League of Women Voters of Manatee County, Florida

Vice-President's Report

For our Annual Meeting, I have arranged the place and the speaker. It will be at University Park Country Club and the speaker will be Deirdre Macnab, our state League President.

Based on the information received from Deirdre McNab, I prepared a presentation to the Manatee County Commissioners opposing oil drilling in the Gulf for their Oct. 20th meeting. However The Chairman did not allow any presentations that day other than the one scheduled from Mote Marine.

I was one of the helpers to Pat Arends with a Voters Service project at Manatee High School and I assist Marcia Roger with Membership duties.

Jo Williams, 795-5801 jowms@tampabay.rr.com

Diversity-Racism
On December 29th, we attended the first screening of "Through the Tunnel," a documentary about Lincoln High School in Palmetto and the painful transition from segregation to integration of the schools.
The Honorable Charles Williams and the Honorable Durand Adams (retired), in conjunction with Charles Clapsaddle, Station Manager METV, have produced this poignant reminder of how different it was for African Americans such a short time ago. It depicts the traumatic transition from segregated to integrated schools. We all recall some shameful incidents in U.S. history about the white reaction to this. Watching this was indeed a moving experience, recalling this time.
Be ever vigilant to the still present manifestation of racism. Don't be hesitant about speaking up if you witness this. Many times it is unconscious, but it needs to be noted, and expecially if it is not unconscious.
The League of Women Voters of Manatee County promotes, in all aspects of its activities, a philosophy of inclusion that reflects the diverse composition and issues of the community. It is the League's position to secure equal rights and equal opportunities for all, to promote social and economic justice and health and safety of all.

Nancy Horne 727-0850 nancybhorne@gmail.com

Education
We welcome a new Chair of the Education Committee: Karen Carpenter, and look forward to having the School Board actions monitored once again.

Join the League's Education Committee and help Karen with this task. The Board's website contains a wealth of information. Check www.manatee.k12.fl.us/.

Karen Carpenter, 358-1890 kcarpen218@comcast.net.

Health Care
... At this writing, we have thousands of pages of health care legislation passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Congressional Budget Office will provide cost estimates followed by negotiations. House and Senate leadership will reconcile the two bills and seek another vote before submitting a bill for the President's signature. Let us hope that history will be made, as it was in 1935 with the Social Security Act and in 1965 with Medicare and Medicaid.
Please join us for the next committee meeting in February. RSVP to peg_eileen@yahoo.com or call 932-1154. Or send questions to Mary Mohammed 3383-9242 email: shanandmary@yahoo.com.

Mary Mohammed, Chair; Peg Haynes, co-Chair

Membership
Our local League now has 52 paid members in addition to our 12 national members. We are more than pleased to let you know that we have added 9 new members within the past year
One of our national members has changed her membership and another is considering doing so as well. Members do not lose money by doing so.
The membership change becomes effective at the close of the period already paid for to National. It adds a little to our coffers to have you as local members and it adds to our local community presence for those who check out our potential impact. For those who prefer to have a passive position with League we promise that we will not push you to do otherwise.

Sue Schoenwald, Chair, 383-4444. e-mail: szschoenwa@aol.com

Natural Resources
We again thank our County Commissioners for standing by their resolution to oppose opening up our nearshore Gulf waters to oil drilling, and all of the harm it could do to our coastal ecology, and beach-related tourism economy. For more information on this issue, please see www.lwvfla.org, which has more information on why the state LWV opposes this proposal.

County Wetlands at Risk.. Please contact Manatee County Commissioners to express your opposition to a county staff proposal to make it easier to fill in wetlands, and will result in significant losses of them and their important functions.
Our County Comprehensive Plan currently protects wetlands from impacts by disallowing them except for when there is an "overriding public benefit".
However, this proposal seeks to create a destroyable class of wetlands referred to as "nonviable," and allow permit applicants to simply pay into an environmental improvement fund instead of doing mitigation for their loss. It also seeks to define the overriding public benefit so broadly that nearly any project could qualify.
What is "nonviable"? Nearly any county wetland, since there are very few pristine ones-yet those wetlands are still performing important ecological services. How will quality be determined? Developers' paid consultants will create the score, and the county does not have the manpower or funding to check every site for accuracy. The money contributed to the environmental fund for wetland filling will not go to creating replacement wetlands; it can be used for nearly anything, including county land management expenses. So if passed as proposed, we can expect to see, over time, a major loss of our county's wetlands.
Our county has already lost many of its wetlands. We cannot afford to open up the remainder to wholesale destruction at a time when we never needed their functions more: for surface water quality, groundwater protection, flood control, and fish and wildlife habitat. This proposal will be considered sometime in January. Please contact the commissioners soon and ask them not to support this proposal.

Manatee County Commission, 1112 Manatee Ave. West, Bradenton, FL 34205. Email all through: barbara.tyler@mymanatee.org For more information about both of these issues see: www.lwvfla.org.

Rosalie Shaffer, Chair, 729-9248. Shaffer_us@yahoo.com

Voter Service

Does Florida today have representative government? It doesn't.

In last year's election in Florida, 42 percent of registered voters were Democrats, 36 percent Republicans, 19 percent had no affiliation, 3 percent represented minor parties.
But by manipulating district lines after the last census, Republicans have managed to gain control of two thirds of the state Legislature and 60 percent of the congressional delegation.
This is not democracy.
But there is some good news. There is a realistic possibility for reform. A bipartisan petition drive to change the rules by amending the Florida Constitution has picked up steam. It is sponsored by several good government organizations. Encourage all U.S. Representatives to cosponsor the Fair Elections Now Act (FENA), HR1826 (see Library of Congress, thomas.loc.gov/. under the banner "Fair Districts Florida." See loc.gov for the complete bill and latest list of cosponsors). For discussion of this bill, see the video at www.fairelectionsnow.org. Actions at the state level will be forthcoming.

Education	Membership	Social Issues
Legislative Action	Natural Resources	Voter Service
Local Government	Health Care	Diversity