Fleming & Sterling, Colorado

• Interviews By
• Grace Hood
• Photos By
• Hart Van Denburg
• Back To Map

“I like the windmills but I realize that we need other sources of energy because wind and solar are inconsistent,” said Kues referring to the eight windmills on his land outside Fleming, Colorado, which produce quarterly royalty checks. Kues voted for President Trump in 2016. “As far as what he’s accomplishing I think he’s doing well. He could forgo some of his Twitter comments though.”

“Wheat harvest is the big time of the year,” said Jerry Atkins, who works at CHS Grainland Cooperative in Fleming, Colorado. Atkins grew up in Fleming and has lived there the majority of his life. His husband moved from Britain to Fleming several years ago. “It’s forced me to be more acknowledging of my life. But I think it’s more viewed as what we do for the community; the kind of people we are. Our terribly radical agenda of owning a home, paying bills shopping for groceries and running away once in a while to find some culture...We’re normal people.”

The driver waits and a worker keeps an eye on things as a truck is loaded with grain from the elevator at the Fleming Farmers Coop in Fleming along Hwy 6 east of Sterling.

“I have an accent. I know how to speak and I understand English,” said Elizabeth Hernandez, a Mexican immigrant who recently married an American and is applying for a green card. Hernandez lives in Sterling and says she’s faced more harassment since President Donald Trump was elected. “Now everyone is more racist. It’s more aggressive. It’s more of a struggle.”

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