Details of Community Rights Alliance's on-line petition questioned

The Community Rights Alliance of Winneshiek County has been collecting signatures on a petition opposing frac sand mining.  But do the people who sign the petition know what they're supporting?  That was the question raised Monday by Winneshiek County supervisors.

The Community Rights Alliance reported that they have collected 825 signatures on a petition to ban frac sand mining as of 10:00 p.m. Sunday.  Some of those signatures were collected on written petitions.  The majority—694 signatures—was collected on-line through moveon.org (http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-frac-sand-mining-1/?source=search) The wording of the petition is, "We, the people of Winneshiek County, call for a rights-based ordinance banning industrial frac sand extraction and processing.  NO FRAC SAND MINING. Period!"  But supervisor Dean Thompson questioned whether signees were signing because of their support of a community rights ordinance or because of their opposition to frac sand mining.

Thompson also questioned whether people who visited the website would be informed about the Community Rights ordinance, since there was no website link to a document explaining the movement.  Petition creator Lara Martinsen-Burrell explained to decorahnews.com that the petition states, "For more information, please go to: CommunityRightsAlliance.org," but the MoveOn.org software does not allow for website links in petitions.

Despite Monday's criticism by county supervisors, the Community Rights Alliance of Winneshiek County intends to keep collecting petition signatures at http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-frac-sand-mining-1/?source=search.  The group's petition says it is looking for at least another 56 signatures.