Wanted serial liars dead or alive

Jo Hamlett, the mayor of Mount Sterling, Iowa, wants to ban lies from his village.
He plans to use the money he would raise with his fines to build a concrete road in his poor village.
People from Mount Sterling do not listen to politicians from Washington any more.

Mount Sterling (Iowa). Bob Bredan (photo Tim McKulka) is a good hunter. That is what he is claiming. Ask him why and he will give you numbers. The other day he killed a deer in twelve minutes during the half-time of a football game. He swears it is true. If he is lying, he could technically be sent to jail. That is what Jo Hamlett, the mayor of Mount Sterling, a small village in South-Eastern Iowa, wants to do with people twisting the truth. Hamlett was elected on a platform to promote “God, maternity, apple pie and honesty” and he decided last year to fight against the lies and the liars who tell them in his village.

According to the official story, Hamlett was fed up with the crazy hunting stories told at AJ’s. The only bar in Mount Sterling also functions as post office and municipal Council. Hamlett did not want to hear about the guy, who killed twelve deer with a bow and arrows. He was fed up with the story of the black deer. Everybody in Mount Sterling is supposed to have seen the mysterious animal but nobody ever managed to take a picture to prove the black deer is more than the dream of an imaginative hunter.

The untold story is that the mayor had a great idea to draw attention on his small forgotten village. Mount Sterling is a community stricken by poverty. At AJ’s the beer will only cost you a buck. The democratic hopefuls for the presidency are campaigning forty miles from here but none will come to Mount Sterling. People here do not seem to listen to them anyway. “They all sound the same!”, says Terry, a worker from neighboring Missouri.

Mount Sterling survives thanks to the motel and the amateur hunters, who come to check if the town is really what its people say it is: a hunting and fishing paradise. Behind the counter, Tim and Penny Branch, the owners of AJ’s, are still laughing about what their Don Quixotte of a mayor created with his bill. “We had the visit of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, says Penny. We also had a TV crew from Japan.”

Simon does not listen to the small talk. He is playing pool in one corner of the bar. The soldier is on leave for two weeks and just came back from Iraq. He says he believes in the purpose of the war but does not want to talk about. Bob cuts short the discussion about the war. “We were right to go there, he says. We found an entire boat full of nuclear material!” Do not bother asking him how knows that. Bob does not want not reveal his sources.

Jo Hamlett’s bill divided the municipal council of Mount Sterling. Two people voted for and two against it. (The town is looking for a fifth councilor to break those embarrassing ties but has been unable to find one). The bill has not been written yet despite the help offered by a lawyer from Minnesota. The concern is that it might violate the first amendment of the US constitution that guarantees free speech. The other problem is that Mount Sterling does not have a jail, where to book the serial liars. “Jo wanted to build a cell in his basement”, says Tavia Kennedy. The waitress was part of the municipal Council last year and voted against the text because of its vagueness. According to the Hamlett plan, it was up to the Council to decide when the liar was healed and could be freed.

In Mount Sterling, people gave up any hope to ever hear Charlie Brewer say the truth. The toiler is “by far the biggest liar” according Ron Ferguson. The man who describes himself as an Ole Farm Boy is the exact opposite of Bob, who cannot stop talking. With each round of beers, Bredan, who is also a member of the town council, finds it harder and harder to abide by the text he voted for. He has so many hunting performances to speak about.

Bob Brennan takes a picture of a tombstone out of his pocket. “This cemetery is in Arkansas, he says. That is where I would like to be buried. I have already chosen the place and the stone”. The hunter points at another grave. “This one belongs to my uncle Buck. He was stabbed to death in 1942 in a bordello in New Orleans. They had to bury him in concrete to make sure he could not flee”.

Before sending the liars to jail, Hamlett plans to issue fines. The mayor, who lauds his fiscal responsibility, wants to use the money of the fines to build a concrete road through his village. Despite his effort, it seems his fight for honesty and truth will not bring any money any time soon. Hamlet still has God and the apple pies to make that happen.

Jean-Cosme Delaloye / Mount Sterling
A French version of this story was published in February 2004 24heures and Tribune de Genève

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