Democracy for America Gainesville Linkup Notes - July 5, 2006

Written by: Brenda Bayne on Jul 7, 2006 5:55 PM EDT

Democracy for America Gainesville Linkup Notes - July 5, 2006

(DFA Steering Committee Present: Abby, Brenda, Janet, Mae, Wes, Fred)

1. Welcome back to our organizer Brenda Bayne! We had 30 folks in attendance.


2. AGH update: the meeting at The Savannah Grande was very well-attended and a task force has been formed. There will be a Citizens' Congressional Meeting at the Thelma Bolton Center, July 8th, 9:30 to 12:30pm about the John Conyers' health care bill in Congress (H.R. 676), sponsored by the Alachua County Labor Party. Rep. Corrine Brown has signed on as a co-sponsor. This is a time for citizens to speak out about their health care situation. Hope to see you there.



3. Several people in attendance still have tickets to the "We the People" Barbeque sponsored by the Alachua County Democratic Party this Sunday, July 9th from 3 to 8pm. at the Alachua County Fairgrounds. Please buy them now. Features include kids' games and rides, a planetarium, both of the gubernatorial candidates - Rod Smith and Jim Davis, other candidates, etc. Even if you cannot make the event, please still consider buying tickets so they can be donated to those who normally could not afford to attend. You can purchase advance tickets on line at www.alachuacountydemocrats.org or the Democratic Party Office, 1731 N. Main St., Gainesville, hours 11-6 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and 1-4 on Saturday.



4. Dave Bruderly seeks the endorsement of DFA. This will be dependent upon individual members to write to DFA in Burlington stating why Bruderly's campaign is worthy of their endorsement.



5. The Democratic Primary is about 60 days away! Candidates for sheriff, state house, and state senate will be vying for support. Although DFA does not make official endorsements, we encourage the endorsement of progressive candidates, including those that support us in return by coming to our linkups!



6. The precinct action network is doing phone banking Monday, July 17th at Alta Graphics () There will be training sessions at 5:30pm and 7pm and we will be making calls until 9pm. Please come volunteer for all or part of the time. For more info, contact Fred Pratt at prattwheels1@aol.com or 335-2986.



7. Several people in attendance still have tickets to the "We the People" Barbeque sponsored by the Alachua County Democratic Party this Sunday, July 9th from 3 to 8pm. at the Alachua County Fairgrounds. Please buy them now. Features include kids' games and rides, a planetarium, both of the gubernatorial candidates - Rod Smith and Jim Davis, other candidates, etc. Even if you cannot make the event, please still consider buying tickets so they can be donated to those who normally could not afford to attend. You can purchase advance tickets on line at www.alachuacountydemocrats.org or the Democratic Party Office, 1731 N. Main St., Gainesville, hours 11-6 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and 1-4 on Saturday



8. Brenda will attempt to get Gov. Howard Dean to come to the Lawton Chiles Dinner this year on Sept. 21st.



9. School board candidates that need your support: Deb Cupples (www.debcupples.com) and Clint Robinson (www.voteclint.com). Eileen Roy wholeheartedly supports both. She toured the Rinker School of Building Construction this week and needs help with budgeting brainstorms such as the vocational breakthroughs occurring there. Both candidates will help to do exactly that!



10. If you haven't seen Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth yet, please do so! It will be playing at the Butler Plaza cinema at least through tomorrow. Abby mentioned ways that we can take steps to save the environment such as those mentioned at the end of the film. Brenda is pushing for Gore '08! Eileen suggested that students could sell energy efficient lightbulbs for fundraisers instead of candy. Fighting GRU's proposed coal plant is paramount, also.



11. On July 8th, 10-11:30am: "Solutions to Violence" @ the Quaker Meeting House. See Brenda for more info



12. On July 11th at 5pm, the Alachua County Commission will vote on the purchase of Barr Hammock as a part of the Alachua County Conservation Trust. ($10 Million) Please come and show your support at the Jack Durrance Auditorium downtown if you can.



13. Wes wants us to start thinking about collecting toys for the underprivileged children of Alachua County. The focus would be toys for kids 10-18 years of age.



14. State House District 23 Candidates need your support: Charlie Grapski (www.grapskidefense.org) and Bonnie Burgess (www.burgessforhouse.com). Chuck Chestnut is also in the race but was not in attendance.



15. The Civic Media Center will have their monthly film series at the Hippodrome on July 10th. This month's film is Inside Iraq: The Untold Stories. Tickets are $3-10 sliding scale and shows will be at 7 & 9pm. Howard Zinn's play and one-man show, Marx in Soho, will be at the Matheson Museum on July 21st. Tix are $12 adv., $15 door.

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Location: Gainesville, FL 32601