On May 18, 2023, at 6:05pm an organized group of Tanglewood Lakes residents (approximately 45 persons or more) gathered at the gates of Tanglewood Lakes and removed the gates from the entrances as a protest.
Two Deputies arrived at 6:27pm to find multiple individuals at each gate removing the components of the gate. The crowd at the gates were upset with the Tanglewood Lakes Management for disallowing them to enter and exit the gates freely. Deputies were grossly outnumbered in the situation and all of the gates had already suffered damages or were removed. Deputies attempted to communicate with the subjects and their requests were denied. The protest was peaceful yet damaging. It is the belief of the Deputies that aggressive action would have resulted in violence or injury to citizens or themselves.
Deputies identified many of the subjects at the event. Reports will be sent to the Linn County Attorney to determine the charges in the case. There were no threats nor violent actions on behalf of the persons removing the gates.
Last night, we stationed a Deputy in the area of Tanglewood Lakes to attempt to deal with any further fall out regarding the situation, there was none.
Apparently there have been videos released on social media by the persons who removed the gates, in these videos the presenter would suggest that the Sheriff’s Office was on their side, and we were warned of the incident. We do not take sides and the presenter in the video did send me a text message at 5:28pm telling me that the gates would be removed. I did not see this text message until 6:22pm when I received a phone call from my dispatcher telling me of the events ongoing at Tanglewood. My Office was not notified of upcoming events through any proper channels, such as calling Communications to make a report of the event.
Since the event at Tanglewood, Deputies have prepared reports for the Linn County Attorney’s review. The Linn County Attorney will be the responsible party to bring charges in the event, as with all cases. We will expect warrants or summons from the Office of the Linn County Attorney to further the case.
Several callers this morning would suggest to the Sheriff’s Office that we should have stopped the incident at any cost. My response to this is that the incident was nearly complete upon our arrival. We have collected evidence and identified many people involved. If we would have taken aggressive measures to stop the incident, injury would have certainly occurred. In todays society we have trained to de-escalate situations without blood shed or injury to the citizens that we serve.
Moving forward we will be presenting reports to the Linn County Attorney for prosecution as discussed above.
Kevin J. Friend
Linn County Sheriff
EDITORS NOTE: Staff at the Linn County News are working on this story as it develops and plan to have a full article in next week's edition.
NEWS
Pleasanton awarded $617,000 KDOT street grant

The city of Pleasanton was notified June 24 that they were the recipients of a much-needed street grant in the amount of $617,000. City Administrator Becky Hegwald said, “I was surprised when we got it; you normally have to apply several times. I didn’t have a lot... [More]
Commissioners discuss development zoning appeals

Linn County Planning and Zoning Director Ben Souza deferred to Interim Public Works Administrator Jesse Walton during the June 30 meeting of the Linn County Commissioners in regards to a request from Jan Longenecker for an appeal on a building permit. During the meeting, Walton... [More]
Questions on employee emails leads to lengthy discussion

Commissioner Alison Hamilton asked IT Director Chris Martin during the meeting on June 30 if he has knowledge of which employees have a county email and which do not. Martin replied it was likely that road and bridge employees and operators do not currently have a county email.... [More]
More News
- NOTICE:
- Tanglewood Lakes files suit against Board of County Commissioners
- Case filed alleging exploitation of minors, breach of privacy
- La Cygne executes pool bond defeasance
- CANCELED: Statewide Purple Alert issued for missing Yates Center woman
- Parker mayor seeks affidavits to file charges
- USD 346 board learns of overpayments
- NOTICE
SPORTS
Gratton at Nationals

Pleasanton’s Ashton Gratton qualifies for the Adidas Nationals in Greensboro, North Carolina after winning the 100 and 200 meter dashes in the KSHSAA 2A State tournament in Wichita on May 31. The Adidas Nationals took place from June 20-22 and Gratton did well in both the... [More]
Summer Ball Tournaments

The Parker 8-11 baseball team 1 places first in their league tournament at La Cygne on June 28. See more photos on page B1 of this week's edition.
More Sports
- Pleasanton/Jayhawk trapshooting team places seventh at State, Wallace earns State championship
- Joey Ewalt impacting youth wrestling here and abroad
- Prairie View trapshooting competes at State
- Pleasanton and Jayhawk baseball on the 2025 All TRL team
- Jayhawk Linn softball has three All TRL unanimous selections
- Trenton Broyles leads Hawks at State track
- Prairie View track earns six medals at State
- Pleasanton’s Gratton wins two golds, sets meet record
COMMUNITY
Wade recounts WWII experience in South West Pacific theatre

Roy Wade sat at his son and daughter-in-law’s home with a stack of well-organized notes, maps and historic documents, notes that gave cliff notes of a life lived almost 82 years ago during WWII. Wade was drafted, like other men 18 years of age and older during the war,... [More]
Cultivating Kindness film crew win Telly Awards

On April 27, local filmmaker and producer, Sue Vicory held a premier for her newest film, Cultivating Kindness, at the Blue Moon Youth Center in Blue Mound. At that time, several community members involved in creating the film, along with all of the USD 346 students who were... [More]
Local roots bring couple back to familiar territory

Continuing non-profit to aid handicapped children Coal mining has a long, rich history in Linn County; and with it, the families that forged lives and made the county what it is. Jefferson Davis (JD) Robinson is one of those coal mining names of past as he was instrumental... [More]
More Community
- Remembering those who gave all
- Prairie View FFA captures State Ag Mechanics Championship
- Free summer meals for kids age 1 to 18 in Pleasanton
- New rescue seeks donations to aid startup
- Cultivating Kindness film premiere held on April 27
- Jayhawk Linn to present ‘Maid to Order’ for spring play
- Students surprise teacher with bell ringing
- Shillito selected for Heartland Youth Tour