Jun. 24—CARLINVILLE — A weekly anti-Donald Trump protest held outside the Macoupin County Courthouse in Carlinville was undeterred Tuesday when protesters showed up to find trucks and trailers containing manure parked where they normally protest.
"They have trucks of manure in line of where we usually protest," protestor Toni Leahy said. "It definitely stinks on the sensory level, not just on the idea of it."
Protestors have gathered on the sidewalk between State Route 4 and the Macoupin County Courthouse each week for six weeks from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to protest President Trump.
Ahead of this week's protest, trucks containing manure were put in unmandated parking spots along the road in front of the courthouse. This action created an offensive smell from the manure sitting in truck beds during a heat wave with temperatures north of 90 degrees, and it obstructed passing cars from seeing the protesters' signs.
People are also reading…
"I'll give them credit, it was a creative idea," protest organizer Kelley Hatlee said. "But they underestimated the symbolism. The one thing they chose to represent their side of the conversation with is a huge pile of manure. I'll let the symbolism of that do the talking."
The trucks were parked around 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, when Hatlee first arrived at the predetermined protest area.
"This is very disrespectful to the courthouse," protester Kristen Alliegro said. "You can't have a civil conversation. You can't come up with something intellectually driven. This is what you got — dump trucks of [manure] in front of the courthouse."
Hatlee and other protestors did not let this disruption stop their anti-Trump protests Tuesday night.
Instead, they proceeded to "flip the script" by making impromptu signs, one of which said, "Trump's policies stink."
"We are protesting the Trump policies that are so damaging to our country," Hatlee said. "We are also protesting (Macoupin County Board Chairman) Larry Schmidt. That is not the kind of leadership in Macoupin County. It serves a dual purpose."
The weekly protests led by organizers, like Hatlee, began in late spring after Schmidt made comments on social media disparaging the LGBTQ community. After an initial protest centered on this issue, weekly protests were put in place with the intent of protesting Larry Schmidt, who is a Republican, and also the Donald Trump Administration.
This is the first major disruption to the weekly protests, aside from minor heckling from passing counterprotesters.
With Carlinville being a "farming community," the transportation of manure does occur, but protestors were adamant this wasn't a coincidence.
"It's definitely intentional, but this is not the way you do things," Leahy said. "You wouldn't bring manure into the center of town. Manure is out in the farms."
Alliegro has been to several Carlinville protests this year.
"When you take it down to its base core, it's toddler and monkey behavior," Alliegro said. "Who else slings their [feces] as a form of aggression?"
