October Meeting Notes

Meeting Notes for October Meeting

Call to order

Pledge of Allegiance

September Meeting Notes—none—only one person showed up besides us

Current issues discussed:

Voting transportation. Wisconsin Citizen's Involvement is offering rides to anyone who cannot get out to vote (just within the city limits of Kiel.) Call an elderly neighbor, check with friends. We need to make the voting accessible to all who will accept that responsibility.

Speaking up in churches. Our duty to God underlines our duty as citizens. As a Judeo-Christian country, we do need to keep politics apart from religion, but we need to support each other in our community in a Christian manner. This, to me, includes helping those less fortunate in providing an opportunity to perform their civic duty. Keep politics out of church, but offer rides to those needing it. Don't support any political candidate or party—keep it neutral.

Attending City Council meetings and School Board meetings. This is important because we need to be able to address our local government as much as possible on the issues that affect us. Do you have an opinion on the current fence issue? Do you have an opinion on who serves on the Library or School Board? How about the Binding Arbitration issues we face as a community? The only way we can make this known is to attend meetings. Boring they may be, as our 3rd graders say, but we need to keep our officials accountable to us—we hired them!

Take responsibility for our city. This falls on our shoulders. Too many times we are left wondering why ordinances are changed or new ones put in place. We need to shoulder the responsibility of being a citizen of this city, county, state, and country. We live here but it isn't without its cost. That cost is getting involved. Talk about politics with whoever you can engage in a respectful manner. Don't force your opinions down someone's throat, and don't let them do it to you. Listen to their opinions, and offer your own. Leave it at that. Do research your facts so you know they are the truth. Only the truth matters.

Open discussion. The floor was opened to those attending. Issues ranged from: the recent example of the stock market just prior to the crash that caused the Great Depression overlaid on the current stock market swings; the possibility of violence if the Republicans win the mid-term elections; the state of the state; the attitude of those in positions of authority and the lack of wanting to step outside our comfort zones to run for office for fear of failure.

Our next meeting will be on November 18, 2010. It will be at 6:30pm at the Stoelting House, Kiel, WI. Any questions or comments, please e-mail or call us at 920-894-1410.