EDITOR:
On the morning of Saturday, June 6, I came across a surprising sight outside the YMCA in Parkville. Three people were collecting signatures to get their names on the ballot for county-wide offices. This is surprising because it represents a reversal in the policy of the Y; last fall and through the spring citizens were forbidden to collect signatures outside the Y, by order of Scott Fricker. Perhaps that ought to be phrased “His Excellency and Plenipotentiary Grand Pooh-bah Presiding Commissioner of Platte County.”
Citizens attempted to collect signatures outside the Y for the Respect MO Voters petition that would put a citizen initiative on the ballot that would prohibit the Missouri legislature from undermining or overturning voters’ intent as expressed at the ballot box. They were rudely bullied by Mr. Fricker. He threatened them with arrest and told the staff of the Y that if they did not withhold permission from signature collectors he would see to it that the county’s funding for the Y would be rescinded.
I am speculating that his opposition to the collection of signatures might be related to the initiative at issue cutting a bit close to the bone, since he and his fellow commissioners had done precisely what the initiative (if approved by voters) would have forbidden at the state level. Specifically, Fricker and his colleagues chose not to implement the tax voters had approved to fund mental health services for young people in Platte County. Whatever his motivation, the staff at the Y were intimidated and followed his orders, even though Fricker had no authority to prohibit signature gathering on their premises.
The folks collecting signatures June 6 said that the Y staff had granted them permission for them to be there, and that the policy has changed. I don’t know how that came about, but let’s applaud the change. The Y is a vibrant hub in our community and engaged citizens should absolutely be able to perform civics politely outside the doors so that other citizens have an opportunity to make their voices heard.
A vote of thanks to whoever made this happen; a word of warning to the rest of us that petty would-be tyrants sometimes exaggerate their prerogatives, which is why they ought to be watched carefully and reined in as needed.
--Theresa Noble
Parkville
