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President's Notes
March, 2024
Programs
On Tuesday, February 20, the LWVBCC met at Papa Vino’s for a presentation by Keri Haskins the Executive Director of Neighbor by Neighbor. Neighbor by Neighbor is a local organization that helps Berrien County residents in need connect with services
that can help with housing, utility bills, grocery resources, counseling, legal resources and other issues. The presentation helped us to learn about the needs of Berrien County residents and ways that we can be good neighbors.
On Thursday, March 7, the LWVBCC will present a lecture on the LWV and the history of the LWVBCC for the monthly lecture series at the Heritage Museum and Cultural Center – 601 Main Street, St. Joseph. The doors open at 6PM for a social hour
and the lecture begins at 7PM. This is a free event and all are welcome.
There are no other meetings planned for March but we have two meetings planned for April: 1) Tuesday, April 16 we will be meeting for a brown bag lunch at Love Creek Park at noon. Jill Adams a naturalist at the park will give a presentation on the Berrien County Parks and what’s new in the park’s programming, 2) Tuesday, April 30, in conjunction with Lake Michigan College, LWVBCC will sponsor an evening event withthe Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel. Flyers will be coming to your inbox as we get closer to the events.
Elections & Voting
Early voting began February 18 and according to an
announcement from the Secretary of State’s office things went very well, and the number of voters using mail in or drop off ballots and voting early has risen quite a bit. A poll worker that I know quite well reports from the south county location – Niles that everything went very well and clerks are pleased with the
process. Elections workers are needed for upcoming primaries and the November election. Please contact Sharon Tyler at the Berrien County clerk’s office for details on volunteering to help.
Voter Registration
Our Voter Services chair reports that 43 students were registered at the St. Joseph High School on February 12 th . LWVBCC has been asked to return on April 10.
See the following list for dates that you can sign up to help register voters: March 7 – Niles, March 8 – Watervliet, March 13 – Lakeshore, March 14 – Benton Harbor (Tiger Time), April 18 – Brandywine.
If you know someone at the following high schools who we can contact to set up dates, please contact MaryBeth – New Buffalo, Berrien Springs and River Valley. Also, some of the schools would like someone to present a lesson on democracy to social studies
classes. Please get involved. Contact MaryBeth Muellenholz at 630-854-3133 or
mbmuellenholz@gmail.com.
Thank you in advance for caring.
Of Interest from the Dearborn League
One Nation Under Guns: How Gun Culture Distorts Our History and Threatens Our Democracy / Dominic Erdozain.
"More than a hundred lives are lost to firearms every day in America. The cost is more than the numbers—it is the fear, the anxiety, the dread of public spaces that an armed society has created under the tortured rubric of freedom. But the norms of today are not the norms of American history or the values of its founders. They are the product of a gun culture that has imposed its vision on a sleeping nation."
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful March.
In League, Faith Schoon – President LWVBCC
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