(The Lion) — The St. Joseph, Missouri school board president went on a profanity-laced tirade in a Facebook comment on a post about a local company’s gift to local schools.
The president and other members of the school board are already facing allegations of conflicts of interest, electioneering and Sunshine law violations, as detailed previously by The Lion.
The original Facebook post, which attacked the local “Herzog [Company] and “the St Joseph MO Chamber of Commerce” for making Keurig coffee donations, resulted in a back and forth between board members and another Facebook commenter on Friday and Saturday.
[Editor’s note: The Stanley M. Herzog Charitable Foundation, which publishes The Lion, is distinct from the Herzog Corporation mentioned in the Facebook post.]
The commenter attacked the school board president, LaTonya Williams, riffing on previous allegations that she used her position on the board of a local non-profit to start a private, for-profit business, called Boujee Boards, which specializes in “charcuterie board services.”
“Latanya [sic] should take the keurigs and start boujee brews by Latanya LLC. She should be able to afford the gender affirming care then for her family,” said the comment.
Williams replied in a lengthy comment, using the F-word three times, including in the suggestion the commenter “go f**k yourself…. at least 26 times.”
“[T]he fact that you spoke of anyone in my family in such a manner makes me hope and pray that your miserable soul chokes on my big d**k energy. Disrespectfully, go f**k your mom and your dog,” Williams concluded.
Williams is standing by her comment.
“I know exactly what I said,” she told The Lion, “and I’d say it again in defense of my own child or any child who’s attacked in just a derogatory and demeaning manner by cowardly adults hiding behind fake profiles who use children in such an inappropriate and abusive, disgusting manner.”
In a later reply beneath Williams’ comment, fellow school board member Whitney Lanning said Williams stated her case “eloquently,” doubling down on the violent sexual metaphor.
“You wouldn’t dare say this to her face, because as she so eloquently said, you’d choke,” replied Lanning.
Lanning herself is no stranger to verbal assault, verging on near violence.
In June, Lanning pleaded guilty to harassment, a Class A misdemeanor, which could have resulted in up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
The charge was the result of an altercation caught on video between Lanning and fellow school board member, Isaura Garcia.
In the video Lanning can be heard using the F-word 21 times, along with five other profanities as a means of threatening Garcia.
“I f*****g swear to God … I will f**k you up!” and “You say a f*****g word about my f*****g kid again, I will f*****g (inaudible threat),” said Lanning in the video posted by The Lion.
Lanning was placed on two years’ probation and ordered to attend anger management courses in the wake of the guilty plea.
In July, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced that he is investigating the school board for violations of “the Sunshine Law as well as state ballot-measure expenditure [electioneering] and state conflict of interest laws,” said a letter sent to Williams, obtained by The Lion.
The fractious board has been more rancorous recently after the board members debated and ultimately approved the inclusion by the district of a book with a graphic incestuous rape scene.
Williams and Lanning voted with the majority, 4-3, to retain the book without restriction in the school district.