Zonta Paul September 2004 Newsletter

Zonta Paul Volume 78 Issue 5 October, 2004

PO Box 131084 Roseville Branch, St. Paul, Minnesota 55113-0010

Visit Zonta St. Paul at our Web site:
http://www.zontastpaul.org

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE. . . . .
With sadness we received the news that former Zontian and Past President-Elect , Pamela Watson, had died. We have wonderful memories of all she did for Zonta and her community. Our heartfelt sympathy and prayers go out to her parents and family.

The Brainerd Zontians hosted a wonderful District Seminar. Our keynote speaker, Dr. Lillian Pardo, Zonta's District 7 Women's Health Issues Chair, gave a very interesting, informative and entertaining presentation "Turning Points in Women's Health: Opportunities for Community Outreach".

She challenged us to be informed about our own health and health issues while reaching out to the women in our communities with focus on their health.

We reviewed the Bylaw changes, parliamentary procedures and District & local web sites. New International Bylaw booklets will be available by January.

Dorothy was once again very generous to donate one of her beautiful watercolors to sell at the event. Everyone loved the watercolor and our Governor, Linda Jacobson, had the winning ticket! She was delighted. Thank you again Dorothy. It was a very relaxed weekend with time for fun, friendship, and sharing of information.

I was delighted to meet Professor Fahima Aziz of Hamline University. She taught a class I attended on Poverty and Income Inequality: The promise of Microlending (including in her home country, Bangladesh) This program is similar to our Zonta/Unifem International program MicroCredit in Niger. Her sister is a Zontian in Bangladesh. If her schedule
permits, I hope to have her attend one of our gatherings.

On October 27 the St. Paul Business and Professional Women's Club will be honoring Mary Pulse as their 2004 Woman of the Year. Congratulations, Mary, for all you do. We are proud of you!

I look forward to seeing everyone at our October dinner meeting at Perkins, Highland! We will review the procedures and assignments for the Global Event. (And, Dorothy has planned a very tasty dinner for us). Please bring your silent auction items with you.

REMEMBER: All tickets for our Global Event must be in to Connie no later than October 21 to insure that we meet our commitment to the History Theatre for reserving our seats!

Romelle

Visit Zonta St. Paul at our Website

http://www.zontastpaul.org

Web sites to remember:
Zonta International

http://www.zonta.org

Zonta District 7

http://www.zontadistrict7.org

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Kathie Pulse

Kathie is still at the Linden Care Center. If you give her a call and she cannot answer the phone, leave a message and it will be relayed to her. Her phone # is 651-439-3997. Her address is l05 W Linden Street, Stillwater, MN 55082.

Service Projects
Service Project - blankets for MNVA Club 100 held September 21, 2004:

Several Zontians met at Jennifer's to make blankets. The members authorized payment of $70 for the materials. We were not able to make all the fleece into blankets and several members expressed interest in having more small groups meet to make the blankets. Let us know if you are interested in joining a small group for a future date.

Membership Meeting:

October 26, 2004:

We will have our business meeting Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Perkins restaurant located at 800 Cleveland Ave. S, St Paul MN 55116-1957 (651) 699-7069. Map enclosed. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are not able to start having meetings at Joseph's until November. RSVP Dorothy reservations by Friday, October 22, 2004.

Our meeting in November ( November 23, 2004) will be at Josephs, located at 140 South Wabasha. 651-222-2435, St Paul, Minnesota 55107.

Global Event -

The Global Event is fast approaching! Remember that ticket sales are due by October 21st! We cannot guarantee any seats after that date due to the History Theater's change in reservation policies.

We hope you have been able to get silent auction items and can bring them to the meeting. If you need someone to pick them up, please let Romelle, Peggy or Carole know.

Tickets are $35.00 which covers the cost of the performance and the dinner. It is going to be a wonderful event!

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Membership:
We will be installing Lolli Coleman as a new Zontian at our October meeting. She is a friend of Lois' and came to our President's dinner.

Program:

Our program speaker for our November 23rd meeting is Cheryl Thomas, a UN Board member and with the Minnesota Advocate for Human Rights. They have had teams in both Bosnia and Afghanistan. She will speak on Women in Bosnia and Afghanistan. We look forward to having her as our guest - it should be very interesting and informative.

Happy Birthday

Carole - September 1st
Joann - October 3
Judy - October 28
Peggy - October 31
Pat - November 3
Kathie - November 16
Dorothy - November 21

November Board Meeting - November 8th at Connie & Joann's - 5:30 p.m.

VOTE NOVEMBER 2, 2004:
The upcoming Presidential election is one of the most important elections to be held in the United States and we encourage everyone to vote on November 2nd for the candidates of their choice.

Exercising the right to vote is one of the most honorable acts an American citizen can perform. And why is exercising the sovereign right to vote so important to a person's reputation and to the well being our country? Because it is the majority that elects representatives to fight for better working conditions, universal education, health care, economic security, a clean environment, and social justice.

The following article was found on the Milwaukee Wisconsin Women League of Voters website.
League of Women Voters in Milwaukee and is worth sharing.

"Many people today are disenchanted with the democratic process and stay home on Election Day. They believe that their vote makes no difference and that they can't possibly have an impact on the electoral process.

The Arithmetic of Voting

How important is a single vote? To make the math easy, let's talk about 100 people being eligible to decide an issue.
100 people are eligible to vote. If ALL register AND vote, then 51 votes decide the election.
If only 60 people register to vote (even though 100 people are eligible to register) AND ALL 60 vote, 31 votes win the election. If 60 people register to vote, but only 30 of them (50%) vote ... then it takes only 16 votes to win the election.
This is essentially what happened in the 1994 Congressional elections. Many local elections were close. Because many people did not vote, a small group of active voters controlled the outcome. When you choose "NOT" to vote, you give more clout to every vote that is recorded.

Does One Vote Make a Difference?
In 1960, Richard Nixon lost the Presidential election and John Kennedy won by a margin of less than 1 vote per precinct.

In 1968, Hubert Humphrey lost the Presidential race to Richard Nixon by a margin of fewer than 3 votes per precinct.

In 1974, Jerry Brown won the race for California's governor by a margin of fewer than 8 votes per precinct.

In 1978, Marc Garcia won a senate in the California State Senate by 90 votes.

In 1985, Jim Chapman won the First U. S. Congressional seat in Texas by fewer than 5 votes per precinct.

And Look at These Local Elections

In Mequon in 1986, a coin toss decided the winner of a tie vote between Daniel Abendrott and Carol Hoit for alderman. One absentee ballot, which would have decided the race, was rejected because it was improperly witnessed.
In Milwaukee, the Seventh District Alderman race of 1992 was won by Fred Gordon by 75 votes out of more than 9000 cast.
In April 1996, in the 17th Aldermanic District in Milwaukee, Willie Hines won by 14 votes."

Other Voting Information

In 1999, Leslie Byrne was elected to the Virginia Senate by 37 votes, less than 1 vote per precinct.

One vote per precinct passed women's right to vote in California in 1911. Thus one vote can often make a very significant difference.

Every Vote Counts....

"If you need transportation to your polling place so that you can vote, please let one of your fellow Zontians know!"

See you all on the 26th!