Jefferson Responds Aggressively to Attorney General’s Actions

By Peter Swanson, Staff Writer
6/22/2006

The following is a message from the Jefferson City Mayor as well as their city council.

Dustin Longnecker’s statement to Boys Staters:

I apologize to the government of Boys State. I passed an illegal law at first without knowing its ban was state supported. I was in my opinion, rudely approached and so was a member of my city. My problems with the state government are resolved as long as Justin Hentemann apologizes to my fellow city official. Please understand I had no intention of breaking the law. I merely did it as an act of protest. I am ending my pursuit of legalization of marijuana, unfortunately, my city is not.

Jefferson’s City Council statement:

We the people of Jefferson City believe in the creation of law, and the mandate by which it is carried out. We believe in constitutional rights guaranteed to us by the forefathers of this country. Unfortunately, the pressing issue involving our town and mayor has caught us by surprise. Our mayor may be willing to retract his stance on this issue, but we feel there is a deeper problem involved in this. When local governments lose their right to do what is in their best interest, we lose the inherent powers promised to us by the founding fathers in our constitution. Our mayor’s stance regarding this issue may have changed but we as a city feel strongly for this issue and its constitutionality. Because of our city’s strong belief we are being taken to court and we will fight for what we believe.