Fighting Sioux Petitioners to Wait - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Supporters of an initiated measure to place the Fighting Sioux name in the North Dakota State Constitution will wait until December to submit their petition packets to Secretary of State Al Jaeger. The Spirit Lake Committee for Understanding and Respect and Fighting Sioux Ballot Measures Committee has until December 12, 2012 to turn in 27,000 signatures to get the initiated measure on the next statewide election ballot, which presumably will be in June of 2014.

 Fighting Sioux supporters chose to wait in light of several other initiated measures being submitted for voter consideration on the Nov 2012 ballot. "Quite simply, we did not want our issue grouped in with several of the others which will be up in November; issues that were not apparent when we first started our efforts," said Sean Johnson, a sponsoring committee members. 

 Both committees are also pursuing other supporting efforts in an attempt to ensure the University of North Dakota does not exterminate the traditions and heritage that accompanied the positive use of the Fighting Sioux name and symbol for over 80 years.