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August 31, 2023 11:15 AM UTC

No Thanks To "Tactical Support" From Haters

  • 8 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Able Shepherd militia bros at the gun range.

Following up on last weekend’s anti-LGBTQ+ counterprotest both outside and confrontationally within the Douglas County PrideFest, 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark reports that an organization known as Able Shepherd, which bills itself as a “progressive tactical training program,” played a large role in organizing the disruptive protest inside the event.

As a result, this organization with surprisingly formal ties to area law enforcement agencies is in the hot seat:

On Wednesday, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office told 9NEWS that Able Shepherd would no longer be participating in a planned event on Thursday. An Able Shepherd representative declined to say if law enforcement agencies were cutting ties with the company.

Able Shepherd issued a statement to media outlets on Wednesday simultaneously defending the protest’s aims while denying the company was involved…

Morally, we’d say that Able Shepherd was finished when they defended the protest in the abstract. But as for denying that the group was involved in organizing the event, that’s just false and 9NEWS has the receipts:

Law enforcement agencies charged with defending the whole community obviously should not be associated in any way with an organization that organizes protests targeting a certain segment of that community. Able Shepherd earlier this month jointly hosted a “church readiness planning seminar” with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office–the same law enforcement on hand last Saturday to help escort Able Shepherd protesters out of the DougCo PrideFest.

If this is the kind of organization “Able Shepherd” wants to be, it’s a free country. They’re called hate groups and the Southern Poverty Law Center keeps a list.

But not anywhere near tax dollars or bonafide public safety interests.

Comments

8 thoughts on “No Thanks To “Tactical Support” From Haters

    1. I went to their website. Near as I can figure out it sells "fear" and based on some prices….5 day/$3500….somebody is making some serious bank. 

  1. Thank you Kyle Clark!

    A couple of additional related tidbits:

    The Anderson Ranch where Able Shepherd practiced and staged is owned by John and Lisa Anderson,  

    John Anderson is a retired Castle Rock Police Commander, and a twice failed extremist Republican candidate for Douglas County Sheriff.  He ran and was defeated in both 2014 and 2022.  He’s also a fellow traveler with Castle Rock Texas resident and militia knucklehead, Joe Oltman.  (https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2021/03/it-will-have-to-be-with-violence/35041/)

    Lisa Anderson is the Castle Rock Town Clerk.  She played an additional role in her official capacity in this righty shitstorm by stonewalling and singlehandedly refusing to issue their liquor permit to the PrideFest folks for this event after Douglas County (2-1) had approved and sanctioned it.  That license refusal was eventually overturned by other town officials (the town attorney, I’m told) when they reviewed the application and determined that there was no valid reason for denying or not issuing the permit and that Ms. Anderson’s refusal was clearly discriminatory and without basis.

    Also, more coverage on Able Shepherd’s participation at: https://highlandsranchherald.net/stories/emails-show-able-shepherd-organized-pridefest-protest-despite-denial,448315

    1. Absolute kudos to McKenna Harford for absolutely bringing the receipts on this story.

      "It's not that Able Shepard was involved in the protest. It's just that everyone in our small company was there as individuals as protestors." -Me pretending to be Able Shepard defending their "non-involvement".

      I would bet money that those matching t-shirts show up as an Able Shepard business expense.

  2. I still can't get over the bald-faced hipocrisy of DougCo Commission George Teal saying with one breath: “the advocates of PrideFest” are “advocating vigilante violence, it sounds like.”

    Then with the other breath saying Able Shepard is a "well-regulated militia."

    Fuck right off, Teal.

    1. Gay vigilante violence, indeed.

      It reminds me of back in the day when we heard the term "gay mafia" used.

      WTF did that mean?

      Was the Godfather (Tim Gill) is going put out a hit on someone who would end up sleeping with the fishes (in a Koi Pond) in a tastefully landscaped, upscale shopping mall between a Ralph Lauren and a Calvin Klein store?

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