West
Colorado woman says she was bullied by community who wanted to take her property, this is how she fought back
Editor’s note: This is the second story in a series about Taralyn Romero’s property rights battle in Kittredge, Colorado. Read part 1 here.
Social media can distort truth, warp reality, and pit neighbors against each other. It can even turn a woman living in a house next to a park into a “wicked witch.”
The first confrontation that blew up online seemed innocuous in Taralyn Romero’s memory. A grandmother and two young children were in her backyard. The kids, armed with small shovels, were digging holes in the creek bank as if it were a beach, she said.
Romero said she walked over and asked the woman if the kids could go dig in the playground where there was a sandbox. Romero said she made the request in a normal tone, but the woman seemed startled, like she hadn’t expected anyone to come talk to her.
But on social media, Romero saw a rant from the woman’s daughter. In this telling, Romero was a nasty woman who had screamed at the grandmother and terrified the children.
“In people’s minds, they said … ‘This is the type of family that we don’t want in our community and in our neighborhood,’” Romero told Fox News Digital. “And once they got convinced of that false narrative, they felt emboldened and almost heroic for threatening us.”
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Taralyn Romero said a survey of her property showed that she owned the land on either side of Bear Creek. County officials originally said they weren’t sure where the property lines were, and that the course of the creek had likely changed over the years. (Courtesy Taralyn Romero)
Romero’s battle with her community and, ultimately, her local government, began in early 2021 when she bought a house in the woods about half an hour outside Denver, Colorado. Her backyard included a steep hill and, below, a creek ran through the edge of the property with a community park on the other side.
Locals had played in the creek for decades, but Romero said a survey of the property showed the land on either side of the water belonged to her.
When that rope went up, people lost their damn minds … It catapulted this situation into a whole other stratosphere.
County officials said they didn’t know who owned the land because the creek had likely changed course since the original property lines were drawn. They asked community members to access the creek from a different park about a mile east of Kittredge instead while both sides hashed out the issue.
Many people ignored the request.
After about a year of dealing with the trash and damage left behind by visitors, not to mention worrying about potential legal liability if anyone got hurt, Romero said she’d had enough. She hung a thin blue rope across her property line, blocking access to the creek, and posted “no trespassing” signs on the trees.
“When that rope went up, people lost their damn minds,” she said. “It catapulted this situation into a whole other stratosphere.”
Romero said people started conspiring online in Facebook and Nextdoor groups, collectively agreeing to ignore the rope and “openly trespass.” They believed the land was public property or, even if it wasn’t, it should be because the community had enjoyed it for so long.
Romero took numerous videos of people disregarding the signs and sauntering up to the water’s edge, even waving at her as they did so.
“Hi. You guys are trespassing,” she can be heard calling out in one video.
“Yes, I know,” a woman responds. “Thanks for being an awesome neighbor.” She flashes a thumbs up.
Romero felt like she was portrayed “as a villain … someone who didn’t want to watch children have fun.”
“They called me a rich White woman from California — or they told me to go back to Mexico,” the native Coloradan recalled.
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Taralyn Romero and her partner filmed numerous exchanges they had with people they say openly trespassed on their property. (Courtesy Taralyn Romero)
Screenshots shared with Fox News Digital show some of the posts. In one, a purported member of the Save Kittredge Park committee wrote an alternate version of Martin Niemoller’s famous critique of Nazism, and those who said nothing in the face of evil.
“First they came for the city dwellers, And I did not speak out because I was not a city dweller,” the woman wrote in part. “Then they came for the locals, and I did not support them.”
Michael Eymer, Romero’s partner, was aghast.
“You are comparing us to Nazis,” Eymer wrote in the comments under the post, adding that, as someone with Jewish lineage, he found this “deeply offensive.”
It didn’t take long for the “social media bullying” to cross over to “real life danger,” Romero said.
“Sad woman you are what goes around comes around, is it worth having your house burned down or even worse cause that’s what’s gonna happen if you piss the wrong person off,” a message sent through a GoFundMe page Romero eventually started for her legal fees reads in part. “I hope for your sake you lose that land.”
People flipped off Romero and Eymer from down by the creek. “Suck my d—,” a man yelled when Eymer told him to stay off their property. A woman twice mooned a surveillance camera near the street by Romero’s house.
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Crowds gathered at Bear Creek all summer long, Romero said, and many people ignored signs requesting that people not dig or otherwise damage the property. (Courtesy Taralyn Romero)
Romero still felt like facts could overpower feelings. But when she tried to share the survey showing the property lines, she says she got blocked from community groups, or people suggested she may have bribed the surveyor. Friends who tried to advocate for Romero and her family were similarly blocked, she said.
As the gossip swirled online, one community member dubbed Romero the wicked witch, then changed her own profile picture to one depicting Glinda the Good Witch from the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.”
Shut out of the online community groups, Romero turned to TikTok and created her own persona in August 2022: The “Wicked Witch of the West.”
“If someone like that comes to my property, cusses me out, flips me off, trespasses, and is just a general bully, if she is the good witch, I guess I am the wicked witch, right?” Romero said. “Because I am the opposite of her.”
One of her first videos, which has since amassed more than 4.5 million views, shows crowds of families playing in Bear Creek. A disgruntled Romero, with her raven hair, red lipstick and black felt hat, is superimposed over the scene.
“POV: they tell you it’s not a big deal and you shouldn’t have bought property next to a park if you don’t want the Public in your backyard,” reads an onscreen caption.
Romero said she wanted a place to express herself using humor. Her first posts mocked the women she said accused her of “stealing” the land. Seemingly overnight, she gained 15,000 followers. Then 100,000.
If she is the good witch, I guess I am the wicked witch, right? Because I am the opposite of her.
“What started out as a forum for artistic expression, to literally just cope with what had happened, quickly became a platform for sharing my side of the story,” she said.
She shared “endless videos of us being cut out and harassed and antagonized.” And now, instead of being kicked off platforms, she had a sympathetic audience, outraged at peoples’ lack of respect for private property.
“It changed how I started to use social media in order to basically pull a reverse uno on what was a very traumatic and prolonged and unnecessary situation over my property,” she said.
Taralyn Romero says she roped off the portion of her property on the north side of Bear Creek after repeated requests that visitors respect the land went ignored. Community members who previously enjoyed access to the creek were outraged. (Fox News Digital)
And it proved to be a valuable platform for venting about her newest enemy. Because just three weeks before Romero posted her first TikTok video, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners had sued her for access to the land.
“They were going after anything and everything that they possibly could in order to take my property from me,” she said.
This is the second story in a series about Taralyn Romero’s property rights battle in Kittredge, Colorado. Read the final installment on Tuesday.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Tanya Tucker will perform at the 2026 New Mexico State Fair, officials announced Tuesday.
Tucker will take to the stage Friday, Sept. 18, after the Chevron PRCA rodeo. The Grammy Award-winning icon has racked up 10 No. 1 country hits since her first hit, “Delta Dawn,” at age 13.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring the legendary Tanya Tucker to the New Mexico State Fair,” said Dan Mourning, general manager of the New Mexico State Fair. “Tanya is one of the greatest icons in country music history and is the perfect fit for the Fair.”
Tucker has 23 Top-40 albums and 56 Top 40 singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has won two Country Music Association awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, three CMT Awards and two Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Song.
Tickets are set to go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m.
Here is the full 2026 New Mexico State Fair rodeo-concert lineup:
Friday, Sept. 11
Turnpike Troubadours with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Saturday, Sept. 12
Ian Munsick with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Chevron PRCA Standalone Rodeo
Thursday, Sept. 17
Everclear with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Friday, Sept. 18
Tanya Tucker with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Saturday, Sept. 19
The Warning with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Sunday, Sept. 20
Chevron PRCA Rodeo – Matinee
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Crude oil prices surged after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and stalled tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, pushing gas prices sharply higher across the country, though Oregon and Washington are seeing smaller increases than many other states.
The national average price for regular gasoline jumped 43 cents over the past week to $3.54 a gallon.
Oregon’s average rose 31 cents to $4.26 a gallon, the 42nd-largest week-over-week increase among states.
Washington also increased 31 cents, ranking 44th-largest.
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The current national average is at its highest price since July 2024. Oregon’s average is at its highest since Sept. 2025.
“When crude oil prices shoot up, pump prices follow suit because crude oil is the basic ingredient in gasoline and diesel. It’s impossible to predict how high prices might go, but expect elevated oil and gas prices as long as the conflict in Iran continues and tankers are stalled in the Strait of Hormuz,” said Marie Dodds, public affairs director for AAA Oregon/Idaho.
AAA notes that, in general, every $1 increase in the price of crude oil leads to a 2.4- to 2.5-cent increase in the price of gasoline.
Crude oil typically accounts for about 47% of the cost of a gallon of gasoline, with refining at 16%, distribution and marketing at 20%, and taxes at 17%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
About 20% of the world’s oil and refined products flow through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passageway of the Persian Gulf bordered by Iran.
Tankers traveling through the strait carry oil from major producers including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq and Iran. Any disruption can affect global oil supplies. While the U.S. does not rely on Iranian oil, China and India do.
Seasonal factors are also adding upward pressure. Gas prices typically rise starting in mid-to-late winter and early spring as refineries undergo maintenance ahead of the switch to summer-blend fuel, which is more expensive to produce and less likely to evaporate in warmer temperatures.
National gas price comparison/AAA chart
Most areas have a May 1 compliance date for refiners and terminals, while most gas stations have a June 1 deadline to switch to selling summer-blend. Some refineries begin maintenance and the switchover in February.
In Oregon, the average price for regular gas began 2026 at $3.42 a gallon. The highest price of the year so far is today’s $4.26, and the lowest was $3.33 on Jan. 20. Nationally, the average began 2026 at $2.83 a gallon. The highest price of the year so far is today’s $3.54, and the lowest was $2.795 on Jan. 11.
AAA reported that U.S. gasoline demand decreased from 8.73 million barrels per day to 8.29 million for the week ending Feb. 27, compared with 8.88 million a year ago.
Total domestic gasoline supply decreased from 254.8 million barrels to 253.1 million. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.3 million barrels per day compared with 9.2 million barrels per day the previous week.
Crude oil prices have been volatile. West Texas Intermediate surged to near four-year highs around $95 per barrel this week but fell to the $80s today as President Trump signaled the conflict with Iran may end soon.
On the West Coast, all seven states remain in the top 10 for the most expensive pump prices nationally.
California has the highest average for the fifth week in a row at $5.29 a gallon and is the only state at or above $5.
Washington is second at $4.69, Hawaii third at $4.59, Nevada fourth at $4.30 and Oregon fifth at $4.26. Arizona averages $3.97 and Alaska $3.95.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia saw week-over-week increases. California had the largest jump at 62 cents, while Hawaii had the smallest at 19 cents. AAA said Oregon and Washington prices also rose last month after an outage of the Olympic pipeline.
The cheapest gas in the nation is in Kansas at $2.96 a gallon and Oklahoma at $3.01. Kansas is the only state with an average in the $2 range this week. The gap between the most expensive and least expensive states is $2.33 this week, up from $2.05 a week ago.
Compared with a month ago, prices are higher everywhere: the national average is up 62 cents and Oregon’s average is up 68 cents.
Compared with a year ago, the national average is up 45 cents and Oregon’s average is up 53 cents.
Diesel prices also spiked. The national average for diesel rose 89 cents over the week to $4.78 a gallon, while Oregon’s average jumped 72 cents to $5.02.
A year ago, the national average for diesel was $3.63 and Oregon’s average was $3.86.
Utah’s Republican-controlled legislature is escalating its fight against the state’s anti-gerrymandering law after a series of court rulings threatened the congressional map that has long favored the GOP.
In the latest move, lawmakers passed a new rule over the weekend that blocks many voters from withdrawing their signatures from a petition that sought to repeal Proposition 4 ahead of a Monday deadline, undermining efforts by grassroots groups to preserve the reform. That could affect the result of the petition after some voters said they were misled by Republicans who asked them to sign.
The move comes as redistricting battles intensify across the US ahead of the midterm elections. Courts in several states are weighing lawsuits over congressional maps, while Donald Trump has urged Republican governors to redraw districts in ways that could strengthen GOP control of House seats.
On 25 August 2025, third district judge Dianna Gibson ruled that Utah lawmakers had unconstitutionally overridden Proposition 4, the 2018 voter-approved initiative that created an independent redistricting commission, set neutral mapping criteria and required greater transparency in the process.
Gibson sided with the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government, striking down the state’s 2021 congressional maps and reinstating Proposition 4 as a binding law, which allows independent bodies to redraw the districts. The ruling aligned with public opinion as well, according to the conservative Sutherland Policy Institute, which found that 85% of registered Utah voters support involving an independent commission in redistricting.
Gerrymandering’s impact has been most severe in Salt Lake county, Utah’s youngest and most populous county, which heavily leans Democratic. The 2021 Republican-drawn maps split the county across all four districts, diluting urban Democratic votes and entrenching GOP dominance.
“Salt Lake county was chopped into pieces,” said Katharine Biele, president of the League of Women Voters of Utah. “This new map reunifies the county, so people there have a fair chance to be heard.” By consolidating the county into a single district, the revised map restored genuine electoral competition; it could also give Democrats a fair chance to win one of Utah’s four congressional seats in the midterm elections.
But the sense of optimism many in Salt Lake City felt in August has steadily faded as Republicans have passed layers of legislation aimed at weakening or repealing Proposition 4. After the district court ruling last year, Utah’s Republican leadership quickly rejected the decision. Some lawmakers even threatened to impeach Judge Gibson.
As it became clear that Proposition 4 could deliver an additional seat to Democrats, the fight drew national attention. Trump and JD Vance both weighed in, framing the dispute as part of a broader struggle over election rules, with Trump immediately taking to social media, calling the proposition “unconstitutional” and the judges part of the “Radical Left”.
“What’s really frustrating is seeing that instead of listening to the people, and to the courts who are trying to keep them in line, they’re just trying to change the rules,” said Elizabeth Rasmussen, executive director of Better Boundaries, an advocacy group that had been running an awareness effort urging petition signers to withdraw their signatures before the Republican’s latest legislation.
In late January, Utah Republicans passed legislation adding two seats to the state’s supreme court. The state’s governor, Spencer Cox, quickly signed the bill into law, expanding the court from five to seven justices. Critics argue the move amounts to court expansion aimed at blunting the impact of rulings related to Proposition 4.
“Disagreement with judicial decisions is normal,” Rasmussen said, referencing criticism from the Trump administration and frustration expressed by the governor. “But impeaching a judge because you lost is not. Trying to rewrite the rules after the fact is not. Court-packing is not how this system works.”
(The Guardian reached out to the Utah governor’s office for comment multiple times but had not received a response at the time of publication.)
In early February, with the deadline to file for re-election just over a month away, two Utah Republican members of Congress, representatives Celeste Maloy and Burgess Owens, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state court’s order to reinstate the district court-approved map. They argued that the ruling violated the US constitution and asked the US district court for Utah to restore the map passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2021.
Later that month, a three-judge federal panel rejected the GOP-led effort to block the new House map. The judges denied Republicans’ request for a preliminary injunction, allowing the revised map to be used in this year’s election and giving Democratic candidates a potential opportunity to win a US House seat. (The Guardian reached out to the Utah GOP for comment in December but had not received a response as of publication.)
Biele, of the League of Women Voters of Utah, sharply criticized Republican lawmakers, calling the move an abuse of power. “Every time they lose, or get a ruling they don’t agree with, they change the rules so it works for them,” she said.
But in a final push to overturn Proposition 4, Utah Republicans announced last Monday that they had submitted enough verified signatures to qualify a repeal measure for the November ballot, with a deadline to verify on 9 March. Once verified, county clerks were expected to publish the names of signers, triggering a 45-day window during which voters could withdraw their signatures – a process later threatened by the weekend legislation to make it harder to do so.
Rasmussen, executive director of Better Boundaries, said the bill was pushed through with little public scrutiny. “This bill was obviously planned to pass as the clock ran out with very little public input,” she said. “It was introduced at 11pm on a Friday, the last night of the legislative session, and was signed into law only 12 hours later.” She added that the move reflects a broader problem.
“This type of legislative behavior is what happens when there aren’t any checks on power.”
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