Texas: Anti-smoking petitioners say cold stunted their signature collection efforts

Thu, Jan 14 2010 — Source: Dallas Morning News

An anti-smoking effort in Lewisville appears to be extinguished – for now. Citizens for a Smoke Free Lewisville launched a campaign last month to put a no-smoking referendum on the May 8 ballot. They had 45 days to collect 2,247 signatures. With five days to go, the group has collected only about a third – 750 to 800 – of the required signatures, said TJ Gilmore, one of the organizers of the grassroots effort. “I have to admit we’re getting frozen out,” he said of the petition drive that ends Monday. “It was bad timing on everybody’s part.”