Feuding El Paso County neighbors agree to mediation, but not all appear pleased

A nationally publicized feud between Black and white neighbors in eastern El Paso County may be moving toward a legal conclusion.

In a Monday hearing at the El Paso County courthouse, Teresa Clark, who has been involved in a series of legal disputes with ranchers Courtney and Nicole Mallery, agreed to attempt to resolve the dispute through mediation.

Clark appeared before county Judge Meredith Patrick Cord for a pre-trial readiness conference in connection with her September arrest for allegedly violating a restraining order that required her to stay at least 100 yards from the Mallerys’ property. She had been scheduled to stand trial on Tuesday.

Last Thursday, Nicole and Courtney Mallery expressed willingness to mediate when they appeared in court to address felony charges of stalking, for which they were arrested in November and February, respectively. Clark is named as the stalking victim in the arrest documents.

The proposed mediation could be the first step toward a peaceful resolution to a clash that reportedly began as a disagreement over an easement between neighboring properties before snowballing into dueling restraining orders, accusations of racism, several arrests, and accusations of biased policing against the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.

In a story published in January by Ark Republic, an online media outlet based in New Jersey, the Mallerys alleged that Clark and other Yoder residents were waging a racist intimidation campaign against them, including online threats, the poisoning of their animals and the disabling of their security system. Nicole Mallery also accused an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy of playing favorites, referring to the officer as Clark’s “personal policeman.”

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