Skidmore Depot discussion

At the September Skidmore City Council meeting, one of the things on their agenda was to inform all who were there that the Depot Committee has been locked out of the Depot that we have worked on for the last two-and-a-half years turning it into an amazing museum showing Skidmore’s rich history. One of the reasons they gave was that they heard that the committee had been criticizing them at the Graham Street Fair. I wasn’t even at the street fair, but the council (is made up of) public officials. The Constitution of the United States guarantees us the right to freedom of speech. Locking the committee out of the depot is retribution for hearsay, and violates our rights of freedom of speech.

Also, since the Depot Museum is open to the public, it is required to be handicap accessible. That is one of the things the committee was working toward. (It is) a violation of my rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Not only mine, but the 97-year-old woman who visited the depot during the Punkin Show. The money that we hadn’t turned in was for that purpose: a handicap ramp. We didn’t turn it in because we were informed that the ramp had not been approved. One of the council expressed his doubt that all of the donation monies had made it to the city coffers. Speaking of the city coffers, it wasn’t the depot committee that paid a contractor $10,000 dollars with no receipts for materials.

Cheryl Huston

Skidmore, Missouri