Dear People!
Here's a photo of me out canvassing! I continue to enjoy watching the fall arrive in our beautiful township and villages, and I hope you are enjoying it too, even as many troubling events are unfolding in our world, reminding us of the importance of good, transparent governance. This past week there was once again no regular MT meeting, so I don't have any meeting notes to share, as yet. There was a special MT meeting on Oct 1 at 2 pm, to discuss and vote on a grant application for road improvements. The next regular MT meeting will be tonight! Mon. Oct. 6 at 5 pm, packet also availabe at the above link, in the MT Fire Station on Xenia Ave.
On the agenda tonight are items related to:
- New MTFR vehicle leases, hiring plans, and a new EMT training reimbursement policy.
- The costs of legal services this year
- Elected officials' travel reimbursement policy updates
I am of course attending both meetings and will post notes later this week, as I did for the 9/15 meeting!
One brief observation: Ideally, special, last-minute sessions should only be called for truly unforeseeable issues. In my next post, I will be discussing the context that led to this emergency meeting, and it does seem to have been outside the Trustees' control.
Additionally in response to some local conversations that have been happening online, in the News, and other places, I have written up
a few brief thoughts about fair compensation for public officials, which I invite you to read.
My basic stance is: While debate about what constitutes reasonable compensation is always appropriate, it's not appropriate to assert that a desire for fair compensation for public service is in itself evidence of self-serving motives. Fair compensation for public officials is essential to ensure that people of all income levels can serve, reduce corruption, and strengthen accountable, accessible democracy.
Otherwise, here are the news items about my campaign that are covered in more detail below!
1) This coming week! Meet & Greet hosted byOct. 7, 7-9 pm, Lovely people, lovely food, good conversations will be had!
2) More Canvassing in YS for local race candidates on Oct 4, 18, 25 -we could use your help! More deets below
3) Candidate nights are coming up! Oct 15 & 16, 7-9 pm in Mills Lawn school. (MT Trustees are on Thurs Oct. 16).
4) Yard signs still available!
5) Poem!
1) A second meet and greet here in town! Please plan to come!
Facebook invitation here--let me know if you need a friend invitation to make the link work, or just let me know that you're interested, and I'll get you on the list!
3) More Neighborhood Conversations! (aka Canvassing) As I mentioned in last week's email, Lindie Keaton is heading up our Yellow Springs canvassing for the local Dems*! We'll train you! You can bring a friend or be paired with someone with experience. The suggested words we will use were written by us and for us, right here in YS, and right now! Saturdays at 10 a.m.--email me to get added. Spend a couple hours. Bring a charged phone (with Minivan downloaded, if possible) and a bag to carry campaign literature. Wear good walking shoes. Bring a friend or two. Help preserve democracy.
4) Other important upcoming dates:
October date TBD, 5-7 p.m. post cards to voters party at Emporium?
October 11, 10-12 Canvassing with Marilan and Lori in Clifton? (tentative plan!)
October 18, 1-3 p.m., Dayton, No Kings II protest
October 23, 6-8 pm, Meet & Greet Trustee Candidates at Jane S's in the Township--more details in next week's note!
November 4, Election day!
5)
Askeland yard signs continue popping up around the Township and villages! I'm slowly getting them out there. Especially if you don't see any in your neighborhood or on your road,
I'd be happy to get a yard sign to you. Just shoot me a response! ($10 donation appreciated--check to Friends of Lori Askeland, cash, or
online--but easily waived).
6) POEM! Visiting Jayne's barn was a deep pleasure today. Growing up on a farm with three barns (3!), plus those of my grandparents' and cousins', I spent much of my childhood playing (and sometimes actually working) in barns and hay mows. So I thought I'd share this poem. Jayne's is not as decrepit as the one described below, but it is also not one of those fancy wedding barns either!
Poet Jeanetta Calhoun Mish evokes a bit of the same feeling I have when I enter almost any aging barn:
Barn
leaning on a rounded hill
waving to buzzards
what’s left of an old red
a-frame barn soars upward,
a cathedral of loss, a
shelter for mice and
possums and maybe
a rare tawny-eyed bobcat
whose kittens are tucked
under the rotting manger.
witness the gaping hayloft,
sweep your eyes down
to slovenly underbrush—
here is a thing like a jar
that makes the world
rise up and call out—
a skeletal frame to rein-in
undulating miles of sky
which would otherwise be
more than we could bear.
From What I Learned at the War (West End Press, 2016). Copyright © 2016 by Jeanetta Calhoun Mish. Published on poets.org with the permission of the author.
Thanks for reading!
Lori
--
Lori Askeland, candidate for MT Trustee
Donations gratefully accepted! Cash,
ActBlue, checks to
Friends of Lori Askeland
Email: askeland4trustee@gmail.com
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