PADUCAH — Racist flyers were hung outside downtown Paducah businesses overnight. On those flyers was a poem titled "Paducah: Making Lynching Great Again."
The flyers defend former city commissioner David Guess, who was recently removed from office.
The Paducah Police Department and Paducah Mayor George Bray confirm a local man named Gil Arterburn is responsible for the flyers.
We aren't sharing the poem to avoid spreading the message further. We can tell you it refers to David Guess' removal from office as a lynching and ends with a blank line where the reader is meant to infer a racial slur.
City leaders and local business owners call the poem upsetting.
Bricolage, a local shop for local art, is full of surprises. But Thursday morning, owner Landee Bryant found an unwelcomed one.
“I didn't have it on my door, but it was taped to my front window,” Bryant says.
Hers wasn't the only business where the flyers were found.
Bray calls the poem a disappointment. He and Paducah Police Chief Brian Laird say Arterburn is behind them.
Local 6 tried to get his side of the story Thursday, but we were unable to reach him by phone.
In an endorsement for David Guess, Arterburn says he and Guess have been, “faithful friends” for 40 years.
In the poem, Arterburn questions the integrity of the remaining commission members, calling them out by name.
Bray says he's received negative emails from Arterburn, but this is different.
Gil Arterburn, distributing flyers
“It's a way that somebody is really trying to get at us and really just point something out,” says Bray.
Bray says Arterburn has a right to defend Guess.
“There's no crime committed. It's an individual who's exhibiting free speech on his part,” Bray says.
Back at Bricolage, Bryant says finding the poem on her window might not have been a crime, but it was shocking.
“I'm kind of known for having a more open minded thought process. I feel like that is reflected in my store. But I don't really necessarily agree with forcing things on me like that,” says Bryant.
In the meantime, Bray says the commission will keep moving forward.
“We're going to address these issues one by one as they come up. And every single time we're together, we're talking about trying to make the very best decision we can for the city,” says Bray.
I reached out to David Guess's attorney for his reaction to the flyers.
In a statement, attorney David Riley says: “I confirmed with Mr. Guess that he had no involvement creating or distributing the flyers and did not contribute to their contents. He only learned about them after they had already been posted.”
Guess was removed from office earlier this month after racially insensitive text messages Guess sent to a city employee were made public.
