Wednesday,  March  12,  2014  4:29:03  PM  Eastern  Daylight  Time

Page  1  of  6

Subject: News  from  League  of  Women  Voters  of  Berrien  and  Cass  Counties  MichiganDate: Wednesday,  March  12,  2014  4:23:21  PM  Eastern  Daylight  Time

From: LWV  of  Berrien  and  Cass  Counties  MichiganTo: susangilbert@csinet.net

In This Issue

Agriculture ConsensusMeeting

How to Make a ReservationEducation Consensus

MeetingVoter Registration

ProjecteetingApril Book Group SelectionPEW Research on Lbraries

Editorial: Water

LWVBCC: Contact Us

lwvbcc.org

P.O. Box 161Three Oaks MI 49128

LWVBCC Calendar

March 18 (Tuesday) 5:00LWVBCC Board Meeting ThreeOaks Village Hall

March 28 (Friday) 10:00-3:00Agriculture ConsensusMeeting at Fernwood.

APRIL 10 (Thursday 1:00 pmEducation Consensus MeetingSt. Joe Public Library

April 22 (Tuesday) 5:00LWVBCC Board Meeting,Bridgman Public Library

April 28 (Monday) 10:00 amBook Group Meeting

LWVBCC Board of Directors

Chris Zilke PresidentBonnie Pollack TreasurerPat Lauth SecretaryDonna Dutton Membership

March 2014

President's LetterDear League Members - Many of your fellowmembers have been involved in two verysignificant studies over the past severalmonths: a LWVUS Agriculture Update Studyand a LWVMI Education Update Study. Consensus Meetings during which ALLmembers are asked to participate arecoming up on March 28 (Agriculture) andApril 10 (Education).

Both subjects are complex, interesting and important. You will besurprised at the amount of information you will learn during themeetings and will then have the opportunity to influence the outcomeand future actions to be taken by our State and National Leagues byanswering the many questions posed. Participating in a consensusmeeting is one of the privileges and responsibilities of Leaguemembership. Please put the dates on your calendar now.

We need your participation and look forward to seeing you.

Chris

Agriculture Consensus Meeting March 28

Put the Date on Your Calendar; Make Your Reservation! Fernwood Botanical Garden inNiles will be the site on Friday,March 28 of an all-day consensusmeeting on agriculture to updatethe existing LWVUS position. Thetime frame is actually 10:00 amto 3:00 pm with approximatelyan hour break for lunch. Thefirst half of the consensus questions will be covered in themorning and the second half in the afternoon, so if you can only comefor half a day you can still contribute to the consensus. The cost oflunch is $12 complete and you must make a reservation for lunch (seethe article below for the new method). Note that non-members mayattend but cannot participate in the actual consensus discussion.

Page  2  of  6

John Ripley Voter ServiceSusan Gilbert Commun.Ginny Washburn FinanceJean Sharp EnvironmentMonica Eberhardt Environ.Judy Scully Health & SSLiz Ennis EducationJoe Naines Adult EdSandy Click At LargeMelissa Clapper At LargeMary Gignac At LargeEarl Bickett Spec. Projects

Board Meetings/Minutes

Board meetings are held onalternate months at the ThreeOaks Village Hall or theBridgman Public Library.Members are encouraged toattend.

The next meeting is onTuesday, March 18 at theThree Oaks Village Hall.

Minutes are posted after theyare appoved by the Board.

November 19, 2013October 15, 2013

What  is  a  ConsensusMeeting?

Consensus is the processthe League uses to reachmember agreement onstudy issues. "It is neithera simple majority norunanimity: instead it is aoverall sense of the group."For a state or nationalstudy the outcomes of allthe local Leagueconsensus meetings aresent in and the respectiveBoard determines if thereis sufficient agreementamongst the Leagues totake a position. Without arelevant, up-to-dateposition the League cannottake action on an issue.

In Berrien and Cass Counties we are very conscious of agriculturebecause of the huge fields of "row crops" and the bounty of ourvegetable farms and orchards. We may also be aware that a newFarm Bill has just been signed by the President, one of a series offarm bills going back to the 1930's, the era of the dust bowl. However, now the farm bill has an annual price tag of between $15and $35 billion. There are other issues besides subsidies and cropinsurance and they include CAFOs (factory livestock farms), newagriculture technology, food safety and food labeling. Each of theseaffects all of us.

We have added a special Agriculture Study page to our website whereyou will find the Consensus Questions and the 23 study papersprepared by the LWVUS Agriculture Committee. These papers are notas long as they look, when, for example, you might see page 1 of 12,as usually half the pages are references and footnotes. We have putan asterisk by the most important papers.

How to Make Reservations for Ag Meeting Lunch

NEW LWVBCC Payment SystemFernwood has always been very gracious about taking reservations forus, but it is a favor. And sometimes we have other reasons to collectmoney. So the amazing Mr. Ripley has come up with a system forLWVBCC using Paypal--BUT you do not have to have a PayPal accountand can use a credit card. So CLICK HERE to make your reservation for lunch on March 28 atFernwood. The cost is $12. John's instructions below. It is not hard--similar to buying anything online. By clicking on the words Click Here above, you will now have access toour all-new online way to pay. You will see a "Shopping Cart" wherethere's a copy of your purchase request. Click on "Check Out" (whatmost people do) or "Check Out with PayPal" if you havea PayPal account. You will now see buttons for "Your order summary"or "Choose a way to pay." If you wish to pay by credit card, just clickon the words "Don't have a PayPal account?" That opens an onlineform called "Pay with a debit or credit card." Make sure that the bulletcircle next to the words "Credit Card" is filled in. Then just fill in therequested information in the area below that and then click "Reviewand Continue" all the way at the bottom. That will open a windowentitled "Review Your Information" where you can click "Pay." Your$12 per person lunch charge will be shown. Thank you. See youthere! John

Education Consensus Meeting Thursday, April 10

Put This Date on Your Calendar Too!

Page  3  of  6

Visit Our Sponsor

Join Our List

Visit Our Sponsor

Visit Our Sponsor

Great  Time  to  Join  the  League

Available now: for a limitedtime we offer to newmembers an extendedmembership benefit. Youwill not be billed for duesuntil a year from October(in 2015!). This gives newmembers a longer time toget oriented to theLeague. Click on the links in theblock below for moreinformation on Leaguemembership.

On Thursday, April 10 we need your voice, your ideas and thepleasure of your company. Beginning at 1:00 pm we will meet at theSt. Joe Library, first floor meeting room, for a consensus meeting onthe questions put forth in the State League's Re-Study on PublicEducation. Our members, Liz Ennis and Melissa Clapper worked onthe state committee which formulated the background papers andmade recommendations for new language in the State League'seducation position language. You can click on the Education StudyLinks on the LWVMI website to read the papers and review the newlanguage under consideration. If you might wonder why this is so important for us, think about thepublic debates over our schools and the related political and socialissues that have become some of the most talked about topics oftoday. As you well know, the League of Women Voters has positionlanguage on education. However, we have been limited in our publicresponse because our words have not kept up with many of the newtwists and turns in legislation, public policy and popular trends. Theseinclude charters, choice, technology and the Education AchievementAuthority or EAA. Now more than ever, the League needs to beheard, locally and in Lansing. So please come to our April meeting and help us arrive at consensuson new language for education. We promise tasty snacks! Themeeting will be from one to four. Again, April 10, St. Joe Library. Seeyou there.

Youth Voter Registration Project

Spring Campaign in Area High Schools/Community CollegesThe Youth Voter Registration Project islaunching now, targeting 10 local highschools and our two community colleges. Volunteers will be needed to help, and youare strongly encouraged to email JohnRipley , if you have not already done so andcan help. Plans call for on-campus registrationactivities to be conducted during mid-Marchto late April. If you are available and canattend a meeting or two before then, please email John asap.

April Book Group Selection

Next Meeting is Monday, April 28 at 10:00at Lorraine Stepanek'sI Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up forEducation and Was Shot by the Taliban byMalala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb is theselection for April. The group decided it wouldlike to read an inspiring and uplifting book afterreading about education and agriculture.

This young woman was just a child when shewas shot in the head by Taliban members forspeaking out on the advantages of educationfor girls. British doctors saved her life and sheseems to have made a full recovery. Shecontinues to promote education for girls. Truly

Page  4  of  6

Quick Links

League InformationConsider Membership

Membership FormDonate to the League

Visit Our Sponsor

Visit Our Sponsor

Not the Texas I Expectedby Susan Gilbert

Texans are really veryfriendly. They drive bigpickups, Lone Star editions.They do not open carryguns and many come fromother places, like Michigan. They are doing a lot ofroad construction, withfederal dollars ( a lot ofthose seem to be flowing toTexas). But one of theprojects I was mostimpressed with was theCentral Library in SanAntonio. Nicknamed "BigRed" it opened in 1995 andis 220,000 square feet. Itis open 7 days a week and

an inspiring book. I Am Malala is widely availble at libraries and bookstores and inhardcopy or electronic editions.

Recent PEW Research Center Reports

Libraries & Book Reading A recent PEW Research Centerreport How Americans ValuePublic Libraries in TheirCommunities shows thatAmericans still value their publiclibraries and feel library closureswould have an adverse impact ontheir communities. Moreover,libraries are used frequently bythose who do not have computeraccess at home and/or arelooking for a job. If you have been in a library lately this will notcome as a surprise. At right is one of two computer areas at the SanAntonio, Texas main library at about 4:30 on a beautiful Sundayafternoon. See more on the San Antonio Library in the sidebar articleon Texas.

Another PEW Research Center Report also revealed that the typicalU.S. adult has read 5 books in the past 12 months. Almost half of thereaders under 30 have read an e-book in the past year.

While the media generally gives less time to books, Oprah Winfreycontinues to promote reading, with a few pages in every issue of hermagazine O devoted to books. The Week also has a regular booksection.

It All Comes Down to Water by Susan Gilbert

Lessons Learned While TravelingI often share with youobservations from mytravels and this year is noexception. We have beenin Belize (we'll save thatfor another time), Texasand Southern California. Both Texas andCalifornia have been in astate of drought for a fewyears; this year it is worse. Both states need to put up "No moreresidents allowed" signs as soon as possible.

Page  5  of  6

is open 7 days a week andlibrary circulation doubledafter it was built. Wouldn'tyou like to use this library?

This is a Chihuly glasssculpture in the escalatoratrium.

Raising the Minimum Wage

There are many argumentspro and con for raising theminimum wage. Opponentsargue it will eliminate jobsand increase prices. Indeed the increased useof self-serve check-outsand kiosks could increaseas the price of human laborgoes up. Even U.S.customs now has self-service kiosks to check into the country.

There are also argumentsin favor of raising theminimum wage. Here isan article from a recentNew York Times in favor ofincreasing the minimumwage.

But they won't. The legislature in Texas has done little to dealwith the water problem. They passed a bill providing funding forsome water infrastructure projects with the caveat it had to beapproved by the voters. Fortunately, the voters approved. Butthe problems are more fundamental and go way back in Texashistory. An article in the Texas Quarterly, which I cannot findonline, describes the basic conflict in Texas between surfacewater, which belongs to everyone, and aquifer water, whichbelongs to the people who sit on top of it. Landowners can selltheir water rights, and what has happened is that "waterbrokers" buy these water rights and sell the water they pump toTexas cities. The problem is what is called the "biggest strawsyndrome" in which the biggest straw aka pipeline, can drain anentire aquifer. The Texas legislature has not come to grips withthis issue.

Meanwhile individual Texas cities are coping with their waterproblems as best they can. San Antonio, the 7th largest city inthe U.S., is starting to treat the "brackish" water in the aquiferbeneath the city. Austin has the Edwards Aquifer, which is huge,but it is being threatened by development. Some cities are moredesperate--one has totally depleted its aquifer with normal useplus fracking, a process we know that requires huge amounts ofwater. Other cities won't share.

In California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a droughtemergency. (It's raining here today in San Diego and we don'tmind at all.) Historically, desalination has been too expensive tobe practical. However, San Diego is building a 50 million gallon aday desalination plant that is supposed to come on line in 2016.So far, the project is on time and on budget. Read about it here.

Why should we care about the water woes of Texas andCalifornia? We're sitting here under 100 inches of snow andhave plenty of water. Well, Texas and California arebreadbaskets. California produces half of all the produceconsumed by Americans. Read this fascinating article fromMother Jones on California production and the amount of water ittakes to grow your favorite nuts and veggies.

All of which brings us full circle--come to the agricultureconsensus meeting on March 28 and become informed.

This newsletter comes to you from La Jolla, California

Written on February 27 and 28, this newsletter will arrive in yourmailbox on Sunday, March 2 through the magic of ConstantContact.

Visit the new LWVBCC Facebook page. We're confident you'll be impressed. Be sure to "Like" us.

The League: A Valuable Resource in Our Communities

Page  6  of  6

The League: A Valuable Resource in Our Communities

Helping to Make Democracy Work

Ask about our extended membership benefit availableto new members this time of year.

Interested  in  joining  the  League?    Go  to  our  websiteor  contact  our  membership  chair

Donna  Dutton.

Forward this email

This email was sent to susangilbert@csinet.net by susangilbert@csinet.net | Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.

League of Women Voters of Berrien and Cass Counties Michigan | P.O. Box 161 | Three Oaks | MI | 49128

THIS IS A TEST EMAIL ONLY.This email was sent by the author for the sole purpose of testing a draft message. If you believe you havereceived the message in error, please contact the author by replying to this message. Constant Contact takesreports of abuse very seriously. If you wish to report abuse, please forward this message toabuse@constantcontact.com.