If They Are Not Surrogates ...

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In case you missed the article on the proposed smoking ban in Kirkwood written by Phil Sutin at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch here is a link to the article:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/01121987BF304A24862575DD0077A28C?OpenDocument

I was surprised to see the smoking ban folks selected a new spokeswoman for their group, Mrs. Debra Hacke Cotton. In 2006 she showed an extreme inability to present the facts about her smoking ban in a forthright manner to our community.

Who can forget Mrs. Cotton’s Webster-Kirkwood Times Mailbag letter from October 19, 2006 where she said about Citizens for Smoke-Free Kirkwood’s (CFSK) proposal,

“This initiative is being brought forth to the voters by a committed group of Kirkwood citizens, who care deeply about their neighbors and their community. Having recently become involved in supporting this issue and Citizens for Smoke-Free Kirkwood, I can assure you that this movement is not being supported by "special interest groups" or "fueled by outsiders," as purported on a flyer distributed by those opposing the ordinance.” (my bold)

Mrs. Cotton’s full letter can be found here:
http://www.websterkirkwoodtimes.com/Letters-3141.113117_Make_Kirkwood_Healthier_With_Prop_1_Vote.html

Yes, Mrs. Cotton wrote this letter of “assurance” while there were not one, not two, not three but FOUR billboards at the intersection of Big Bend and Kirkwood Rd, paid for by the state-wide group Tobacco-Free Missouri.

The thousands of dollars spent by Tobacco-Free Missouri for those billboards was not the act of a "special interest group" trying to force their outside agenda on our community?

Now according to Phil Sutin’s article Mrs. Cotton and her fellow surrogate citizens are going to hold a rally at Station Plaza this Saturday from 10am to 2pm to "clean the air." They are going to have music provided by Baker Symes of Webster Groves.

That is an interesting name of a Webster Groves’ citizen to see once again involved in forcing a smoking ban proposal on the community of Kirkwood.

Mrs. Cotton should know that name, since Mr. Baker Symes of Webster Groves was one of five anti-smoking zealots from outside our community who were conscripted by Ms. Jean Loemker to gather signatures from Kirkwood citizens for their 2006 citizens initiative petition.

Yes, the last time these surrogates citizens for outside anti-smoking groups forced a vote via a citizens’ initiative petition it was “fueled by outsiders” like Mr. Baker Symes. Even though Mrs. Cotton “assured” us this was not the case. Those are the facts regardless of what Mrs. Cotton wishes to exert on our community then or now.

The interest grows even more in the name Baker Symes when you realize it has not been used in relation to a smoking ban being forced on his own community of Webster Groves. Webster has a citizen's initiative process provided in their City Charter. Yet, why has Mr. Symes failed to abuse his City Charter and shove that agenda on his own community with the help of his cohorts in Kirkwood and the anti-smoking groups they serve from around the State of Missouri? I guess Mr. Symes is more interested in making the anti-smoking zealot "duke it out" battle count to be: Kirkwood 2 / Webster 0.

Now these same folks in Kirkwood want to pretend their new group in not being supported by "special interest groups" or "fueled by outsiders?"

These same folks want us to believe they are not surrogates for outside anti-smoking organizations from throughout Missouri?

If they are not surrogates, then why did they once again fail to work within our community to develop a smoking ban proposal?

If they are not surrogates, then why did they draft a proposal that other members of our community had no say in?

If they are not surrogates, then why are they once again forcing a vote on this issue by abusing the citizen’s initiative process?

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