He has been involved since the beginning but has not made his opposition as public as Rev. Wilson. It was Payne who immediately began collecting signatures from area residents, including non-Eurekans who opposed Ordinance 2052. His petition was simply a poll, he said, that had over 100 names of people who did not agree with the DPR. When he presented the “straw poll” to the council during the second reading, it was met with a blind eye. “The council was completely unresponsive,” Payne said.