What a display took place before Lock Haven City Council at this week’s meeting! The start of the meeting was standing room only, with scores of concerned citizens present to voice their opinions.

The subject? Not the city’s budget, even though it’s the middle of budget season and few things — even national politics — affect residents more than the decisions of their local officials.

No, the subject was a use request for the Clinton County Ministerium to put up its nativity scene in Triangle Park.

We aren’t going to belabor the details here — there are 2,500 words on the discussion in the story in this very newspaper.

Instead, we want to focus on — fittingly — Our View.

The nativity is an important symbol for Christians around Christmas.

It is also an important symbol for those who are not especially religious but for whom it evokes strong memories of family members who were.

Some of our parents are deceased, and putting up the nativity scene is still an important part of the holidays regardless of our personal religious beliefs.

At no point during Monday night’s council meeting did anyone suggest that the manger not be put up.

Several individuals, in fact, wracked their brains trying to come up with a compromise that would be acceptable.

At every turn, however, those olive branches were met with scorn.

The only acceptable solution was capitulation — which, at the end of the discussion, they received with Mayor Joel Long’s deciding vote.

Several council members — Heather Alexander, Tami Brannan, Pastor Rick Conklin and Mayor Long himself — stated that they felt bullied, intimidated and harassed.

And yet, council allowed the bullies to win.

We tell our children to stand up to bullies, and yet our elected officials cannot come to a consensus to do the same.

Heck, there were allegations of harassment against the Downtown Lock Haven, Inc. Manager, Melissa Dally, which were swept aside as people preferred to talk about their religion, instead.

Dally stated that she “received harassment online and on my personal phone.”

Council member Steve Stevenson said, “I did see some folks, activist people, who were attacking our manager and our executive board. I don’t think that was right.”

Alexander, said she was originally going to vote yes, but that her “vote (has) changed after the unpleasant things I have heard and the unpleasant things that I have seen.”

There were more examples.

To be clear, many of the self-identified Christians who showed up to support the nativity scene were earnest and forthright that they were not participating in this alleged harassment.

A few bad actors, unfortunately, can spoil a bunch.

We, explicitly, do not have a problem with the nativity scene or manger display.

However, we do have a problem with people threatening community members who are doing their jobs — often, their underpaid, undersupported jobs.

Speaking of Dally, we hope that this incident does not cause her to step down from DLH. She has seemed a good fit for the role in the relatively short time she has been in it, and while we acknowledge that it is heartbreaking that those in the houses of power turned their backs on her, we want to assure her that there are those in the community who do stand with her.

Ultimately, these attacks on downtown Lock Haven are attacks on the whole city.

These are our small businesses, our “mom-and-pops.” This is where people can go that isn’t Amazon or Walmart or other exploitative titans.

Downtown businesses contribute tax monies to the city. A flourishing downtown makes it less likely that your taxes go up.

Furthermore, many are fond of complaining that there is nothing to do in town, especially for kids.

Attacking the organization in charge of parades, the Santa Hut, trick-or-treating, Easter Egg hunts and more is a great way for there to be even less to do.

We encourage you to listen to the meeting yourself if this topic is even tangentially relevant to you.

The livestream of the meeting was posted to the Lock Haven’s Youtube page (www.youtube.com/@cityoflockhavenpa1348) and is viewable there as a recording.

Be the judge for yourself of whether this is an acceptable portrayal of our community — or if you, like us, think Lock Haven can do — can be — better.