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Information
Contact:
Democrats of the High Desert P.O. Box 480 Ridgecrest, CA 93556 760-371-9675 Next Brunch: 10:30 am 28 November 2009 At Casey's 1400 N. Norma St. 760-446-8000 Next Board Meeting: 12 noon 28 November 2009 At Casey's
Board Members
President Jim Vijay Vice President Mike O'Connell Secretary Cathey O'Connell Treasurer
Mary Lewis Member at Large Gordon Wilcher
Welcome
| Welcome! We are a Democratic club in Kern County serving the High Desert of the Indian Wells Valley, consisting of Ridgecrest, Inyokern and surrounding areas. The club was formerly known as The Walter Stiern Democratic Club. November Brunch Speaker This month's speaker is John Anderson from Habitat For Humanity. He will speak on what that orgainzation is doing in Ridgecrest and surroundings, and how individuals can assist them. The talk is at Casey's Steak & BBQ on November 28 at 10:30 AM   Dem Club Booth at Desert Empire Fair We will host a booth at the Desert Empire Fair. The scheduled hours of operation are; Thursday, Oct 22: 5 PM to 10 PM Friday__, Oct 23: 5 PM to 11 PM Saturday, Oct 24: Noon to 11 PM Sunday_, Oct 25: Noon to 9 PM Please come by and offer encouragement and support to the vounteer hosts.  One theme of this year's booth is Health Care - especially Universal Health Care & the Public Option. But we will also continue our regular efforts at disseminating the Democratic Party's central messages, and recruiting members. October Brunch Speaker Marla Erwin of the United Way will speak to us about what they do to help local organizations, and about the opportunities for volunteering in our community. The talk will be on October 31 at 10:30 AM at Casey's Steaks & BBQ 1400 N Norma St # 201 (760) 446-8000 August Brunch Speakers Dr. James Fay and Valerie Karnes will speak at our next brunch on the CCCC's Wind Technology program. Dr. James Fay is Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Valerie Karnes is Dean of Career Technical Education at Cerro Coso College. This should be a very interesting and enlightening talk. Brunch Talk on Preserving Social Security & Medicare Gene Williams of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare will speak at our Feb 28 brunch at the Texas Cattle restaurant at 10:30AM. This is an important topic, and the talk may last 45 minutes. Hope to see you all there. President Barack Obama Inauguration Breakfast  The Democrats of the High Desert will hold an Obama Inauguration Day breakfast at Charley's Place in the Carriage Inn on Tues Jan 20 8:00 AM. The swearing in ceremony will be around 9:00 AM, although I can't find an exact schedule. Come celebrate this historic occasion with us. HOLIDAY, CHRISTMAS, HANUKKAH, KWANZAA, SOLSTICE PARTY
The Holiday Party will take the place of the usual brunch that we hold on Pictures at an Exhibition (2008 Fair)     Holly Mitchell, candidate for Kern County Superior Court Judge, to speak at September Brunch  We are honored to have Holly Mitchell speak at our Brunch on 27 September. From TradingMarkets.com: For more details and to help with her campaign, please visit http://www.hollymitchellforjudge.com/ The Reformed Maverick Only the Daily Show has the guts to tell the truth about him. Get yer FREE Obama bumper stickers here  Please call Ralph Lachenmaier at 760-793-6524 or Jim Vijay at 371-9675 to get one for yourself and one for a friend and one for ... Rachel Carver of the California Nurses Assn. to speak at July Brunch We are honored to have Rachel Carver, of the California Nurses Association, as our speaker at the July brunch. She will speak on the very important issue of Universal Healthcare. If you who are interested in changing the direction of the country and willing to work for a new administration, join us and help make that possible. We have lively discussions and share our hopes for our state and country. The website for the California Nurses Association is http://www.calnurses.org/. There you can sign on to help bring about affordable Healthcare for all. They also maintain the website http://www.singlepayer.com, a critical resource in the fight for single-payer healthcare. New Officers Installed  City Councilman Ron Carter (at right) installed the officers of the Club. The ceremony was held at Charlies (brunch) on January 26, 2008. From right to left are:
Not present were Mary Lewis (Treasurer) and Gordon Wilcher (Member at large). All of us would like to express our deepest gratitude to all previous office holders, and especially to Joy Parker for doing such a fantastic job as President of the Club for over three years. Thanks Joy!! Christmas/ Hanukkah/ Kwanzaa/ Winter Solstice / End of Year PARTY On Monday 17 December 2007 at 5 PM at Heritage Club, 425 North Heritage Drive, Ridgecrest, CA. (Google Map link ). This is a pot luck dinner. Please call Joy Parker (375-3706) to coordinate what food/drink to bring. But, in any case, bring yourself and lots of good cheer! Joy Parker honored with Dorothy Donahoe Award Our President, Joy Parker, received a "Good Donkey Award" at the annual Dorothy Donahoe Award ceremony held on 19 October 2007 at The Doubletree Hotel in Bakersfield.  Way to go, Joy!!  The picture above shows the other awardees (wearing corsages or boutonnières). Congressman Jim Costa, in the center, delivered the keynote addres. And Supervisor Michael Rubio (behind Joy) was the Master of Ceremonies. Five of us from Ridgecrest accompanied Joy to the dinner. From left to right, Ralph Lachenmaier, Joy Parker, Mary Lewis, Mary Stites, and Jim Vijay. Cathy Stites, Mary's daughter, took the pictures.  Needless to say, we had a great time, and we are very proud of Joy. To see other pictures Cathy Stites took, visit her gallery. For more information and pictures, visit the webpage of the Kern Democrats (http://www.kerndemocrats.com/), or call 661-322-7411. We are Adopters (of a roadway)  Our club has adopted the section of Bowman Rd. between Norma and Downs in Ridgecrest. The Ridgecrest City Parks & Recreation Dept has revived a citywide program to involve businesses and non-profit organizations in the beautification of the city. We are one of ten organizations that have stepped up. Our first cleanup was on the 27th of July, 2007. Eight eager beaver members showed up bright and early on Saturday to beat the heat. We collected about 7 large bags of trash, and then posed victoriously over them.  The picture shows (L-R) Jim Vijay, Barbara Vijay, Ralph Lachenmaier, Linda Robinett, Joy Parker (seated), Linda Bozack, Pat Andrews, & Mary Lewis. Tom Bozack and Barbara Vijay took many more pictures. They can be seen at our photo album at http://www.flickr.com/groups/democratsofthehighdesert/ Brunch with Candi Easter, Imelda Ceja-Butkiewicz, & Nick Altian  Our three guests at the Saturday Brunch (30 June 2007) gave us more, even, than we could have wished. They were Candi Easter, Chair of the Central Committee in Bakersfield (at left in the pic above); Imelda Ceja-Butkiewicz, dynamic President of the Democratic Women of Kern (men can attend, too); and Nick Altian, President of Tehachapi Democrats. All talked at length about how they did things, how we could do things, and all kinds of valuable information. We should have taped it! They were generous with information and equally generous in answering questions from attending members. It would be difficult to say whether they, or we, enjoyed the visit more. An Eye Opening Account of Our Healthcare Mess  As the extended title says, this book is "The Untold Story Of America's Health Care Crisis -- And The People Who Pay The Price". There are several good reviews of the book online. In “Sick,” Jonathan Cohn, a senior editor at The New Republic, lucidly shows how America’s system for financing medical care helps determine who gets proper medical attention — and who doesn’t. He tells this story through the experiences of ordinary people... -- NY Times review (8 April 2007) At the end of the MSNBC/Newsweek interview, Cohn discusses possible solutions: If you study other health-care systems in Europe and Japan, they all have managed to give insurance to everybody and at the same time spend less money than we do—so, right off the bat, they're accomplishing something that we're not. And while the health statistics vary, overall the medical care seems as good if not better. People cherry-pick certain cancers that the U.S. is better at treating, but I could pick out three or four other diseases, other cancers, or transplants, where other countries are better, including France. The high-end care in Paris is just as good as the best hospitals and doctors in New York City. And you always hear about waiting lines with universal health care—Britain has them, Canada has them. But other countries with universal health care don't seem to have systematic waiting-line problems. And France is one of those. The book is available through our Public Library. OneCareNow Ridgecrest Chapter's Health Fair Booth  OneCareNow, Ridgecrest Chapter helped spread the word about SB 840's universal, single-payer health care on April 21, 2007 at the Ridgecrest Health Fair. Lots of folks stopped by the booth, signed the petition, and learned about this California Senate bill which will provide comprehensive health care for all California residents. Although this isn't one of the activities sponsored by Democrats of the High Desert, many members of the democratic club are involved in the OneCareNow effort.  SB 840 will establish a statewide insurance system covering primary care, dental, vision, mental health, prescriptions, medical equipment, hospital, hospice care, emergencies, and more. It will be funded from several sources, including federal and state funds already going to health care, premiums paid by employees in proportion to their income, and employer premiums in proportion to their payrolls. All claims will be paid from one statewide nonprofit trust fund. Everyone will have free choice of health provider, and no one will be turned away due to pre-existing conditions. And, it will save money by drastically reducing administrative costs. (And, it will practically eliminate the paperwork-induced stress we all experience with every doctor's visit.)  Take a moment to learn more about SB 840 by going to OneCareNow.org, where you can sign the online petition and find information about how to contact your state representatives and governor. You can also contact OneCareNow, Ridgecrest Chapter co-chair Linda Bozack at mailto:LBozack@gmail.com. Initiation of Club Officers Initiation of 2007 Club Officers  Ridgecrest City Councilman Dan Clark performed the initiation ceremony for the officers of the Democrats of the High Desert for 2007. The ceremony took place at our monthly brunch at Charlie's at The Carriage Inn in Ridgecrest on the 24th of February, 2007. From left to right are, Councilman Dan Clark, Sam Ghaleb (Treasurer), Joy Parker (President), JoAnn Dickey (Vice President), Mary Lewis (Secretary), and Jim Vijay (Member at Large). Go to page
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Date published: Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:03:35 -0500 | |
| ©2008 Democrats of the High Desert FPPC#
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