Village Meeting - Joe's Account

Joe read his account as the opening to the Monday (2/23/09), Cliff Village Meeting.

"In light of recent events, I wanted to make a clear testament regarding the events of Cliff Village Ordnance 277. On August 19th, 2008, we held our village meeting. I distributed notes to every resident in the village about a week in advance of the meeting, as I always do, and we had a large turn out. Attending were: Ellon & Mike Darr, Allan Cress, and his wife Tammy, Mike Stewart and his wife, Kathy Blundell, George Blundell, Sarah Perkins, myself, Emily Williams, Biff Bell, Phill Duff and his wife, Mark and Cindy Sweet, and Kirsten Landwer. The last 5 people didn’t sign the attendance minuets because they came late.

The meeting went as follows: special guest, Cary Lee, from the Joplin Special Road District, spoke to us about paving Norledge Ave, along with other road related business. Cary left after he was done explaining the road business. We all spoke about a village wide garage sale, and I was asked to find out more about where our village boundaries ended.

Nearing the end of the meeting, I proposed Ordinance 421. I read and explained the ordinance and my reason for it. When I asked who was in support, ALL IN ATTENDANCE were in complete support (Mrs. Williams left before ordinance was proposed). All council members said yes, and expressed support. Only two people remained silent: Mike Stewart and his wife. Everyone else was in complete favor. My Dad, George Blundell, was in descent about children being present; but was in favor of the ordinance.

I then stated that even though it passed by village standards, I would like to put it on the ballot to have more public attention in the matter. Cindy Sweet then suggested that she would ask her Sheriff friend on what he thought about the ordinance. About two weeks after the meeting, Cindy Sweet approached me with an alleged message from her Sheriff friend. She said she had spoken with him, and that he had said that since I was in a wheelchair, I could grow as long as we didn’t do the ordinance.

In late January, I learned of Missouri HB 277 regarding the legalization of medical cannabis, and thought that sense our Ordinance 421 was strongly worded, I would submit Ordinance 277 to the ballet.

On Friday the 23rd, I received a call from Kay Baum, the Newton County Clerk. I was late for filing the candidate forms. Unfortunately, no one else wanted to take a council position or that of Mayor, so my Dad and I had to do it again. In submitting the candidate forms, I asked Mrs. Baum if it was too late to submit an ordinance to be voted on in the April elections. She stated that would be fine.

After sending the fax, she called and stated that she didn’t receive it all, so I faxed it again. She then called and stated, “You’ll need a lawyer to put this on the election,” in a very snide voice. Yes, we the residents of Cliff Village had just received the “veto power” of the county clerk. I replied that she can consider that a notice, for the board had already approved it. However, that statement was not entirely true. We had approved Ordinance 421, not 277.

I then called to double check with all the council members and make sure they were still in support, and tell them about changing the wording to match that of MO HB 277. The first council members I contacted were Kirsten and Doug. Kirsten came over to our house on Saturday, and stated that even though she was in support and would like to still vote yes, her and Doug would have to vote no for fear of loosing there jobs. I stated that I could understand, and told her I would resign if the others backed out. I asked her if she would like to have a meeting about it, and she said she did not, and would still have to vote no for fear of loosing her job.

I then asked my Dad, and told him about Doug and Kirsten backing out for fear of losing their jobs. My Dad said, “Were they afraid of getting fired for practicing democracy?” He said his vote was still a yes. I then called Mrs. Darr, and got her answering machine. At a friend’s house that night, I was anticipating Mrs. Darr to revoke her support for the legalization of medical cannabis, and was in a very somber mood.

Then Mrs. Darr called. I told her that I wanted to adopt our ordinance under 277, instead of 421, and explained that it was the language of the state bill and a lot less inflammatory then our Ordinance 421, and I wanted to know if she was still for it. Mrs. Darr went into a story about how she had just lost her father-in-law to cancer, and how she was loosing her father to cancer now; and how upset she was that all her father could receive for his pain was morphine, and that the cancer treatments made him sick.

She stated that she wishes he could have something natural. Something that would make him feel better, without all the side effects. She then stated that she was still in 100% support, and her vote was still a yes. I asked her if she wanted to have another meeting about it. She stated that due to her father’s condition, she couldn’t schedule one.

With this, I considered that we still had 3 yes’s, and 2 no’s from the last meeting. So it was safe to say the ordinance still passed. This was not a new vote, but merely a checking of the previous vote, and to see if the council wouldn’t mind adopting the 277 language over the 421 language.

This being the case, this was not another meeting. Ordinance 277 was not what was adopted by the village. It was actually Ordinance 421 that was unanimously adopted on August 19th, 2008, by all board members present, (Joe Blundell, George Blundell, Ellon Darr, and Kirsten Landwer), and all village residents present, with the exception of the Stewart’s remaining silent.

I attest to all accounts of this to be true and accurate. The fact that the media was informed and given the wrong information about 277, rather than 421, is totally my fault. It was not done intentionally. I was operating under the assumption that all parties at the meeting were in total support of a much stronger ordinance, and I felt that calming the language was in the best interest of the village.

This being the case, Ordinance 421 is the ordinance that actually passed under the village bylaws. If any involved parties wish to dispute any of the above claims, I will gladly submit to a polygraph on any of these accounts."

-Joe Blundell