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March 28, 2024

Bellmont Mayor files for Stalking Order, doesn’t like videos of him using village tractor for private gain –

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On April 1, 2020

BELLMONT, IL. (ECWd) –

Gary Lance, Mayor of Bellmont, Illinois, decided he didn’t like village residents video taping him while allegedly committing a felony by using the village tractor to spread rock on his private property. He did this to have a place to park his boat and RV…at village expense.

We applaud the good citizens of Bellmont who spotted what they believed was a crime in progress and videotaped it. We also applaud their posting of the video on Facebook and YouTube explaining what the mayor was doing.

Lance filed a Motion for Stalking – No Contact Order in Wabash County Circuit Court against five village residents.

Mayor Lance complains that Jon King (a Village Trustee), Bill Eblen, Susan King, David King, and Amber Banks took video of him and put it on Facebook and YouTube. That they put a video of him scattering gravel in his yard and captioned it “A Tyrant Mayor” – and that a video was made after the Mayor locked the Trustees out of the building, and that someone videotaped a sign he put on the Village Hall.

Lance considers this stalking, but he seems to forget he is the Village Mayor and the video tapes are of his actions while serving as the Mayor and there is nothing he can do about it. It is a First Amendment protected activity, and even more so since it involves village business.

We predict the Plenary Order will get denied and relegated to the trash heap of history – making Lance look like a fool for even attempting it.

Mayor Gary Lance stalking motion

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11 Comments
  • Dave
    Posted at 20:56h, 01 April

    Mayor, its easier to admit your wrongdoing

  • jannie
    Posted at 21:12h, 01 April

    I hope the mayor is using his personal attorney to do this and not expecting public money to pay for it. There should be a way the public or trustees can remove him from office.

    • Taxpayer Number 1
      Posted at 02:40h, 02 April

      The public can remove him fro office by not voting for him again. The public and the trustees can file a case regarding his use of public property, with the hope the court will remove him from office. Or he can resign. Those are the options

  • Taxpayer Number 1
    Posted at 02:45h, 02 April

    He doesn’t like the videos? He is a buffoon. We don’t like him using government property for his personal pleasure. He admitted in writing to locking people out of a government building. That’s a violation of federal laws. He threatened to “whip yo ass”, heck that was grounds for a restraining order against him. If he knows what’s good for him, he should resign now. It’s always the ones that fight the hardest that go down the hardest!

  • golden country
    Posted at 07:07h, 02 April

    What the Mayor did was illegal but the citizens are going about it the wrong way. The court could rule this as a form of harassment/stalking.
    Of course its hard to know what is going on from just a few small paragraphs. At the time the videos/photos were taken of the Mayor using public equipment how did those individuals not know that this arrangement was approved by the village board. Driving around, taking photos and posting them on Facebook is a little immature. But again its hard to decide from just a few paragraphs like everything there is always more to the story. This happened in a small town near where I live and the mayor was charged with a misdemeanor and he resigned from office. I think it had been going on for years. But I don’t know the whole story just what I read in the local newspaper.

    • PK
      Posted at 12:27h, 02 April

      ‘Golden country your face is so red’

      -Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon, 1972.

  • Robert O. Bogue
    Posted at 09:31h, 02 April

    Reminds one of Boss Hog on the Dukes…having trouble with the facts.

  • Kirk Allen
    Posted at 09:48h, 02 April

    The village board can not approve an illegal action.

  • Mayor McNewGuy
    Posted at 20:58h, 02 April

    As you soon to be new mayor I promise you “no new tractors!”

  • jannie
    Posted at 11:13h, 04 April

    Did the Mayor file the motion for stalking – no contact against the 5 trustee himself in the court or did he hire a personal attorney or did the township hire the attorney for him?

  • Streisand Effect
    Posted at 23:07h, 08 April

    Isn’t there this thing where a person can complain loudly and bring lots of attention to what they don’t want people to know?

    Anyway, he shoulda just got some CL guy to do the whole job for about tree fiddy- and not wasted all our time!

    Either that or he needs to get him a proper Boss Hog hat if he’s gonna insist on being in the movies!

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