Heights Chapter E-News -
Start Spreading the News! | Events:
*Thursday (tomorrow) - John Lewis "Make Good Trouble" - go to Mac's Backs for a reading of the graphic novel March at 6 pm (go to the LWVGC Calendar to register) or join the protest at Market Square Garden (W 25th) 5:30-7:30 pm. The time to stand up for democracy is NOW!
* Sunday, at 10:00 - go to the Lyndhurst Presbyterian Church to join their promotion of 10 Habits of a Good Citizen - our own Betsy will be delivering the message (see article below on another member making a difference!)
* Sunday, August 10th - Cedar Fairmount District Summer Festival, 12-4:00
Forums:
* Thursday, August 7th 6-8 pm - CH Mayoral Primary Forum, CH Community Center
* Changed: Wednesday, September 10th 6-8 pm - CH City Council Forum, CH Community Center
* Thursday, September 11th 6-8 pm - UH Mayor Candidate Forum, UH Branch Library
* Changed: Wednesday, September 17, 6-8 pm - CH Mayoral Forum, CH Community Center
* Thursday, September 18, 6-8 pm - UH Council Forum, UH Branch Library
* Thursday, September 25th, 6-8 pm - CH Charter Amendment Issues, CH Community Center
Note: if there is a 4th candidate for School Board we will schedule the forum in conjunction with an existing date | CH Mayoral Primary is in 3 weeks!
The text for the Voter Guide for the Mayoral Primary has been sent to the Heights Observer for printing (and online!), fully proofed including a section explaining the mayoral recall issue. (Note that we will produce a second Voter Guide for the November election, because who doesn't love a TWO voter guide season :-) )
Help spread the word that the information is in the Guide, and also help distribute the flyer announcing the Candidate Forum. The copy is attached below for you to print or to share via email and social media. The flyer includes a link to the livestream for people unable to attend, and it will be recorded and shared to YouTube. | UPDATE on Candidate Forums and Issues
The candidate forums are coming up soon! I'm not sure if that is to Betsy's relief or fear, but they are coming nevertheless. There have been a few changes, and some things that are pending. If you have offered to help Betsy or Janice with a forum or with Vote 411 or the Candidates' Guide and you haven't heard from them yet they will connect with you shortly.
1) As you have probably heard, the petition to recall Mayor Seren from office has been approved and will be included on the September primary ballot. We will NOT be taking a stand on the issue, and ask each of you - if you are acting in a League capacity - to not give an opinion. We will include information on the Mayoral Primary Voter's Guide regarding the ballot issue language and what it means if it passes or fails. We should also all be prepared to answer questions from voters re. the ballot language and the consequences.
2) Reminder - although University Heights will be electing a mayor this fall they do not have a primary. Regardless of how many candidates are seeking the office, the vote will take place in November and whomever gets the most votes will be the mayor regardless of the percentage of votes.
3) There will NOT be a forum for the CH-UH School Board because the number of open seats equals the number of candidates. This is considered to be an uncontested election and we don't hold forums for uncontested seats.
4) We are still waiting to learn if there will be any charter amendment issues for Cleveland Hts. on the November ballot. IF there are any issues put forward to the voters we will have an Issues Forum on September 25th (when we had previously scheduled the forum for the School Board.)
* Thursday, August 7th 6-8 pm - CH Mayoral Primary Election Forum, CH Community Center
* Wednesday, September 10th 6-8 pm - REVISED: CH Council Forum, Ch Community Center
* Thursday, September 11th 6-8 pm - UH Mayor Forum, UH Branch Library
* Wednesday, September 17, 6-8 pm - REVISED: CH Mayoral Forum, CH Community Center
* Thursday, September 18, 6-8 pm - UH Council Forum, UH Branch Library
* Thursday, September 25th, 6-8 pm -REVISED: CH Charter Amendment Issues
Note: The school board race is currently uncontested. If a 4th candidate qualifies to run we will schedule the candidate forum along with one of the other forums already scheduled in September.
And if you need to reach out to Betsy, her email is TracyElizabeth23@gmail.com. | Another Member Making a Difference
Janice Foster was inspired by our program on 10 Habits of Good Citizens and wanted to find a way to bring it to her community. She took it to her church - the Lyndhurst Community of Faith Church, and they have turned it into a series of 10 summer sermons. Our own Betsy Tracy will be speaking on Sunday, July 20th on becoming an involved citizen! and the following Sunday Jim Posch will speak on staying open to compromise. Janice notes that you are welcome to come to the services on Sunday to hear these inspiring sermons.
And perhaps you can find a way to duplicate this effort in a community you are part of?
| A story to inspire from Rep. John Lewis
As we approach the anniversary of the death of John Lewis on July 17th, 2020, may we find some inspiration from this story from his childhood. And perhaps we will see each other at the protest scheduled for the 17th at Market Square Garden (or elsewhere if you are not in Cleveland.) John Lewis was famous for the idea of "making good trouble" - what good trouble can you make in his honor, and in support of democracy?
Walking with the Wind – John Lewis
[A]bout fifteen of us children were outside my aunt Seneva’s house, playing in her dirt
yard. The sky began clouding over, the wind started picking up, lightning flashed far off in
the distance, and suddenly I wasn’t thinking about playing anymore; I was terrified…
Aunt Seneva was the only adult around, and as the sky blackened and the wind grew
stronger, she herded us all inside.
Her house was not the biggest place around, and it seemed even smaller with so many
children squeezed inside. Small and surprisingly quiet. All of the shouting and laughter
that had been going on earlier, outside, had stopped. The wind was howling now, and the
house was starting to shake. We were scared. Even Aunt Seneva was scared.
And then it got worse. Now the house was beginning to sway. The wood plank flooring
beneath us began to bend. And then, a corner of the room started lifting up.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. None of us could. This storm was actually pulling the house toward the sky. With us inside it.
That was when Aunt Seneva told us to clasp hands. Line up and hold hands, she said, and we did as we were told. Then she had us walk as a group toward the corner of the room that was rising. From the kitchen to the front of the house we walked, the wind screaming outside, sheets of rain beating on the tin roof. Then we walked back in the other direction, as another end of the house began to lift.
And so it went, back and forth, fifteen children walking with the wind, holding that trembling house down with the weight of our small bodies.
More than half a century has passed since that day, and it has struck me more than once over those many years that our society is not unlike the children in that house, rocked again and again by the winds of one storm or another, the walls around us seeming at times as if they might fly apart.
It seemed that way in the 1960s, at the height of the civil rights movement, when America itself felt as if it might burst at the seams—so much tension, so many storms. But the people of conscience never left the house. They never ran away. They stayed, they came together and they did the best they could, clasping hands and moving toward the corner of the house that was the weakest.
And then another corner would lift, and we would go there.
And eventually, inevitably, the storm would settle, and the house would still stand. But we knew another storm would come, and we would have to do it all over again. And we did.
And we still do, all of us. You and I.
Children holding hands, walking with the wind. . . .
| A Series of Lessons - Ten Steps to Revolution by Heather Cox Richardson
Heather Cox Richardson, noted Historian, has just released a series of videos to help teach people our vital history. In her words:
"The hard lessons of history seem to be repeating themselves in the U.S. these days, and with the nation’s 250th anniversary approaching, some friends and I got to talking about how we could make our real history more accessible.
After a lot of brainstorming and a lot of help—and an incredibly well timed message from a former student who has become a videographer—we have come up with Journey to American Democracy: a series of short videos about American history that we will release on my YouTube channel, Facebook, and Instagram. They will be either short explainers about something in the news or what we are releasing tonight: a set of videos that can be viewed individually or can be watched together to simulate a survey course about an important event or issue in American history.
Journey to American Democracy explores how democracy has always required blood and sweat and inspiration to overcome the efforts of those who would deny equality to their neighbors. It examines how, for more than two centuries, ordinary people have worked to make the principles the founders articulated in the Declaration of Independence the law of the land.
Those principles establish that we have a right to be treated equally before the law, to have a say in our government, and to have equal access to resources."
| Ways to Get Involved in League
Maintaining our local community structures and guard rails is an important aspect of upholding our country. Do any of the following activities interest you?
- Talk to Maryann about joining the observer corp to help observe meetings, either in our communities or beyond, or help edit the observer reports for publication
- Talk to Maryann about helping to maintain the LWVGC website (she is the webmaster now)
- Talk to Betsy about helping with the Voter’s Guides this fall
- Ask Betsy about helping with Vote 411 – the online county-wide Voter’s Guide
- Talk to Wendy or Betsy about helping form an event planning committee – helping with locations and refreshments and developing new ideas
- Talk to Wendy about taking over posting items of interest to our Facebook page
- Write occasional articles for the newsletter
- Talk to Wendy about finding paths to Youth Engagement - a new possibility
- Print off some palm cards about the 10 Habits of Good Citizens and share them with others as you help people to stay informed about democracy.
| The Board of Elections has moved!
In case you missed the news, our Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has moved a bit further west and north to
the former Plain Dealer Building - 1803 Superior Avenue.
For those of you who have been in the current building at 30th and Euclid, you will probably agree this is a good move. | MEMBERSHIP ROSTER IS HERE!
Going forward the directory will be updated quarterly and posted to our chapter's website at www.lwvgreatercleveland.org (and emailed to new members.) But here is your first (in a very VERY long time) member directory. With major credit to Janice Foster who just couldn't believe we didn't have such a thing. Thank you Janice! | Links to things you might have missed:
New and not-so-new member orientation program:
The program was recorded and has now been posted on our chapter home page. If you're interested in watching the presentations you can go to www.lwvgreatercleveland.org. You'll need to log in as a member so click in the upper right corner where it says Member Login. (If you haven't set up your login yet, you'll get a chance to do it now.) Then, in the top menu bar click on "Chapters" (just to the left of "About Us") and scroll down to "Cleve Hts/Univ Hts. . Then scroll down on our page past the calendar and the Observer Corp.
The LWVUS "Impact on Issues" book, summarizing our national positions and priorities from the 2024 National Convention is available from Amazon for the low low price of $6.99! (It is also available online at LWV.org which is searchable but extremely long.) LWVUS Impact on Issues
| Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. - John Lewis
No one can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all their accomplices. Edward R Murrow, Journalist
The best portion of a good man's life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love. -William Wordsworth, poet (7 Apr 1770-1850)
All the goodness and the heroisms will rise up again, then be cut down again, and rise up.
It isn't that the evil thing wins - it never will - but that it doesn't die. John Steinbeck
An inspiration from Martin Luther King (per Maya Wiley):
A man cannot be ridden if his back is not bent.
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Thomas Jefferson
| CHUH Chapter Leadership
We are delighted to report the following list of officers for the 2024/2025 year::
Chapter Chair: Wendy Deuring (2024-2026)
Voter Service Co-Chairs: Betsy Tracy (2023-2025) and Janice Foster (2024-2025)
Membership Development Co-Chairs: Joan Spoerl (2024-2026) Paula Goodwin (2025-2027)
Treasurer: Brenda Bagby (2024-2026)
Recording Co-Secretaries: Kathy Petrey (2025-2027) and Robin Koslen (2024-2026)
2026 Nominating Committee: Blanche Valancy, Chair; Eefje Kolkman and Judith Beeler
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For the Cleveland Heights City Council, the University Heights City Council, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Board of Education and the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Library Board of Trustees. Watching government promotes good government: | |