Ballot Petition

Here are instructions for those wishing to collect ballot signatures to place myself, Toby Fernsler, on the November 2014 ballot for Sheriff of Boulder County.

Requirements for You, the Circulators:
You must be an American Citizen, a Colorado resident, and 18+ years old.

Step 1: Petition Preparation

• Download the petition.
• Print all pages of the petition single-sided on regular white letter-sized (8.5″x11″) paper.
• Staple together all pages of the “Toby for sheriff” ballot pdf. It is recommended that this is done with four staples across the top so it stays together and is clearly not tampered with.  This packet constitutes one ballot petition “section”. The pages must remain stapled together until they get to the County Clerk and Recorder’s office, and they may reject it if it looks like the staples were removed and reattached. They may also reject a section if it is too crumpled or damaged, please use a clipboard or firm writing surface.

Step 2: Collect Signatures

Collect signatures of registered Boulder County voters.

• As the ballot petition Circulator, you must witness every signature.
• Signers must complete all six boxes of a signature line.
• Ballot sections have 54 signature lines, but you don’t have to collect 54 signatures.
• Corrections: If a small correction is made, the signer should initial the change. If a larger correction is required, the signer should completely cross out the incorrect information and proceed to use the next two blank lines.

Step 3: Notarize the Petition

Once you are done collecting signatures, the section must be notarized. i.e. signed and validated in front of a notary. You as the Circulator may do this yourself, or attend a “signing party” where I get a notary to be available for some time and everyone shows up and gets their ballot petitions signed. Perhaps there will be pizza and beer, or age-appropriate food for those over thirty. This will happen beginning of June.

Note that no further signatures may be collected on a section after it has been notarized.

Step 4: Deliver the Petition

Deliver the ballot petitions to me at 525 South 44th Street, Boulder CO 80305 prior to July 10, 2014, the last day I can turn in ballot signatures.

Restorative Justice and Murder

Cahill apparently had barged into a modest home where he knew no one, with cocaine and alcohol in his system. And although the shooting has been ruled “justified” by police, to his loved ones, that finding doesn’t equate to an adequate explanation.

If an intoxicated and belligerent stranger broke into my home, I too would be inclined to forcefully evict them. If I was intoxicated and had head trauma from being beaten in the street, I might seek shelter where I could find it and be in poor condition to explain myself. If my brother died suddenly, I would be sad and want to know what happened. This is the Methodology of Universal Love; considering each point of view without prejudice and seeing the validity and truth in them. My favorite description comes through Charles Eisenstein, “Love is seeing through the illusions which separate us”.

New Orleans police have never revealed his identity because they consider the shooter in a justified homicide to be a victim.

Here the New Orleans police are acting to protect the shooter, out of fear that he may be the target of retaliatory actions. There is no love in this action for those who grieve Cahill’s death as their perspective and needs go unaddressed. And in fact there is no love for the shooter, who has only his gun collection and a poorly guarded secret as defense against the unknown. It is hard to know his mind, but I know when I hide from my fears I give them strength. Even the police who were involved before and after may hold trauma from this event.

“No matter how much we wish we could turn back the clock and stop this senseless tragedy, our sense of helplessness lingers, and nothing we can do will bring him back,” said Ken Cahill

This helplessness and fear need not linger, because there is an ancient practice interpreted as modern programs with an excellent track record of addressing the needs of all parties to traumatic events such as this. The essence of it is to gather these parties together with public witness and a moderator, and tell the many-sided story. Sometimes agreements come of this which ease fears and sooth wounds, sometimes there is no need, and I have never heard of a case where it was less effective than fear and punishment alone. In South Africa it was called the “Truth and Reconciliation Commission“. Here in Boulder County the sheriff’s office hosts the small but potent Restorative Justice program, run by the tireless volunteer Jennifer Quilling.

I believe the Cahills, friends of Joe, the New Orleans police, the shooter and his family would all benefit greatly from participating in such a process. So too would those of us who read this newspaper article, and wondered “Is that it? Is that how the story ends?”. Let us tell some stories, and write a new ending to this one.