SJVGreens Minutes
Minutes of St. Joe Valley Greens
July 14, 2005; Tom Brown, recorder
Call to Order: Kathleen Petitjean called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM, in the Molloy Room of the St. Jo. Co. Public Library downtown branch, South Bend, IN.
Members Present: Lance Howard, Kathleen Petitjean, Tom Brown, David Vollrath
Guests: Ed Cohen
Guest Speaker: Derek Dieter, 1st District South Bend Common Council member was our scheduled speaker. He did not show. [Editor: We later learned Dieter had unsuccessfully tried to reach us by phone to reschedule his appearance.]
Officer and Delegate Reports
Treasurer
Lance gave his report verbally and will circulate a written report to members via email.
IGP Coordinating Committee
IGP is meeting this weekend to plan for the annual Congress. The Congress will be 2 days, Sat. and Sun, August 27 and 28. Media will be invited Sunday afternoon to kick off the SOS campaign.
David collected IGP membership dues to take with him. Lance will check on local chapter dues and report to members via email.
Committee Reports
Ballot access
Kathleen is concentrating on collecting signatures for SoS ballot access. She has collected approximately 600 so far.
Kathleen will help Jim Coplen, NWIG, at their booth at the LaPorte County Fair on Wednesday evening. Jim will be at the booth during the day. Karren will attend the booth in the evening. Bill Stant will visit the booth one day.
Kathleen requested that GreenTV tape Bill Stant's appearances in South Bend. Tom said he can tape one of Bill's speeches, but not more. Tom requested that the lighting should be good if we want to show the tapes on GreenTV. Since GreenTV already has one recent tape of Bill's stump speech, Tom was hesitant to tape again so soon. Kathleen will see if Neal can tape the appearnces.
GreenTV
Tom gave Dave Vollrath video camcorder specs for GreenTV. David's family owns a camcorder which they use infrequently. It may be a good camcorder for GreenTV.
Old Business
Circulate Green Pages
At the last meeting Tom proposed that we develop a plan to distribute the backlog of Green Pages newspaper before ordering more. The proposal passed by consensus. We forgot to put the issue on the agenda for this month so there was no follow up.
Kilowatt Ours
We decided to co-sponsor a screening of "Kilowatt Ours" with the Sierra Club. We will show it at our August meeting. Kathleen will contact Christine re broadcasting rights for GreenTV and coordinate announcing the public showing in the South Bend Tribune. Tom will check with the library about AV gear to project the DVD in the Molloy Room.
Paddlefest
David attended Paddlefest to represent the chapter and collect signatures for SoS ballot access. Only 6 people signed the petition. David thought the results would have been better if he had Kathleen's Newfoundland dog to attract attention. David noted that many people were sympathetic but felt they couldn't sign the petition.
Fund raising ideas
There was no follow up on fund raising.
Charter and bylaw revision
Members reviewed Articles 1 through 4 of the Charter and adopted changes. A small amount of work remains on Article 4. If there is time at the next meeting, we will review Appendix 1 - Membership Standards and Review Process.
New Business
Chocola/Donnelly/Cohen debate
Kathleen proposed that we sponsor or co-sponsor a debate between the candidates for our district's House seat in Congress. Everyone thought it a good idea.
David will check on availability of IUSB facilities for a debate. He will contact the IUSB Political Science Club re co-sponsoring the debate. Tom suggested there may be a studio at IUSB where we can tape the debate. David will check out the taping facilities.
Tom proposed that the "town hall" atmosphere of alternate venues around town, such as Fiddlers Hearth and other restaurants and clubs, might attract an audience and provide a better debate experience. David suggested we could have a series of debates in different venues. Kathleen will contact Fiddlers Hearth re their availability.
Ed Cohen's campaign report
Ed reviewed his campaign plans to date. He is forming his campaign committee. Ed will be at the Elkhart Co. Fair next weekend. He is looking for a cool car, preferably a convertible, to ride in a parade at the Fair. Ed will be volunteering time at the Democrat Party booth.
Ed mentioned a proposal to fund universal health care with a value added tax (VAT). We held a brief discussion on the pros and cons of the proposal. The reaction was mixed. Ed said he is open to suggestions to make the VAT progressive, rather than regressive. He felt a VAT funded universal health care bill has a better chance of passage in Congress than any other proposal.
Closing: Kathleen adjourned the meeting at 8:50 PM.
Next meeting: Our next meeting is Thursday, August 11, 7:00 PM, in the Molloy Room at the St. Joseph Co. Public Library downtown South Bend.
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN