what a fantastic man

I agree. The message the man sent to his son--who may very well prove to be a "friend of Dorothy"--is heroic. Father of the year.

My conservative aunt and uncles survived the "Great Kansas Purge" of 1974, when gay thugs rounded up the decent, God-fearing Americans, and sent them to the camps.

We Will Never Forget!

Surely they meant "just like running up a Jewish flag in a Nazi neighborhood." Freudian slip. Could happen to anyone.

I particularly like the idea of flying the women's panties. It's just so right on so many levels.

Has the good reverend never seen a clothesline? Or perhaps, like James Dobson, he was assaulted by his mother's girdle and remains a little freaked out by outdoor lingerie.

I hope the B&B guy can stay in business. A lot of people who thought they'd flourish in the midwest running B&B's have found out that people really don't want to linger there, and are happy to stay at freeway motels, if they stay at all. A lot of people just drive through.

Wait a second, the flag doesn't represent gay pride, it celebrates Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz? I'm not sure I see the difference...

All religions are stupid. Wipe your shit on the Torah and look at piss christ. If we could outlaw all religions there would be no more war in this world.

It's not religion that kills people, it's people that kill people...

With neighbors like the B&B family has, they should think about relocating tp a placw with nicer "values".

Someone tell Keith Klassen (please tell me his middle name starts with a K too, KKK) that there's folks right there in town thinking about Judy Garland RIGHT THIS DAMN MINUTE. It's a slap in the face, it is.

Godalmighty, what are these maroons going to do next, sue God for rainbows the next time it rains?

Konservatives against Kolorful Kloth?

Hell, the B&B should consider relocating because Meade is out in the middle of BFE! I dated a guy from there, and I've driven through western KS more times than I care to remember. Meade/west KS never sounded like a place I wanted to go.

I think they're going to get more trouble than it's worth. It's a town of about 1000 people in a conservative spot in a conservative state. And it's the homestate of "Reverand" Fred Phelps. Just wait until winter comes, and he and his cronies will head out in mild weather (and yet still feel the need to keep their faces wrapped up) and protest this place until they can figure out how to protest another funeral for an Iraq war soldier.

I'd hate to think what those ninnies would do if they were ever confronted with a kite festival. Rainbows everywhere, with no hint of queer meaning attached. Just color, man, color!

I moved from Southern California to Meade a few years ago; seeing just what Robin & JR saw - a lovely tree filled small town nestled in a farm & ranch setting, where everything was within walking distance, the streets were safe, and it was quiet.
Main Street Meade, KS is Highway 54 the much traveled artery between the upper Midwest (Chicago, etc) and the southwest. Great traffic!!! Cute little houses can still be bought for $35,000 and there are plenty of darling store fronts (empty now) that would make perfect spots for antiques, collectibles, art galleries, etc. If enough "strangers" bought up the stores and houses, this burg could easily become THE shopping and layover spot for travelers passing through. AND the Lakeway Hotel is at the center of it all!!!
Maybe a group of brilliant, energetic, artistic people should consider taking advantage of what I see as a booming investment opportunity.
JRs battle has certainly brought Meade, KS to the world's attention.

More info on the Knights!:

http://www.ku.edu/heritage/towns/lakewayhotel.html
http://www.lakewayhotel.com/

I'm staying there next time I'm in Kansas!

Hey "religion sucks" no one hate religion more than me but c'mon. Is that the only thing you know how to post? You are making us other logical thinkers looks stupid with your lack of creativity.
-A war broke out in the middle east today
"Wipe shit on the torah, piss christ blah blah blah"
-People are hateful towards gays today in Kansas
"Wipe shit on the torah, piss christ, koran menstrual blood, yakety blah blah"
As someone who has lit a bible on fire and pissed it out I find your statement to be tired. I know you are trying to offend but look at your audience. Maybe if you kept saying that shit to christians they might be offended and you might get a reaction. Here in the slogosphere it just seems sad.
Keep bashing religions but change it up every once and a while!

I CANT Believe people are ACUTALLY beleiving the BULLSHIT!!! That this man has feed them. This guy is only looking how to make his next buck in a flipping hurry.If you guys think he is such a flipping christian, then why in the world would he KICK out his ONLY tenet that has been there longer than he HAS EVER thought about. Everyone says this town is FULL of bigots. WELL ITS KANSAS THERES NOT ALOT OF GAY AND LESIBAN PEOPLE IN THE STATE. this matter has been BLOWN out of control, and I REALLY feel sorry to the people that have given this man ANY of there money. He says that he is going to stand his ground then why would he have his business up for sale!!!!Dont believe me check it out for yourself (http://ibizmotel.com/viewhotel.php?id=182). This man is FULL OF LIES!! He said that he had to send his son away bc of all the hatred in Meade, well then why did he leave 2 MONTHS before this even started. This man is taking advantage of the WHOLE sitituation to make himself money, and ANYONE THAT BELIEVES A DAMN THING HE SAYS WELL IS NOT VERY INTELLIGENT!!!!He has stated on numerous occasions that his son got the rainbow flag at the Wizard of Oz house in Liberal. WELL I'VE BEEN THERE AND THEY DONT SELL THEM!!!!!!!!I HOPE EVERYONE READS THIS LETTER BC IF YOU BELIVE HIM UR GETTING TAKEN FOR A RIDE. THIS MAN RUINED HIS OWN BUSINESS WAY!!!! BEFORE THIS FLAG ISSUE EVER CAME UP!!!!

SO,

reading this last comment, you'd think, "this person must live there".

I say the same thing.. ANd I in fact, live in meade.

first things first. no matter wht that person says, meade is full of bigots.

not completely full, but it has quite a few.

but also remember: JR and his wife are not saint's, they are not pure. believe me.

I support the flying of that flag for various reasons, i just do nto support the peopel who fly it.

and trust me,other businesses in the town of meade do not care if you are gay or not. the one i work at, the owner says, Gay peopel aren't bad, she just doesn't feel that she should have toi fly a flag to get them to come to her business.

remember this town does have bigotry, but the whole town is not aginst that flag. just a few certain people.

and also: do not blame the radio station for exercising their right to make a statement, when you support mr. knight to make his own.

I am open for questions about this matter if anyone wants to know, email me at gookybooky@yahoo.com

I will answer your questions truthfully, and froma different, yet more educated view than the news people, than the bigots who hate JR on here, than the peopel he fulkly support him withotu living here..

Just ask me, i will tell you the insider information.

and yes, Keith Klassen is a total douchebag

Hmmmmm- I must say that I'm skeptical about JayHawkLover's assertions as well. It implies that the Knights business was hurting, and so they were sitting around and thought, "Well, let's hang a rainbow flag, but act like we don't know what it means for sure, then when people in our community voice a major outcry, discriminate against us and harass us, then we'll get the support of the Gay/Lesbian and liberal communities to send us money! It'll be GREAT P.R.!" That doesn't even make sense. Despite all of the Knight's supposed "lies", the reality is that there is clear bigotry going on. Even some of the comments made to the media were inflammatory against gays and lesbians. And more recently, during the dark of the night, somebody half "cut" the flag down in an attempt to remove it. These events are real. Like so many people who are unsympathetic to victims of crimes (be they hate or otherwise), the response is often, "they asked for it."
How low can some people go? And, by the way, I think you'd be surprised by the number of gays in Kansas. They just don't feel safe to be "out". No wonder.

You people need to get all your facts before standing up for a guy like Knight. Maybe he was perfectly justified in flying his flag, but you must admit, in a small, conservative town, it wasn't the smartest business move. He's not a freaking martyr or anything...just an idiot who has no business sense.

I'm a Christian (meaning I live my life and seek happiness and fullfillment in my life by bringing Glory to God thru my relationship with Jesus Christ) but I am continually amazed at the reaction many Christians have toward anything they deem "gay" or whatever.

I don't know if this hotel owner is gay. I do know that Mead is the home to a pretty large Christian radio station and therefore I assume also a large fundamental Christian population.

I also know that my purpose as a Christian is to Bring Glory it God, and also to point others to God as the only possible source for their infinate happiness. I don't know how other Christians expect to do this, especially for the Gay community, when they are continually spewing hatefull and bigoted words and actions toward them. Will picketing and boycotting anything they deem "Gay" do anything to bring someone closer to the Lord? I think it will only serve to drive them away.

I don't support the Gay lifestyle, but I do understand that people desire to be loved, I understand that as a created being we are all made with an emptiness in our souls that can be filled with the love from another person, but only temporarily, I know that the only thing that can fill that emptiness eternally is God, and he provided to us access to his Glory thru his Son. It is sad that by responding in anger and hatred, we Christians only drive people farther away from God, and possibly further into a lifestyle that will not provide the infinate happiness that comes from seeking, following, and serving the one true God. This is not only the Gay lifestyle that won't bring satisfaction, but also the lifestyle of the bigoted "Christian" that is in direct conflict with the teachings of Christ. A bigoted "Christian" is guilty of the same sin that they are accusing the gay person of, and that sin is the attempt to find fullfillment from something other than the all satisfying God, and on top of that they are even more guilty because they are driving people away from God.

Mathew 23: 13-15 points this out well as Jesus addresses the religous leaders of his day (and ours):

"I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God's kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won't let anyone else in either."

"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned."

As Christians we should "attack" the "problem" of homosexuality (or really any kind of permiscuous sex or any sin really) by showing the world a people of Love, a people with rich relationships within their marraiges and families, in their churches and communites, and showing people of selfless service, and a people not ashamed to bring Glory to God.

Showing hatred for stupid reasons (like if someone decides to fly a rainbow flag for instance...) only shows thier lack of faith, and thier lack of Love. If we truly want to be like Christ then we will model his example of love:

Romans 5:8
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

God would have been completely justified in responding to us with wrath (much like the Christian community responds to the Gay community), instead he responded with Christ, and Christ responed by showing us love, even unto his death on the Cross.

I pray that Christians would start to truly seek and live the way Christ taught as I believe it would make a great difference for good in our society.

Don't be casting stones is the best way to live.. People should be more nice about what they say when Yahoo people can look up their info so easily..:

Keith Klassen
510 W Kansas
Meade, KS

Phone: 6208735318

Many of us in Meade are familar with the rainbow flag. But JR sure as hell wasn't one of us.
Most of us could give a shit less whether he flys the rainbow or any other flag.
Instead of talking a lot of shit, come to Meade and find out that most of us are pretty nice people.

This guy apparently has a lot of people fooled especially the ones who are sending him money. Knight has done nothing for this community but take from those who believe his lies. His business has been in trouble since he started it. This is an obvious and poor attempt to create a smoke screen to hide the fact that he is in financial trouble. I suspect he cut his own flag up to get support from whoever believed his bs. And guess what. Its working. There are always people who will think the worst of others without finding out the facts. Maybe someone should do a background check on this dude. I would bet its not very clean. I wish someone would pay my bills for me. My wife has been seriously ill since jan. She has been at deaths door at least three times and can no longer work. Bills are stacking up by the day.. Hows that for a sob story. This guys little problems are nothing to me or mine. Hes just a con man sucking in the fools who believe his crap. Why would i give a damn about this jackass when I may lose my home soon. GIVE ME A BREAK. My wife and I have lived in Meade for three years and Meade County for 28 years. We both were volunteers for Meade County EMS and have lived our lives as we should. Folks dont let this con man get the best of you. He set out here to see what trouble he could cause. Send him packing. Hes no good.

Let me start by telling you what i have learned from the little ass town of meade kansas. My parents were born and raised in meade kansas as were I. This is a town who would/will help out when the help is needed. I remember helping out during my many years as a teen to the people in and around meade. When my boyfriend and i started dating we had problems from the whole town. They wanted us apart. I was the goodie goodie and he was the trouble maker. Right after my high school graduation we moved and swore we would never be back. Once we left the town realized they had more on their hands then a few kids wanting something to do in a small town. During my senior year we had our election for the city council, there were many questions on who to vote for. Well they found out that they didn't make the best choices when voting. They voted for people who were power hungry. The first time we came home to see family we were shocked by all the houses that were for sale. These people won the vote were driving people out of this nice small town. Once we got home and read all the news papers we realized why people were moving and were glad we didn't live here and have to deal with it all. Then we got phone calls from friends and family worring about going to work and finding that they no longer had jobs. They were getting rid of good working people for no reason. They got rid of the "city manager" who has done nothing but good to this town. They eliminated a lot of jobs saying that it was to much to pay them, which when you added up all the figures, which i did, it was costing the city more money to fire these people and still have to finish paying their contracts out and hire new people from out of town to do their jobs.
And the whole thing with JR Knights son. He was gone before i even moved and i've been gone awhile.His business has gone down hill because he charges too much for too little. When he first opened up they had food that people around here don't eat very often. It was considered by alot of people to be a place for people to go on "dates" on, and not just out to eat. Which is not bad, but that is not something for a small town to have. I ate there and the food was awesome. Then they lost their cook, and their food turned to.....well pretty much shit, and nobody went to eat there anymore. Their business was lost before they even started it, and then him causing trouble with the whole town didn't help the matters any. He should of kept his big ass mouth of his shut.
He kicked our pharmacy out of their building and they have been there as long as i can remember. We have alot of elderly people who just can't drive the forty miles to get medicine, and he want's to make them because he "can"? because they don't support what he's doing??? that is not right.
People in the town knew what the flag meant. You sit here and read a few things about that a few people say and you got the town figured out don't you????? Think again. I thought i had the town figured out, and i have gotten suprised everyday that i have moved back. The town is just trying to stick together, and get past the mess that Knight has started, and you read about a flag being "ripped" and "cut"(I have heard both)down you jump right to his aid, and have no idea that he is feeding you full of shit. We do have gays and lesibans that live here, and we don't outcast them for it. We may not believe it's right, but we still accept who they are. We are not rude, and hateful to them, but helpful when needed. Don't believe all that you hear and read. Take the advice and get a copy of the news papers and see what trouble Knight has caused. I didn't believe it myself until i read them, I always thought he was a nice guy until i learned more about him.

I'm from Meade. I have many homosexual friends. I was a member of PRIDE in college to support my friends. So in no way am I opposing the flying of the flag. I must say though that the true reason people are outraged are because of his pervious actions.

Just a flaw I saw in this story....."As B&B owner J.R. Knight told KBSD News, the flag was a gift from his 12-year-old son, who’d bought it as a souvenir at Dorothy’s House, the southwest Kansas museum devoted to The Wizard of Oz, because it reminded him of “Over the Rainbow.� ---I have PERSONALY called the Museum, they DO NOT, hor HAVE THEY sold the flag that is hanging at the Lakeway. I think Mr. Knight may have one of his various LIES confused.

They are such great parents and are setting a good example of not backing down, but THEY are lacking in one area....RAISING HIM!