OUR VIEW:Trespass for me, but not for thee

City Councilman Scott Hente wants to enforce the law against two activists charged with trespassing — a crime Hente has committed with brazen routine.

Hente is concerned about a case against Douglas Bruce and Doug Stinehagen, who police charged with trespass as they collected signatures on a petition in a Costco parking lot. Hente urged the city attorney to re-charge the men after a judge tossed the case Monday because of inaccuracies in the police citation. Four of Hente’s colleagues also urged re-prosecution, yet none has advocated prosecuting Hente for his own history of trespass.

Monday, after the judge tossed the Bruce case, City Attorney Patricia Kelly e-mailed City Council members, wondering whether to drop the case or pursue it again. Councilmen Tom Gallagher and Darryl Glenn expressed their desire for Kelly to drop it. “Refiling the complaint makes us look vindictive & petty,” wrote Gallagher.

The case allows Bruce to accuse the council of not respecting the constitutional right to petition government. Petitions are so sacred that a city directive told police to avoid trespassing citations against people circulating petitions on private property open to the public. The county has the same policy, but city officials changed theirs just as Bruce began circulating a petition for a ballot measure to reduce city revenue.

Other council members told Kelly to go get Bruce. “I support moving forward” wrote Councilwoman Jan Martin; “We cannot allow laws to only apply to those who don’t have a soapbox,” wrote Councilman Bernie Herpin; “I support moving forward,” wrote Mayor Lionel Rivera.

In response to the city attorney’s e-mail, Police Chief Richard Myers weighed in: “I strongly believe this is a law enforcement/prosecutorial matter, and as such, would ask that you proceed forthwith.”

“I’m with the chief on this one,” wrote Councilman Hente. And who could blame him? It’s the law.

Three days later, Thursday’s Gazette carried a front-page story about the Manitou Incline. The trail runs though a large chunk of private property owned by the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. Unlike Costco, the incline isn’t open to the public. Cog officials have for years suffered trespassers who ignore a written notice to keep out.

Thursday’s story, like others before it, identified Hente as “a regular Incline user” — aka a regular trespasser.

Hente told The Gazette’s opinion department he knowingly trespassed for years, ignoring the written notice. He stopped a year ago because of health and “public relations” concerns.

Hente said his trespassing differs from Bruce’s for two reasons: “Number one, I stopped; number two, I’m working within the system to legalize the activity,” Hente said.

So he’s no different than Bruce, who has stopped collecting signatures at Costco. Furthermore, Bruce is working within the system to restore the city directive that defended gathering signatures in places of public accommodation.

Cog Railway General Manager Spencer Wren said Hente’s trespassing has caused his company grief. Hente’s known trespassing has contributed to what Wren calls a “sense of acceptability” that has caused hundreds to trespass each day. The trespassers harm Wren’s business. They fill his parking lot, running off rail customers. He said trespassers hold up the trains by using the depot’s restrooms, causing passengers to wait in long lines before the train can depart. They cause him a “liability nightmare.”

The Cog’s lawyer, Kyle Hybl, said he’s aware of Hente’s admissions of trespassing.

“I would say this to anyone using the Incline: It is trespassing, and it is breaking the law,” Hybl said.

It seems odd that a trespass case, tossed by a judge, would become the subject of a discussion between the mayor, the city attorney, the police chief and council members. Hente agrees. This high-level concern about a questionable misdemeanor charge, for a crime Hente has committed routinely, smacks of malicious political prosecution of Bruce.

“I was mystified by that,” Hente said of the e-mail exchange. “In six and a half years on the council, I can’t think of another time we’ve been asked to weigh in on a criminal prosecution. Ms. Kelly asked our opinion, so I said ‘I support the chief,’ that’s all. But I am mystified that we discussed it.”

It’s nice that Hente and his colleagues support the chief in seeking justice for Costco, which was somehow harmed by a petition drive. It’s too bad he has shown such little regard for private property that’s not even open to the public. We must not stand for hypocrisy and double standards at City Hall. We must not tolerate the political prosecution of a citizen — even Douglas Bruce.