COLUMBIA, Mo 6/27/14 (Beat Byte) -- A
Keep Columbia Free (KCF) story that mixed satire, punditry, and plenty of photos has sparked a "rhetoric versus reality" controversy about First Ward Councilwoman
Ginny Chadwick's plan to ban alcohol in Douglass Park.
The liberty advocacy group posted the story Wednesday, but replaced it with a toned-down version yesterday after KCF president
Mark Flakne had second thoughts about the story's potential for "dirty politics."
"It included
20-some photos of Councilwoman Chadwick consuming alcohol around town and across the country along with a couple of screen shots of posts from her page
extolling the virtues of alcohol," Flakne wrote in the follow-up piece, which replaces the photos with a single meme (above). "The intent was to expose the
hypocrisy of a white councilwoman who often drinks publicly and who is
working to ban public alcohol consumption in Columbia’s central city park, a park long
frequented by Black citizens who live in the area."
Chadwick proposed the ban at the June 2 Columbia City Council meeting. A
chorus of condemnation followed, most notably from black community leaders,
editorial writer Carl Kenney, and residents concerned City Hall is ignoring the
larger problem of student drinking -- both legally and underage -- downtown.

"Drunken college kids and sloshed middle-aged tailgaters stumble through the streets between Downtown and Faurot Field, most of them white and most of them affluent," Flakne noted, with
several videos to illustrate. "The post-game apocalypse leaves the ground covered with beer can fallout and barf."
Chadwick's predecessor
Fred Schmidt also proposed a Douglass Park alcohol ban, but "quickly forgot the proposal after a
significant public outcry led by Keep Columbia Free," Flakne explained.
The latest outcry may have prompted another proposal from the Councilwoman that heightens the rhetoric vs. reality angle:
ban alcohol in all city parks. "Chadwick confronted the controversy surrounding her plan to ban alcohol at Douglass Park with a press release communicating a plan to ban alcohol at all city parks,"
Kenney wrote on his Rev-elution commentary site. "The language of the recent press release diverts attention from a policy perceived as racially driven."