Town and Country Woman Claims Intimidation by Resident, Bad Behavior by Alderman

At Monday night's Board of Aldermen meeting, Town and Country resident Traci Cardenas adressed the mayor and aldermen about an incident she said happened during the April 3 election.

She tells Patch she feels a fellow resident was trying to intimidate her, but she's not sure why. She also said she did not like the way she was treated by Alderman Fred Meyland-Smith, who represents ward 3 where she lives.

Cardenas has been actively against lethal methods of deer control in the city of Town and Country and had protested against the city's sharpshooting program.

Following is the statement Cardenas made Monday night. Reactions to her comments are below.

I volunteered at last Tuesday for the elections to hand out flyers for Steve Fons.  Fred Meyland-Smith and Jeff Chaney were there to support their candidate. 

I was taking pictures of the activities and pointed my camera phone in the direction of Fred and Jeff.  Jeff assumed I was taking his picture and angrily walked over to me and asked why did I want to take his picture...before I could reply, he proceeded to verbally harass me and said he knew my name...he knew where I lived, I didn't own a house in Town & Country so why did I want to save the deer? 

After the barrage of questions he stopped, looked at my left hand and asked, "You're not wearing a wedding ring that means you're not married?"  I thought this was creepy, threatening.  Mr. Dickie Palmer walked up at this point and said not everyone who is married wears a wedding band on their finger and he continued to talk, which defused the situation and allowed me to make my escape and walk away. 

About 20 minutes later a woman walked up to vote and I approached her with a flyer, she politely declined.  Fred quickly walked over to greet her and I realized she was his wife.  She left to go inside to vote and Fred turned to me, came within inches of my face, raised a pointer finger and said, "strike one!" 

I live in Ward 3.  Fred is one of my aldermen.  He stood by during the verbal assault by Jeff Chaney (and did nothing) and personally tried to insult me with his "strike one" comment. 

I didn't file a police report but if Jeff and/or Fred, any of their family members, friends or acquiantances attempt to harm or harass me in the future, I will go to the police and the media. 

Last year, February 15, 2011 the city passed a resolution to amend the municipal code pertaining to harassment.  Fred Meyland-Smith is quoted as saying, "People need to be held accountable for the actions".   Mayor, I will let you decide how this should be handled.

"The matters you bring before this board, I don't know anything about, but I take them very seriously," Mayor Jon Dalton responded to Cardenas.

"As a female, I will say that was very threatening and scary and very creepy," Cardenas added.

Both Chaney and Alderman Meyland-Smith were in attendance Monday night for Cardenas' statements. Chaney declined to comment to Patch on the matter, but Meyland-Smith addressed the board and public during the meeting.

"I want to clarify that there were two instances referred to by Ms. Cardenas. First, the exchange between Ms. Cardenas and Mr. Chaney was entirely between those two individuals," Meyland-Smith said. "I observed it and I did not participate in that exchange."

The alderman said he did, however, address Cardenas when she approached his wife.

"I stepped in because at that point I felt she was interfering with my wife's ability to peacefully enter a polling place," Meyland-Smith said.

Dalton told Cardenas that he plans to meet with both Chaney and Meyland-Smith as a result of her accusations.

"When I learn more, I will make a suggestion on how communications should best occur," Dalton said.