League of Women Voters, Blount County

2009-07-06T10:41:00.002-04:00

New officers were elected for 2009-2010:

Co-Presidents: Patty DeRycke and Autumn Hall
Vice President: Vandy Kemp
Secretary: Susan Ambler
Treasurer: Harri Ropp

Recap of program on immigration

2008-05-08T22:42:00.008-04:00

Dr. Ansley gave a very interesting talk in which she related immigration issues to labor and trade policies, and then opened it up for discussion.

A variety of points of view were represented in the audience, which resulted in a lively and interesting discussion period.

Invitation to our upcoming public program on immigration - hope to see you there!

2008-04-20T23:32:00.004-04:00

Program on the Judiciary

2008-04-13T19:30:00.003-04:00

Our March 24 program, titled "Selecting State and Local Judges: Election, Appointment, or Other
Alternatives?" turned out to be very interesting. Dr. Otis Stephens, U.T. Dept of Political Science, and Professor Penny White, U.T. College of Law and former member of the State Supreme Court, lead the discussion, starting with some good background material on the topic, and ending by fielding a large number of questions from the audience.

A photo from the event:

Fig. 1 Judge White listens intently to an audience members question

2008-03-30T20:35:00.014-04:00

You may remember the Essay contest we held last fall - the topic was "What does it mean to be a good citizen". We had quite a few entries, in which several of the local schools were represented. We had a distinguished panel of judges, who considered criteria such as the essay's organization, grammar, spelling, and word choice, strength of conclusion, and creativity and originality. It was truly a difficult choice; the judges were able to settle on a first place winner, but had a tie for second place. The winners selected were:

1st place - Chelsea Patty of Heritage High School
2nd place - tied between:
Amanda Spooner - William Blount High School
Kathryn Crabtree - William Blount High School

We have received permission from Chelsea and Kathryn to post their winning essays; we will post Amanda's when we receive permission from that author. First, Chelsea's essay (with apologies for the poor scan quality):

Second, Kathryn's essay:

Change in meeting day

2008-02-11T23:13:00.000-05:00

In order to better accommodate those who had a conflict with our Tuesday evening meeting schedule, we have shifted our regular monthly meeting to the 4th Monday of each month. As a result, our next meeting will be held at 6:00PM on February 25, in Bartlett Hall at Maryville College - the meeting is open to the public, and we hope to see you there!

Voter registration drive

2008-02-11T23:06:00.000-05:00

Many of you already know that Nancy Heintz has graciously agreed to spearhead the League of Women Voters voter registration drive. If you would like to volunteer to help register new voters, please contact the League at LOWVBC@gmail.com.

Thanks for your help!

They remember when

2008-02-11T22:51:00.000-05:00

We hope that you had a chance to read the February 3, 2008 issue of The Daily Times - Melanie Tucker had a wonderful front-page story about Blount County's oldest voters. In this election year, it seems very appropriate to honor these voters for their fine example of citizenship. As a sign of our appreciation for their dedication and life-long participation in our democratic system, the Blount County League of Women Voters recently presented Grace Margrave, age 100, and Esther Frow, age 103, with a framed certificate of merit.

As the article in The Daily Times states, both these women have been voting since the first election they were eligible, and have continued this practice ever since. Let's all remember to follow their shining example, and cast our own votes in the upcoming election!

January meeting

2007-12-30T12:28:00.000-05:00

The Blount County League of Women Voters will have our annual retreat and planning meeting on January 13 from 2:00 - 5:00 pm in Bartlett 101 at Maryville College. Please set aside this time for important planning and goal setting for the year ahead. This will be an important and exciting time for all of us with the primary election, the party conventions, and the election for President of the U.S. in 2008 as well as state and local elections taking place.

Photos from our December social at Sullivans

2007-12-30T12:18:00.000-05:00

December meeting

2007-12-03T23:52:00.000-05:00

Our December meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 4, where we will gather at Sullivan's at 6:30PM for an enjoyable evening of dinner and conversation. Hope to see you there!

Essay Contest Winners to be announced

2007-11-15T00:16:00.000-05:00

All the essays received as part of our essay contest have been reviewed - and it was a tough decision. There were many wonderful essays - but our panel of distinguished judges have selected the winners. We hope that you can join us at the Blount County Commission Meeting on Thursday, November 15 in the old courthouse, where our winners will be recognized. Hope to see you there!

Fall Essay Contest

2007-09-16T23:01:00.000-04:00

As part of our educational mission, we'd like to encourage students to think and write about engagement in the political process. As part of that effort, we're holding an Essay Contest for high school students in Blount County - with the topic being "What does it mean to be a good citizen". We're really excited about this; contestants will be honored at the November Meeting of the Blount County County Commission. A first place award of a $200 U.S. Savings Bond and a second place award of a $100 U.S. Savings Bond will be presented.

By holding this essay contest we hope to:

Promote serious discussion among high school students, their teachers, and parents.
Strengthen student research, writing, and reasoning skills.
Complement existing curriculum and class activities.

It will certainly be interesting to see what our Blount County students think about this topic!

RULES:

1. Essayists must be Blount County students currently enrolled in grades 9- 12.

2. Essays must be typed on 8.5 x 11 paper, double-spaced, using 12 pt. font. Pages should be numbered, but your name should not appear on your essay, only on the Cover Sheet.

3. Essays must be at least 750 words long and no longer that 1000 words. Essays that are outside those limits will be disqualified. Word Count must be included on the Cover Sheet.

4. The Cover Sheet in the packet must be completed in full and stapled to the essay.

5. Essays will be judged on four criteria:

Focus and Organization (25%)—How well does your essay address the specific question?
Style/Mechanics (25%)—Is the essay well written in terms of grammar, spelling, word choice, and punctuation?
Strength of Conclusion (25%)—Does the essay support a clear and sound conclusion?
Originality (25%)—Does the writer develop ideas creatively, presenting alternatives throughout?

HOW DO I WRITE THE ESSAY?

The essay is a three-part paper that lays out and develops a response to the essay contest question. Although researching a topic to find examples to illustrate your point can be helpful, an essay should be more than a research paper about other people’s ideas.

Your essay should include the following:

An introduction, which introduces the subject and explains of your position. The introduction should demonstrate that you understand the essay question and have formed a response to it.
A body, which develops your argument using research and analysis. You may contrast and compare several ideas or events, critique various perspectives, interpret and draw inferences. Be sure to identify other sources you use.
A conclusion, which summarizes the research and analysis presented in the body and sets forth your conclusion which should support the position described in the introduction. Your aim is to convince your reader that your position is reasonable and correct.

DEADLINE:

Completed, signed Essay packets must be postmarked no later than October 12, 2007.

Essay packets have been made available via the schools and educational groups; please contact the League at LOWVBC@gmail.com if you would like more information.

Building bridges

2007-09-06T00:11:00.000-04:00

A great time was had by all at our fall kick-off celebration in the Greenbelt Pavilion. In keeping with our non-partisan mission we had a very diverse group, including past and present elected officials and candidates, people from both the Republican and Democratic women's clubs, and members of the American Association of University Women. Adding even greater diversity was the musical group "Cheerful Diligence". If you've never had the pleasure of hearing this group of Russian teenagers play their incredible brand of bluegrass, you really should try to catch a performance before they leave town - they were fabulous!

A brief "Cheerful Diligence" video clip

2007-09-05T23:59:00.000-04:00

What a great performance they gave! Thanks so much to the group, and to Howard Kerr for making this wonderful opportunity available. Many of us took the opportunity to purchase their CDs - they give such a fun and energetic performance!

Photos from our 9/4/07 picnic in the park

2007-09-05T23:53:00.000-04:00

More photos from our 9/4/07 picnic in the park

2007-09-05T23:46:00.001-04:00

County Commission Bloggers

2007-09-02T10:54:00.000-04:00

In addition to Wendy Pitts Reeves, another Blount County Commissioner has begun blogging - in this case Commissioner Mike Walker from District 8 Seat B. It is great to see our commissioners open up this avenue of communication - links to both blogs can be found in our "useful links" section. Keep up the good work!

Helpful information from one of our county commissioners

2007-08-03T00:09:00.000-04:00

One of our Blount County Commissioners, Wendy Pitts-Reeves, has posted a very useful lesson in how to look up laws on her blog: http://pittsreeves.blogspot.com/2007/07/looking-up-laws.html#links
Thanks for the information, Wendy - this is very helpful!

Educational article on the County Commission

2007-05-28T21:20:00.000-04:00

In the next in the series of LWV educational articles, we focused on the County Commission. This article, reproduced below, first appeared in the Daily Times:

http://www.thedailytimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070401/WOMEN/703290355&SearchID=73282472208598

In our last article on our Blount County government, we discussed the various county offices that are required by the state; these are found in Article VIII, Section 1 of the Tennessee Constitution. One of these is the county legislative body, known as the county commission. A great deal of information on the commission and how it works can be found in the Tennessee County Government Handbook, on the web at http://www.ctas.utk.edu/public/web/ctas.nsf/publications?readform.

What is the structure of the county commission? While the rules are different for counties with a consolidated city-county government, in a county such as Blount the commission is required to have between nine and 25 members which have to be elected from districts. Blount County has 21 members representing 10 districts (District 4 has 3 seats on the commission). The county Mayor is a nonvoting ex officio member. No district can have more than three commissioners, and each commissioner has to represent about the same number of citizens, based on the last federal census. Commissioners are elected for four year terms, and every year the commission elects a chairman and vice chairman. A majority of the membership is required to form a quorum for conducting business; all measures require a majority of the membership, and some require 2/3 majority, to pass.

What are the duties of the county commission? One major duty is the adoption of the county budget, as all funds used to operate the county are appropriated by the commission. The budget has to meet all state law requirements. In addition to being balanced, the budget must allow for items such as the reserves that are required by state law, the county’s portion of education funding, a requirement for highway funding, a requirement for adequate correctional facilities, and mandated minimum salaries for county officials. If the budget doesn’t meet these criteria, the state can withhold shared funds, such as those designated for education.

The county commission sets a property tax rate, which is the primary way to fund the budget along with revenue from other taxes, fees, and state and federal monies, and can approve the issuance of bonds or other indebtedness to finance county capital improvement projects. The commission is also responsible for appointing county officers when a vacancy occurs; the person elected will serve until the next election.

The Blount county commission has nine standing committees, including the Beer Board, Education Committee, Fairgrounds Committee, Financial Management Committee, Human Resources/Insurance Committee, Information Technology Committee, Intergovernmental Committee, Public Services Committee, and the Risk Management Committee.

How can you find out who your commissioner is? One option is to go to the Blount County website, at www.blounttn.org, look under “elected officials”, and click on “commission”. You’ll find information about where the different districts are located, which commissioners serve those districts, and their contact information. For those without internet access, the commission secretary can be reached at (865) 273-5830.

How can you keep up with what is going on? Again, the commission website has a wealth of information. You can see notices of public meetings, review the agendas, and read the minutes. You can watch the newspapers, check on line for bloggers who may be writing about county government, or call and talk to your commissioner. You can also watch meetings of the full commission on Charter Channel 5 and Comcast Channel 99 (committee meetings are not televised). The best way to keep up is to attend the meetings yourself. Full commission meetings are normally held at 7:00 PM on the 3^rd Thursday of each month in the Blount County courthouse. They are open to the public, and citizens are welcome to attend. As a voting, tax-paying citizen of Blount County, you have the right and the ability to stay informed.

Understanding county government

2007-05-28T20:15:00.000-04:00

In the second in our series of educational articles, we talked about the way our county government is organized. As published in Blount Today:
http://www.blounttoday.com/blnt/home/article/0,2355,BLNT_18867_5351530,00.html

As part of the mission of the Blount County League of Women Voters, we want to encourage people to participate in the political process – but participating can seem like an intimidating task. How can the average citizen know what is going on? How do you know where to start?

Just what kind of governmental structure do we have, anyway?

Some people may not know that the authority of our county government comes directly from the state. In fact, much of the structure and function of our county government is determined by the Tennessee State Constitution. Article VII of the Tennessee State Constitution states that the voters of each county are to elect their officials for four year terms. It also specifies what are sometimes called “Constitutional Officers” – elected officials that counties are required to have - saying that counties must select a legislative body (called the County Commission), a county executive (called the County Mayor), a Sheriff, a Trustee, a Register of Deeds, a County Clerk and a Property Assessor. There are also exceptions. For instance, in places where counties and cities have formed a consolidated (metro) government, the county is not required to have a mayor or commission. Of course, this is not the case in Blount County.

The state constitution includes quite a lot of detail; it specifies things like the size of the county commission, which cannot be bigger than 25 members (Blount County has 21), and that no district can have more than 3 representatives on the commission. The state constitution even says how often districts shall be reapportioned - at least every ten years, done in such a way that commissioners represent approximately equal numbers of citizens based on the most recent federal census. The state constitution also specifies that any vacancies in county offices shall be filled by the county legislative body (the commission), and that their appointees shall serve until the next election.

In general, power is delegated from the state to the county by acts of the Tennessee General Assembly. Some of these are general acts, which apply to all counties. Others are private acts, which only apply to one, or perhaps a few, counties. This information has also been made available on the web at: http://www.ctas.utk.edu/public/web/ctas.nsf/legislative?readform .

You can look up the Tennessee Code and Constitution on the internet, where both are published for the benefit of our citizens. To learn more, go to http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/laws/laws.html, or check with your local reference librarian.

There are ways that all of us can keep in touch with what is going on. For example, County Commission meetings are broadcast on Charter Channel 5 and Comcast Channel 99 for everyone to see. The meetings themselves are open to the public; agenda and minutes can be found on the county website, at http://www.blounttn.org/ . Since the decisions made by our leaders affect us all, it is important to stay informed!

League of Women Voters series of educational articles

2007-05-08T23:09:00.000-04:00

The Blount County League of Women Voters would like to express our thanks to the local press, for a wonderful opportunity that we have been given to publish a series of educational articles. The very first article appeared in both the Daily Times and Blount Today, and is reproduced below:

http://www.thedailytimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070107/WOMEN/701040328&SearchID=73280483262083
http://www.blounttoday.com/blnt/home/article/0,2355,BLNT_18867_5304384,00.html

Many of you may have seen the League of Women Voter’s candidate surveys or attended one of the candidate forums held by the League during our recent county elections. Some of you may have had some questions about the Blount County League. Who are we? We are a group of men and women – yes, membership is open to men of voting age. We are a non-partisan group – our membership includes Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who manage to work together harmoniously toward a common goal:

As a nonpartisan group of women and men, we seek to organize and foster open conversation, education, and voter registration. It is our aim to encourage people to engage fully in the political process.

With that intention, we appreciate the opportunity to periodically share information about the current and historical political process, including the origin of the League of Women Voters. Young women today often take for granted their right to vote and to participate in our democratic process – but it wasn’t always that way. The Declaration of Independence may have been signed in 1776, and the U.S. Constitution may have taken effect in 1789 – but the 19^th amendment giving women the right to vote wasn’t ratified for well over a century, on August 18, 1920.

Many people don’t know that Tennessee played a major role in this ratification. Once Congress passed the 19^th amendment, 36 states had to ratify it before it could become law. Several states – including Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi, Delaware, and Louisiana – actually rejected it. Finally, by the summer of 1920, 35 states had ratified the 19^th amendment. There was a sense of urgency; if the amendment passed in time, women would be able to vote in fall elections. After the Delaware legislature rejected the amendment in June, it became necessary to persuade the Governor of Tennessee to call a special session. This wouldn’t be easy, according to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture:

Governor Albert H. Roberts had spoken against woman suffrage during his campaign two years earlier. He belonged to the antiprohibition wing of the Democratic Party, and his closest advisers opposed votes for women. He feared that women would vote against him because of his opposition to women's rights and prohibition and because of persistent rumors about his relationship with his highly paid female personal secretary. Roberts faced a tough race for reelection in 1920, and he knew that woman suffrage might bring about his downfall.[1]

Finally, however, the Governor was persuaded, and he agreed to convene the General Assembly on August 9, 1920 – a date just after the August 5 primary. Reporters descended on Nashville, along with observers on both sides of the suffrage issue. Those in favor of giving women the right to vote wore yellow roses; those against wore red. The first vote ended in a tie; so did the second vote. Finally, a third vote – and Representative Harry Burn of Niota, wearing a red rose, changed his vote to an “aye”. It seems that he had received a letter from his mother, who told him to do the right thing and vote in favor of the amendment, saying “Hurrah and vote for suffrage! Don’t keep them in doubt! I notice some of the speeches against. They were bitter. I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet. Don’t forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification”. After reading the letter this young man, who at age 24 was the youngest member of the legislature, followed his mother’s recommendation and made history. As a result, Tennessee became “the perfect 36” – the last state to ratify the 19^th amendment!

The League of Women voters came out of that historic time, founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Since then it has grown into a large grassroots organization, with close to 1,000 state and local Leagues in communities across the country. The Blount County branch started in 2005 as an “at large” group and has already reached the membership level needed to apply for status as a local chapter. Our meetings are held at 6:00 pm on the first Tuesday of every month, normally in room 433 of the old Courthouse.

And, above all, remember the wisdom of Mrs. Febb Ensminger Burn – and do the right thing! Take advantage of your right as a citizen, and vote for the candidates of your choice at every election. Remember just one vote can change history! Get involved in the community. Become informed about the issues that affect us all. Attend public meetings. Hold our elected officials accountable. Get involved!

[1] http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=W081