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July 8, 1997
The Rockbridge Greens met at the Rockbridge Library in Lexington from 7:00
P.M. until
9:00 P.M.
Present: Dale Diaz, Eli Fishpaw, Eric Sheffield, Sherry Stanley (note
taker), and Robyn Hill.
1. Minutes -- Eric read the minutes; we approved them with no corrections.
2. Treasurer's Report -- The Rockbridge Greens have a current balance of
$326.57.
3. Newsletter -- We agreed to try to have a newsletter printed for the
upcoming election, maybe by the time of the Community Festival. The GOV
funds are low so perhaps a 4-page paper would suffice. The newsletter would
focus on the election and the success with securing loans for Laurie's new
restaurant.
4. Green Pages -- We have received only three applications at this time.
Obviously people will need encouragement. We looked at the flyer put out by
EARTH at JMU to see their format and decided that would work as a first
printing possibly, with the description part optional. We decided to stop
people at the Community Festival and ask them to fill out the form.
5. Summer Gathering -- Eli said we will have the school house at the Common
Ground location. Eric has written a press release concerning the Fair
Economy group presentation. We
compiled a draft agenda for Sunday's business meeting.
6. Nickname -- Robyn Hill, a law student at W&L, had reviewed the letters
General Assembly candidates had received disqualifying their "Green"
nicknames. She reported that she had examined the laws and found no legal
precedent for this. She judges this disqualification as discretionary.
Since the candidates running for Soil and Water Conservation did not lose
their nicknames, this appears to depend on the electoral board the
candidate is dealing with. The two candidates present who had received
these letters agreed that they had more pressing needs than pursuing the
loss of their nickname.
7. Endorsements -- Tex Wood from the Reform Party has asked for some time
at the gathering to talk about possible coalition between the Reform and
Green Parties. We agreed to invite him and another representative from the
Reform Party to Sunday's business meeting.
8. Delegate campaigns -- All delegate candidates, except Daniel Metraux who
is studying in Japan this summer and Charlie Jordan, have announced their
intentions to run. The Greens of Virginia have five candidates qualified to
run for the General Assembly. We approached the subject of how to raise
money for these candidates. We agreed to ask the state to use the mailing
list to solicit contributions, with a carefully worded letter that would
explain the costs such as posters at $1.00 each or 400 flyers at $25 or
bumper stickers at $1.00 each. The money will have to go directly to the
candidates because we do not have a PAC. Eric suggested that we get yard
signs printed because they are not expensive. We tentatively approved a
mailing to the Rockbridge Greens, which may or may not be part of a mailing
to all Greens in Virginia. Also, Dale has a fund raiser planned for August
23 in eastern Rockingham County at the Frederick Farm. It will be from 3
until 9 with music as the main event; the farm provides food vendors and
charges based on the number of people who arrive, in other words perhaps $1
per person no matter how many appear. Eric suggested making an appeal to
the national e-mail list also.
9. Soil and Water Campaign --- Both Rockbridge Greens, Kathy O'Hara and
Darrell Croson, got on the ballot in a 5-candidates for 2-seats race in
Rockbridge County. There is only one candidate for two seats in Lexington
and no candidate for two seats in Buena Vista. Eric urged that we start a
write-in campaign.
10. Community Festival --- The festival is August 23 so we urge people to
attend it and then move on to the fund raiser in Rockingham County. Eric
suggested that we have a jar to collect money for one of those Rgood luck
candidatesS ads that everyone signs. It will be necessary to make sure this
does not conflict with any campaign contribution reporting on the part of
the candidates. The festival usually runs from 10 until 4; we need
volunteers to run the booth.
11. Labor Day -- Eric will get the details about the annual Labor Day
campaign-kick-off in Buena Vista and try to get us signed up. It would be
good to have all the candidates present.
12. Next meeting -- The next meeting is to be held on August 12, 7pm at the
Rockbridge Regional Library in Lexington.
Rockbridge Greens
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