Hometown heroes! We Americans love them—and rightly so. They epitomize so much of what makes America America—one person sacrificing for the greater good. It’s the stuff of legends! And that’s why I am pleased and proud to share the stories of a couple of Wisconsin hometown heroes in this week’s commentary.

Our first story takes place in Fond du Lac County. It starts with a few county supervisors trying to pop a sham, if you will. These supervisors, in cahoots with some people with an agenda in the county, claimed Fond du Lac County was facing a workforce crisis in the future because of the imminent retirement of baby boomers, an interesting proposition in itself, considering that Fond du Lac has, as one county supervisor noted, more people than jobs. The answer these supervisors proposed was a ‘Comprehensive Countywide Diversity Initiative.”

It should come as no surprise that an initiative with the word diversity in it includes sexual orientation in the list of special classes. And not only that, the initiative originally specifically stated that “Fond du Lac County communities shall welcome and include all people in neighborhoods, places of worship, schools...” etc. Places of worship! Since when did county government have the right to mandate the policies of places of worship? Amazingly, a timely revision has removed the “places of worship” phrase.

The hometown hero on this one? A courageous county supervisor who was eventually joined by several brave residents. Supervisor Jim Kiser alerted the community and rallied a host of concerned citizens to the board meeting. It was a happening meeting, according to an eyewitness account, with 14 citizens registered beforehand to speak against the initiative and 3 registered to speak in favor.

True to form, however, the chair decided that the discrepancy between those speaking for and against wasn’t “fair” and tried to make up for the lack of supporters by denying input from all but 3 of those speaking against. Thankfully, this hometown hero and courageous supervisor, even while taking potshots from at least one other supervisor, spoke up for those who had taken the time to come prepared to speak and the rest of the board agreed with him.

The end result was a 12 to 6 vote in favor of tabling the discriminatory resolution indefinitely! The heartiest of congratulations to Jim Kiser, a hometown hero and all the brave citizens of Fond du Lac County who took the time to get involved in their local government. You have shown courage in the face of hostility, wisdom in the face of an aggressive political agenda—and God has honored your efforts!

The story in West Bend is similar. In early June of this year, a vigilant West Bend resident informed us of a new harassment policy that the West Bend School Board was considering. Among a number of disturbing changes to the existing harassment policy, the new policy failed to even define harassment! Instead, the policy creates 13 or more protected classes of students, including of, course sexual orientation. If a student from one of those stereotypical protected classes experienced what was perceived to be an intimidating, hostile or offensive “atmosphere,” he or she would be entitled to special treatment. It amounts to feelings trumping rights, quite frankly.

Instead of protecting every student in the district, the policy is blatantly discriminatory and surprisingly lenient on real incidents of harassment, including sexual harassment and abuse.

In a mirror image of the response in Fond du Lac, a few well-connected residents alerted the community and started compiling resources to combat the policy. The next school board meeting was well attended by those opposed to the policy and the board agreed to table the policy and rewrite it. Not without some grumblings, however, regarding community input no less!

The fight was far from over. One of the more involved residents found that the Elmbrook School District has a good harassment policy and proposed it as an alternative to the board. On Monday of last weekend, with another high-turnout from district residents, the board agreed to table the offending policy and consider Elmbrook’s policy. We tip our hats and commend the hometown heroes in this West Bend situation! They’ve been vigilant, tenacious and yet noticeably gracious in their persistence—and it appears their efforts are not in vain.

Hometown heroes—long may they continue to grace our cities and counties! I pray God will raise up hometown heroes in every community in our state!

This is Julaine Appling for Wisconsin Family Council, reminding you the Prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”