Editor:
In 2022, I was approached at the Arcata Co-Op, 6-year-old son in tow, and asked to sign a petition to “help small farmers” and “keep corporate cannabis out of Humboldt” (“Growers Seek to Remove Cannabis Initiative from Ballot,” Oct. 19). Distracted, I agreed, thinking it was about supporting local small farmers, and that the petition was going to help them. In all honesty I was so naive that I didn’t realize, nor do I remember being told, that I was signing a petition to have something put on the ballot. Distracted by my busy child and without time to read the document I just signed it.
As a small farmer whose business had already faltered, I was persuaded by the message he told me. Many of my fellow small-scale farmers had faced struggles, and I wanted to support the remaining small farmers by signing the petition. I wasn’t aware of what it was really going to change. They didn’t tell me how it would impact existing farmers; I thought it was about keeping new big corporate farms out. In hindsight, I felt coerced to sign, my good intentions manipulated by selective information. I felt pressured and like I was told what I wanted to hear. I doubt that they would have disclosed the whole truth even if I had more time to chat. I don’t think I will ever sign anything again unless I have time to read all of the fine print.
Joel Rosser, Arcata
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This article appears in Sharing their Stories.
I never ever sign ballot petition initiatives being offered at store fronts or any other public place. I have never ever not been deceived at the very least but most often outright lied to by the people offering the petitions and by the dishonest verbiage in the petitions themselves.