GOOD NEWS ABOUT DEMOCRATS! - January 25, 2013
January 25, 2013
GOOD NEWS ABOUT DEMOCRATS!
JANUARY 25, 2013
Large numbers of North Carolina Democrats went to Washington for the President's Inauguration. Linda Gunter of Wake County and Tenth Congressional District Chair Betsy Wells of Cleveland County are in the picture on the left above. The picture on the right shows Mr. and Mrs. Chris Rey as they entered the Commander In Chief's Ball. He is Mayor of Spring Lake and Second Congressional District Chair.
Attorney Tiffany Powers of Robeson County is shown at the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial in the picture on the left. Judge Ty Hands of Charlotte and her husband, David, are pictured in the crowd at the US Capitol in picture on the right.
NORTH CAROLINA INAUGURAL BALL
Monday night many of Tar Heel Democrats celebrated at the NC Inaugural Ball at the Officers Club at Fort Myers, Virginia. In the top left picture State Party Political Director Doug Wilson leads the crowd in the Cuban Shuffle. Peter Wolf and The Lambs are shown performing as Tar Heels dance..
State Chair David Parker and his wife, Sally, are in the picture on the left. The picture on the right features State First Vice Chair Gwen Wilkins, Congressman David Price, and Nash County Commissioner Mary Wells.
Avery County Chair Dick Crews and his wife are on the left in the first picture above. The lady sitting on the right side of that picture is Avery County's "Democrat Of The Year," Greta Houston.
In the right picture above are Rob Hillman of Charlotte, Political Director Doug Wilson and Tasha Robeson of Charlotte.
Brenda and Larry Pollard of Durham are shown at the Ball in the left picture. The State Party's Press Secretary Clay Pittman is in the picture on right.
RANDY VOLLER'S TELEVISION INTERVIEW
Click this link to see an interview with State Party Chair candidate
Randy Voller on WECT TV in Wilmington. Randy is Mayor of Pittsboro and Chair of the Chatham County Democratic Party.
NINA SZLOSBERG-LANDIS
When this newsletter asked Nina Szlosberg-Landis for information she replied that she had to travel last week with her husband on a long planned trip focusing on health and wellness.
While she came back energized, her only regret of the week was that she missed so much excitement here at home and in Washington as people prepared for the President's inauguration. She said she "was pleased to see all of the people with whom she worked so hard to elect the President celebrating." Nina was moved by the optimism and commitment to values the President's Inaugural Address embodied. She said it was a far cry from the values in the speech of Pat McCrory during his inauguration.
Nina said " Our President spoke of the need to protect the environment and to attack the crisis of climate change. Pat McCrory talked about fracking and off shore drilling and disavowed the compelling science of global warming. McCrory goes one step further. He believes we need to strip away environmental protections."
She said "This is one of many reasons we must energize and reorganize the Party so we can take back these important elected offices and move NC forward!'
In the first picture above Nina is standing beside Donna Brazille. In the second picture she is with Governor Jim Hunt and US Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.
GWEN WILKINS
State Party First Vice Chair Gwen Wilkins is shown above in Washington with James Taylor who sang at the President's inauguration and with DNC Member Olma Echeverri who is also President of the statewide Hispanic American Democrats Caucus.
FRANKLIN COUNTY MLK SERVICE
FRANKLIN COUNTY DEMOCRATS HOLD TWO CELEBRATIONS
Franklin County Democratic Party Chair Armenta Eaton coordinated a march and rally to honor Dr. Martin Luther Kings' Birthday on January 21st. The march began on the steps of the Franklin County Court House and culminated at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church.
The Rally began with a poem written by Franklin Democrat Pierre Perry and music by the Jones Chapel Baptist Church Gospel Choir. Father Jermonde Taylor charged the audience "not to sleep through a revolution." Democratic State Senator Angela Bryant challenged them to keep the fight for justice and freedom going strong in Franklin County.
From the Rally, the crowd sprinted to the Franklin County Democratic Headquarters in downtown Louisburg to enjoy a lunch provided by the Party and to witness President Obama's inauguration on television.
HENDERSON COUNTY FAMILY BOWLING NIGHT
Henderson County Democrats know how to have fun! On January 19th they had a Democratic Bowling Party at Tar Heel Lanes in Hendersonville. The first two games were regular bowling. In the third game, every frame required a different style of bowling: Blindfolded, on one foot, using a chute, bowling between someone else's legs, bowling while holding an orange under the neck, etc.
The first picture show dynamic County Chair Shelly Kingsley welcoming people and giving them instructions. As the pictures show, everyone enjoyed this Democratic Family Fun Night!
DURHAM DEMOCRATIC WOMEN
President Sondra Stein is shown in the picture on the right as she welcomed about 40 Durham Democratic Women to their monthly meeting at the Colony Hills Club House on January 13th. They celebrated the large number of letters written to infrequent women voters, the money raised, and the Early Voting and Election Day work in 2012.
Treasurer Helen Compton reports that they decided to make gun control and health care their two focus issues in 2013. They began a postcard writing campaign to ask the Governor to support the expansion of Medicaid in NC.
For their National Day Of Service project on January 19th Durham DW Members worked at Crayons2Calculators sorting donations, stocking shelves, helping organize the warehouse, and preparing class-sized packages of supplies for school teachers to take to their classrooms. Crayons2Calculators was organized by Duke students to provide badly needed supplies to Durham's public schools.
ELIZABETH AMEND
A CHAMPION LETTER WRITER!
In 2012 the Durham DW joined DW Chapters all across the state in a massive letter writing campaign to women who have been sporadic voters. One of the most prolific letter writers was Elizabeth Amend of Durham.
Get this: She personally wrote 480 letters for the 2012 General Election. She wrote a lot of letters against Amendment One and 380 letters during the 2008 General Election. That's close to a thousand letters.
It's true: One person can make a difference!
FORSYTH COUNTY INAUGURAL BALL
Forsyth County Democrats staged "The People's Inaugural Ball" from 7PM to 11PM on January 21st at the Millennium Center in Winston Salem.
County Chair Susan Campbell wanted everyone to feel welcome so her announcement read that attire would be: "Whatever make you fell like celebrating! Ball gowns to blue jeans - Tuxedos to tee shirts."
WAYNE AND MELANIE GOODWIN
WERE SHINING AT THE STATE INAUGURATION FESTIVITIES
Our Democratic Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin and his wife, Melanie, enjoyed having their children, Madison and Jackson, ride with them in the 2013 State Inaugural Parade in Raleigh. Madison and Jackson - those are good Democratic names, aren't they?
The second picture shows the Goodwins as they starred at the Inaugural Ball. Lots of NC insurance policyholders have been rejoicing that Wayne Goodwin was re-elected!
RUTHERFORD COUNTY
Rutherford County Democrats built an access ramp for a home in Forest City as a National Day Of Service project on January 21st instead of watching the President's inaguration on television. The pictures above show the construction in progress. The last picture shows the finished project. These pictures were provided by 10 year old Democrat Erin Geese who is shown with her camera.
Erin's mother, Loyce Broughton, was elected Second Vice Chair of the Rutherford County Democratic Party last week. They are a terrific mother-daughter Democratic team!
CANDIDATES FORUM IN CHARLOTTE
Candidates for State Democratic Party Offices will be featured at a Candidates Forum this Saturday, January 26th at Little Rock A. M. E. Zion Church's Florence B. Gun Theater at 401 North McDowell Street in Charlotte.
Doors will open at 12 Noon and the Forum will begin at 12:30PM. This event is sponsored by the State African American Caucus, the State LGBT Caucus, and the State Hispanic American Caucus. All Democrats are invited!
WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DEMS
Led by newly elected President Garrett Whipkey, about a dozen WCU College Dems joined in a roadside clean up as part of the President's Day Of Action after watching the President's Inauguration speech as a group. Thanks to Corey Duvall for sending these pictures.
EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DEMS
President Uriah Ward and Vice President Logan Keziah welcomed 35 members to the first ECU College Dems meeting of 2013 on January 14th.
Some of the goals they set for 2013 are to (1) set up information tables every Wednesday in Wright Plaza on campus to keep students aware of key issues and recruit new members, (2) increase membership through further deveoping social media and a new club web site, and (3) raise money for a May trip to the White House and Congress.
What a great way to start the year!
THIRTEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
The Thirteenth Congressional District Democratic Party held a meeting at the Nash County Court House in Nashville on January 19th. District Chair Jesse Goslen and District Secretary Chris Telesca are shown in the first picture. Wake Democrat Bob Hyman (second picture) gave a wise analysis of the 2012 election and talked about goals for the future.
State Party First Vice Chair Gwen Wilkins talked to the group about the opportunites that are ahead for the Democratic Party.
CARTERET COUNTY
Carteret County Chair Ken Humphrey and the Carteret Democratic Women joined over 400 other citizens for the 20th Celebration of Martin Luther King Day Commemoration program at the Morehead City Civic Center. Lots of other Democrats attended this inspirational program also.
YOUTH FEATURE - ASGOD BARRANTES
UNC-CHARLOTTE COLLEGE DEMS PRESIDENT
Asgod Barrantes is the energetic President of the UNC-Charlotte College Dems. He is a 20 year old sophomore double majoring in Political Science and International Studies. He is shown with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson during the Mayor's visit to Charlotte.
He joined the College Dems as soon as he entered college and became the club's President in the spring of 2012. He is with Tori Taylor and Asoodeh Tehrani in the above pictures.
Asgod's enthusiasm to contribute to the Democratic Party is fueled by his "desire to fight for what I know is right including equal rights, equal pay for equal work, access to affordable higher education, and quality healthcare. He says "College Democrats is a way to empower youth to tackle these issues and that's why I love this organization."
He went to Washington in December for a national College Dems event. In addition to the Democratic Party he is active in Model United Nations in which he goes to regional and world conferences (picture on right) that advance understanding of the UN and contemporary international issues.
Asgod and the UNC-College Dems were very active in the 2012 General Election and they have already planned several projects for 2013!
Your Democratic Friend,
Melvin Williams
Send Your "GOOD NEWS" And "MILESTONES" To Me At: melvin535@dishmail.net
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