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People wanted to vote

I was one of the “boneheaded” petition circulators who wanted to send the Haymeadow development to a vote of the people that Don Rogers so inelegantly called out in his editorial of June 11. As usual, he and his paper only published about half of the story. He is correct in stating that our “failure had nothing to do with being out lawyered” for we had no lawyer at all. As with many grassroots efforts, this one lacked the one key ingredient that is critical in politics today: Money. Instead, we relied on town of Eagle officials to provide us with the guidance and knowledge necessary to properly develop and follow the state laws on petitions. In fact, the law requires the town to certify petitions as complete before they can be circulated. That was all done. Unfortunately, the petition form provided by the town of Eagle was incorrect and while the ultimate responsibility resides with the circulators of the petition, almost every other violation outlined in the protest stems from the circulation of an improper form. Once again, a form provided by town of Eagle officials, certified by the town before being circulated and certified as being complete and having enough town of Eagle citizen signatures to take Haymeadow to an election. We collected 373 signatures in less than two weeks, 310 which were deemed to be valid; many of the invalid signatures were due to people having moved within Eagle and not having changed their address.

There is a rather overwhelming desire by the citizens of Eagle to vote on this issue. Don is right we are “boneheads” for trusting the town of Eagle to provide accurate and correct information. Ultimately, the real losers will be the citizens of Eagle whose voice won’t be heard.

Kraige Kinney


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