BY DREW COSTLEY | The Associated Press
Community organizer Pete Woiwode was walking to meet a friend at a street festival near downtown Oakland in November when a signature gatherer approached and asked if he wanted to sign a petition to lower gas prices.
But Woiwode said that in reading the petition he realized it actually was for a referendum to overturn SB 1137 — a state law passed in September to ban new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet (975 meters) of schools, homes and hospitals.
As soon as he pushed back against the claim that the petition was about lowering gas prices, the signature gatherer buckled, Woiwode