Actions that were meant to be all in good fun in Indian Hills turned into quite a controversy Wednesday.
The Indian Hills Community Center has a sign that's updated every few days with new funny, pun-filled one-liners and jokes. The sign has a big following, it has more than 4,000 people following its updates on its Facebook page. It all started four years ago with an April Fool's joke.
"There are people from about 40 countries that follow our updates," MicahLynn Kaza, who runs the Facebook page, said. "Some of our posts have reached over three million people."
The community center, which has the sign on its property, is a non-profit that can be used by those who live in the area. It's in a historic building and it's run by a board of volunteers, with the help of fundraising events throughout the year.
"We've had memorial services here, weddings, receptions, birthday parties, veteran events," Vince Rozmiarek, who updates the sign every few days, said. "We just try to offer what we can to the community, and try to keep it open with our fundraisers."
Wednesday there was some controversy over the community center's sign, after a certain message was posted.
"We posted a message that said, 'turning vegan would be a big missed steak,' Vince has a wicked sense of humor," Kaza said. "That was the sign that started it, and then these women were driving through town and stopped and changed the letters, which we thought was hilarious. If they had only left the letters, it would have been awesome."
The women changed the sign to say "turning vegan is awesome." However, they took the letters left over from re-creating the sign with them. They then posted about changing the sign on Facebook.
"We thought their joke was funny, but also wanted to tell them that vegans lived in their community," Teri Font, who owns Handy Diner in Denver, said. "The reason I took the letters was because they were blowing around, and I didn't want them going into the street or into the river."
The fun continued then, too, when the Indian Hills Community Center Facebook page posted a ransom note for the letters.
"We posted and said hey, we've figured out who the thieves were, and here are their pages, let them know how you feel about them stealing our stuff," Kaza said. "That's when the big Facebook feud happened."
Then, those who support the sign started reaching out to the diner. Many comments and Facebook posts were written on the diner's Facebook page, condemning them for taking the letters.
"I understand people were angered by it, but it was all in good fun," Font said. "I've had people all over the country threatening me, and other people who were sticking up for us. I didn't even feel safe going back to Indian Hills to return the letters."
Kaza and Rozmiarek said there were also negative comments from those who are friends with the women who took the letters.
Ultimately, the groups met at a park Thursday night, a few miles from the Indian Hills Community Center, to return the letters.
"I apologized for it and brought the letters back less than 24 hours later," Font said. "I also brought them a box of donuts, to thank them for the trouble this caused."
Rozmiarek said he contacted the police department to see if charges could be filed, but decided that the community center would not take any action.
"I would say that I'm not sorry for changing the letters, but I am sorry for taking them," Font said. "It was an eye-opening experience, I made a lot of enemies, but I also made some friends who invited me to play volleyball at the community center this summer. So, I'll probably do that, once I feel safe going there again."
The Indian Hills Community Center changed their sign Thursday to say, "I have no beef with vegans."
