The charade “Nebraska nice” is no more apparent than it is at the Cass County Fair. We visited our friends there again this year and what we heard and witnessed was appalling.
Reports came to us regarding the unsafe conditions and lack of enforcement to keep a gang of teen boys from harassing Cass County Democrats. These behaviors were specifically targeted at the volunteers staffing that table after the boys would visit the Cass County GOP booth to accept freely-available “Donkey Pox: The Disease Destroying America” t-shirts and Trump/Vance 2024 bumper stickers.
One volunteer who was there for table coverage on all four days reported this to us. She and two other volunteers were the targets of these behaviors many times throughout the weekend. She further explained that the same thing occurred last year at the table with another volunteer, despite the fact that the Cass County Sheriff’s office had a D.A.R.E. booth directly across from them in 2024. The Deputy at that booth did nothing to intervene when one volunteer was attacked.
This year, a volunteer let us know that after she reported the first (of several) incidents to the deputy, she then confronted the Cass County GOP. Susan Bowers, a volunteer at the Cass County GOP table believed they have no culpability for the behavior of the boys they incited with the hateful propaganda they were handing out. She also did not take kindly to being called a fascist and immediately tattled to the Cass County Agricultural Board.
Note: Please do not model your behavior on that of Susan Bowers, a woman who can’t even comprehend what a speed limit is. If you see or know her, please ask her how she liked having to attend traffic school last year after her second speeding violation in two years.
Resistance Not Allowed
Here is the first report we received of this behavior and the reason why we went to see for ourselves:
Later conversation with this person when we visited the fair revealed that this Duane Uhe, vice-president of the Cass County Agricultural Board, approached her to scold her for standing up for herself. He told that volunteer if they couldn’t keep things friendly, that they would have to leave, and then proceeded to ask if they were “good.” Well, Duane, considering this woman was targeted by a group of teenage boys and then preyed upon by you while she was in a vulnerable situation, and further told by you that she was not allowed to stand up for herself, we’re going to have to say no, we aren’t “good,” Duane.
We aren’t good with you permitting hate speech and hate groups at your county fair. We aren’t good with you trying to intimidate a lone woman and telling her she’s the problem. Standing up for fascists who are handing out authoritarian propaganda, and further bullying a volunteer for Cass County Democrats discredits you completely.
After Duane Uhe informed that volunteer to come to him with any problems following the first incident, the same harassment occurred many times more. We stuck around to see it with our own eyes, and also visited the Cass County GOP table (easy to find considering they continue to embrace their “Welcome to Hell” aesthetic) to check out their offerings to both children and adults.
Because the harassment continued and because Duane told the volunteer to report problems to the board, another volunteer went to Meggan Roeber, another board member, with the same issue later that weekend.
Meggan informed that volunteer that since the only people reporting problems were the Cass County Democrats, that they were the ones who should leave. Not the dozen or so teenagers harassing them. Not the Cass County GOP, which was instigating the behavior. Only the people standing up for themselves were told to leave. Never mind the fact that vendors pay $350 to be in the Expo Building to sell items and have discussions with potential clients, customers, or members of their organizations.
The Cass County Sheriff and Cass County Agricultural board are complicit in this hate-mongering by permitting it to exist, allowing a local hate group to freely pass out extremist propaganda, excusing it, and then blaming the people who are being harassed and bullied for simply existing in a space in which they have every right to exist… especially a space they paid to utilize.
We contacted both the Cass County Sheriff and the Cass County Agricultural Board to request statements regarding these events, and have not heard back, nor do we expect to since their own behavior is indefensible.
Of note is the fact that these were primarily cisgender white women being harassed and belittled by teenagers and a white man, and then further being told that the women themselves and the organization they represent were the problem.
As a reminder, always stand up for yourselves. “Men” like Duane Uhe, pick-me women like Susan Bowers and Meggan Roeber who follow them, and the boys who will grow up to be the same – or worse – do not deserve your respect or your obedience.