According to local media reports and messages referenced in a lawsuit, the former mayor of Palmer Lake, Colorado, referred to individuals opposing land annexation for a Buc-ee’s store and other initiatives as “terrorists” and “losers.”
Glant Havenar, who stepped down from his role as town mayor this week, used these derogatory terms in private messages with a friend, as reported by 9News on Thursday, based on court documents.
The messages were included in a recent lawsuit against the town related to the Buc-ee’s project, as reported by the outlet and KRDO13, with contributions from Integrity Matters and other organizations.
Before that, they had been shared in a Signal group chat by Havenar’s former friend.
The filing containing the messages alleged that Havenar tried to sway public opinion by setting up social media accounts under different names to engage with people online, according to 9News.
She is also facing accusations from Integrity Matters that she violated regulations about open meetings and talked about executive sessions inappropriately, with the non-profit pointing to messages as purported evidence of that, the outlet reported.
Contentions about the Buc-ee’s have been brewing in the area for quite some time.
An effort to recall a few members of the town’s board of trustees was launched earlier in the year related to how a meeting late last year about the Buc-ee’s annexation was handled, according to local reports.
Havenar told KRDO13 that harassment she has been experiencing from others in connection to the Buc-ee’s annexation played a major role in her decision to resign.
She also wanted to stave off additional conflict in the community that could arise if opponents pursued a recall of her as mayor, according to the outlet.
“I didn’t want petitioners outside all summer long trying to get signatures for me with their posters and their banners and their signs disrupting the peace of Palmer Lake,” Havenar said.
Asked about the text messages, she said she had been “harassed for 10 months” and said “there’s not anybody on this planet that’s not going to say unkind things about people that are harassing them,” according to the outlet.
She said that releasing private text messages “was not the right thing to do” and that “not all of them were true.”
FOX Business reached out to Town Administrator Dawn Collins and the Palmer Lake town office.
The site where the Buc-ee’s could potentially go in the area is located near Interstate 25, according to 9News.
Buc-ee’s had over 50 locations across the country as of late May.
