THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF
PRESIDENT’S LETTER
Daffodils are up, trees are budding, roses are gearing up for a
tremendous display -- optimism is in the air. Maybe that’s why I’m
so enthusiastic about who we are and what we are doing for our community and
the wider world. Last month we celebrated ourselves in the March
Voter with a long list of accomplishments from the past year, and a
partial list of planned events for the year ahead. If you haven’t read
that issue of the Voter yet, please do. It will give your spirits a lift.
Four items on our immediate agenda to remind you about:
- April is the
beginning of membership renewal time. Those of you receiving the print
edition of the Voter will have found an envelope in last month’s
edition. Online recipients will get a reminder in the mail. Please return
them as soon as possible so we’ll be able to keep you up-to-date on
all the events of the coming year.
- Join us on April 30 at Judie Oberholtzer’s home for our
latest In League with Our Neighbors meeting: “Be a
- Plan to attend our
Annual Meeting and Luncheon on Tuesday, May 6 at
- Also in May we
will be presenting another in our continuing series on immigration, using
the same format – a documentary film followed by a panel discussion
with questions from the audience – that was so successful at the
Unitarian Universalists Church. The place will be
Celebrate spring!
Francie M.
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Dear
Members of the Kent County League of Women Voters,
I want to
offer all of you a big thank you for your support and input during the past
year. Look at some of the things we did with each other’s help!
- Held Legislative
Session wrap-up in May
- Marched in the
July 4th Rock Hall parade (and won an award!)
- Updated our Guide
to Elected Officials and made it available all over Kent County
- Restated the
League’s position on the Comprehensive Plan to County officials
during consideration of two major development proposals
- Gave our annual
award and cash prize to a high school student who had demonstrated a
commitment to the community
- Made reports
available to members on the Gateway Project Charrette process, and on
Maryland’s Budget Crisis, including the League’s positions on
various proposals
- Completed a
detailed study on the facts, figures, and myths behind immigration issues;
showed two films and held one forum on immigration for the public;
participated in the National League’s Consensus on Immigration.
- Continued to
update and expand our website (kent.lwvmd.org) and to add members when
requested to our email Voter (go green!) list
- Attended the
State League convention in Rocky Gap and State workshops during the year
- Held a Forum on
Kent County Public Schools, Present and Future
- Co-sponsored a
bi-partisan Congressional Candidates’ Forum at Chesapeake College
with the Mid-Shore and QA’s Leagues
- Co-sponsored
Heron Point forum on “Hope and Authenticity: Can the 2008 candidates
Deliver?”
- Held our second
“In League with Our
Neighbors” on Green Gardening
- Continued to
catch the attention of the community with library displays and billboards
at People’s Bank.
- Began to bring
our scrapbooks up to date on archival paper
- …and other
activities too numerous to mention
Now that
you know what your membership made possible in the past year, here’s a
preview of what you can look forward to in this all important election year.
- Annual Meeting
and lunch at Heron Point on May 6 with Mayor Bailey speaking to us on what
she is doing to make Chestertown a “Sustainable Green”
Community, and what the League and our neighbors can do to help. Mark your
calendars!!!
- Marching in the
July 4th parade
- Maryland Legislative
Session wrap-up with one or more of our delegates from Annapolis to tell
us what they accomplished and answer our questions
- Candidates Forums
for both local and national candidates
- Co-sponsoring
Still Pond’s celebration of the first three women to vote in Kent
County 100 years ago!
- Assembling,
printing and distributing the Voters’ Guide before the
November elections
- Informational
materials and meetings on issues affecting us all, including Health Care;
the Slots Referendum; fair elections and the fate of the electronic voting
machines; Maryland’s budget; the greening of Chestertown and Kent
County; activities of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Coalition; and the
always fascinating results of Kent County’s “Kids Vote” program.
- More Forums with
Heron Point and other community groups
- On-going liaison
with the mayor to promote public awareness of becoming a
“greener” community
- More “In League with Our Neighbors”
meetings. Two possibilities are “How, why, and where to buy and eat locally grown
foods” and “Identity Theft”
- Book reviews,
websites, and other sources of information on a variety of aspects of life
in the 21st century appearing monthly in the Voter!
Your membership renewal form is in this issue of the Voter.
We hope you will want to stay with your fellow Leaguers as we head into an
exciting year. And thanks again for all you do. It makes a difference to our
community.
Frances
M
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The President's Message
From:
Frances A. Miller [familler@gmail.com]
Sent:
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Subject:
February President's letter
Dear
Leaguers
I
don’t know about you, but it seems like January has been more than four
weeks long, and we packed a lot into it. February looks just as busy.
Primaries
will be held on Tuesday, February 12, and although we may know who our
presidential party nominees are by the 6th, it doesn’t mean our votes
won’t matter. Remember, we’re choosing delegates who will choose
the nominees, and all kinds of interesting things can happen when a candidate
who is no longer in the race has delegates to share with one of the other
contenders. Not to mention nominating our representative to Congress. Hope
everyone who didn’t get to the Candidates’ Forum on Sunday, January
20th, found it on your local TV channel. There’s no substitute for seeing
and hearing the candidates speaking on the issues.
Leaguers
are needed to distribute flyers about the slots referendum which we Marylanders
will be voting on in the fall. If you can give an hour or two on the 12th to
hand out the information at your polling place, please let me know at
410-810-1518.
The
Voter’s Guide was in the January 31st edition of the Kent County News.
You probably missed it, stuffed in among the circulars. Go retrieve it, and
spread the word to your friends and neighbors who look forward to getting it.
We all owe Becky Goode our heartfelt thanks for working with the Queen
Anne’s and Mid-Shore leagues to put it together. When you see the Guide
you’ll have an idea of the amount of work that went into assembling it.
As a useful and often revealing guide to the candidates’ positions on a
number of key issues, you can’t beat it.
During
the month of February, the League will have a display in the front lobby area
of the Library thanks, as usual, to Betty Kerr’s creative talents and
astonishing energy. Don’t miss it. And if you know someone who is curious
about who the League is and what we do, ask them to check it out.
February
14 at Heron Point at 7:30pm we are one of several sponsors of a program
entitled Hope and Authenticity: Can the 2008 Candidates Deliver? The speaker is
Richard Harwood, president of the non-partisan Harwood Institute for Public
Innovation. If you’ve been thinking that there’s not much you can
do to change things for the better, you may find his ideas encouraging. More
information on the Institute is available on the Internet.
Please
note that because of the primary elections on February 12th, the Board meeting
will be held on the first Tuesday of the month, February 5th , at 9:30am in the
Library’s Yellow House. Please make a special effort to be there as we
are making plans for our annual meeting and need to discuss next year’s
proposed budget, a speaker for the luncheon, and nominees for the positions
which will need to be filled in the coming year. We’d also like to hear from you if
there’s a service to our community that you think the League could offer,
especially if you want to help us provide it.
Exciting
times!
Francie
Miller
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January, 2008 President’s
Letter Dear Leaguers, With real regret the Board
accepted the resignation of Rosemary Myers as president in December. Her energy
and organizational skills at arranging and presenting our forums over the
last several years have been hugely appreciated, and we had looked forward to
her leadership in the coming election year. We wish her all the best, and
hope to see her at up-coming League events. The By-Laws allow the Board to appoint an interim President, and
at the January 2nd Board meeting, Frances Miller was appointed to
serve until the annual meeting tentatively scheduled for May 6. The Nominating
Committee will be conducting a search for the next president during the
spring. Don’t be shy. If you are enthusiastic about leading one of the
most active and effective Leagues in Maryland, talk to Becky Goode –
410-778-1764, rmgde@verizon.net. We will all be delighted! Planning for 2008 is already well in hand. Our first sponsored
event is on Friday, January 11th. A movie called “Ties that
Bind” will be shown as part of our ongoing immigration study at the
Unitarian Church at 7 pm. If you know someone who is confused and conflicted
about the immigration issue (don’t we all?), bring them along and let
them participate in a discussion with informed members of our community. On Tuesday January 15th at 6:30 at the Board of
Education building, we are sponsoring a progress report on the Kent County
Schools by the Superintendent and several others involved in the education of
our children. This is not a political, school board candidates’ debate,
but an informational session, and there will be ample time for your
questions. On Sunday, January 20th our League is sponsoring a
Congressional Candidates Forum at 2pm at Chesapeake College in the Humanities
Building. Candidates from both parties will be present. This will be a political debate. And that’s just January! Please see the Voter
calendar for details on these and other upcoming events, and be on the
lookout for ways the Kent County League can inform and educate voters in this
all important year. We will be scheduling more “In League with Your Neighbors” meetings during the year;
celebrating the first women voters in Kent County with a Still Pond event;
putting out Voter’s Guides for the primaries and general elections;
sponsoring candidates’ forums; and holding General Meetings on issues
that affect our county and our lives. Watch for the Voter and put these
events on your calendar as they are announced. Plan to bring a friend with
you whenever you come to one. You’ll be glad you did, and so will they. Here’s to a year of challenge and change. Excelsior! Frances
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