Jonesboro priest receives alarming mail

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - The Jonesboro Police Department is looking into notes that prompted a Jonesboro priest to call them.

The Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library board came to a solution to the ongoing sensitive material discussion, but some people still share their thoughts.

The Rector of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Reverend Father Kevin Gore, said he received a vaguely threatening letter in the mail.

He said it did not shake him, but it was concerning.

“They try to strike out in ways that they think will silence the people that they do not like and that is not going to work,” he said.

An envelope full of newspaper clippings and notes is what he received after he wrote an op-ed in the local newspaper responding to actions by a Mark Nichols, library board member.

His op-ed focused on why the board member should resign from the position.

“When the narrative begins to be very aggressive about religion about Christianity and about Christianity’s response to being LGBTQ, that was a point I felt like I had to step in,” said Gore.

Gore said the envelope had notes that spoke of QANON and the New World Order, but anonymous letters are nothing new to him.

“Clergy aren’t necessarily strangers to anonymous notes,” he said.

When he looked at one of the many notes inside, he decided to take it more seriously.

“There were some other phrases in there that I felt it was necessary to reach out to the Jonesboro Police Department and asked for their advice,” said Gore.

He also told Region 8 News he sent the information to the United States Postal Inspector to look at as well.

As for what Gore would like done to the person who sent the letter, he said he would want to have a conversation about equality.

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