The Brown County Voter

February 2024

The League of Women Voters of Brown County is a nonpartisan civic organization that encourages informed and active participation in government.

The League works to increase understanding of major public policy issues through education and advocacy. Membership is open to all regardless of gender.

We never support or oppose any political party or candidate.

Educate • Advocate • Empower • Reform

“We must never forget that Black History is American History.”

Just a Note

By Shari Frank, LWVBC President

I started and erased this note about five times. Maybe ten. I’m finding a lot to worry and complain about. But I don’t want to be negative Nellie (no offense, Nellie!).  I want to be hopeful.  

I started to complain about 20-year-old electronic voting machines someone wanted to get to replace our current secure hand-marked ballots. And the lack of transparency behind it.  Then I was going to complain about legislators mandating when to hold 3rd graders back instead of focusing on what is known to improve reading, like universal pre-k, lowering the mandatory school age, supporting teachers, providing childcare.  And how about the fact that many of our legislators simply refuse to participate in non-partisan forums where we can hear them explain why they think some of these things are important, and where constituents might be able to voice their thoughts.  And why do we want to put in more barriers to voter registration when Indiana already has one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country?  

And how about banning “inappropriate” books?  And now our Indiana Attorney General invites people to publish “concerns” about indoctrination in schools!  https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/02/06/rokitas-new-eyes-on-education-portal-prompts-pushback-from-indiana-school-officials/    

Did you see “The Last Crusade” with Indiana Jones at the scene in Germany of people gleefully throwing books on a huge burning pile?  What could go wrong?     

Ok, so where’s the hopeful note?  Here’s one.  From someone whose whole life serves as an inspiration.  It’s a quote from Helen Keller.      

‘Helen Keller confronted German students in an open letter: "History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them. You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds."

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goebbels-burnings/

We will keep up the good fight.  Together, we will make a difference.  In this newsletter there are some amazing info and inspirational quotes. Cathy Rountree writes about some really hopeful work improving health care for all.  Sunny Leerkamp talks about the amazing life of Fannie Lou Hamer.  Pam Raider shares hopeful info on community solar we learned about at League Day.  Fast Black History facts show what people can accomplish.  PACEs helps remind us how important it is to Show Up and develop resilience.    

We got this!

IN Capital Chronicle Discusses Potential Election Threats in 2024

Source: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/

“Federal law enforcement and cybersecurity officials are warning the nation’s state election administrators that they face serious threats ahead of November’s presidential election.

“Secretaries of state and state election directors must be ready for potential cyberattacks, both familiar and uncomfortably new, according to the feds. And they must remain vigilant about possible threats to their personal safety.

“Voter databases could be targeted this year through phishing or ransomware attacks, election officials were told. Bad actors — both foreign and domestic — are trying to erode confidence in the integrity of elections through dis- and misinformation, and advancements in artificial intelligence present unprecedented challenges to democracy.

You can read the entire article here.

Election Security Rumor vs. Reality

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) provides excellent info on best practices to ensure safe elections.  The “Rumor vs. Reality” section is designed to address disinformation narratives by providing accurate information related to elections.  You can read about common myths and fact check the reality here:  https://www.cisa.gov/topics/election-security/rumor-vs-reality.

Final Legislative Update Scheduled for 2024 

The League of Women Voters Johnson County has joined with the Leagues of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County and Brown County and the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce to co-sponsor one more LWV Legislative Update in 2024: March 2, from 9:30 to 11 am. This  will be a Zoom virtual session. State legislators representing Johnson, Monroe, and Brown counties are invited to report on their work and priorities for the current session of the Indiana General Assembly and take questions from attendees. As always, this legislative update is free and open to the public. 

Click on the link below to register for the session. After you register you will receive a confirmation  with a link to the meeting. Once the session has completed, a link to the CATSTV recording will be provided.  

The work of the Indiana General Assembly can be followed on its website, https://iga.in.gov, which provides a wealth of information and  offers the possibility to track the progress of individual bills. The Bloomington Herald-Times and other local media also provide reports  on the activities of the General Assembly.

Register for Mar 2 Update

Here is the Community Access Television Services recording for the Legislative Update 2/17: https://catstv.net/m.php?q=13259

If you want to know about bills in the legislature that may affect your daily life, tune in. For example:  the status of HB1108 (watershed slopes and development options); HB1399; defining which chemicals are “forever” chemicals in Indiana; SB202, that would tighten lawmaker oversight of Indiana’s public colleges and universities for “intellectual diversity; HB1264 proposing specific requirements for voter registration.  Senator Shelli Yoder is conducting a hearing on Environmental issues Tuesday, February 20. And more.

If you didn’t see your legislator at the February 17 update, please contact them to let them know you’d love their participation in the March 2 update.  

Proposed Concurrence for 2024 Conference 

Submitted by LWVBC Board Member Cathy Rountree

At its February 12 meeting, the LWVBC Board voted to support including a Concurrence, drafted by the League of Women Voters of Vermont (LWVVT), as a recommended agenda item for the June 2024 League of Women Voters National Convention. The LWVBC Board also voted to include discussion of the Concurrence in our National League program priory survey. 

A Concurrence allows a National League position to be expanded and clarified through incorporating positions developed by State Leagues.  At the 2022 National League Convention, LWVBC supported a Concurrence clarifying the National position on Health Care which was adopted.

The LWVVT Concurrence clarifies and expands the National League position on Privatization of public resources in relation to health care. You can read the text of the Concurrence, as well as the LWVVT’s commentary.

These LWVBC board votes do not commit the LWVBC to support the Concurrence at the June Convention, but we encourage membership to become familiar with the issue in advance of the Convention when a vote might be called for. LWV Vermont has put together extensive information about Privatization, with videos and many resources https://lwvhealthcarereform.org/vermont-concurrence-page-2024/

The LWVBC Newsletter included an article about privatization of Medicare programs in the October 2023 newsletter.  You can view that article here on page 10.

Upcoming Events of Note

February 19, 2:00 pm: Meeting of the Brown County Election Board in the Salmon Room.

February 29:  Last day for public comment on Vote Centers. Send your comments to elections@browncounty-in.us   

March 2, 9:30 am: Final 2024 Legislative Update via Zoom. You can register here to participate.

March 12, 2:00 pm: Brown County Election Board meeting in the Salmon Room.

March 29: LWVBC Janet Kramer Essay Contest entries due for grades 6-8 and 9-12.

April 2, 10:00 am: Public testing of election equipment for Brown County voters in the Salmon Room.

April 8: Voter Registration deadline.  Check your registration.

April 9: Early Voting begins, but no information is available yet on locations/hours.

April 9:  Brown County Election Board meeting, 2 pm in the Salmon Room.

April 29: LWVBC annual meeting at Seasons Conference Center. 

May 7: Primary Election. More information will be provided.

League Day at the State House – A Recap

Submitted by LWVBC Secretary Pam Raider

Unlike last year, this year’s League Day on January 31 was a pleasant, warmish, sunny day.  Shari Frank and I rode up together, always providing a good time for brainstorming and catching up with personal lives.  We met Sunny Leerkamp at the State Library.  Each year the State League encourages members to come to the Statehouse when in session and to meet with our Legislators.  To sweeten the deal, they provide wonderful box lunches, a speaker and breakout sessions.  It is a time to see the Statehouse in full session, meet other leaguers and discuss various legislation being debated.

This year’s speaker was Kerlin Olsen from Citizens Action Coalition (CAC) which is a utility watch dog group.  He is also the head of Hoosier Community Solar Project.  Community Solar Projects are growing in the US; some 26 states already have some kind of community solar project going.  The concept of Community Solar is that an independent 3^rd party invests in solar projects which have buy-in from regular investors.  Since 50-70% of people cannot put solar on their roofs for various reasons (don’t own house, wrong facing, neighborhood restrictions, cost), this is a way ordinary people can subscribe and receive savings on their utility bills as the solar reduces costs of electric.  Some are happy to help the effort to decarbonize the electric grid.  In Indiana they have encountered a lot of resistance as the utility companies feel that this type of solar plan is a threat to their profits.  So, in this state, laws exist stating that only electrical companies can offer solar, not 3^rd party entities.

Electric Grid issues are not the only utility lacking attention in Indiana.  Our state continues to favor a top-down approach to utilities as Mr. Olsen went on to talk about water issues.  Currently, we have no comprehensive water policy, and therefore, no planning to safeguard our water resources.  Water leakage is a huge problem amounting to about 25% a day and 30% of our water usage is from toilets.  We know this is something the Town of Nashville is worried about as they lose thousands of dollars of water and aren’t sure where the leaks are coming from (we learned about this issue during the Town Council debates).  In comparison he commented that Boston uses the same amount of water that they did in 1914 because of good planning and usage programs.

The other eye-opening issue was that for most major building projects around the state, many of which are private companies and industry, the cost of bringing in the infrastructure such as electric lines, water mains etc. – utilities – is borne by the current users, not entities building the projects.  Kind of smacks of corporate welfare in my book.  It also seems unfair to taxpayers if those same companies are getting tax incentives to build in particular communities.

From the State Library we moved across the quad to the Statehouse.  The three of us met with our State Senator, Eric Koch, and his aide.  We exchanged brief pleasantries, and it was wonderful to have Sunny along as Senator Koch acknowledged that he had followed her career and was impressed.  They talked a bit about some of her cases and he suggested that she might want to attend the Judicial hearing they were going to next.

Prior to meeting with Senator Koch, we had discussed what issues to speak to him about and had settled on Education Bill SB 1 which is an attempt to address the abysmal student reading numbers in our state.  Apparently 1 out of 5 third  graders are not reading up to proficiency standards.  The proposed solution is to mandatorily hold back these third graders.  We expressed our concerns with the psychological effect on the children and suggested alternatives.  Studies have shown that for every $1 spent on PreK, you save $8 on social problems later.  Currently the age for mandatory schooling in Indiana is 7 years old; wouldn’t it make more sense to spend money starting children earlier and avoid later problems?  We also suggested that they should wait to see how the reading program that was passed last session was working before placing such a harsh consequence in place.  Eric Koch said they have added some exemptions that will make the bill less harsh as it passes on to the House and he agreed there is a problem, citing his wife, who taught second grade, felt maybe the I-Read test should be given earlier.

When asked why he will not come down to meet with his constituents for the legislative updates, he responded that he does not do zoom and that he does visit our county fair every year.  Also, he shared that by his count, he had over 400 appearances last year.  And, yes, he was at two mural dedications in Nashville (I saw his picture in the paper). 

We did go to the basement “catacombs” to track down the room for the supposed judicial hearing.  The room was packed and since we were late, we were relegated to in an ante room to view the hearing on TV.  The discussion turned out to be about a bill proposal on landlord and tenant rights.  It was fascinating to watch people testifying about the on the ground housing crisis statewide and the lack of accountability for derelict landlords to Legislators who seemed clueless.  The bill ended up not being passed out of committee.

Always an interesting day - I will be going again if Shari is willing to drive.

February is Black History Month

Source: www.history.com

“Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the event grew out of ‘Negro History Week,’ the brainchild of noted historian Carter G. Woodson and other prominent African Americans. Since 1976, every U.S. president has officially designated the month of February as Black History Month. Other countries around the world, including Canada and the United Kingdom, also devote a month to celebrating Black history.

The full article is available here.

Indiana and Federal Legislation Updates

Source: LWVIN Advocates 

A very detailed listing of current state and federal legislation is available here. The document contains discussion of bills related to health, elections, religious freedom, child labor, and education.  

DEI Committee Update

Source: Sunny Leerkamp, DEI Committee Chair and LWVBC Vice President

Shari Frank and I recently attended an amazing play at Indiana Repertory Theatre.  The play was entitled, "Fannie, the music and life of Fannie Lou Hamer.” 

Fannie Lou Townsend was born in 1917 in Mississippi.  She was the youngest of her mother's 20 surviving children.  (Her mother had 25 children, but 5 did not survive.)  Fannie's family were sharecroppers and by the time she was 13 she could pick 200-300 lbs. of cotton a day.  She married Perry "Pap" Hamer in 1945.  In 1962 Fannie attended a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) meeting and learned for the first time that she had the right to vote.  However, when she tried to register, she failed the "literacy test" requiring her to explain a provision in the Mississippi Constitution.  Fannie replied that she didn't even know Mississippi HAD a constitution!  Ultimately Fannie did successfully register, and she became a field secretary for SNCC.  Returning from a SNCC meeting, a group of workers from the organization stopped for a break in Winona, Mississippi.  They were all arrested for sitting in the white section of a restaurant and brutally beaten for days.  Fannie and the others suffered permanent injuries, but once she was healed, she continued her efforts to encourage black voting and she ran for public office more than once, scoffing at reporters denigrating her losses by saying, "I'm showing people that a Negro can run for office."  Fannie died in 1977 at the age of 59.  US Ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young, gave the eulogy, at one point quoting Fannie's famous statement, "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!"

The portrayal of Fannie was a one woman show that highlighted her singing prowess.  The rendition of the story embellished by the music was uplifting, especially since the audience was frequently invited to sing along.  The show was inspiring, often sad, but a beautiful portrayal of a woman battling the odds without fanfare.  

You can find albums by Fannie by going to Spotify and entering her name.  The songs are haunting.  

PACEs 2024 Community Conversations Scheduled

Info Links of Interest

The Eagle Eye quarterly newsletter from Brown County Schools

Updates from LWVUS

LWVIN Website

LWVIN February Newsletter

LWVB-MC February Newsletter

Black History Fast Facts

Source: www.verifythis.com with thanks to Sunny Leerkamp for the suggestion

Fast Fact: The first paramedics in the U.S. were a team of Black men who worked for the Freedom House Ambulance Service in Pittsburgh during the 1960s and 1970s.  Our sources say Freedom House was the first ambulance service in the country to provide emergency medical services beyond basic first aid, and it “set the standard for emergency care” for programs nationwide.  Read more about the history of the Freedom House Ambulance Service.

Fast Fact: African midwives successfully performed C-sections before it was common in Europe. During the 19th century, European travelers documented witnessing successful operations, in which the mom and baby both survived, in parts of Africa, including Uganda and Rwanda, according to the National Library of Medicine. Watch the YouTube video.

Fast Fact: Activist Anna Arnold Hedgeman was one of the primary organizers of the 1963 March on Washington. She was a civil rights leader, politician, educator, and writer. You can read more about her life here. Here is a YouTube video about Mrs. Hedgeman.

Here’s How to Contact Your State, Federal, Local Legislators 

A list is provided below of the legislators who serve Brown County. For contact information on other state representatives and state senators, go to https://iga.in.gov/information/find-legislators. For information about your Congressional Representative, go to  https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.

For information on your County Representatives and meetings for Boards, County Commissioners and County Council:

• Brown County:  https://www.browncounty-in.gov/
• Bartholomew County:  https://www.bartholomew.in.gov/

State Senator Eric Koch 

Website: https://www.indianasenaterepublicans.com/koch

Email: Senator.Koch@iga.in.gov

Legislative Assistant: Lucy Lynch lucy.lynch@iga.in.gov  317-234-9425

Phone: 800-382-9467 or 317-232-9400
Address: Indiana State Senate, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis IN 46204 

State Representative District 62 Dave Hall

Website: https://www.indianahouserepublicans.com/members/general/dave-hall/

Legislative Assistant: Drew Sellers 317-232-9863 drew.sellers@iga.in.gov
Address: Indiana House of Representatives, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis IN 46204 

9th Congressional District U.S. Representative Erin Houchin 

Website: https://houchin.house.gov/
Phone: 202-225-5315
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RepHouchin
Address: 1632 Longworth House Office Building, Washington DC 20515 

U.S. Senator Mike Braun 

Website: https://www.braun.senate.gov
Phone: 202-224-4814
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikebraunforindiana

Address: 404 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington DC 20510 

U.S. Senator Todd Young 

Website: www.young.senate.gov
Phone: 202-224-5623
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenatorToddYoung

Address: 185 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington DC 20510 

Governor Eric Holcomb 

Website: https://www.in.gov/gov/

Phone: 317-232-4567
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GovHolcomb/
Address: Office of the Governor, Statehouse, Indianapolis IN 46204-2797 

Brown County Council

Gary Huett (President)

 David Redding (Vice-President)

Darren Byrd

 Jim Kemp

Joel Kirby

 Scott Rudd

Judy Swift-Powdrill                                  

 CountyCouncil@browncounty-in.us

Brown County Commissioners

Jerry Pittman, President (District 3) 317-966-1724 pittmanj@browncounty-in.us

Blake Wolpert (District 1)  317-371-5091 wolpertb@browncounty-in.us

Ron Sanders (District 2)  812-947-3504 SandersR@browncounty-in.us

Making Democracy Work

Grassroots Leadership since 1920

LWVBC MEETINGS

LWVBC meetings are held the second Monday of each month

Next Meeting: March 11, 6:00 pm (via Zoom)

League Members, Friends, and the public are welcome

To participate in the meeting, contact League President Shari Frank at browncountylwv@gmail.com to receive the zoom link.

The deadline for submission of articles for the March newsletter is 5:00 pm Friday, March 15.

The Brown County VOTER is published monthly. Please send your articles and/or suggestions to LWVBC at browncountylwv@gmail.com.