In small-town Missouri, a collision of cultures

[proud2BlibKansan]

NOEL, MO. -- The Elk River makes the turn under the overhanging cliffs at the edge of this Ozarks town to flow just below the quaint business district.

On a recent afternoon, customers shopped for fresh eggs and calf feed in Landon’s Feed & Seed. A man touched his brim to two women coming out of the cafe. Senior citizens chatted in front of the post office.

Then a young man’s shout filled the street: “F… you, n…..r!”

He jumped in a pickup where a friend waited and sped away. Inside an old storefront, now an Islamic mosque, those preparing to pray carried on.

It happens here, the n-word. Other slurs for other people, too. From the heart they come — loud, with spit.

And the river keeps rolling. Doing what it’s done for decades — bring visitors to pretty little Noel, nicknamed the Christmas City.


Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/09/3650406/in-small-town-missouri-a-collision.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy

[turtlerescue1]

1. WHEN will we ever learn?

Awww but these Ozarks, maybe this kid forgot what the town is called eh? This place will still teach the meaning of "peace like a river".

There's birdsong all night from the WhippooWhill, coyotes singing*yapping". The nocturnal screech of the bobcat. BUT the day is filled with birdsong.

Ya love this place eh?

[gordianot]

2. There is also entrenched in Southwest Missouri a secretive group of non afilliated fundamentalist.

They encourage fathers to have the initial act of sex with daughters. Make no mistake there are rural threats in Southern Missouri that defy description. I am sure similar situations haunt the rural countryside everywhere.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Mega church central

I wonder how many of those mega churches in SW MO have reached out to the immigrant communities.

[gordianot]

5. It is the little buildings down the end of a dirt road that perform a retro children of the corn.

Sometimes they raise a little money and build a brick structure on the main highway. The act I describe is not uncommon and as father with a daughter find it utterly disgusting. Years ago when I first heard about it I thought it was a joke, since then I have heard enough it is not a joke.

[coalition_unwilling]

8. I actually grew up in the area and, from what I remember, the Mega Churches were

not that big a presence (unless one counts Oral Roberts in Tulsa as a 'mega-church'). What I remember were the huge number of small, unaffiliated charismatic and evangelical churches that littered the landscape. Southern Baptist was the largest denomnation in my town (Lamar) but the snake handlers and tongue-speakers were not far behind.

Lutherans and Episcopalians had a nominal presence there, but Jews and Catholics? Forget about it.

A very backward place. The ministers were among the best educated (and that ain't saying much), altho I had a few good high school teachers.

I haven't been back in well over 20 years. Last time I was there, a WalMart on the outskirts of town had devastated the local economy of small shopkeepers. Bunch of empty storefronts on the town square.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. There are ton of them in Springfield.

[coalition_unwilling]

14. You know, Springfield really grew up after I left the area in the late 70s. My

parents wanted to go to school at SMSU (as it was known at the time) and I had received a band scholarship to go there. But I was young and brash and wanted to get as far away from home as I could, so it was off to Mizzou for me (no scholarship there, though).

I would imagine that the mega-churches have grown in Springfield as the city itself has grown and matured.

The last time I went through there 20 years ago, I was blown away at how big and ugly Branson had become, with traffic jams and urban sprawl desecrating what had been a very sleepy town when I was in high school.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Whatever that road is that goes from Springfield to Ozark, MO

Can't remember the name. But it's lined on both sides with mega churches. Just one monstrosity after another.

[coalition_unwilling]

17. If you're ever there and require medical attention, the following lexicon may prove useful:

My fav is 'cauterize' Enjoy

[Comrade Grumpy]

16. Wow! That's quite the claim. Do you have a source for that?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

4. A website that is interesting.

www.ozarkopathy.org
QUOTE:
Ozarkopathy (O-zark-OP-athee) is a neologism that means "sickness of the Ozarks" and refers to the extreme social pathology of the Ozark Mountain Region. This pathology includes bigotry, fraud, drugs, violence, conspiracy, corruption, and organized crime. Unfortunately, this pathology is not well-known and catches many people by surprise, especially since this pathology is carefully camouflaged by a veneer of folksy sincerity and religiosity. The purpose of this website is to publicize the dangers of the Ozarks and the plight of its many, helpless, frightened victims, most of whom are naive outsiders and minorities. The message of this website is: beware of the Ozarks, or avoid them altogether.

Ozarkopathy.org was written and created by Jeff and Mary who bought a house in the Missouri Ozarks in 1994. As a result of this simple transaction, they became victims of a violent and dangerous conspiracy of real estate-title insurance fraud, anti-Semitic hate crimes, drug corruption, and kangaroo courts involving perjury, forgery, witness tampering, covert Masonic membership/influence, and courtroom harassment; all of which was systematically covered up by the local, state, and federal government, as if this were just par for the course.

The Anti-Defamation League tried to help Jeff and Mary, but nothing could be accomplished. After ADL investigated the anti-Semitic hate crimes, the police cursed Jeff and Mary, and the FBI slandered Blacks and joked about civil rights. ADL gave up and told Jeff and Mary that their lives are in danger and their pursuit of justice is hopeless. This sentiment was echoed by a few honest state and federal public officials, who advised Jeff and Mary to contact the media. Then Jeff and Mary's private investigator suddenly disappeared, after testifying under oath that the circuit judge tampered with a witness in Jeff and Mary's lawsuit, and that the Masons and Shriners are involved.

Jeff and Mary met other victims of the Ozarks. Each one had a horror story, and each one was abandoned by the media and the government. The media refuse to criticize the Ozarks, and the government refuses to regulate the Ozarks. So each victim becomes David fighting an army of Goliaths. And victims have to learn about the Ozarks the hard way. The Ozarks are a snakepit, federal fiefdom, banana republic, narco-state, kudzu of corruption, and sanctuary for organized crime, in which victims belatedly find out that they have no civil rights and never receive any justice no matter how much evidence they have. Tragically, many of these victims face bankruptcy, homelessness, incarceration, and death.

=====================

[Blue_Tires]

7. I wish I could say I'm shocked, but I'm not...

[loyalsister]

13. It was well represented in Winter's Bone

http://takimag.com/article/winters_bone_blood_in_the_ozarks/print#axzz1xbHWr11G

[coalition_unwilling]

6. My Dad grew up on a farm outside Noel, MO back in the 30s. I grew up not far from there (in

Lamar, whose claim to fame is that it's the birthplace of Harry S. Truman).

Glad I escaped it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. DH's family is from Mt Vernon.

It's awfully pretty down there.

[coalition_unwilling]

12. Awfully pretty, once you get through channeling 'Deliverance' and

that awesome bluegrass duel Ozarks have some pretty mean white water of their own and some pretty good bluegrass to go along with it.

[raccoon]

9. What a cowardly little creep, shouting insults and then speeding away. Hope sombody got the license

number...