School Board Chairwoman Beth McCall ended Tuesday night’s meeting abruptly, refusing to allow member Nancy Stacy to defend herself after residents asked for her immediate resignation.

That ended two days of community outcry after Stacy posted online numerous items, in which she said men are being destroyed by “whores” and defended Bill Cosby, who was recently convicted of rape.

More than two dozen residents packed the board room, 11 of whom addressed the board about Stacy’s posts. The residents were allowed to speak at the end of the business part of the board meeting.

“You can get your point across without putting poison on the end of a spear,” said one of the speakers, Michael Farrow of Ocala.

The tense meeting came in response to a Facebook entry that Stacy posted on Monday, which has since been taken down. The post set off a social media firestorm.

It reads: “All U know what comes in my head is out my mouth! Tired of WHORES destroying men! Set Bill Cosby free, says ‘Mama Bear’ with sons!”

The post, as well as three follow-ups, led City Council President Matt Wardell to call her out on Facebook.

“The posts below are deeply troubling and do not reflect the conservative — and though political party has no place in this discussion — Republican values that a majority of Marion County prides itself on," he wrote on his page.

“The notion that a victim of sexual assault — drugged and raped by a man (Cosby) convicted of those crimes in a court of law by a jury of his peers — is a whore because she willingly went to the assailant’s home is sickening,” Wardell continued. “The fact that this conception is being put forth in a public post by a leader elected to serve is absolutely unacceptable.”

He concluded: "For those who would like to speak publicly about this issue, the Marion County School Board is meeting (Tuesday) at 5:30 p.m...Please remember the most effective way to communicate at meetings like this is respectfully and with clear intent in your words.”

When Facebook users started calling her out about the comments, Stacy continued writing.

“I do not consider a whore to be a victim of rapes,” she wrote on her page. “They go to a motel with a rich man with hopes of getting preg(nant) so they can rape him financially for 18 years. If you walk into a lion’s cage and get attacked, it’s not the lion’s fault, either!!!”

She wrote in another post: “If the girls followed him to his car or apt (apartment), then what the heck did he think he needed from them. Fed up with these whores being victims.”

After the posts were deleted, Stacy wrote that a couple of “whackadoodle liberals” had commented in protest, so she decided to delete the original post. But then she posted a fourth take.

“If the girls went to a married man to forbidden grounds, they went looking for trouble,” she wrote. “Whores hanging with men in hotels are not victims of rape, folks!!!!”

Later Monday, after all those posts were deleted, Stacy took to Facebook again — this time suggesting that the earlier posts were all part of a "brilliant" ruse designed to trick Internet trolls into identifying themselves.

Stacy said political enemies using fake names bash her on her own Facebook page, so she set a trap to see who would spread a screenshot of her comments.

“Okay, my friends and I set up a post to suck evil venomous PROGRESSIVE liberals … who are not even Facebook friends, who tireless stalk me,” Stacy wrote. “We wanted to expose the fake FB names they post under and found many! Was fun blocking them! We are having a blast with liberals today blaming their ‘lady of the evening’ friends for setting men up for political reasons or to get money from them.”

She continued: “I have brilliantly sucked them all out to my page (none were on my friends list) this is I REALLY wanted them to see!! Look how angry the group of whackadoodle angry women are! Then look how happy conservatives are. Don’t you want to convert to be happy like me all you ‘ladies of the evening’ sympathizers?”

When contacted by the Star-Banner on Tuesday, Stacy confirmed the authenticity of her Facebook posts by text message. And despite her suggestion that the comments were part of a trap, she again called women involved in some sexual assault cases "whores."

Stacy also addressed Wardell's call for people to attend the School Board meeting and speak in protest.

"Today just 1 woman’s word can get men of all ethnicities jailed," she texted. "This 'mama bear' thanks Progressive Radicals like Matt Wardell at the City Council associated with Marion County Political Forum racist accomplices for taking my bait to expose Matt for what many had warned me he was!"

Wardell responded again.

“I typically offer my fellow elected officials an amount of deference when it comes to political feelings, policy decisions, and expressions of their values,” he wrote on his Facebook page Monday night. “However, I feel a responsibility as an elected official — a person who cares deeply for this community and values its image and reputation — to stand up when deference and silence isn’t even close to good enough.”

Wardell said on Tuesday that he is Facebook friends with Stacy and saw the posts as they were shared Monday at about 10:30 a.m. He shared all of Stacy’s posts in one screenshot as part of his lengthy Monday night post.

“The unbelievable fact that the post was continually defended is dumbfounding,” he wrote in that post. “The depth of the problems with both the post and continued defense of the ideas therein exceed what can be reasonably addressed here.

“I hope that the women and men who I represent know that this is not the vision, nor the values of our community, that I work for every day. The vision of Ocala/Marion County that I know is one of energy, positivity, openness, growth, innovation, love, intelligence, beauty and compassion. I will always stand up and speak out for that real vision when it’s under threat. #WeAreBetterThanThis.”

Previous posts on Stacy's Facebook page mock the people who opposed Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Also outraged by Stacy's posts was Marc Halcomb, who launched a petition on Change.org nearly a year ago asking Gov. Rick Scott to remove Stacy from office. Each time Stacy does something Halcomb believes is unethical, he adds it to the petition, which has more than 600 signatures.

“I was horrified and didn’t think she could stoop so low as to equate rape victims as being whores just out for money, and claiming Andrea Constand (a Cosby accuser) met him at hotel room when everything occurred at his home,” Halcomb said.

McCall, the School Board chairwoman, led the Stacy comment part of the meeting with a statement of her own, stating that she does not condone the behavior.

“I, too, am personally angered and appalled at the repulsive, degrading and insensitive comments unbefitting a public official, especially a School Board member who is to work diligently for the betterment of our students,” McCall stated. “If an elected public official is unable to express one’s views with decorum, show respect for others, including those whose opinions may not align with their own, or refrain from inflammatory remarks, I suggest that that public official think deeply about the responsibility this community has entrusted to them and consider if public office is for them.”

Eleven people spoke at the end of the meeting, some calling Stacy unfit for office and others asking her to resign.

Some of the women who spoke said they were sexual assault victims.

Sara Clifton, who called Stacy’s comments atrocious, said she has had enough.

“She is not fit to serve on a board that has anything to do with educating young people,” Clifton said. “She should resign. I don’t have that power; none of us do.”

After the speakers finished, McCall quickly announced that there would be no board comments. When Stacy said she had the right to respond, McCall said “no comments tonight.”

Member Bobby James asked School Board Attorney Paul Gibbs if there was a precedent that states that McCall can silence members. Gibbs said he would have to research the issue.

When Stacy tried to speak up anyway, McCall interrupted and said the meeting was adjourned. McCall and most district staff left the room. Stacy spoke for about 15 minutes to the media. Stacy said she stands by her posts. Her only regret is that she did not know her Facebook was set on “public.” She said she should have made sure only her friends could see her posts.

She again reiterated that she believes Cosby was innocent and a victim. Stacy explained that her definition of a whore is a paid prostitute and didn’t mean all promiscuity. And, she noted, she would have a hard time believing a prostitute could ever be raped, even if she said “no.”

“If she is a prostitute and went there for sex, I don’t believe the man raped her,” Stacy said. “I believe they had consensual sex. It is her word against his. If she is a prostitute she would have a little credibility problem.”

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