Backers of oak woodlands initiative sue Napa County

Barry Eberling, NAPA VALLEY REGISTER
There are local and state efforts afoot to protect oak woodlands. This oak vista can be found along the trails in Moore Creek Park, which has blue oak, valley oak, black oak and more.
Supporters of a proposed initiative to further protect oak woodlands and watersheds have filed a lawsuit that argues Napa County wrongly rejected it for the November ballot.
They are asking the Napa County Superior Court to require Registrar of Voters John Tuteur to present the initiative to the Board of Supervisors. Supervisors would then have to either adopt the initiative as law or place it on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Napa County has yet to file a reply to the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday on behalf of initiative proponents Michael Hackett and James Wilson.
Tuteur on June 5 certified the initiative petition as having enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. But in a June 9 memorandum, he rejected the petition on technical grounds.
“We are disappointed, surprised, dismayed – you can pick the adjective,” Angwin resident Hackett said on Thursday.
But he had no bitter words for either Tuteur or County Counsel Minh Tran. “These are all good people,” Hackett said. “There is nothing personal here.”
At issue is the amount of information that initiative proponents made available as they gathered signatures at local shopping centers and other locations.
Read more at: Backers of oak woodlands initiative sue Napa County | Local News | napavalleyregister.com