Skirmish in Caledonia Over Walker Recall Petition Lands Women in Principal's Office

Caledonia Police responded to a report of a person collecting petition signatures that was videotaping people and screaming at them at 1:04 p.m. Dec. 1, 2011 at Gifford School, 8332 Northwestern Avenue.

No incident report was officially filed and no tickets were issued because the incident was handled internally by officials with the Racine Unified School District.

According to a call detail report made the next day, the woman told police she was approached by a woman who had a "Recall Walker" sign in the window of her car. The recall supporter asked the woman to sign a recall petition, but the woman refused to sign it. The recall supporter yelled at the mom saying that she apparently “doesn’t believe in democracy” and the mom asked if the recall supporter had permission to be collecting signatures on school property. The recall supporter told the woman she didn’t need permission to collect signatures because the school is a public place.

The recall supporter then started videotaping the woman, who asked her to stop taping her.  The recall supporter told the woman that she could “videotape anyone she wants.” The woman went into the school and complained to the principal, who explained to the recall supporter that she couldn’t collect signatures on school property.  The school isn’t considered public property and is a taxpayer funded facility, which the Racine Unified School District controls and the District has a policy against people collecting petition signatures on school property.

After the incident, the woman told the recall petitioner “that she hoped she got what she wanted” and the recall supporter started to videotape her again and the woman took a picture of the recall supporter.  The recall supporter then left the property.

On Nov. 15, papers were filed to begin collecting signatures to attempt a statewide recall of Gov. Scott Walker and a district level recall of several Republican Senators, including Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine).

The woman called the School District and she was told to file a report. According to a story by the Racine Journal Times, someone shared a similar story with the Vicki McKenna show.