A number of us arrived at RoundTable Pizza around 6:00 PM and had a lively discussion on a wide range of topics. One discussion that garnered considerable interest concerned the two young men recently murdered in town. Don had explained that Carolyn had gone with their mother to file paperwork with the investigators and that one of the boys, two weeks prior to the shooting, had been stabbed 27 times in the Wal-Mart parking lot, and that even though the stabbing was on video tape and that witnesses had come forward, the police refused to do anything about the stabbing. So, the young man survived the stabbing only to be shot 16 times two weeks later. Similarly, one of the members present recounted an encounter with the local police where they failed to take appropriate action because of what he equated to “where” he lives. Perceptions raised were that if you were Hispanic or if you live in certain areas of town, you fail to receive adequate or appropriate police protection/treatment.
At 7:00 PM, the business meeting was called to order by HCDCC Chairman, Don Rogers.
CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT: Don Rogers reported that the Humboldt Sun had called him and had done an over the phone interview about his impressions relative to any potential split in Democrats locally now that Obama had amassed enough Delegates become the presumptive nominee. He expects that he’ll be quoted in a future article in the Humboldt Sun, so watch the paper for his comments.
APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES: Vickie Rock handed out minutes from the 3/20/08 Business meeting and the 4/19/08 Special Meeting. Don Schumacher moved and Nicki Schumacher seconded the acceptance of the 3/20/08 Business Meeting minutes. Nicki Schumacher moved and Bill Smiley moved the acceptance of the 4/19/08 Special Meeting minutes. Both motions passed.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Vickie Rock explained the treasurer’s report indicating that no changes in the Treasury have occurred since the acceptance of the previous Treasurer’s Report.
OLD BUSINESS:
- Voter Registration project conducted during the Red Cross Health Fair: Nicki Schumacher explained that those who had helped out at the Fair had registered a number of voters, not all of whom registered as Democrats, but that all registration forms had been properly filed at the Court House.
- State Democratic Convention: Participants discussed the good and bad of Convention participation. Notably was a vote held on Sunday where Northern Nevada rural participants attempted to gain representation in the Electoral College Delegates to be elected. A ‘division of the house’ vote revealed that the vote was around 200 short. Two Electoral College representatives came from Washoe County, two came from Clark County, and one came from Lincoln County (who is charged with representing ALL rural counties).
NEW BUSINESS:
- FUNDRAISING: John Feraday indicated that during the primary, a large number of CA benefactors had done a serious amount of canvassing at their own expense in Northern Nevada and that he had contacts with a number of them. John indicated that he would approach them to provide funds for “local” versus outsider interventions and see if he could get them to donate funds to our local treasury. He also suggested that maybe we could have a “dunk a Democrat” booth at one of the rodeo events, or that since there are a large number of Republicans locally who think Democrats are out there to do nothing more than “get the guns,” that we could have a Trap Shoot event with a raffle prize of a gun. Nicki Schumacher indicated that she would check to see if we could use the Trap Range for a private function.
- FUNDRAISING: Vickie Rock suggested that maybe we could have a “Picnic with Jill” function during the July 4th festivities, during one of the Cruise Night events, or during the Hot August Nights event.
- JILL DERBY SUPPORT: Joyce Lacaillade suggested that maybe we could set up an event for Jill at the Senior Center where she could come and talk to the lunch crowd.
- COMMUNITY ACTION: Bill Smiley suggested we might be able get a bit more recognition for our group by volunteering and working at the local soup kitchen. While there we could also promote voter registrations. Bill will check to see if there might be an opportunity for us to volunteer workers in support of the soup kitchen’s efforts.
- HCDCC PLATFORM: Vickie Rock agreed to put together a sampling of “Platforms” from other Democratic organizations around the state and propose a rough draft of a platform (what we stand for) for the HCDCC. She also agreed that she would forward that out for comment and present a proposed Platform at our next scheduled meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM. Attending the meeting were: Roger & Vickie Rock, Joyce Lacaillade, Bill Smiley, KC Harrison, Nicki and Gordon Schumacher, Don and Carolyn Rogers, John Feraday.