National anxiety over polarized politics reflected in Henry County

MT. PLEASANT — As political violence has become more salient, so do concerns for safety across the country. Residents recently went in front of the Henry County Board of Supervisors to request better cameras outside the courthouse this month after a lack of resolution following a motorcyclist driving onto a sidewalk toward demonstrators at a weekly First Amendment rally in May.

At the Sept. 4 Board of Supervisors meeting, rally participant and group representative Kasey Conrad urged Henry County Supervisors to install “modern, efficient security cameras covering the courthouse, the surrounding sidewalks and the adjacent public spaces.”

She said the existing system “failed” on May 18, leaving “no way to identify the perpetrators,” a gap she called “simply unacceptable.”

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Around noon on May 18, roughly 60 people had gathered for the courthouse-lawn rally when a man on a silver Harley-Davidson rode up onto the sidewalk, revved his engine and steered toward the crowd, witnesses said.

“People were scared — this wasn’t just intimidation. It felt like a threat,” Conrad said in May.

Mt. Pleasant police asked the public for photos, video and eyewitness accounts to help identify the rider.

After Conrad finished addressing the board, Dave Helman, another rally attendee, told supervisors he jumped out of the way during that incident.

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“I was standing on the sidewalk exercising my First Amendment rights, well off the road,” he said. “Then a bike is heading at me. I had to jump out of the way. It nearly hit an elderly woman next to me.”

Helman said the rider “was using this machine as a tool to threaten and intimidate us.”

“What was brought to our attention today is being looked at, I guarantee you that,” Board Chair Marc Lindeen assured the room. “It's being addressed. I can say that at the present time.”

The public comment portion of the meeting more broadly displayed growing tensions among community members.

Leland Graber, who said he has visited the rallies, shared his own experience.

“I’ve walked down through them, but I’ve never harmed them, threatened them, or any of that stuff,” he said.

He raised concerns about alleged use of power from the nearby Veterans Memorial for a band; rally organizers denied the claim and said they use cordless equipment.

Graber explained that after asking for this electricity to be shut off, he attended the following rally to check on his request.

“The band was setting up,” he said. “I got there a little bit before they started. Three of them came to meet me, said I'm the troublemaker, I'm the problem.”

He then claimed he was verbally assaulted during this visit by up to eight people.

The calls for updated cameras, claims of verbal assault and the exposure of rising tensions in Henry County came only days before a fresh episode of political violence hit headlines nationwide.

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk, 31, was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.

Kirk had built a reputation for engaging in contentious debates and encouraging conversation between opposing views, particularly on college campuses, a setting meant to provoke ideas, not silence them.

Now, many individuals, including multiple Iowa teachers, face possibly losing their jobs due to insensitive comments made following Kirk’s death. This includes one Oskaloosa teacher called out by U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

In a post to social media, Miller-Meeks stated that she was disturbed by a post from the teacher celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk and calling him a Nazi. She reached out directly to Oskaloosa Schools Superintendent Mike Fisher to express her concern. Fisher subsequently placed the teacher, Matt Kargol, on administrative leave, citing violation of the district’s social media policy.

Despite the rising tension between Henry County’s conservative and liberal community members, Conrad posted after Kirk’s death that “violence is not activism … It is a betrayal of everything democracy requires,” and she called on residents to “stand against political violence, no matter who it targets.”

This latest incident came only a few months after the June 14 killings of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the wounding of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, also intensified concern.

State and federal authorities described these shootings as politically motivated; the Justice Department charged a suspect after a two-day manhunt.

Nonpartisan research institutions say threats and attacks on public figures have climbed.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies counted 25 partisan-motivated attacks and plots targeting officials and government employees between 2016 and 2025, compared with just two in the prior two decades.

Princeton’s Bridging Divides Initiative has tracked hundreds of threats and harassment incidents against local officials in 2025, underscoring how national tensions reach city halls and county boards.

Back in Mt. Pleasant, the ask remains concrete.

Conrad and Helman say upgraded cameras and a limited, coordinated law-enforcement presence during the Sunday hour-and-a-half rallies would deter misconduct and speed investigations if crimes occur.

“This isn’t a question of whether Henry County needs modern security cameras,” Conrad told supervisors. “The yet unresolved May 18 incident has given us the answer … The question is whether we act now or wait until a tragedy occurs.”

Mt. Pleasant Police Department responded to the request coupled with the national news and made sure a police presence attended the latest rally Sunday, Sept. 14.

In a community that has made room for competing views on the courthouse lawn for generations, residents on both sides voiced the same bottom line: keep the public space safe so everyone can show up — and speak.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com