OZARK, MO — A public outcry against sexually explicit library books erupted from a standing room only crowd at the Christian County Resource Management building at 1106 W. Jackson Street Saturday.
The purpose of the meeting was to establish topics of interest to voters and find think groups to come up with solutions. The meeting was the first in an ongoing series of countywide town hall type meetings for public input.
Lynn Morris’ turn
Christian County Presiding Commissioner Lynn Morris organized the meeting. “I was told by my predecessor (Ralph Phillips) this was a terrible idea (to invite public input on topics of interest),” Morris told the crowd. “It’s not terrible. It’s wonderful.”
“Most of you here are older,” he said, looking over the crowd. “Like me.”
“But we need more input from different age groups, and we’ll continue to work on that.”
Morris talked about the 3% sales tax proposal on the April 4 ballot. “Vote YES,” he said. “It’s not about approving recreational marijuana. That’s already been approved. It’s an additional tax only on recreational marijuana which we can use for our local law enforcement.”
Local authorities will see a rise in crime and expenses due to voters approving recreational marijuana in November, Morris said, citing other states such as Colorado, who have already faced the issue.
Advocates for recreational marijuana last year said taxes from weed would go to help law enforcement. Now that it’s approved, they’re trying to take the money for other purposes because they are twisted and greedy (CCT opinion).
“E-mail your state reps,” Morris urged. “I have a list of e-mails.”
State Rep Jamie Gragg’s turn
Morris then invited Missouri District 140 House Representative Jamie Ray Gragg to speak. “Remember the name Darin Chappell (Greene County District 137 State Representative),” Gragg said. “He’s investigating the marijuana tax issue and its impact.”
Gragg is co-sponsoring a proposed bill to increase teacher salaries. “Arkansas is way ahead of us; they start their teachers at $50,000 a year.”
Audience members voiced concern about administrative excesses in schools. Gragg agreed that administrative costs must be cut to accommodate teachers.
Everyone else’s turn
Each person was allowed to speak, starting at the front. As a CCT reporter, I jotted down the names of those I heard. I could be wrong, but I’m going to do my best. Apologies for errors in the names!
A mellow looking guy said he wanted more support for nonprofits.
Homeless students in Christian County
Morris interjected, “Do you know the largest homeless population in our county are school aged students? Some sleep in cars and they don’t have access to caregivers. Some choose to not live with anyone. We have around 300 homeless in Christian County. We must find affordable housing solutions through non-profits.”
Les Overall of Billings spoke, but I can’t recall what he said.
Margaret Hopper of rural Chadwick spoke about small business tax incentives and the need to monitor library books for youngsters.
Don Pettigrew said he was in favor of a higher quality of life and safety. “We need to protect seniors against higher taxes. We need a property tax freeze upon retirement.” Applause and enthusiastic murmurs of support met his remarks.
Ed Frederickson, a retired teacher from Ozark, said road issues and funding are a concern.
Larry Wolford of rural Rogersville advocated for a leash law. “We have a dog problem.”
James Eakins, pastor of the Ozark Full Gospel Church, started a thread of comments about inappropriate, sexually explicit books in school and public libraries. “We need to protect our children’s minds.”
Reggie Micham, another area pastor, held up a book about vampires, murder and cannibalism from the public library. “To say nothing in the face of evil is evil itself!” Enthusiastic applause followed.
Dale Roller, a pastor from Sparta, echoed Micham’s comments. “I’ve been in Sparta for 70 years. Some of those books allowed in the new Sparta library are bad!”
Sigi Hill was next. “Ozark school administrators are lying to the public. They have responsibility for millions of our property tax dollars. We must find out how our tax dollars are being spent!”
Mike Sullivan voiced concern over high Real Estate taxes and also the indecent library books.
Mary Hernandez-Carl said she and her husband recently moved here after serving in the Marines. “We moved here for the values of this area.”
Anthony Petrosino also moved here from California for conservative values. “I’m running for Ozark School Board,” he announced, adding that school libraries are allowing and promoting books that shouldn’t be there. “We need to influence culture, not have culture influence us.” Nods and affirmative response.
Token Liberals in every crowd
Jeremy Pace (?) was next in line to speak. He had the look and mannerisms of a liberal, nestled among conservatives. But, he chose not to pull the political trigger. “We need to focus on economic development.” Good answer, Jeremy.
His sidekick, Tamara Yancey, wasn’t so easy going. “I’m terrified by what I’m hearing,” she declared. “Not everyone here is Christian. You keep saying ‘our values’ but we don’t hold the same values.” Her remarks were met with a predictable discomfort.
The next left leaning guest was Matthew Suarez (the library board of trustees president), and a financial consultant. He, like Jeremy, chose the easy road. “We need to see how Christian County compares to the rest of the state in economic development.”
The dark-haired woman next to him chose to bow out completely, rather than raise a political ruckus.
“I’m just here to observe.”
Back to the conservatives
Rebecca, a woman standing the entire time, commented on the need for vetting elected officials.
Jeremy Burns, a county employee, said we need to watch our taxes.
Valerie Swearingen from Clever explained the importance of staying involved in local politics and preserving our Christian culture.
Echo Alexzander said, “I’ve lived here two years. I live in Highlandville. I’m very involved and interested in local happenings.”
Linda Waddell said she was concerned about library books that were indecent.
Linda Ray stressed the importance of knowing and learning the U.S. Constitution and voting.
John Hutchinson said his wife is running for Ozark city council. He is a conservative.
Donna Savage echoed sentiments about inappropriate library books.
Dean Savage, her hubby, echoed the echo.
Jewel Sterner of Sparta was also concerned about inappropriate library books in public and school libraries.
Randy Sterner said the same, adding something about law enforcement.
Shelly somebody spoke next, but this reporter has ADD.
Jean Ann Hutchinson had a list of items to talk about. After all, she’s running for Ozark city council. (Meanwhile, the liberals had excused themselves). “We need to focus on the Internet service; on economic development, and on agriculture,” she said. “We also need to focus on public safety and crime prevention.” (Good talking points; you got my vote, Jean Ann! Oops, I don’t live in Ozark! Nevermind…)
Jennifer Rosebrock, founder of Concerned Citizens of the Ozarks, talked about the merits of holding libraries accountable for certain books, and also made a plea for lowering business taxes.
Vernon somebody said we need to teach the next generation about moral values. Vernon’s wife also pleaded for a move of our nation back to its Godly foundation.
Charlie Carr, a well groomed gentleman in his early retirement years, was next. He stood up. “I moved from California to Oldfield because of the values and patriotism you all have,” he said. “If those people who don’t share our values moved to Los Angeles County for two weeks, they’d soon see why what we have here is so important.” Clapter and agreement followed. Yes, I said “clapter”. It’s clapping laughter. I made it up years ago.
Jim Nicely, an old timer from Oldfield, was next. He stood and did another impassioned speech about God and morality and Christian values.
David Failla, Jim’s buddy from Oldfield, was next. “I came here from Italy,” he said, standing. “My wife here doesn’t speak English. I know what facism is; I know what this country stands for; we need to preserve one nation under God!” His voice crescendoed amid wild applause and cheers.
I followed David. Standing, I said, “I’m Johnny Rooster. My real name is John Cockroft, so there’s a “cock” in my name, hence the nickname Rooster!”
Everyone laughed.
“I have known David for over 45 years; he hasn’t toned it down one bit.”
I added thanks to Lynn Morris for hosting the meeting and pointed out they could read about anything in the Christian County Trumpet. “We need to focus on cities and counties, from law enforcement to road crews, working together to accomplish the common goal of making our communities better.”
Chris Dyer talked about something different. “We have endangered bridges here in this county,” she said. “Please follow Save Riverside Bridge in Ozark MO on Facebook.”
Karen Trimble, long term real estate agent, spoke next, urging residents to put restrictions on youth vaping and emphasizing that a marijuana tax go back to Law Enforcement.
Amber Bryant spoke. She is running for Ozark School Board. She is also HR director for the county. Everybody likes her. She’s going to win the election because she’s so smart and professional.
Erma Holt said, “This is my first meeting. We need more. I am also concerned about those library books.”
Lynn Morris answered, “This is my first meeting, too. We are going to have more of these in Sparta, Clever, and other communities.”
Terrell Walker spoke up. “We need to find out what we’re spending on voting machines and get back to paper ballots and HAND COUNTING!” His comment was met with cheers.
Valerie Swearingen replied, “One county out of 114 in our state is going back to hand counting.”
“That’s a start,” Lynn said, diplomatically.
Barbara Walker said something next. I don’t remember. Probably about library books.
Andrea Cockroft spoke, much to my surprise. My wife hates public speaking. She was seated next to two sisters, 11 and 9. “These innocent children are why we are here. We need to protect them!”
John Garretty, a gray bearded grandfather of the two girls, said they moved recently from Texas to escape liberal politics. “I wish the liberals who left this meeting would have stayed to hear this,” he said.
His wife, Gretchen, said, “We need election reform. We left Texas because we wanted more freedom.”
Christina Tonsing spoke. She was wearing her Christina Tonsing for School Board shirt. She is an advocate for standing up to the tyranny in the Ozark school administration.
Pastor Alan Maggard of Bruner Baptist Church said, “we need school choice.”
Jeanette Lafferty of Sparta emphasized taking a stand for the children.
Mike Wells of Sparta said we need more meetings like this.
Judy Wells said we need to return to values and God.
Sandy, a blonde lady with glasses, said something but I was distracted by her good looks.
Thom Taylor, with his signature blazer and patriotic lapel pin, looked out over the top of his reading glasses parked on the tip of his nose. “They are misusing tax dollars in Nixa. We all need to go to boards, committees, public meetings of all kinds, and tell on them!”
Young business owner speaks
Matt Wickland, a young business owner, who moved back here from Nevada, said bluntly, “Planning and Zoning is interfering with development. They need to lift the 3-acre minimum for rural property development and take it down to one acre.”
Dennis Nelson, a big guy in overalls, agreed that P & Z is a problem. “We need to change the rules and restrictions.”
Ron Sanders of Nixa had the last word. “Get involved in attending school board meetings!”
The meeting adjourned with residents full of hope for the future of Christian County. Many more meetings are forthcoming.
See Lynn Morris for details!
Please take out my last name, I never shared it!