League of Women Voters of Greater Phone: 402-344-3701 www.omahalwv.org
Bulletin
League of Women
Voters of Greater
A non-partisan political organization open to all citizens 18 years of age or older Volume 50 No. 2
FOURTH ANNUAL SHRIMP FEED
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
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 of 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.
See you in August.
PUBLIC SAFETY AUDITOR TOWNHALL MEETING IS A SUCCESS!
See page 4 for a
full report and details on upcoming community forums.
We're pleased to
report that Cox taped our Town Hall meeting from June 21 and they'll be showing
it on their community channel for 2 months.
To view the program:
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Go to Cox Digital Cable Channel 998
Ø
Click Local Programming
Ø
Click Community Events
Ø
Select Safety Auditor meeting
Ø
If asked if you want to "buy" it;
click "yes". Note the cost is
$0 – There is no charge.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
July-August. Community Forums: “Does
Monday,
August 6,
Monday, August 20, Surfside
Club: Shrimp feed. See details above.
Thursday, October 11,
2007-2008
Meeting and Programs – See page 6 for a listing of upcoming programs.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Most civic
organizations keep a low profile in the summer, but could the LWVGO of summer
’07 do that? Noooo! The minute I took office we had big things
going on and, really, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
After all, the
organization that citizens can most trust to carefully study the police
oversight question is League, and it needed to be looked at now, not a few
weeks or months from now, so we’ve taken on the task. When we thank Jonah D. for her excellent
leadership of the Public Safety Auditor committee she is always quick to
mention her enthusiastic, hard-working committee members. And she’s right. They are a dedicated group of volunteers who
have come up with some smart solutions to some problems. For instance, we know there will be plenty of
stories of police encounters at our Public Forums, but we can’t let them
dominate the agenda. We will have a
member taking down all such stories for the record. With any luck we’ll be hearing positive
anecdotes as well as the negative ones.
As to the Shrimp
Feed, I hope you’re making plans to come – and bring friends – to enjoy the
great food and to help out. We don’t
bill it as “all you can eat” but we are very generous with the portions. Maybe we should call it “all you can eat
unless you’re the guy who just won the International hot dog eating
contest”. My sincere
thanks to Shirley F. and Sharon C. for co-chairing the event.
If there’s
anything on your mind regarding public policy and/or League, please give me a
call. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Linda D.
MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT TEAM
ATTENDS NATIONAL COUNCIL
Your Membership
Recruitment Team (MRI) attended National LWV
Council in
Remember League
is the organization where your hands-on work to
safeguard democracy leads to civic improvement.
Barbara R. and Pat G.
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.
NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT
A small group
representing the LWVGO recently toured an energy-efficient concept house at
25th & Parker. If you were not able to tour the home during the open house
there is a wonderful virtual tour online at www.pathnet.org.
The PATH (Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing) house includes 60
efficient, sustainable and flexible products, ranging from recycled carpet to
natural plaster. The house, partially
funded by HUD is a showcase for housing that will take place in the
future. I was impressed with the PEX
tubing and plumbing system, Tankless Water Heater,
and the Grey Water System. By designing
plumbing systems to separate it from toilet water, grey water can be recycled
for irrigation, toilets and exterior washing.
This conserves water and lowers water bills.
Built on land
donated by the City of
It was interesting to discover how many
building code variances were needed to complete this construction project. Streamlining these new technologies into our
community may require a close examination of our somewhat antiquated building
codes.
Steve G. and Joan
H.
RUNNING AND WINNING PROGRAM
Mark your
calendar and plan to assist. We'll need plenty of helpers, especially
small-group facilitators. Questions? Call
Linda D. or leave a message at the League office - 344-3701.
RUNNING AND WINNING PROGRAM FUNDING
Please contribute
to our First Annual Running and Winning Program for High School Girls.
We have a budget
of nearly $4,000; expenses include room rental, transportation and lunch
for the participants. We have applied for grants but also welcome
donations from our members.
Checks
(tax-deductible) can be made payable to LWVGO Ed Fund. Please note on your check that contribution
should be directed to the Running and Winning Program.
Thank you very
much!
Have you asked anyone to join LWV this week?
PUBLIC SAFETY AUDITOR AD
HOC COMMITTEE REPORT –
The
ad hoc committee has met several times over the past two months and heard from
the following persons regarding the public safety auditor position:
Ø
Sam Walker, UNO Department of Criminal Justice
Ø
Tristin
Bonn – former Omaha Public Safety Auditor
Ø
Rev. Everett Reynolds – regarding Civilian
Review Board
Ø
Aaron Hansen –
Ø
Mayor Fahey/Paul Landow/Vicki
Quaites-Ferris, Joe Gudenrath
Future
meetings are being scheduled with the Chief of Police and the Chief of the Fire
Department. Also, League members are encouraged to discuss the issue with their
City Councilman.
The
Town Hall Meeting – Does Omaha Need a Public Safety Auditor was held on
Cox
taped the Town Hall meeting and is showing it on channel 998 On Demand-Local
Programs-Community events for the next five weeks.
WOWT
Channel 6 and KPTM Fox 42 taped during the presentation and covered the town
hall meeting in subsequent broadcasts.
In addition, Channel 6 interviewed Linda Duckworth and aired the
interview during the day of June 21. The Omaha World Herald and the Reader also
covered the event.
Forums
sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Urban League of Nebraska will be
held during July (19-23-26-31) and August 11. Plans are underway for the forums
to provide an opportunity for dialogue among League members and citizens on the
issue. City Council members will be encouraged to participate in the dialogues
held in their areas. A short overview of
the issue with excerpts from the town hall meeting will be presented prior to
the dialogue session. Citizen complaints
will be recorded and added to the report being generated from the Town Hall
meeting and the forums. The report will be submitted to the City Council and
the Mayor’s Office.
Plans
are to present the findings from the Forums/Community Discussion sessions to
LWVGO members in September prior to submitting a report to city officials. It
has been recommended that as a follow-up, a Roundtable with selected persons be
held for further discussion on the issue of an independent monitor and
mediation process. This Roundtable would be taped and available for viewing.
Thanks
to the following ad hoc committee members:
Ø
Information
deleted from web copy.
2007 - 2008 MEETINGS AND
PROGRAMS
|
Monday, General Meeting - |
General Meeting
- Library at the
Arboretum, "Public Safety Auditor" Jonah D. and the LWVGO ad
hoc committee which has been researching the issues surrounding the Public
Safety Auditor position will present their findings and lead discussion. |
|
Monday, |
General Meeting
and Luncheon - "Water Quality in
the Papillion Creek Watershed" Dr. Marian Maas, Director
of the Papillion Creek Watershed Project |
|
Monday, |
General Meeting
and Soup/Salad Luncheon- 11:30 a.m. 2650 Farnam LWVUS Immigration Study -
Discussion and Consensus Discussion led by League
member Sally F. |
|
Monday |
Spezia “O! Where Do We Go?" Jim Suttle |
|
Monday |
General Meeting
- League program planning
for 2008-2009 |
|
Monday |
League Birthday
Luncheon - Upstream
Brewing Company (West) 17070 “I May Be Crazy, But This
Is Nuts: How Deb S., former State
Senator and LWVGO Speakers Bureau |
|
Monday |
General Meeting
- Panera Meeting Room, 135th and "Education
Study" Barbara R. and LWVGO
Study Group |
|
Saturday |
Annual
Meeting, TBD |
MEMBERSHIP
|
New Members: Information deleted
from web copy. |
New Addresses: Information deleted
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. Also, please call or email me with any of your prospective members. I will add them to our bulletin list.
Membership fees were due on
Thanks,
Kyrsten T.
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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