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The question was posed on Facebook by Dennis Gebelhardt, Journeyman Lineman at Municipal Utilities, in this way: Mr Becker...If indeed your motivation wasn't one of personal Gain.. Here is your opportunity to explain. What exactly was your reason to campaign against this Bond Issue?. Remember the Rules are honesty and ethics. Here is my reply to Dennis: The ordinance to put this on the ballot was passed on Aug 20 and given to the County Clerk on August 21st which was the very last day to submit ballot info. One would think that a $20M Sewer Bond Ballot issue by City Council would make the front page, but no, it was buried on page 6 in the middle of an

Okay, first the second part of my headline: These past two years have taken a toll on my family and, yet, they are still standing firmly beside me in all of this. However, the past five days and the inflammatory storytelling in the DAR and the threat of being arrested on election day have taken a huge chunk out of all our courage. Don't worry they are still standing strong with me, but please pray for us. For those who haven't read the SEMO Times, they released an online story last night which helps to balance the DARs pro-city reporting: This Is The Reason They Call Poplar Bluff Little Chicago.

It appears that Mr Bagby has decided to retaliate against me for my desire to defeat this ill-conceived ballot measure for the City of Poplar Bluff. And now I'm in the sights of the Poplar Bluff Police department. I was given a ticket today because "a city employee" says they saw me putting flyers on cars...once I get permission from legal counsel I'll be happy to blog about that...but I think it would be wise to leave that one alone at this time. Suffice it to say that I don't believe I did anything wrong. It's curious though, in their zealousness to incriminate me, after taking photos of the "VOTE NO on $20,000,000 SEWER TAX" campaign signs the police officers

I posted my response to Mr. Bagby's editorial today and got this in my email shortly after: ==========DOUG BAGBY EMAILED ME TODAY=========== ==========END OF EMAIL========================== I'm not sure what to say...Mr Bagby. If an issue is an "easy measure to defeat," should you actually spend money on an election or buy expensive ads in the DAR to support it?

I read Mr. Bagby's editorial in the DAR today and for the second time this year he's broken our city's ordinance which prohibits the City Manager from being involved in political issues. It's that above-the-law arrogance he routinely displays which is at the core of this sewer tax. Last time he did this was when his puppet councilman was losing this spring, Doug wrote an editorial endorsing Edington only to have the citizens of Fourth Ward slap his hand and put Brannum in power. Now, the arrogance of our City Manager tells you that your vote doesn't even matter. Bagby says he's going to spend the money no matter what you vote. He says he's going to raise your sewer