Submitted to Leadville Herald Democrat on October 28, 2026
Dear Editor:
For more than a decade, Advocates of Lake County has marked October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month with a display on the Lake County Courthouse lawn. The display is intended to honor survivors, raise awareness, and remind our community that domestic violence affects our neighbors, friends, and families. We are therefore concerned to learn that the Board of County Commissioners has adopted a new policy requiring board approval for displays such as ours.
We recognize and respect the county’s responsibility to protect public property and ensure compliance with the First Amendment. We also appreciate the county’s longstanding willingness to make this prominent public space available for community awareness campaigns. Our concern, therefore, is not with the intentions of the current commissioners, but with the precedent this policy establishes.
Public awareness campaigns addressing domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, suicide prevention, and other community health and safety issues should not be subject to the shifting political priorities of elected officials. A display welcomed by one Board of County Commissioners might be rejected by another, not because its purpose or content has changed, but because the composition of the board has.
This is precisely why some decisions are better governed by clear administrative policies than by individual votes of elected officials. Consistent, objective standards can protect both the county and the organizations serving our community, while helping ensure that decisions are not influenced by political considerations.
We are not suggesting that every organization should have unrestricted access to the courthouse lawn, nor are we questioning the need for reasonable rules. We are suggesting that the county establish a transparent, legally sound process for recognizing appropriate public awareness campaigns, with clear eligibility criteria and administrative implementation.
The courthouse is more than a government building. It is the seat of justice for victims of crime, making it a symbol of hope. Critically, it is also a symbol of our shared civic life, and its grounds have long served as a place where our community can recognize and act on the critical issues that affect all of us.
We hope the commissioners will reconsider this aspect of the new policy and work toward an approach that protects constitutional principles while preserving the courthouse lawn as a welcoming space for meaningful community awareness. We also hope that this new policy signals the county’s intention not to restrict public awareness campaigns, but to take a more active role in supporting them. We therefore look forward to the Board of County Commissioners formally sponsoring important public health and safety awareness initiatives, and encouraging Lake County Public Health to participate in and promote these efforts. Domestic violence prevention, like so many other public health concerns, deserves consistent institutional support that transcends changes in elected leadership.
Tim Best and Kristen King
Co-Executive Directors, Advocates of Lake County