A Significant Victory for Stop Rail Now

It was a victory for Stop Rail Now and supporters who want to put the train question on the ballot. Yesterday (August 14) State Circuit Court Judge Karl Sakamoto ruled in favor of Stop Rail Now's court challenge to put the question regarding rail on the upcoming November 4 election ballot.

By yesterday afternoon volunteers and supporters of Stop Rail Now converged once again at City Hall to submit 9 boxes of more than 11,000 petition sheets with more than 49,000 signatures to City Clerk Denise De Costa. Ms. De Costa was forced to accept them on court order and was courteous (before the media cameras) about accepting them. She insisted that the petitions be notarized which city officials and members of Stop Rail Now did shortly after the petitions were received.

The verdict is still out on whether or not Stop Rail Now has enough valid signatures to get the rail question on the ballot. At issue is still the number of required signatures needed. The City Clerk says Stop Rail Now needs more than 44,000 which is 10% of the number of people registered to vote in the last mayoral election (2004). Stop Rail Now maintains a figure of about 30,000 signatures are needed, which reflects 10% of the amount of people who actually voted in the 2004 mayoral election. The issue may have to be settled in court.

Additional Links

• Anti-rail effort wins in court, StarBulletin.com
• Judge Sakamoto's Harsh Words, HawaiiReporter.com
• Stop Rail Now website
• Court Puts Anti-Rail Petition Back on Track..., Honolulu Advertiser
• More Stop Rail Now Photos, by the publisher

City Clerk Denise De Costa (in black) and Deputy Clerk Bernice Mau seated next to her start to process of petition notarization with Stop Rail Now's Cliff Slater and Dennis Callan.

All photos copyright 2008 by Melvin Ah Ching.