Protecting the Integrity of This Petition — No Hijack, No Unvetted Co-Organizers

Good morning:

Thank you to all 1,600+ of you who have signed. Every signature is for one thing: Amend Georgia's constitution to abolish the open field doctrine. 4th Amendment rights. Farmer's rights. Private property.

This is the Hee Haw Amendment — for Hee Haw, the 1-year-old donkey killed in his own pasture in Cedartown, Polk County, case 4:26-cv-00270-WMR, and for all the other families in Georgia facing the same thing.

I need to give you a transparency update.

In recent days, individuals with other goals have attempted to manipulate this petition and have tried to put people in a controlling position as co-organizer who do not have aligned goals with this petition.

I will not let anyone hijack this petition.

I will not add any co-organizer without proper vetting, and only if their goals are 100% aligned with what this petition is actually about.

What are the unaligned goals I am talking about?

They have told me they want to make this a National Law, mandated by Congress, for the entire country — to eradicate qualified immunity and because, in their words, "over 10k animals cruelly executed."

Why is that a problem for OUR goal of amending Georgia's constitution?
1. Georgia has no citizen ballot initiative for constitutional amendments. Only the Georgia General Assembly can propose a constitutional amendment, which is then drafted by Legislative Counsel. A federal mandate from Congress has nothing to do with amending Georgia's constitution. It is the wrong law in the wrong place.  2. It will kill our bill in Atlanta. As I told them directly: "If I allow my petition to be diluted by animal rights zealotry and anti-police initiatives, legislators won't even look at it." Georgia legislators will vote for farmer's rights and the 4th Amendment. They will not vote for a national bill that goes beyond qualified immunity and is framed around a national animal death count.  3. Tennessee just proved state-by-state works. In Rainwaters v TWRA, the court ruled TWRA's warrantless open fields searches unconstitutional. TWRA has announced it will not appeal and must now ask permission or get a warrant. That's a state win. Both Tennessee and Georgia are primed for this exact change — but only if we keep it about property rights, not a national agenda. 
My position is simple and has not changed from day one, and it is up to the governed to make change in their own states:
• This is a state-by-state issue, not a federal government issue. • The goal is to abolish the open field doctrine in Georgia's constitution. • I believe the best co-organizer for this, if anyone, is Mrs. Hannah Israel herself — not a third party with a national agenda. 
I have asked multiple times for updates to be posted for your morale and for Mrs. Israel to be contacted directly about being co-organizer.

I will continue to protect this petition on behalf of myself and all of you who signed.

This will stay about Hee Haw. This will stay about Georgia. This will stay about the right to be secure in your own pasture.

Thank you for standing with Georgia farmers.

— Zachery Swain, Petition Starter