GRAND JUNCTION — About two dozen protesters disrupted a foreclosure auction in downtown Grand Junction this morning before three were arrested and the auction of foreclosed homes continued.
The handful of protesters who squeezed into a small public trustee’s office when the auction was scheduled to begin chanted, “stop this auction.” They had planned to clear the room with an air horn, but the horn malfunctioned and only made a hissing sound.
“You guys are making money off of peoples’ dreams, dude,” protest organizer Jacob Richards told Mesa County Public Trustee Paul Brown as Brown tried to start the auction.
Richards, who was one of those arrested, said the protest was held to bring attention to the 670 homes in foreclosure proceedings in Mesa County. Two dozen of those homes were being auctioned off today. Photographs of the homes were spread out on a conference table where more than 20 potential buyers were gathered.
One of the protesters was Cynthia Sexton, a woman whose home was being sold. She was taken away in handcuffs while her adult daughter cried in the hallway and clutched a sale notice where the home she had grown up in was listed for sale as #2011-0606.
Officers initially tried to force members of the media to leave the protest scene, which had been announced in advance, before the officers peacefully arrested the protesters inside the auction room. Other protesters outside continued to wave signs and chant, “They got bailed out. We got sold out.”
Protesters had an array of reasons for joining the movement.
“I became radicalized when the Supreme Court decided that corporations were people,” said Averill Bowers.
Sally Matchett, who holds a doctorate in philosophy and formerly taught at Colorado Mesa University, said she came out because, “for years I’ve been concerned about the growing gap.”
“It’s time to realize we are all a part of this,” Matchett said.
Members of local Tea Party groups watched and filmed the protest from across the street.
Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com
