From KUSA
A little more than a week after multiple cyclists got flat tires from thumb tacks tossed on Deer Creek Canyon Road, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has a person of interest.
…
Cycling groups say the roadway is the source of an ongoing feud between bike riders and drivers.
Jen Barnhart and her cycling team headed out on the road around 6 a.m. Sunday, July 3rd, hoping to avoid the heat and drivers, when all of them got flat tires.
“That’s where we started seeing tacks by the hundreds,” she said.
They removed multiple gold thumb tacks from their wheels and spend an hour cleaning up more from the road so no one would get hurt.
…
While investigating the story, 9NEWS found a piece of the 100-count packaging the tacks came in.
“The label that you guys discovered at 9NEWS when you were out covering the story, was greatly beneficial to us,” said Mark Techmeyer, spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The small piece of green and white paper lead investigators to a JeffCo King Soopers grocery store.
“Well, they were in the King Soopers the night before and purchased a large number of thumb tacks. So, coincidence? Maybe. But perhaps not, so we’d like to clarify that,” said Techmeyer.
It’s not clear exactly what this man in the dark baseball cap has in his hands in the photograph, but officials are calling him a person-of-interest they’d like to speak with. They’re asking for the public’s help to identify him.
Anyone with information or who may have gotten a flat tire from this case is asked to call the JeffCo Sheriff’s Office at 303-271-0211…
Read the full story HERE
REMINDER
You might be able to help with preventing future tacks being thrown on roads–but Jefferson County Sheriffs need help–your help. They want to open an investigation but so far no “victims” have come forth. If you or someone you know was on Deer Creek Canyon last week and flatted (hopefully not crashed) due to the tacks being thrown on the road it’s imperative you call the Sheriff’s office at 303-277-0211 and refer to case 16-16683.
Us residents have been battling you cyclists for years. You seem not to realize that you are riding through our neighborhood. There are literally hundreds of cyclists a day on the weekends. We are routinely woken up at 6 am having to listen to conversations, often about exploits the night before. We have to pick up trash of empty energy drink bottles and energy bar wrappers. While driving we have to deal with cyclists ignoring the laws and riding 2 and 3 abreast and not moving over for motor vehicles (even an ambulance). You’ll even stop in the middle of the main intersection to have conversations. This has become extremely annoying!
Please remember you are riding through a neighborhood and have some respect for those of us who live there.
First let me apologize for any cyclists who have done things that are disrespectful, but realize that the vast majority of us follow the rules and try to be as respectful as possible. One thing I can tell you is the energy drink bottle probably don’t come from us since most of us don’t just throw our $6 to $12 water bottles away as we ride. Also, we do our best to control our trash, although I will admit occasionally one gets away from us. As for riding 2 abreast, hopefully, most of that only occurs when we are passing someone or when we know there are no cars behind us, but we do try and get over when we know you are there since, as I personally know, getting hit by a car is no fun.
A few years ago the Jeffco sheriff held meetings for both residents and riders, many of whom are also Jeffco residents themselves, and that was helpful because the one thing we found is that most of us, the vast majority, really are trying to do the best for each other. We try and police our own, tell people when they are being rude or stupid, but it is a lot harder on your side. Cars and trucks isolate people so you can’t just ride up to them and tell the to knock it off or stop being stupid.
Again, most of us try and be respectful and courteous and please take that into account when you see us on the road. Don’t let a few stupid people ruin it for everyone on either side. The guy who threw those tacks could have easily injured or killed a rider if they had run into them on the way down. Our outrage is not with the common residents or drivers who live in or enjoy the canyon, it is with someone who did something stupid and dangerous. I would hope you would hold the driver to that same standard.
Jeff, thank you for your thoughtful comments and I am empathetic to your concerns. I am an advocate for Jefferson County as well as a partner in 303 and a cyclist. A few years ago I attended a “town hall” meeting aimed at trying to “play friendly” so to speak, yet here we are again. It’s a tough situation. It’s a public road obviously, just like the one in front of my house in Denver and certainly there are people and vehicles I don’t love having pass my place either. Deer creek is a very desirable riding road and one that motorcycles enjoy as well, and I suspect that noise isn’t always welcome either. But we cyclist do need to a better job of respecting the laws, the environment and understanding that although a county road, it is a residential street as well. I wish there was a solution that made everyone happy. Cycling isn’t going away, in fact it’s only growing and trying to intentionally harm or kill cyclists is plain wrong. A thumbtack in tire is like having a front wheel of your car suddenly fall off–you can certainly appreciate the danger especially going downhill–it is a terrible act. It only riles up everyone. Obviously there is a faction of residents who appreciate the money cyclist donate to help preserve the structures at Pleasant Park. There are ways to mutually benefit on this. I wish cyclists didn’t litter (although I think it’s very unintentional, falls out of a coat or something) and I wish they didn’t ride wide into the road, I get it. I would like to challenge cyclists to do a better job of self policing ourselves and Jeff, I would like to encourage you to ask neighbors not to hassle us for simply riding on a public road. I have been in complete compliance, on the white line, all by myself and been yelled at, diesel blasted, honked at, had things thrown at me and was not impeding anything. It goes both ways and both cyclist and residents need to do a better job. If a bike on the side the road was your mother driving slow or walking up the road and you had to move around her, would you do those things to her (you being general, not you, Jeff)? Conversely, if us cyclist lived there, would we block intersections, trash the roads or be noisy?Probably not. Lets be tolerant and understand, not be angry and take out frustrations due to less than 1% of poor cyclists and angry motorist. I encourage you or anyone to contact me as I work a lot with Jefferson county and the Sheriffs department. Bill@303colorado.com