See You Tonight: Legislative Aides Appreciation Party at Paradigm

The Florida Young Democrats (www.floridayd.com) and the Leon County Young Democrats (http://lcyd.blogspot.com/) in an effort to thank the Legislative Aides for their hard work, cordially invite you to their third annual Democratic Legislative Staff Appreciation Reception. We hope you can make it out tonight, Wednesday, March 19, 2008, between 7:00PM to 11:00PM at Paradigm Lounge (115 West College Avenue).

Political notes from Tallahassee Democrat = All about local Democrats!

In today's Tallahassee Democrat, all of the Sunday political notes are about our local Democratic Party efforts! Announcing our Leon County YD local election results, DEC member Alan Williams candidacy, and promoting the Susan Franks fundraiser being planned by Leon County DEC members! Great job!

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706170321

Article published Jun 17, 2007

Young Democrats elect president
The Leon County Young Democrats elected former Florida Democratic Party Political Director Chris Petley as the group's new president for 2007-2008. The Young Democrats also elected other new officers in hopes of taking the organization in a new direction.

New officers are vice president Barbara Henderson, treasurer Alan Brock and secretary Corinne Rubin. The Executive Board members will each serve one-year terms. Board members will advise and organize more than 100 members of the LCYD as they prepare for the 2008 presidential election cycle.- Jeff Burlew

Mayor's aide runs for House seat
Alan Williams, the aide to Tallahassee Mayor John Marks, is running for the House of Representatives District 8 seat, which is being vacated by Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, because of term limits.

He said in a fundraising letter to fellow Florida A&M University alumni that he and his family are excited about the run. He grew up on Tallahassee's south side.

"I am a product of Leon County Schools, having attended Hartsfield Elementary, Fairview Middle and Rickards High schools," he said. "I am a proud graduate of Florida A&M University, where I received my bachelor's of science and master's degrees in business. I am currently serving my second term as president of the Leon County Chapter of the FAMU Alumni Association, giving back to an institution that has given so much to this family."
He has served as Marks' aide for four years.

Franks fundraiser planned

A fundraiser for Suzan Franks, Democratic candidate for the District 3 state Senate seat, is set for 7 p.m. Monday at the home of Nora & Mark Herron, 503 South Ride. To make a reservation, send an e-mail to yogichi@gmail.com or call 425-5063.

The LCYD Logo

You may have noticed that our blog has lost it logo.

Or, I guess, first you might have noticed that we haven't been posting as much as we use to. Well, I think we are back, posting, and keeping people up to date on local politics. Newly elected LCYD President Chris Petley is bringing back the energy that we have lacked for the past few months. I am really excited about the direction we are headed, I think that the YD's across the state are going to be a major player in the 08 election.

So, back to our logo, the hosting service that Blogger was using has changed, and our logo was removed. Blogger now encourages you to post your image in a post, and let that post host your image for all time.

I am very proud of the LCYD logo, and I want to see it in our title bar again, so I am posting the image here, and explaining why, in my typical, rambling, verbose way.

Good things are on their way.

Leon County Young Democrats Elect Experienced Politicos

Democrats look to the future, election cycles, and restructuring youth involvement in Leon County politics

Tallahassee, FL – The Leon County Young Democrats (LCYD) elected former Florida Democratic Party Political Director, Chris Petley, as their new President for the 2007-2008 term late last week. The Young Democrats also elected a new vice president and secretary as they take the organization into a new direction.

“We have elected one of the most successful groups of young professionals in the recent history of Leon County Democrats,” said newly elected President, Chris Petley. “Our group includes a current DEC Chairman, and the statewide Young Democrat President, Alan Brock, as our Treasurer. Our Secretary is the Florida Democratic Party’s North Florida fundraiser and our Community Affairs Director, Corinne Rubin, is a Senate Democratic Legislative Analyst who is involved in a variety of well established charities in town. The new Vice President is an issues-based campaign expert in Barbra Henderson. With this group on the executive board, the possibilities are endless.”

The Executive Board members will each serve one year terms due to expire in June of 2008. The board members will advise and organize more than 100 members of the LCYD as they prepare for the 2008 Presidential election cycle.

"Our generation of leaders is young, innovative, energetic, and understands the need for democracy like no others,” said City Commissioner Andrew Gillum. “Ready to help elect the leaders of the future, this group recognize what is needed and will make their presence impressive and their voices heard.”

Also on the priority list are as three open State House seats (Ausley, Richardson, Kendrick), and the re-elections of Congressman Allen Boyd and Superintendent Jackie Pons.

"I would like to congratulate the new leadership of the Leon County Young Democrats," said Congressman Allen Boyd (D-FL). "As someone who has been in public service for 18 years, I am always excited to hear about people, especially young people, getting involved in our government and the political process. The participation and contribution of the people are what make our country so great, and I wish the newly-elected officers the best of luck as they work to organize the young Democrats in our area."

LCYD Executive Board Bios:

President, Chris Petley: The former Political Director of the Florida Democratic Party and the founder and president of the 20Twenty Futures Program, Chris brings an extensive knowledge about politics, campaigns and organizing young professionals that will be reflected in the broad range of activities undertaken by the LCYD.

Vice President, Barbara Henderson: An active member of the Democratic Executive Committee, Capitol City Women's Democratic Club, and the Democratic Club of North Florida. Ms. Henderson also has experience with issues-based campaigns as well as with candidates' elections.

Secretary, Sarah Smith: Currently a fundraiser in North Florida for the Florida Democratic Party and overall campaign veteran, Sarah brings experience in all facets of the political landscape in the Big Bend and beyond. Her contacts will bolster the LCYD as they grow into one of the pre-eminent organizations in Leon and the surrounding areas.

Community Affairs, Corinne Rubin: As a Legislative Analyst in the Florida State Senate and former lead fundraiser for the Florida Democratic Party and Leon County Cancer Society, Corinne is an expert at analyzing an organization’s needs and responding accordingly. Corinne will help the LCYD's to further establish a positive reputation within Leon County and the surrounding areas, by encouraging our members to get involved with community events that benefit the people of the big bend.

Treasurer, Alan Brock: The current statewide Young Democrat President, Alan’s skills at organizing are reflected at his current post organizing high school students in the anti-tobacco SWAT program and will strengthen the LCYD’s volunteer recruitment and management. Alan is also Chair of the Wakulla Democratic Executive Committee, and has lengthy experience running statewide ballot initiatives.

# # #

Congrats, and here is to a new year!!!

Congratulations to our newly elected Leon County Young Democrat officers:

President: Chris Petley
Vice President: Barbara Henderson
Political Affairs Vice President: Christian Ulvert
Community Affairs Vice President: Corinne Rubin
Administrative Vice President: Sarah Smith
Treasurer: Alan Brock

Good luck over the next year!

These officers will serve through June 2008!

Summer Elections

Today's post is two fold:

1) I hope that you are following the ongoing battle for a locally elected Supervisor of Elections to have decision making authority. Ion Sancho, Leon County's Supervisor of Elections, and one of the best election experts in the country, continues to be targeted by the Republican lead leadership of Florida. The title bar links to a story in yesterday's paper regarding how Cobb, the Jeb Bush appointed Secretary of State, is trying to change state law to give the state the power to approve how Election Supervisor's test there machines. Why, after all these years, would the State need this power? Because Ion Sancho has found flaws, with the machines the state is requiring him to use, that allow the results of the elections to be tampered with and changed.

2) Don't forget that this Monday is an LCYD meeting, and that we will be holding officer elections for the next year this Monday. Rules and procedures have been sent out over our Yahoo Group (There is a link to join ---------->). I hope to see you there!

Next Tuesday: Union Leaders Forum

Too many LCYD members, including myself, don't fully understand the importance of the Labor Movement. I have a couple talking points, but would like to better justify the importance when I am talking with friends. I have members that question why buying union made is important. There are also members who question if the Labor Movement is still needed. I am hoping that this hour presentation can better educate us on the issues, so that we can better educate others.

Please join us for our Modern Union Leaders' Forum this Tuesday, May 23, 2006 at 7PM at the Florida Education Association (FEA) Building (213 South Adams Street ~ Across the street from Andrew's Downtown). We have a impressive panel featuring speakers who are leaders in the labor movement and the state Democratic Party.

Featured Speakers Include:

Cynthia Hall, President of Florida AFL-CIO
Luis Navarro, Executive Director of the Florida Democratic Party and former national political director of SEIU.
Eric Riley, with Florida Education Association

Other Labor Leaders have been invited and may join our line up that evening. LCYD forums are opened to the public. There will be light snacks and drinks available at the forum. I hope you can join us for what promises to be an interesting and fun evening.

Updates will be posted over the next week.

May Day

Today, as I was preparing for tonight's meeting, I did a quick yahoo search on May Day. I found what I expected, that it is the historic start of Spring. But I also found out a lot about the Labor Movement's embracing of this holiday. It seems there was a big riot at the end of the 19th century and many people and countries embrace this day as a true Labor Day. Here is an section from the first, incredibly biased, website I found.

It is not surprising that the state, business leaders, mainstream union
officials, and the media would want to hide the true history of May Day,
portraying it as a holiday celebrated only in Moscow's Red Square. In its
attempt to erase the history and significance of May Day, the United States
government declared May 1st to be "Law Day", and gave us instead Labor Day - a
holiday devoid of any historical significance other than its importance as a day
to swill beer and sit in traffic jams.....By covering up the history of May Day,
the state, business, mainstream unions and the media have covered up an entire
legacy of dissent in this country. They are terrified of what a similarly
militant and organized movement could accomplish today, and they suppress the
seeds of such organization whenever and wherever they can. As workers, we must
recognize and commemorate May Day not only for it's historical significance, but
also as a time to organize around issues of vital importance to working-class
people today

.

So you can see feelings run strong on this issue. And most people writing on the internet about the Labor Movement all seem to use similar language.

But today as the day that immigrant community should stage a walk out now makes more sense. What are your thoughts?

Walk with Will

Have you given to the March of Dimes yet? The Leon County Young Democrats want to help Rep. Ausley reach her goal of 10,000 online in the next week. How do we do that? We forward this page to our friends and relatives and let them know that we appreciate the hard work of the March of Dimes and we hope that might be able to help out with a small donation.

They can click on the title bar or this link here: www.walkamerica.org/IronWill

Rep. Ausley has been good to us and the citizens of her district, and now is one way to show our gratitude and respect.

Relay for Life Report

This past Friday and Saturday the Leon County Young Democrats participated with the TCC Relay for Life. I am glad to report that our team out raised any team online and placed third overall. I have loaded some pictures from the evening to share with everyone, starting with a stock photo of the fundraising champion Phillip Perry, who was the number one fundraiser for the event!

I apologize you will probably quickly note that the photos from the evening are not in any particular order. Blogger is awesome and free, but I haven't quite managed loading photos yet.

Here is a picture of the Luminaria Ceremony, a candle lit ceremony in honor of those affected by Cancer.
Michele Straw and Corinne Rubin after setting up the tents take a much deserved rest on the blow up toys.
The 3AM round of Dominos.
The Post Midnight pictures begin, from left to right Leah Ellington, Beth Kennedy, Chris Petley, Steve Schale and Jesse Roaza, all fresh from walking a half hour shift on the track.
Jesse Roaza fighting off sleep around 5AM.
Beth Kennedy and Leah Ellington around midnight. Still looking bright eyed and bushy tailed.
As you can see all of the LCYDs had a great time and we look forward to help out Relay for Life again next year! If you would still like to donate to the American Cancer Society you can click on the title bar for this post.

Next up we will be helping out Representative Ausley and the March of Dimes.

LCYDs in the News

Democrat's homespun style wows 'em
Smith seeks primary win for governor

By Brendan Farrington
AP Political Writer
The Associated Press April 2, 2006

TALLAHASSEE · Cindy Satur changed parties when Ronald Reagan was president, switching from Democrat to Republican.But two weeks ago, the Port St. Lucie woman received a new voter registration card listing her as a Democrat again. The reason she switched back? Rod Smith.

She saw Smith and the other three major gubernatorial candidates speak in Orlando in January and was immediately impressed. "I felt that he offered more solutions and he didn't have the canned political response. I felt an honesty," said Satur.

She's a good example of why many people believe Smith, a state senator and former prosecutor from Alachua, can steal votes from Republicans and win the governor's seat -- if he can beat U.S. Rep. Jim Davis in the Democratic primary.

While Davis has the backing of Bob Graham, a former governor and U.S. senator, and Rhea Chiles, the wife of the late governor Lawton Chiles, Smith evokes the spirit of the popular Democrats. He has a folksy charm and an appeal that could win over some Republicans, conservative Democrats and independents who have supported Republican candidates in recent years.

"Smith reminds me of people like Bob Graham and Lawton Chiles and Reubin Askew," said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor, who watched Smith, Davis and Republicans Charlie Crist and Tom Gallagher at a Tallahassee event. "Just as sort of an image, the more the Democratic candidate can get people to think about earlier popular Democratic governors, the better chance they have to win."

Smith keeps pushing that message on his campaign stops. While speaking to Leon County Young Democrats this past week, Smith was asked how to stop rural north Florida Democrats from voting for Republicans."I don't know if I planted that question, but if I didn't, thank you," Smith said. He then went on to say people in his community trust him because of his law enforcement background and because he comes from a farming family.

And, as he often says, Republicans can't attack him on God and guns."I come from a part of the state where most folks have guns. They hunt. I've never had any real concerns about gun control until the vice president," Smith said, joking about Dick Cheney recently shooting a friend on a hunting trip.

Electability has been a campaign theme for Smith. He points out that there are still more Democrats than Republicans in Florida even if the GOP has won every statewide vote since U.S Sen. Bill Nelson's win in 2000.

"We have a 400,000-plus advantage in registered voters. Why aren't we winning?" Smith said. "We cannot lose if we hold our voters, but we've not been attracting independents, we've not been holding what some used to call the Reagan Democrat. There are a lot of blue collar workers who we lose over a lot of issues."

Satur knew nothing about Smith when he spoke alongside the other three candidates. Yet she was moved by what he had to say and how he said it, finding substance instead of a political rhetoric, she said.

"He represents the new Democrats, not so far left, not so liberal as they seem to be in the past," Satur said. "If there was an issue where he truly believed the Republican Party had a better solution or a better answer, that wouldn't bother him to support that.

Smith, though, has a long way to go if he wants to replace Gov. Jeb Bush, who can't seek re-election because of term limits. Davis has more money and, as a congressman from Tampa, is better known. He's also leading in polls, though most Democrats are still undecided.

Smith uses the underdog status to get crowds to warm up to him. He jokes about how he was introduced at one stop as Rod Stewart and at another a man named Smith forgot Smith's last name. Then there's his standing in the polls.

"The first time I saw a poll in this election they had me at 4 percent. That's the good news," Smith told one group. "The bad news: The margin of error was 5 percent."

The humor, combined with a rapid-fire, passionate delivery when discussing issues, has a way of winning people over. The same style worked well for him as a Gainesville area prosecutor, said Johnny Kearns, a public defender who faced Smith in many cases.

"I used to tease him that he was the reincarnation of Will Rogers because he talked like Will Rogers and he had those amusing anecdotes," Kearns said. "None of that stuff is prepared. Rod will assess a situation and he'll get on a roll and he's unbelievable. He's amazingly amusing and at the same time he has a point to all of his stories."

Before serving as a prosecutor, Smith worked as a labor lawyer representing unions. During that time he earned the respect of Peter Hurtgen, a Republican who was appointed by President Bush to serve as chairman of the National Labor Relations Board.

"I found him to be a very fine lawyer, very honorable, very trustworthy, reasonable and frankly an outstanding person as well," said Hurtgen, who now practices in California. "I can't frankly imagine a guy better suited as far as background and personal skill set to be a public official at high level."

Smith is very talkative and not afraid to speak off the top of his head about almost any subject. Smith, who like Rogers was born in Oklahoma, says his parents were both quiet people, so he had to supply both sides of the conversation. He also said growing up, his minister was the only public speaker he saw, so the style rubbed off.

"He definitely is loquacious. He's outgoing. He's quick with a smile and a joke. It is endearing," said Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres. "We always encourage him to talk slower, but it's his nature to get as much information out there as possible."

Smith also has a reputation of being able to work with Republicans. He helped then-Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, negotiate a compromise on a law that placed caps on medical malpractice lawsuit awards. The Senate succeeded in pulling Bush and the House away from the lower limits they wanted. He also helped form a coalition that stopped the House and Bush from passing a law to intervene in the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case."

Sen. Smith has a good track record of working with Republicans in the Senate, in part because he's a conservative Democratic," said Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon. "He's the last of the north Florida conservative Democrats."
Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Second LCYD Forum Continues Success

State Senator and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith spoke last night to about thirty attendees at the Leon County Young Democrats second forum. Senator Smith spoke about the plight of public education in Florida, making healthcare more accessable for all Floridians, and his plans to fix those problems if elected. Folowing his talk, Senator Smith took time to answer several questions from the audience and pose for pictures.

The LCYD thank Sen. Smith for participating in our forum series and for giving a great talk. The success of the LCYD forums will continue late next month. Details will be announced on this web log.

[Picture: Sen. Smith holding one of the Union made LCYD T-shirts.]

Florida Young Democrat Chapter of the Year Award Goes to:

This past weekend the Florida Young Democrats had several very successful meetings at the Florida Democratic Party conference. Today Matt Cole, Immediate Past FYD Chair, had these words to say:


Fellow Democrats,

I am honored to report that Omar Khan (LCYD member) has been elected to succeed me as Chair of the Florida Young Democrats. Omar's work as FYD Executive Director is greatly appreciated and I look forward to his continued contributions to the development of future Democratic leaders.

Over the past two years, right up through this past weekend, this administration:

Developed an executive structure based upon the Democratic Party and its nomenclature.
Instituted a chartering process that eliminated dues, encourages closer ties with county DECs, and prevents the possibility of competing claims of authority.
Established a Mission and Vision statement to more clearly define our goals.
Enacted the positions of Regional Directors to more plainly establish geographic regions and Outreach Directors to more formally target Young Democrat sub-groups.
Founded the Florida College Democrats as an associate group of the newly created Florida Young & College Democrats.

Our caucus was joined by FDP Chair Thurman, Congressman Barney Frank, and Governor Mark Warner. We were also joined by several local, regional, and statewide candidates including Jim Davis, Rod Smith, and Alex Sink.

The FYD Annual Awards winners were presented. They include:

County Chapter of the Year: Leon County Young Democrats
College Chapter of the Year: Florida State University College Democrats
High School Chapter of the Year: East Side High School Young Democrats, Alachua County
FYD Event of Distinction: Leon County Young Democrats, for the Democratic Legislative Staff Reception
Jeffrey Mattison Wershow Award: Stephen Gorham, US Navy Veteran
Young Democrat of the Year: Kristian Cosme
Democrat of the Year: Honorable Karen Thurman
Lifetime Achievement Award: Senator Bob Graham

The role of FYD Chair requires a great deal of time, energy, and diplomacy. There are scores of Young Democrats who have assisted me and contributed greatly to this organization over the past few years. It would be impossible to name every member individually, but in addition to Omar, I would like recognize: John Reid, Chris Gallaway, Michelle M'Sadoques, Gershom Faulkner, Alan Brock, Kristian Cosme, David Geller, Bret Berlin, Kristin Carter, Alex Patton, Dave Cutler, Erica Graves, Rick Minor, and Reggie Cardozo. State Representative Ed Jennings, Jr. and State Senator Dave Aronberg should also be acknowledged as both supporters of and role models for the FYDs. For her love and patience, I am also grateful to Carolyn Develle.

Although I have passed along these guiding principles to many of you already, they are worth revisiting: Be Local: Invite locally elected Democrats for discussions on current issues; Be Connected: Help members develop connections with local Democratic leaders, either elected or in your DEC;Be Social: Keep meetings lively and informal so that your members will enjoy this time with their political peers;Be Rewarding: Allow members to sharpen their political skills by presenting or debating a topic.In conclusion, it has been a privilege to serve you as FYD Chair. In my new Executive Board role as Immediate Past Chair, I look forward providing institutional memory and assisting Omar to the best of my abilities.

Democratically Yours,

MattMatthew Cole,
Immediate Past Chair
Florida Young Democrats

Leon County Young Democrats Endorse Rick Minor for LCDEC Chair

As an integral part of the Democratic community, the Leon County Young Democrats invited both candidates seeking the DEC Chairmanship to address their body concerning the Leon County Democratic Executive Committee (DEC). Mr. Jon Ausman was invited to speak to the group November 14 and Mr. Rick Minor addressed the group yesterday evening, November 21.

Following last evening's presentation, a motion was made to discuss a potential endorsement by the Leon County Young Democrats for one of the candidates. After some discussion, it was voted upon the membership of the Young Democrats to endorse Mr. Rick Minor as chairman of the Leon County DEC. "It is with much enthusiasm I announce the Leon County Young Democrats proudly stand behind Rick Minor for DEC Chair," said Alan Brock, President of the Leon County Young Democrats. "It is our hope that our endorsement helps unite the community of Democrats within Leon County".

Rick Minor is the immediate past president of the Leon County Young Democrats, the former policy director for the Florida Democratic Party and he served as the Kerry-Edwards Campaign's Deputy Field Director for North Florida.

Casino Night was a Success!

Thank You to everyone who attended our Casino Night fundraiser at Cafe Cabernet on Friday Night. It was a lot of fun, we had a good turn out and raised money for America's 2nd Harvest and our organization. We also learned that Poker is very popular! There is an LCYD meeting tonight at the FDP HQ, I hope you can join us, and if not, I hope you have a pleasant holiday.

I want to thank our sponsors:

America's 2nd Harvest of the Big Bend, Inc
Business for Better Government
Cafe' Cabernet
Florida Building and Construction Trades Council
Florida Senate Victory
Florida Electrical Workers Association
J. B. Clark
GT Entertainment
Hinkle & Foran
Hopping Green & Sams

Rep. Curtis Richardson
Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley
Commissioner Cliff Thaell

and I also want to thank the companies that donated door prizes:

Chilli's

Gil's Tavern
Hooters
Jasmine Cafe

Paradigm
Sierra Club
Starbucks
Wine Warehouse
Zaxby's

Vegas in Tallahassee!

Thanksgiving is almost here. In that spirit, the Leon County Young Democrats have partnered with America's Second Harvest of the Big Bend to raise money so everyone in our community may have something to be thankful for this holiday season. Click on the link above to learn more about Second Harvest.

Join us this Friday night, November 18th at Café Cabernet on North Monroe for the 1st Annual LCYD Casino Night featuring blackjack, roulette, poker and craps courtesy of GT Entertainment. This event is a charity fundraiser, so all money collected will be donations. Throughout the night, local politicians and celebrities will be stopping by to give out door prizes donated by local businesses and our sponsors. It's going to be a real taste of Vegas right here in Tallahassee!

We hope you can join us.

1st Annual LCYD Casino Night
Friday, November 18, 2005 - 8:00-Midnight
Café Cabernet - 1019 N. Monroe Street

For more details, contact Chad Fetrow at cwfetrow@yahoo.com or Thure Caire at Tcaire@gmail.com

Leon DEC Chair Elections

Last night at our LCYD meeting (1st & 3rd Monday of each month) we were lucky enough to hear from current Leon County DEC State Committeeman and DNC member Jon Ausman and his wife Donna Ausman (see picture) who both addressed our meeting. Jon is one of two democratic leaders pursing the Chairmanship of the Leon County DEC.

In today's Tallahassee Democrat the feature front page story (linked in title bar) is on the DEC's upcoming Chair election. This is obviously going to be an interesting process and the LCYDs will try to keep you updated of any news.

The other person pursing the Leon DEC Chair position is Rick Minor, who also is the immediate Past President of the LCYDs. Rick will be addressing our group at our next meeting, on the 3rd Monday of November.

interested parties are welcome to attend.

Quick Updates

Last Night's LCYD Meeting went really well. We were lucky to have Omar Kahn, the Executive Director of the Florida Young Democrats join us. The FYDs have an impressive new website that I encourage you to check out: www.floridayd.org. It is still under construction but it is already leaps and bounds above what it use to be.

The LCYDs met are group requirement at last nights meeting, so we will be marching on in this weekend's Heart Walk!

Lastly a great young democratic leader has resigned in Tampa today. Janee Murphy, the Hillsborough DEC Chair, a DNC member and the elected Secretary for the Florida Democratic Party. I am sure that Janee will stay active with party politics, but I believe that it is a shame that we drive out some of our most promising young leaders.

Heart Walk This Weekend

Today's Tallahassee Democrat, our local daily newspaper, ran a story about Kate Gonsalves a 22 year old survivor of heart disease. She works at one of the local Tropical Smoothies here in town and one of the reasons that Tropical Smoothie is raising money for this weekends Heart Walk at every store.

The LCYDs have committed to help raise money and participate in this event, but at this time we don't have our goal number of participants. We need more of our members to sign up today, while there is still a week to fundraise.

We have a LCYD meeting tonight and we will discuss whether to continue to participate in this American Heart Association fundraiser, with out your commitment we probably will shift our focus for the weekend. Click the link in the title bar to sign up now.

Fl News Blog has a great post today!

Check out the Blog link in the title bar...The FL News Blog is written by a former LCYD member and he is often right on with his points. This posting is about Mel Martinez, who voted against establishing "a congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Region of the United States especially in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and other areas impacted in the aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future."

If you look at the link you will see that it was a party line vote. Mike's point that this is not about politics is one that I support. Check it out: http://flnews.blogspot.com/