That is precisely what the Gasconade County Courthouse Society has, and is doing, to anyone associated with relocating the courthouse to Owensville. They have successfully sued district commissioners Jerry Lairmore and Max Aubuchon. Check the record. The suit was filed within six months of Lairmore proposing that the county look into moving the courthouse to Owensville by people associated with or on this committee. Aubuchon, the Northern District commissioner, was thrown under the bus even though he did not support such a move.

He simply got in the way.

The society has now moved on to trash the commissioners on TV. Members of the committee approached channel 8 KOMU out of Columbia — not to present their reasons for keeping the courthouse in Hermann but to make out all three county commissioners as criminals.

On Aug. 14, when the Owensville Chamber of Commerce was holding an informational meeting concerning the courthouse options, members of the society were meeting in Hermann with representatives from the Missouri Attorney General’s office filing complaints about the commissioners.

We can have differences of opinion on the courthouse issue.

There are good reasons for leaving the courthouse in Hermann. There are good reasons for moving it to Owensville. Let’s debate on those issues, not try to destroy those who have a different opinion.

It is a sad day when neighbors attack each other over a building.