{"id":49035,"date":"2021-01-25T19:29:38","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T02:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/protesters-return-to-home-of-public-health-director-in-durango\/"},"modified":"2021-01-26T02:29:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T02:29:38","slug":"protesters-return-to-home-of-public-health-director-in-durango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/protesters-return-to-home-of-public-health-director-in-durango\/","title":{"rendered":"Protesters return to home of public health director in Durango"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Jollon\"
Jollon<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Protesters returned to the home of San Juan Basin Public Heath Executive Director Liane Jollon on Sunday, according to the Durango Police Department.<\/p>\n

A group of about 20 protesters first gathered outside the private home of Jollon on Jan. 14<\/a> to object to state-issued public health orders aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Durango police Chief Bob Brammer denounced the event, saying officers would enforce a state law that says people or groups are not allowed to target specific people at their homes, in what\u2019s known as \u201ctargeted residential picketing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state law says individuals are first issued a written warning. If the person is caught again targeting a residence, a citation is written for a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $5,000.<\/p>\n

About 10 protesters returned for an hour or two Sunday afternoon, but instead of standing outside her home, the demonstrators stood across the street from Jollon\u2019s home on public property.<\/p>\n

Brammer also said the protesters were \u201coutside the prohibited zone.\u201d According to the state law, protesting outside a residence is allowed if located 300 feet or more from the home.<\/p>\n

Brammer said the group was more than 300 feet from Jollon\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

As a result, Brammer said Monday, the protesters were not in violation of any codes or laws. Officers responded to and monitored the event Sunday, but did not make contact with the protesters, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an extremely unfortunate situation we\u2019re in,\u201d Brammer said. \u201cBut the law is the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jollon said she could hear the protesters yelling at her while she was inside her house. She said she feels bad for her neighbors, who were outside shoveling snow. Children were also outside playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel terrible for my neighbors,\u201d Jollon said.<\/p>\n

Public health orders are issued by the state of Colorado, yet Jollon has become the target for some local members of the public who disagree with certain regulations aimed at slowing the virus\u2019 spread.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t love the public health measures we\u2019re all practicing right now to save lives,\u201d Jollon said. \u201cBut this is what we need to do as a community to prevent the spread of COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Goldman, SJBPH\u2019s attorney, said the health department is looking at possible measures to stop the protests outside Jollon\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking into every opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not leaving any stone unturned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldman said that despite being across the street, Jollon is still being targeted and harassed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are definitely targeting her, which is unfortunate,\u201d he said. \u201cAll she\u2019s doing is looking out for the public good and their health. They (the protesters) are misguided.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marybeth Synder, a Pagosa Springs resident, said she attended the Jan. 14 protest to send a message that the public health orders are not legal laws and businesses should be allowed to fully reopen.<\/p>\n

SJBPH serves both Archuleta and La Plata counties.<\/p>\n

Synder also takes issue with SJBPH carrying out and enforcing the state\u2019s public health orders, as well as what Synder perceives as a lack of community engagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing against the woman, I\u2019m just trying to wake her up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Synder said that since Jollon is working remotely, her home has now become a \u201cpublic office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat good would it do to protest in front of an empty building?\u201d said Synder, referring to SJBPH\u2019s offices. \u201cHer home office has become a public office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Synder said she did not attend Sunday\u2019s rally.<\/p>\n

Durango has seen numerous protests and marches since the pandemic started in March, but for the most part, all of those demonstrations have happened at public spaces.<\/p>\n

The only other instances of protesters picketing outside a public figure\u2019s home were when a group formed twice in the past year outside Durango Mayor Dean Brookie\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

across street, \u2018outside the prohibited zone,\u2019 police chief says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,1065,28,29,4259,668,686],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-49035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-durango-police-department","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-newsletter-sign-up","tag-public-health","tag-san-juan-basin-health-department"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49035"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=49035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}