August 17, 2023 11:30 AM UTC

We Are All Sheriff Bill Masters

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• by: Colorado Pols

In case you missed this news from Monday, Black Bear Pass in the San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado (near Telluride) is currently closed to traffic…but that didn’t stop some off-road enthusiasts from trying to drive up the mountain anyway.

From Denver7:

Monday’s incident started in the afternoon, when the sheriff’s office warned that a red Toyota 4Runner was stuck below a section of the pass called the stairs or the steps. In this area, drivers must navigate four switchbacks on a narrow road above a 1,500-foot drop. The 4Runner was partially off the roadway and blocking all other traffic. The sheriff’s office said more than a dozen cars were lined up behind it…

…Based on the sheriff’s office investigation, the people in the 4Runner drove around deep snow on the pass after digging around it for hours this past weekend. They posted on social media that the pass “was unofficially open,” the sheriff’s office said, even though it was closed.

San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters, who is the longest-serving Sheriff in the history of Colorado, had some colorful (and accurate) language to describe what happened:

[mantra-pullquote align=”center” textalign=”center” width=”95%”]“Some people have it together and know what they are doing, but some who venture up there are complete ass clowns.”

— San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters[/mantra-pullquote]

Denver7 followed up with San Miguel County and got an equally-great response from Susan Lilly, public information officer with the sheriff’s office:

“The sheriff has had many reasons to call people ‘ass clowns’ privately and behind closed doors. There’s no shortage of reasons that people could be called that,” she said. [Pols emphasis] “But in this case, he’s really calling attention to how important it is for people to be prepared, experienced, have the right vehicle before they go up, and drive a very, very dangerous pass.”

You might recall another memorable line from the San Miguel County Sheriff’s office in January 2020, when a social media post described a large boulder that fell onto a highway as being “the size of a small boulder.”

We here at Colorado Pols and the Get More Smarter Podcast are certainly not opposed to this sort of colorful language, though we tend to prefer “asshats” to “ass clowns.” Either way, we salute you, Sheriff Masters!