| This has been a trying week for the Montrose community. One of our iconic members, Mike Keenan, was struck by a vehicle and left on the side of the road to suffer. A 21-year-old driver, Johan Duarte Javalera, has been charged in the case. Colorado State Patrol is saying its investigation has led them to determine that Keenan was a victim of a hit-and-run, when a distracted driver — possibly due to the driver using a mobile device — hit him and then fled the scene. CSP is also saying there is no evidence that Keenan was hit deliberately. Those are the facts as we know them as of Thursday. If you're not familiar with Keenan, he is the man you have probably seen over the years dragging a cross throughout Montrose. Lately, he's been carrying a smaller cross. His sister posted on Montrose Message Board that Keenan has been carrying the cross for 23 years. It feels like it's been a lot longer. I can't remember a time in my 40 years of working in Montrose that he wasn't a fixture in the community. In 2012 in celebration of 130 years of Montrose, the Montrose Daily Press published a feature called '130 reasons to love Montrose.' Keenan made the list. Over the years I have personally drawn inspiration from Keenan. So, naturally, when the news hit that Keenan was a victim of a hit and run emotions ran high. Keenan's sister posted that the police told her it was intentional. It's excusable, I'm sure her emotions were running much higher than the rest of us. What's not excusable is Montrose County Commissioner Sean Pond posting a video blaming the left, the media and me personally for the incident. Without evidence, Pond claimed Keenan was attacked for his public proclamation of his Christian faith. He grouped Keenan's case in with national acts of violence —a Ukrainian woman killed on a train in North Carolina and the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Pond is either purposely trying to divide our community or he is suffering from delusional paranoia. It seems to me based on his actions since someone kicked over his political rock — which Pond climbed out from underneath two years ago — that he's been reading his press clippings and lavashes in the attention. Pond is a 'conflict entrepreneur' and he has to keep the division going to stay relevant. He desperately wants to be a political social media influencer. Every share of one of his posts makes him giddy. But when he is called out for his own words and actions, he calls it lies or twisting the narrative. It's not. Last week in my column I pointed out that Pond and fellow renegade commissioner Scott Mijares contradicted each other in their argument that the resignations of county leadership earlier this year were voluntary with a copy and paste quote from Pond that he "Worked to remove corrupt or ineffective county leadership to restore accountability." Pond's own words — along with the fact that I reported the Republican Central Committee executives were upset that Mijares didn't resign so they could select his replacement instead of taking a chance with Mijares' possible recall being successful — it sent the commissioner into a full spin cycle. The more Pond and Mijares are left to their own devices, the more they prove that both should be removed from office. Apparently the public revelations was a tidal wave of emotions for the once tight-knit Republican Johnny-come-latelies. In a post on his Colorado DOGE website , Michael Badagliacco, described his relationship with Mijares as on-the-outs after another copy-and-paste quote from him, in my column, blaming Mijares for the recall mess and his unwillingness to resign his seat because of ego. It's hard to claim my columns as lies, misinformation or twisting the narrative when it's their own words and actions that keep burying them. I stand behind everything that I have written as being the truth. Here we go again, after Pond's narrative as to what had happened to Keenan and a call for him to retract his statements, he's doubled down with more nonsense. "They caught the guy. No driver's license at 21 makes you wonder about his status, is he an illegal immigrant,? but we'll see. What we know so far is that he was using an electronic device. Does that mean he was on his phone and swerved off the road? Or does it mean he was recording? Time will tell. [sic]" Pond posted on his Facebook page. Again, CSP has said the act was not intentional. Javalera is accused of driving without a license or permit but Pond once again whistles out his rhetoric with the illegal immigrant nudge. "It will be interesting to find out if this was an intentional hit and run or a tragic accident. I just hope there's full transparency for the public as this plays out." Pond continued. Ugh, dude, just retract your original statements. But he can't do that, even with evidence to the contrary. He just can't admit he was wrong. I'll trust law enforcement and not a social media diva on this investigation. But wait, there's more and it's not a new set of Ginsu knives as a consolation prize. "And for the record, the liberals and the Montrose County Indivisibles are demanding I issue a public apology for saying it looked intentional. I think that's hilarious. I simply repeated what the police report, the press, and the family themselves were saying at the time. I'll keep repeating the facts as they become clear." The call for an apology comes from a variety of Montrose citizens. I've heard from several people from all over the political spectrum who were appalled at Pond's earlier video trying to elevate his political standing on Keenan's misfortunes. He didn't repeat what a police report or the media was saying at the time. There was no report by either the police or the media, other than it was a hit and run case and Keenan was sent to the hospital. Besides, I thought the media wasn't a credible source, according to Pond. And now he's saying he hopes law enforcement will be transparent? He makes my eyes bleed reading his nonsense. And as far as repeating facts as they become clear, how's he going to do that when his facts processor is broken? After Mijares' treatment of the former interim county manager Leslie Quon, I called for him to step down. To which Badagliacco and others have defended his act with flimsy rationale: "if it was so bad then why did she stay on as HR director with her six figure salary?" Well, first of all, do you victim shame much? Second, the HR director doesn't report directly to the commissioners. Quon, when requesting to suspend the search for a permanent replacement for county manager due to the lack of resumes (only eight received) spoke to having David White as stability in the position in order to finish out his three month contract as interim manager. That's a layer between her and Mijares. It's not hard to understand why. Mijares has ignored all pleas to resign. Now it's time to ask Pond to resign. He is not effectively representing Montrose County in his position. He is in fact trying to do everything he can to divide the community and therefore is actually ineffective in his role. He has proven to be vindictive towards a fellow commissioner and his constituents. He apparently has other political aspirations, which is clouding his judgement towards his decision process for the county. He should resign and allow the Republican Central Committee to have the opportunity to right their wrong in selecting Pond's replacement. It is obvious that he is not qualified or suited to be county commissioner. It has to be obvious to the Republican Central Committee that he has been an unmitigated disaster. Therefore, they should join me in calling for him to resign … but, I'm betting they won't. Dennis Anderson is publisher of the Montrose Daily Press and Delta County Independent. | 
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