LWV 253-0633

Carol Rothery President 253-3125

Janice Ratner Co-Chair Voters Service 253-7214

Rebecca Fricke Bulletin Editor 253-7914

June 2008 Vol. LIX- No.10

CALENDAR

JUNE

Saturday, June 7, Noon – 2 PM, LWVA Family Picnic, Groff Park Pavilion, Call Cynthia Brubaker Thursday, June 12, 7:30 PM – Board Meeting @ Carol Rothery’s, 24Aubinwood Rd, Echo Hill Monday, June 16, 7:30 PM – Book Discussion Group Clarence Darow for the Defense, Irving Stone, @ Joan Logan’s, 125 Roll-ing Green Friday – Tuesday, June 13 – 17 – LWVUS National Convention, Hilton Portland, Portland, Oregon Saturdays, June 21 & 28, 10 AM – 2 PM - LWVA Voter Registration, Amherst Town Common JULY

Friday, July 4th, 6 PM – 10 PM - LWVA Voter Registration,

Fireworks, UMass. Saturdays, July 4,12, 19, 26, 10 AM – 2 PM – LWVA Voter Registration, Amherst Town Common Monday, July 21, 7:30 PM – Book Discussion Group, Nostromo, Joseph Conrad, @ Frieda Howards, 28 Columbia Circle

LWV Websites:

LWVA - www.lwvamherst.org LWVM- www.lwvma.org LWVUS - www.lwv.org

Kathy V. Feldman Co-Chair Membership 256-8737

Amherst League of Women Voters

Bulletin

WELCOME TO OUR

NEW MEMBERS

Michael Ash and Krista Harper 27 Mt. Pleasant Amherst, MA 01002 413-549-9333 Libby Walton-Stanforth 82 Larkspur Drive Amherst, MA 01002 413-253-8039 Eric Nazar 453 Old Montegue Road Amherst, MA 01002 Change of Address: Georgana Foster 47 Firethorn Lane Northampton, MA 01060 586-8163

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

CAROL ROTHERY As I listened at the Annual Meeting to former League President, Nancy Eddy, recall the incredible number of the important programs accomplished by the Amherst League in the 60’s, and then heard the 2008 Committee reports, the proposed budget, the presentation of nominees for the 2008-2009 Board, the introduction of the new Board members, and the lively directions from the members to the Board, I thought how much this present League has also accomplished. We may not be able to undertake quite the magnitude of programs and activities of those earlier days, but given the realities of our current society, we can be justifiably proud of the quality and effectiveness of our efforts and of the consensual process we employ to achieve our goals. This last year was a good example of our League at its very best. We honored two members who will leave the Board this month. Bob Romer, who has been our Finance Chair for six years, and has served as the Board’s conscience as we considered various perplexing and important issues. He also served as our representative in meetings concerning the parade issue. Jackie Wolf has been a Board member for many years, serving as Membership Co-Chair, and a driving force in our Health Care Advocacy Committee. She is presently the Co-Chair of Mass Care. She has always kept us aware of issues of diversity and membership recruitment. Even though they have left the Board, we know they will stay involved. Although the Board is taking a short break this summer, some of us will be working, with other members, on an update of the 2005-2006 LWVA Yearbook, as well as a revision of Your Amherst Government. We will be planning a series of new member orientation meetings, and a review of Board organization. Since this is an important election year, we hope that everyone will participate in several Voter Service projects, starting by contacting Maija Lillya, Voter Service Chair, to sign up for at least one voter registration session on the Common this summer. It’s a two-person job and very interesting. Look for the article elsewhere in this newsletter for details. Also, please fill out the Member Questionnaire included in this newsletter and return it to Kathy Vorwerk Feldman as soon as possible. Be sure to look for more news of League activities in the August Bulletin, as I am sure there will be even more opportunities for you to consider. Wishing you a happy and restful summer, Carol

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LWVA Annual Meeting May 27, 2008

Top Right:

Former LWVA President Nancy Eddy

Top Left: Florence Boynton, Doris Holden,

Edith Wilkinson

Bottom Left:Sabina Braunthal, Jeanne Potash,

Ruth Rauch

LEGISLATIVE RECEPTION - MAY 23, 2008

Left to right: Congressman John Olver, State Senator Stan Rosenbeg, State Representative

John Scibak

Left to right: Peggy Townsend, Martha Hanner, Dona Motts

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PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL REPORT, 2008

I think most of us would agree that the Amherst League has been unusually active and visible during this past year. It began in June, when the Board decided not to participate in the privately run 4th of July parade, on the basis of its exclusive rules as to who could march and what marchers could express, and the issue of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. Our current position on this issue is to recommend that the Town of Amherst sponsor the parade and that all groups would be invited to participate and to express their opinions publicly. Recently, our Town Manager announced that the Town intends to sponsor such a parade in 2009 and it is hoped that League members who wish to do so, will

fully participate in this event to celebrate the birthday of our nation on July 4rh, 2009.

In addition to the Informational Meetings organized by Tom Flittie, 1st Vice President and Deanna Pearlstein, Meeting Organization Director, our League facilitated a “Vote 2008 Campaign Kick Off” Press Conference for Western Massachusetts for the State League, similar to several other press conferences held throughout the state. Meeting in the Student Union at UMass on February 4th, one day before the state presidential primary election, this event hoped to emphasize the importance of registering and voting by college age students, various ethnic groups, and new Americans. Well covered by the media, the press conference included talks by representatives of the Town, the University, LWVM

President, Diane Jeffrey, and our own Lucy Benson.

The number of studies carried on this past year was also quite unusual. The state Municipal Finance Study held several informational presentations for the community, as well as the consensus meetings of its state fiscal policy update, and the two-year local study of Business and Economic Development study completed its work and held its consensus meetings. The Local Government study completed its work and held its consensus meeting and Cynthia Brubaker conducted several informal seminars on the national study of Immigration. Our Program Planning meeting in January contributed questions pertaining to several national positions and we decided to forego any new local studies in 2008-2009, to engage in a

program of local action.

The 61st Annual Book sale was again successful in raising funds to support our many activities and programs. It also provides our organization with an extended social experience which attracts over a hundred League and non League workers, as well as a visible presence in the community. An additional

benefit is that it provides quality books at affordable prices, to all who patronize the sale.

Due to the large number of candidates in the local election, the Voters Service Committee worked very hard on the Spring Candidates Night, as did our two Media Directors who taped the event for viewing on ACTV. The Election Coverage organized by our League and the ACTV staff on election night went very smoothly and was well received by the community. I would like to thank the members of the Board of Directors and other League members who have so generously advised and mentored me during my first year as President. It has been a pleasure to work with all of you after an extended period when I was

unable to be involved. I am very proud to once again be part of the League of Women Voters of Amherst.

Carol Rothery

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LWVA Health Care Committee Annual Report (5/2008)

It is a pleasure to come before you representing the LWVA Health Care Committee. The Health Care Committee is not a study group aimed at researching materials to arrive at a consensus position. We are an active education and advocacy group working with the 1993 League of Women Voters health care position. We develop materials and talk to residents of the Commonwealth and our Legislators about steps to achieve a publically funded, privately delivered health care system. Our advocacy and education work involves speaking at many different venues. In the past year, we have been guests on a radio program; we have been on a panel at Bay Path College with a health insurance executive, and we have been featured as a speaker on a conference for women in labor unions. One of our major on-going initiatives is talking to business and professional people in Rotary Clubs; we go to the eastern part of the state, and, most recently, we have stepped up our appearances at Rotary Clubs in the western part of the state. Our speakers – who include Cynthia Brubaker, Nancy Kirschner Sachs, Mary Siano, Diana Stein and myself – have quite a treasure trove of nice thank you gifts from these Rotary Clubs – everything from hats and pens to library books presented in our names to libraries. We write letters to the newspapers. Rosemary Kofler and Joan Rabin had letters published this past year in the Daily Hampshire Gazette. We would like to thank Ruth Hooke for sending in a letter that ended with a pitch for single payer, and we encourage more people to do so. We sat down with the new editor of the Amherst Bulletin, Noah Hoffenberg, just a month ago, and we have an arrangement to write a column on health care reform every other month for the paper. If you would like to help us, please let me know. We will be tabling on the Amherst Common one Saturday each month during the summer, and we will also be handing out material at the Taste of Amherst, the Garlic Festival, and the Tri-County Fair in N’ton. We need volunteers, and would appreciate if you could join one of us for a shift at a table. Again, please let me know. We have begun meeting with our Legislators in their districts on a regular basis to talk with them and listen to their concerns about the problems of the MA Health Care Reform passed in 2006 and the MA Health Care Trust – a much better system. All of our Committee members including Kathleen Bridgewater, Nancy Grossman, Johanna Plaut, M.A. Swedlund and Alice Swift are ready to take part in these talks. I want to turn from the enumeration of the work we do to the broader picture. I think everyone realizes two things: First, health care reform – which used to be the number one domestic issue in national polls – has had to take a back seat to the issue of the hike in gas and heating oil and the tremendous impact this is having on the nation’s economy. My second point, however, is that at the same time, more and more people are waking up to the fact that our health care system is not the best in the world. This was the message on the television shows the “Bill Moyer’s Report” and “Frontline” which aired in the past month. A significant reason why our health care outcomes are so poor in comparison to other countries is the way we pay for health care. The public/private market place for health care in the U.S. creates disincentives for people to seek care because they have to spend considerable money for premiums, co-pays and deductibles, and it creates disincentives for health insurers to pay for care because it takes away from their revenues. Continued on page 6...

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The League of Women Voters of Amherst

wishes to thank all those who helped make our 61th book sale a success. We are particularly grateful to: Slobody Development for use of 479 West St., #8 for the sorting and pricing of books. Stop & Shop, the Amherst Town Librarie

and the UPS Store for book collection sites. Harold Gould of Atkins Fruit Bowl for the use of grocery carts. Mark Wooton of Amherst Books and Frannie Ness of Waiting for Godot Books as book consultants. UMass Boltwood Project for help with setup of books for the sale. Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce for the storage of boxes in their Information Booth. Barry Parker of UMass Intermediate Processing Facility for the recycling of cardboard. Community volunteers who were not LWV members, Lynn Alexander, Larry Ely, John George, Ana Grist, Ben Grosscup,

Helen Hawkins, Tina Lagerstedt, Karen

Lennon, Nathan Johnson Lennon, Terry

Leotart, Jim Mead, Jim Oldham, Larry Orloff, and Janet Williams.

Health Care Committee Report 2008

Continued from page 5

I will close on a positive note. At the Statehouse on Beacon Hill, we are beginning to see action on parts of the MA Health Care Trust. Sen Theresa Murray included in her proposals for health care changes a section calling for uniform billing and coding. The Jt Comm on Health Care Financing recently voted in favor of this section of Sen. Murray’s bill, and it will likely come to a vote on the House floor in May or June. This is a feature of the MA Health Care Trust which we support. There is no guarantee it will pass in the House and Senate, but the fact that the Senate President is behind the proposal for uniform billing and coding is certainly positive. Moreover, the MA Health Care Trust calls for bulk purchasing of prescription drugs to lower prices for the best medicine. Several years ago, a bill was passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor which would lead to bulk purchasing of prescription drugs. It has languished for lack of administrative will to put it into place. The MA LWV Health Care Comm is working with other health care advocacy groups in the state to ask the Governor’s Office to make bulk purchasing of prescription drugs possible for all residents of the Commonwealth. We have worked hard, but there is much more work to be done. We appreciate your support, and always ask you to join us. Thank you, Jackie Wolf, Chair

7

LWV 2007 Finance Drive Report

During the time that I have been responsible for organizing the fall finance drive (beginning in the fall of 2002), the gross proceeds have varied from a bit over $2K to an unexplained high of about $3200 in 2005 – averaging about $2.7K. Last fall, I thought we would do significantly worse than usual because we decided not to target town meeting members. (Because we did a separate mailing, independent of the finance drive, to town meeting members and didn’t want to hit them with two separate money requests in a short period of time.) In fact, however, the fall ‘07 drive produced a gross income of $2770, just about the average during my previous five years. (My figures and Joan Rabin’s differ somewhat; it depends on uninteresting details such as how to count donations that come in during the summer, nine months or so after the request has gone out.) Expenses, largely for stamps, amounted to $400 or so. (Unlike our estimable treasurer, Joan Rabin, who scrupulously keeps track of things to the penny, my finance drive records are – like my own checkbook – not that precise. Fortunately, the incoming checks are mailed directly to Joan, so there is no risk of my absentmindedly misplacing a check.)

Contributions were received from the following eight businesses this year:

A.J.Hastings, Inc. Greenfield Savings Bank

Amherst Welding, Inc. Northampton Cooperative Bank

Blair, Cutting & Smith Insurance Agency R&P Liquors

Brown, Moser, Simolo & Kaplan, LLP UPS Store We could probably do better with businesses if I were to follow up on the letter with personal calls on business people, but I have character flaws that make this something that I would find very difficult to do. Perhaps my successor will be more willing than I have been to approach business owners face to face. In our solicitation letter (signed last fall by President Rothery and myself), we offer to list donors of $50 or more as “Supporters” in the spring Election Guide and donors of $100 or more as “Sponsors”. You can see those names in the Election Guide. (Some of those who give $50 or more are apparently shy and do not choose to have their names appear in print.) It is important to remember that a major purpose of the finance drive (beyond the obvious one of producing a bit of income for the League) is to remind a large number of community members of the existence of the Amherst League and of what we do. To that end, letters are sent not only to recent donors (of course!), but also to every current town meeting member (but not in the fall of 2007) and every member of the many town committees - even though we know that some of those solicited are (to put it gently) not avid supporters of the League. As a rule, we do Continued on page 10

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61

st LWVA Book Sale Report – 2008

May 2, 3 and 4 on the Amherst Town Common

A location for the Pricing and Sorting of books was sought throughout the months of February and March. Richard Slobody, a local property developer who has provided space for us in previous years, informed us that he had space available at 479 West Street, at the corner of Pomeroy Lane and Hwy 116. It had ample room and the layout seemed to fit our needs very well. The office space was donated “gratis” by Mr. Slobody and the League paid for electricity and gas while using the space. An organizational Book Sale meeting was held at the Jones Library on March 5 and plans were made to get the book sale underway. Committee chairs were named as follows: Pricing and Sorting – Eva Cashdan and Trish Hartwell Book Collection- Doris Holden Cashiering – Cindy Asebrook, Jane McGowan and Ann Page Publicity – Peggy Roberts Volunteer Recruitment for Pricing and Sorting – Gretchen Jacob Tent Set-Up at the Common- Johanna Plaut Clean-Up- Tom Flittie Book collection trunks were placed at all the town libraries, the UPS store on University Drive and Stop ‘n Shop on the weekend of March 30-31. Book collection began on April 1st. Book collection stopped on Sunday, April 27. There was also a collection trunk set out at the Pricing and Sorting location. Doris Holden recruited a phalanx of volunteers to go out and collect the books from these locations on a regular basis. Thanks to League VP Peg Roberts, publicity went out well in advance in the newspapers, specifying where the book collection sites were and the dates for the Book Sale. During the Book Sale there were photos of League members and write-ups about the sale in the Hampshire Gazette, the Amherst Bulletin and the Republican. Posters were made which gave the pertinent information about the Book Sale dates and location and these were distributed around town. Pricing and Sorting co-chairs Trish Hartwell and Eva Cashdan recruited Session Chairs to cover all the hours of operation during the month of April. These Session Chairs had 3 hour shifts during which they were in charge of the volunteers at the site. Eva and Trish held two orientation sessions (afternoon and evening) for Session Chairs Wednesday, April 2. The Pricing and Sorting site opened for business on Thursday, April 3. Gretchen Jacob telephoned League members in March to secure volunteers to sign up for shifts and to encourage members to come and bring a friend at any time to help price, sort and box the books. Mark Wooten was contacted to come occasionally and appraise books which were thought

Continued on page 9

9

to be treasures and/or collectibles. Frannie Ness also came by to do an appraisal on an ad hoc basis. Boxes for packing books were collected by various League members (Al Shane being the “star” box collector) and these boxes were dropped off at the site. The boxes were usually obtained at local liquor stores since they were the right size for packing and moving. Tom Flittie picked up 4 shopping carts lent to us by Atkins Market for the League members to use in moving books around at the site. Recycling of boxes and paper was done by UMass recycling while the Pricing and Sorting site was open.

Pricing and Sorting sessions this year were as follows: Monday and Wednesday 9 AM - 4 PM. Tuesday and Thursday 9AM – 4 PM and 7 - 9 PM and Saturday from 9 AM-1PM. Pricing and Sorting was finished with all books (approximately 10,000) boxed and ready to move on Wednesday, April 30. Johanna Plaut organized the tent site and arranged for movers and workers. The movers came to the collection site on West Street early on Thursday morning, May 1 and in two trips they took all the books and tables to the Town Common and unloaded them inside the tent. Volunteers from the Boltwood Project (UMass students) helped League members get the books unpacked and set up on the tables. We took apart the boxes (Jackie Wolf, our box specialist, oversaw a group who broke down and flattened most of the boxes) and some boxes were stored in the yellow Chamber of Commerce Information house on the Common. Other boxes were taken away by Arnie Alper who distributed them to the Survival Center and Meals on Wheels (for their use in food distribution). The Book Sale began on Friday morning, May 2 with book dealers arriving early and ready to descend upon the tables of books as soon as the doors were opened. Jane McGowan, Cindy Asebrook and Ann Page coordinated and arranged for League volunteers to man and woman the cash registers during the entire sale. They also oversaw and arranged for other League members to be “floaters” during the sale, straightening the book tables and unloading the boxes under the tables (all were unpacked except the Harlequin romance books). Deposits of the money were made regularly and at the end of each day, the accounts were reconciled by the cashiering committee. Prices for books were lowered to “a bag for $5” a half hour before the sale was over on Sunday afternoon. This is always a discretionary decision based on several factors. This year there were many people still buying books almost up to closing time. The weather had been chilly and rainy until Sunday afternoon and when it cleared and got sunny, a lot of potential buyers came at the last minute. At the Pricing and Sorting location, the Freebies were being offered for several hours a day on Friday and Saturday. League volunteers were on hand to oversee this operation.

Continued on page 11

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LWVM COUNCIL 2008

The Massachusetts League held a day-long meeting, Council 2008, in Newton on Saturday May 17. Forty-three delegates (from 25 out of 55 local Leagues) as well as a dozen observers attended the meeting. I attended as a delegate from the Amherst League. Delegates passed the annual state League budget without amendment. The theme of the meeting was “Engaging Democracy.” A morning panel discussion focused on Governor Patrick’s Office of Civic Engagement and as well as several League initiatives aimed at encouraging civic participation among youth. Of particular interest was the Haverhill League’s program to recruit and train high school students to serve as local poll workers. Newly elected Massachusetts Congressperson Niki Tsongas was the luncheon speaker. She is the first woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts in 25 years. She was articulate and engaging. The afternoon was devoted to a half-dozen workshops. Topics included the VOTE 2008 Campaign (a League initiative with the goal of increasing voter participation, awareness, and education), youth advocacy, media access (print media and cable access television), blogging, and a workshop session on lobbying that I led with Peter Vickery of Amherst. Two additional issues of note came up repeatedly throughout the day. In her opening remarks, League President Diane Jeffery praised League members for playing a critical role in helping to defeat the Governor’s casino bill. This is a major accomplishment. But the issue is not going away and it will return in a serious way as soon as the next legislative session. League members will need to be vigilant and committed to win again on this issue. Though not a formal topic of discussion at Council, conversations throughout the day suggest that the November ballot initiative to eliminate entirely the state income tax is a matter of grave concern to League

members.

Leo Maley

2008 Finance Drive Report continued from page 7… not (except by mistake) ask League members to contribute to the Finance Drive; a number of League members make contributions over and above their dues at the time of membership renewal. During my six years of organizing the finance drive, the total gross income for the LWV has amounted to about $16K – roughly one book sale. I appreciate having had the chance to organize the finance drive for the last six years. Because the finance drive chair is (for mysterious reasons) a board position, I have also had the opportunity to participate in at least a minor way in other board activities, to ask a few questions and occasionally cause a bit of trouble at board meetings. In particular, I am very pleased to have been on the board at the time we decided to take a stand in favor of free speech and the right to dissent and therefore not to participate in a Fourth of July parade in which the rules are set by a private group, responsible to no elected public official.

Bob Romer (Chair, Finance Drive, 2007) May, 2008

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LWV 2008 Annual Meeting: Local Action

Report

This past year, Local Action has been involved in 2 major activities:

Warrant Review Meetings Warrant Review Meetings are held prior to the Annual and the Fall Town Meetings in order to acquaint Town Meeting members with the warrant articles that will come before TM. Local Action helped to plan and conduct the fall and spring review meetings this year, in conjunction with the Town Meeting Coordinating Committee. Appropriate speakers for each warrant article were identified and invited to participate. At the spring meeting, the LWV Town Meeting Handbook was distributed to new TM members. The meetings were televised by ACTV.

With Peggy Roberts and Barbara Ford the Warrant Articles were reviewed to decide whether the League should take a position on any of the articles, consistent with League positions. No articles were identified that were deemed appropriate for League commentary. Other Local Action A broad goal of Local Action is to help the LWV Amherst become part of the dialogue on local issues. This past year, the LWVMA Municipal Finance Study provided such an opportunity. After the LWVA Municipal Finance Study Committee reported their results to League members in October, several presentations to local groups were arranged and a version of the Report was prepared for the LWVA website. The goal was to provide relevant information/ education to the community, not to take a specific position on issues. These efforts led to the Municipal Finance Study Committee being invited to present their findings as part of the Town's Open Forum on budget issues in February. Now that consensus questions from the Local Government Study and the Business and Economic Development Study have been approved, it is hoped that a local action plan can be developed to stimulate dialogue on issues raised by these studies.

Martha Hanner

2008 Book Sale Report Continued from page 9 On Sunday afternoon, the company Pro Quo came to get all the leftover books at the Freebies site and also all the books that were left at the tent after several non-profit organizations had taken whatever they wanted after the sale closed. Pro Quo also took many flattened boxes from the tent at that time. We were paid by Pro Quo for the remainder of the books. The tables inside the tent were removed on Monday morning (the tables were folded and stacked on Sunday). The clean-up and table folding and stacking was done by Tom Flittie’s corps of clean-up volunteers at the end of the sale. The tent was taken down on Monday afternoon. And on Monday, Trish, Eva and I (and a non-League member Janet Williams) went to the Pricing and Sorting site and cleaned it up so that it was back in order for Mr. Slobody to resume showing as a rental space. The gas and electricity at the Pricing and Sorting site were terminated on Tuesday and Wednesday after the sale and the carts were returned to Atkins by Tom Flittie. A follow-up meeting was held to discuss the Book Sale and make recommendations for next year on May 14th at Eva Cashdan’s house. All in all, it was a very successful book Sale. Gross profits were $21, 463.24 and our expenses were $3,787.29 . As of May27, our net profit is $17,675.95. Thanks to all who helped make this a successful Book Sale. It was fun!

Cynthia Brubaker, 2008 Book Sale Chair

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ANNUAL REPORT FOR MEMBERSHIP 2008

I am pleased to report that membership had a very successful year. As of this morning, we have a total of 230 members coming from 11 different towns and

cities.

Thirty-nine new members joined this year. The new members are a diverse group: Young, old, female (most of them), male, single, married, new residents, long time residents, and one college student. Twelve of the new members are Amherst Town Meeting members who responded to a mailing we sent this year for the first time to Town Meeting members inviting them to join the League. You might be interested to know that 36 of the current 240 elected members of Amherst’s Town Meeting, or 15%, are members of

the League. .

If there are any new members here tonight who joined within the past year, would you please stand? We will be passing out a membership survey later this evening which we would very much like you to complete. The survey has three goals and these goals pretty much define the kinds of things membership will be working on next year. First, to continue to bring in new members, of course; second, to explore ways to build up our core of active members; and third, to investigate ways to develop League leaders. We have actually already begun working on these goals. With the help of an intern from the University of Massachusetts, Tina Lagerstedt, who has been working with me (Kathy) this year, we have conducted several face-to-face interviews with League members asking questions related to the goals. The survey we are asking you to complete is an outgrowth of those interviews. Ideas generated from the interviews and your responses to the survey should help us revise our membership materials, plan outreach activities to help diversify our membership, and in general identify ways to keep the League growing, vital, and active. One thing we are already planning to do, which we realized would be helpful in part as a result of the interviews, is to begin (once again) holding orientation meetings for new members. The meetings will give our friendly and enthusiastic League leaders(!) a chance to meet and explain to new members in clear and concrete terms what the League is, what it actually does, and how new members can get involved. It also will give the new members ample opportunity to ask questions and get to know each other as well as those friendly and enthusiastic League leaders! Respectfully submitted, Kathy Vorwerk Feldman Membership Co-Chair

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FIRST VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT, 2008

The following informational meetings were open to the public as well as the Amherst League. Thanks to Deanna Pearlstein who organized the refreshments and helped make the arrangements throughout the year. In September, we began the year with a public meeting at Crocker Farm School with Dr. Jill Stein, a well known advocate for single payer health coverage, who spoke about the medical environmental and economic consequences of corporate control of food production and consumption, and finding alternatives that enhance healthy lives and economies. Many in the audience were not League members but attended because of the nature of the talk, but they also heard an explanation of the League’s work and mission. Our official Opening Meeting in October at the Woman’s Club gave us an opportunity to meet new members during a special social hour and to hear a talk by Town Manager Larry Shaffer on “The State of the Town” followed by questions and answers. In January, local attorney and nationally known advocate for voting rights, John Bonifaz, gave an interesting talk on “Who Owns Our Elections? The Struggle to Reclaim our Vote and our Democracy “at the ACTV studio before some fifty community and League members. Our annual Birthday Luncheon speaker at Hickory Ridge was Senator Stan Rosenberg who addressed a well attended League event on the controversial issue of Casino Gambling, This topic was again discussed at the ACTV studio in March before a live audience with League member Leo Maley moderating a forum that was organized by the LWVM and presented around the state titled “ The Case Against Casino Gambling”. The forum included Diane Jeffrey, President of the LWVM, and several experts supporting the LWVM position opposing casino gambling, and was taped and distributed to 60 different groups for viewing around the state. In April, Pioneer Valley Transit Authority Director, Mary MacInnes gave a power point presentation,” On the Route to Success”, in the Town Room at Town Hall. It was followed by a lively discussion with twenty-five members of the public and the League. In May we held the annual Legislative Reception at the home of Carol Rothery. Our guests were Congressman John Olver, State Senator Stan Rosenberg, and State Representative John Scibak who gave an interesting review of the current issues in Washington and Boston and answered questions from the League audience. Most of the above meetings were open to the public and were opportunities for us to explain the League’s mission and to recruit new members. The subjects of the talks were designed to attract a wide range of community members. Thanks to Rebecca Fricke, our Bulletin Editor, and Web masters Chris Hoffman and Gavin Andresen, the LWVA Website has also been improved and expanded to include a working calendar, external links, and a many examples of our activities and programs

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NON-PROFIT ORG.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

AMHERST, MA

PERMIT NO. 74

League of Women Voters

P.O. Box 2372

Amherst, MA 01004-2372

Help Register Voters!

Every Saturday from June 21 through October 11, weather permitting, we will be registering voters on the Town Common from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We would like to see as many League members as possible to participate in this activity. Our table will be located right next to the Farmers’ Market and will provide an opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones. If you signed up to help with voter registration on your last activity sheet, you will get an invitation to an organizational meeting next week. If you didn’t and would like to come, please contact me at mlillya@acad.umass.edu or 256-6968. Or, if you can’t or don’t wish to attend a meeting, please let me know and I’d be more than happy to sign you up for one or more registration time slots. Maija Lillya, Voters Service