East Washingtonian - Your Hometown News Source

DAYTON–The petition to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library District sponsor Jessica Ruffcorn received word July 24 all signatures had been certified by the Auditor's Office as sufficient and had been sent to the Library Board of Trustees. This was the second attempt to file the petition. The first was declared insufficient on June 28 of the required 10% of registered voters (107) of unincorporated Columbia County by only six signatures.

Those in support of the petition rallied to have those qualified signors of the previous petition to sign again and garnered new supporters to sign with a total of 186 signatures in less than two days. The petition was refiled on June 30.

Since learning the news of the petition Ruffcorn said, "We were told after the first petition fell short that it would be nearly impossible for us to try again and get our petition on this year's ballot. But we didn't let that stop us."

Ruffcorn took to the streets in search of qualified signers, then resubmit the petition to the Auditors office. "We pushed forward and gave it one last chance," said Ruffcorn. "In less than 48 hours we were able to collect 186 signatures from unincorporated Columbia County. If that doesn't show you just where the community stands on this issue, I don't know what will."

She realizes there are a few more steps to complete in the process, but believes it is time to reevaluate priorities. "I know we are not at the finish line yet, she continued, "but this is a strong statement, and between the sexually explicit books and the extremely large budget we know that it's time to reevaluate the priorities and needs of Dayton."

The next step is for the Board to hold a special meeting for which 24-hour public notice is required at which time they are compelled to approve the petition for the November ballot.