10/27/2026
Facebook is working overtime to keep us quiet, good thing we’re this loud in person too. 🙃 Let’s try this again shall we!
To quote one of our favorite TV patriarchs, John Dutton: “You build something worth having, someone’s gonna try to take it.”
Now, I know that probably feels super dramatic. And if you know me, you know I’m really not dramatic at all. 🫠
This isn’t a Montana-sized ranch or a fake TV show. But when we tell you that our county government’s goal is to take this from us through CONTROL—and that the collateral damage would be taking this treasure from you, the Story County citizens who appreciate its history and how we’ve preserved it—I’m not being dramatic.
The short version of our story? We’re just a family who happens to own something special. Something worth preserving and sharing. Friends, family, neighbors, and anyone who appreciates history enough to cross our threshold are welcome here.
But when the county couldn’t fit us into a box, they spent a year stalking us, compiled a file of every social media post I’ve ever made (you’re welcome for all the excellent material, btw), weaponized our sheriff’s department following a bogus tip from an unhappy minion in Planning & Zoning, and sent us a barrage of letters threatening our happy family of four with fines or IMPRISONMENT if we didn’t “comply.”
All while we were fully protected by Iowa Code 335.35.
We were forced to hire a lawyer and spend $10,000+ of our hard-earned money fighting our own county while they used our tax dollars to fight US.
But this fight isn’t just about us, after opening this conversation amongst our neighbors and online, our network of disgruntled and frustrated Story County citizens has EXPLODED, as we learn the stories of folks all over this county who have been bullied by the current Board of Supervisors and their departments, specifically Planning and Zoning.
They won’t take our precious buildings, family farmland, creative ideas and history from us in a super obvious way, they’re too smart for that. They will take it by way of control; rezoning properties at will; ra**ng rural citizens with astronomical property taxes until there’s nothing left to take, no legacy left to pass on. Story County will become a barren wasteland of small businesses who ran to Boone and Hamilton counties, while once successful businesses sit abandoned and listed for sale, crippled by government overreach and property taxes…a memory of what could have been, but instead was overrun by a group of activists on a power trip living it up on our tax dollars at our county courthouse.
An ordinary family might have folded under this pressure. The stress, the expense, and the sheer exhaustion of fighting this fight have been enormous.
But we have eight days.
And we plan to be louder than ever. In person. Online. At the grocery store. In the school pickup line. And, hopefully, in neighborhoods across the county as we knock on doors this week in support of our boys running for Supervisor.
We’re not backing down now and we’d love for you to join us.
