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Local civic group rebuts allegation of stolen campaign sign at Corrales council meeting
Summary
Members of the Corrales Kiwanis Club and a property owner told the council the campaign sign removal was done at the landowner's request and not theft, and several speakers called statements made at a prior meeting defamatory and asked that a correction be entered into the record.
During the public‑comment portion of the Nov. 18 meeting, three representatives associated with the Corrales Kiwanis Club asked the council to correct the record after comments at an Oct. 28 meeting suggested a club member had stolen a campaign sign.
Rusty Pecard read a letter from the property owner, Chris Sandal, who wrote that he had not given permission for a sign to be placed on his land and that when he asked Kim Stewart to remove the sign she was acting at his direction. "I am the owner of the property located at 4499 Corrales Road and I did not give permission for a sign to be placed on my land," the letter reads as read into the record by Pecard.
Kim Stewart, who spoke next, said the sign "was not stolen. It was removed by me at the request of the private landowner," and said allegations that she or the Kiwanis Club stole the sign amounted to slander and harmed the club’s reputation. She also said the club had no role in removing the sign and that she was not president of the club at the time in question.
John Schuman, who identified himself as the Kiwanis Club president at the relevant time, echoed those corrections and criticized the prior statements as "shameful," noting the club’s long record of community fundraising and volunteer work.
Nut graf: The speakers asked that the letter be circulated to council members and read into the official record, and they warned that public, unverified assertions about private citizens at council meetings can cause reputational harm. No formal action or investigation was initiated by the council at the Nov. 18 meeting; the presenters sought only a correction to the public record.
The matter traces to a prior meeting (Oct. 28) where a resident, identified in speakers’ remarks as Theresa Lopez, had said she observed a person removing a sign and alleged theft. Councilors did not debate the substance at length during Nov. 18; instead, the club representatives used their three-minute public‑comment allotments to present the property‑owner letter and to press for a public correction.
Ending: Council did not issue findings about the Oct. 28 statements at the Nov. 18 meeting. Club representatives said they may pursue legal remedies if similar public statements continue and asked the council to preserve their correction in the meeting record.
