Kip Billups, a local activist and one-time mayoral candidate has returned to Amarillo City Hall.
If one were to be transported from the steps of City Hall in the spring of 2018 to the steps of City Hall in the fall of 2024, they would notice many changes.
In 2018, ground had just been broken on the yet-unnamed baseball stadium to the south. Now, in 2024, the Amarillo Sod Poodles have spent five seasons at Hodgetown. What was the long-neglected Amarillo Warehouse building to the east is now the nearly completed new City Hall building. One vehicle seen in the parking lot of City Hall this year – a Tesla Cybertruck – did not exist in 2018.
Amarillo City Council, the governing body for the city that meets at City Hall, has also changed. In 2018, the Mayor of Amarillo was Ginger Nelson, who sat at the head of a council consisting of Elaine Hays, Freda Powell, Eddie Sauer, and Howard Smith.
In 2024, the Mayor is Cole Stanley. First elected to the council in 2021 when Hays chose not to seek reelection, Stanley’s path to becoming Mayor involved him becoming one of Nelson’s most vocal critics. As Mayor, Stanley sits at the head of a council consisting of Josh Craft, Don Tipps, Tom Scherlen, and Les Simpson. Of these names, perhaps the only name known in political circles in 2018 was Simpson, who had just stepped down from his tenure as the Publisher of the Amarillo Globe-News.
But, as one stands on the steps of City Hall in October 2024, there is one familiar sight. Kip Billups, a local activist, is once again protesting.
While Billups is back at City Hall, he looks quite different. His rectangular black-frame glasses have been replaced with circular wire-frame glasses with round purple lenses. His once short black hair has grown into a long and mostly gray ponytail. Billups has also traded in his clean-shaven look for a fu-manchu mustache.
Billups – and his surroundings – may look different than they did in 2018, but his reason for protesting hasn’t changed much. In 2018, Billups was protesting what he saw as the city criminalizing homelessness. Billups was arrested for his 2018 protest, though he was ultimately acquitted in court. (Billups would again be arrested at City Hall just months later for the crime of clapping during a City Council meeting.)
Now, in 2024, he’s back to protest what he sees as inaction by local government in response to the macing of several homeless people by an employee of City Church.
“July 18th, Jeremey Rusk, the groundskeeper for City Church, maced over a dozen of my friends on camera,” explained Billups to The Amarillo Pioneer. “This would just be about Rusk if Pastor Donnie Lane hadn’t gone on television and lied to everyone. He gets on the news to cover him, his church, and Jeremy saying that no one maced anybody.”
Billups then told The Amarillo Pioneer why he was protesting at City Hall instead of protesting City Church. “I waited months before I said one word about this. My friends kept asking, ‘aren’t you going to protest?’ I told them, I’m going to let the city do it’s job. Then a week passes. Then two weeks. Then a month. Then two months. I went ‘no more, I can’t wait any longer.’”
Billups then began his own investigation. “I went down myself, interviewed people that were working at Tyler Resource the day it happened. I have no idea why the police didn’t go over there and ask questions because I got the police report. According to the police, someone called about someone being maced. They did not take any action on that. What they did is they arrested a homeless guy.”
According to Billups, he finally got some answers about the chain of events. “A lady from City Church and with her two kids walked over from City Church to Tyler and asked the security guy if he could get the homeless to move their stuff from the fence because it’s causing the fence to bow in. The guy said sure. Some moved their stuff quickly, some maybe not so quickly, but they moved all their stuff off the fence.” Billups says that’s when the macing began.
“The second they did that, Rusk quickly walked down the line spraying people through the cracks. Any lawyer will tell you that it looks premeditated because stuff hanging up on the fence was blocking the ability to mace them.”
Billups then began using social media to pressure the city to do something. Eventually, Billups resolved to bring his protest from Facebook back to the steps of City Hall and announced his decision on social media. At that point, Mayor Stanley commented on one of Billups’ posts.
“I still don’t understand what you expect myself or council to do. This is not a policy issue and we have no more powers than any other citizen in this circumstance,” wrote Stanley, “You’re always welcome at city hall and our council meetings but please know in advance there is not one thing that I can do in this situation sir.”
Billups told The Amarillo Pioneer that he disagrees with Stanley’s stance. “The Mayor is in charge of a $60 million a year budget for the police department. You are supposed to protect and serve the citizens of Amarillo. That’s why we elected you, and you won’t even do it for the least of us.” He further stressed that, even if Stanley has no official power, he could add his voice to the call for justice. “If you call yourself a Christian, if you call yourself someone who cares about people, why aren’t you out here with me protesting? If you have no power whatsoever, you would be out here.”
Billups then highlighted one important contrast between his experience dealing with Stanley versus Nelson. “In 2018, I got arrested by someone drunk on power for clapping during a city council meeting. Now, apparently, we’ve got a mayor with no power. Hopefully, we can find some sort of medium.”
Throughout his discussion, Billups iterated that he simply wants everyone to have their day in court.
Billups kicked off his protest on Wednesday, October 9th, and has been there every weekday since. Throughout the day, he sits on the steps of City Hall beside a sign reading “City Church Assault Protest.” As visitors to City Hall climb the steps, many stop to ask what he’s protesting about. “When people find out what happened, they get angry.” He's also collecting signatures to show support for his cause.
With City Hall closed for a long weekend, Billups plans to be back for Day Four on Tuesday, October 15th.