Icon (Close Menu)

Logout

Bentonville Superintendent Sued for Throwing Away ‘Chinese’ SignLock Icon

2 min read

Jim Parsons of Bella Vista has filed many lawsuits in his long life, against targets such as former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Northwest Arkansas Community College and Ecclesia College.

Parsons, frequently described as a “political gadfly,” has been a member of the board of trustees at NWACC, a candidate for Bella Vista mayor and an instructor and board member at Ecclesia.

Parsons’ latest lawsuit is against an important educational figure but pales in scope to his earlier lawsuits. He is suing Bentonville School District Superintendent Debbie Jones for $76.

The complaint in Benton County Circuit Court stems from an incident May 9 at the Public Administration Building in Bentonville. Parsons said his group, Bella Vista Patriots, were opposed to a millage increase to fund construction because none of the schools would be located in Bella Vista.

Parsons said Jones confiscated his sign while he was helping a TV reporter set up to interview him and later destroyed it. Parsons said Jones told him she found the sign offensive because it said “No Ticky-No Washy,” which Parsons said was an old Chinese slogan.

(The phrase isn’t an old Chinese slogan; it uses pidgin English to mock the stereotype of a Chinese laundry, which required customers to present a ticket to pick up their laundry.)

In an email that Parsons included in the complaint, Jones wrote that she found the sign “affixed” to a school sign in favor of the millage increase. In Parsons’ absence, Jones said she handed the sign to a school officer and later told him to throw it away because it was “clearly offensive material” to Asians.

In his suit, Parsons said Jones’ actions sent a “terrible message” because most “five year old children around the world know it is wrong to take something that does not belong to them and destroy it.”

Parsons settled a similar complaint in 2016 (having to do with Bella Vista Patriot signs opposing property owners’ association assessment increase) for the cost of the signs and a $100 payment to the Bella Vista Police Department. Parsons said he made a similar proposal with Jones, who did not respond.

Send this to a friend