Proceedings of the 1998 Annual St. Joe Valley Greens Congress
The St. Joe Valley Greens held it's annual congress on November
21, 1998, at the Central United Methodist Church in South Bend, In.
We
enjoyed a potluck lunch and began our Congress with two speakers on electoral
issues: Jo Blacketor, South Bend School Board Member, and Dick Beeching, head
of the local chapter of the National Education Association. Our speakers
discussed the media, finances, endorsing candidates, availability and focus of
candidates, the hidden power structure and what wins an election.
For
the remainder of the Congress we had an issue review and discussion to
determine what focus we would take for 1999.
Congress chose action issues for 1999
- Electoral Politics
-
Tom Brown gave a synopsis of what the Electoral Committee had worked on so far this year, and he volunteered to be the chair of the committee. We discussed things that we would like to work on such as - educating the public on issues surrounding elections, voter registration and developing contacts in the political community both locally and with other Greens. We discussed endorsing vs. running a candidate and determined that for 1999 it was likely going to be more practical to endorse someone.
Plan - the electoral committee will begin regular meetings and will work on the above issues. - St. Joe Valley Project
-
Dave Vollrath gave a synopsis. Roger Voelker, Dave Vollrath and Tom Brown are all Board members of SJVP. It is a coalition of labor, environmental, religious, and neighborhood groups trying to organize St. Joe County around social justice issues. Dan Lane is now the director. The group is continuing to work on a Living Wage Campaign locally. There is currently research being done on what a living wage should be. A local tax abatement ordinance has been developed to include the living wage issues.
Plan - the project is an ongoing group on it's own. We will continue to participate through our board members. We also discussed concerns that the group is weak on environmental issues and decided as a group to try and focus on this more through our members and support. - Water Quality
-
Dave Menzer gave a synopsis. There was discussion that we would like to work on the accountability of the city and county with testing of water.
Plan - focus on county impact and identify areas of concern. We need to investigate further water testing and collecting data. We also discussed the possibility of having a local informational meeting on the water issue. Dave Menzer will chair this group. - Nuclear Issues
-
Roger Voelker gave a synopsis of the "Mobile Chernobyl" bill and local nuclear issues and actions.
Plan - members are encouraged to send letters to Evan Bayh on this issue encouraging him to vote against the bill. We also will continue to educate the public on nuke waste issues. Bob volunteered to write a letter to the tribune on this issue. - Recycling
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Curbside recycling is slated to start 1/18/99 - the drop off sites will close on 12/28/98 however.
Plan - as a group we would like to track some recyclables to find out where they really go. - Fund Raising
-
We discussed ways to raise more funds and increase awareness and participation.
Plan- To have a collection at each meeting.
- To send out fundraising letter more than once a year - this was very successful in 4/98. This letter can have more of a focus or a poll asking people what they are interested in as well. Luella will work on this.
- To flyer local schools and businesses with our info - Tom
will put together a flyer and bring to our next meeting so that we can pass
these out.
- Political Platform
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It was felt that the political platform needs to be updated.
Plan - We decided that this task will be assigned to the Electoral Committee. - Charter
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Several changes to the Charter of the Greens were read by Luella and approved by the group.
Plan - Luella will make the changes to the charter in the Electoral Politics committee. - Election of Officers for 1999
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We concluded our Congress with the elections of officers. For lists of duties see the 1997 Proceedings.
- Secretary/Treasurer - Luella Fogarty and Tom Brown
volunteered to continue to share the treasurer/secretary duties. Luella will
maintain the checking account and Tom will maintain the database and handle
Internet duties.
- Chair/Co-Chair - Dave Menzer will continue as chair and Madeline Bernauer will be co-chair.
- Secretary/Treasurer - Luella Fogarty and Tom Brown
volunteered to continue to share the treasurer/secretary duties. Luella will
maintain the checking account and Tom will maintain the database and handle
Internet duties.
The Annual Congress adjourned after the election of officers. Our next meeting will be Monday, January 22, 1999, at 7 P.M., at the Central United Methodist Church, 1920 S. Michigan St., South Bend, IN.
Contact:
St. Joe Valley
Greens
PO Box 11124 , South Bend, IN 46634
219-289-9220 (voice);
219-289-9223 (fax)