PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Stacey Gilfillan
Howdy and welcome to fall, y'all!
Although this week's elections didn't exactly go as we'd hoped they would (looking at you, Virginia), we've still got much to indeed be thankful for, including our veterans and all the folks who contributed to this year's annual fundraiser event!
We are very thankful for our veterans, including the many who are members of the Boerne Area Democrats! Some of our members--both military and non-military members--are volunteering their time and effort to ensure this year's local Veterans Day tributes are so memorable for all of our local military service members and their families! Please be sure to join our Fair Oaks Ranch members at Vestal Park on Thursday, November 11th at 5 pm for their "Annual Salute to Our Veterans" event. This tribute will include the ROTC Colors presentation (BISD students), and our very own (and newest) BAD member, Navy Master Chief (Retired) Jerry Terry, will provide his remarks. Next, local students will share their thoughts on "What Veterans Day Means to Me," followed by the "tolling of the bell" in honor of the service of our military friends and family members past, present, and future. Finally, local FOR musician and trumpet player Jim Manzo, a US Army Veteran and proud member of "Taps Across America," will close out the evening's tribute playing the Star-Spangled Banner, a medley of service songs, and "God Bless America." We hope you can all join us for this inaugural event to celebrate our many local Veterans! Please see the flyer below for more information.
We are also very thankful for all of the donors who made this year's annual fundraiser a huge success! Sending out special thanks to Susan Dollar and all the members of the Fundraiser Committee (Brooke Orr, Sharon Noack, Judy Dewey, and Brenda Schmidt) for coordinating this event, which raised a total of $7,250! Thanks to the generous financial support of our members, BAD made sizeable donations to the following nonprofit voter registration efforts in Texas, specifically: Powered by People, Project Texas, and Fair Fight. In addition, I'd like to recognize the following members who won the weekly fundraiser drawing and received a copy of Stacey Abrams' book, Our Time is Now: Katherine Long, Todd Hoover & Ron Michel, and Cay Yanowski. Congratulations to all of our winners!
Speaking of elections, please be sure to check your email this weekend (including checking your SPAM/Junk Mail folder) for the Survey Monkey notice and link regarding the annual election of BAD Officers and Chairpersons. Also, please be sure to cast your vote on the recently proposed change to the By-Laws about the Activity Chair position changing to an ad hoc committee instead. All votes must be submitted via the Survey Monkey no later than Wednesday night (November 10th), so they are tabulated in time for our BAD Member Meeting on Thursday, November 11th at 12 pm.
Cheers!
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BAD MEETING
November 11
12:00 pm
VIA ZOOM
Out of an abundance of caution, the BAD Board has decided to hold our meetings via Zoom only. We will not resume meeting in person until the covid situation improves.
Please join us for the BAD meeting on Thursday, November 11, at noon via Zoom (link below). Our special guest speaker will be Jamarr Brown, Co-Executive Director of the Texas Democratic Party.
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/99651481366?pwd=TlAwNmRpazM2d1Z6N2tiQUpHazB5UT09
Meeting ID: 996 5148 1366
Passcode: 060065
One tap mobile
+13462487799,,99651481366#,,,,*060065# US
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Please note: There will not be a BAD meeting in the month of December. |
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Jamarr Brown has over a decade of experience working as a campaign strategist, leadership trainer, and nonprofit leader. Now, he is making history as the first-ever Black executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. Prior to this role, Jamarr served as the Director of Civic Engagement Programs at re:power, stewarding partnerships with progressive civic engagement and labor groups and overseeing a portfolio of programs to train and support organizers, campaign managers and staff, and candidates.
We hope you can join us via Zoom link for an interactive and lively discussion regarding last week's election results, voter turnout, and how we are progressing with voter registration efforts in Texas.
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MARILYN HARRINGTON
Vice President
REMINDER: All paid BAD members will receive a survey to vote on the proposed slate of 2022 Board members. Please take three minutes to complete the survey. We will announce the results of the election at the Thursday BAD Zoom meeting.
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BROOKE ORR
Membership
We currently have 192 members It's time to pay November dues, so if your membership is up for renewal, you will receive an e-mail from me. Please be sure to check your SPAM folder for messages from BAD.
To become a member or renew, pay online with PayPal or go to our BAD web page, click on the Become a Member link, and fill out the application. Don’t forget to click on the submit button! Also, you can mail your check to BAD Membership, PO Box 2132, Boerne, TX, 78006. Your dues help us to support candidates and sponsor our yearly college scholarship.
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FESTIVAL OF TREES
From Tuesday, November 30 through Saturday, December 4, the public will get the opportunity to view and bid on a favorite tree or wreath in the main lobby of the library. These Christmas treasures are either donated or designed by local people, businesses and organizations of the Boerne Public Library, who will, in turn, give much of the proceeds back to the library. The funds will be used to further the library's mission.
Thank you to BAD member Mary Richards, who will once again build three wreaths to be donated in the name of our club.
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FOUR SEASONS TOTAL DOCUMENTARY TONIGHT!
Sunday, November 7 on MSNBC
Check your local listings for times that this will be aired. You can watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loQdYh_W8uo
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In lieu of our usual holiday party, we are once again conducting a gift card donation drive. Plan to swing by the Patrick Heath Public Library on Sunday, December 12, between 1:00-3:00 to drop off your gift cards and meet the 2022 BAD Board of Officers. All gift cards will be donated to Hill Country Family Services. We hope to see you there!
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KRISTA BERMEJILLO-VASQUEZ
Social Media
Just a reminder: there are always interesting and informative posts on our social media pages so be sure to check them out - and Like them!
Web: boerne-area-democrats.org
Facebook: Boerne Area Democrats
Instagram: @boerneareademocrats
Twitter: @BoerneDemocrats
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SUSAN'S SUGGESTIONS
Past President
If you are as disappointed as I am about the November 2 elections, click on the links below and read these articles - then be ready to join the fight to save democracy next year.
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LAURA BRAY
Kendall County Democratic Party Chair
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The governor has signed the redistricted maps into law. You can look up the boundaries of US Congressional districts, Texas House and Senate districts, and State Board of Education (SBOE) here. Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the list and select “enacted by the 87th Legislature, Third Called Session.
A summary:
· US Congress: Kendall is still in the 21st Congressional District, so we’re stuck with Chip Roy. He will be primaried by at least one other candidate. We have two known Democratic candidates, Jeremy Kohlwes (no website yet; he's working on it) and Scott Sturm (https://sturm4congress.com/)
· Texas House: Kendall is no longer in House District (HD) 73. We are now in HD19 (along with Gillespie, Blanco, Burnet, and the far western part of Travis). Party chairs of those counties are trying to find a good candidate to run; if you know of someone, please let me know. There are two declared Republican candidates, neither one of which is an incumbent. Biedermann announced that he is NOT running for re-election. HOORAY!
· Texas Senate: Kendall is still in Senate District 25, so we’re stuck with Donna Campbell.
· SBOE: Sadly, Kendall is *no longer* in Rebecca Bell-Metereau’s District 5. This upsets me no end. We worked so hard to get her elected. We are now in District 10, a crazy-quilt wrap-around-Austin district that includes counties in *east Texas.* District 10 is currently represented by Republican Tom Maynard. He won his 2020 race by 5 points. I know nothing about him. If someone wanted to do a bit of research and share your results, that would be great. Given that he’s Republican, I don’t hold high hopes. District 10 is not up for re-election until 2024, so we have time to learn about him.
· County precincts and City Council districts will take more time to get drawn and approved, so stay tuned. My guess is that Kendall will still have eleven precincts, but a 42% population increase (!!!) from 2010 might prove me wrong. The Kendall County Commissioners have released proposed maps for the four county commissioner districts, which reflect the growth of Kendall County to the north and east. You can review it here: https://www.co.kendall.tx.us/upload/page/0017/docs/Precincts%20proposed.pdf
Lawsuits have already been filed against these discriminatory Texas maps. So who knows if they'll stay intact, but for now, it's what we've got.
At this point, the only thing we can do about these maps is to turn out every single Democratic voter for both the primary and general election. We must elect more accountable leaders that will work to improve Texas as a place to live. We'll need all hands on deck to accomplish this, since the Republicans have stacked the deck against us.
Thank you for everything you do to work for voting rights in Texas!
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Click on any of these icons to be taken to their web pages. |
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GET INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY!
Let your voices be heard by attending these community meetings.
Click on any of the icons for more information.
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Boerne City Council meets at 6:00 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at 9 Topperwein Road, Boerne. |
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The Kendall County Commissioner's Court meets on the 2nd and 4th Monday at 9:00 a.m. in the County Courthouse, 201 E. San Antonio Street, 3rd floor.
The Planning and Zoning meetings are held on the 1st Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at the Boerne Police/Municipal Court, 124 Old San Antonio Road.
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The Fair Oaks City Council meets on the 1st Thursday at 9:30 a.m. and the 3rd Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the FOR City Hall, 7286 Dietz Elkhorn Road, FOR. |
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The Comfort ISD Board of Trustees meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at the CISD Central Office, 327 High Street, Comfort. |
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The Boerne ISD Board of Trustees meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 5:00 p.m. in the Administrative Offices,
235 Johns Road.
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The Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District meets on the 2nd Monday of the month at 6:00 p.m. at 9 Topperwein Road, Boerne. |
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BOERNE AREA DEMOCRATS BOARD
President: Stacey Gilfillan
Vice President: Marilyn Harrington
Secretary: Donna Peacock
Treasurer: Brenda Schmidt
Membership: Brooke Orr
Activities: Teresa Somal
Publicity: Natalie Schun
Newsletter: Judy Dewey
Social Media: Krista Bermejillo-Vasquez
Past President: Susan Dollar
Ex Officio member: Laura Bray, KCDP
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Connect with us!
JOIN THE BOERNE AREA DEMOCRATS
Email: BAD@boerne-area-democrats.com
Web: boerne-area-democrats.org
Facebook: facebook.com/boerne.area.democrats
Notice Regarding Photography and/or Audio/Video Recording
The Boerne Area Democrats captures photographs and/or audio/video recordings during our events.
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them to record events for news reporting. If you do not wish to be in photos/videos,
please let the photographer/videographer know in advance.
This newsletter is intended for people interested in the work of the Boerne Area Democrats and the Democratic Party in general. To be removed from this mailing list, please click on Unsubscribe below
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