Amherst League of Women Voters Bulletin April 2014 Vol. LXV– No 8 CALENDAR March 31 through April 30. Pricing and sorting for the LWVA LWVA 253-0633 Book Sale @ East Street School building, South East Street. See p. 6. Co-Presidents Thursday, April 3, 7 p.m., refreshments 6:30. Go, Granny D.! Cynthia Brubaker Performance by Off-Broadway actress Barbara Bates Smith and 253-6679 musician Jeff Sebens @ The Red Barn, Hampshire College. Katherine Vorwerk 256-8737 Tuesday, April 8, 7 p.m. Northampton Area League consensus meeting on LWVUS Ag Study @ Florence Civic Center, 90 Park 2nd Vice President Street. See p. 3. Peggy Roberts Tuesday, April 8, 7 p.m. LWVA/TMCC Warrant Review, Town 549-1575 Room, Amherst Town Hall. See p. 2. Secretary Thursday, April 10, 6:45 p.m. LWVA Board meeting @ Rachel Mustin 2 Hills Road, Amherst. Contact Cynthia Brubaker, 253-6679. 253-5779 Tuesday, April 15, 7 p.m. GMOs: How Genetically Modified Plants are Made @ Town Room, Amherst Town Hall. See below. Co-Treasurers Saturday, April 26, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Amherst Sustainability Joan Rabin Festival @ Amherst Common. LWVA will have a table. 253-3587 Janice Ratner Monday, April 28. Start of Amherst Town Meeting. 253-7214 Friday, May 2 through Sunday, May 4. LWVA Book Sale @ Amherst Common. See p. 6. Membership Saturday, May 10. LWVMA Council. Richard Kofler 256-3517 Thursday, May 29. LWVA Annual Meeting. Voter Service The Science of Genetically Modified Plants Mary Jane Laus UMass Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular 549-1918 Biology Elizabeth Vierling will help us gain a basic understanding of genetic modification of plants. Her presentation is cosponsored Bulletin Editor Katherine Campbell by LWVA, Grow Food Amherst, Sustaining Amherst, and the 256-6042 National Science Foundation. Her work is funded by NSF and the National Institutes of Health. FROM THE CO-PRESIDENTS Recently, I was at a meeting during which Becky Shannon, one of our members and also a LWVMA State Board member, said something off the cuff that was so spot on that I asked her to write up what she said so it could be this month’s President’s Message. From Becky: “Often, we tend to start caring about the community we live in when we begin our families. We grow up, settle down and become invested. All of a sudden our neighborhoods matter to us. We want good schools. We notice our parks and playgrounds. We expect roads to be plowed and services to be effectively carried out by the DPW, the Water Department, the Fire Department, the Police Department and all the other town departments that make up town government. We want our property taxes to be stable and not be misspent. We want our mayors and council members, select board members, school committees and other governmental bodies to be respectful, diligent and thoughtful. Most often we also don’t want to think much about all this. We just want our public services to work. But someone has to mind the store. “Since 1920, the LWV has been a guardian of the The Warrant Review, to acquaint public interest in local communities. Active Leagues Town Meeting members with the help inform their communities and allow democracy articles that will come before Town to work in the public sphere. Meeting, will be held April 8 at “Our communities need the LWV. When citizens are 7 p.m. in the Town Room. As a informed and engaged, towns tend to do well. When separate activity, we also review the no one cares, or has no time to care, it shows. League warrant articles for possible League members always care.” support. Please contact Martha Hanner ([email protected]) if It is important work that we do on the local level and you are interested in helping to nobody does it quite like the LWV. Thank you, review the articles. Becky, for putting this in words so that we can all reflect on it. Cynthia Brubaker Membership Report This month, we welcome 3 new members to the Amherst LWV: Helen Berg (508) 310-3185 [email protected] Judy H. Brooks (413) 253-3979 [email protected] Betsey Johnson In addition, the following members have provided some updated information: Barbara Francis has a new phone: (413) 773-3522 Martha Hanner has a new email: [email protected] Janet Chevan has a new email: [email protected] Dick Kofler 2 One for the League As part of our continuing celebration of our 75th anniversary, we are launching an initiative called One for the League. It involves every member of our Amherst League! This is the idea: Sometime during this anniversary year, we would like each of you to do something for the League that you had not planned to do. It doesn’t have to be anything major—just something that is related to the League. An “extra” something. For example, you might make up your mind that this is the year that you will help register voters, or encourage your neighbor to join the League. You don’t have to tell anyone about what you intend to do unless you want to. No one will “check up” on you. It’s all up to you. Below is a list of suggestions from the Board for things you might do. You can choose one of them or something entirely different. The point is that through One for the League, each of us will be doing something extra for the League, perhaps even something quite special, in honor of our 75th anniversary! One for the League Suggestions • Talk to a friend, relative, or young person about the League • Encourage a friend, relative, or young person to join the League • Come to a League meeting, activity or other event • Bring a friend to a League meeting, activity or other event • Volunteer to work on the Book Sale • Read the LWVA web site, or Face Book Page • Respond to an Action Alert • Read the League’s Bulletin • Write to the Bulletin editor about an article • Send comments and suggestions about what is and isn’t going on to the co-Presidents or other LWVA leaders—we will respond! • Join a Committee or Interest Group • Volunteer for the Board • Register voters at naturalization ceremonies on July 4th • Make an anniversary donation to the League (see p. 9) • Remember the League in your will Kathy Vorwerk Interested in participating in the LWVUS Agriculture Consensus? If you would like to participate, please consider going to the consensus meeting at the Florence Civic Center at 90 Park Street in downtown Florence on Tuesday, April 8 at 7 PM. The Northampton Area LWV will be conducting the meeting. There is plenty of parking and the building is handicapped accessible. Materials to read beforehand are on the LWVUS web site. For further information, please contact Lou Bouley at [email protected]. 3 Who Was Granny D? “Granny D”, Doris Haddock, who at 89 walked across the United States for campaign finance reform, died at 100 in her home state of New Hampshire in 2010. But she will be visiting the stage of the Red Barn of Hampshire College on April 3, 2014, in the form of Barbara Bates Smith, an actress who was mesmerized by Granny D and her story and brings her version of it to audiences across the country. Many in these audiences are League of Women Voters members, since Granny’s main cause continues to be important to the League---and Doris Haddock was herself a 50-year member of the League. Doris Haddock had several connections with Amherst during her lifetime: her husband was an Amherst college student when they met, fell in love and married in 1929; in 2005, Doris Haddock gave the Commencement address at Hampshire College, when, I have heard, her granddaughter graduated. For those of you intending to attend Barbara Bates Smith’s presentation, or for those of you who’d like to know more about who Granny Smith was, I’ve summarized what I’ve learned about her on line. Edna Doris Rollins was born on Jan. 24, 1910, in Laconia, N.H. She was a student at Emerson College in Boston from 1927 until 1929, when the college expelled her because of her marriage. (Emerson gave her an honorary degree in 2000.) Doris and her new husband, James Haddock, moved to Manchester, N.H. There James was an electrical engineer, while Doris raised two children. In 1952, Doris went to work at BeeBee Shoe Co, where she ultimately became the assistant to the general manager. Doris’ political activism apparently began in 1960, when the Haddocks drove to Alaska to help the (ultimately successful) campaign against planned nuclear bomb testing near an Inuit village. In Dublin, to which the Haddocks retired in 1972, Doris was active in local affairs and served on the Planning Board. In 1985, Doris helped the successful fight against plans to build a highway through Dublin. In 1983, however, her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and in the ten years before his death in 1993, Doris focused on caring for Jim. In 1995, Doris Haddock became interested in campaign finance reform. After a petition movement she had led got nowhere, Doris decided to try a more dramatic way to stimulate interest and gain support for this reform. On January 1, 1999, I believe on her 70th wedding anniversary, and only a few weeks before her 89th birthday, Doris left Pasadena on her walk across the U.S. She walked about ten miles each day, eating when she was offered food and sleeping where she was offered a room.