The Progressive Alliance of Henderson County is a merger of Progressive Women of Hendersonville, Progressive Organized Women, Hendersonville Huddle, and the Silent Vigil for Immigration Reform, blending our energy and passion, working as one to strengthen our impact .
|
|
Informed Progressive
On Wednesday, August 11 at 2:00, Steffi Rausch with the Citizens Climate Lobby will be our featured speaker. She will present on a truly viable approach to addressing climate change.
Please click on the following link on August 11 at 2:00 to join us!!!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89547166784?pwd=UHdWOGlIaXhJNmMrN2hDRDZ4UGR4QT09
Meeting ID: 895 4716 6784
Passcode: 370589
DEADLINE FOR DEMOCRACY: Friday, July 2, 5:30 pm
 Indivisible AVL is joining with groups all over the country in a coordinated “Deadline for Democracy” campaign during the July Congressional recess (6/28-7/10), in order to draw attention to the urgency of passing the critical democracy reforms contained in the For the People Act.
Sen. Thom Tillis has stated his opposition to the For the People Act, actually calling it “partisan,” so on Friday, July 2nd we will gather in front of his office at Historic Courthouse Square to hold up the elements of our democracy that are at stake with his vote, and to take action to get the bill passed.
The For the People Act would be the most significant voting rights and democracy reform in more than half a century. We can’t let it wither and die.
Read more at: http://bit.ly/4S1-deadline
|
|
|
Lisa McDonald
by Deb Rich
 Lisa McDonald is the originator of PWH (Progressive Women of Hendersonville), now PAHC (The Progressive Alliance of Henderson County.) She is a jack-of-all-trades and citizen of the world. Her road to activism has been a journey through numerous countries and careers.
Lisa loves animals and wanted to become an underwater documentary filmmaker. After high school, she opted to work before attending college in South Florida. She planned to study marine biology after considering broadcast journalism, but she hated chemistry. She moved back to Chicago and ultimately landed in corporate legal consulting by way of database design. Corporate consulting has afforded her the opportunity to travel. She has lived in many places: Australia (Sydney and Perth), Singapore, Scottsdale, Arizona, Boston, London, Chicago and Newark. She ultimately moved to North Carolina in 2012 and splits her time between here and Los Angeles, with stints in New York and Philadelphia as well.
She came to Hendersonville in 2012 when she visited DuPont Forest, stopped in town, went to Southern Appalachian Brewing, and immediately fell in love. She found her home here a few weeks later.
Though the bulk of her career has been in legal consulting, she also bartended in college. She left the consulting world in 2015 and opened Sanctuary Brewing. From the start, the brewery was involved in social justice causes, advocating for both humans and non-humans. Lisa knew that there were progressive voices in Hendersonville, even though she felt silenced and alone, and decided to do something about it. She put an event together to gather progressive women in Hendersonville, and it grew from there.
Meg Hoke knew Lisa, and their bond grew through the Progressive Movement: Meg recalls, “Lisa organized the very first PWH meeting. She was a strong leader and was absolutely key in its creation, setting up the website, writing press releases and so much more. She opened up Sanctuary Brewery to the movement, and when the postcard parties began, she hosted those as well. She even got death threats and threats of boycotts and violence, but she always made us feel welcome and encouraged us to keep going.”
We asked Lisa what her plans are now that there is a new president in Washington. She says she’s focusing on her mental health and the animals she cares for, as well as all of the incredible ways that Earthships can help heal the planet. She’s doing what makes her happy and is focused on the positive.
 And what can be more positive than a non-profit called Kindness Empire, the parent non-profit of Lisa’s Sweet Bear Rescue Farm. In her words: “Kindness Empire was designed to advocate for all living beings, so the work I do with Sweet Bear Rescue, my animal sanctuary with 45 current residents is one aspect. The work I’m doing with Earthship falls under this umbrella, as well as their goal is to empower communities around the world by teaching them to build these structures. The crew I worked with in Haiti was predominantly made up of local Haitians learning the exact same skills I was learning, and they kept working long after the official crew was gone. Seeing that knowledge being embraced by communities who then use it within their own culture is really such an incredible model. If anyone is interested in discussing Earthships or animal rescue or some of the other things I do, I’d love to talk. If anyone is interested in donating, all funds first go to the animals and when all of their needs are met, funds can be used for other things like the Haiti project. I try to keep the animals needs met for three months at any given time, so that means they have enough food, bedding, medical items etc. for 90 days. The cost of running the farm is anywhere between 5 and 6k per month, so donations are really important for keeping everyone here healthy and happy. I also work full time, so we love volunteers who can help with cleaning stalls, feedings, etc.”
We are fortunate to have Lisa McDonald living here in Hendersonville. As Meg Hoke says: “Lisa is a woman of passion, conviction, and courage. Personally, she changed my life. Her compassion for animals and her knowledge of environmental impact convinced me that I should stop eating animals and begin a plant-based diet. I see the world differently now and am healthier mentally, spiritually and physically. I know that I'm not the only person that Lisa has influenced in that way.” We couldn’t agree more.
If you’d like more information or would like to donate, go to the Facebook page for Sweet Bear Rescue Farm. You can reach Lisa at info@kindnessempire.com and can donate through https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/kindnessempire and Venmo Kindnessempire.
|
|
|
Informed Progressive
 On Wednesday June 9, our virtual Informed Progressive meeting featured Vicki Meath, who presented on the work of Just Economics WNC.
Vicki has worked on environmental, social and economic justice issues ranging from responsible oil and gas drilling to protecting health and human services in the Ohio state budget. In 2006, she worked with Let Justice Roll and Cleveland Jobs with Justice on the successful campaign to raise the state minimum wage and continued to work with Jobs with Justice on the Cuyahoga County Living Wage Campaign and other worker justice issues.
Just Economics WNC (based in Asheville) is a progressive organization built around increasing economic opportunity and a more equitable society. Vicki stated that the mission of Just Economics WNC is to educate, advocate, and organize for a just and sustainable local economy that works for all in Western North Carolina. She said that the community we live in is not just nor is it sustainable.
The work of Just Economics includes: policy and advocacy, grassroots education and engagement and a living wage certification program (about 470 outfits now participate). They are active in Buncombe and Transylvania counties, but have no focus – yet – in Henderson County, though a few here do support them and at least one employer has subscribed. The organization is funded by grants, individual memberships and donations, fund raisers and business and church support.
Vicki stated that the challenges to Just Economics in our area are: growing economic inequality, institutional racism, major factories no longer have a large part of the local economy (mostly tourism now), high cost of living (particularly housing) and statewide legislative restrictions (citywide minimum wage cannot be established in NC).
Just Economics’ work has included cooperative victories for Sunday bus service, getting Asheville firefighters to be adequately paid, and training low-wage workers to stand up for better wages and conditions. We briefly touched on what it would take to get a Just Economics effort going in Henderson – probably starting with some collaborative work with Transylvania.
Please click on this link to view the presentation:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/RORFkHc6SpceO9iPnxOYtBjv7hIKVTCBWXByaBUxqZ9UCkMWw-MWysKMXWwdYax3.UkW1tzYOjvMKOm56?startTime=1623262230000
|
|
|
2021 Elections
 2021 elections are often termed off-year elections. They involve municipalities which used to be considered of local interest only and basically insignificant. As we have learned, no election is insignificant if we want to stay a democracy. So much happens at these grass roots levels that impact our lives.
Below is the time table (at this time*) for the 2021 election. If you live within the town boundaries of Hendersonville, Laurel Park, Flat Rock, Fletcher and Mills River, be sure to know the candidates and VOTE.
If you do not live in one of these municipalities, we are also looking for people to help write Get Out The Vote postcards.
Democracy is not a spectator sport, Be Informed, Get Involved. Contact us on Progressive Alliance website.
|
|
POSTCARD SUGGESTION SHEET #220 July 1, 2021
THE NORTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE NEEDS TO REBUILD ITS ENERGY STRATEGY
While North Carolina is not hampered by an isolated and inadequate energy system, as is Texas (despite its huge wind energy installed supply), North Carolina has much to do. Fortunately, some useful choices can be made.
The State Utilities Commission and its public staff is evaluating 15 year plans by Duke Energy (two electric companies) and Dominion Energy (a natural gas provider in NC). These plans rely heavily on new construction of natural gas plants, to replace several large coal-burning plants that remain. But the huge heating effects of world wide carbon increases in the atmosphere mean those facilities, even if allowed to open, would shortly then have to close for environmental safety reasons. Advocacy group NC WARN says the 15 year Duke plan envisions starting up 59 natural-gas (mostly fracked gas) units. The Biden Administration wants Zero carbon-fuel electric production by 2035, including natural gas as a carbon fuel. The best alternative is wind and solar, supplemented by hydroelectric dams and a large increase in various kinds of storage capacity. Offshore wind, actively used in Europe, has great potential off the Outer Banks. Thank Gov. Cooper for Exec. Order 218, setting significant goals for offshore wind in 2030 and 2040.
The Hon. Roy Cooper, 20301 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-0301, 919-814-2000
https://governor.nc.gov/news/governor-cooper-commits-offshore-wind-power-north-carolina-creates-jobs-transitioning-clean
https://energync.org/ [‘Squeaky Clean Energy’ podcast: Episode 50 with Gov. Cooper]
Legislative Action: A massive bill (HB 951) prepared by a nonpublic energy working group was deleted, derailing legislative mandates to rely on methane (natural gas) fuels, preserving current public comment opportunities, and supporting regulation by the Public Utilities Commission. That’s a win, but only in preventing bad choices. What are needed are measures to forward energy efficiency, including commercial and residential building codes and support for energy retrofitting, investments in better grid control and reliability (NO Texas-sized errors!), replacement of the coal powered plants with solar farms (which can complement agricultural farming) as much as possible, and insure environmental responsibility in development of secondary gas sources (think biogas from hog farming).
Our State budget, based on the draft being approved in the State Senate, will have a $6.5 Billion surplus over the next two years. That money should in part cure our energy vulnerabilities and provide secure sources with less climate disruption. Our NC House of Representatives will have the next comprehensive work sessions on this budget. Let Representatives Tim Moffitt and Jake Johnson know what you want done!
Henderson County Commissioners (extracted from the Hendersonville Lightning)
The Henderson County Board of Commissioners called an emergency meeting on Thursday evening to respond to what the county manager called YouTube's "blatant act of censorship" in removing the video of Wednesday's Board of Commissioners meeting from its platform.
https://www.hendersonvillelightning.com/four-seasons-politics/10580-here-are-anti-vaxxer-rants-youtube-removed.html
https://www.hendersonvillelightning.com/four-seasons-politics/10568-emrgency-meeting.html
[Outgoing County Manager Steve] Wyatt said Commissioner Michael Edney, an attorney, could shed more light on the board's potential response to YouTube's action. Edney was not immediately reachable Thursday night.
It's unclear whether Youtube in the past has removed videos of other public meetings of elected bodies. The Henderson County Board of Commissioners has for many years — predating the pandemic — posted videos of its meetings that people could watch later.
"I've been doing this a long time. The answer is no," Wyatt said when asked if he was aware of other videos being taken down. "I am absolutely appalled of this blatant act of censorship. It's beyond the pale."
County officials say they don't know why YouTube removed the video but it appears likely — based on a side-by-side comparison of comments made by people who objected to the Covid-19 vaccination to YouTube's guidelines on coronavirus misinformation — that the public comment period triggered the decision.
While the First Amendment bars the government from infringing on free speech and on citizens' right to air grievances about the government's actions, it does not force private companies to protect free speech.
PAHC commentary: Yes, even poorly-informed and misinformed citizens have a right to speak in public forums. But, don’t our Commissioners have a duty to step up, correct the misstatements, and take actions to protect the public’s health? And calling an emergency meeting, as if YouTube’s action was a crisis, just magnifies their collective immaturity and lack of duty. While we cannot oust any of them until 2022’s elections, we can let them know what we think of their behavior. Please do so!
Socialism is when you get yours...not when I get mine!
Here is a link, courtesy of the Times-News, allowing you to search and see what entities received PPP (taxpayer) loans during the recent pandemic. Just for fun, you might want to search for names of prominent local pols who scream “Socialism” whenever those who truly need assistance request help (hint - try NC Senator Edwards (local McDonald’s franchises) or County Commissioner Edney (law practice)). For bonus points, guess what local NC Senator (initials C.E.) wants to change State law to make forgiveness of these loans non-taxable income to the corporations. We will wait as you guess.
https://data.blueridgenow.com/paycheck-protection-program-loans/
|
|
|
Some people don’t look.
Some look, but don’t see.
Some see, but don’t act.
Some people act.
. . . Anon
|
|
|
OUR MISSION:
The Progressive Alliance of Henderson County (PAHC) compassionately advocates for justice, dignity, inclusion and sustainable, healthy communities for all.
OUR VISION:
To connect residents of Henderson County and vicinity through grassroots civic engagement, education, outreach and volunteerism.
Visit our website for more photos, events, and links to like-minded groups.
|
|
|
The PAHC core leadership group (currently Chris Berg, Nancy & Neil Brown, Sheila Clendenning, Laura Miklowitz, Sissy Owen, Vikki Schantz, Virginia Tegel, and Paul Weichselbaum) working together diligently to strengthen our impact, has created mission and vision statements for the group.
Please speak to any of us if you can offer your ideas and time about the future of Henderson County.
|
|
|
|
|
