Lawrence furniture store owner's farewell to city creates a stir
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A not-so-sentimental goodbye from a Lawrence business owner has residents of the city buzzing, some with agreement, others with protests and disgust. Either way, the business owner says he did what he wanted to do, speak his mind.
"There's things that you can't say that are really harmless words. They're just words," said Bob Fyfe, owner of Payless Furniture.
Fyfe says he's just speaking his mind, something he's wanted to do since the seventies when he moved to Lawrence, Kan. The proud Kansas State Wildcats fan says the home of the Jayhawks is a place he doesn't enjoy.
"They don't call it Snobville for nothing. You get a lot of kids here from Johnson County, you know rich kids," Fyfe said.
It's why his goodbye note is a big red truck covered with anti-Lawrence phrases, things like "Lawrence sucks, ranked #1 city in the us to be a homeless bum, and brainwashed Marxist zombies," for example.
It caused a number of people to stop by the store, many to take pictures, some in appreciation of the message, others in protest.
"I don't want people to be stopping and putting this kind of thing on Facebook and blowing it up to be a big thing. The sign says, 'pay no mind to worthless bigots- worthless bigots- just don't give them attention,'" said Adam Dorssom, a protester outside the furniture store.
Dorssom takes special offense to the sign on the back of the truck.
"The sign there, 'even retards want to be free,' wow. That's horrible," said Dorssom.
Still he says there's no hard feelings toward Fyfe.
"Good luck wherever you're moving to, I have no ill-will towards you," said Dorssom.
Fyfe says more than anything, he's ready to move on to a place where he can speak his mind.
"It's just a bummer being around these people, and I want to be around people that are freer, and they love their country, and they believe in work," said Fyfe.
