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Becker was asked about being removed from the City Council meeting on November 21st, “I apologized to the mayor for speaking out of turn, but my wife, Toni, told the Council that each of her petition signatures were stapled to the full page of text of the petition. Mr Duncan said he didn’t know that to be true. He kept parsing words, saying my wife lied, and then repeatedly and condescendingly would say ‘‘I’m not calling you a liar.’ In my frustration I defended my wife and the City Manager kicked me out.”

Brian Becker, owner of SEMO.net, filed a lawsuit in Butler County on Friday asking the courts to uphold the rights of 1193 Poplar Bluff citizens who signed the petition but had their names invalidated by the City Clerk and CIty Attorney. The City Attorney wrote in a letter dated November 17, that the City Clerk had invalidated over signatures because the full text of the ordinance was not on every page of signatures. The suit alleges that the state statues “requires that signature pages be attached to such a copy of the full correct text of the petition. Mr. Becker complied with this requirement as indicated by staple holes in the various pages. They were separated only for the purposed

The city of Poplar Bluff has decided to invalidate 1200 signatures. Those include any that were mailed in and over 1100 who signed a petition where the first page was the language of the ordinance and the 2nd and 3rd pages were stapled to it with lines for 20 names. Though we are convinced that the City has violated Missouri Law, we only have 10 days to correct this or our entire petition is thrown out. HELP US get this done. Go to

More than the 2900 signatures were gathered to put Open Access to a vote of the people as promised by City Manager, Doug Bagby. Now, the Open Access Petition group turns its attention to protecting the voters who signed the petition. The group’s new web site, www.LetPBDecide.com, is designed to keep the citizens updated on progress and encourage valuable input. Brian Becker, group spokesperson, stated, “It appears to us that these 3400 voters have no advocate within City Hall. City Hall is working to figure out ways to throw out voters. For instance, we’ve heard City Hall is considering throwing out any voter who mailed in their petition. That is sad.” LetPBDecide.com features video clips of Poplar Bluff citizens giving

The Open Access Petition group has kicked off their "Let PB Decide!" campaign with videos from Poplar Bluff Citizens. Check it out at www.LetPBDecide.com