Hello San Juan County Democrats:

Due to widespread interest, the San Juan County Democrats are continuing to meet once a month. Our next meeting is our regular quarterly meeting and will take place on Saturday, April 8, starting at 11:30 am, ending by 2:00 pm, at Skagit Valley College in Friday Harbor. The inter-island ferry arrives to Friday Harbor at 11:15 am and leaves at 2:20 pm. Thanks to our generous drivers in Friday Harbor, rides will once again be provided to and from the ferry. Also, we will again have childcare available in an effort to attract younger folks to participate in our meetings and actions.

Our agenda on April 8 will include:

1) Introductions, approval of minutes, and treasurer’s report;
2) Report on Rep. Larsen’s meeting in Friday Harbor on March 26;
3) Report on the April 1 coordination meeting in Friday Harbor of the leaders of the various progressive action groups throughout San Juan County;
4) Formation of new groups on minority and immigrant rights, legislative bills, and elections;
5) Planning for meet and greet with Manka Dhingra, Democratic candidate for State Senator for the 45th LD;
6) Addressing post cards in support of Planned Parenthood;
7) Calendar of upcoming meetings; &
8) Breakout into action groups, then report back to full meeting.

Gretchen Allison and others are putting on an art exhibit focusing on political protest and social and environmental issues in the first week of May at Maria Michaelson and Eban Shay’s new art center on San Juan Island. They would like to get the word out to a broad swath of artist types so they know it’s happening and can consider showing their work. Contact Gretchen at gretchen@rockisland.com. Gretchen also has “Resist!” bumper stickers available.

Speaking of resistance, you may be interested in the Resistance Manual website, which is a Wikipedia-style platform with background information on current issues. You can access it at www.resistancemanual.org. This is a good site to use in conjunction with Indivisible actions or on its own.

It has been suggested that we may want to have a group, or individuals, tracking legislative bills and elections so we can act when it is timely. If you are motivated to initiate a group to do this, please come to our upcoming meeting. Or if you want to do this on your own, you can monitor happenings at https://www.senate.gov/legislative/active_leg_page.htm and https://www.congress.gov/search?q={%22source%22:%22legislation%22,%22congress%22:%22115%22,%22bill-status%22:%22passed-one%22} .

Another suggestion for a group is one to protect minority rights. The Orcas Women’s Coalition has had a group working on immigrant protection since soon after the election, and they have met with County Council Members, the sheriff, the county prosecutor, our state senator, and the school board on Orcas. If you have an interest in being involved, please contact me and I will put you in touch with them.

You are encouraged to bring blank postcards to our April 8 meeting. Rita O’Clair, the lead of our Planned Parenthood and Related Issues group and our most prolific political postcard writer, has acquired stamps to imprint the addresses of our legislators on postcards, and if you would like a turn to stamp a bunch of postcards for yourself to use as you continue to contact our legislators as part of the resistance, please bring your supply of postcards with you to the upcoming meeting.

If you will be attending our April 8 meeting and will require childcare, please call David Turnoy at 376-4165 by Monday, or email him at davidgeri@centurylink.net, so we will know if we should provide childcare or not.

I look forward to seeing you on April 8.

Thanks.

David Turnoy
Chair
San Juan County Democrats
Tel. 376-4165