Threatening public officials, attempting arson for hire and being generally obnoxious. Those are just some of the things Denver resident Pete Elliott has been accused of while running a fireworks business in Laramie County, Wyoming.sits off Interstate 25 outside of Cheyenne, around three miles from the Colorado border.
Elliott's adversaries, however, insist the conflict is more about the"being a jerk" part than the"go back to Colorado" part. Elliott denies almost all of the allegations hurled at him, admitting only to using strong-arm advertising practices that the county and his competition don't enjoy. But even his most objectionable behavior has been legal, he argues, adding that the county shouldn't be able to punish his business just because they don't like him.
After he was bought out in the early 2000s, Elliott focused on running fireworks tents and Christmas tree lots throughout Colorado. He says that when he returned to Laramie County to open Jurassic Fireworks with his daughter in 2018, he felt like the county was trying to block their application, accusing them of providing incorrect or inconsistent information about the application and holding them to different standards regarding issues like storage and building regulations.
“What we have is a novice in the sale and management of fireworks stores. That’s a concern," Alex Davison, an attorney for Phantom Fireworks, said during his testimony on June 4, 2019."Anything that any of us do in the business that creates concern or a problem could very easily end up reflecting on everyone in the business.
This spring, Goldberg told commissioners that she once caught a man damaging her merchandise and ripping off price tags; she said that the man told her he'd been hired to do so, but did not say who had hired him. She also said that her customers have complained about being verbally accosted while entering Phantom and that Elliott used to shout her name over his bullhorn, asking if she"enjoys working for liars and thieves.
The only report not connected to Phantom involves a 2019 call to the sheriff's office from the owner of a nearby bison ranch, who said that Jurassic employees were standing on a semi-trailer and waving customers toward the store. The employees ultimately agreed to leave without any further action taken, according to the sheriff's office records.
Thompson voted against the store's permits in 2022 and 2023, though he was the only commissioner to oppose the applications at the time. When those permits came up again this spring, he told his colleagues that rejecting them would"send a message." "You’re addressing a concern that was raised years ago," attorney Bruce Asay said during the May 7 reconsideration meeting."This past year, we have not had a single citation.”