Joshua T. Atkinson

06/03/2026

He said Juneteenth supporters are "destroying the community."

Then he publicly referred to me as a monkey.

Then he mocked the home I share with my husband.

I'll be honest. None of that surprised me.

Disappointed? Yes.

Surprised? No.

As a gay Black man who ran for Mayor of Freeport and later challenged a sitting State Senator, I've learned there are still people who believe some of us should stay quiet, know our place, and stop challenging the status quo.

What did surprise me was what happened when my husband saw it.

His first reaction wasn't anger.

It was fear.

Fear that someone might throw a brick through our window.

Fear that someone might set our home on fire.

Fear that someone might target him simply because of who he is and who he loves.

That's the part people don't talk about.

Racism, homophobia, and hatred don't just affect the person being targeted. They affect families. They affect spouses. They affect entire communities.

I could have responded with insults.

Instead, I did what I always do.

I looked at the facts.

Tonight, Fighting4Freeport published an article examining the public record of the man who said Juneteenth supporters are "destroying the community."

I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

The comments.

The images.

The public record.

The facts are all there.

Read the article and decide for yourself who is really helping this community move forward.

🔗 Link in comments. Be sure to use Promo Code: SUMMER26

🎟️ Promo Code: SUMMER26
Start your FREE 30-Day Trial and get full Insider access.

He said Juneteenth supporters are "destroying the community."

Then he publicly referred to a Black man as a monkey.

Then he mocked a same-sex married couple.

So we decided to learn more about what kind of man acts like this.

What we found was more than twenty years of publicly available court records, including felony convictions, misdemeanor convictions, jail and prison sentences, probation violations, court-ordered treatment programs, and a recent Order of Protection.

The comments.

The images.

The public record.

The facts are all there.

🔒 INSIDER EXCLUSIVE

Meet the Man Who Said Juneteenth Supporters Are "Destroying the Community"

Then decide for yourself who the facts point to.

Use promo code SUMMER26 and get your first month free.

🌐 www.Fighting4Freeport.com

06/02/2026

After sitting there and watching everything unfold firsthand, my honest takeaway was this:

I do not believe this started as some major act of misconduct by Alderwoman Cecelia Stacy.

What I gathered was an inexperienced police officer being confronted with questions he likely did not have the answers to and most likely was the wrong person to be asking, leaving the meeting discouraged with some hurt feelings.

That happens.

What happened afterward is what concerns me.

I genuinely believe Chief Jacquelyn Frausto used this situation as an opportunity to show the men and women of the Freeport Police Department that she has their backs and that she will stand up for them no matter what.

Honestly? That is understandable and even commendable in many ways.

She is a newly hired Hispanic female police chief in rural Illinois trying to establish leadership, earn trust, gain loyalty, and prove herself to the officers serving under her command. I understand that pressure more than most people probably realize.

Over the past several months, however, it has become increasingly obvious that the Chief is trying very hard to prove something.

Unfortunately, last night those efforts crossed a line.

The theatrics have steadily escalated at council meetings from subtle to excessive.

And I’m afraid what we witnessed last night only further divided the people of this community from:

the government elected to represent them,
and from the police officers entrusted with protecting them.

The message many residents walked away with last night was that respect is expected to be demanded rather than earned.

Meanwhile, within minutes of speeches about professionalism, leadership, and respect, members of the public were being ignored, dismissed and treated rudely by an officer inside City Hall.

That contradiction did not go unnoticed.

I also want to be fair.

I do not believe Chief Frausto acted out of malice.

I believe she made a well-intended mistake — something every single one of us has done before and will absolutely do again in the future.

My hope moving forward is that she is the same kind of leader she lectured the public about last night and that she can learn, grow, and move forward from this experience in a better way.

I want to be very clear:

I have tried hard to give Chief Frausto room to grow into this position.

I have watched.
I have listened.
I have intentionally pushed aside smaller concerns because I truly wanted to give her a fair opportunity to settle in, find her footing, and succeed here in Freeport.

But last night made that significantly more difficult moving forward.

And perhaps the biggest lesson from the evening was this:

When government attempts to intimidate the public through presence, pressure, or political theater, it sometimes forgets something important.

This city belongs to the people.

Not the mayor.
Not the council.
Not the police department.

The people.

Elected officials and public employees are simply entrusted with temporarily managing it on behalf of the taxpayers who built it and fund it.

And after last night, I think they learned something too:

We may be out to dinner…

…but we’re watching that nanny cam.

FULL ARTICLE:
www.Fighting4Freeport.com

Last night’s Freeport City Council meeting wasn’t just controversial…

It was revealing.

What started as an attempt to formally censure 5th Ward Alderwoman Cecelia Stacy quickly spiraled into one of the most intense and politically charged meetings Freeport has seen in years.

Residents packed City Hall.

Citizens who actually attended the Neighborhood Watch meeting directly contradicted the allegations being used to justify the resolution.

Questions erupted over:

hearsay,
intimidation,
selective enforcement,
professionalism,
race,
public trust,
and the growing divide between City Hall and the people it serves.

Then a young resident attending her very first council meeting stepped to the podium and said what many in the room were already thinking:

“This is embarrassing guys. This is a shame.”

“Open your eyes.”

“Get more people here to see this mess of a council that we have.”

The resolution ultimately failed.

But the real story was what the meeting exposed about leadership, accountability, and the political culture developing inside Freeport City Hall.

FULL BREAKDOWN:
www.Fighting4Freeport.com

05/30/2026

"Stop shoving it in our faces" ... 🤔

05/29/2026

Read the full story at www.Fighting4Freeport.com

F4F Chairman’s Analysis | Joshua T. Atkinson
One thing local governments consistently underestimate is just how emotional water issues become for ordinary people.

This is not some abstract policy debate buried in a city council packet. This is something entering people’s homes, touching their food, their children, and their sense of security.

The average resident does not care about pressure modeling or pipe composition when brown water suddenly pours into a sink. They care whether they can safely cook dinner, shower their kids, or drink a glass of water without wondering what is in it.

That fear is real whether government officials personally believe it is justified or not.

Most residents are actually reasonable people.

They understand aging infrastructure exists.
They understand repairs take time.
They understand problems happen.

What they do not tolerate well is silence. Especially while paying increasing utility bills year after year. Higher locally imposed taxes and escalating property taxes.

For more than nine years, Mayor Jodi Miller has held responsibility for the overall administration and direction of city government, including the public infrastructure systems residents depend upon daily.

That is not a slam. That is our reality.

At some point, the buck has to stop somewhere, and for nearly a decade the people of Freeport have continuously entrusted her to help protect their families, their neighborhoods, their infrastructure, and their drinking water.

Current City Manager Rob Boyer previously served as Freeport’s Public Works Director before becoming city manager, placing him in a direct leadership role connected to the city’s infrastructure operations for years as well.

Additionally, engineering firm Fehr Graham has spent years involved in Freeport infrastructure planning, engineering, and project guidance connected to the city’s utility systems.

At some point, taxpayers are justified in asking difficult questions.

Not because infrastructure problems should never happen. Every city in America deals with aging systems and unexpected failures.

But because residents are continuously being asked to pay more while simultaneously being told to lower their expectations.

And increasingly, Freeport has become a community where government officials spend more time talking about leadership, posting about leadership, and discussing what leadership should look like than actually being leaders.

Too often, local politics has become more focused on optics, image management, and future political ambitions than solving or even acknowledging the everyday problems residents are actually living with.

Because clean drinking water is not political theater. Reliable infrastructure is not political theater. Public trust is not political theater.

Residents do not expect perfection.

But they do expect honesty.
They expect urgency.
They expect transparency.
And they expect visible progress.

At some point, taxpayers stop wanting explanations and start wanting results.

Because once residents begin questioning whether they can trust the water coming from their own faucet, government no longer has merely an infrastructure problem.

It has a crisis of confidence.

🚨 “Today’s Freeport city water.”

That simple Facebook post — and the photo attached to it — immediately caught the attention of residents across the community.

Because nothing destroys public confidence faster than people questioning whether the water coming from their own faucet is safe.

Today on Fighting4Freeport, we take an in-depth look at:
▪️ What causes brown water
▪️ Why water main breaks happen in both winter and summer
▪️ What boil orders actually mean
▪️ The city’s responsibility to provide safe drinking water
▪️ Why communication matters just as much as infrastructure itself

And perhaps most importantly:

Why so many residents increasingly feel local government spends more time talking about leadership than actually being leaders.

For more than nine years, the same leadership structure has overseen Freeport’s infrastructure systems.

At what point do taxpayers stop accepting explanations and start demanding results?

Read the full article and get informed at:
www.Fighting4Freeport.com

05/28/2026

On Monday, Pride Month 2026 officially begins.

Over the past few years, I have learned firsthand just how many local politicians, elected officials, and community leaders genuinely do not care who someone loves. Many privately support LGBTQ+ people, have gay friends and family members, work beside us, worship beside us, dine beside us, laugh beside us, and live everyday life beside us.

Because the reality is LGBTQ+ people are not some outside force descending onto rural America. We are already here. We always have been.

We are your neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family members. We sit beside you at church, coach your children, serve in the military, volunteer in the community, own businesses, pay taxes, vote, and build lives right here in towns like Freeport.

Yet publicly?

Silence.

Why?

Because both sides of the political aisle have turned the LGBTQ+ community into a political talking point, a litmus test, and a political weapon instead of simply treating people like human beings.

And the truth is, most people do not suddenly wake up angry about gay people on their own. They are conditioned to believe they should be angry because outrage has become profitable in American politics.

Ask yourself this:

When was the last time you heard a local elected official publicly speak about Freeport’s LGBTQ+ community in a meaningful way? Not during a national controversy. Not during election season. Not when it was politically convenient.

Just openly acknowledge and support their own neighbors.

It rarely happens.

Not because they hate us, but because too many have been conditioned to believe publicly standing beside LGBTQ+ people is political su***de in rural Illinois.

That silence has consequences.

It creates an environment where some Republicans demonize LGBTQ+ people for outrage and division, while some Democrats use the community as a moral prop to claim superiority without ever truly advancing equality.

And honestly, one of the clearest examples came after the last presidential election.

Vice President Kamala Harris was asked why she did not choose Pete Buttigieg as her running mate. The answer was essentially political reality: America was not ready for both a Black woman and a gay man on the same ticket.

Think about that.

One of the most powerful Democrats in America openly acknowledging that being gay was viewed as a political liability.

That is not equality.
That is not courage.
And that is certainly not allyship.

That is political calculation.

So this Pride Month, join me and Fighting4Freeport in saying something very simple:

We honestly don't give a f**k who you love or sleep with as long as they are consenting adults.

What we do care about are corruption, hypocrisy, pedophiles, predators, and the politicians and community leaders who cower and stay silent about those actual issues.

Stand Proud. 🏳️‍🌈

05/28/2026

Get informed at:
🌐 www.Fighting4Freeport.com

F4F Chairman’s Analysis | Joshua T. Atkinson

This ordinance exposes one of the largest disconnects between local government and ordinary residents: many people genuinely do not understand where public infrastructure responsibility ends and private property responsibility begins.

Most residents see a sidewalk and naturally assume:
“That belongs to the city.”

But under Freeport law, the city has largely passed the buck.

It has shifted much of the:
▪️ maintenance responsibility
▪️ financial burden
▪️ snow removal responsibility
▪️ and potential liability exposure

onto adjoining property owners while still maintaining ultimate authority and control over the sidewalks themselves.

That is the part many residents struggle to accept.

Because property owners are expected to:
▪️ pay for sidewalks
▪️ maintain sidewalks
▪️ clear sidewalks
▪️ comply with city regulations
▪️ obtain permits
▪️ follow engineering standards
▪️ potentially defend legal claims
▪️ and repair infrastructure heavily used by the general public

— without possessing full ownership rights or authority over the space itself.

Meanwhile, government entities continue treating sidewalks as public infrastructure whenever:
▪️ federal funding is available
▪️ accessibility mandates apply
▪️ grant programs are offered
▪️ public festivals are promoted
▪️ or infrastructure priorities are established

That contradiction is impossible to ignore.

As I publicly stated while running for Mayor in 2025, the replacement, repair, and structural maintenance of all public sidewalks should ultimately become the responsibility of the City of Freeport — not individual property owners.

Not only can this change be done, it should be done.

We must have safe sidewalks.

And right now, in far too many parts of Freeport, we simply do not.

If sidewalks are truly public infrastructure located within public right-of-way and used by the entire community, then maintaining the structural integrity of that infrastructure should be treated as a core governmental responsibility just like:
▪️ streets
▪️ alleys
▪️ storm sewers
▪️ and other public systems

At the same time, snow and ice removal policies should also be reviewed.

While I support property owners being held accountable for keeping sidewalks reasonably clear and safe during winter weather, I also recognize that many of the products, tools, and methods currently used by residents can accelerate sidewalk deterioration over time.

Salt damage, repeated freeze-thaw cycles, mechanical scraping, and improper snow removal equipment can all contribute to cracking, shifting, and long-term structural decline.

If the city ultimately assumes responsibility for sidewalk maintenance and replacement, it may actually benefit both taxpayers and the community for snow and ice management practices to become more standardized and coordinated citywide.

That could include:
▪️ better guidance on approved products
▪️ city-supported treatment programs
▪️ coordinated snow removal efforts
▪️ and long-term infrastructure preservation strategies designed to extend sidewalk lifespan while still protecting public safety

Because at the end of the day, no reasonable person is arguing against safe sidewalks.

The real debate is whether the current system fairly distributes responsibility for infrastructure that:
▪️ exists within public right-of-way
▪️ is regulated by government
▪️ is heavily used by the public
▪️ and increasingly serves as part of federally regulated accessibility infrastructure

That is a conversation Freeport should no longer avoid having.

🚧 Did you know Freeport property owners may be legally responsible for the public sidewalks in front of their homes?

Not just snow removal.

We’re talking:
▪️ repairs
▪️ ADA compliance
▪️ permits
▪️ potential liability if someone gets injured
▪️ and potentially thousands in replacement costs

Meanwhile:
▪️ the public uses the sidewalks
▪️ the city controls the sidewalks
▪️ the city receives grant funding for sidewalks
▪️ and city snow plows routinely push snow back onto the very sidewalks owners are responsible for maintaining

So where does public responsibility end and private responsibility begin?

Fighting4Freeport took a deep dive into Freeport Ordinance 1026, the legal questions surrounding sidewalk liability, and why many residents are only now realizing the financial and legal burden they may already carry.

Get informed at:
🌐 www.Fighting4Freeport.com

05/28/2026

Eager Beaver BBQ on Highway 20 in Elizabeth will open its doors for the first time today. Located just outside of Galena, the new restaurant takes the place of Cajun Jack's, which closed in March 2024.