Shop owners in Paducah were shocked to find paper fliers taped to their business’s doors and windows when the morning of January 26. The fliers had been put up overnight, and contained a racist poem written by a Paducah resident.
The poem compared the removal of David Guess from the Paducah board of commissioners as a “lynching,” and was titled “Paducah: Making lynching great again.” The last line of the poem left the final word blank, but obviously is meant to contain a racial slur.
Guess had been removed from the board on January 17 after a racist text he had sent became public.
One business had security camera footage showing the person putting up the fliers. The police later confirmed that the person in the video was Gil Arterburn, a Paducah resident and a friend of Guess.
Paducah Mayor George Bray noted that what Arterburn did was not illegal, but was still disappointing.
Guess has said he had no involvement in the posting of the poem.
--30--
