Ambushed.

Shouldn't I be able to use the library without being ambushed by the minions of the Thayer Community "Betterment" Association?

I wonder how long they planned this.

On a related note, I didn't call in to the radio show. I did note, however, that the one call that made it through was from a tax supporter.

Two others were "mysteriously" dropped.

Bob Eckman of the TCBA was one of the two "guests" of the radio station, which is a part of the Ozark Radio Network. He also just happens to be a member of the Management Team of the Ozark Radio Network. The ORN has to my knowledge no plans to offer opponents of the tax a similar show. He also is one of the on-air staff, which means he makes his living by speaking on the air and thinking on his feet. I wonder, did he give the TCBA free commercial time on the ORN, in addition to this program, which was essentially an hour-long commercial itself? If so, that will free up one AM preset and three FM presets on my car radio, because if that is the case, I will refuse to listen to any of ORN's stations ever again.

The whole program was set up so that the two TCBAers, one of which is an on-air personality, could gang up on callers that are against the tax. If they had made it to the air, that is. So why would I have called in, to be ambushed?

But I did learn a couple of interesting things -- farm implements are exempt from the tax, while food is not. Why is this? Only a very few people would benefit from the farm implement exemption, but EVERYONE would benefit from a food exemption. Not everyone in Thayer has to farm, but EVERYONE in Thayer has to eat.

The two PRETENDED to answer why it's not earmarked on the ballot what the tax would be used for, but gave no real answer at all. And they ignored the issue of the tax NEVER ENDING completely.

They also flat-out lied and said the city council unanimously supported passage of the tax. Yet we see in the letters to the editor of the South Missourian News that two of the councilmembers (the letterwriter and one other) do NOT support passage. They supported PUTTING IT ON THE BALLOT, which is a different thing entirely from supporting passage.

And the reason they supported putting it on the ballot? I have it on good authority that the Chamber of Commerce/TCBA, at the city council meeting where it was decided to put it on the ballot, threatened to somehow backdoor the tax increase into law WITHOUT A VOTE OF THE PEOPLE if it WASN'T put on the ballot.

Now, onto the library ambush.

What you out-of-towners need to know is that the Library, the Thayer Health Department, and a chiropractor are in the same building, owned by the family of both the librarian and the chiropractor.

So I'm sitting here searching news stories on the computer a few minutes ago, obviously busy. In walks the chiropractor, who I have seen several times a week for years but who has never before said a word to me. He has the copy of the WPDQ in which my letter to the editor appeared, in his hand.

"Did you write this letter to the editor?" he sneered. I replied that I did.

"Do you want me to give you some answers?" he continued.

I told him I was busy and had already made up my mind, then did my best to ignore him as he went ON and ON about how what I wrote wasn't accurate.

Simple questions are neither accurate nor inaccurate. They are simply questions.

A little digging reveals that the chiropractor, Dr. Mainprize, is a member of the Thayer Chamber of Commerce, the organization for which the TCBA is a front.

Eventually, I ignored him enough that he went away.

TCBA must stand for "This Can't Be Advancement."

HOST Weekly put out their edition today. Contrary to how it appeared at first, they didn't chop up my letter. I'll try to get it posted tomorrow.