More than a week after an unattended death was reported at Maggie Valley’s Our Place Inn, law enforcement officials still haven’t released any details.
Maggie Valley Town Hall Pavilion and the surrounding grassy area were ablaze with the black and blue flags of a Back the Blue Rally on Saturday, May 2.
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Owners of a Maggie Valley motel are getting death threats over a sign disparaging police officers and now a “Back the Blue” rally is scheduled in response. This follows heated and confrontational demonstrations at a pair of Black Lives Matter marches in this small Appalachian tourist community last summer.
There’s a strip of Soco Road in Maggie Valley lined with quaint mom-and-pop motels built in the 1960s. Usually the signs out front say things like, “Welcome to our valley” or “Kids eat free,” but last week one of them had a different message – ACAB.
The acronym Our Place Inn uses stands for “All Cops Are Bastards,” a saying that originated in the 1940s in the UK but was adopted last summer by some demonstrators calling for racial justice and police reform after the May 25 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Last summer, the tiny Haywood County tourist town of Maggie Valley was rocked by not one but two peaceful “Black Lives Matter” marches that quic.
Maggie Valley Inn owners say ‘no regrets’ after posting divisive sign
“Right now, the kiosk says ACAB, the barrel is rotten,” Kitty Currin said.
She and her husband Cody Currin have run the Our Place Inn in Maggie Valley since 2015, but it’s only recent that the inn’s online presence has really exploded.
“Last that I checked, our post had reached 100,000 people,” Kitty Currin said. “So, while it’s a little bit of an extreme acronym, I would say it’s reached a lot of people a lot faster than anything else we’ve done.”
Kitty and Cody Currin have run the Our Place Inn in Maggie Valley since 2015, but it’s only recent that the inn’s online presence has really exploded thanks to a controversial sign. (Photo credit: WLOS staff)