SOUTH GIFFORD, MISSOURI -- UPDATE: The village of South Gifford, Mo. will remain on the map. In Tuesday's special election, residents of the small community voted 29-12 against dissolving the village.
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Local elections are being held on Tuesday, Nov. 8 and there's a hot topic on the ballot in the Village of South Gifford; residents will have to decide whether or not to dissolve the town.
The Village of South Gifford was incorporated back in 1905. Many of the residents that have lived there for generations said that if the village is dissolved, they'll lose everything.
"We're fighting to try to keep the city of South Gifford incorporated," said South Gifford councilman Dean Aholt. "We will lose so much if it's not incorporated. We'll lose the city streets, the lighting. It's an old town. Why do people want to get rid of it?"
The people in support of keeping South Gifford incorporated said the issue all started when the city filed a lawsuit against Shawn Roberts in order to get him to re-open a road near his property. They said after the lawsuit was initiated, he started passing around the petition to dissolve the city.
KTVO went to Mr. Roberts home and his wife said there was no one there who would comment on the petition. We did run into one woman who signed it. She said she was misled.
"I thought it was just to get rid of the council," said Cynthia Draken. "After, I heard all this stuff and the threatening and everything. They was going around town threatening people to sign the paper. I think we were a bit misinformed of what they were trying to do because afterwards, I found out the reason they wanted to get rid of everything was because they didn't want rules or regulations."
About 14 South Gifford residents met in the Village Park Monday afternoon to rally against disolving the town. One of them said she won't be fooled by threatening anymore.
"I already warned everybody around town that if they start coming around threatening me they're going to be looking at the double barrel."
"I'm dead serious. My land is posted with a no trespassing sign and that's what it means."
South Gifford residents will decide the town's fate during Tuesday's election. Voting will take place at the La Plata State Bank from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.