April President's Letter

Dear League Members,

We’ve had a busy couple of months as we approach the end of an interesting year. First and foremost, the LWVUS has adopted its position on immigration. Please take a moment to review the immigration position on the website, lwv.org. Thanks again to all members of our league who participated in the process of coming to consensus by attending and voicing their opinion at our immigration consensus meeting.

Once again, we are assisting the town registrars in registering high school students to vote. Registration day at New Canaan High School is May 20th. If you’d like to volunteer to help register the students, please contact Janet Davis.

A committee of the board has been busy reviewing our bylaws. In the next few days, you should receive a copy of the LWVNC’s bylaws, either by email or by regular mail. The revised bylaws have been approved by the board and will be presented at our annual meeting for your approval. Changes to the bylaws have been highlighted for your convenience.

Finally, our annual meeting is just around the corner. The meeting, which will be held May 13th at the Country Club of New Canaan, will feature speaker Gina McCarthy, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. It promises to be a very interesting program! You will receive the Call to the Annual Meeting in the mail shortly. Save the date on your calendar, send in your RSVP, and I look forward to seeing you there!

Kathryn Tohir
President
New Canaan League of Women Voters

Time to Renew Your Membership

Good News! Our membership numbers just keep on growing. We have seven new or returning members: Peg Bull, Aviva Kesselman, Jean Suidan, Charles Gallo, Cynthia Stix, Gail Lavielle, and Suzan Wirth. Contact information is listed below. Please look for and welcome our newest members at our next program meeting and at the LWVNC Annual Meeting in May.

Our Leagues membership year runs from July 1 till June 30. Next month is the beginning of our League’s membership renewal drive. All League members will get a renewal form in the mail. When it comes please fill out the contact information on the form (click here to view the form) and a check for your dues, and mail both to the LWVNC at our P.O. Box 383. We have two categories: Regular dues at $60 and Supporting dues at $75. If you would like to give an extra contribution to the League for a tax deduction, you need to make out a separate check to the LWVNC Education Fund. It is important to note that our Local League keeps only $16.70 of the membership dues. All Leagues are required to contribute $26.80 per member to the LWVUS and $16.50 to the LWVCT every year. Your financial support is important to our efforts in New Canaan. It provides the means for our local League programs, Candidate Night Forums, the annual town-wide mailing of the Know Your Reps brochure, and civic programs in our schools. Watch for our mailing and respond promptly!!

Thank you.
Ruth Laird, Membership co-chair

Calendar and Programs

April 23 - "Promise to Policy - the Next 100 Days" - Come and hear our three new selectmen discuss the issues that are coming up: e.g. an Ice Rink at Waveny, Conservation Commission, etc. and bring your questions. The meeting will be held at Lapham Center at noon. To make lunch reservations, call Lapham Center, 594-3620, before noon on Friday, April 18th, or you can "Brown Bag" it. The program will begin at 12:45 PM.

May 13 - LWVNC ANNUAL MEETING AND LUNCHEON to be held at the Country Club of New Canaan. The business meeting will begin at 10:00 AM, Wine/Cash Bar 11:30 AM, Luncheon at noon and our Program with Speaker Gina Mc Carthy, Chairman of the CT Department of Environmental Protection, will begin at 12:45 PM. The cost is $35. Guests are welcome to come for lunch or they can come after lunch to hear the speaker. Please call Karin Naill, 966-4370, if you're coming for the Program only.

Mrs. McCarthy's topic will be "Meeting the Environmental Challenges of the 21st Century". Her department is the state agency with primary responsibility for protecting CT's environment, natural resources and wildlife and for maintaining CT's State Parks and forests. More details are in the blue booklet "The Call to Annual Meeting," which you should have received in the mail.

Please mail your check and luncheon menu choice to LWVNC, P.O. Box 383, by May 8th.

May 20 - Student Voter Registration at the High School. There are 2 shifts - 10 to 11:30 AM and 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM. Call Janet Davis, 972-5709, and volunteer if you would like to help with this enjoyable activity.

September 21 - Mark your calendars now for our wonderful Modern House Tour, our fund-raiser for the year. Tickets are $100 each. Reserve your place early by sending your check to LWV, P.O. Box 383. Volunteers are needed. Please call Peggy Dannemann, 966-7575, if you can help with this special and popular event!

Membership Update

Welcome New Members!

Peg Bull
118 Adams Lane
966-7737
PegRBull@aol.com

Gail Laviell
5134 Avalon Drive East
H: 966-4736 O: 832-3806
gaillaviell@aol.com

Charles Gallo
59 Hawthorne Road
966-0894

Cynthia Stix
600 Oenoke Ridge Road
966-6950

Jean Suidan
291 South Bald Hill Road
966-1282
jean@suidan.com

Aviva Kesselman
213 Hickok Road
966- 5652

Suzan Wirth
11 Sleepy Hollw Road
972-9411
operazan@aol.com


Correction: Please change “Jane Walsh” to “Anne Walsh”
966-3262, alw456@aol.com

See Broadway/Off-Broadway Shows and Support LWV

The LWV Connecticut is pleased to announce a partnership with Jujamcyn Theaters that provides members and friends the opportunity to both give and get: they can give to LWVCT Education Fund as they get special discounts on theater tickets. Click here for details.

President's Letter

Greetings to all and Happy New Year! It's time to get down to business with our upcoming Consensus Meeting on Immigration. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss and respond to a number of questions on immigration posed by the LWVUS in order to help the LWVUS understand its members' philosophy on immigration so that it may lobby accordingly when the time comes.

I sent all of you a Consensus Preparation Kit, provided by Helen Campbell and Karin Naill, Co-Chairmen of the New Canaan LWV Immigration Study Group. It contains a great deal of information about immigration, which will prepare you to participate at the meeting It also includes the questions set forth by the LWVUS. Please read the material carefully before attending the meeting as there will be no presentation at the meeting itself.

The meeting will take place Wednesday, January 23rd at 12:45 p.m. At the Lapham Community Center. There is an optional lunch preceding the meeting at noon, for which you must make reservations. Reservations may be made by calling 594-3620 before noon on Friday, January 18th. We ask that you refrain from bringing guests to this meeting, as only League members may participate in the Consensus process. I look forward to seeing you at the meeting!

Kathryn Tohir