Argument at pot protest heats up debate

The fight over recreational marijuana in Pueblo is getting very heated.

“He was trying to like push the camera down, and trying to take my camera, trying to take my sign out of my hand,” said Michael Tapia, who was at a marijuana protest and took video of a man yelling at other protesters.

Tapia was protesting the collection of signatures to ban recreation marijuana when the man approached them.

“As soon as he started yelling and I heard the tone of his voice it was time to turn the camera on,” Tapia said.

But Paula McPheeters with Citizens For A Healthy Pueblo says the whole story isn’t being told.

“I’m all for people voicing their opinions, but what we saw yesterday was 20-25 people protesting with signs and intimidating people that wanted to sign our petition,” McPheeters said.

The group held a meeting at a local restaurant Sunday to collect signatures in a safe environment.

“We just don’t want people to be afraid to sign our petitions,” McPheeters said.

Both groups say they are well within their rights.

“I mean we have a right to be out there. We have a right to have our voice heard,” Tapia said.

But the confrontation is evidence of a fight that is still heating up

“But we also want people to know we’re not going to quit collecting petition signatures. What happened yesterday is not something that’s going to keep us from doing our job as citizens,” McPheeters said.