about the proposed 29 Road interchange on I-70, City Finance Director Jennifer Tomaszewski, a Certified Public Accountant, told Council members that given the amount of revenue the City takes in from sales taxes, and the City’s current expenses and financial obligations, including its existing transportation debt and maintenance of parks and facilities, the proposed $2.5 million/year in debt service over 30 years that the City would take on to build the project would “decimate our city capital, basically.” [Tomaszewski made this statement is at 1:12:46 in the above-linked video.]
An intense and fast-moving storm on June 20, 2024 in Grand Junction caused a massive flood in the Paradise Hills subdivision, filling residents’ homes, back yards, basements and crawl spaces with muddy water, ruining their drywall, carpeting, cupboards and flooring, crashing down fences in yards and drowning backyard chickens. Senior meteorologist Tom Renwick of the National Weather Service in a story on Colorado Public Radio called the storm “incredible.” He said, “We couldn’t see more than maybe five feet out the door. It was remarkable.”
Remarkable, indeed.
One affected resident, Darla Green, attended a Paradise Hills HOA meeting right after the flood and estimated that 60-70 homes were involved and the damage they described cost well over a million dollars.
So far though, Paradise Hills residents have been left totally on their own to recover from what was essentially a man-made flood caused by totally inadequate drainage.
Did you buy a vehicle from a local dealership only to find out later you were defrauded in some way? Can’t afford an attorney to help?
Fortunately, there’s another, completely unpublicized way car buyers can get compensation for a fraudulent deal committed by a dealership.
Surety bonds
Colorado law requires every licensed motor vehicle dealer to carry a surety bond. The bond is meant to protect customers from fraudulent business practices.
A surety bond guarantees financial compensation to customers who incur monetary loss as a result of an auto dealer’s fraud, negligence or failure to comply with all of Colorado’s laws and ethical guidelines that govern the sale of vehicles. In order to get a dealer’s license from the state, all dealerships must purchase a surety bond to the amount of $50,000. Individual salespeople must also be bonded, to the amount of $15,000.
If you have evidence that a dealership committed fraud in your deal, for example if you found forged signatures on contracts or agreements, found extra charges were added were to your contract without your knowledge, the dealership submitted false information about your finances and the vehicle you were buying to lenders on your credit application (like inflating your gross salary or the length of time you’ve lived at your current residence, or claimed to lenders that your vehicle has fancier features like leather seats and a sunroof when it doesn’t), or if you were charged a higher interest rate than expected on your loan without your knowing, or if you were charged a higher price than the advertised price, or if the dealer told you had to buy additional products in order to buy the vehicle you wanted, or if the dealership submitted fake utility bills in your name to lenders, you can make a claim against the dealership’s surety bond to recoup the loss you incurred from the fraud.
Above is an excerpt from a 2023 lawsuit (pdf) brought by a Grand Junction couple against Red Rock Auto/Red Rock Hyundai describing how they discovered Red Rock Hyundai had fabricated XCel and AT&T bills in their names to include with the credit application for a loan on their vehicle. Neither one of the couple has an AT&T account.
How to file a claim against a dealership’s surety bond:
1) Identify the insurer that sold the dealer the bond**,
2) Contact the insurer and ask them to tell you their procedure for filing a claim,
3) Gather evidence of the fraud, for example the documents from your sale, your credit application, dates and times the fraud happened, the names of employees involved, copies of your signature if you think your signature was forged, a full description of what happened, the amount of money you are out because of the deal and the basis for the figure, and submit it all to the insurer with a letter saying “Dealership [fill in name]” defrauded you and you want to make a claim against the dealership’s surety bond.
The insurer will investigate your claim and pay you after they verify the facts of the case.
**How do you find out which insurer holds a dealership’s surety bond?
It’s public information that’s buried on the Auto Industry Division’s website. Here’s how to find it:
Scroll down to the blue “Quick Links” bar and click on it for the drop-down menu.
Click on the link for”Active Facility License Listings.”
In the bulleted sentence right below the page title, click on the blue link for “Active License Lookup.”
In the Active License Lookup web form, click the blue link in the third bulleted sentence that says “Click here to search for a facility instead of a person.”
In the facility search form, type the name of the dealership. [Hint: For the best result, use broad search criteria. For example, if you’re looking for Red Rock Nissan, just type “Red Rock.” If you’re looking for Grand Valley Auto, just type “Grand Valley.”]
Mug shot of Tiffany Momilani Miller, former Red Rock GMC financial manager, who was arrested for forgery, criminal impersonation and identity theft last year
In the search result box, click on the blue name of the dealership.
Scroll down to the dealership’s “License Bond Information.” You’ll see the name of the company that holds the bond for the dealership, and the bond number, which is like an insurance policy number.
Put the name of the bond issuing company into a Google search to get the company’s contact information. Call the company and ask them to tell you their process to file a claim against a dealership’s surety bond.
Above is the page on the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Auto Industry website with the surety bond information for Red Rock Hyundai, naming the bond company and the bond number.
Surety bonds protect customers from financial losses they incur from doing business with an unscrupulous auto dealer. It’s free to file a claim against a dealer’s surety bond, so if you were defrauded in the course of buying a car, file a claim to get compensation for the fraudulent deal. The bond company will pay you and then seek reimbursement from the dealer.
Also…Report the fraud to law enforcement
Dealers that use fraudulent practices will continue doing so until they get caught and sent to jail, because they make a lot of money off such crimes.
dealership inside city limits, fill out the G.J.P.D.’s financial fraud packet, file it with the G.J.P.D., meet with a cop to explain how you were defrauded, and include a copy of your fraud packet with the documents you send to the surety bond company.
You can also report the crime to the Colorado state Attorney General as an automotive complaint and write reviews on sites like Google Reviews, Yelp, Cars.com, the Better Business Bureau, etc.
The more records you make of the crime and the more such crimes get reported, the better off everyone will be, and the easier it will be to make a solid case to the surety bond provider so you can get your money back. And it’s free to do all of this, except for the time it takes to do it.
Note that all of the crimes in the following video have been committed locally by a notorious auto dealer that has five stores in Grand Junction, so it pays to know how to make a claim against a dealer’s surety bond to get compensation for a financial rip off:
The stakes couldn’t be higher for the entire country, as Trump supporters have created comprehensive plan to curtail American freedoms, impose Christian ideals on all citizens and end human and civil rights as we’ve known them in America if Trump re-takes the presidency in the November general election.
Tractor Supply Company, a farm, ranch and feed company which previously had touted its efforts at diversity and inclusion, did an about-face June 27 after it issued a press release saying it will stop sponsoring events like gay pride festivals and voter registration drives, stop submitting data to the Human Rights Campaign, eliminate its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) roles, “retire” its DEI goals and will “withdraw our carbon emission goals and focus on our land and water conservation efforts.”
The company says they “work hard every day” to “represent the values of the communities and customers we serve. We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”
The Mesa County Commissioners are quietly planning to close Mesa County Animal Services, according to an item on their public hearing agenda for Tuesday, July 2 at 9:00 a.m. (pdf). The meeting will be held at the old courthouse, 544 Rood Ave., second floor.
Word from volunteers at local animal shelters who are alarmed by the agenda item is that the Commissioners plan to close the Animal Services building in Whitewater and terminate all Animal Services employees except for four, who will move to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office. They will no longer have a care facility for animals.
Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis (R), running for re-election this year, is among the commissioners planning to close Mesa County Animal Services
After closing Animal Services, the Commissioners then want to rebuild the agency from scratch.
The full agenda item reads:
“Consider approving the County Administrator’s ending current municipal contracts and exploring a Request For Proposal for animal shelter services, and authorize the County Administrator to sign letters to municipalities. (Matt Lewis, Justice Services Director)”
The item is under “Item(s) Needing Individual Consideration,” on page 2 of the agenda.(pdf)
Local animal shelter volunteers are asking people to attend this meeting or weigh in with the Commissioners to protest the closure, since it will put tremendous pressure on other animal shelters in the area that are already cash strapped to house and care for the area’s lost and homeless animals.
The public can attend the meeting in person or by Zoom, and can send an email to all of the commissioners at once at mcbocc@mesacounty.us.
Zoom Meeting Info:
Note that participants cannot comment on agenda items during the “Public Comment” portion of the agenda. That time is reserved only for items that are not on the agenda. You can comment on the agenda item at the time the it is heard and discussed by the commissioners, but public comments are limited to a maximum of three (3) minutes per speaker, unless otherwise further restricted by the Chair of the commission.
No passcode is given, so a passcode may not be necessary.
If you are attending the meeting by Zoom and want to submit a comment on the County Commissioners’ planned closure of Animal Services, you can send an email to all of the commissioners at once at mcbocc@mesacounty.us
Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland (R), who lost her June 25th primary election bid to get a fourth term as commissioner
Mesa County Commissioner Bobbie Daniel (R), shown with indicted former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters
Political newcomer J.J. Fletcher of Palisade won by a wide margin over longtime career politician Janet Rowland in the primary election for District 3 Mesa County Commissioner.
This was the unofficial result as of 8:40 p.m. on election night. It changed little in the two hours after that. County residents seem to have developed a case of Janet fatigue.
Janet Rowland appears to have worn our her welcome as Mesa County Commissioner in the 2024 primary election. Preliminary results at 8:40 p.m. showed her losing to JJ Fletcher by about 10 percentage points, with the result unchanged in the hours after that.
Soon to be former Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland
For the first time the U.S. Surgeon General of the United States has issued an urgent warning about gun violence in America, calling it a public health crisis.
Dr. Vivek Murthy says that in 2020, firearm‑related injuries became the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the U.S., surpassing motor vehicle crashes, cancer, and drug overdose and poisoning. He further says that almost 6 in 10 U.S. adults say that they worry “sometimes,” “almost every day,” or “every day,” about a loved one being a victim of firearm violence, and that such high levels of exposure to firearm violence for both children and adults in the U.S. “give rise to a cycle of trauma and fear within our communities, contributing to the nation’s mental health crisis.”
Elected officials who feel the weight of this moral crisis of inaction on the issue of firearm violence in the U.S. and want to know what policies actually work to reduce firearm injuries and deaths, and which don’t, can access this report by the Rand Corporation, updated in 2023, that analyzes the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of a wide range of gun policies, and makes recommendations for the most effective policies to implement.
If you know of someone who possesses firearms and is posing a risk to themselves or others, you can access instructions on how to access Colorado’s Red Flag law in Mesa County here.
Ad that ran in June 12, 2024 edition of the classified ad paper the High Country Shopper
Delta County residents are up in arms about a display ad that appeared on Page 20 of the June 12 edition of the High Country Shopper, a weekly newspaper published in Paonia that runs classified ads and promotes local businesses.
The ad, which is a departure from the norm for the Shopper, shows a photo of President Biden among an array photos of fascist dictators who have “had their opponents arrested,” including Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Fidel Castro, Stalin and others. The ad was paid for by Cedaredge resident Wes Fisher.
Where could someone get such a misleading idea as this?
Banner from Tina’s new web page, “Free Tina Peters”
Tina Peters has a new website, FreeTina.com, that she’s not just using to continue to solicit donations for her legal defense, but also to organize what she hopes will be a massive show of support before and during her criminal trial, scheduled for July 29 – August 12 at the Mesa County Justice Center.
Tina faces a mix of 10 felony and misdemeanor charges, including three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, identity theft, first degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failure to comply with requirements of the Secretary of State. She could be sentenced to prison if convicted.
Tina is using the website to recruit people around the country to lead “Virtual Daily Prayer” sessions for her and she is organizing “in-person Jericho walks” around Grand Junction. She posts a call-in phone number where people can “dial in to listen or add a prayer.”
At a rally in Las Vegas on June 9, Donald Trump’s teleprompter broke, so he was forced to start riffing, and continued to do so throughout the hour-plus long talk.
The rally was outside and the temperature was above 100 degrees. Six attendees had to be taken to the hospital due to the extreme heat, and 24 others were treated on site, according to the Associated Press.
About 43 minutes into the rally, Trump started ranting about electric-powered boats, telling the crowd they are too slow and too heavy to float. (He is apparently unaware the U.S. Navy has been ordering and taking delivery of electric-powered surface combat vessels and submarines for years.) He goes on to talk about MIT, batteries, boats sinking due to their weight, electrocution, sharks and suicide.
