SJVGreens Minutes
Minutes of St. Joe Valley Greens
July 8, 2004; Tom Brown, recorder
Call to Order: Kathleen Petitjean (fomerly, Kaiser) called the meeting to order at 7:15 PM in the Molloy Room of the St. Jo. Co. Public Library, South Bend, IN. Then she solicited agenda items.
Members Present: Lance Howard, Tom Brown, Kathleen Petitjean, David Vollrath
Guest speaker: Trina Robinson
Trina Robinson, NAACP President, presented the need for a civilian police review board. She noted that the SJVGreens at one time included same in our political platform, and asked us to consider joining a coalition.
Robinson related several stories of recent police violence against citizens, black and white. She explained that the NAACP receives complaints about police violence and intimidation, more than the police receive. She says the police would receive more complaints if their policies encouraged citizens to file complaints.
Robinson has contacted national and state resources in the federal government and NAACP. There are models for successful civilian police review boards: Indianapolis, IN, Ft. Wayne, IN and Cleveland, OH. The policy of the national office of the NAACP is to ask for independent review of complaints against the police when a city has an above average number of complaints. The determination of the need is made by the local NAACP chapter rather than the national organization. The NAACP calls for a very broad based review panel which would include former police officers.
The NAACP believes Mayor Luecke is reluctant to confront the police and avoids the issue because it is controversial. The Mayor's office has hired ThoughtBridge to do a study of community and citizen complaints against police.
SJVGreen members expressed unanimous support for a civilian review board and offered to use our web site and GreenTV to publicize the issue. Dave has a colleague at IU who studied civilian review boards for his doctoral dissertation. Robinson will keep us informed re the coalition efforts. She believes the coalition should work deliberately, slowly and effectively over a sustained period because community issues with the police run in cycles.
Old Business
Comcast Facilities - Last month we decided to explore organizing support for improving the Comcast cable access facilities. Dave was unable to assemble a list of contacts by watching cable access shows. Most shows don't offer contact information. Kathleen has been unable to contact Neal re advice on upgrading equipment at Comcast.
New Business
There was no new business.
Officer Reports
Treasurer: Lance will circulate an email report to members. The general account has diminished considerably, but other accounts are unchanged. Lance announced it is time to renew memberships and pay dues. He proposed that Tom's dues be waived to recognize the contribution he has made to GreenTV. No one objected to the proposal.
Recording Secretary: Minutes of the June meeting are on the web site. Jeff Sutter had asked about the discussion of the loyalty oath issue. Tom added an editor's note re Jeff's inquiry. Dave approved the addition of Jeff's comments. There were no other additions or corrections.
Coordinator: No report.
Delegate Reports
Dave Vollrath reported on the Green Party United States (GPUS) presidential nominating convention and the proposed state Congress.
National Convention - Dave was not asked to sign any form of loyalty oath. All delegates were bound to vote according to their state mandates on the first round of voting. Delegates heard from all Presidential candidates. In brief, Peter Camejo pitched solidarity with other Progressives by not running a Green Presidential candidate (no candidate) and instead endorsing Nader. David Cobb emphasized building the Green Party by running a Green Presidential candidate and observing a "safe states" strategy if possible. Lorna Salzman underscored the environment.
On the first round of voting Camejo (no candidate) and Cobb were even. Neither had a majority. On the second round of voting Cobb gathered a majority and won the nomination. He chose Pat La Marche of Maine as his Vice President.
Annual Congress - The Indiana Green Party (IGP) coordinating committee held its July meeting at the national convention in Milwaukee and decided the annual Congress will be held in LaPorte, IN. The Congress will be hosted by Jim Coplen on the first weekend in October. The IGP CC is soliciting proposals for the Congress.
Closing: Kathleen Petitjean closed the meeting at 8:45 PM.
Next meeting: Our next meeting is Thursday, August 12, 7:00 PM, in the Molloy Room at the St. Joseph Co. Public Library downtown.
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN