Bulletin
League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha
1941 South 42 Street, Suite 501
Omaha, NE 68105-2945
Phone: 402-344-3701
League
of Women Voters of Greater Omaha June, 2007
A non-partisan political organization open to all citizens 18
years of age or older Volume 50 No 1
DOES OMAHA NEED A PUBLIC SAFETY AUDITOR??
TOWNHALL MEETING
Thursday, June
21, 2007
7-9 PM
UNO ALUMNI CENTER
Sponsored by the
League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha and the University of Nebraska at
Omaha's Department of Criminal Justice.
Richard Rosenthal, Indpendent
Monitor for Denver, Colorado, will talk about the role and responsibilities of
an independent monitor in conjunciton with a Citizens'
Review Board and a Comunity Relations Ombudsman. He will provide information on the mediation
process being used in Denver. Richard
was previously the Monitor for the City of Portland, Oregon.
Following his presentation, dialogue will be facilitated regarding
the Omaha Public Safety Auditor position and the future for Omaha's oversight
of public safety departments.
During the six weeks following the Townhall
Meeting, four forums will be held across the city to promote citizen dialogue
on the subject of a Public Safety Monitor for Omaha.
For further information check the
league's website <www.omahalwv.org>, and for the Denver OIM (Office of
Independent Monitor) at www.denvergov.org/OIM.2065aboutus.asp
FOURTH
ANNUAL SHRIMP FEED
AUGUST
20, 2007
The 4th Annual LWVGO Shrimp Feed Fundraiser will take place
on Monday, August 20, at the Surfside Club. The event was a great success
the last three years. It provided an opportunity for food, fun, and
fellowship, and it raised significant operating funds for our
organization.
The
Shrimp Feed is open to the general public as well as to League members, their
families and friends. The Missouri River setting makes for a great casual
evening.
To
make the event a success, we need as many members as possible to help.
There are lots of ways to get involved. We'll need ticket takers, food
runners, and clean-up crew the night of the event. We'll need help with advertising and
promotion and with baking desserts. Most
all, we'll need help selling tickets! You will soon be receiving a
packet of information about the shrimp feed and a few tickets to sell.
While no one is required to sell tickets, we hope that everyone will choose to
buy tickets to use personally and to sell tickets to friends and
neighbors. The meal is a good value, and the success of the event is very
important to the financial health of the League.
If
you want to volunteer to help with the event, please contact the League office
at 344-3701. See you in August.
CALENDAR
OF EVENTS
Thursday, June 21, 7:00-9:00 p.m., UNO Alumni
Center: Townhall
meeting on Public Safety Auditor. See
above.
Thursday, July 12, 1:30 p.m., League
office. LWVGO board meeting. All members welcome.
Monday, August 6, 1:30 p.m., League office. LWVGO board meeting. All members welcome.
Monday, August 20, Surfside Club: Shrimp feed.
See above
Thursday,
October 11, Thompson Alumni Center, UNO:
Running and Winning program.
PRESIDENT’S
MESSAGE
As
Barbara Tripp was ending her year as President of LWV-GO she spoke of the
“phenomenal women” she's worked with during the past year, and also read a poem
of (nearly) the same title by Maya Angelou.
Those of us who have served with Barbara consider her the ultimate
“phenomenal woman,” and we're proud that so much has been accomplished in the
past twelve months.
I
see the coming year as a continuation of good things already started. In fact, I halfway hope we don't take on any
new projects because not only is the plate full, the platter is heaping! But of course, if you find an issue that
needs looking at and you want to work on it, bring it before the board, by all
means. That's what Jonah D. did, and now
we're generating all kinds of interest about the Public Safety Auditor
question, and my calendar for June 21 says “7 - 9 - Big Forum”.
Other
Big Things taking place in the next few months include the Shrimp Feed, the
Running and Winning workshop for high school girls, the statewide study on
Education, the Membership Recruitment Initiative, and monthly programs you
won't want to miss. I hope that as
you're reading through this newsletter you're marking your calendar and
planning to attend as many events as possible.
I
want to take this opportunity to thank all who've agreed to serve on our board
for the coming year. Since our last
bulletin we've added Kyrsten T. as Membership
Director, Sharon C. to head up the Shrimp Feed, Marianne C. and Marilyn R. to
co-chair Voters' Service, and Virginia B. to the Ed Fund board.
Linda
Duckworth
LEAGUE
RECORDS FOR POSTERITY
Our
League of Women Voters, thought to be the only league in the nation to be
invited to do so, will be making a Story Corps recording on May 31. Story corps is America's largest-ever oral
history project and a copy will be placed in the Library of Congress for future
generations, one in the Omaha Library System in cooperative use with PBS radio
station KIOS, and another in the League office.
Barbara R. will interview Betsy D., Karren K.,
and Belinda G. The spontaneous
forty-minute segment will tell some things about the founding of League, issues we have
dealt with, the changing membership, and include some humorous events. If KIOS plays some of our recording we will
be notified in advance and will pass the word along to you, or there may be a
time to play it at a League meeting.
LWVGO
SURVEY
The
League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha is conducting a survey to learn how
women plan to spend their free time once they have stopped working full time.
This survey is being conducted to initiate interest in shared concern for the
well being of the Omaha metropolitan area.
League is the organization where hands-on work to safeguard democracy
leads to civic improvement. We have the
opportunity for people to make a positive impact on the community, and we are
interested in engaging individuals, especially those of retirement age, who are
poised to have
the time to make a difference and want to know how they can seize such an
opportunity. Depending on the results,
we would like to publish the findings as a news article, perhaps comparing the
survey to one on civic engagement conducted by LWV in 1999 or perhaps relating
it to senior volunteers in other communities. This non scientific poll is
available on our web site: <www.omahalwv.org>. Click on survey and follow the
directions. Please suggest to your
friends that they participate in this survey.
The League appreciates your assistance in the matter and looks forward to your
input!
NEW
LWV NE Power Review Board Volunteer
Mary
P. has been on the NE Power Review Board for the last 6 years and is
regrettably stepping down from this commitment. Nebraska Electric
Utilities is 100% publicly owned. There are always companies who want to
own the utilities and attempt to make it private and deregulate it.
Anytime a utilities goes private it has to meet 5 conditions, called
"Condition Certain". The Condition Certain
committee, named the NE Power Review Board is a citizen oversight committee
made up of some technical people, some utilities representatives, legislators
and interested citizens.
We would like to recognize and thank
Virginia B. for volunteering to take Mary Power's place on the NE Power Review
Board. She will keep abreast about the Nebraska electric
utilities and attend their annual meeting in September.
QUOTES FROM RECENT LETTERS
FROM OUR GHANAIAN SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS:
"I
would like to thank you for the love and caring you have for me...and to thank
you for the textbooks, exercise books, registration fees, and every other
thing. Mummy, at home my parents are grateful. At school...we have
about thirty six days ahead of us to write the Basic Education Certificate
Examination. I want to be counted among the ones by preparing my own
time table and learn according to it in the evening, and I also read about four
different story books a day which mostly helps me in the English essay parts."
Cynthia
"On
6th of March, 1957, we gained independence from our colonial masters so this
year was the 50th Anniversary of Ghana and it was so exciting.
Most of the Ghanaians wore clothes which depict the colours of our flag." Anita
"At
home, I have been learning every evening and I also have my time table which
has been prepared by my elder sister. When I am about to start learning,
I pray first before learning. I wanted to take this opportunity to appreciate
whatever you have done and God will bless the work of your hands."
Sam Hagar
"I'm
doing great and the reason is that the 6th of March was Ghana's Golden Jubilee
celebration. Our school went for an excursion at Trade Fair. There I saw
people selling and some too were buying goods. Some white people brought
goods from other countries. We had a lot of fun over there.
In the evening when I got home I was told they've taken my mother to the
hospital. On the 7th of March, she gave birth to a bouncing baby
boy My family now is the happiest family on this earth because my father
wanted a male child and by God's Grace, he has one; just imagine how happy he
is." Pamela
"There
is nothing I can do to prove how much I appreciate what you are doing for
me. The only thing I can do is to learn hard and do well in my
studies to achieve something good in the future." Abigail
The
key to long-term change and advancement for these girls is education. Scholarships to help young girls complete their education is
crucial. If you would like to contribute to the Ghanaian Scholarship
Fund, please send a tax-deductible contribution to LWVGO Ed Fund; indicate
"Ghana Scholarship" on the memo line; mail to LWVGO Ed Fund at 1941
S. 42nd Street, Ste 501, Omaha NE 68105-2945 Thanks
for caring!
READING RESOURCE GROUP
The Reading Resource Group will resume in
September and will be reading "The Broken Branch - How Congress is Failing
America and How to Get it Back on Track" by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J.
Ornstein.
Great minds discuss ideas;
average minds discuss events;
small minds discuss people.
n
Eleanor
Roosevelt
Great minds discuss ideas;
average minds discuss events;
small minds discuss people.
n
Eleanor
Roosevelt
BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST FOR THE CLASS OF
2010
(Continued from an earlier
edition)
Members of the class of
2010, entering college last fall, were mostly born in 1988. For them: Billy
Carter, Lucille Ball, Gilda Radner, Billy Martin,
Andy Gibb, and Secretariat have always been dead.
42. Ken Burns has always
been producing very long documentaries on PBS.
43. They are not aware that
"flock of seagulls hair" has nothing to do with birds flying into it.
44. Retin-A
has always made America look less wrinkled.
45. Green tea has always
been marketed for health purposes.
46. Public school officials
have always had the right to censor school newspapers.
47. Small white holiday
lights have always been in style.
48. Most of them never had
the chance to eat bad airline food.
49. They have always been
searching for "Waldo."
50. The really rich have
regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.
51. Michael Moore has
always been showing up uninvited.
52. They never played the
game of state license plates in the car.
53. They have always
preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.
54. There have always been live organ donors.
55. They have always had
access to their own credit cards.
56. They have never put
their money in a "Savings & Loan."
57. Sara Lee has always
made underwear.
58. Bad behavior has always
been getting captured on amateur videos.
59. Disneyland has always
been in Europe and Asia.
60. They never saw Bernard
Shaw on CNN.
61. Beach volleyball has
always been a recognized sport.
62. Acura, Lexus, and
Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.
63. Television stations
have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
64. LoJack
transmitters have always been finding lost cars.
65. Diane Sawyer has always
been live in Prime Time.
66. Dolphin-free canned
tuna has always been on sale.
67. Disposable contact
lenses have always been available.
68. "Outing" has
always been a threat.
69. Oh, The Places You'll
Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.
70. They have always "dissed" what they don't like.
71. The U.S. has always
been studying global warming to confirm its existence.
72. Richard M. Daley has
always been the Mayor of Chicago.
73. They grew up with
virtual pets to feed, water, and play games with, lest they die.
74. Ringo
Starr has always been clean and sober.
75. Professional athletes
have always competed in the Olympics.
From Beloit College,
Beloit, Wisconsin
MEMBERSHIP
Text removed from web copy.
If you change your address,
phone #, email etc, please let me know so we can keep our records up to
date. We'd like to have everyone's email
address as we communicate with our members through email quite often.
Please call or email with
any of your prospective members. I will
add them to our bulletin list.
Pass this membership
application on to a friend:
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LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF
GREATER OMAHA
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Name
______________________________________________________________________
Address
__________________________________City___________State
_____ ZIP _______
Home phone
____________________________Work phone ___________________________
Fax
_______________________________________ E-mail ____________________________
____Single member, $60 ___Family membership, $90 ___Additional contribution $_____
Please make your checks
payable to LWVGO and send to:
League of Women Voters of Greater Omaha
1941 S. 42nd Street, Suite 501
Omaha,
NE 68105