Why I Am No Longer Participating in the Lead Hill-Diamond City Area Chamber of Commerce

 

I have thought for quite some time about whether I wanted to say anything publicly about my experience with our local Chamber of Commerce.  I have no interest in suing anyone for money, even though it would be quite easy. I never wanted a payout or a public feud.  What I wanted was very simple:

I wanted the Chamber to do the right thing.

Alex and I were not strangers. We had known each other personally before this change, which is part of why the situation was so disappointing to me and why I have thought about it and quietly documented for some time.  I tried bringing up how I felt more than once, but was always met with excuses, accusations and approximately ZERO willingness to listen.  I am not publishing our entire personal history or every disagreement we ever had.  My concern here is limited to what happened once personal religious judgments appeared to affect the treatment of my business through an organization I had paid to join.

I joined the Lead Hill-Diamond City Area Chamber of Commerce in good faith and remained a paying member into my second year.  I supported Chamber activities as often as I could and believed that membership meant being part of a local organization whose purpose was to support area businesses.  My own experience was very different.  The Chamber was not present for either of The Herbal-Tique openings and no invitation was responded to when I sent them.  To my knowledge, no Chamber representative, or even business member has come here even once as a customer.

That alone would not have caused me to write this.  I get it, people are busy.  Volunteers have lives.  Not every organization can attend everything…or can they?  I have yet to see another business opening that they haven’t attended, but whatever.  I thought it was possible at the time that they confused the public opening to my gardens last year with my current indoor retail business.  What changed the situation for me was learning that the lack of support was not simply an oversight.

The “Witchcraft” Conversation

 

In May 2026, Chamber President Alex Jagneaux sent me written messages discussing her unwillingness to support my business and stating that I had “leaned into witchcraft.”  I am including those messages below so nobody has to rely on my interpretation of them.

For the record, the issue for me is not whether someone personally approves of my perceived spiritual beliefs.  People are free to believe whatever they wish.  The issue is whether the president of a Chamber of Commerce should allow her personal religious opinions about a paying member to influence how that member and her business is treated.

That question became even more significant after I finally received the Chamber’s own bylaws.  Article 2, Section 3 states that the Chamber, “in all its activities, shall be nonpartisan, non-sectional, and non-sectarian.”  Those are not my rules.  They are theirs.

I Never Resigned

 

I paid my second-year membership dues.  I never requested that my membership be terminated and I never requested a refund.  Yet in July I received Check #1048, marked as reimbursement of my membership.

There was another problem with the refund: the check was made payable to “Ozark Nature.”  Who is Ozark Nature?  They don’t know my name anymore?  lol  Clearly, that is not my name, and it is not the name of my business. My business is Ozarks Church of Nature, and the Chamber already had that information as it was posted on their site.  Even during the time of this, “dispute?”  The image below was taken on July 20, 2026.

As written, the check was not payable to a name under which I could cash or deposit it.  Was that simply an administrative mistake?  Was it an abbreviation someone chose without thinking?  Or was removing “Church” from the name intentional, particularly given the written conversation about my alleged spiritual beliefs?

I don’t know.  And I am not going to claim that I know someone else’s intent.  I can only show what was written on the check and let people decide for themselves.

When I began asking why, I received different explanations.  CJ told me in writing that the check was related to “a conversation with Alex.”

Then I never heard from CJ again.  Which was weird, cause she was pretending to be my friend and even apologized for being a “bad friend” in our last conversation a couple days before this AND in text…..but that’s not the point of this post, so I’ll hold on to that information…for now.

In one email, Alex told me, “We aren’t terminating your membership.”  However, in a follow-up email, she acknowledged that she had previously  recommended refunding me and described it as a decision that had been delayed rather than recently made.  Rather than paraphrase that exchange, I am publishing the correspondence below in its entirety.

 

Readers are welcome to read those communications and draw their own conclusions.  (You can right click the images to enlarge in another window for easier viewing.)

Then I Read Their Bylaws

 

 

This is where I became less interested in personalities and much more interested in process.  The Chamber bylaws say membership is continuous, while their specific forfeiture provision addresses failure to pay annual dues. I had paid my dues.  The bylaws also require the Board of Directors to meet monthly and say that rules adopted for conducting Chamber business must remain consistent with the bylaws.  Most importantly in relation to the refund check, Article 6, Section 3 says:

“Expenditures shall be authorized by the Board of Directors.”

It goes on to state that no appropriation or expenditure of Chamber money shall be made or authorized except by the Board.  Article 7 repeats the requirement.  The Treasurer is responsible for accurate accounts and reports to the Board, and expenditures other than contractual obligations require prior Board approval.  The Secretary is also charged with preserving Chamber records and recording proceedings and minutes.  So I asked a very straightforward question:

Where is the Board record authorizing my refund?

I requested the meeting minutes, voting records and other records that would show how this decision was made and whether the Chamber followed its own governing rules.

Again, I am including their responses rather than telling anyone what to think about them.

If the Board properly considered and authorized the action, the records should resolve the issue easily.  If it did not, that raises a very different question.

This Was Never About 50 Dollars

 

I want to be very clear about this.  This was never about recovering my $50.  I never wanted to sue the Chamber for money.  I wanted to know why a local business organization I had supported appeared to treat my business differently after its president expressed religious objections to what she believed about me.  I did try to share my feelings about some obvious to me changes that were going on, which are perfectly acceptable grievances and questions that anyone should be allowed to have.  Those questions were not answered.  Did they choose to punish me over having these feelings and questions?  I can’t tell you what was going on in their mind, but what I do know is that after my next request, I received a facebook, “unfriending” from her on or about that same evening I sent my second request.

Once I received their bylaws, I wanted to know whether the organization had actually followed its own rules.  That is still what I want.  I believe organizations that ask local businesses for membership dues and support from the community should be willing to follow the same rules they expect their members to respect.  I also believe people should be able to read the documentation for themselves.  That is why I am publishing the texts, emails, check, bylaws and records requests together.  Nothing here is edited into sound bites or reconstructed from memory.

These are the actual correspondence.

Since her last response, I have sent 2 more requests, clear about the information I was seeking, that according to non profit laws should be available to anyone who requests them.

   

And her response…….  no words, just an automatically generated cancellation from their site.  🙂

Where I Go From Here

 

At this time, I am choosing documentation over litigation.  I have no desire to spend my life in court over a Chamber membership, however I reserve the right to change my mind based on the actions of the Chamber.

I have a business to run, gardens to tend, animals to care for, people to serve, and apparently a book to write. ????  I am, however, preserving the entire record, and I may submit the matter to the appropriate Arkansas agency so that the Chamber’s compliance with its nonprofit obligations can be reviewed independently.  My purpose in publishing this is not to encourage harassment, retaliation or personal attacks against anyone involved.  Please do not do that.  My purpose is and has always been, transparency.

I asked privately for accountability.  I gave the Chamber an opportunity to explain its actions.  And now I am simply placing the documents together so the community can see what happened and decide for itself.  I never wanted their money.

I only wanted them to do the right thing.

 

To me, the right thing would have been to hear my concerns and address THEM, not redirect it into a he said/she said.  For now, those texts and other evidence of retaliations from her close associates and financial sponsors will remain in the vault.  It was more than obvious she no longer wanted me there and I personally don’t like to be in places where I am not wanted, respected and appreciated.  She could have followed through and I would have resigned.

 

And for now, I am comfortable leaving it there.

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Documented Timeline: Lead Hill-Diamond City Area Chamber of Commerce – What happened next?

When I originally wrote this post, I shared what I knew at the time about the unexpected refund of my Chamber membership and the circumstances surrounding it.

Since then, I have obtained the Chamber’s bylaws, additional written responses, Arkansas corporate records, and Boone County records concerning public economic-development funding.

Rather than rewrite the original post with hindsight, I am leaving it intact and adding the documented chronology below. Where a record establishes a fact, I state it as a fact. Where a question remains unanswered, I identify it as a question.

April 2025 – Membership begins.
Ozarks Church of Nature joined the Lead Hill–Diamond City Area Chamber of Commerce and paid its first-year membership dues.

April 2026 – Second-year dues paid.
I paid the $50 business-member renewal dues for another year. I did not resign from the Chamber or request that my membership be terminated. The Chamber’s bylaws say business membership is on a “continual basis,” that annual dues become delinquent if not received by April 1, and that membership is forfeited for failure to pay dues. They also describe the Chamber as nonpartisan, non-sectional and non-sectarian. Adobe Scan Jul 18, 2026 (2)

May 6, 2026 – Chamber president raises “witchcraft” in discussing support for my business.
In a written exchange, Chamber President Alex Jagneaux told me that support for my business was a line she could not cross because, in her words, I had “leaned into witchcraft.” I do not practice witchcraft and had not represented my business to her that way.

This exchange became significant later because of both the Chamber’s non-sectarian bylaw and what subsequently happened to my membership.

June 26, 2026 – The Chamber publicly promotes Ozarks Church of Nature.
Weeks after that private exchange, the official Chamber Facebook page shared one of our posts and referred publicly to Ozarks Church of Nature by name.

That matters because it shows that the Chamber was still publicly treating the business as part of its network at that time.

July 8, 2026 – Chamber issues refund check #1048.
Without any refund request from me, the Chamber issued a $50 check marked “reimburse membership.” I did not request the refund, resign, or agree to terminate my membership.

When I asked the Chamber treasurer why the check had been issued, I was told it was “due to a conversation with Alex.”

July 17, 2026 – I ask for an explanation. Alex says the Chamber is not terminating me.
After receiving the unsolicited refund, I wrote to Alex seeking an explanation and requesting the Chamber bylaws.

In her response, Alex expressly wrote:

“We aren’t terminating your membership.”

In a second email shortly afterward, however, she also wrote that she had “recommended that we refund you immediately” and described that decision as having been delayed rather than newly made.

Those statements left an obvious unresolved question: if my membership was not being terminated, what was the legal and organizational effect of returning my paid dues?

July 20, 2026 – Chamber provides its bylaws; I request the underlying records.
After receiving the bylaws, I requested the board minutes, voting/authorization records concerning check #1048, the board/member information and relevant financial records.

The reason for requesting the authorization records was straightforward. The Chamber’s bylaws state that expenditures are to be authorized by the Board of Directors and that no appropriation or expenditure may be authorized except by the Board. They further state that the Treasurer issues Chamber checks and that, except for contractual obligations, expenditures require prior Board approval. Adobe Scan Jul 18, 2026 (1)

So the question was, and remains – what Board action, if any, authorized refund check #1048?

July 22, 2026 – Chamber acknowledges the records request but does not provide the requested records.
Alex responded that the Chamber was volunteer-run, said it could not meet the requested timeline, and wrote that it was “preparing a response” and would get back to me as soon as possible.

No substantive response providing the requested minutes, voting record or authorization followed at that time.

July 27, 2026 – Chamber now says my membership was canceled effective this date.
The Chamber’s October 7 response now states that my membership was “canceled effective July 27, 2026.”

That date is important because only ten days earlier, Alex had told me in writing:

“We aren’t terminating your membership.”

It also came after my request for the records showing how the refund and membership action had been authorized.

I have not seen a record identifying the meeting, vote, notice, hearing, or other Chamber procedure by which the July 27 cancellation was authorized.

July 28, 2026 – I object and continue requesting records.
I followed up in writing after receiving notice of the cancellation. I stated that I had not requested termination, had not accepted the unsolicited refund as a resignation or waiver, and continued to seek the records concerning the decision and the issuance of check #1048.

August 2026 – Arkansas corporate record reviewed.
Arkansas Secretary of State records identify the Lead Hill-Diamond City Chamber as a domestic nonprofit corporation in good standing and list Alex Jagneaux as President, along with other named officers/directors.

August 31 / September 24–25, 2026 – Boone County economic-development agreement.
A Boone County agreement with the Chamber was subsequently executed for up to $2,500 in public funds for general economic-development purposes. The agreement itself is dated September 24; the paperwork contains an earlier August 31 acknowledgment on the County side, Alex’s Chamber acknowledgment in September, and a County received stamp dated September 25. Agreement (1)

September 28, 2026 – Boone County generates $2,500 payment to the Chamber.
Boone County’s payment record identifies check/payment #47485, dated September 28, 2026, payable to the Lead Hill/Diamond City Chamber of Commerce for $2,500 under the September agreement. check stub (1)

October 1, 2026 – Boone County confirms the payment record.
The County Clerk’s office advised me in writing that it appeared Boone County “cut a check to the Lead Hill/Diamond City Chamber on 9/28/26” and supplied the check stub and agreement.

October 7, 2026 – Chamber finally gives a written records response.
Alex wrote that the Chamber considers its Arkansas FOIA obligations limited to records tracking public funds.

She further stated:

“Because the Chamber has not yet received, deposited, or expended the $2,500 in Boone County funds, no operational or financial records regarding those funds exist.”

She identified the executed Boone County agreement as the sole responsive record.

The same response characterized the July requests for check #1048, board voting records, financial ledgers and membership/board rosters as private corporate matters and denied them. It also relied upon the statement that my membership had been “canceled effective July 27, 2026” to deny continuing member inspection rights.

October 7, 2026 – Follow-up sent to Boone County.
Because Boone County’s records show that payment #47485 was generated September 28 while the Chamber says it had not received or deposited those funds by October 7, I asked Boone County to confirm whether the check was mailed, delivered or picked up; whether it remains outstanding; and, if negotiated, to provide the front and back of the canceled check.

That question is currently pending.

 

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What I Still Want Answered

Not accusations. Just questions:

Who authorized refund check #1048?

Was there a Board meeting or vote, as contemplated by the Chamber’s own bylaws?

How did “We aren’t terminating your membership” on July 17 become a membership cancellation effective July 27?

What notice or procedure preceded that cancellation?

Why did the cancellation occur after I requested the records showing how the refund had been authorized?

What information or discussion led the Chamber president to characterize my business through the language of “witchcraft,” despite the Chamber’s own non-sectarian bylaw?

What was the status of Boone County payment #47485 when the Chamber stated on October 7 that it had not received or deposited those funds?

I do not need readers to accept my interpretation of these events. I am providing the chronology and source documents so people can read the record for themselves.

This page will be updated if additional responsive records are provided or if any factual information above needs to be corrected.