RICHLAND, Wash. –
Tri-Cities local Bradley Rew tells NonStop Local that he has not received one threat but multiple ones for his efforts to try and recall Richland School Board Members: M. Semi Bird, Audra Byrd and Kari Williams.
Rew’s post on Facebook has hundreds of likes and comments from both sides of the argument.
“These individuals making death threats made it clear that they believe Audra was called of god and that my efforts to remove her would result in them being gods hands in removing me from this earth,” said Bradley Rew, community member.
“It makes me really really sad that we would come to a point where we could not civilly disagree and let the process take its course that’s not ok. Our kids are watching, our community is watching and our state is watching. Those are the type of things that shouldn’t take place when democracy is just trying to do its job,” said Jill Oldson, Richland School Board Position 5.
As of right now, Rew doesn’t know how many signatures the petition has. So what happens if they do receive enough signatures?
Benton County Auditor, Brenda Chilton, says if petitioners got all of the signatures that they needed then there would be a special election. It would cost taxpayers $250,000 to $350,000.
The auditors office says filing week for the primary election in August is the third week of May. So, if the petition is turned in before June 17th, which wouldn’t require a special election, the recall vote would go on the primary election ballot, costing taxpayers $75,000 to $100,000.
However, If petitioners want to have the recall on any ballot this year. They need to have the signatures in before the primary election because the auditors office cannot call a special election between the primary in August and the general election in November.
If all three board members step down willingly, then it would cost taxpayers no money at all.
“This happens and this shouldn’t be happening because we need to have that civil discourse. I don’t condone this behavior at all. We need to be able to communicate effectively without having to use threats and just be that example for our children,” said Kari Williams, Richland School Board President.
