LARNED — A group of about 50 residents representing three counties gathered on the lawn of the Pawnee County Courthouse for approximately two hours Saturday morning, joining thousands across the state of Kansas and an estimated 11 million in all 50 states in the “No Kings” rally pushing back against the Trump administration. While other protests across the country also had counter-protesters, the Pawnee County gathering was observed with signs, speeches and song, with only the occasional comment from motorists driving down Broadway.
While the rally was sponsored by the Pawnee County Democratic Committee, Saturday’s protest was nonpartisan, drawing speakers from both parties from neighboring Stafford and Barton counties, as well as Larned.
The rally was the first protest held in Larned at the Courthouse since 2013, when members of the state employees union KOSE gathered to protest the mandatory overtime instituted at Larned State Hospital.
Jacques Mollecker, chairperson for the Pawnee County Democratic Committee, coordinated the event that included speeches from committee members Deborah Lewis, Tom Giessel and Kent Roth, an Ellinwood attorney, as well as others taking the microphone. Mollecker is also a member of the Larned City Council representing Larned Ward 2.
Roth’s opening speech welcomed those attending as he described the rationale behind the event.
“Our 79-year-old President likes everything to be about him,” Roth noted. “Recent decisions by President Trump show that nothing has changed. In recent days, President Trump has ordered National Guard troops and Marines into Los Angeles, Calif., despite Gov. Gavin Newsome not requesting, nor consenting, to the use of the military.
“The corruption has gone too far. No thrones, no kings, no crowns. The biggest story of today is the actions that you are taking, rallying on ‘No Kings Day,’ to reject strongman politics and corruption. No Kings is a nationwide day of defiance, from city blocks to small towns; courthouse steps to community parks. We are taking action to reject authoritarianism and show the world what democracy really looks like.”
Giessel, meanwhile, described the impact recent policies are having on rural parts of the country. “We’re farms and we’re small business,” he said. “Just in the last six months, there was the dismantling of USAID and the tariffs, the grain at Pawnee County Coop – 1.4 million bushels sitting in that elevator – can’t go anywhere because we’ve lost a whole year of marketing of milo. This while there are starving people around the world, with an elevator full of food. The 2018 farm bill has had two extensions and that’s not a good thing. There is a really strong chance that for the first time in a century, this century will not pass a farm bill. That’s not rhetoric, that’s just fact. The main portion of the farm bill is SNAP and the food program; 40% of SNAP recipients are children.
“Rural communities and small towns are the largest recipients of SNAP in this country. We’re cutting our own throats. What are we going to do when those funds evaporate?”
Larned resident Billie Broils, meanwhile, was concerned. “I am concerned for our rural area,” she said. “In all these policies that may not have happened yet, I don’t care if you’re independent, Libertarian, Democrat or Republican, if these cuts go into effect, it will affect all of us. It’s really going to affect our rural business and especially our hospitals. We worked hard to get our hospital, but if they cut Medicaid, it’s going to really affect our hospital. It may start up there (in Washington, D.C.) but it will roll down here.
“We have to stick together to stop this nonsense. If we stay united, we will be successful.”
Mollecker concluded the rally with an entreaty to read the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution. “It states that just because a right isn’t delineated in the Constitution, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” he said. “There are many rights that are not listed. They are called ‘human rights.’ Those are being attacked, human rights for everyone in the United States. It doesn’t matter if you’re a citizen, a visitor on vacation, an immigrant trying to get away from a horrible situation. Everybody that comes here has human rights. Nobody is allowed to take away human rights, no matter who they think they are.
“You need to know that if you stand up and raise your voice, you’ll probably meet some opposition, I know I’m going to get some grief from people I know, but that’s OK. Even if it continues, I’ll keep talking.”
Rally participants then lined up on the sidewalk with their signs as the noon hour approached.
