Landon Taylor’s photography

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO POLITICAL BAD GUYS

Festooned with a loveseat, stuffed gorilla, and a variety of tchotchkes too numerous to mention, King David Davis’s ride is louder than his political rhetoric. Davis began decorating his truck over a year ago to symbolize the virtues that motivate him in his quest for civil justice. “This area here represents the sanctuary of life,” says Davis, pointing to the makeshift hood ornament. He then walks me through the remainder of his vehicular talismans—my favorite, the miniature frog statue that represents the King himself.

Like that statue, Davis appears unassuming, a self-proclaimed “Wichita Hillbilly” and ambassador of citizens without a voice in local government. He smiles as he identifies the sign reading, “EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TO POLITICAL BAD GUYS,” a reputation he works hard to maintain. Davis acknowledges that many find him strange for both his eccentric opinions and appearance, but he doesn’t let that dissuade him from grassroots activism: “In the beginning, the community didn’t understand. I was something unusual and easy to distance one’s self from. Now that the community is starting to see the things I saw back then, they appreciate the fact that I didn’t quit or give up,” Davis relates as he hands me some homemade literature.

Davis has distributed these types of pamphlets since he moved to Wichita in 1991 during the so-called “Summer of Mercy.” He sounds rueful when probed about his militant pro-life past and the street-theatre protests he staged outside of local clinics. He says, “I realized in 1992 that the people I represented were just as guilty as anyone else. I went before the city council and made a public apology.” That’s when Davis restyled himself as pro-justice rather than pro-life or –choice—an amalgam of what he considers honorable about both movements.

And that honor is Davis’s key: he mentions it, along with “respectability,” no less than 30 times in the span of our one hour conversation. When I press him to define these terms and the platform they represent, Davis grows agitated and redirects me toward “the criminal element of law enforcement” that he contends has persecuted him for his beliefs since he arrived in Wichita 18 years ago. “They wrongfully prosecuted both me and my son,” says Davis, though he’s reluctant to provide details about his criminal history.

Davis is similarly reticent when I inquire about city attorney Gary Rebenstorf, the subject of Wichita’s Hillbilly News’s most recent issue. Davis claims he would rather emphasize the positive than the “foul, devious, and sinister” man who he likens to BTK in his handout: “Dennis Rader was also the church president and as for [sic] as I am concerned you guys could have been buds…if not brothers…..” Davis instead cites District Attorney Nola Foulston and Judges Gregory Waller and Paul Clark, whom he describes as “statues of integrity.” None were available for comment.

The virulent tone of these newsletters contrasts sharply with Davis in person, at least on the day we spoke. He’s more interested in discussing his involvement in the Professional Singles Network (PSN) than the “corrupt politicians” he usually targets; he asks three separate times for me to mention PSN’s weekly Sunday meetings (7:00PM at the American Legion, 401 E. 31st St.), and I suspect his insistence stems from his own bid for PSN president. King David Davis has a touch of the politician himself.

But more than a renegade-hillbilly-turned-political-vigilante-turned-singles-network-president, King David Davis is a man. With needs. When I ask him about the statue on his truck of two lovers embracing, he responds, “I know that if there were a special person in my life, she would be the treasure of my heart. After ten years, I could use the warmth of a hillbilly woman.” Assertions like this make it hard for even the most cynical to resist Davis’s charm—liberally applied with his signature duct-taped briefcase.

You may contact King David Davis for more information about Wichita’s Hillbilly News, the PSN, or a response to this article at wichitahillbilly@yahoo.com.