To the editor:

As you know, the Democrats have been very vocal about our GOP booth on July 4. I would like to set the record straight about the facts surrounding the booth that you will not hear anywhere else.

The booth was a huge success. If you had volunteered that day, you would agree that we had more visitors to our booth than any other vendor (except for those offering food and beverages). The majority of the visitors made positive comments about our dunking booth and the material that we were giving away for free. The Democrats would like to make you think that everyone walking by was disgusted and offended with the dunking booth banners and merchandise. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you do not believe me, just ask any of the volunteers who worked that day. We had planned to keep the dunking booth open from 12-4 p.m. However, the amount of participants was so great with children and adults that we did not shut down the booth until 7 p.m.

As for the shirt being displayed in the TDB, it was one of 65 shirts offered for sale. We had 5 designs (Gadsden flag, freedom, peace symbol and the US Constitution) in a variety of colors and sizes. They used one shirt to push their agenda against free speech. As you can see, the Democrats will use the only fact that will fit their narrative and disregard the other facts to the story. Did anyone happen to notice the spot of food on the shoulder of the shirt that Margret was modeling for the TDB? The democrats forgot to tell the commissioners or the TDB how they acquired the shirt. Let me explain it to you.

While I and many other volunteers were manning the dunking booth, a female named Kristina Ann Provines (not Margret Johnson) took that one and only shirt off of the rack. She was seen getting bbq sauce on the shirt and she threw it on the ground and walked away. She did not offer to pay for the shirt. She proceeded up the road in front of the Womack building toward the Democrat HQ. I went after her and asked her to pay for the shirt. She replied, “I will not.”  I alerted two officers and they took up the chase. They blocked her car from leaving with their police cruiser. She originally denied her actions to the officers, but then retracted her comments and said that she may have accidently bumped into the shirt. She then stated “They can just wash it out.” I was told by one of the officers that she was given two options, either come back to the booth to pay for it or go to jail. She paid for the shirt and then took it over the Democrat booth. The Republicans could have pressed charges but we took the high road, as we usually do and let it slide. If this was an accident as she had stated, why did it take two officers to make her pay for it?

For those of you that are interested in the truth about how the democrats actually got the shirt, you can ask for a copy of the police report that was filed at the Columbus Police Department on July 4 detailing the circumstances surrounding the incident. Yes, there was an actual incident that precipitated a police report and it was precipitated by a woman (not Margret Johnson) visiting our booth.

 

— Deon Dunn

Tryon