Presented to City Council on 18 June 2012
“Save the Guard!
Petition in Support of the F-35 at the
Vermont Air National Guard”
(Title of the petition)
- I personally reviewed all 77 pages of the petition
– Most were not signatures – they were printed names
– Many did not include street addresses
– Some did not include city and/or state names
– Some had 2-4 persons with the same address
– Some were illegible
- I counted approximately 1,616 names. Of these, approximately 191 were from South Burlington. Of there, only a handful was from the areas around the airport.
- Most were from Colchester
- Vermont towns represented include
– Winooski, Williston, Burlington, Essex, Essex Junction, Shelburne, Charlotte, Hinesburg, St George, Starksboro, Jericho, Underhill, Westford, Cambridge, Richmond, Randolph, Jeffersonville, Grand Isle, Middlebury, Vergennes, Georgia, Brandon, Fairfield, Swanton, St Albans, Milton, North Hero, Fairfax, Waterbury, Barre, Montpelier, Enosburg, Hartford, South Hero, New Haven, Bristol, Fayston, Woodstock, Quechee, Lincoln, Ferrisburg, Bridport, Alburg, Groton, Rutland
- There were about 50 names from people in other states including
– New York (20+), New Hampshire (10+), Maine (5+), Rhode Island (1+), Pennsylvania (1+), Florida (4+), Minnesota (4+), Iowa (6+), and California (2+)
- There were 5 people who listed their address as “BTV”
NOTE: I am unaware of any established procedure on how to validate i.e., “count” petitioners. By comparison, when running for an elected position, one has to gather the following information (which can be verified against the list of SB registered residents): printed name, signature, house number, street name, and city name.