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In an attempt to get a ban on mini casinos or force the issue onto the ballot, a group calling themselves simply "Save Lakewood", has handed in a petition with more then enough names to do just that when they handed in there latest petition with over 1,000 names on it. The city council has not yet decided what action they will take regarding the petition.
Before the City Council will make any decisions the petition will need to be verified by the Pierce County Auditors Office. For the petition to be valid it needs to have 3,707 signatures.
Less then a month ago the group turned in another petition with about 5,000 names on it, but around 40 percent of the names were determined to be unacceptable by the Auditor's office. According to Pat McCarthy, the auditor in this case, the reason for so many of the names not being accepted is because they were not registered voters or they did not live in the Lakewood area.
The group, Save Lakewood, had 10 days to collect another 760 signatures. If they could not do it in the 10 days the original names would become invalid and the petition would have to be completely done over.
Save Lakewood members could be found outside all over the area trying to find more eligible names for the petition in the allotted time frame.
It was a local citizen born and raised in Lakewood that started the movement to ban the mini casinos. He thanked all the people who volunteered to help his cause on Friday in a short speech.
“Our volunteers really worked overtime to bring in the additional signatures we needed,” he said. “We were disappointed when the initial petitions had so many ineligible signatures. And while we could not count the disqualified signatures, we appreciate the support of all those people who want to see an end to mini casinos in Lakewood.”
The County Auditor has not yet finished counting and verifying the new names, and has not said when it would be completed.
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