Fairplay is beautiful country for sure. It's beautiful and I saw my first moose there! I loved my girlfriend's home. I would take the kids up to visit often in the last couple of years. It was my sanctuary... my place to breathe.
I'm a dreamer. I always have been. I am always optimistic and not such a great planner. I just believe it will work out somehow and go with it. Deep down, I felt as if I would end up in my girl's house.
I did end up living in her home, but it was very short lived. I am still very grateful! I spent every night there being grateful for every part of it. I loved the big, jacuzzi tub in the master suite. It was shaped like a heart and located right in the bedroom. I had double sinks, a separate toilet area, and a walk in, 7-headed shower with a bench! The whole house was tiled with slate. The wood work was amazing! There were three bedrooms and three baths... all of which were jacuzzi tubs. Big windows, beautiful lot full of Aspens... just perfect.
She was letting her home go into foreclosure. There are enough foreclosures and empty homes and I needed to move out of the trailer I was staying in, so I moved into my dream home as soon as my girlfriend moved out.
The trailer I had been staying in had an electric bill averaging $150 a month in the summer time! I didn't have AC, didn't have a swamp cooler (didn't need it in the mountains), no washer or dryer... why was bill SO high? I found out later that the tenant before me had sued the landlord for having an electric water heater leak and not taking care of it, causing her really high utility bills. The same problem still existed. And my plants leaves were turning black! I've never seen that before. Looking back, my kiddos were sick for a few weeks... it was definitely mold.
After we moved into my girlfriend's home, I decided to find a good middle school for my girl. I had already decided on and enrolled my boys into an amazing Montessori school in the area. The kids and I investigated, visited and researched the three different options around the area. We chose one that was in Buena Vista... about a 45 minute drive from our home in Fairplay. It's SO important to me that my kids be somewhere we are all comfortable with. I was willing to drive about 20 minutes to the bus stop where Tiana would get on a bus and go another 25 minutes to school. We loved that school so much, we checked out the Elementary school and decided that would fit Jayden's needs. So, both the girls would get on the same bus and go to school in BV.
I had a plan... all the kids in schools that would help them excel and grow as beautiful beings, then I was to get a full time job. All while I was living in a foreclosed property... that was the uncertainty in the big picture. But affordable and ours while we were there. I had already been balancing a part time job at a cute cafe/bakery in the town of Fairplay.
Then, after hearing all of the horrible cop/sheriff stories... it happened.
I got a call from my cousin at around 6am. Andrew said he was coming through Fairplay on his way to BV and wanted to stop and see us. I told him we were on our way out the door and headed to the bus stop which was right on his way to BV. We decided to meet up at the bus stop.
He is 19 (about the same age as my oldest daughter) and had two buddies with him around the same age. They are all white with tattoos everywhere.
I pulled right between two families who were also waiting for the bus. Andrew came running up to the car and we had a small reunion at the bus stop. The kids were really excited to see him... especially my boys. They love to play with Andrew because he wrestles with them and gives them gifts like boxing gloves. It's all about the manly energy with these boys.
My two girls got on the bus and Andrew decided he had some time and wanted to see my new place. So Andrew hopped in my car and his two buddies followed us as we headed to my house.
Right down from the pass, there was a sheriff parked on the side of the road. I look up and the two boys behind me were getting pulled over. Andrew and I and my three boys pulled ahead a ways, pulled over and waited. When it seemed like forever and they didn't come, we went back to make sure they were alright.
The sheriff was still behind them with his lights on until I passed him. He then turned his lights off, turned around, got behind me, turned on his lights and pulled me over. By this time, I had a gut feeling he had profiled us. It was my hair, their tattoos, and later I realized it may have been all of the above AND my beautiful darker skinned babies. Someone else had to point that out because my being doesn't even think like that.
Sheriff Brown came to my window and asked for my DL and registration... I said no. I was kind of angry and unhappy that he had pulled me over. I wasn't speeding, I didn't violate any laws... why was this man pulling me over.
I said, "No... tell me why you pulled me over." The sheriff started to tell me that the Wild Life Officer (who I had seen before at the bus stop) that was dropping off his son, called in and said there was suspicious activity at the bus stop. I asked him again, "So, why did you pull ME over?" The sheriff then said for a traffic violation. I asked then if that was a general statement so he would have time to think of a real reason. Again, I asked why he pulled me over. He then said it was because I had a kid in the back... meaning Isaiah in the trunk space. I answered with, "There are three (kids) in here... two in car seats and one in the back in his seat belt. There are seats back there." He acted surprised, but not really.
The sheriff had finally come up with probable cause... he was checking to make sure my kids were in car seats that needed to be. He didn't find anything to charge Andrew's buddies with and I found out later he had told them (as I was driving by to check on them) that he was going to pull me over next to find out what was "really" going on.
I finally gave in and gave him my DL, registration and expired insurance card.
Come to find out, my DL had been cancelled and denied due to an unpaid ticket (for expired tags) from last year. On top of that, my insurance card was expired. The sheriff proceeded to give me a piece of paper that stated my license was cancelled and it wasn't lawful to drive, but it wasn't a ticket. The second piece of paper was a ticket that said if I showed insurance on the court date next month, that ticket would be dropped.
So, I couldn't drive and my cousin didn't have a DL. We had to walk. My cousin hopped in the car with his buddies and I told him to head onto BV. My three sons and I started walking the opposite direction toward Fairplay.
There I was in my PJ's and my youngest, Keenan, didn't have his shoes on.
It didn't take long before a really nice Bishop from an Orthodox church in the canyon pulled over and picked us up. I asked him to take me to the sheriff's office. I was going to submit a complaint... that's what I did.
After submitting the complaint stating I felt as if the officer had profiled us, I was on foot trying to figure out my next step. My priority was to get my license back... so I headed toward Frisco to the closest DMV. Frisco was a good 45 minute DRIVE from Fairplay. I was on foot, but knew it would work out.
A local man saw us and recognized us. He picked us up and drove us over the pass, to my girlfriends house to pick up some cash, and onto Frisco to get my license reinstated. He then took me back over the pass and to my car just in time to pick up my girls. My insurance? Well, in my mind I was thinking I had until the court date to update and show proof of insurance and I was out of cash. I was planning on taking it out of my next child support payment.
The day before he pulled me over for the second time, Tiana had surgery and I had just started my cycle. I was up all day and night taking her to and from the hospital and then feeding and caring for the rest of my crew. I was tired, emotional, and just beat.
That morning, I was taking Jayden to the school bus. Tiana was home recovering. Her stitches had come out the night before and she was really not feeling well.
After Jayden got on the bus, I headed home. Down the hill from the bus stop, the sheriff was waiting for me again. He got behind me and pulled me over. As he walked up to the car, I asked if he would be doing this regularly. I asked if maybe we would eventually be friends... he said no we wouldn't. I also asked if this was because I had dread locks? Why was he focused on me? He said this time he had to make sure I got my license reinstated and had updated my insurance. I handed him my new paper license (they were mailing my real license to my PO Box). I told him I still had the expired insurance card and I thought I had until the court date to show that.
The sheriff took my paper license and said he was happy to see I had reinstated that.... now he was going to suspend it again - this time, for four months! He went back to his SUV with my paper license. When he came back he had two pieces of paper for me to sign. One was a ticket for insurance. I signed it. The second was this piece of paper that said I would have a seven day permit. He said I could drive my car and go get insurance that day, then I was going to need a SR22 and my license would be suspended thereafter for four months! I kept repeating that back to him and by this time, I was in tears. I just didn't understand why I would sign this paper, go pay more money that I didn't have for insurance, all to have my license suspended again for four months? I was tired, exhausted and just done. Trying to do the single mama thing, moving, checking out schools, signing all of the papers to get my babies in schools, dentist appointments, doctor's appointments, working.... I was just done.
I asked him how I was going to get my kids to school, to the grocery store, to the appointments I had coming up for the dentist and doctors... how was this going to work? He said I would need to have someone drive my kids to and from the bus stop for me. I replied, "Mark..."
He said, "My name is Mike."
I said, "Okay, Mike... you don't get it. I have nobody up here. There is nobody that is going to take my kids to and from school. I will have to withdraw them. I have one girlfriend in Breckenridge... that's it. I am a single mama of five." All of this while tears were streaming.
I felt like at that moment, he had a change in demeanor. Compassion... he was feeling compassion. Something changed, but it was too late. He had already sent in the call and filled out the papers. That is how it felt to me.
The sheriff ended up towing my car because I wouldn't sign this piece of paper. I ended up walking again on the highway to nowhere. I had grabbed my boy's skateboards and helmets because I was sure I wasn't going to see my car again. I was out of money and energy. I called my only girlfriend who was about 45-1 hour away to come pick me up. It was good I had that time on the side of the highway, because I needed a good cry. I needed time to walk it out.
I take full responsibility for the lack of insurance. I do believe the sheriff had a wide range of options to choose from when deciding what to do with me. I feel like he chose the harshest of them. I also believe that profiling was the initial reason for the first stop... that is against the law.
Not so "Fair." Maybe they should rename the town. ;)
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