Petition Circulator Faces Charges

We received this press release from South Dakota Citizens for Liberty, Inc. It gives a clear perspective on the order of events that led up to Postmaster Lorrie Papka denying petitioners access to the post office, and having one petitioner arrested.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (April 27, 15) – 69 year old, U.S. Air Force veteran, Roberta “Bobbe” Helmerick is facing state and federal violation charges after circulating a petition in front of the Rapid City Post Office to put a local property tax increase to a vote in an upcoming municipal election.

On Wednesday, April 15, 2015, Helmerick and others went to the Rapid City U.S. Post Office to gather signatures for the ballot issue. At approximately 4:30 PM Helmerick was arrested by the Rapid City Police Department for not “vacating the premises,” as other petition circulators watched her being arrested. After her release on bail, Helmerick was served with federal charges by U.S. Postal Inspector Brandt on Wednesday, April 22. Helmerick was notified by Inspector Brandt that the U.S. Attorney had issued the federal charges against her under U.S. Codified Federal Regulations violations.

This came as a surprise to the petition circulators, because former state Senator Gordon Howie had met with Sonny Magnuson from the Rapid City Post Office several days before, on Friday, April 10, 2015. According to Howie, Magnuson was very polite and demonstrated to Howie where the petitioners were allowed to stand and approach postal patrons in order to collect their signatures during business hours. South Dakota Citizens for Liberty petition director, Tonchi Weaver, had requested Howie’s assistance to verify Post Office guidelines for the volunteer circulators and communicated those instructions to the circulators. Both Howie and Weaver believed any issues had been resolved.

Postmaster Lorrie Papka first called the police to complain about the petition circulators on Tuesday, April 14. An obscure regulation requiring that petition circulators walk signers out to a perimeter sidewalk before allowing them to sign their petitions had been discovered. Officers left the scene after much discussion and consultation with postal legal authorities to clarify those conditions. Although inconvenient, the organizations conducting the petition drive agreed to abide by the newly imposed rule and continued to gather signatures.

Then, on April 15th, Postmaster Lorrie Papka again called the Rapid City Police Department to have the petitioners arrested for trespassing on “private postal property,” as she stated to officers. Helmerick was the only one of the two circulators actively collecting signatures at the location who was arrested. She refused to vacate the premises because she believed she was acting in compliance with the rules.

Helmerick’s court appearance for the failure to vacate charge is set for Thursday, April 30, at the Pennington County Courthouse. According to Helmerick, no hearing date or procedure to appeal the federal charges has been provided to her.

South Dakota Citizens for Liberty is a grassroots, citizens action group for the Black Hills area. Citizens for Liberty was established in 2010 and has been actively involved in local, state, and federal issues. The organization has been involved primarily with conservative political issues, including: children’s education, taxation, and civil rights.