The following letter to the Salida City Council was included in Tuesday’s City Council packet. It expresses concern regarding the appearances on Salida’s F Street shopping area by Danny Taylor, who over the past several months has appeared carrying an AR-15, an upside-down American flag, a black “take no quarter” extremism flag and lately a sandwich board that says his Second Amendment rights were given to him by God.
How would you predict a mass shooting? You’d have a white guy armed with an AR-15 and an attitude.
Here we have Danny Taylor armed with an AR-15 yelling and addressing people across the street as motherf…ing faggots. I can’t imagine anybody not being “alarmed “ about such a situation. Some people might be terrified.
It’s time to take a stand about this stuff. How about enforcing Colorado State Revised Statutes Title 18, Article 9, Paragraph e? “A person commits disorderly conduct if he or she intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly, not being a peace officer, displays a deadly weapon in a public place in a manner calculated to ALARM.”
He doesn’t get to decide if he is alarming folks.
R.T. Taylor
Mayor City of Salida 1998
When reading this insightful letter, one has to ask was the subsequent city policy based strictly on legal opinion without regard to the implication of that position? Perhaps governance needs to look at both. Ironically, yesterday our Federal Supreme Court, who asserts Constitutional Law of the land based on “originalist” interpretation of the Constitution seemed to move off their self-imposed mandate and foreclosed debate on Constitutional context and instead focused on the implication of an originalist interpretation to a ruling if they find in favor of the 14th Amendment case. (i.e state determining elections and/or how do we deal with the select public outcry and chaos).
Is the court and legal system’s job legal precedence and interpretation of the law or are they now concerned about the implication of their rulings? Is that not within the Executive and Legislative branch prevue who also filed briefs?
This letter brings up the same concern; Governance needs to look beyond legal opinions to the implications of legal opinions on their citizens. I guess safe space legal “opinions” is easier than governance and that conundrum is what our lofty Supreme Court appears to be finding out. Perhaps Salida City Council has a purpose other than being the mouth piece of their legal department.
Of course, well said, and I think most reasonable people in a civilized community would agree. Also, aren’t these the exact situations the Red Flag laws were meant for?
We had a 27 year old nut job from Glenwood Springs last year making online threats towards Summit County High School officials and teachers saying things like “they will know me and my AR very nicely” and posting himself holding an AR-15 style rifle. He was swiftly arrested, spent the last year in the Summit County jail and is now serving a 3 year Class 5 felony conviction for menacing with a deadly weapon. https://www.summitdaily.com/news/summit-county-was-traumatized-man-who-threatened-summit-school-district-receives-maximum-length-sentence/
For someone who has spent a decade of summers working in Chaffee County’s vibrant and positive tourism industry and seeing Mr. Taylors bizzare and threatening behavior escalate to the present crisis without any intervention is shocking. Including, screaming on video, armed with his AR, “Do you want a mass shooting!” What is more shocking is the Salida Poiice interacting with this mentally ill individual on video as if he is one of their local Patriot Brah Bros. Which is an equally disturbing trend rising in your community.
Rather than regurgitate this story year after year in your local isolated papers, maybe it’s time to bring it to light. Is Gov. Polis aware of what is going on here? Where’s the FBI?, CBI?, and Homeland Security? This story needs to be aired on Denver 9 News, National News, and aired on 60 Minutes. Citizens of Salida, BV, and all of Colorado: We don’t need to tolerate this nonsense.
Steve C.
Breckenridge & BV
Thanks RT. You should be in office and we might still have our rights, lives and city left to enjoy.
Finally, a plain spoken, common sense evaluation of the situation Salidans have been faced with for months now. And it comes with a matter of fact solution. Thanks, former Mayor Taylor. I urge the mayor, city council, and peace officers of the community to follow your lead.