This article by Simon Davis-Cohen appeared in The Progressive, April 24th, 2018.
A brief commentary by Community Rights US media team member Curt Hubatch: Let’s not forget that we do have the right as The Sovereign to enact and enforce laws locally to protect our health, safety, and welfare. And, as this insightful article by Simon Davis-Cohen points out, there are a growing number of state legislators and judges that are making sure that right remains in the memory hole. The Community Rights movement is about remembering our power as We The People and driving the right to local, community self-government into our governing constitutions. Take a look around our Community Rights US website to learn more about how you can get involved.
Hattie Wilkins has been working to pass a local ballot initiative to ban the fracking industry and protect drinking water in Youngstown, Ohio.
Wilkins, a retired union president at a Youngstown pillow factory, is part of a group of residents who have, since 2013, placed six initiatives on the city’s ballot to protect city water and assert municipal control over frack-waste injection wells. The one in November 2016 failed 10,164 to 12,443 votes. Undaunted, the group, Frackfree Mahoning Valley, gathered enough signatures to get two initiatives on the November 2017 ballot.
That year, the group proposed a ban on fracking and underground frack waste injection wells that would have allowed private citizens to take legal action against violators and another to regulate political campaign contributions, restricting the right to donate to city residents.
But in 2017, for the first time, the Ohio Supreme Court effectively removed their initiatives from the ballot—no votes were cast. MORE…